3.

5-7.

62 Satan entraps like Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. JOB1,4. good deed, and while it calls upon the mind for more mirth than is meet, it discards all the weight of gravity from our good action. For because the Psalmist had seen that even those that set out well are met by snares on the way, being Ps. 142, filled with the prophetic spirit, he rightly delivered it; In this way that I walked they hid a snare for me. Which Jeremiah well and subtilly insinuates, who, while busied with telling of outward events, points out what things were done Jer. 41, inwardly in ourselves, There came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the Lord. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went; and it came to pass, as he met them, he said unto them, Come unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them. For those shave their beard, who remove from them confidence in their own powers. They rend their clothes, that spare not themselves in tearing in pieces outward appearance. They come to offer up in the house of the Lord frankincense and gifts, who engage to set forth prayer in union with works in sacrifice to God. But if in the very path of holy devotion they skill not to keep a wary eye on every side, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah goes forth to meet them; in that assuredly every evil spirit, after the example of its chief, even Satan, begotten in the erring principle of pride, presents itself as a snare to deceive. And it is likewise well said concerning him; weeping all along as he went; forasmuch as in order that he may cut off devout souls by smiting them, he hides himself as it were under the guise of virtue, and whereas he feigns to agree with those that really mourn, being thus with greater security admitted to the interior of the heart, he destroys whatsoever of virtue is there hidden within. And most often he engages to guide to higher things; and hence he is related to have said, Come unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; and while he promises greater things he robs us even of the very little that we have; and hence it is rightly said, And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael

Satan bruises the good in the heel, or end.

63

I.

the son of Nethaniah slew them. So then he slays in the Book midst of the city the men that are come to offer gifts to God, in that those souls which are devoted to works of God, unless they watch over themselves with great circumspection, lose their life on the very way, through the enemy intercepting them unawares, as they go bearing the sacrifice of devotion; and from the hands of this enemy there is no escape, unless they speedily hasten back to repentance. Hence it is fitly added there, But ten men were found among them, Jer. 41, that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not, for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he slew them not. For the treasure in the field is hope in repentance, which, in that it is not discernible, is kept buried closely in the earth of the heart. They then that had treasures in the field were saved, in that they who after the fault of their unwariness return to the lamentation of repentance, do not likewise perish when taken captive.

8.

53. But when our old adversary neither deals a blow at the outset of the intention, nor intercept us in the path of the execution, he sets the more mischievous snares at the end, which he so much the more wickedly besets, as he sees that it is all that is left to him to make a prey of. Now the Prophet had seen these snares set at the end of his course, when he said, They will mark my heel. For because the end of the Ps.56,6. body is in the heel, what is signified thereby but the end of an action? Whether then it be evil spirits, or all wicked men that follow in the steps of their pride, they mark the heel' when they aim at spoiling the end of a good action; and hence it is said to that serpent, it shall mark thy head, Gen. 3, and thou shalt mark his heel. For to mark the serpent's Vulg. head is to keep an eye upon the beginnings of his suggestions, thus and with the hand of needful consideration wholly to eradicate them from the avenues of the heart; yet when he is caught at the commencement, he busies himself to smite the heel, in that though he does not strike the intention with his suggestion at the first, he strives to ensnare at the end. Now if the heart be once corrupted in the intention, the middle and the end of the action that follows is held in secure possession by the cunning adversary, since he sees that that whole tree bears fruit to himself, which he has

15.

64 Each virtue, and whole character, to be watched.

JOB 1,4. poisoned at the root with his baleful tooth. Therefore because we have to watch with the greatest care, that the mind even in the service of good works be not polluted by a wicked intention, it is rightly said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. As if it were said in plain words, that is no good work which is performed outwardly, unless the sacrifice of innocency be inwardly offered for it upon the altar of the heart in the presence of God. The stream of our work then is to be looked through, all we can, if it flows out pure from the well-spring of thought. With all care must the eye of the heart be guarded from the dust of wickedness, lest that which in action it shews upright to man, be within set awry by the fault of a crooked intention.

54. We must take heed, then, that our good works be not too few, take heed too that they be not unexamined, lest by doing too few works we be found barren, or by leaving them unexamined we be found foolish; for each several virtue is not really such, if it be not blended with other virtues; and Exod. hence it is well said to Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, 30, 34. 35. stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, of good scent, with pure frankincense; of each shall there be a like weight: And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, well tempered together, and pure. For we make a perfume compounded of spices, when we yield a smell upon the altar of good works with the multitude of our virtues; and this is tempered together and pure,' in that the more we join virtue to virtue, the purer is the incense of ver. 36. good works we set forth. Hence it is well added, And thou shalt beat them all very small, and put of it before the Tabernacle of the Testimony. We 'beat all the spices very small,' when we pound our good deeds as it were in the mortar of the heart, by an inward sifting, and go over them minutely, to see if they be really and truly good: and thus to reduce the spices to a powder, is to rub fine our virtues by consideration, and to call them back to the utmost exactitude of a secret reviewal; and observe that it is said of that powder, and thou shalt put of it before the Tabernacle of the Testimony: for this reason, in that our good works are then truly pleasing in the sight of our Judge, when the

sum

6.

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 coarse' 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 and 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.

Vulg.

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 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.