Neither shall the purest dyes he hrought into compariso7i. liii. '' ^^- ^^^' t^os^ ^^6 called ' tlie purest dyes' who are genuinely humble, and genuinely holy, who know that from themselves indeed they have not the shew of virtuous attainments, but that they hold this by the gift of accessory grace. For they would not be ' dyed,' if they had possessed holiness by nature. But they are ' the purest dyes' because they keep in themselves with humility the superinduced grace of virtues which they have been vouchsafed. Hence it is that it is said by the voice of the Spouse concerning Holy Church; Cant. 6, Who is this that corneth up hlanched? For because Holy ^^' Church has not a heavenly life by nature, but on the Spirit Baptism dyes us bright. God, how seen, how not seen, 387 adding Itself is arrayed with beautifulness of gifts, she is ^5*^, described not as white but as ' blanched.' And observe, that when he said above, Nor shall it he compared to the dyed colours of India, those same colours he did not bring in ' pure;' but in this place that he might distinguish the dye of true virtues from that staining of the philosophers, whilst spealiing of dyes, he added ' the purest.' For those are rightly called ' the purest dyes,' who were aforetime foul through wicked deeds, yet, the Spirit coming upon them, are clothed with the brilliancy of grace, that they should appear to be far other than they were. Whence also * Baptism,' i. e. ' dyeing ^' is the name given to our own descending into the \' tinewater itself. Since we are dyed, and we, who were before unsightly by the deformity of bad habits, on the faith being received are rendered beautiful by grace and the adornment of virtues. It goes on; Ver. 20, 21. Wlience then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? Seeing that it is hid from the eyes of all living.
88. It deserves to be especially considered, that it is asked liv. by the holy man, whence Wisdom cometh. For It ' comes' from Him from Whom It sprung. Now because It is born of the Invisible and Coeternal Father, the way thereof is hidden. Whence too it is said by the Prophet, And ichol^.^^^^. shall declare His generations? Now ' the place of the understanding of her' is the mind of man, which mind the Wisdom of God when it has filled makes holy. And so because both He is invisible, from Whom It came forth, and it is doubtful to us in whose mind It rests as being understood, it is rightly said now. Whence then cometh wisdom"? and ivhere is the place of understanding? But this is very wonderful that it is directly brought in; seeing that it is hidden from the eyes of all living. For if the Wisdom, which is God, had been ' hidden from the eyes of all living,' then surely this Wisdom no one of the Saints would have seen. But see, I hear John agreeing with this sentence, who says. No man hath seen Qod at any time. And again, when 1 1 John look at the Fathers of the Old Testament, I learn that^' ^^' many of those, as the very history of the Sacred Reading is ^.witness, did see God. Thus Jacob saw the Lord, who says, L 388 Moses mid others satv God only hy a semblance.
Job 28, For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. —-—- Moses likewise saw God, of whom it is written, And the 30. Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto ^ X. 33, Jiis friend. This very Job saw the Lord, who says, I have Job 42, heard of Thee hy the hearing of the ear; hut now mine eye Is. 6 \,^f^^l^^ Thee. Isaiah saw the Lord, who saith, In the year that king XJzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne 1 Y^\^^,%high and lifted up. Michaiah saw the Lord, who saith, / ' * saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left. What does it mean then that so many Fathers of the Old Testament have vvitnessed that they have seen God, and yet concerning this Wisdom, which is God, it is said. Seeing that it is hid. from the eyes of all living? And John saith. No man hath seen God at any time. Seeing this, which is plainly given us to understand, that so long as we live here a mortal life, God may be seen by certain semblances, but by the actual appearance of His Nature He cannot be seen, so that the soul being inspired with the grace of the Spirit should by certain figures behold God, but not attain to the actual power of His Essence? For hence it is that Jacob, who bears witness that he had seen God, saw Him not save in an Angel. Hence it is that Moses who ' talked with God face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend,' Ex. 33, ii^ the midst of the very words of his speaking, says, If, ^- / have found grace in Thy sight, shew Thyself manifestly ' Shew to me, that I may see Thee. For assuredly if it were not me 'Lhy Q_^^ ^\\h whom he was talkino^, he would have said, ' Shew me God,' and not ' Shew^ me Thyself.' But if it was God, with Whom he was speaking ' face to face,' wherefore did he pray to see Him, Whom he was seeing } But from this requesting of his, it is inferred that Him he was athirst to perceive in the brightness of His Incomprehensible nature, Whom he had already begun to see by certain semblances, that so the heavenly Essence might be present to the eyes of his mind, in order that for the vision of Eternity there might not be interposed to him any created semblance with the circumstances of time. And so the Fathers of the Old Testament saw the Lord, and yet according to the voice of John, No man hath seen God at any time; and according God never seen by arty that live to the world. 389 to the sentence of blessed Job, the Wisdom Which is God Book XVIII. is ' hid from the eyes of all living,' because by persons ' settled in this mortal life He was both able to be seen in certain comprehensible images, and not able to be seen in ' the Incomprehensible Light of Eternity.
89. But if it is so, that by some while still living in this corruptible flesh, yet growing in incalculable power by a certain piercingness of contemplation, the Eternal Brightness is able to be seen, this too is not at variance with the sentence of blessed Job, who says, Seeing that it is hid from the eyes of all living; because he that sees ' Wisdom,' Which is God, wholly and entirely dies to this life, that henceforth he should not be held by the love thereof. For no one has seen Her, who still lives in a carnal way, because no man can embrace God and the world at one and the same time. He who sees God dies by the mere circumstance alone, that either by the bent of the interior, or by the carrying out of practice, he is separated with all his mind from the gratifications of this life. Hence yet further it is said to that same Moses too; For there shall no man see Ex. 33, Me, and live. As though it were plainly expressed, ' No man ever at any time sees God spiritually and lives to the world carnally.' Hence Paul the Apostle too, w^ho as yet had learnt the invisible things of God, as he himself testifies, in part, related that henceforth he was dead all over to this i Cor. world, saying. By Whom the world is crucified unto me, and ^ \ ^ I unto the world. For as we have already said far above, it 14. is not enough for him to say, / am crucified to the world, except he also first out with, The world is crucified to me, that he might not only bear witness that he was dead to the world, but also that the world was dead to himself, so that neither he himself should covet the world, nor the world henceforth covet him. For if perchance there be two in one place, of whom one is alive, and the other dead, though the dead person does not see the living, yet the live one does see the dead. Now the Preacher of God, in order that he might shew that by the abasement whereby he had cast himself down in humbling himself he was now become such, that neither he himself longed after the world, nor the world after him; not only says that he was crucified 390 God seen in His Essence by Saints and An (/els. Job 28, to the world, that he himself as one dead should not see PRoii' *^® g^<^^y of the world, that he might long after, but likewise declared the world crucified to him, wherein he had cast himself down to the ground with such humility, that the world itself likewise, as if dead to him, could not now at all see Paul as being humble and despised.
90. But we are to know that there were some persons, who said that even in that region of blessedness God is beheld indeed in His Brightness, but far from beheld in His Nature. Which persons surely too little exactness of enquiry deceived. For not to that simple and unchangeable Essence is Brightness one thing, and Nature another; but Its very Nature is to It Brightness, and the very Brightness is Nature. For that to Its votaries the Wisdom of God should one day display Itself, He Himself pledges Johni4, His word, saying. He that loveth 3Ie, shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. As though He said in plain terms, ' Ye who see Me in your nature, it remains that ye should see Me in Matt 6, ]\j^ine own nature.' Hence He says again; Blessed are iCor. the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Hence Paul 13, 12. says. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, then shall I know even as also I am known.
91. But because it is said concerning God by the first 1 Pet. 1, preacher of the Church, Whom the Angels desire to look upon, there are some who imagine that even the Angels never see God; and yet we know that it is spoken by a Mat. 18, sentence of Truth, In heaven their Angels do always behold ^^' the face of My Father, Which is in heaven. Does, then. Truth sound one thing and the preacher of truth another? But if both sentences be compared together, it is ascertained, that they are not at all at variance with one another. For the Angels at once see and desire to see God, and thirst to behold and do behold. For if they so desire to see Him that they never at all enjoy the carrying out of their desire, desire has anxiety without fruit, and anxiety has punishment. But the blessed Angels are far removed from all punishment of anxiety, because never can punishment and blessedness meet in one. Again, when we say that these Angels are Desire and satisfaction abide together in Heaven. 391 satisfied vvitli the vision of God, because the Psahiiist too Book says, / shall he satisfied ichen I awake with Thy likeness,^ --' we are to consider that upon satisfying there follows dis- 15. gust. So then, that the two may rightly agree together, let Truth say, that they aUcays see; and let the excellent Preacher say, that they always desire to see. For that there be not anxiety in desire, in desiring they are satisfied, and that there be not disgust in their satisfying, whilst being satisfied they desire. And therefore they desire without suffering, because desire is accompanied by satisfying. And they are satisfied without disgust, because the very satisfying itself is ever being inflamed by desire. So also shall we too one day be, when w^e shall come to the fountain of life. There shall be delightfully stamped upon us at one and the same time a thirsting and a satisfying. But from the thirsting necessity is far absent, and disgust far from that satisfying, because at once in thirsting we shall be satisfied, and in being satisfied we shall thirst. Therefore we shall see God, and it shall be the very reward of our labour, that after the darkness of this mortal state we should be made glad by His light being approached unto.
92. But when we talk of His light being approached, that presents itself to the mind which Paul says, Dwelling 1 Tim. in the light which no man can approach unto, Whom?io man ' ' hath seen, nor can see. And again, I hear what the Psahnist says; Approach unto Him, and be enlightened. How thenPs.34,5. by approaching are we enlightened, if we see not the very Light by which we are able to be enlightened? But if by approaching to Him we see the very Light w^hereby we are enlightened, how is it declared to be unapproachable? Wherein it deserves to be considered that he called it unapproachable, but to every man that minds the things of men. Since sacred Scripture is used to mark all the followers of carnal things with the designation of the being ' men.' Whence the same Apostle says to certain persons at strife. For 1 Cor. wJiereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions,^ ^' ^' are ye not carnal, and walk as men? To which he soon afterwards appends, Are ye not men i And hence he elsewhere brought forward the testimony; Eye hath not seen,^ Cor.
392 God revealed to those who * walk'' not ^ as men.'' Job 28, 7Wr ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man p-^ — - the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. And when he had described this as hidden from ' men,' he 1 Cor. 2,21 j(je(^ directly, But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; separating his own self from the designation of ' man' in that having been transported above man he now tasted what is divine. So also in this place, when he told of the light of God being unapproachable, that he might shew to what persons unapproachable, he added. Whom 7io man hath seen, no nor can see. After his manner calling * men' all whose taste is for things of man. Because they who have a taste for what is divine, are doubtless above men. Therefore we shall see God, if by a heavenly conversation we obtain to be above men. Not yet that we shall so see Him as He Himself sees His very own Self. For the Creator sees Himself in a way far unlike to that in which the creature sees the Creator. For as to the unmeasurableness of God there is a certain measure of contemplation set to us, because we are limited by the mere weight that we are a creature.
93. But assuredly we do not so behold God, as He sees Himself, as we do not so rest in God, as He rests in Himself. For our sight or our rest will be to a certain degree like to His sight or His rest, but not equal to it. For lest we should be prostrate in ourselves, the wing of contemplation, so to say, uplifts us, and we are carried up from ourselves for the beholding Him, and being carried away by the bent of the heart and the sweetness of contemplation, in a certain manner go away from ourselves into Himself, and now this very going away of ours is not to rest, and yet so to go is most perfectly to rest. And so it is perfect rest because God is discerned, and yet it is not to be equalled to His rest, Who doth not pass on from Himself into another, that He may rest. And therefore the rest is^ so to say, like and unlike, because what His rest is, our rest imitates. For that we may be blessed and eternal for everlasting, we imitate the Everlasting. And it is a great eternity tons to be imitating eternity. Nor are we heritless of Him Whom we imitate, because in seeing we partake, and in partaking Vision of God begun here by faith. 393 imitate Him. Which same sight is now begun by faith, Book but is then perfected in Appearance, when wc drink at the — ■ — ' very springhead the Wisdom coeternal with God which we now derive through the lips of those that preach, as it were in running streams.
BOOK XIX.
The iuterpretation being carried on from the last part of the twenty- first verse of the twenty-eighth chapter to the twenty-first verse of the following chapter exclusive, various meanings are laid open not less learnedly than piously, chiefly concerning Christ and the Church.
Myst. 1. What wonder is it if the Eternal ' Wisdom' of God is not able to be seen, when the very invisible things themselves as well, which were created thereby, cannot be embraced by the eyes of men? So then by things created we leani with what self-abasement to revere the Creator of all things; so that in this life the human mind should not dare to usurp to itself aught belonging to the Appearance of Almighty God, which He reserves for His Elect only as their reward in the ensuing Recompensing. Whence after it was said, II is hid from the eyes of all living, we have the words thereupon introduced next; Chap, xxviii. 21. And is kept close also from the fowls of the air.
i. 2. For in Holy Scripture ' birds' are sometimes given to be understood in a bad sense, and sometimes in a good sense.
Since by the birds of the air occasionally the powers of the air are denoted, being hostile to the settled purposes of good Matt. men. Whence it is said by the mouth of Truth, And when ' * he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it; in this way, because evil spirits besetting the minds of men, whilst they bring in bad thoughts, pluck the word of life out of the memory.
Hence again it is said to a certain rich man full of proud Matt. 8, thoughts; The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have Luke 9, nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His Head, ^^' For foxes are very cunning animals, that hide themselves in ditches and caves; and when they face the light, they never run in straight courses, but always by crooked doublings.
' Fowls of the alr^ in yood and bad sense. 395 But the birds as we know with lofty flight lift themselves Book into the air. So, then, by the name of ' foxes,' the crafty - and cunning demons, and by the title of the ^ birds of the air' these same proud demons are denoted. As if he said, ' The deceitful and uplifted demons find their habitation in your heart; i. e. in the imagination of pride,' ^but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His Head,' i. e. ' My humility findeth not rest in your proud mind.' For as by a kind of flight that first bird lifted itself up, which said in the uplifted imagination of the heart: I will ascend into heaven. I will^^-^^-, exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Mark how he in flying sought the regions on high with pride. Which same flight also he recommended to the first of human kind as well. For they themselves by flying as it were tried to go above their own selves, when it was told them that they should taste and be like gods. And while they seek after the likeness of the Deity, they lost the blessings of immortality, which same would not by dying have gone into the earth, if they had been willing to stand with humility upon the earth.
3. But, on the other hand, ' the birds of the air' are wont to be put in a good sense, as in the Gospel the Lord, when He was declaring a likeness of the kingdom of heaven by a grain of mustard seed, said. Unto what is the kijigdomJ-nVeiSy of heaven like? and whereunto shall 1 reseynble it f It is ' ' like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took omd cast into his garden, and it grew and waxed a great tree, and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it. For He is Himself* a grain of mustard seed,' Who, when He was planted in the burial place of the garden, rose up a great tree. For He was ' a grain,' whereas He died, but * a tree,' whereas He rose again. ' A grain,' through the abasement of the flesh, * a tree,' through the mightiness of His Majesty. ' A grain,' because we have seen Him, and He was notis.53 2. regarded; but ' a tree,' because fairer in form than theVsA5,2. children of men. The branches of this tree are the holy preachers. And let us see how wide they are stretched out. For what is said concerning them? Their sound is gone Vs.iOjA. forth into all the earth, and their ivords to the end of the 396 Evil spirits know God but afar off.
Job 2^, world. In these ' boughs the birds of the air rest,' because Myst.
the holy souls, which by a kind of wings of virtues lift themselves up from earthly thinking, do in the word and consolations of these take breath from the wearying of this life. And so in this place after it was said of ' Wisdom,' It is hid from the eyes of all men; it is rightly added. It is kept close also from the fowls of the air: because being settled in the corruptible flesh, these very persons do not in seeing penetrate the mightiness of His Nature, who earn by holy contemplation even now to fly with wings. Where it is well added, Ver. 22. Destruction and death say, We have heard the fmne thereof with our ears.
ii- 4. Who are denoted by the title of ' destruction and death,' save the evil spirits, who proved the inventors of ^ destruction and of death,' as of their leader himself under the appearance Rev. 6, of his minister it is said by John, And Ids name was Death. Unto whom all spirits of pride being subject, say concerning this ' Wisdom,' Which is God, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears, in this way, that the vision thereof doubtless they could not have with complete blessedness. For perfectly to see the Wisdom coeternal with God, is the same thing as to ^ have.' Hence it is said to John of the Rev. 2, reward of one conquering, / will give him a tvhite stone, and in the stone a new name iv7'itten, which no man knoweth saving he that receive! h it. For in this life we are able either to know or see sometimes a thing even which we have not received; but to have * a new name written on a white stone* is in an eternal recompense to have the knowledge of God strange to the faculties of men, which no man can know saving he that receiveth it. Therefore as we have said, because to see God is the same thing that it is to have, therefore the evil spirits do not see this ^ Wisdom,' because being cast off through pride they were never able to have It. For they shut the eyes of the heart to the light of It, resisting the rays thereof shed abroad over them, as that may be also Job 24, understood of the same evil spirits, which is written, They are of those that rebel against the light. And so for evil spirits to have ' heard of the fame of Wisdom,' but not to have seen that Wisdom, is at once to have ascertained the power thereof by its efficacy, and yet to have been unwilling The Father the * Place' of the Son, Manhood His * waij: S97 to stand humbly under it. Hence it is said by the voice of Book ■XT fxr Truth of the actual head of evil spirits, He was a murdere?-- ^ f7'07?i the hegiiining, and abode not in the truth. It follows; 44. ' Vor. 23. God understandeth the way thereof, and He knoweth the place thereof.
5. This Wisdom coeternal with God has * a way' in one iii. sense, and in another sense * a place;' but only a ' place,' if a person understand it a place not local. For God is not capable of beinpj held close after the manner of a body. But as has been said, a place not local is meant. The ^ place' of * Wisdom' is the Father, ' the place' of the Father is ' Wisdom,' as. Wisdom Herself bearing testimony, it is said, / am in the Father, and the Father in Me. So then the Johni4, same identical Wisdom has * a way' in one sense, and ' a^^' place' in another sense; * a way' by the passing of the manhood, ' a place' by the settledness of the Godhead. For She passes not by in ihe respect that She is eternal, but She does pass by in the respect that for our sakes She appeared subject to time. For it is thus written in the Gospel, And as Meit.20, they departed from Jericho, the Lord passed by. And, behold, ^^* ^^• two blind men, sitting by the way side, cried out, saying. Have mercy on us, O Lord, Thou Son of David. At whose voice, as it is there written, Jesus stood still, and restored ver. 32.
light. Now what is it to hear passing by, but to restore sight standing still, but that by His manhood He compassionated us. Who by the power of His Godhead banished from us the darkness of our souls? For in that for our sakes He was born and suffered, that He rose again and ascended into heaven, it is as if Jesus passed by, because surely these are doings in time. But He touched and enlightened them standing still, because not as that temporal economy doth likewise the Word's Eternity pass by, Which while remaining in Itself renews all things. For God's standing is His ordering all things mutable by immutable purposing. He, then. Who heard the voices of those imploring Him while ' passing by,' restored light standing still. For though for our sakes He underwent things temporal, yet He bestowed light upon us by the same thing that He knows not to have the passing of mutability. Therefore because when He should through flesli appear to men was an uncertain thing, 398 The * place* and ' waif of Wisdom in man unseen.
Job 28, it is rightly said now, God understandeth the way thereof^ ■^r — '— and He knoweth the place thereof. As though it were expressed in plain words; 'To the thought of man the two are hidden, whether the time when by flesh Wisdom may come to men, or the mode how, even when He appears without, He continues invisible with the Father.
6. Although this may also be understood in another sense. For ' the way thereof is not inappropriately taken to be that actual thing that comes into the mind, and infuses itself into us in the interior. And ' the place thereof the heart becomes, coming unto which She abides. Thus of this Her way it is Mat. 3, said. The voice of one crying in the wildoness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord; i. e. * Open in your hearts an entrance Ps.68,4.to Wisdom at Her coming;* as it is elsewhere said; Make a way for him, that a^cendeth above the setting. For to ' ascend over the setting,' was by rising again to have got the mastery over that very death, He had undergone. And so he says, For him, that ascendeth over the setting, make ye a way; i. e. ' To the Lord on His rising again make a way in your hearts by faith.' Hence it is said to John by Luke 1, the Spirit; Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to prepare His ways. For every one that by preaching cleanses the hearts of those that hear him from the defilements of bad habits, prepares a way for Wisdom on Her coming. Thus, this ' Wisdom' hath ' a way,' and hath ' a place;' ' a way' w^hereby She comes, ' a place' wherein She abides; as She JohnH, Herself saith; If any man love Me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. So then there is * a way' by which She comes, ' a place' wherein She abideth. But whereunto does She come. Who is every where? Is it for Wisdom to come, by the enlightening of our mind to make the presence of Her mightiness to appear? And because it^is doubtful to men both into what person's heart She comes, or in what man, after She has come. She rests in abiding there, it is rightly said now, God understandeth the way thereof, and He knoweth the place thereof Because it appertains to the ; Divine sight alone to see, whether by what methods the peri ception of Wisdom may come to the heart of man, or whose / soul shall not lose by deadly imaginations the understanding Eye of God. Man but light ivithoiit a gift from Him. 899 of life, which it has been vouchsafed. And because this Book XTX same * Wisdom' made manifest by the graciousness of the - Manhood was destined in all the regions of the world to fill to the full the hearts of the Elect, it is rightly added; Ver. 14. For he regardeth the ends of the earth.^ and seeth all things that are imder the heaven.
7. For God's ' regarding' is the renewing to His grace the iv. things that w^ere lost and undone; whence it is written, A Prov. King that sitteth in the throne of judgment scatter eth away'^^^ all evil with His eyes. For by regarding He restrained the evils of our lightness, and bestowed great worth of maturedness. Whence it is further added; Who made the weight for the winds.
8. For in the Holy Scripture, by the rapidity and subtlety v. of the winds souls are used to be denoted, as it is spoken by the Psalmist of God; Who walketh above the ivings of theVs.\Oi, winds; i. e. 'Who passes above the virtues of souls.' * "^* Accordingly ' He made the weight for the winds,' in that whilst Wisdom from above fills souls, it renders them weighty with imparted maturity, not with that weightiness, of which it is said. Ye children of men, how long with a heavy heart. Ps. 4,2. For it is one thing to be weighty in respect of counsel, and another in respect of sin; it is one thing to be weighty, by constancy, another to be weighty by offence. For this latter weightiness has weight of burthen, the other weight of merit. Thus, therefore, souls receive weight, that they should not henceforth with light motion glance off from their aim at God, but be made to settle into Him with immoveable weightiness of constancy. Still was that people lightly moved to and fro, of which it is said by the Prophet, And la. 57 ^ he went on frowardly in the way of his own heart. I have ^^' seen his ways: and I let him go. But weighty counsel in heart banishes all inconstancy of wandering. And because there are souls, that with light motion are now after one set of objects, now after another, Almighty God, because these very light waverings of men's minds He does not estimate lightly, by abandoning passes judgment on the wandering of the heart. But w^hen through grace He regards the wandering mind. He fixes it into stedfasiness of counsel. And so it is rightly said now, And made weight for the winds; 400 ' Waters,^ meaning here Elect souls, kept to measure.
Job 28, because the light motions of the mindjjwhen lie deigns to regard with mercifulness, He directly fashions that mind to maturedness of constancy. Or otherwise to ' make weight for the winds,' is to qualify with intermixed infirmity the glory resulting from virtuous achievements, which is vouchsafed to the Elect here. Whence it is also subjoined; And he weigheth the waters by measure, vi. 9. * Waters' in Holy Scripture are wont sometimes to denote the Holy Spirit, sometimes sacred knowledge, sometimes wrong knowledge, sometimes calamity, sometimes drifting peoples, sometimes the minds of those following the faith. Thus by water we have the Inpouring of the Holy John 7, Spirit represented, as when it is said in the Gospel, He • * that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Where the Evangelist following on ^dded; But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. Again, by water Ecclus. sacred knowledge is denoted, as it is said; And give him ' * the water of wisdom to drink. By water likewise bad knowledge is wont to be designated, as when the woman in Solomon, who bears a type of heresy, charms with crafty Prov. 9, persuasion, saying, Stole?i waters are sweet. By the term of waters too tribulation are used to be signified, as it is said Ps.69,i.by the Psalmist, Save me, 0 God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul. By water peoples are denoted, as it Rev. 17, is said by John, Now the waters are peoples. By water likewise not only the tide of peoples drifting away, but also the minds of good men that follow the preachings of faith, Is. 32, are denoted, as the Prophet saith. Blessed are ye that sow * upo7i all waters. And it is said by the Psalmist; The voice 3. ' of the Lord is upon the waters. In this place, then, what is denoted by the title of ' waters,' saving the hearts of the Elect, which by the understanding of Wisdom, have now received the hearing of the heavenly voice? Touching whom it is rightly said; And weigheth the waters by measure. Because the very Saints, who by the Holy Spirit bearing them up are transported on high, so long as they are in this life, that they may not swell high with any self-elation, are kept down by certain temptations, that they may never have the power to advance as much as they have the wish, but lest they should Elijah, with great yi/ts, made safe by iveaknesses. 401 be exalted by pride, there takes place in them a kind of Book measure of their very virtues. - 10. It is hence that Elijah, after that by so many achievements he had advanced on high, was suspended aloft by a kind of measure, when he afterwards fled from Jezebel, though a queen, yet only a weak woman. For I consider with myself that this man of marvellous power drew down fire from heaven, and once and again by momentary beseeching consumed the captains of fifty with all their men, by a word shut up the heavens from rain, by a word opened the heavens to rain, raising the dead, foreseeing the several things to come, and, lo, again it occurs to mind, with what dismay he fled before a single weak woman. I see the man, as being stricken with fear, from the hand of God seeking death, yet not obtaining it, from the hand of a woman shunning death by taking to flight. For he sought death, whilst he fled, saying, // is enough; 7iow, O Lord, take away my life; fori Kings / am iwt better than my fathers. Whence then was he ' so powerful as to perform those so numerous miracles? whence so weak as to be dismayed at a woman, except that ' the waters are weighed with measure;' that the very Saints of God should at once prevail greatly through the power of God, and again be limited by a kind of measure through their own infirmity. In those powers Elijah learnt what he had received from God, in these weaknesses what he had power to be by himself. That mightiness was power, this weakness the keeper of power. In these powers he shewed what he had received, in these weaknesses that which he had received he kept safe. In the miracles Elijah was to be brought out to view, in the weaknesses he.was to be preserved secure.
11. In the same way I see that Paul, encountering 2 Cor. the perils of rivers and robbers, of the city and the wil- ^ ' * derness, of sea and land, bridling the body by fasts and watchings, undergoing the ills of cold and nakedness, exercising himself watchfully and with pastoral care to the safe-keeping of the Churches, being cauglit up into the third heaven, and again caught up into Paradise, at once heard secret words which it is not permitted to man to utter, and yet is given over to an angel of Satan to be tempted; he prays that he might be released, and is not VOL. II. D d L 402 *S'/. PauVs infirmity safely to him, instruction to us.
Job 28, heard. And when 1 look to the mere beginnings of his