In the miracles Elijah was to be brought out to view, in the
weaknesses
he was to be preserved secure.
St Gregory - Moralia - Job
] To which he soon afterwards appends, Are ye not men?
And hence he elsewhere brought forward the testimony; Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered in to the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.
[1 Cor.
2, 9] And when he had described this as hidden from ‘men,’ he added directly, But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; [1 Cor.
2, 10] separating his own self from the designation of ‘man’ in that having been transported above man he now taste-d 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 no man hath
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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 to us to be imitating eternity. Nor are we heritless of Him Whom we imitate, because in seeing we partake, and in partaking imitate Him. Which same sight is now begun by faith, but is then perfected in Appearance, when we 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 interpretation 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.
[MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
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 learn 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, It 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 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
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devoured it; [Matt. 13, 4] in this way, because evilspirits 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 thoughts; the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His Head. [Matt. 8, 20. Luke 9, 58. ] 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. But the birds as we know with lofty flight lift themselves 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. [Is. 14, 13] 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 kingdom of heaven like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his garden, and it grew and waxed a great tree, and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it. [Luke 13, 18. 19. ] 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 not regarded [Is. 53, 2]; but ‘a tree,’ because fairer in form than the children of men. [Ps. 45, 2] 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 forth into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. [Ps. 19, 4] In these ‘boughs the birds of the air rest,’ because 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 fame 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 of his minister it is said by John, And his name was Death. [Rev. 6, 8] Unto whom all spirits of pride being subject, say concerning this ‘Wisdom,’ Which is God, we have heard the fame thereof with
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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 reward of one conquering, I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. [Rev. 2, 17] 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 understood of the same evil spirits, which is written, They are of those that rebel against the light. [Job 24, 13] 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 to stand humbly under it. Hence it is said by the voice of Truth of the actual head of evil spirits, He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth. [John 8, 44] It follows;
Ver. 23, God understandeth, the way thereof; and He knoweth the place thereof.
[iii. ]
5. This Wisdom coeternal with God has ‘a way’ in one 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 being 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, I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. [John 14, 10] So then the 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 the 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 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. [Matt. 20, 29. 30. ] At whose voice, as it is there written, Jesus stood still, [ver. 32] and restored 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 flesh appear to men was an uncertain thing, it is rightly said now, God understandeth the way thereof; 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 bow, even when he appears without, He continues invisible with the Father.
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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 said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord [Matt. 3, 3]; i. e. ‘Open in your hearts an entrance to Wisdom at Her coming;’ as it is elsewhere said; Make a way for him, that ascendeth above the setting. [Ps. 68, 4. Vulg. ] 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 above 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 the Spirit; Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to prepare His way. [Luke 1, 76] For everyone 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’ whereby She comes, ‘a place’ wherein She abides; as She 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. [John 14, 23] 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 perception of Wisdom may come to the heart of man, or whose soul shall not lose by deadly imaginations the understanding of life, which it has been vouchsafed. And because this 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. 24. For he regardeth the ends of the earth, and seeth all things that are under the heaven.
[iv. ]
7. For God’s ‘regarding’ is the renewing to His grace the things that were lost and undone; whence it is written, A King that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with His eyes. [Prov. 20, 8] 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.
[v. ]
8. For in the Holy Scripture, by the rapidity and subtlety of the winds souls are used to be denoted, as it is spoken by the Psalmist of God; Who walketh above the things of the winds; [Ps. 104, 3. Vulg. ] 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
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and fro, of which it is said by the Prophet, And he went on frowardly in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways: and I let him go. [Is. 57, 17, 18] 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 when through grace He regards the wandering mind, He fixes it into stedfastness of counsel. And so it is rightly said now, And made weight for the winds; because the light motions of the mind, when He 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 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 added; But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. [John 7, 38. 39. ] Again, by water sacred knowledge is denoted, as it is said; And give him the water of wisdom to drink. [Ecclus. 15, 3] 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 persuasion, saying, Stolen waters are sweet. [Prov. 9, 17] By the term of waters too tribulation are used to be signified, as it is said by the Psalmist, Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul. [Ps. 69, 1] By water peoples are denoted, as it 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, are denoted, as the Prophet saith, Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters. [Is. 32, 20] And it is said by the Psalmist; The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. [Ps. 29, 3] 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 be exalted by pride, there takes place in them a kind of 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
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flight. For he sought death, whilst he fled, saying, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. [1 Kings 19, 4] 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 the perils of rivers and robbers, of the city and the wilderness, 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, [2 Cor. 11, 26] being caught 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 be might be released, and is not heard. And when I look to the mere beginnings of his conversion, I consider with myself that heavenly pity opens the heavens to him, and Jesus shews Himself to him from on high. He that lost the light of the body for a time, received the light of the heart for evermore. He is sent to Ananias, he is called A chosen vessel, [Acts 9, 15] and yet from that same city, which he had entered after the vision of Jesus, he departs in flight, as he himself bears witness, saying, In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept guard over the city of the Damascenes, desirous to apprehend me; and through a window, in a basket, was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands. [2 Cor. 11, 32. 33. ] Unto whom I will take leave to say, ‘O Paul, already seest thou Jesus in heaven, and still dost thou fly man on earth? Art thou carried into Paradise, art thou made acquainted with secret words of God, and still art thou tempted by a messenger of Satan? Whence so strong, that thou art caught up to heavenly places, whence so weak that thou fliest from man on the earth, and still sufferest hard handling from a messenger of Satan, saving that the Same, Who lifts thee on high, again limits thee with the minutest measuring, that both in thy miracles thou shouldest preach to us the power of God, and again in thy fear cause us to remember our own infirmity? ’ Which same infirmity, however, that it may not draw us on into despair when it buffets us, whilst thou wert beseeching God touching thine infirmity, because thou wert not heard, to us also thou hast told what thou didst hear; My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness. [2 Cor. 12, 9]
12. Thus by the plain voice of God it is shewn that the guardian of power is frailty. For we are then kept to good effect within, when by God’s appointment we are tempted to a bearable degree without, sometimes by bad propensities, sometimes by pressing misfortunes. For to these likewise, whom we know to have been men of mighty virtues, there were not wanting temptations and conflicts from the vices. Hence it is that for our encouragement the same great Preacher condescends to bring to view things of that kind concerning his own case, saying, I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. [Rom. 7, 23] For the flesh forces down below, that the Spirit may not uplift, and the Spirit draws up on high, that the flesh may not bring to the ground. The Spirit lifts up, that we may not lie grovelling in the lower world, the flesh weighs down, that we should not be lifted up on account of the things on high. If the flesh tempted us, while the Spirit did not uplift us,
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too surely by the absoluteness of its tempting it would cast us down below. But again, if the Spirit lifted us above, while the flesh did not tempt, It would by that very uplifting prostrate us the worse in the fall of pride. But by a certain regulating method it takes place, that whilst each one of the Saints is already indeed transported on high inwardly, but is still tempted outwardly, he “neither incurs the downfall of desperation, nor of self-exaltation; seeing that neither does outward temptation bring transgression to its accomplishment, because the interior bent draws upwards; nor again does this interior bent lift up into pride, because the exterior temptation abases whilst it weighs down. Thus by a high appointment we see in the interior advancement what we receive, in the exterior shortcoming what we are, and by a strange method it is brought to pass that a man should neither be lifted up on the ground of virtue, nor despair on the ground of temptation, because while the Spirit draws, and the flesh draws back, by the exactest regulating of the Interior Judgment, the soul is balanced in a kind of mean above the things below, and below the things above. Therefore it is well said,
Ver. 26, 27. When He made a decree for the rain, and a way for the sounding tempests, then did He see it and declare it; He prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
[vii. ]
13. By ‘rain’ the sayings of those that preach are used to be denoted. Whence it is said by Moses; Let my doctrine be waited for as the rain; [Deut. 32, 2] whose words, that is to say, when they gently persuade are ‘rain,’ but when they thunder out terrible things touching the Judgment to come, they are ‘sounding tempests. ’ And it deserves to be noted, that ‘a decree is made for the rain,’ in order that ‘a way may be opened for the sounding tempests. ’ For a decree has been set to the preachers themselves, that by living they fulfil what by uttering they are forward to recommend. For the authoritativeness of speaking is lost, when the voice is not supported by the practice. For here it is said by the Psalmist, But unto the wicked God saith; What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth? seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest My words behind thee. [Ps. 50, 16. 17. ] For the words of God the preacher does cast behind himself, when the same that he says he thinks scorn to do. But when may another obey his sayings, whilst he himself rejects in practice what he preaches with the voice, and shews not to hear that he tells? Of this law of preaching it is written; Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoso shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. [Matt. 5, 19] ‘The kingdom of heaven,’ we see, He calls the present Church; concerning which it is written, And they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend. [Matt. 13, 41] For in the Kingdom Above ‘offences’ that should have to be gathered out thereof do not take place. He then that breaks in practice, and teaches the like in words, in this kingdom of heaven shall be the least, in the other not even the least. Now ‘He set a way to the sounding tempests,’ when for His preachers He made access to the hearts of men stricken with dread of the Judgment to come. So first ‘a law is set,’ that afterwards ‘a way may be opened,’ because that voice pierceth the heart of him that heareth, which maintains by practice the thing that it has sounded with the lips. Now it was then when ‘He set a law to the showers, and a way to the sounding tempests,’ that God ‘saw, declared, prepared, and searched’ this ‘Wisdom. ’ By a mode of speech customary to Holy Writ, for God to see is a phrase for causing us to see, as the Lord saith to the righteous man, Now I know that thou fearest God. [Gen. 22, 12] And the Israelites are forewarned; The Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God, [Deut. 13, 3] i. e. ‘that He may make you to know. ’ At that time, then,
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when ‘He set a law to the showers,’ i. e. gave the precept of watching to the preachers, this ‘Wisdom’ made Incarnate He caused to be ‘seen and declared’ by the preachers, to be ‘prepared and searched’ by the hearers. Since he ‘prepares’ Her for himself, whosoever by living aright is procuring Her favourable against the Day of Judgment. And observe that there are four particulars spoken respecting her. For he says, He did see it and declare it, He prepared it, yea, He searched it. Thus He ‘saw,’ in that She is ‘a Likeness;’ He ‘declared it,’ in that She is ‘the Word;’ ‘prepared it,’ in that She is a remedy; and ‘searched it,’ in that She is a thing hidden from sight. But this, viz. that the Eternal Wisdom of God is ‘the Likeness’ and ‘the Word’ of the Father, when is it penetrated by the mind of man? For who might understand either a Word apart from time, or a Likeness apart from limiting. Therefore there was need for something to be said, which man might recognise concerning Her by himself; whence it is fitly subjoined;
Ver. 28. And unto man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is Wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
[viii. ]
14. As though it were spoken in plain speech; ‘Man, turn back to thine own self; sift thoroughly the secrets of thine own heart. If thou findest out that thou dost fear God, surely it is plain that of this Wisdom thou art full. Which same if thou art not able to learn what in herself She is, meanwhile thou henceforth findest what She is in thyself. For She that is feared in herself by the Angels, in thee is called ‘the fear of the Lord. ’ Because it is certain that thou possessest Her, if it is not uncertain that thou dost fear God. ’ Hence also it is said by the Psalmist; The beginning of Wisdom is the fear of the Lord, [Ps. 111, 10] because She then begins to penetrate the heart, when She disturbs it by the dread of the final Judgment. Therefore the Word of God draws Itself in to our littleness; just as a father, when he speaks to his little child, in order that he may be able to be understood by him, talks stammeringly of his own accord. For because we are unable to penetrate the nature of Wisdom, what She is in herself, by the condescension of God, we have heard what She is in us, when it is said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is Wisdom. But because he really understands the force of Divine fear, who keeps himself from all bad practices, it is rightly subjoined; And, to depart from evil is understanding. So then the things that come after, that they are full of the spirit of prophecy, the words of the sacred history themselves bear testimony, whereas it is said,
C. xxix. l. Moreover Job continued his parable, and said.
[ix. ]
15. For because a parable is a name for a likeness, it plainly appears that through a form of exterior words he speaks mysteries, who with reference to speaking is recorded to have ‘taken up a parable. ’
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
For when he relates his own circumstances, he is telling all the things that are to come to Holy Church, and through the thing that he himself undergoes he points out what she should undergo. But sometimes he so mixes the words of his own history, that he sounds not of any thing allegorical, while sometimes he so utters his own sorrows as though he were giving utterance in the voice of the sorrowing Church. But in the last part of his discourse, he designates the last time of
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the Church, when her adversaries, i. e. carnal persons, or heretics and pagans, whom she now busies herself to repress by the authority of wisdom, being set up with unbridled boastfulness, she is obliged to put up with, while derided. Whence in this discourse likewise it is said; But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with the dogs of my flock. [Job 30, 1] And the very principle of the arrangement requires that by the last words of blessed Job, the last days of Holy Church should be denoted, when, persecution increasing, she is forced to bear the undisguised voices of heretics, when those motions of their hearts, which they now cover up within the depths of their thoughts, they then disclose in the utterance of error made manifest. For now, as it is said by John, the dragon is imprisoned and held fast in the bottomless pit [Rev. 20, 3], because the wickedness of the devil is hidden from sight in their crafty hearts. But, as is there said, the dragon shall be brought forth out of the bottomless pit, because whatsoever is now covered over from fear, then against the Church openly out of the hearts of the wicked is all that serpent’s venom brought to light. For now the envenomed feeling hides itself from sight under a flattering tongue, and malevolence of craft as it were covers itself with a kind of bottomless pit of dissembling. Now the Lord, as it is expressed by the voice of the Psalmist, gathereth the waters of the sea as in a skin. [Ps. 33, 7] For the ‘skin’ is carnal thinking. So ‘the waters of the sea are gathered in a skin,’ when the bitterness of a froward mind does not burst forth outwardly into the voice of unhallowed liberty. Surely the time shall come, when the froward and the carnal speak forth against her with unreserved voice that which they now go about with secret thought. The time shall come when they shall oppress the Catholic Church not only with unjust words, but with cruel wounds.
16. For from her adversaries the Church suffers persecution in two ways, viz. either by words or by swords. Now when she bears persecution by words, her wisdom is put in exercise, when by swords, her patience. Now persecutions of words we do now too as well daily undergo at the hands of heretics, when heretics themselves flatter us with crafty tongues and with feigned humility, but the persecutions of swords are destined to follow towards the end of the world, that the grains to be stored up in the heavenly granaries may be the more genuinely cleared of the chaff of sins, the more straitly they are bruised with affliction. Then all the Elect, that may be caught in that tribulation, call to mind these times when now the Church secures the peace of the faith, when she holds under the proud necks of heretics, not by the potency of her highness, but by the yoke of reason. They call to mind ourselves, who are passing quiet times of faith, who, though we be straitened in the wars [Alluding to the hostilities of the Lombards especially. ] of the nations, yet are not driven to extremity in the sayings of Fathers. Thus blessed Job bearing a type of Holy Church, which is then found in these straits, and yet remembers herself of our tranquillity, as I said, describes the particulars of himself past, and tells the particulars destined to come to others, saying; Ver. 2. Who would give me that I might be as in the months past?
[x. ]
17. For Holy Church being borne down with sorrows is to say many like things. For it shall be for her to be besieged with such great tribulations, as with great sighing to long for these times, which we undergo with great sorrow. So then let her say, let her say in the voice of blessed Job, Who would give me that I might be as in the months past? For because an appointed number of days has the name of ‘months,’ what else does he signify by the title of months, but the gatherings of souls? For days, while they are gathered in months, are removed away, because in this time as well Holy
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Church, while she gathers in souls shining bright with the light of truth, hides them in the interior depths. Sometimes also a month is put for perfection, as when the Prophet says, It shall be a month from a month; [Is. 66, 23] i. e. perfection in rest to those, to whom there may now be perfection in practice. So let her remember her perfection of old, let her bring back to mind with what preaching of hers, by souls gathered in, she carried off her gains, and being straitened by tribulations, let her say, Who would give me that might be as in the months of old? In which same months, who and what he was, he subjoins in telling over, saying;
Ver. 3. As in the days when God preserved me; when His lamp shined upon my head, and when by His light I walked through darkness.
[xi. ]
18. For then, persecution forcing thereto, she sees multitudes of the frail fall from her, whom now as a mother she cherishes as her little ones within the bosom of peace, and keeps close within the quiet cradles of faith, seeing that being mixed with the strong they are nurtured by the very tranquillity of the faith. But then many such are destined to fall, and through the bowels of charity, whatever it sustains in the damage of the little ones, the mind of the perfect laments that itself undergoes. For every damage of the weak is by compassion made to pass to the hearts of the strong, Whence it is said by Paul, Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? [2 Cor. 11, 29] For a man is perfect in such proportion as he perfectly feels the sorrows of others. Whence Holy Church, being brought to a pass by the weak ones falling at that time, shall say with right, As in the days when God preserved me; because herself she then accounts to fall in those, who now sees herself in these to be kept safe. And it is well said, When His lamp shined upon my head, and when by His light I walked through darkness. For by the term of a ‘lamp’ the light of Holy Scripture is represented, whereof the Shepherd of the Church himself saith, We have also the word of prophecy more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts. [2 Pet. 1, 19] And the Psalmist saith, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. [Ps. 119, 105] Now because our topmost part is the mind, the mind is rightly styled by the designation of ‘head. ’ Whence it is said by the Psalmist, Thou hast anointed my head with oil. [Ps. 23, 5] As if he said in plain terms, ‘Thou hast filled my soul with the fatness of charity. ’ And so now ‘the lamp shines upon the head’ of the Church, because the sacred Oracles enlighten the darkness of our minds, that in this darksome place of the present life, whilst we receive the light of the word of God, we should see what things are to be done. Now she ‘walks by His light in darkness,’ because the Holy Church Universal, though it penetrate not the secrets of another’s thought, because as it were it does not know the face in the night, yet it sets the steps of good practice, being governed by the light of Heavenly Revelation. It goes on;
Ver. 4. As I was in the days of my youth, when God was secretly in my tabernacle.
[xii. ]
19. As of each individual man, so is the age of Holy Church described. For she was a little one, when fresh from the birth she was unable to preach the Word of Life. Hence it is said of her, My sister is a little one, and she hath no breasts; [Cant. 8, 8] in this way, that Holy Church, before she made progress by accessions of virtue, was not able to yield the teats of preaching to the weak ones her hearers. But the Church is called ‘adult’ when being wedded to the Word of God, filled with
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the Holy Spirit, by the office of preaching she is with young in the conception of children, with whom by exhorting she travails, whom by converting she brings forth. Of this age of hers it is said to the Lord; The young maidens have loved Thee. [Cant. 1, 3] For all the Churches, which constitute one Catholic Church, are called young maidens, not now aged by sin, but young ones by grace, not barren by old age, but by the age of the soul fitted for spiritual fruitfulness. Accordingly then, when in those days being as it were enfeebled by a kind of old age she hath not strength to bring forth children by preaching, she calls to mind the bygone fruitfulness, saying, As I was in the days of my youth. Though after those days wherein she is borne down, yet, this notwithstanding, now at length towards the actual end of times, she is empowered with a mighty efficacy of preaching. For the Gentiles being taken in to the full, all the Israelitish people that shall then be found she draws into the bosom of the faith. Since it is written; Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved. [Rom. 11, 25. 26. ] But before those times there shall be days, in the which she shall appear for a little while borne down by her adversaries, when too she remembers these days, saying,
As I was in the days of my youth; when God was secretly in my tabernacle.
20. What in this place do we take the ‘tabernacle’ for but the dwelling-place of the mind? Because by all that we do with taking thought, we dwell in the counsel of our heart. But whoever in silence thinks of the precepts of God, to him ‘God is secretly in his tabernacle. ’ For he had seen the dwelling-place of his heart to be before the eyes of God, who said, And the meditation of my heart always in Thy sight. [Ps. 19, 14] For outward deeds are open to the eyes of men, but widely and incomparably more our interior and minutest thoughts are open to the eyes of God. For, as it is written, all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him. And oftentimes in the outward deed we are afraid to appear disordered before the eyes of men, and in the interior thought are not afraid of the regard of Him, Whom, whilst He sees all things, we see not. For we are much more discernible by God within than we are by men without. And hence all the Saints scan themselves both within and without on every side, and are in fear of either shewing themselves blameworthy outwardly, or wicked inwardly to the invisible seeing. It is hence that the living creatures, which are seen by the Prophet, are recorded to be ‘full of eyes round about and within. ’ [Ez. 1, 18. &10, 12. Rev. 4, 6. & 8. ] For he that orders his outward circumstances respectably, but disregards the inward, has eyes ‘round about’ but not ‘within. ’ But all the Saints, because they at once scan their exterior ways round and round that they may furnish good examples in themselves to their brethren, and watchfully mark their interior ways, because they are providing themselves irreproachable for the regarding eye of the Interior Judge, are described as having eyes both ‘round about and within;’ and that they may please God, even more do they make themselves complete within their interior self, as it is said by the Psalmist as well of Holy Church, All the glory of her, the king’s daughter, is from within. [Ps. 45, 13] But because she keeps her outward things also irreproachable, he added with justice concerning her; Clothed about in clothing of wrought gold with embroidery. That she should be at once beautiful to herself ‘within,’ and to others ‘without,’ both advancing herself by interior glory, and instructing others by the outward examples of deeds. Thus then let blessed Job say in himself, yea, let him say in the person of the Church Universal, When God was secretly in my tabernacle. For that he may make it evident how much he had advanced within, he tells, that ‘God was secretly in his tabernacle.
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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 to us to be imitating eternity. Nor are we heritless of Him Whom we imitate, because in seeing we partake, and in partaking imitate Him. Which same sight is now begun by faith, but is then perfected in Appearance, when we 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 interpretation 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.
[MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION]
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 learn 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, It 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 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
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devoured it; [Matt. 13, 4] in this way, because evilspirits 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 thoughts; the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His Head. [Matt. 8, 20. Luke 9, 58. ] 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. But the birds as we know with lofty flight lift themselves 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. [Is. 14, 13] 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 kingdom of heaven like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his garden, and it grew and waxed a great tree, and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it. [Luke 13, 18. 19. ] 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 not regarded [Is. 53, 2]; but ‘a tree,’ because fairer in form than the children of men. [Ps. 45, 2] 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 forth into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. [Ps. 19, 4] In these ‘boughs the birds of the air rest,’ because 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 fame 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 of his minister it is said by John, And his name was Death. [Rev. 6, 8] Unto whom all spirits of pride being subject, say concerning this ‘Wisdom,’ Which is God, we have heard the fame thereof with
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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 reward of one conquering, I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. [Rev. 2, 17] 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 understood of the same evil spirits, which is written, They are of those that rebel against the light. [Job 24, 13] 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 to stand humbly under it. Hence it is said by the voice of Truth of the actual head of evil spirits, He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth. [John 8, 44] It follows;
Ver. 23, God understandeth, the way thereof; and He knoweth the place thereof.
[iii. ]
5. This Wisdom coeternal with God has ‘a way’ in one 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 being 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, I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. [John 14, 10] So then the 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 the 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 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. [Matt. 20, 29. 30. ] At whose voice, as it is there written, Jesus stood still, [ver. 32] and restored 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 flesh appear to men was an uncertain thing, it is rightly said now, God understandeth the way thereof; 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 bow, even when he appears without, He continues invisible with the Father.
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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 said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord [Matt. 3, 3]; i. e. ‘Open in your hearts an entrance to Wisdom at Her coming;’ as it is elsewhere said; Make a way for him, that ascendeth above the setting. [Ps. 68, 4. Vulg. ] 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 above 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 the Spirit; Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to prepare His way. [Luke 1, 76] For everyone 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’ whereby She comes, ‘a place’ wherein She abides; as She 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. [John 14, 23] 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 perception of Wisdom may come to the heart of man, or whose soul shall not lose by deadly imaginations the understanding of life, which it has been vouchsafed. And because this 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. 24. For he regardeth the ends of the earth, and seeth all things that are under the heaven.
[iv. ]
7. For God’s ‘regarding’ is the renewing to His grace the things that were lost and undone; whence it is written, A King that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with His eyes. [Prov. 20, 8] 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.
[v. ]
8. For in the Holy Scripture, by the rapidity and subtlety of the winds souls are used to be denoted, as it is spoken by the Psalmist of God; Who walketh above the things of the winds; [Ps. 104, 3. Vulg. ] 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
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and fro, of which it is said by the Prophet, And he went on frowardly in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways: and I let him go. [Is. 57, 17, 18] 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 when through grace He regards the wandering mind, He fixes it into stedfastness of counsel. And so it is rightly said now, And made weight for the winds; because the light motions of the mind, when He 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 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 added; But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive. [John 7, 38. 39. ] Again, by water sacred knowledge is denoted, as it is said; And give him the water of wisdom to drink. [Ecclus. 15, 3] 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 persuasion, saying, Stolen waters are sweet. [Prov. 9, 17] By the term of waters too tribulation are used to be signified, as it is said by the Psalmist, Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul. [Ps. 69, 1] By water peoples are denoted, as it 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, are denoted, as the Prophet saith, Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters. [Is. 32, 20] And it is said by the Psalmist; The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. [Ps. 29, 3] 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 be exalted by pride, there takes place in them a kind of 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
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flight. For he sought death, whilst he fled, saying, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. [1 Kings 19, 4] 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 the perils of rivers and robbers, of the city and the wilderness, 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, [2 Cor. 11, 26] being caught 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 be might be released, and is not heard. And when I look to the mere beginnings of his conversion, I consider with myself that heavenly pity opens the heavens to him, and Jesus shews Himself to him from on high. He that lost the light of the body for a time, received the light of the heart for evermore. He is sent to Ananias, he is called A chosen vessel, [Acts 9, 15] and yet from that same city, which he had entered after the vision of Jesus, he departs in flight, as he himself bears witness, saying, In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept guard over the city of the Damascenes, desirous to apprehend me; and through a window, in a basket, was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands. [2 Cor. 11, 32. 33. ] Unto whom I will take leave to say, ‘O Paul, already seest thou Jesus in heaven, and still dost thou fly man on earth? Art thou carried into Paradise, art thou made acquainted with secret words of God, and still art thou tempted by a messenger of Satan? Whence so strong, that thou art caught up to heavenly places, whence so weak that thou fliest from man on the earth, and still sufferest hard handling from a messenger of Satan, saving that the Same, Who lifts thee on high, again limits thee with the minutest measuring, that both in thy miracles thou shouldest preach to us the power of God, and again in thy fear cause us to remember our own infirmity? ’ Which same infirmity, however, that it may not draw us on into despair when it buffets us, whilst thou wert beseeching God touching thine infirmity, because thou wert not heard, to us also thou hast told what thou didst hear; My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness. [2 Cor. 12, 9]
12. Thus by the plain voice of God it is shewn that the guardian of power is frailty. For we are then kept to good effect within, when by God’s appointment we are tempted to a bearable degree without, sometimes by bad propensities, sometimes by pressing misfortunes. For to these likewise, whom we know to have been men of mighty virtues, there were not wanting temptations and conflicts from the vices. Hence it is that for our encouragement the same great Preacher condescends to bring to view things of that kind concerning his own case, saying, I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. [Rom. 7, 23] For the flesh forces down below, that the Spirit may not uplift, and the Spirit draws up on high, that the flesh may not bring to the ground. The Spirit lifts up, that we may not lie grovelling in the lower world, the flesh weighs down, that we should not be lifted up on account of the things on high. If the flesh tempted us, while the Spirit did not uplift us,
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too surely by the absoluteness of its tempting it would cast us down below. But again, if the Spirit lifted us above, while the flesh did not tempt, It would by that very uplifting prostrate us the worse in the fall of pride. But by a certain regulating method it takes place, that whilst each one of the Saints is already indeed transported on high inwardly, but is still tempted outwardly, he “neither incurs the downfall of desperation, nor of self-exaltation; seeing that neither does outward temptation bring transgression to its accomplishment, because the interior bent draws upwards; nor again does this interior bent lift up into pride, because the exterior temptation abases whilst it weighs down. Thus by a high appointment we see in the interior advancement what we receive, in the exterior shortcoming what we are, and by a strange method it is brought to pass that a man should neither be lifted up on the ground of virtue, nor despair on the ground of temptation, because while the Spirit draws, and the flesh draws back, by the exactest regulating of the Interior Judgment, the soul is balanced in a kind of mean above the things below, and below the things above. Therefore it is well said,
Ver. 26, 27. When He made a decree for the rain, and a way for the sounding tempests, then did He see it and declare it; He prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
[vii. ]
13. By ‘rain’ the sayings of those that preach are used to be denoted. Whence it is said by Moses; Let my doctrine be waited for as the rain; [Deut. 32, 2] whose words, that is to say, when they gently persuade are ‘rain,’ but when they thunder out terrible things touching the Judgment to come, they are ‘sounding tempests. ’ And it deserves to be noted, that ‘a decree is made for the rain,’ in order that ‘a way may be opened for the sounding tempests. ’ For a decree has been set to the preachers themselves, that by living they fulfil what by uttering they are forward to recommend. For the authoritativeness of speaking is lost, when the voice is not supported by the practice. For here it is said by the Psalmist, But unto the wicked God saith; What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth? seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest My words behind thee. [Ps. 50, 16. 17. ] For the words of God the preacher does cast behind himself, when the same that he says he thinks scorn to do. But when may another obey his sayings, whilst he himself rejects in practice what he preaches with the voice, and shews not to hear that he tells? Of this law of preaching it is written; Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoso shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. [Matt. 5, 19] ‘The kingdom of heaven,’ we see, He calls the present Church; concerning which it is written, And they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend. [Matt. 13, 41] For in the Kingdom Above ‘offences’ that should have to be gathered out thereof do not take place. He then that breaks in practice, and teaches the like in words, in this kingdom of heaven shall be the least, in the other not even the least. Now ‘He set a way to the sounding tempests,’ when for His preachers He made access to the hearts of men stricken with dread of the Judgment to come. So first ‘a law is set,’ that afterwards ‘a way may be opened,’ because that voice pierceth the heart of him that heareth, which maintains by practice the thing that it has sounded with the lips. Now it was then when ‘He set a law to the showers, and a way to the sounding tempests,’ that God ‘saw, declared, prepared, and searched’ this ‘Wisdom. ’ By a mode of speech customary to Holy Writ, for God to see is a phrase for causing us to see, as the Lord saith to the righteous man, Now I know that thou fearest God. [Gen. 22, 12] And the Israelites are forewarned; The Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God, [Deut. 13, 3] i. e. ‘that He may make you to know. ’ At that time, then,
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when ‘He set a law to the showers,’ i. e. gave the precept of watching to the preachers, this ‘Wisdom’ made Incarnate He caused to be ‘seen and declared’ by the preachers, to be ‘prepared and searched’ by the hearers. Since he ‘prepares’ Her for himself, whosoever by living aright is procuring Her favourable against the Day of Judgment. And observe that there are four particulars spoken respecting her. For he says, He did see it and declare it, He prepared it, yea, He searched it. Thus He ‘saw,’ in that She is ‘a Likeness;’ He ‘declared it,’ in that She is ‘the Word;’ ‘prepared it,’ in that She is a remedy; and ‘searched it,’ in that She is a thing hidden from sight. But this, viz. that the Eternal Wisdom of God is ‘the Likeness’ and ‘the Word’ of the Father, when is it penetrated by the mind of man? For who might understand either a Word apart from time, or a Likeness apart from limiting. Therefore there was need for something to be said, which man might recognise concerning Her by himself; whence it is fitly subjoined;
Ver. 28. And unto man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is Wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
[viii. ]
14. As though it were spoken in plain speech; ‘Man, turn back to thine own self; sift thoroughly the secrets of thine own heart. If thou findest out that thou dost fear God, surely it is plain that of this Wisdom thou art full. Which same if thou art not able to learn what in herself She is, meanwhile thou henceforth findest what She is in thyself. For She that is feared in herself by the Angels, in thee is called ‘the fear of the Lord. ’ Because it is certain that thou possessest Her, if it is not uncertain that thou dost fear God. ’ Hence also it is said by the Psalmist; The beginning of Wisdom is the fear of the Lord, [Ps. 111, 10] because She then begins to penetrate the heart, when She disturbs it by the dread of the final Judgment. Therefore the Word of God draws Itself in to our littleness; just as a father, when he speaks to his little child, in order that he may be able to be understood by him, talks stammeringly of his own accord. For because we are unable to penetrate the nature of Wisdom, what She is in herself, by the condescension of God, we have heard what She is in us, when it is said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is Wisdom. But because he really understands the force of Divine fear, who keeps himself from all bad practices, it is rightly subjoined; And, to depart from evil is understanding. So then the things that come after, that they are full of the spirit of prophecy, the words of the sacred history themselves bear testimony, whereas it is said,
C. xxix. l. Moreover Job continued his parable, and said.
[ix. ]
15. For because a parable is a name for a likeness, it plainly appears that through a form of exterior words he speaks mysteries, who with reference to speaking is recorded to have ‘taken up a parable. ’
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION]
For when he relates his own circumstances, he is telling all the things that are to come to Holy Church, and through the thing that he himself undergoes he points out what she should undergo. But sometimes he so mixes the words of his own history, that he sounds not of any thing allegorical, while sometimes he so utters his own sorrows as though he were giving utterance in the voice of the sorrowing Church. But in the last part of his discourse, he designates the last time of
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the Church, when her adversaries, i. e. carnal persons, or heretics and pagans, whom she now busies herself to repress by the authority of wisdom, being set up with unbridled boastfulness, she is obliged to put up with, while derided. Whence in this discourse likewise it is said; But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with the dogs of my flock. [Job 30, 1] And the very principle of the arrangement requires that by the last words of blessed Job, the last days of Holy Church should be denoted, when, persecution increasing, she is forced to bear the undisguised voices of heretics, when those motions of their hearts, which they now cover up within the depths of their thoughts, they then disclose in the utterance of error made manifest. For now, as it is said by John, the dragon is imprisoned and held fast in the bottomless pit [Rev. 20, 3], because the wickedness of the devil is hidden from sight in their crafty hearts. But, as is there said, the dragon shall be brought forth out of the bottomless pit, because whatsoever is now covered over from fear, then against the Church openly out of the hearts of the wicked is all that serpent’s venom brought to light. For now the envenomed feeling hides itself from sight under a flattering tongue, and malevolence of craft as it were covers itself with a kind of bottomless pit of dissembling. Now the Lord, as it is expressed by the voice of the Psalmist, gathereth the waters of the sea as in a skin. [Ps. 33, 7] For the ‘skin’ is carnal thinking. So ‘the waters of the sea are gathered in a skin,’ when the bitterness of a froward mind does not burst forth outwardly into the voice of unhallowed liberty. Surely the time shall come, when the froward and the carnal speak forth against her with unreserved voice that which they now go about with secret thought. The time shall come when they shall oppress the Catholic Church not only with unjust words, but with cruel wounds.
16. For from her adversaries the Church suffers persecution in two ways, viz. either by words or by swords. Now when she bears persecution by words, her wisdom is put in exercise, when by swords, her patience. Now persecutions of words we do now too as well daily undergo at the hands of heretics, when heretics themselves flatter us with crafty tongues and with feigned humility, but the persecutions of swords are destined to follow towards the end of the world, that the grains to be stored up in the heavenly granaries may be the more genuinely cleared of the chaff of sins, the more straitly they are bruised with affliction. Then all the Elect, that may be caught in that tribulation, call to mind these times when now the Church secures the peace of the faith, when she holds under the proud necks of heretics, not by the potency of her highness, but by the yoke of reason. They call to mind ourselves, who are passing quiet times of faith, who, though we be straitened in the wars [Alluding to the hostilities of the Lombards especially. ] of the nations, yet are not driven to extremity in the sayings of Fathers. Thus blessed Job bearing a type of Holy Church, which is then found in these straits, and yet remembers herself of our tranquillity, as I said, describes the particulars of himself past, and tells the particulars destined to come to others, saying; Ver. 2. Who would give me that I might be as in the months past?
[x. ]
17. For Holy Church being borne down with sorrows is to say many like things. For it shall be for her to be besieged with such great tribulations, as with great sighing to long for these times, which we undergo with great sorrow. So then let her say, let her say in the voice of blessed Job, Who would give me that I might be as in the months past? For because an appointed number of days has the name of ‘months,’ what else does he signify by the title of months, but the gatherings of souls? For days, while they are gathered in months, are removed away, because in this time as well Holy
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Church, while she gathers in souls shining bright with the light of truth, hides them in the interior depths. Sometimes also a month is put for perfection, as when the Prophet says, It shall be a month from a month; [Is. 66, 23] i. e. perfection in rest to those, to whom there may now be perfection in practice. So let her remember her perfection of old, let her bring back to mind with what preaching of hers, by souls gathered in, she carried off her gains, and being straitened by tribulations, let her say, Who would give me that might be as in the months of old? In which same months, who and what he was, he subjoins in telling over, saying;
Ver. 3. As in the days when God preserved me; when His lamp shined upon my head, and when by His light I walked through darkness.
[xi. ]
18. For then, persecution forcing thereto, she sees multitudes of the frail fall from her, whom now as a mother she cherishes as her little ones within the bosom of peace, and keeps close within the quiet cradles of faith, seeing that being mixed with the strong they are nurtured by the very tranquillity of the faith. But then many such are destined to fall, and through the bowels of charity, whatever it sustains in the damage of the little ones, the mind of the perfect laments that itself undergoes. For every damage of the weak is by compassion made to pass to the hearts of the strong, Whence it is said by Paul, Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? [2 Cor. 11, 29] For a man is perfect in such proportion as he perfectly feels the sorrows of others. Whence Holy Church, being brought to a pass by the weak ones falling at that time, shall say with right, As in the days when God preserved me; because herself she then accounts to fall in those, who now sees herself in these to be kept safe. And it is well said, When His lamp shined upon my head, and when by His light I walked through darkness. For by the term of a ‘lamp’ the light of Holy Scripture is represented, whereof the Shepherd of the Church himself saith, We have also the word of prophecy more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts. [2 Pet. 1, 19] And the Psalmist saith, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. [Ps. 119, 105] Now because our topmost part is the mind, the mind is rightly styled by the designation of ‘head. ’ Whence it is said by the Psalmist, Thou hast anointed my head with oil. [Ps. 23, 5] As if he said in plain terms, ‘Thou hast filled my soul with the fatness of charity. ’ And so now ‘the lamp shines upon the head’ of the Church, because the sacred Oracles enlighten the darkness of our minds, that in this darksome place of the present life, whilst we receive the light of the word of God, we should see what things are to be done. Now she ‘walks by His light in darkness,’ because the Holy Church Universal, though it penetrate not the secrets of another’s thought, because as it were it does not know the face in the night, yet it sets the steps of good practice, being governed by the light of Heavenly Revelation. It goes on;
Ver. 4. As I was in the days of my youth, when God was secretly in my tabernacle.
[xii. ]
19. As of each individual man, so is the age of Holy Church described. For she was a little one, when fresh from the birth she was unable to preach the Word of Life. Hence it is said of her, My sister is a little one, and she hath no breasts; [Cant. 8, 8] in this way, that Holy Church, before she made progress by accessions of virtue, was not able to yield the teats of preaching to the weak ones her hearers. But the Church is called ‘adult’ when being wedded to the Word of God, filled with
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the Holy Spirit, by the office of preaching she is with young in the conception of children, with whom by exhorting she travails, whom by converting she brings forth. Of this age of hers it is said to the Lord; The young maidens have loved Thee. [Cant. 1, 3] For all the Churches, which constitute one Catholic Church, are called young maidens, not now aged by sin, but young ones by grace, not barren by old age, but by the age of the soul fitted for spiritual fruitfulness. Accordingly then, when in those days being as it were enfeebled by a kind of old age she hath not strength to bring forth children by preaching, she calls to mind the bygone fruitfulness, saying, As I was in the days of my youth. Though after those days wherein she is borne down, yet, this notwithstanding, now at length towards the actual end of times, she is empowered with a mighty efficacy of preaching. For the Gentiles being taken in to the full, all the Israelitish people that shall then be found she draws into the bosom of the faith. Since it is written; Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved. [Rom. 11, 25. 26. ] But before those times there shall be days, in the which she shall appear for a little while borne down by her adversaries, when too she remembers these days, saying,
As I was in the days of my youth; when God was secretly in my tabernacle.
20. What in this place do we take the ‘tabernacle’ for but the dwelling-place of the mind? Because by all that we do with taking thought, we dwell in the counsel of our heart. But whoever in silence thinks of the precepts of God, to him ‘God is secretly in his tabernacle. ’ For he had seen the dwelling-place of his heart to be before the eyes of God, who said, And the meditation of my heart always in Thy sight. [Ps. 19, 14] For outward deeds are open to the eyes of men, but widely and incomparably more our interior and minutest thoughts are open to the eyes of God. For, as it is written, all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him. And oftentimes in the outward deed we are afraid to appear disordered before the eyes of men, and in the interior thought are not afraid of the regard of Him, Whom, whilst He sees all things, we see not. For we are much more discernible by God within than we are by men without. And hence all the Saints scan themselves both within and without on every side, and are in fear of either shewing themselves blameworthy outwardly, or wicked inwardly to the invisible seeing. It is hence that the living creatures, which are seen by the Prophet, are recorded to be ‘full of eyes round about and within. ’ [Ez. 1, 18. &10, 12. Rev. 4, 6. & 8. ] For he that orders his outward circumstances respectably, but disregards the inward, has eyes ‘round about’ but not ‘within. ’ But all the Saints, because they at once scan their exterior ways round and round that they may furnish good examples in themselves to their brethren, and watchfully mark their interior ways, because they are providing themselves irreproachable for the regarding eye of the Interior Judge, are described as having eyes both ‘round about and within;’ and that they may please God, even more do they make themselves complete within their interior self, as it is said by the Psalmist as well of Holy Church, All the glory of her, the king’s daughter, is from within. [Ps. 45, 13] But because she keeps her outward things also irreproachable, he added with justice concerning her; Clothed about in clothing of wrought gold with embroidery. That she should be at once beautiful to herself ‘within,’ and to others ‘without,’ both advancing herself by interior glory, and instructing others by the outward examples of deeds. Thus then let blessed Job say in himself, yea, let him say in the person of the Church Universal, When God was secretly in my tabernacle. For that he may make it evident how much he had advanced within, he tells, that ‘God was secretly in his tabernacle.
