26. MORAL. 20. 362 Men full of good works reach the grave of Eternal Rest. JOB 5, eternal and interior reward, wherein we more thoroughly rest, the more perfectly is killed in us the life of corrupt existence. He then goes down to the grave in abundance,' who, after he has stored up the works of the present life, being perfectly dead to his mutable condition of existence, is buried in the depth of the true light. Whence also it is said by the Ps. 31, Psalmist, Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence, from the provoking of men. And the comparison that is added brings this home to us with effect, where it is subjoined, Like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. For corn in the field is touched by the sun, in that in this life the soul of man is illumined by the regard of the light above. It receives the showers, in that it is enriched by the word of Truth; it is shaken by the winds, in that it is tried with temptations; and it bears the chaff' growing' along with it, in that it bears the life of daily increasing wickedness in sinners, directed against itself; and after it has been carried away to the barn, it is squeezed by the threshing weight, that it may be parted from the hold of the chaff, in that our mind, being subjected to heavenly discipline, whilst it receives the stripes of correction, is parted from the society of the carnal sort in a cleaner state; and it is carried to the granary with the chaff left behind, in that while the lost remain without, the Elect soul is transported to the eternal joys of the mansion above. Well then is it said, Thou shalt come to thy grave in abundance, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season; in that, whereas the righteous after sufferings meet with the rewards of the heavenly land, it is like as if the grains after pressing and squeezing were carried away to the granary. And it is in another's season indeed that they feel the strokes, but in their own that they rest from being struck. For to the Elect the present life is another's season, whence John 7, to some that were yet unbelievers' Truth' saith, My time is not yet come, but your time is alway ready. And again, But 22, 53. this is your hour, and the power of darkness. Thus he cometh to his grave in abundance, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season,' in that he receives the rest eternal, who, that he may be set free of the chaff, which is destined to be burnt, first feels here below the pressure of discipline. But whereas Eliphaz in the course of his address mentioned 6. Luke 6 True maxims fuil when presumptously applied. 363 VI. 'the tabernacle,'' the stones,'' the beasts,'' the seed,'' the Book herbs,' and the grave,' he himself intimates that he did not-speak of these according to the letter, in that after all of them he thereupon subjoins; Ver. 27. Lo this, as we have searched it, so it is. 63. Assuredly it is clear, that in these words he says xxxviii. nothing upon a view of the surface, in that a thing, that is 'searched,' is not set before the face. He then, who shews that he had searched' these things, proves that in outward words inward things were what he had in view. And after the whole he is brought to the foolishness of boasting, in that he thereupon adds; And now thou hast heard it, turn it in thy mind. 64. With whatever lessons of instruction the mind may be xxxix. furnished, it argues great want of skill to wish to instruct one that is superior, whence the very things which are rightly delivered by the friends, are not pronounced right by the interior Judge. For they lose the efficacy of their rightness herein, that they are not suited to the hearer. For even medicines lose their efficacious properties when they be administered to sound limbs. In all, then, that is said, it is necessary that the occasion, the time, and the individual, be taken into account, whether the truth of the sentiment confirms the words delivered, whether the fitting time calls for it, whether the character of the person does not impugn both the truth of the sentiment, and the suitableness of the time. For he launches his darts in a manner to deserve praise, who first looks at the enemy that he is to strike. For he masters the horns of the strong bow amiss, who in sending the arrow with force, strikes a fellow countryman. i. BOOK VII. He explains the whole of the sixth chapter, except the three last verses, in part allegorically and in part morally. 1. Some men's minds are more tormented by scourges than LIT. reproaches, but some are more wounded by reproaches than by scourges. For oftentimes the tortures of speech assail us worse than any pains, and while they make us rise up in our vindication, they lay us low in impatience. Whence, that no temptation whatever might be lacking to blessed Job, not only scourges strike him from above, but the sayings of his friends in talk gall him, being sorer than scourges, that the soul of the holy man, being driven hither and thither, might burst forth in the emotion of wrath and haughtiness, and that all the purity he had lived in might be defiled by headstrong pride of speech. But when touched by the scourges, he gave thanks, when galled with words, he answered aright, and being smitten he makes it appear how little he esteemed the well-being of the body. In speaking too he shews how wisely he held his peace. But there were a few things mixed with his words, which, in the judgment of men, might seem to transgress the limits of patience; of which we shall take a true view, if in the examination of them we weigh well the sentence of the Most High Judge. For it was He, Who both in the first instance gave blessed Job the first place in Job 1,8. opposition to the adversary, saying, Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? It was He, Who after the trial rebuked his friends, saying, For ye have not spoken before Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath. It remains then, that when the mind wavers with uncertainty in the discoursings of blessed Job, it estimate their weight from the beginning and ending of that same account. For one who was to fall Christ the Balance where grief outweighs sin. 365 VII. could never have been commended by the Eternal Judge, Book nor could one who had fallen be awarded the first place. If then, when we be caught in the tempest of embarrasment, we have regard to the first and last points in this history, the vessel of the soul is as it were held fast at prow and stern by the rope of its reflections, that it be not forced on the rocks of error, and so we are not overwhelmed by any storms arising from our ignorance, if we hold to the tranquil shore of the sentence of the Most High. For, mark, he says a thing which might urge the reader's mind with no slight questioning. Yet who could dare to pronounce that not right, which sounds right in God's ears? Chap. vi. 2, 3. Oh that my sins' were throughly weighed, 'so Vulg. whereby I have deserved wrath, and the calamity that I suffer laid in the balances. It should be found heavier even as the sund of the sea. 2. Who else is set forth by the title of the balances,' but Mysг. the Mediator between God and man, Who came to weigh the merit of our life, and brought down with Him both justice and loving-kindness together? But putting the greater weight in the scale of mercy, He lightened our transgressions in pardoning them. For in the hand of the Father having been made like scales of a marvellous balancing, in the one scale He hung our woe in His own Person, and in the other our sins. Now by dying He proved the woe to be of heavy weight, and by releasing it shewed the sin to be light in mercy's scale, Who vouchsafed this instance of grace first, that He made our punishment to be known to us. For man, being created for the contemplation of his Maker, but banished from the interior joys in justice to his deserts, gone headlong into the wofulness of a corrupt condition, undergoing the darkness of his exile, was at once subject to the punishment of his sin, and knew it not; so that he imagined his place of exile to be his home, and so rejoiced under the weight of his corrupt condition as in the liberty of a state of salvation. But He Whom man had forsaken within, • Some editions here add, "Therefore through true penitence, sins, though they be many and most grievous, by the mercy of God are easily forgiven: and that to His mercy that is light 2.3. MYST. 366 Fallen man's misery only known through Christ. JOB 6, having assumed a fleshly nature, came forth God without; and when He presented Himself outwardly, He restored man, who was cast forth without, to the interior life, that He might henceforth perceive his losses, that he might henceforth lament the sorrows of his blind state. Man's woe then was found to be heavy in the balance, in that the ill, which he was laid under, he only knew in his Redeemer's appearing presence. For not knowing the right, he bore with delight the darkness of his state of condemnation. But after he saw a thing for him to delight in, he likewise perceived a thing to grieve over, and what he underwent he felt was grievous, in that what he had lost was made known as sweet. Let then the holy man, thrown out of the barriers of silence by the sayings of his friend in discourse, and filled with the overflowing of the prophetic spirit, exclaim with his own voice, yea, with the voice of mankind, Oh that my sins were thoroughly weighed, whereby I have deserved wrath, and the calamity that I suffer laid in the balances together! It should be found heavier even as the sand of the sea. As if it were in plain words, The evil of our condition under the curse is thought light, in that it is weighed without the 1 æqui- Redeemer's equity' being as yet known, but oh that He would come, and hang in the scale of His Mercy the wofulness of this dismal exile, and instruct us what to seek back for after that exile. For if He makes known what we have lost, He shews that to be grievous which we endure.' But this same misery of our pilgrimage is fitly compared to the sand of the sea, (for the sand of the sea is forced without by the chafing of the waters,) in that man too in transgressing, because he bore the billows of temptation unsteadily, was carried out of himself from within. Now of great weight is the sand of the sea, but the calamity of man is said to be ' heavier than the sand of the sea,' for his punishment is shewn to have been hard, at the time when the sin is lightened by the merciful Judge. And because every man that owns the grace of the Redeemer, every one that longs for a return to his Country, now that he is instructed, groans beneath the burthen of his pilgrimage; after the longing for the balances, the words are rightly subjoined; tate Therefore my words are full of grief. |