to be despised, and lest they should chance to be judged as • contemptible, aim to appear wise. These are driven to ' go forth out of the door,' because when assailed with insults, how great in themselves they lie buried from sight, they give out telling it. And when being overcome by impatience they put forth things about themselves, which were unknown, they as it were ' go forth by the door' of the mouth. And so blessed Job being about to say, that he had never ^ gone forth out of the door of the lips,' justly set before; I kept silence; i. e. because agitated by impatience he would have gone forth out of the house of the conscience, if he had not known how to keep silence. For holy men, when they are under the trial of being perturbed, shun wholly and entirely to exhibit themselves to view, and when they cannot benefit those that hear them, they are willing by keeping silence to be even despised, lest they pride themselves upon the exhibition of their own wisdom. And when they say any thing with good understanding, they seek not their own glory, but the life of their hearers. But when they see that they cannot by speaking gain the life of their hearers, by keeping silence they hide their own knowledge.
For we hie to the imitating the life of the Lord, as to a kind of mark set before us. For He Himself, because He sawthat Herod sought not advancement, but that he desired to wonder at His signs or His knowledge, on being asked by him held His tongue, and because He kept silence with constancy. He went forth derided by him. For it is written; Lulce23, And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad; for he was desirous to see Him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some V. 9. miracles done by Him: where it is also added; Then he questioned with Him in m,any words, but He answered him nothing. But how greatly the Lord in holding His peace was despised, is shewn when the words are brought in there V.. directly; And Herod with his men of war set Him at nought, and mocked Him. Which same transaction we ought to hear and learn, in order that as often as our hearers desire to be made acquainted with things of ours, as things to be praised, and not to alter what is wrong of their God'^s gift to be owned, His praise only to he sought. 579 own, we should altogether hold our peace; lest, if we speak Book XXII.
the Word of God with the design of display, both the fault of those persons, which then was, should not cease to be, and our own fault, which was not, should be brought to pass.
39. A person will perhaps say, ' How do we know with what feelings of the heart a man will hear?' But there arc a number of things that bring to light the mind of him who hears; first and foremost, if our hearers both aU^ays praise what they hear, and never follow the thing that they praise. This vain glory of speaking the great Preacher had shunned, w^hen he said, For we are not as many, which '^^^^v.i, corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, hut as from God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. For to ' corrupt the Word of God' is to think of Him otherwise than He is, or to seek from it not spiritual fruits, but the corrupt offspring of human praise. But ' to speak as of sincerity,' is not to seek for aught in Revelation beyond what behoves. Now he * speaks as from God,' who knows that he himself hath not from himself, but that he hath received from God what he says. And he speaks ' before God,' who in all that he speaks seeks not human regards, but minds the presence of Almighty God, and who looks for, not his own glory, but the glory of his Creator. But he who indeed knows well that he has himself received from God the thing that he speaks, and yet in speaking seeks his own glory, speaks ^ as from God,' but not ' before God,' because Him he considers as absent. Whom he does not set before his heart, when he preaches Him. But holy men at once* speak as from God' and * before God,' in that they both know that they have from Him the thing that they say, and they see that He is Himself present at their discoursings, their Judge and their Hearer. Hence it comes to pass, that whereas they know themselves to be set at nought by their neighbours, and that their words do not advantage the life of the persons hearing them, they hide from sight what great goodness they are of, lest if the speech delivered disclose the secret of the heart to no purpose, it should break forth into vain glory.
40. Therefore blessed Job in the midst of stubborn hearts not aiming to shine forth by the disclosure of his virtue, 580 Christ for eshewu as concealing His Divinity.
Job 31, says, And if the contempt of neighbours terrified mc, and I did not rather keep silence, and went not out of the door.
Hist.
For he who being stedfast through humihty never feared to be despised, him never did impatience master, that the tongue should cast him forth out of doors. When it is riglitly put first. If I feared at an exceeding great multitude; that it might be seen and known what great constancy he was of, in this respect, because no number of men ever terrifies without, whom no rout of bad habits lays waste within. For in this life he who seeks nothing that has to do with prosperity, doubtless dreads nothing that has to do with adversity. Myst. 41, Which same words if we carry on to a mystical meaning, we directly find therein the Redeemer's mode of practice. For He was not ' afraid at an exceeding great multitude,' Who smote with a single answer only His persecutors coming Johnis, with swords and staves, saying, / am He. ' Him the contempt of His neighbours did not terrify,' Who, in freeing us from eternal punishments, received strokes on the face wilh a composed mind. ' He kept silence, and did not go forth out of the door,' Who in the very hour now of His Passion, when He was undergoing the weak conditions of humanity, refused to call into action the power of Divinity. For to the Mediator between God and man it would have been ' to go forth out of the door,' if when He was held as Man He had been minded to display the power of His Majesty, and by the mightiness of His Divinity to surmount the weak conditions of the flesh taken upon Him. For that He might die manifest to man, 1 Cor. 2, He remained hidden God. For had they known it, they ^' would never have crucified the Lord of Glory, And so He did not ^ go forth out of the door,' Who even when questioned by Pilate kept silence; and in the midst of the hands of the persecutors He both offered His Body to suffering, which He had taken upon Him in behalf of the Elect, and would not display to those that were against Him W^hat He was.
Ps.88,8. Whence also it is said by the Psalmist; They have made 3Ie an abomination unto them, I was given up, and I went not forth. For when He was despised because He appeared man. He would have * gone forth,' if He had been minded to display His hidden Majesty. But because He brought infirmity to The Helper with God, whom. Job seeks, is our Lord, 581 view, and hid power from sight, herein, that He remained Book unknown to His persecutors, to those persecutors He did not — * go forth.' Who, however, does ' go forth' to the Elect, because to those that seek for it, He discloses the sweetness of His Divine Nature. Whence it is said to Him by the Prophet, Thou xventest forth for the salvation of Thy people, B.?ih. 3, that Thou mightest save Thine Anointed. It goes on: ^^' Ver. 35. Who would (jive me a helper that the Almighty might hear my desire.
42. The holy man after he related so many high achieve- xvii. ments of the virtues in him, knowing well that he cannot Hist.
attain to the things on high by his own deserts, seeks for a helper. And whom verily does he fix his eye on but the Only-begotten Son of God, Who whereas He took upon Him human nature travailir.g in this mortal state, did give help? For He helped man, being made Man; that because to mere man there was no way open of returning to God, there should be made a Way of returning by means of The God- Man ^ For we were far removed from the Righteous and ' Homo-Immortal One, being mortal and unrighteous. But between the Immortal and Righteous One and ourselves the mortal and unrighteous, appeared the Mediator of God and man, mortal and righteous. Who might at once own death with mortals, and righteousness with God; that whereas by our things below we were far removed from things above. He might in Himself singly unite the things below with the things above, and that herein there might be a Way made for us of returning to God, in the degree that He joined ours beneath with His own on high. This One then blessed Job, in his personating of the whole Church, asks for as Mediator, who when he had said, Who would give me a helper, suitably added, that the Almighty anight hear my desii'e. For he knew that for the rest of Eternal deliverance, the prayers of man can never be heard excepting through his Advocate. Concerning Whom it is said by the Apostle John; If any one sin, we have an Advo- ^ John cate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous; and ' He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, hut for the sins of the whole world. Concerning Whom Paul likewise saith; It is Christ Jesus that died for its, yea, Rom. 8, rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right ' 582 Inward desire^ the prayer heard hy God.
Joe 'di^hand of God, Who also maketh inter cession for us* For, for Q K the Only-begotten Son to ' intercede' for man, is to shew Hist.
Himself Man in the presence of the Coeternal Father, and for Him to have besought for human nature, is to have taken upon Him that same nature in the loftiness of the Divine Nature. And so the Lord intercedes for us not with the voice but by the act of compassionating; because that which He would not should be condemned in the Elect, He set free by taking upon Himself. And so a helper is sought for, that ' the desire may be heard;* because except that the intercession of the Mediator were employed in our behalf, surely the accents of our prayers would remain silent to the ear of God.
43. Moreover it requires to be noted that it is not said, * my prayers,' but, my desire, that the Almighty might hear. For true beseeching does not lie in the accents of the lips, but in the thoughts of the heart. For the stronger accents in the deepest ears of God it is not our words that make, but our desires. For if we seek eternal life with the mouth, but yet do not desire it with the heart, in crying out we keep silence. But if we desire in the heart, even when we are silent with the mouth, in being silent we cry out. It is hence that in the wilderness the people clamour with their voices, and Moses is still to the clamouring of words, and yet whilst keeping still he is heard by the ear of divine Pity, Exod. whereas it is said, Wherefore criest thou unto Me? Thus ■^^' ^ • within in the desire is the secret cry, which does not reach to the ears of men, and yet fills the hearing of the Creator. It is hence that Anna going to the temple was silent indeed w^ith the lips, and yet uttered so many accents of her desire. Matt.6, Flence the Lord says in the Gospel, Enter into thy chamber, and iihen thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father Which is in secret, and thy Fat Iter Which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. For 'the door being shut he prays in his chamber,' who while his mouth is silent, pours forth the affection of the heart in the sight of the Pitifulness Above.
And the voice is ' heard in secret,' when there is a crying out in silence by holy desires. Whence also it is rightly Ps. 10, said by the Fsalmist, The Lord hath heard the desire of the ^" poor; Thine ear hath heard the preparing of their heart.
The Judge sought, to write the Book of the new Covenant. 583 Now blessed Job in the subjoined words discloses whom he Book seeks for himself as a helper, in the * hearing of his desire,' ^^^^' saying, And that he himself who judgeth tcould write a book!
44. P^or because to the People still fearing, the Law was xviii. committed by the hands of a Servant, but upon the loving Children, the grace of the Gospel was_ bestowed by the Lord, Who as coming for our Redemption, instituted the New Covenant for us, but in examining as touching the precept of that Covenant one day cometh as Judge also, it is not requisite that by explaining it should be made clear, that He Who Judges is the Same Who writes a book. For Truth Itself says by Itself, The Father judgeth no man, but John 5, hath committed all judgment unto the Son. And so He will then be the Enacter of judgment Who is now the Composer of the ' book;' that He should then demand in strictness, what He now bids in mildness. For thus we see every day that masters set children the rudiments of their letters caressing them, but exact those of them dealing hardly with them; and what they give with gentleness, they require back with the rod. For now the precepts of Divine Revelation sound gentle, but they shall be to be thought harsh in the exacting of them. Now, there is a gentle warning of One calling, but then there shall come the strict justice of the Judge, because it is certain that no whit even of the very least commandment will pass without scrutinizing. By which same it is apparent that He that * judgeth is the Same That wrote the Book,' Which same ' Book' of the New Testament, that the Redeemer of man should Himself frame in His own Person at the last, the Prophet Ezekiel rightly tells forth, saying, And behold sice men came from the way Ez.9, 2, of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writefs inkhorn at his reins. For what else is there denoted in the ' six men coming' but the six ages' of mankind? Who ' come from * St. Gregory's division of ages, Horn, meant is probably that in St. Isidore of in Ev. xix. §. 1. from Adam to Noah, Seville, Etym. lib. v. c. 39. De dis- Noah to Abraham, Abraham to Moses, cretione temporum, where two more Moses to Our Lord, and then to the divisions are made, at David, and the end, will not suit this place. What is Captivity. He compares tliese ages to 584 Christ as a Writer foreshewii to Ezekiel.
Job 31, the way of the higher gate,' because from the state of Paradise Proph —■-as from the beginning of the world, they are unwound from the upper generations. Which ' gate h)ol<s to the Nortli' in this way, because the mind of man lying open to evil, except that, abandoning the warmth of charily, it had courted the numbness of the interior, would never have gone out to this breadth of mortality. And every man a slaugliter weapon in his hand; because each particular generation being evolved by the several respective ages, before the Coming of the Redeemer, had in its practice that wherefrom it took the punishment of condemnation. And one man among them was clothed with linen. Because our Redeemer deigned to have parents even of the priestly Tribe ^ after the flesh. He is described as coming ' clothed with linen.' Or, surely, because linen is from the earth, and is not like wool produced from the corruptible flesh, seeing that He derived the covering of His Body from a Virgin mother, and not by the corruptness of copulation, therefore He came to us ' clothed with linen.'
And a writer s inkhorn at his reins. In the ' reins' is the hind part of the body. And because the Lord Himself after that He died for our sakes, and rose again, and ascended up into heaven, then wrote the New Testament through the Apostles, this man had an ' inkhorn at his reins.' For He Who after He departed framed the writing of the New Testament, as it were, carried an ' inkhorn' behind him. Thus this ' inkhorn' he sees to hold fast to the man * clothed with linen,' who says. And that the same wJw judges would write a hook. But wherefore, blessed Job, desirest thou that a book should be written by Him, Who is Judge? It goes on; Ver. 36. TJtat I might hear it upon my shoulder^ and put it round me like a crown. xix. 45. To ' bear the book upon the shoulder,' is by practising to carry out Holy Scripture. And observe how orderly it is described both first as being * carried on the shoulder,' and afterwards * put round' him ' as a crown;' because, that is the days of Creation. The same division Elisabeth, 'of the daughters of Aaron/ is given in the beginning of his Chroni- was a kinswoman of the Blessed con. Virgin. Luke 1, 5. and 36. '' ' Tribii,' perhaps ' nation,' bat J oh seeks his ' Book' in the peisoti of l/ie Elect. 585 to say, the precepts of Sacred Revelation, if they be now Book borne in practice, afterwards set forth for us the crown of '■ victory in the recompensing. But wliy does blessed Job beg for ' the book to be written by the Judge,' who was not able to attain to the times of the New Testament? But, as has been often said already, he uses the accents of the Elect, and in the personifying of them begs that, which he foresaw would benefit them in all respects. For he himself by the Spirit had for long had that book with him, which by the grace of Inspiration he had obtained, that both by living he should be made acquainted with, and by foreseeing he should announce.
But herein it requires to be known that when we take thought of the precepts of Sacred Revelation, and when we draw off the mind from love of the life of corruption, we as it were hasten on by a kind of footsteps of the heart, to the interior scene of things. Now no man, in abandoning things below, is directly made at the top; because for earning the title to perfection, whilst the soul is day by day being led forward on high, doubtless there is an attaining thereto as it were by a kind of steps of ascending. Whence in this place also it is fitly added; By my several steps I will declare it.
46. Since concerning these * steps' of merits it is said by xx. the Psalmist, They go from virtue to virtue. Concerning Ps.84,7. these, again, regarding Holy Church he says; God is distin- Ps.48,3. guished in her steps, what time He shall receive her. jTor^^^^^ neither is there any attaining suddenly to things above, as has been said, but to the topmost pitch of virtuous attainments the soul is led on by accessions. For hence it is that the same Prophet saith again; I was exercised^ and my spirit Ps-77,3. failed little by little. What does he mean, then, that he says, my spirit, but the spirit of man, i. e. the spirit of exaltation? And because by secret grace we advance to the love of God by a measure regulated from above, in proportion as virtue is daily increased in us by the Spirit of God, our own spirit proportionably goes off. Which spirit of error, because it is not at once cut clean away from us, is justly recorded to have ' failed little by little.' But we then make complete advance in God, when we have wholly and 586 Several stages of advancement in the Elect.
Job 31, entirely fallen away from ourselves. Thus these measures of ^^ ' growing virtues by the words of the holy man are styled ' steps.' For every elect person sets out from the tenderness of his embryo in the first instance, and afterwards comes to firmness for strong and vigorous achievements. Which thing 26— 99 ' "^"^^^^ plainly shews in the Gospel, saying. So is the kingdom ' of heaven^ as if a man should cast seed into the groimd, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up he knoweth not how. Which same seed describing the growths of He adds; For the earth bringelh forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. The end of whose progress too he also makes to succeed, saying. But when it has brought forth the fruits from itself, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. Observe, by the voice of Truth the accessions of merits are marked out by the characters of fruits. For He says, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. Was not Peter still a ' blade' then, when by the mouth of a maid he was in a moment bent down by the blast of a single speech, already green indeed through devotednessj but still tender through infirmity. But he was found ' full corn in the ear' when he withstood the Acts 6, rulers persecuting him, saying, TVe ought to obey God rather than men. For he was found ' full corn in the ear' when, in the winnowing of persecution, he underwent such numberless wounds, but yet he was never made small after the manner of chaff", but continued whole grain. For little by little in each several soul, so to say, the moisture of interior grace abounds, that the blade may grow into fruit. So let no one when he sees any neighbour still a ' blade' despair of the ' full corn.' Since from the leaves of the blades, which hang softly, flowing hither and thither, the rising grains of fruitage come to firmness.
47. Now the Prophet Daniel, whereas, when the Lord was speaking to him, he made it his business to tell us the posture of his body, did rightly represent these stages of Dan. 10, merits. Thus he says; Yet heard 1 the voice of his words, ^—^^' and when I heard the voice of his words, then teas I dismayed upon my face, and my face clave to the ground. And, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my The same shewn by DavicTs postures in his Vision. 587 knees, and upon the joints of my hands. And he said, Book 0 Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that '- 1 speak unto thee, and stand upright; for unto thee am I now sent: and when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling; and he said unto me. Fear not. Which same posture of his body, whilst he was Hstening to the words of one speaking inwardly, he would never set forth to us with so much pains, if he had known it to be void of mysteries. For in Sacred Writ not only what holy men say is prophecy, but also very often what they do. Thus the holy man, being pregnant with interior mysteries, by the posture of his body, likewise represents the power of the voice; and by this that he first lay prostrate on the earth, by this that he afterwards set himself up on the joints of his hands and on his knees, by this that at last he stood fast erect indeed, yet trembling, he makes known to us in his own person all the order of our progress. For the words of God we hear * lying on the ground,' when being settled in our sins, allied to earthly pollution, we are made acquainted with spiritual precepts from the voice of the Saints. At which precepts, we are as it were set up upon our knees and the joints of our hands, because withdrawing ourselves from earthly defilements, we as it were henceforth lift up our mind from things below. For as he wholly cleaves to the ground, who lies dismayed, so he who is bent down upon his knees and the joints of his fingers, his advancement commencing, is already in a gieat measure hung aloft from earth. But at the last by the voice of the Lord we stand there erect indeed, yet trembling, in that being perfectly lifted up from earthly objects of desire, the more fully we know the words of God, the more we are afraid. For he as it were still lies prostrate on the ground, who by desires after the earthly cares nothing to be lifted up to the heavenly. But it is as if he being lifted up still * rested upon his hands and knees,' who already forsakes some defilements, but does not yet withstand some earthly practices. But he now stands there present erect at the words of God, who perfectly lifts up the mind to things aloft, and scorns to be bent down by impure desires.
48. Now he rightly shews that he * stood trembling;' because the scrutinv of interior exactness is the more fear- 588 From faith we learn Jlrst fear, then love.
Job 81, fully dreaded, the more advanced the progress in respect ■ ' - thereto. Where it is fitly subjoined by the voice of God, Fear not; because the more that we ourselves learn what we should have occasion to fear, the more we have infused in us from God by interior grace what may call for love, so that both our contempt little by little may pass away into fear, and fear pass away into charity; that wherein God when He seeks us, by contempt we withstand, and by fear flee from, both contempt and fear being one day set aside, we should be joined to Him by love only. For httle by little we learn even the very fear of Him% to the love of Whom only we are attached. And thus as it were there being placed a kind of steps of our advance, the foot of the mind first by fear we set below, and afterwards by charity lift it to the heights of love, that from that wherewith a man is pufiTed up he may be checked, so that he fear, and from that, which he now dreads he may be lifted up, that he may have boldness. Now these steps of virtuous attainments it is no great labour to lay hold of, since there is the passing from one to another.
49. But the subject requires the nicest handling, when the mind strives to estimate in the case of one and the same virtue with what steps of advancement it is lifted up. For to mention the first elements of virtue, i. e. faith and wisdom, they cannot be severally gained, except we ascend thereto by marked and ordered methods as by a kind of steps. For faith itself which imbues us for taking in hand in a perfect manner what else there is good, very often in its beginnings both totters and is firmly based, and it is now held most surely, and yet touching the assurance thereof there is still trembling under the effects of misgiving. For a part of it is received first, that it may be afterwards perfectly completed in us. For if there were not an advancing by a sure step in the mind of one who believes, the father of the child to be healed would not have said on being ques-Mark 9, tioned, in the Gospel, Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief. And so he was still ascending upwards as to the faith which he had already received, who at one and the same time both ^ The readings vary. The Ben. MSS. and others at Oxford, ' Eum Editor seems not to have seen that timere dedisciraus, eique vi solius &c.'
noticed in the Italian reprint, which ' we unlearn fearing Him, and are atis also in the Merton and Trin. Coll. tached to Him by the force of love alone.'
EzekieVs vision of waters shews the steps of righteousness. 589 cried out that he already believed and still doubted from Book • • XXII unbelieving. Hence it is also that it said to our Redeemer '- by His disciples, Increase our faith ^ that that which hadLukei7, been ah*eady received in beginning, might by the accessions of steps arrive at perfection.
50. Moreover Wisdom herself, who is required to be the mistress of good works, is vouchsafed to the panting soul by degrees of increase, that surely the ascending thereto should be by the steps of wonderful regulation. Which same the Prophet Ezekiel well describes in a figurative relation, who concerning that man whom he had seen on a high mountain tells, saying, He measured a thousand cubits, and he brought Ez. 47, 7ne through the w'atcr up to the ancles; again he measured ~ a thousand, and brought me through the water up to the knees; again he measured a thousaiid, and brought me through the water up to the reins. Afterward he measured a thousand, and it was a torrent that I could not pass over, for there swelled deep waters of a torrent, wJiich could not be passed over. For what is denoted by the number of a ^ thousand,' but the fulness of the benefit vouchsafed } Thus the man who appeared ' measures a thousand cubits,' and the Prophet is led through the waters ' up to the ancles,' because our Redeemer, when to us on our being converted to Him He bestowed the fulness of a good beginning, bathed the first treadings of our practice by the gift of spiritual wisdom.
For the water's reaching up to the ancle is our henceforth maintaining the treadings of longed-for righteousness by wisdom being vouchsafed to us. Again, he ' measures a thousand cubits,' and the Prophet is led through the water ' up to the knees,' because when the fulness of good practice is bestowed, our wisdom is increased even to this degree, that there is not henceforth any bending in bad deeds.
Thus it is hence said by Paul, Wherefore lift up the hands Heb.i2, iJiat hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight steps with your feet. Thus * the water reaches to the knees,' when the wisdom that is is obtained perfectly braces us to uprightness of good practice. And again, he ' measures a thousand,' and the Prophet is ' led through the water up to the reins' in this way, because the fulness of good practice