sum

I.

Strict self-examination an offering of fine incense. 65 mind bruises them small by a more particular reexamination, Book and as it were makes a powder of the spices, that the good that is done be not coarse1 and hard, lest if the close hand' grosof reexamination do not bruise it fine, it scatter not from itself the more refined odour. For it is hence that the virtue of the Spouse is commended by the voice of the Bridegroom, where it is said, Who is this, that cometh out of the Cant. 3, wilderness like a rod of smoke of the perfume of myrrh ando. frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? For holy Church rises up like a rod of smoke from spices, in that by the virtues of her life she duly advances to the uprightness of inward incense, nor lets herself run out into dissipated thought, but restrains herself in the recesses of the heart in the rod of severity: and while she never ceases to reconsider and go over anew the things that she does, she has in the deed myrrh and frankincense, but in the thought she has powder. Hence it is that it is said again to Moses of those who offer a victim, And he shall flay the burnt offering, Lev. 1, and cut it into his pieces. For we strip the skin of the victim, when we remove from the eyes of the mind the overcast of virtue; and we 'cut it in his pieces,' when we minutely dissect its interior, and contemplate it piecemeal. We must therefore be careful, that when we overcome our evil habits, we are not overthrown by our good ones running riot, lest they chance to run out loosely, lest being unheeded they be taken captive, lest from error they forsake the path, lest broken down by weariness they lose the meed of past labours. For the mind ought in all things to keep a wary eye about it, aye and in this very forethought of circumspection to be persevering; and hence it is rightly added,

Thus did Job all the days.

6.

55. For vain is the good that we do, if it be given over xxxvii. before the end of life, in that it is vain too for him to run fast, who fails before he reaches the goal. For it is hence that it is said of the reprobate, Woe unto you that have lost Ecclus. patience. Hence Truth says to His elect, Ye are they that Luke22, have continued with Me in My temptations. Hence Joseph, 28. who is described to have remained righteous among his brethren until the very end, is the only one related to have

F

66

Historical sense not to be slighted for the other.

JOB 1,4. had a coat reaching to the ancles. For what is a coat that Gen. 37, reaches to the ancles but action finished? For it is as if the Vulg. extended coat covered the ancle of the body, when well

23.

9. &c.

doing covers us in God's sight even to the end of life. Hence it is that it is enjoined by Moses to offer upon the Lev. 3, altar the tail of the sacrifice, namely, that every good action Vulg. that we begin we may also complete with perseverance to the end. Therefore what is begun well is to be done every day, that whereas evil is driven away by our opposition, the very victory that goodness gains may be held fast in the hand of constancy.

56. These things then we have delivered under a threefold sense, that by setting a variety of viands before the 1 fastidi- delicate' sense of the soul, we may offer it something to choose by preference. But this we most earnestly entreat, that he that lifts up his mind to the spiritual signification, do not desist from his reverence for the history.

enti

Vulg. tunica talari, where talari stands for the words that was on (or over) him.

BOOK II.

From the sixth verse of the first chapter to the end, he follows out the exposition according to the threefold interpretation.

1. Holy Writ is set before the eyes of the mind like a kind of mirror, that we may see our inward face in it; for therein we learn the deformities, therein we learn the beauties that we possess; there we are made sensible what progress we are making, there too how far we are from proficiency. It relates the deeds of the Saints', and stirs the hearts of the ' al. ' of the weak to follow their example, and while it commemorates strong.' their victorious deeds, it strengthens our feebleness against the assaults of our vices; and its words have this effect, that the mind is so much the less dismayed amidst conflicts as it sees the triumphs of so many brave men set before it. Sometimes however it not only informs us of their excellencies, but also makes known their mischances, that both in the victory of brave men we may see what we ought to seize on by imitation, and again in their falls what we ought to stand in fear of. For, observe how Job is described as rendered greater by temptation, but David by temptation brought to the ground, that both the virtue of our predecessors may cherish our hopes, and the downfall of our predecessors may brace us to the cautiousness of humility, so that whilst we are uplifted by the former to joy, by the latter we may be kept down through fears, and that the hearer's mind, being from the one source imbued with the confidence of hope, and from the other with the humility arising from fear, may neither swell with rash pride, in that it is kept down by alarm, nor be so kept down by fear as to despair, in that it finds support for confident hope in a precedent of virtue.

.

JOB 1,6.

17.

ii.

55, 56.

68 Little circumstances significative in Holy Writ.

Ver. 6. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

2. It is interesting to observe the method followed by Holy Writ in delineating, at the commencement of its relations, the qualities and the issues of the particular cases. For one while by the position of the place, now by the posture of the body, now by the temperature of the air, and now by the character of the time, it marks out what it has coming after concerning the action which is to follow; as by the position of the place Divine Scripture sets forth the merits of the circumstances that follow, and the results of the case, as where it relates of Ex. 19, Israel that they could not hear the words of God in the mount, but received the commandments on the plain; doubtless betokening the subsequent weakness of the people who could not mount up to the top, but enfeebled themselves. by living carelessly in the lowest things. By the posture of the body it tells of future events, as where in the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen discloses that he saw Jesus, Who Acts 7, sitteth at the right hand of the Power of God, in a standing posture; for standing is the posture of one in the act of rendering aid, and rightly is He discerned standing, Who gives succour in the press of the conflict. By the temperature of the air, the subsequent event is shewn, as when the Evangelist was telling that none out of Judæa were at that time to prove believers in our Lord's preaching, he prefaced John10, it by saying, and it was winter, for it is written, Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Therefore he took care to particularize the winter season, to indicate that the frost of wickedness was in the hearers' hearts. Hence it is that it is beforehand remarked of Peter, when on the John 18, point of denying our Lord, that it was cold, and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself. For he was now inwardly unenlivened by the warmth of Divine lore, but to the love of this present life he was warming up, as though his weakness were set boiling by the persecutors' coals. By the character of the time moreover the issue of the transaction is set forth, as it is related of Judas, who was never to be restored to pardon, that he went out at night to the treachery of his betrayal, where upon his going out, the Evangelist says,

22.

Mat.24,

12.

18.

How Angels come to God, Whom they leave not. 69 And it was night. Hence too it is declared to the wicked Book

20.

II.

rich man, This night shall thy soul be required of thee; for John13, that soul which is conveyed to darkness, is not recorded as 30. required in the day time, but in the night. Hence it is that Luke12, Solomon who received the gift of wisdom, but was not to persevere, is said to have received her in dreams and in the night. Hence it is that the Angels visit Abraham at midday, Gen. 18, but when proposing to punish Sodom, they are recorded to 1. 2. have come thither at eventide. Therefore, because the trial Gen. 19, of blessed Job is carried on to victory, it is related to have 1. begun by day, it being said,

Now there was a day, when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

10.

3. Now who are called the sons of God, saving the elect iii. Angels? and as we know of them that they wait on the eyes of His Majesty, it is a worthy subject of inquiry, whence they come to present themselves before God. For it is of these that it is said by the voice of Truth, Their angels do always behold Mat. 18, the face of My Father, Which is in heaven? Of these the Prophet saith, Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, Dan. 7, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. If 10. then they ever behold and ever stand nigh, we must carefully and attentively consider whence they are come, who never go from Him; but since Paul says of them, Are they not all Heb. 1, ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them that shall 14. be heirs of salvation? in this, that we learn that they are sent, we discover whence they are come. But see, we add question to question, and as it were while we strive to unloose the loop, we are only fastening a knot. For how can they either always be in presence, or always behold the face of the Father, if they are sent upon external ministration for our salvation? Which will however be the sooner believed, if we think of how great subtlety is the angelical nature. For they never so go forth apart from the vision of God, as to be deprived of the joys of interior contemplation; for if when they went forth they lost the vision of the Creator, they could neither have raised up the fallen, nor announced the truth to those in ignorance; and that fount of light, which by departing they were themselves deprived of, they could in no wise proffer to