Morals on the Book of Job (part 5 of 5)

THE BOOKS OF THE MORALS OF ST. GREGORY THE POPE, OR AN EXPOSITION ON THE BOOK OF BLESSED JOB.

VOLUME III - THE SIXTH PART. — BOOK XXXV.In which many things already said are repeated in recapitulation, and this immense work is brought to a close by a most lowly confession of human infirmity. Because this is the last book of this work, and since, the more difficult places having been treated, those which remain are less obscure, it seems good to run through it with less attention and care. For as if we had traversed a mighty ocean, we now gain sight of the shore, and lowering the sails of our intention, are not borne along with the same force as before, but yet we still hold our way from the impulse of the former blast. The storm of our anxiety has, so to speak, abated, but its violence, through now moderated, yet still wafts us on to our station on the shore. After then the Lord had shewn to His faithful servant how strong and crafty is Leviathan His enemy, while He carefully disclosed his strength and craft, blessed Job replied to both, saying,

Chap. xlii. ver. 2. I know that Thou canst do all things, and that no thought is hid from Thee. [i] 2. For against his huge strength he observed; I know that Thou canst do all things; but against his hidden machinations he subjoined; And no thought is hid from Thee. Whence he immediately upbraids the same Leviathan, saying; Ver. 3. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? For Leviathan hides counsel without knowledge, because, though he is concealed from our infirmity by many frauds, he is yet disclosed to us by the holy inspiration of our Protector. He hides counsel without knowledge, because though he escapes the notice of those who are tempted, yet he cannot escape the notice of the Protector of the tempted. Having heard therefore the power and craft of the devil, having heard also the power of our Creator, which both mightly represses him, and mercifully protects us, we entreat thee, O blessed Job, not to conceal from us that which thou thinkest of thyself. It follows;

Therefore I have spoken foolishly, and things that above measure exceeded my knowledge. [ii]

3. All human wisdom, however powerful in acuteness, is foolishness, when compared with Divine wisdom. For all human deeds which are just and beautiful are, when compared with the justice and beauty of God, neither just nor beautiful, nor have any existence at all. Blessed Job therefore would believe that he had said wisely what he had said, if he did not hear the words of superior wisdom. In comparison with which all our wisdom is folly. And he who had spoken wisely to men, on hearing the Divine sayings, discourses more wisely that he is not wise. Hence it is that Abraham saw, when God was addressing him, that he was nothing but dust, saying; I speak unto my Lord, though I am dust and ashes. [Gen. 18, 27] Hence it is that Moses, though instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, as soon as he heard the Lord speaking, discovered that he was a person of more hesitating and slower speech, saying; I beseech Thee, O Lord, I am not eloquent; for from yesterday, and the day before, since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant, I am of a more hesitating and slower tongue.

[Ex. 4, 10] Hence it is that Isaiah, after he saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, after he beheld the Seraphim covering their face with two wings, and their feet with two, and flying with two, after he heard them crying one to the other, That Which He is, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, he returned to himself, and said; Woe is me, because I have held my peace, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that hath unclean lips. [Is. 6, 5] And he immediately added, whence he had learned this pollution, and said; And I have seen with mine eyes the King, the Lord of Hosts. Hence also Jeremiah, on hearing the words of God, found that he had no words in himself, saying; Ah, ah, ah, Lord God, behold I know not how to speak, for I am a child. [Jer. 1, 6] Hence Ezekiel speaking concerning the four animals, says; When there was a voice above the firmament, which was over their heads, they stood, and let down their wings. [Ez. 1, 25] For what is designated by the flying of the animals but the sublimity of evangelists and doctors? Or what are the wings of the animals, but the contemplations of saints raising them up to heavenly things?

But when a voice is uttered above the firmament which is over their heads, they stand, and let down their wings, because when they hear within the voice of heavenly wisdom, they drop down, as it were, the wings of their flight. For they discern, in truth, that they are not able to contemplate the loftiness itself of truth. To drop down their wings then at the voice which comes from above, is, on learning the power of God, to bring down our own virtues, and from contemplating the Creator, to think but humbly of ourselves. When holy men, therefore, hear the words of God, the more they advance in contemplation, the more they despise what they are, and know themselves to be either nothing, or next to nothing. Let blessed Job then reply to the words of God, and, as he advances in wisdom, find himself to be a fool, saying; I have spoken foolishly, and things that above measure exceeded my knowledge. Behold, he reproved himself the more, the more he advances, and believed that he had beyond measure exceeded his knowledge, because in the words of the Lord he discerned, more than he had imagined, the secrets of His wisdom. It follows;

Ver. 4. Hear, and I will speak; I will question Thee, and answer Thou me. [iii]

4. To hear, is, with us, to adapt our ear which is in one place to a sound which comes from another. But with God, on the other hand, to Whom nothing is external, hearing is properly for Him to perceive our longings which are rising up beneath Him. For us then to speak to God, Who is acquainted with the hearts even of those that hold their peace, is not for us to utter what we think with the words of our throat, but to long for Him with eager desires. And because a person asks a question in order to be able to learn that of which he is ignorant, for a man to question God, is for him to acknowledge that he is ignorant in His sight. But for God to reply, is for Him to instruct with His secret inspirations him who humbly acknowledges his ignorance. Blessed Job then says; Hear, and I will speak. As if he were saying, Mercifully understand my desires, in order that, while Thy mercy receives and furthers them, they may rise up to Thee in greater number. For as often as good wishes obtain their effect, they are multiplied. Whence it is written in another place; I have called, for Thou hast heard me. [Ps. 17, 6] For he says not, Because I called, Thou hast heard me: but, I have called, for Thou hast heard me. For he who had been heard when speaking, when he had been heard, and his wishes had been successful, exclaimed;

I will question Thee, and answer Thou me. As if he were saying, From the contemplation of Thy knowledge I acknowledge myself to be ignorant. Answer me therefore when I question Thee, that is, teach me who humbly confess my own foolishness. For that he himself was questioning God from his longing after humility, and was seeking for God to answer him by the instruction of inspiration, is declared in the following words. For he announced that he would put a question, and yet added nothing in the shape of a question. For as thinking only humbly of himself, and as acknowledging the favours he had mercifully received from God, he immediately subjoins;

Ver. 5. I have heard Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee. [iv] 5. By these words he doubtless plainly declares, that as far as sight is superior to hearing, so far does the progress also he had made through suffering differ from that which he was before. And because he had beheld more plainly the light of truth with the eye within, he more clearly discerned and beheld the darkness of his humanity. Whence it also follows; Ver. 6. Wherefore I reproach myself. [v] 6. For the less a person sees himself, the less is he displeased with himself; and the more he discerns the light of greater grace, the more blameworthy does he acknowledge himself to be. For when he is elevated within, by all that he is, he endeavours to agree with that standard which he beholds above him. And because human weakness still impedes him, he perceives that he differs therefrom in no slight degree, and every thing within him is burdensome, which does not agree with that inward standard. This standard blessed Job more fully beholds, as he was making progress after his suffering, and with great self-reproach is at variance with himself, saying; Therefore I reproach myself. But because there is no knowledge of reproach, if the lamentations of penitence do not also follow, it is rightly added, after the reproach,

And do penance in dust and ashes. [vi]

7. For to do penance in dust and ashes, is, after having contemplated the supreme Essence, to acknowledge himself to be nothing else but dust and ashes. Whence the Lord in the Gospel says to the reprobate city, If the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have done penance long ago in sackcloth and ashes. [Mat. 11, 21] For by 'sackcloth,' is set forth the roughness and the piercing of sin, but in 'ashes' the dust of the dead. And therefore both of these are wont to be used in penance, in order that by the piercing of sackcloth we may know what we have done through sin, and that in the dust of ashes we may consider what we have become through judgment. Let piercing sins then be considered in sackcloth, let the just punishment of sins, which succeeds by the sentence of death, be considered in ashes. For since insults of the flesh have sprung up after sin, let man behold in the roughness of the sackcloth what he has done through pride, let him behold in the ashes how far he has gone through sin. But by sackcloth can be designated also the very compunction of grief which arises from remembrance and penitence. For blessed Job in saying, I reproach myself, is wounded as it were by a kind of sackcloth, when he is galled in his mind by the sharp stings of reproaches. But he does penance in ashes; because he carefully observes what he has been made by a just judgment after his first sin, saying, I do penance in dust and ashes. As if he plainly said, I do not boast myself of any gift of my Creator, because, having been taken from the dust, I know that I return to dust by the sentence of death which has been inflicted on me.

8. Having heard then all the words of Job, having known also all the answers of his friends, let us turn the sight of our mind to the sentence of the inward Judge, and say to Him; Behold, Lord, we have heard both the sides of those who are disputing in Thy sight, and we know that Job, in this contest, goes through his virtuous deeds, and that his friends maintain against him the glory of Thy justice. But Thou knowest what amid these things is the opinion of our mind. For we cannot possibly blame the sayings of those whom we know to be contributing to Thy defence. But, behold, the parties are present, and wait the sentence; bring forth therefore, O Lord, from Thine invisible rule the most discriminating sentence of Thy judgment, and shew us which has spoken most rightly in this contention. It follows; Ver. 7. But after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, He said to Eliphaz the Themanite, My anger is kindled against thee and thy two friends, because ye have not spoken before Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job.

[vii]

9. O Lord, the sentence of Thy judgment declares how much our blindness is at variance with the light of Thine uprightness. Behold, we know that in Thy judgment blessed Job is victorious, whom we believed to have sinned against Thee by his words. In Thy judgment those are condemned, who believed that they surpassed the merits of blessed Job by speaking in Thy behalf. Since then we have learned by the Divine sentence what to think of the parties, let us now examine a little more minutely the words of this sentence. For how is it that blessed Job is blamed above, if, in comparison with his uprightness, his friends are said not to have spoken that which is right before the Lord? Is not this decision concerning him still further confirmed, in which it is said to the ancient enemy, Hast thou seen My servant Job, that there is none like him upon the earth? [Job 1, 8] But what is this, that he is praised to the enemy, and reproved in his own person; reproved in his own person, and yet preferred to the friends who spake to him? Unless it be that the holy man surpassed all men by the virtue of his merits, and yet, inasmuch as he was man, could not possibly be without blame before the eyes of God.

For in a holy man sojourning in this temporary state, the rule of the Divine judgment has still something to judge, though in comparison with the rest of men it has even now something to praise. Blessed Job therefore believed that he was scourged for his fault, and not as a favour; he considered that his sins were lopped off, not that his merits were increased. And he is blamed for imagining that the intention of the scourging was different, and yet is preferred, in the decision of the inward judgment, to his friends who opposed him. Whence it is plainly gathered how great was his justice, in establishing the innocence of his doings against the arguments of his friends, since he is preferred in the Divine judgment even to those very persons who defended the Divine judgment. But we learned in the beginning of this Book [Bk. 3. ' 15] that Satan had said of him to the Lord; Put forth Thy hand and touch him, and see if he do not bless Thee to Thy face. [Job 2, 5] At which request blessed Job is permitted to be touched with losses, with bereavement, with wounds, and with offensive words, because, in truth, He Who had praised him was certain, that the holy man would never, according to the assertion of the devil, fall into the sin of cursing.

As we have then said also above, [Preface chap. 3] whoever considers that blessed Job sinned in his words after he had been scourged, plainly decides that the Lord had been the loser in His pledging. And though the Lord in speaking to the devil, brought forward his present good qualities, but did not promise his perseverance, it should yet be known that He would not have put forward his righteousness by permitting it to he tempted, if He foresaw that he would not he able to continue righteous under temptation. Since the devil then had been permitted by God to tempt him, if any one considers that he sank under temptation, he blames the ignorance of Him who permitted it.

10. Let us then truthfully approve of blessed Job in his sayings, lest we should sinfully blame God in His providence. And although, as far as concerns human judgments, his friends might be believed to have said in their words many things better than himself, yet Truth bringing forth another rule from the secret place, says; Ye have not spoken before Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job. Before Me, He says, that is, within, where the conduct of many often displeases, even if outwardly it is pleasing to men. Whence it is said with great judgment, in praise of the righteous married people; They were both righteous before God. [Luke 1, 6] For it is no safe praise to appear just before men. For the opinion of man often approves of a person as if mighty before God, but Almighty God knows not him, who is approved of as if by Him. For hence is it that the Psalmist watchfully prays, saying; Direct my way in Thy sight. [Ps. 5, 8] Doubtless, because even that way is frequently believed to be right in the sight of men, which is turned aside from the way of truth. And it is observable, that it is not said, Ye have not spoken before Me the thing that is right as Job, but, as My servant Job. In order, namely, that by speaking of him as if in some sort in a peculiar character, by introducing the mention of his being a servant, He might point out that all that had been urged in his defence, he had said not with haughty pride, but with humble truth. But because God is just and merciful, He both reproves his friends strictly with His justice, and graciously converts them by His mercy. For it follows;

Ver. 8. Take unto you seven bulls, and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a whole burnt offering. But My servant Job shall pray for you; his face I will accept, that folly be not imputed to you. [viii] 11. Behold the just and merciful God neither passes over their faults without reproof, nor yet leaves their guilt without conversion. For since He is our inward Physician, He first made known the corruptions of our wound, and afterwards pointed out the remedies for obtaining health. But we have already often said, [Pref. chap. 6] that the friends of blessed Job represent heretics, who offend God, while they endeavour to defend Him; for they are in their words rebels against the truth, which they imagine they are serving by their false assertions. Because therefore Almighty God frequently incorporates them into the body of Holy Church, through the knowledge of the truth; their conversion also, which is often mercifully effected, is well designated by this pardon which the friends of Job obtain.

12. But it must be specially observed, that they are ordered to offer to the Lord the sacrifice of their conversion, not by themselves, but by Job. Heretics doubtless, when they come back from their error, cannot appease the wrath of God towards them by a sacrifice offered by themselves, unless they are converted to the Catholic Church, which blessed Job designates; that so they may obtain their salvation by her prayers whose faith they used to impugn with their false assertions. For He says; My servant Job will pray for you; his face I will accept, that folly be not imputed to you. As if He openly said to heretics. I accept not your sacrifices, I hear not the words of your petitions, except through the intercession of her, whose words of confession concerning Me I acknowledge true. And do ye indeed bring down bulls and rams to offer the sacrifices of your conversion, but ask of Me your salvation through the Catholic Church, which I love. For I wish to remit to her the sin which ye have committed against Me in her, in order that she may obtain your recovery, who used to suffer from your sickness.

13. For it is she alone through whom God willingly accepts a sacrifice, she alone who intercedes with confidence for those who are in error. Whence also the Lord commanded concerning the sacrifice of the lamb, saying; In one house it shall be eaten, neither shall ye carry forth of the flesh thereof out of the house. [Ex. 12, 46] For the lamb is eaten in one house, because the true Sacrifice of the Redeemer is immolated in the one Catholic Church. And the Divine law orders its flesh not to he carried forth abroad, because it forbids that which is holy to be given to dogs. [Matt. 7, 6] It is she alone in whom a good work is fruitfully carried on, whence they only who had laboured in the vineyard received the reward of a penny. [Matt. 20, 10] It is she alone who guards those who are placed within her by the strong bond of charity. Whence also the water of the deluge raised the ark indeed aloft, but destroyed all those whom it found out of the ark. It is she alone in whom we truly contemplate the heavenly mysteries. Whence also the Lord says to Moses; There is a place by Me, and thou shall stand upon a rock. [Exod. 33, 21] And a little after; I will take away Mine hand, and thou shall see My back parts.

[ib. 23] For since the truth shines forth from the Church Catholic alone, the Lord says that there is a place by Him, from which He is to be seen. Moses is placed on a rock, to behold the form of God, because if any one maintains not the firmness of the Faith, he discerns not the Divine presence. Of which firmness the Lord says; Upon this rock I will build My Church. [Mat. 16, 18] What is then in this place the saying to the friends of Job, Go ye to Job, except, 'Ascend ye the rock?' What is, His face I will accept for you, that folly be not imputed to you, except that which is there said, Thou shalt see My back parts? that is, thou shalt understand the mysteries of that Incarnation which is hereafter to be.

14. But heretics, because they disdain to stand on the rock, behold not the back parts of God as He passes by; because, being situated without the Church, they discern not the mysteries of His Incarnation, as they really are. For, as we have said before, by 'bulls' is expressed the neck of pride; [Pref. chap. 8] but by 'rams,' the leadership which is exercised by heretics, when people are persuaded by them, as flocks that are led astray. For of proud heretics, who corrupt the minds of the weak by their evil persuasion, it is said; The congregation of the bulls amongst the kine of the people. [Ps. 68, 30] And because they lead like flocks the people that follow them, they are sometimes called 'rams.' For rams in truth lead the flock. Whence Jeremiah says by way of reproof; Thy princes are like rams. [Lam. 1, 6] Because then heretics, when they return to the Church, abandon the haughtiness of pride, and lead not the multitude of the people to destruction, like herds that follow them, the friends of blessed Job are ordered to offer bulls and rams. For to offer bulls and rams in sacrifice, is to sacrifice proud leadership with the humility of conversion, so that they, who before endeavoured to take the lead in teaching, may tame the neck of pride, and learn to follow by obedience. This their pride is also rightly expiated by seven sacrifices; because heretics, on returning to the Church, receive through the offering of humility the gifts of the Spirit of sevenfold grace, in order that they who had wasted away through their old habit of pride, may be formed afresh by the newness of grace.

15. But the number seven is among the wise of this world considered to be perfect on some special grounds of its own, because it is the sum of the first even, and the first uneven number. For the first uneven number is three, and the first even number is four. Of these two numbers that of seven is composed, which, by multiplying together these very parts rises up to the number twelve. For whether we multiply three by four, or four by three, we arrive at that number. But we, because we enjoy the preaching of truth by a gift from above, tread under foot and look down on these matters which are fixed on the loftiness of knowledge, doubtless retaining this with unshaken faith, that those, whom the Spirit of sevenfold grace has filled, it makes perfect; and imparts to them not merely the knowledge of the Trinity, but also the performance of the four virtues, that is, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice. And It is increased, in a manner, in its parts, within those also whom It enters, when both the performance of the four virtues is received through the knowledge of the Trinity, and by the performance of the four virtues we attain even to the manifest sight of the Trinity. And therefore among ourselves the number seven is perfect, but in a very different way; because it rises fully and with no deficiency to the number twelve, when it both perfects works by faith, and again faith by works [i. e.

four by three and three by four]. The holy Apostles also, who were to be filled with the Spirit of sevenfold grace, were chosen twelve in number. For they were sent in the four quarters of the world to make known the Trinity, Which is God. They were therefore chosen in number twelve, that even by the nature of the number itself, the cause might be plain, why they preached the three highest, through the four lowest things.

16. Whether then from this, or perhaps from some other reason, in Holy Scripture, by the number seven is designated sometimes the secure rest of eternity, sometimes the whole of this present time, but sometimes the whole body of Holy Church. For by the number seven the perfection of eternity is suggested, when the seventh day is called sanctified for the rest of the Lord. [Gen. 2, 3] And no evening is said to belong to it, because the rest of eternal blessedness is confined by no limit. Hence also it is that, on the giving of the Law, the seventh day is ordered to be one of rest, in order that eternal rest may be designated by it. [Ex. 20, 8-11] Hence it is, that in the course of years, the number seven multiplied seven times, with a unit added, amounts to fifty, in order that the most holy rest of the Jubilee, signifying perpetual blessedness, might be observed. [Lev. 25, 10] Hence it is, that the Lord, rising again and frequently appearing, is said at His last feast to have eaten with seven disciples; [John 21, 2] because they who are now perfected in Him, are filled by Him with eternal refreshment.

17. Again by the number 'seven' is understood the whole of this temporal condition. For hence it is that the whole season of this present life is passed over in periods of seven days. Hence it is, that in type of Holy Church, which at all times traverses this world with her preaching, the Ark of the Lord, carried round for seven days with the sound of trumpets, overthrew the walls of Jericho. [Josh. 6, 12-20] Hence the Prophet says; Seven times a day have I praised Thee. [Ps. 119, 164] And as signifying that he had said this for the whole and entire season of his supplication, he says; His praise shall he ever in my mouth. [Ps. 34, 1] But that the whole of the present life is designated by the number 'seven' is shewn more plainly, when the number 'eight' is mentioned after it. For when another number besides follows after seven, it is set forth by this very addition, that this temporal state is brought to an end and closed by eternity. For hence it is that Solomon advises, saying; Give portions to seven, and also to eight. [Eccles. 11, 2] For by the number seven he expressed the present time, 'which is passed by periods of seven days. But by the number 'eight' he designated eternal life, which the Lord made known to us by His resurrection. For He rose in truth on the Lord's day, which, as following the seventh day, that is, the Sabbath, is found to he the eighth from the creation.

But it is well said; Give portions to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be on the earth. As if it were plainly said; So dispense temporal goods, as not to forget to desire those that are eternal. For thou oughtest to provide for the future by well-doing, who knowest not what tribulation succeeds from the future judgment. Hence it is, that the Temple is ascended with fifteen steps, in order that it may be learned by its very ascent that by seven and eight our worldly doings may be carefully discharged, and an eternal dwelling may be providently sought for. Hence also it is that, by increasing a unit to ten, the Prophet uttered a hundred and fifty Psalms. For on account of this number 'seven' signifying temporal things, and the number 'eight' eternal things, the Holy Spirit was poured forth upon a hundred and twenty of the faithful, sitting in an upper room. For fifteen is made up of seven and eight, and if in counting from one to fifteen we mount up by adding the sums of the numbers together, we reach the number a hundred and twenty. By this effusion of the Holy Spirit they learned in truth both to pass through with endurance things temporal, and eagerly to seek after those that are eternal.

18. Again, by the number 'seven' is designated the whole body of Holy Church. Whence John in the Apocalypse writes to seven Churches: [Rev. 1, 20] but what else but the Church universal did he wish to be signified by them? And in order that this universal Church might be signified to be full of the Spirit of sevenfold grace, Elisha is described as having breathed seven times over the dead child. [2 Kings 4, 35] For the Lord, coming to a lifeless people, opens his mouth seven times, because He confers on it in His mercy the gifts of the Spirit of sevenfold grace. Because then the whole body of Holy Church is typified by the number 'seven,' let the friends of blessed Job come to him, and offer the whole burnt offering commanded by God. But let them guard with all watchfulness the mysteries of the number seven; in order, namely, that they who are living without may first unite themselves to the general body of Holy Church, and then at length seek pardon for the guilt of their former pride. Let them offer for their fault seven sacrifices, because they receive not the washing away of their guilt, unless by the Spirit of sevenfold grace they are united to that universal peace, from which they had been cut off. Let it be said then, Take unto you seven bulls, and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer for yourselves a whole burnt offering. But My servant Job shall pray for you;

his face I will accept, that folly be not imputed to you. As if it were plainly said to heretics on their return; Unite yourselves to the universal Church by the humility of penance, and obtain from Me through her prayers that pardon, of which of yourselves ye are not worthy: for when through her ye learn to be truly wise, ye are the first to blot out before Me the foolishness of your wisdom. It follows;

Ver. 8. For ye have not spoken before Me the thing which is right, like My servant Job. [ix] 19. The Lord used these words a little before, and yet He again repeats and adds the same words. What is this, except that, by again repeating, He confirms the sentence which He had already pronounced in judgment? And, in order that the righteousness of blessed Job and the unrighteousness of his friends might be the more manifestly displayed, the praise of the one and the reproof of the other is brought forward by a repetition of the words, so that by being repeated outwardly, it might appear how firmly fixed they are held within. For when the king of Egypt had known in two visions the fearful seasons of the coming famine under the figure of kine and of ears of corn, he heard by the voice of the holy interpreter; For that thou hast seen a second time a dream pertaining to the same thing, it is a token of the certainty. [Gen. 41, 32] From which it is plainly collected, that whatever is repeated in the word of God, is more strongly confirmed. But since we have heard what the Judge has decreed, let us hear also what they do who are convicted. It follows;

Ver. 9. Therefore Eliphaz the Themanite, and Baldad the Suhite, and Sophar the Naamathite, went and did according as the Lord had spoken to them: and the Lord accepted the face of Job. [x] 20. We say nothing concerning the interpretation of these names, because we remember that we discussed it at greater length in the beginning of this work. But it must be noticed, that the order of the pardon they received is so carefully observed, as had been announced, that the Lord is said to have accepted in their sacrifices not their face, but the face of blessed Job. But, because whoever endeavours to intercede for others, promotes still more his own interest from this very love, it is rightly subjoined; Ver. 10. The Lord also was turned at the penitence of Job, when he prayed for his friends. [xi]

21. For he is before shewn to have been heard in behalf of his friends, when the circumstance, which we before mentioned, is stated; They did according as the Lord had spoken, and the Lord accepted the face of Job. But when it is immediately observed, The Lord also was turned at the penitence of Job, when he prayed for his friends; it is plainly shewn, that a penitent has deserved to be heard the more quickly in his own behalf, the more devoutly he has interceded for his friends. For he makes his prayers more powerful in his own behalf, who offers them also in behalf of others. For that sacrifice of prayer is more willingly received, which, in the sight of the merciful Judge, is flavoured with love for one's neighbour. And a person then truly adds to its amount, if he offers it even for his enemies. For hence is that, which the Truth Who is our Teacher says; Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you. [Luke 6, 28] Hence again He says, When ye shall stand to pray, forgive if ye have ought against any, that your Father also Who is in heaven may forgive you your sins. [Mark 11, 25] But how much he obtained for himself, who interceded for others, is immediately pointed out, when it is subjoined,

The Lord added all that had been to Job, twofold. [xii] 22. He received twofold all that he had lost, because through the tenderness of the merciful Judge the assistance of consolations far surpasses the loss of our temptation. But the temptation tries us less than the reward consoles us; in order that he, who used from the weight of the blow to consider that he had suffered some heavy trial, may learn from the recompense he has earned ['retributionis merito'], that what he endured was but light. Whence it is said also to afflicted Jud'a; For a small moment have I forsaken thee, and in great mercies will I gather thee. [Is. 54, 7] But sometimes the measure of consolation is dispensed in proportion to the weight of affliction. Whence it is written elsewhere, According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, Thy comforts have rejoiced my soul. [Ps. 94, 12] For he, who exclaims that he had been made joyful according to the multitude of his sorrows, points out that he was consoled in the same measure as he had been afflicted. But the reader is not slightly instructed, if he considers the very order of the remuneration. For correction follows excess, penitence correction, pardon penitence, gifts pardon. But because he who had been smitten by permission of Divine Providence, was afflicted also by the words of his friends, when he is consoled by the gifts of the Divine mercy, he deserves to be cherished also with human love; in order that to him, whom the sorrows and adversities of pains wounded on every side, the joys of consolation may on every side correspond. Whence also it is added,

Ver. 11. But there came to him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all that knew him before, and did eat bread with him in his house, and moved the head over him. [xiii] 23. What is designated by the eating of bread but charity, and what by the moving of the head but admiration? But it is well subjoined, And comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. For to console the grief of one that had been smitten, is to rejoice with him on his pardon after he had been smitten. For the more a person is seen to rejoice on the restoration of his neighbour's health, the more does he give proof that he had grieved at its loss. And they gave him each one sheep, and one earring of gold. [xiv]

24. Although all these things are truly stated according to the history, we are yet compelled by the very gifts which were offered to go back to the mystery of allegory. For we ought not to hear in a listless manner that they offered a sheep, and a single one, and a golden earring, and a single one. And if perhaps it is not wonderful in the mere letter why the sheep which was offered was one, yet it is very wonderful why the earring was one. But what reference has a sheep to an earring, or an earring to a sheep? We are compelled therefore, by the very definiteness ['fine'] of the gifts, to examine in the mysteries of allegory the former statements also, which we have run through and treated superficially according to the mere history. Because therefore Christ and the Church, that is, the Head and the body, are one person, we have often said that blessed Job sometimes typifies the head, sometimes the body. Preserving then the truth of the history, let us understand that as performed under the type of the Church, which is written, The Lord added all that had been to Job twofold. For though Holy Church now loses many by the stroke of temptation, yet in the end of this world she receives those things that are her own, twofold, when, having received the Gentiles in full number, all Judaea also which shall then be found, agrees to run to her faith.

For hence it is written, Until the fulness of the Gentiles should come in, and so all Israel should be saved. [Rom. 11, 25. 26. Hence the Truth also says in the Gospel, Elias shall come, and he shall restore all things. [Matt. 17, 11] For now the Church has lost the Israelites, which she was unable to convert by preaching, but when, at that time, on the preaching of Elias, she gathers together as many as she shall have found, she receives as it were in fuller measure that which she has lost.

25. Or certainly, for Holy Church to rejoice over each of us at both the blessedness of our soul, and the incorruption of our body, is for her to receive double at her end. For hence is that which is said of the Elect by the Prophet, In their land they shall possess the double. [Is. 61, 7] Hence it is that the Apostle John says of the Saints who were seeking for the end of the world; While robes were given, unto every one of them one, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet a little season, until the number of their fellow-servants and of their brethren should be filled up. [Rev. 6, 11] For as we have said a great way above, [Pref. chap. 10] the Saints receive a single garment before the resurrection, because they enjoy the happiness of their souls alone; but in the end of the world they are about to have, each of them, two, because, together with blessedness of mind, they will possess also the glory of the flesh.

26. But these words which are subjoined attest that they rather announce the conversion of the Jewish people at the end of this world. For it is added; There came to him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all that knew him before, and did eat bread with him in his house. For then do His brethren and sisters come to Christ, when as many as shall have been found of the Jewish people are converted. For from that people He took the substance of His flesh. His brethren and sisters therefore then come to Him, when from that people which is united to Him by kindred, either those who are about to be strong, as brethren, or weak, as sisters, flock to Him with devout congratulation through the knowledge of the Faith. They then set forth in His house a banquet of most crowded festivity, when they no longer despise Him as a mere man, and, mindful of their relationship, rejoice together in cleaving to His Godhead. They then eat bread in His house, when they put aside the observance of the letter which is inferior, and feed, as it were, on the marrow of the grain of mystical teaching in Holy Church. But it is well subjoined; All who knew Him before. For they knew Him before, Whom they scorned in His Passion as if unknown to them. For no one who completely learned the Law was ignorant that Christ would be born.

Whence even Herod the king, when alarmed by the coming of the Magi, endeavoured to enquire diligently of the priests and riders, where they knew Christ would be born; to whom they immediately answered; In Bethlehem of Judah. [Matt. 2, 5] They therefore knew Him before, Whom they knew not, when they despised Him at the time of His Passion. And both their former knowledge and their subsequent ignorance is well and briefly signified by the dimness of Isaac. For when he was blessing Jacob, he both foresaw what would afterwards happen, and knew not who was standing before him. [Gen. 27, 1] Thus in truth was the people of the Israelites, which received the mysteries of prophecy, but yet had eyes which were dim in contemplation, because it saw not Him when present, of Whom it foresaw so many things in the time to come. For it was unable to see Him when standing in its presence, the might of Whose coming it had long before announced. But, behold! they come at the end of the world, and recognise Him Whom they knew before. Behold! they eat bread in His house, because they feed on the grain of sacred doctrine in Holy Church, and shake off all the insensibility of their former torpor. Whence it is subjoined; And they moved the head over him. For what is understood by the head but the ruling power ['principale'] of the mind? As is said by the Psalmist; Thou hast made fat my head with oil.

[Ps. 23, 5] As if it were plainly said, Thou hast watered with the unction of charity my mind which is dried up in its thoughts. The head therefore is moved, when the mind, smitten with dread of truth, is roused from its insensibility. Let the kinsmen ['parentes'] then come to the banquet, and having shaken off their drowsiness, let them move their head; that is, let those who are connected with our Redeemer in the flesh, enjoy at last the refreshment of the word by faith, and lose the hardness of their former insensibility. Whence it is well said by Habakkuk; His feet stood, and the earth is moved. [Hab. 3, 6] For the earth is doubtless moved when the Lord stands, because when He imprints on our heart the footsteps of His fear, every earthly thought in us trembles. In this place, therefore, to move the head, is to shake off the immoveableness of the mind, and to approach to the knowledge of the faith by the steps of belief.

27. But because Holy Church suffers now from the estrangement of the Hebrews, and then is relieved by their conversion, it is rightly subjoined; And comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. They, namely, console Christ, they console the Church, who repent of the error of their former unbelief, and abandon the depravity of life by which they had opposed the teachers of the truth. Is it not a weighty sorrow to preach fruitlessly to hard hearts, to endure labour in setting forth the truth, but to find no fruit of our labour from the conversion of our hearers? But the subsequent progress of their hearers is on the other hand a great consolation to preachers. For the conversion of a learner ['proficientis'] is a consolation to his teacher. And it is to be observed that they would not console him when exposed to the scourge, but that they come to console him after the scourge; doubtless because the Hebrews, despising at the time of His Passion the preaching of the faith, disdained to believe Him to be God, Whom they had proved to be a man by His death. Whence the Lord says by the Psalmist, I looked for one to lament with Me, and there was none; I sought for one to comfort Me, and I found none. [Ps. 69, 20] For He found no one to comfort Him in His Passion, because in His contempt of death He endured even His very enemies, for whom He came to death.

After his scourging, then, his neighbours come to console him; because the Lord now also suffers in His members, but in the last times all the Israelites flock together to the faith, on hearing the preaching of Elias, and return to the protection of Him from Whom they had fled; and then is celebrated that splendid banquet by the manifold assemblage of the people. At that time Job is shewn, as it were, to be in health after his scourging, when, to those who are converted and believe, the Lord is by the certainty of faith known to live, after His passion and resurrection, immortal in the heavens. At that time Job is as it were seen to be rewarded, when in the power of His Majesty He is believed to be God, as He is, and those who before resisted Him are seen to be subjected to the faith. Let the believing Hebrews therefore assemble together at the end of the world, and offer, as if to Job in health, the vows of their oblations to the Redeemer of mankind in the power of His Godhead. Whence it is also well subjoined; And they gave him each one sheep, and one earring of gold. What is designated by a 'sheep' but innocence, what by an 'earring' but obedience? For by a sheep is expressed an innocent mind, but by an earring, hearing adorned with the grace of humility.

28. But because a fit opportunity has offered itself for setting forth the virtue of obedience, let us examine into it with somewhat more attention and care, and point out how great is its merit. For obedience is the sole virtue which implants other virtues in the mind, and keeps them safe when planted. Whence also the first man received a precept to keep, to which if he had willed obediently to submit himself, he would attain without labour to eternal blessedness. Hence Samuel says; For obedience is better than victims, and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams, because to rebel is as the sin of witchcraft, and to refuse to obey as the sin of idolatry. [1 Sam. 15, 22. 23. For obedience is justly preferred to victims, because by victims the flesh of another, but by obedience our own will, is offered up; a person therefore appeases God the more quickly, the more he represses before His eyes the pride of his own will, and immolates himself with the sword of the commandment. And on the other hand, disobedience is said to be the sin of witchcraft, in order that it might be pointed out how great a virtue is obedience. It is shewn therefore the better from its opposite what is thought in its praise.

For if to rebel is as the sin of witchcraft, and to refuse to obey as the guilt of idolatry, it is the sole virtue which possesses the merit of faith, without which a person is convicted of being an unbeliever, though he seem to be a believer ['fidelia']. Hence it is said by Solomon in speaking of obedience; An obedient man speaketh of victories. [Prov. 21, 28] For an obedient man in truth speaketh of victories, because, when we humbly submit ourselves to the voice of another, we overcome ourselves in our heart. Hence the Truth says in the Gospel; Him that cometh to Me I will not cast out, for I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. [John 6, 37. 38. For what? if He were doing His own will, would He have rejected those who come to Him? But who can be ignorant that the will of the Son differs not from the will of the Father? But since the first man went forth from the joy of Paradise, because he wished to do his own will; the second Man coming for the redemption of men, when He shews that He does the will of the Father, and not His own will, taught us to remain firm within.

When therefore He does not His own will, but that of the Father, He casts not out those that come unto Him, because, while by His own example He brings us under the rule of obedience, He closes against us the way of escape. Hence again He says; I can of Mine own Self do nothing; but as I hear I judge. [John 5, 30] For obedience is enjoined on us to be observed even to death. But if He judges as He hears, He obeys also at that time when He comes as Judge. Lest then obedience to the end of our life should appear wearisome to us, our Redeemer points out that He practises it, even when He comes as a Judge. What wonder then if man who is a sinner subjects himself to obedience in the short period of the present life, when the Mediator between God and men does not abandon it, even when He recompenses the obedient.

29. But it should be known, that a sin ought never to be committed, through obedience, but that sometimes a good deed which is being performed ought, through obedience, to be given up. For the tree in Paradise was not evil, which God commanded man not to touch. But in order that man, who was rightly created, might increase the better by the merit of obedience, it was right that He should prohibit him even what was good; in order that his conduct might be more truly virtue, the more humbly he shewed that he was subject to his Maker, by forbearing what was good. But it should be observed that it is there said, Eat ye of every tree of paradise, but touch ye not of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. [Gen. 2, 16. 17.] For it is necessary that he who forbids those under him one good thing, should concede many, lest the mind of the person who obeys should perish utterly, if it is famished from having been entirely shut out from all good things. But the Lord granted all other trees of Paradise for food, when He prohibited them from one, in order that He might restrain His creature, whose advancement He desired, and not its destruction, the more easily from one, the greater liberty He gave for the rest.

30. But because sometimes worldly advantages, and sometimes worldly losses, are enjoined on us, it should he especially understood that sometimes if obedience has something of its own, it is none at all, but sometimes if it has not something of its own, it is a very paltry obedience. For when success in this world is enjoined, when a higher rank is commanded to be taken, he who obeys these commands makes void for himself the virtue of his obedience, if he is eager for these things with longing of his own. For he guides not himself by the rule of obedience, who in attaining to the good things of this life gives way to his own natural desire of ambition. Again, when contempt for the world is enjoined, when the endurance of reproaches and insults is commanded us, unless the mind desires these things of itself, it diminishes the merit of its obedience, because it descends reluctantly and against its will to those things which are despised in this life. For obedience incurs loss, when its own consent does not in a measure accompany a mind in submitting to the reproaches of this world. Obedience then ought both in adversity to have something of its own, and again in prosperity to have nothing at all of its own; in order that in adversity it may be more glorious, the more it is united even in desire to the Divine ordinance, and may be more sincere in prosperity, the more entirely it is separated in desire from that present glory, which it obtains from God.

31. But we shew more clearly this value of virtue if we mention the doings of two men of the heavenly country. For Moses, when he was feeding sheep in the desert, was called by the Lord speaking to him in the fire by means of an Angel, to take the lead in the deliverance of all the multitude of the Israelites. But because he was humble in his own mind, he trembled at once at the glory of such authority which had been offered to him, and immediately had recourse to his weakness as a defence, saying, I beseech Thee, O Lord, I am not eloquent: from yesterday and the day before, since Thou hast begun to speak unto Thy servant, I am of a more hesitating and slower tongue. [Exod. 4, 10] And, having put himself aside, he asks for another, saying; Send whom Thou wilt send. [ib. 13] Behold, he is speaking with the Maker of his tongue, and that he may not undertake the power of such great authority, he alleges that he has no tongue. Paul had also been admonished by God that he ought to go up to Jerusalem, as he himself says to the Galatians; Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem, taking with me Barnabas and Titus; but I went up by revelation. [Gal. 2, 1] And when he had found on his journey the Prophet Agabus, he heard from him what adversity awaited him in Jerusalem.

For it is written that this Agabus placed Paul's girdle on his own feet, and said; So shall they bind at Jerusalem the man whose girdle this is. [Acts 21, 11] Paul immediately answered; I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of Jesus; [ib. 13]] neither do I count my life more precious than myself. [Acts 20, 24] Going up then to Jerusalem by the command of revelation, he knows his sufferings, and yet he willingly seeks them, he hears of things to fear, but yet he more ardently pants after them. Moses therefore has nothing of his own to lead him on to prosperity, because he strives in his prayers not to be set over the people of Israel. But Paul is even by his own wish led on to suffering, because he gains a knowledge of the evils that threaten him, but yet in his devotion of spirit he is eager for sharper sufferings. The one wished, though God commanded him, to decline the glory of present power; the other when God had provided severity and hardships, yet studied to prepare himself for severer sufferings. We are taught then by the stubborn virtue of both these leaders going before, that if we truly endeavour to lay hold on the reward of obedience, we must contend for the prosperity of this world only by command, but that we must fight against its trials with devotion.

32. But it must be observed, that in this place a sheep is offered with an earring, and an earring with a sheep; doubtless because the ornament of obedience is always connected with innocent minds, as the Lord witnesses, Who says; My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. [John 10, 29] No one therefore offered blessed Job an earring without a sheep, no one a sheep without an earring; because, in truth, he who is not innocent obeys not his Redeemer, and he cannot be innocent who despises obedience. But since this very obedience must be maintained not with servile fear, but with the affection of love, not with dread of punishment, but with love of justice, all who come to the feast are said to have offered a 'golden' earring, in order, namely, that in that obedience which is displayed, charity should shine forth so as to surpass all virtues, as gold the other metals.

33. But because there can be no innocence, no true obedience, in the manifold divisions of heretics, let those who come to the knowledge of the faith offer a lamb, but only one; and an earring, but only one. That is, let them come so minded as to abide innocent and obedient in the unity of Holy Church. For that which is 'one' cannot be divided by numbers, because also this very 'one' of which we are speaking, is not a number. Let them offer therefore a sheep, but only one; let them offer an earring, but only one. That is, coming to Holy Church with innocence and obedience, let them offer such a mind as the schisms of sects cannot divide.

34. Let us open the eyes of faith, and contemplate that last banquet of Holy Church at the reception of the people of Israel. To which banquet that mighty Elias who is coming is engaged as the inviter of the guests. Then do neighbours, then do friends, come with gifts to Him, Whom they despised but a little before when exposed to the scourge. For as the day of judgment draws near, either by the words of His forerunner, or by certain signs which burst forth, does the might of the approaching Lord shine out in a measure before them. And while they hasten to prevent His wrath, they forward the time of their own conversion. But when converted they come with gifts, because by offering their virtuous deeds, they then reverence Him, Whom but a little before they derided in His Passion. Doubtless by this their oblation fulfilling that which we behold already made good in great measure, and which we believe is still to be made good in its fulness; The daughters of Tyre shall adore Him with gifts. [Ps. 45, 12] For then do the daughters of Tyre more fully adore Him with gifts, when the minds of the Israelites, which are now overcome by the desires of this world, bring to Him, Whom they proudly denied, when known at last, the offerings of their confession.

And although at these very times, at which Antichrist draws near, the conduct of the faithful seems to be to a certain extent less virtuous, although in the contest with that ruined man, mighty fear constrains the hearts even of the strong; yet not only do all the faithful, strengthened by the preaching of Elias, remain in the firmness of Holy Church, but, as we said before, many also of the unbelievers are converted to the knowledge of the faith. So that the remnants of the nation of Israel, which had before been utterly rejected, crowd together to the bosom of the Church their Mother with the most pious devotion. Whence it is now well subjoined;

Ver. 12. But the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. [xv] 35. We believe that these things have taken place historically, we hope that they are to take place mystically. For the latter end of Job is blessed more than his beginning, because as far as concerns the admission of the people of Israel, when the end of the present world is pressing on, the Lord consoles the pain of Holy Church by a manifold ingathering of souls. For then she will be the more abundantly enriched, the more clearly it becomes known that the temporal condition of the present life is hurrying to its close. For the Psalmist had beheld the preachers of Holy Church enriched with the blessing of the latter times, when he said; They shall still be multiplied in a fruitful old age, and shall be well patient to announce. [Ps. 92, 14] They are in truth multiplied in a fruitful old age, because, when their life is prolonged, their strength is ever carried on to a better condition, and the gains of their merits are increased by means of the increase of their age. But they are well patient to announce, because, when preaching heavenly truths, they endure adversities with greater firmness, the more abundantly they bring back benefits for their souls by their very endurance. It follows;

Ver. 13, 14. And he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses; and he had seven sons, and three daughters. [xvi] 36. That he had had seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, before the trial of his scourging, the preface of this same history points out to us. Those things which were lost through his scourging, were now restored twofold. But as many children were restored as he had lost. For he had seven sons and three daughters. But he is now described as having received seven sons and three daughters, in order that those who had been destroyed may be shewn to be alive. For when it is said; The Lord added all that had been to Job twofold, and yet He restored him as many children as he had lost, He also added to him a double number of children, to whom He afterwards restored ten in the flesh, but reserved the ten that had been lost, in the hidden abode ['vita'] of souls. But if any one wishes, as an intellectual being, to put aside the chaff of the history, and to feed on the grain of mysteries, it is necessary for him to learn what is our opinion. For it is possible for us to understand that by these animals is designated the universal body of the faithful. For hence is that which is said by the Psalmist to the Father concerning the Son; Thou hast put all things under His feet, sheep and all kine, and, moreover, the herds of the plain. [Ps. 6, 7] Hence is it that the same Prophet, beholding the simple ones inhabiting Holy Church, says; Thine animals shall dwell therein. [Ps. 68, 10]

37. What then do we understand by 'sheep,' but the innocent, what by 'camels,' but those who surpass the evil doings of others by the involved mass of their exuberant vices; what by 'yoked oxen,' but the Israelites subject to the Law; what by 'asses,' but the simple minds of the Gentiles? For that the innocent are designated by the name of 'sheep' the Psalmist witnesses, who says, But we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. [Ps. 95, 7] For those who neglect to preserve their innocence, are not fed with that refreshment of the spiritual pasture.

38. But by the name of 'camel' is expressed in Holy Scripture sometimes the Lord, sometimes the pride of the Gentiles, tortuous, as it were, with a swelling excrescence from above. For since a camel bends itself of its own accord to take up its burdens, it designates not improperly the grace of our Redeemer, Who, in deigning to hear the burden of our infirmity, descended of His own accord from the height of His power. Whence He says also in the Gospel; I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it up again, and no man taketh it from Me. [John 10, 38] Whence He also says again; It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. [Matt. 19, 24] For what does He mean by the name 'rich,' but any haughty person, what by the expression 'camel,' but His own condescension? For a camel passed through the eye of a needle, when the same our Redeemer entered through the narrow straits of His passion to the suffering of death. And this passion was like a needle, because it wounded His body with pain.

But a camel goes more easily through the eye of a needle, than a rich man enters the kingdom of heaven, because, unless He took on Him first the burdens of our infirmity, and shewed us the opening ['foramen'] of humility by His passion, our haughty stubbornness would never bend itself down to His humility. Again, by the name 'camel' is designated the Gentile world, tortuous and full of sins; as it is said by Moses, that when the day had already declined, Rebecca sitting on a camel beheld Isaac who had gone forth in the field, and that she immediately descended from the camel, and being ashamed at the sight of him, covered herself with a veil. [Gen. 24, 64. 65. For whom did Isaac designate, in having gone forth in the field when the day had already declined, but Him, Who, coming in this last age of the world, as if in the close of the day, went forth as it were into the field? Because though He is invisible, yet He shewed Himself to be visible in this world. And Rebecca when sitting on a camel beheld him, because the Church, coming forth from the Gentiles, when it was still resting on its sins, and cleaving not to spiritual, but animal emotions, listened to Him.

But she immediately descended from the camel, because it abandoned the sins, with which it had before been proudly elated, and was careful to cover itself with a veil, because, on beholding the Lord, it blushed at the infirmity of its own conduct; and she, who was before carried by the camel unconstrained, is afterwards on descending modestly covered. Whence it is said by the voice of the Apostle to this same Church, when converted from her former pride, as if to Rebecca descending from the camel, and throwing over her a veil; For what fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? [Rom. 6, 21]

39. But in 'oxen' is expressed sometimes the madness of the lustful, sometimes the laborious strength of preachers, sometimes the humility of the Israelites. For that by the name of ox is designated by comparison the madness of the lustful, Solomon points out. For when he had first mentioned the wantonness of the seducing woman, he added; Immediately he followeth her, as an ox led for a victim. [Prov. 7, 22] Again, that the labour of preachers is expressed by the name of ox, the words of the Law witness, which says; Thou shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox when treading out the corn. [Deut. 25, 4] As if it plainly said; Thou shalt not keep the preachers of the word from obtaining their stipends. [1 Cor. 9, 9; 1 Tim. 5, 18] Again, that the people of Israel is typified by the name of ox, the Prophet asserts, who says, when announcing the coming of the Redeemer, The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib. [Is. 1, 3] Signifying in truth by the 'ox' the people of Israel, brought into subjection to the yoke of the Law, but indicating by the 'ass' the people of the Gentiles, given up to pleasures, and more overwhelmingly brutish.

40. Under the name also of he asses and she asses is designated sometimes the wantonness of the lustful, sometimes the gentleness of the simple, but sometimes, as we have before said, the foolishness of the Gentiles. For that the wantonness of the lustful is expressed, by way of comparison, by the term he asses, is plainly declared, when it is said by the Prophet; Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses. [Ez. 23, 20] Again, because the life of the simple is typified by the name of she asses, when our Redeemer was going to Jerusalem, He is said to have sat on a she ass. For Jerusalem means the vision of peace. [Matt. 21, 5] What then does it signify, that our Lord sits on a she ass, and guides it to Jerusalem, except that when He possesses simple minds by ruling over them, He leads them by His own sacred indwelling ['sessione'] to the vision of peace? Again, that by the name of he asses the foolishness of the Gentiles is designated, the Prophet witnesses, saying; Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters, sending in thither the foot of the ox and the ass. [Is. 32, 20] For to sow upon all waters is to preach to all people the fruitful words of life. But to send in the foot of the ox and the ass, is to bind the ways of the Israelitish and the Gentile people by the bands of heavenly precepts.

41. While preserving then the truth of the letter, we rightly believe that under the name of blessed Job, the people of Holy Church are designated by all these animals; in order that those things that are written, by the dispensation of the Holy Spirit Which wonderfully orders all things, may both relate to us what has happened, and announce what is to come. Let us recognise then in the 'sheep' the faithful and innocent people from Judaea, which had been before fed with the pastures of the Law. Let us recognise in the 'camels' the simple-minded from the Gentiles coming to the faith, who before, when under sacrilegious rites, through a kind of deformity of limbs, from the foulness, that is, of their vices, appeared very hideous. And because, as we have before said, the Holy Scriptures take good care to repeat their assertions, the Israelites, who were crushed, as it were, by the yoke of the Law, can again he understood by the 'oxen.' But, as has been said, by asses, can be understood the Gentile people, who, when they used to bow down to worship stones, foolishly, as it were, bent down their back, and, with no reluctant mind, served any idols whatever with brutish sense. Holy Church therefore which, when oppressed at her first beginnings with innumerable temptations, lost either the people of Israel, or many of the Gentiles, (those, namely, whom she was unable to gain,) receives double at the end;

because there springs up in her, out of each people, a multiplied number of believers. By yoked oxen preachers can also be understood. Whence, when the Lord sent them forth to preach, He is described as having sent them two and two; [Luke 10, 1] in order that either because there are two precepts of charity, or that society cannot exist between a less number than two, the holy preachers might learn from the very mode of their sending forth, how much they should love the agreement of fellowship. By she asses, as we have before said, the minds of the simple can be designated. But Holy Church receives oxen and she asses in double number; because holy preachers, who from being oppressed with fear in the time of her temptation had hitherto remained silent, and the minds of the simple, which from being overpowered by terrors were afraid to confess her truth, now exert their voices with greater powers in confession of the truth, the more weakly they were before afraid.

42. We have briefly stated these points as typical of Holy Church. But how they serve to set forth the Head of this same Holy Church, we remind you that we have stated at greater length in the beginning of this work. Whoever therefore is anxious to be more fully satisfied on these points, should deign to read the second book of this work. But if we are now asked to discuss the number of the animals, why a thousand yoke of oxen, or a thousand she asses, and six thousand camels, and fourteen thousand sheep, are mentioned; we can state briefly, that in secular knowledge the number thousand is considered perfect, because it is the solid square of the number ten. For ten times ten are a hundred, which though a square, is a plane figure. But in order that it may rise in height and become solid, the hundred is again multiplied by ten, and becomes a thousand. But the number six is perfect, because it is the first number which is made up of its several parts, that is, its sixth, its third, and its half, which are one, and two, and three, and these added together become six. Nor is any other number found before six, which, when it is divided into its several parts, has its whole amount made up. But because we transcend all this knowledge, by advancing through the loftiness of Holy Scripture, we there find the reason why the numbers six, seven, ten, and a thousand, are perfect.

For the number six is perfect in Holy Scripture, because in the beginning of the world God completed on the sixth day those works which He began on the first. The number seven is perfect therein, because every good work is performed with seven virtues through the Spirit, in order that both faith and works may be perfected at the same time. The number ten is perfect therein, because the Law is included in ten precepts, and no fault is forbidden further than by the ten words, and as the Truth relates, the labourers in the vineyard are rewarded with a denarius. [Mat. 20, 2] For in a denary three are joined to seven. But man, who consists of soul and body, consists of seven qualities. For he flourishes in three spiritually and in four bodily. For in the love of God he is excited in three qualities spiritually, when it is said to him by the Law; Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength. [Matt. 22, 37] But he consists of four qualities bodily; because, namely, he is composed of hot and cold, of moist and dry matter. Man therefore who consists of seven qualities is said to be rewarded with a denarius, because in that attainment of the heavenly country our seven are joined to the eternal Three, in order that man may enjoy the contemplation of the Trinity, and, by the reward of his work, live as though made perfect by a denarius.

Or certainly, because there are seven virtues in which we toil in this life, and when the contemplation of the Trinity is granted them as a reward, the life of those that toil is rewarded with a denarius. But every one who is perfect receives a denarius even in this life, when he unites to these same seven virtues, faith, hope, and charity. The number thousand is also considered as perfect in Holy Scripture, because universality is designated by its appellation. Whence it is written; The word which He commanded to a thousand generations. [Ps. 105, 8] For since it cannot be believed that the world can be extended to a hundred generations, what else is set forth by a thousand generations but the whole number of generations? Blessed Job therefore received fourteen thousand sheep. For since in Holy Church the perfection of virtues extends to both sexes, the number seven is doubled therein. And six thousand camels; because they receive therein the plenitude of their work, who were before cut off from her by the filthiness of their sins. He received also a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses, because she exalts Israelites and Gentiles, learned and simple, after the falls of temptations, to the height of perfection.

He received also seven sons and three daughters, because to the minds of those whom she had begotten with seven virtues, she adds faith, hope, charity, to complete their perfection, in order that she may the more truly rejoice in her offspring, the more she considers that there is no virtue wanting to her faithful ones. But because we have run over these points briefly, let us now turn to examine also the names themselves of his daughters. It follows,

Ver. 14. And he called the name of one Dies, and the name of the second Casia, and the name of the third Cornustibii. [xvii]

43. Because these names are derived from virtues, the translator appropriately took care not to insert them as they are found in the Arabic language, but to shew their meaning more plainly when translated into the Latin tongue. For who can be ignorant that Dies and Casia are Latin words? But in Cornustibii, (though it is not corn us but cornu, and the pipe of singers is called not tibium but tibia,) I suppose he preferred, without keeping the gender of the word in the Latin tongue, to state the thing as it is, and to preserve the peculiarity of that language from which he was translating. Or because he compounded one word out of the two, (cornu, and tibia,) he was at liberty to call both words, which are translated in Latin by one part of speech, whatever gender he pleased. What is the reason then that the first daughter of Job is said to have been called Dies, the second Casia, but the third Cornustibii, except that the whole human race, which is chosen by the kindness of its Creator, and by the mercy of the same Redeemer, is designated by these names? For man as he was made shone as bright as the day (dies), because his Maker overspread him with the splendour of innate innocence. But when he fell of his own accord into the darkness of sin, because he deserted the light of truth, he concealed himself as it were in the night of error; because he is elsewhere said to have followed a shadow.

[Ps. 39, 6] But because the bounteousness of His goodness failed not our Maker, even in spite of the darkness of our iniquity, He afterwards received him by a mightier redemption from his error, whom He at first mightily created for righteousness. And because he wanted, after his fall, the strength of his original creation, He supported him against the inmost assaults of His opposing corruption with the manifold virtues of His gifts. And these virtues of those who are advancing are doubtless fragrant, in the discernment of other men, as if with sweet odours. For hence is that which is said by Paul, We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ. [2 Cor. 2, 15] Hence it is that Holy Church, having scented a kind of fragrant sweetness in her Elect, speaks in the Song of Songs, saying, While the king is at his repose, my spikenard gave forth its odour. [Cant. 1, 12] As if he plainly said, As long as the king is concealed with himself from my sight in the rest of the heavenly retreat, the life of the Elect is regaled ['exercetur'] with wonderful odours of virtues, in order that as it still beholds not Him Whom it seeks for, it may burn the more ardently with desire. For the spikenard gives forth an odour, as the king is taking his repose, because when the Lord is resting in His blessedness, the virtue of Saints in the Church supplies us with the delight of great sweetness.

Because then the human race shone bright, on its creation, with the light of innocence, and afterwards, when redeemed, scattered the odour of sweetness by the exercise of good works, the first daughter is rightly named Dies, and the second is not unfitly named Casia. But she is well called Casia who is spread abroad with so strong an odour of a sublime life. For man, in his very beginning, in which he was created righteous, needed not such great virtues as he now requires. Because if he wished to remain as he had been created, he would have been able without difficulty to overcome his enemy placed without. But after that the adversary, through man's consent, has forced his way into his inmost parts, he is now cast out with greater labour as conqueror, who would, when still an assailant, be repulsed without difficulty.

44. For many qualities now need to be displayed, which were not necessary in Paradise. For now we require the virtue of patience, laborious instruction in learning, chastening of the body, assiduity in prayer, confession of faults, a deluge of tears; none of which man wanted in truth on his creation, because by his very creation he enjoyed the blessing of salvation. For a bitter cup is held out to a sick man, that he may be restored to a state of health by the removal of disease. But a man in health is never ordered what to take in order to regain his strength, but what to avoid, lest he should be ill. We therefore display now greater zeal, when we do not preserve the health we possess, but endeavour to regain that which we have lost. And because all these efforts for our restoration, are supported by great opinions in Holy Church, the name of the second daughter justly smells as cassia; in order that, as the first daughter existed as 'the day' ['dies'] through the dignity of her creation, the second may be 'cassia' through the fragrance of strength by the grace of redemption. Whence also it is said by the prophet to the same Redeemer on His coming; Myrrh and amber and cassia come from Thy garments, from the ivory steps, out of which the daughters of kings have delighted Thee in Thine honour. [Ps. 45, 8] For what is designated by the name of myrrh, amber, and cassia, except the sweetness of virtues?

What is expressed by the ivory steps, except the ascent of proficients, which shines with great strength? Our Redeemer, therefore, when He comes, uses myrrh, amber, and cassia in His garment, because He scatters forth from His Elect, with whom He mercifully arrays Himself, the fragrance of the myrrh of virtue. And in them this odour is led on by ivory steps, because, in them an opinion of their virtues arises not from the show of pretence, but from the ascent of true and solid deeds. But it is well subjoined; Out of which the daughters of kings delighted Thee in Thine honour. For holy souls, which had been brought forth by the ancient fathers to the knowledge of the truth, delight their Redeemer in His honour, because they claim nothing to their own credit from all that they do well. But because the human race in its third condition, even when new fashioned for the resurrection of the flesh, is engaged in that concert of eternal praise, the third daughter is called Cornustibii. For what is expressed by 'Cornustibii' but the song of those that rejoice? For there is that truly fulfilled which is now said by the Prophet? Sing unto the Lord a new song. [Ps. 149, 1] It is there truly fulfilled, where the song of praise to God will be sung no longer by faith, but in a contemplation of His Person.

There does our Creator receive from us the true songs of His praises, Who both made the human race 'Dies' by creating it, 'Casia' by redeeming it, and 'Cornustibii' by taking it to Himself. For we who were 'light' when created, and are now 'casia' by having been redeemed, shall at last be 'cornustibii' when engaged in the exultation of eternal praise. But before the Bride comes to the marriage chamber, she casts off from herself all filthiness of life, and preparing herself for the love of the Bridegroom, adorns and arrays herself with the beautifyings of virtues. For she studies to approve herself to the judgment of the inward Judge, and from being exalted in her inmost desires, to transcend the filthy habits of human conversation. Whence it is also well subjoined concerning the same daughters of blessed Job;

Ver. 15. But in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job. [xviii] 45. For the souls of the Elect surpass, by the comeliness of their beauty, all the human race which lives after the fashion of men on the earth: and the more they slight themselves by outward affliction, the more truly do they array themselves within. Hence it is, that it is said by the Psalmist to Holy Church, which is adorned with the beauty of the Elect; the King hath greatly desired thy beauty. [Ps. 45, 11] Of whom it is added a little after; All the glory of this daughter of kings is from within. [ib. 13] For if she sought glory without, she would have no beauty within, for the king greatly to desire. And although many shine therein with the beauty of virtues, and surpass the merits of others by the very perfection of their conduct, yet some, because they are not able to attain to higher things, being conscious of their own weakness, are embraced in the bosom of her gentleness. For these, as far as they possess strength, avoid sins, although they do not fulfil higher excellencies as far as they desire. Yet God graciously receives them, and admits them to Himself in proportion to the recompense they deserve. Whence it also follows;

And their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. [xix] 46. Because then of the merit of the perfect they are said to be beautiful; but as being a type of the imperfect they also receive, as if they were weak, an inheritance among their brethren. For the practice of life in former times admitted not females to obtain an inheritance among males, because the severity of the Law, selecting the strong, and despising the weak, studied to sanction what was strict rather than what was merciful. But on the coming of our gracious Redeemer, let no one who is conscious of his infirmity despair of obtaining the inheritance of the heavenly patrimony. For our Father has granted to women also a right of succession among males, because amid the strong and perfect He admits the weak and humble to the lot of the heavenly inheritance. Whence the Truth Itself says in the Gospel; In My Father's house are many mansions. [John 14, 2] For there are in truth many mansions with the Father, because in that equal life of blessedness each one obtains a different place according to his different desert. But he feels not the losses of this disparity, because that which he has received is quite sufficient for him. Sisters therefore come to an inheritance together with their brethren, because the weak are admitted thither together with the strong; in such wise that if any one through imperfection shall not be the highest, he may not through humility be shut out from his lot of the inheritance. And these mansions Paul well teaches us are apportioned to each one according to his merits, when he says; There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differeth from star in glory. [1 Cor. 15, 41] It follows;

Ver. 16. and last. But Job lived after these scourges a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even to the fourth generation, and he died an old man, and full of days. [xx] 47. In Holy Scripture a person is not easily recorded as 'full of days,' unless he is one whose conduct is praised in the same Scripture. For he is in truth void of days, who, even if he has lived ever so long, has wasted the time of his life in vanity. But he, on the other hand, is said to be 'full of days,' whose days pass not away and come to nought, but by the daily reward of good works, are treasured up with the just Judge, even after they have been passed.

48. But because there are some who wish to interpret these things also as typical of Holy Church, (whose wishes we must the rather obey, the more we must also rejoice at their spiritual understanding,) if we multiply fourteen by ten, we come to the number one hundred and forty. And the life of Holy Church is rightly reckoned as made up of ten and four, because by keeping both Testaments, and living both according to the ten commandments of the Law, and the four books of the Gospel, it is carried on to the height of perfection. Whence also, though the Apostle Paul wrote fifteen Epistles [He refers to the Epistle to the Laodicaeans, Col. 4, 16 which however is thought to be that to the Ephesians, including Laodicaea, as all Achaia is associated with Corinth. Some Fathers have quoted the Ep. to the Ephesians as 'to the laodicaeans.' There is a spurious Epistle in Hutter's N. Test. 12. Linguarum, and one held by the Marcionites is rejected by St. Epiphanius. Ab. from Ben.], yet Holy Church does not retain more than fourteen, in order that the illustrious teacher might shew by the very number of his Epistles, that he had searched out the secrets of the Law and of the Gospel. But blessed Job is well said to 'live' after his scourgings, because Holy Church too is first smitten with the scourge of discipline, and afterwards strengthened by perfection of life.

And she beholds also her sons, and her sons' sons even to the fourth generation, because in this life, which rolls on through four seasons in the year, she beholds children daily born to her, by the mouths of preachers even to the end of the world. Nor is it inconsistent with the truth to say that times are designated by generations. For what is each succession but a kind of offshoot of a race? And when the butler of the king of Egypt had seen a dream which was throwing out three shoots, Joseph, who was endowed with the solution of dreams, declares that the three shoots designate three days. [Gen. 40, 10. 12. If therefore the space of three days is expressed by three shoots, why should not also the four seasons of the year be typified by four generations? Holy Church, therefore, beholds her sons, when she beholds the first progeny of the faithful. She sees her sons' sons, when she beholds that sons are begotten to the faith by these same faithful ones. And she dies also old and full of days, because in the light, which follows as a reward for her daily doings, having laid aside the weight of corruption, she is changed into the incorruption of the heavenly country. She dies, namely, full of days, since her days pass not away as they glide on, but are made firm by the recompense of her enduring deeds. She dies full of days, who in this transitory state works that which passes not away.

Whence it is also said to the Apostles; Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life. [John 6, 27] Holy Church therefore loses not her days, even when she leaves the present life. Because she finds their lights more abundantly multiplied in her Elect, the more cautiously and anxiously she now guards herself in them from all temptation. The Church loses not her days, because she neglects not to examine herself watchfully day by day in this life, and is not weighed down with any sloth in all things which she is able rightly to perform. For hence is that which is said of her by Solomon; She considers the ways of her house, and eateth not her bread in idleness. [Prov. 13, 27] For she considers the ways of her house, because she accurately examines all the thoughts of her conscience. She eateth not her bread in idleness, because that which she learned out of Holy Scripture by her understanding, she places before the eyes of the Judge by exhibiting it in her works. But she is said to 'die,' because when the contemplation of eternity has absorbed her, it makes her entirely dead to this vicissitude of her changeableness, so that there lives no longer within her any thing to impede the keenness of inward vision. For she then more truly beholds inward things, the more entirely she is dead to all outward things.

Let us both believe therefore that this death, this plenitude of days, has taken place in blessed Job, who is in truth one member of the Church; and let us hope that it is to take place in the whole Church together; in order that the truth of the history may be so maintained, that the prophecy of what is to take place may not be made void. For if the good deeds which we learn from the life of Saints are wanting in truth, they are nothing; if they contain no mysteries, they are of very little value. Let the life then of good men, which is described by the Holy Spirit, both shine upon us in its spiritual meaning, and yet let not its interpretation depart from belief in the history, in order that the mind may remain more firmly fixed in its understanding, the more hope binds it to the future, and faith to past, when standing, as it were, midway between them.

49. This work then being now completed, I see that I must go back to myself. For our mind, even when it endeavours to say what is right, is much distracted from itself. For when we think on how our words are spoken, it takes from the perfection of the mind, because it draws it out of itself. I must therefore return from the outward utterance of words to the council chamber ['curiam'] of the heart, to summon together the thoughts of my mind in a kind of council of consultation, to examine myself, in order that I may there see, whether I have either incautiously said wrong things, or right things in a wrong way. For a right thing is then rightly spoken, when he who says it, seeks by what he says to please Him alone from Whom he has received it. And though I do not find that I have said any things that are wrong, yet I do not maintain that I have not said any at all. But if I have said any good things, by a gift from above, I profess that it is my own fault in truth that I have spoken them but imperfectly. For on returning to myself within, and putting aside the leaves of words, and the branches of sentences, when I look closely at the very root of my intention, I find that I specially desired to please God thereby.

But yet the desire of human praise, in some unknown secret way, blends itself with this intention with which I strive to please God. And when I discern this slowly and at last, I find that I do a thing in one way, which I knew I began in another. For the desire of human praise, secretly joining itself, and meeting with it, as it were, on the way, frequently comes up with our intention, when it is rightly commenced before the eyes of God. As food is taken indeed as a matter of necessity, but when gluttony stealthily creeps in, as it is being eaten, the pleasure of eating is blended with it. Whence it frequently happens, that we finish for the sake of pleasure the bodily refreshment we begin for the sake of health. It must be confessed therefore that a less correct intention, which seeks to please men by means of the gifts of God, sometimes insidiously accompanies our right intention, which seeks to please God alone. But if we are strictly examined on these points by God, what place of safety remains for us therein, when both our evils are purely evil, and the good things we believe we possess, cannot possibly he purely good? But I believe it to be worth my while, to disclose without hesitation to the ears of my brethren all which I secretly blame in myself. For since in my exposition I have not concealed what I thought, in my confession I hide not what I suffer.

By my exposition I have laid open my gifts, by my confession I discover my wounds. And because in this numerous race of men, there are not wanting little ones, who ought to be instructed by my words, nor yet great ones, who are able to pity my infirmity, when made known to them; in both these ways I confer assistance on some brethren, as far as I can, and hope for it from others. The one I have told in my exposition what to do; to the others I make known by my confession what to spare. From the one I withdraw not the healing remedies of my words; from the others I conceal not the laceration of my wounds. I pray therefore that every one who reads these books, may confer on me before the strict Judge the solace of his prayers, and wash away with his tears every filthiness which he discover, in me. But on comparing the virtues of prayer, and of exposition, my reader surpasses me in his recompense, if when he receives words by my means, he gives me tears in return.

THE BOOKS OF THE MORALS OF ST. GREGORY THE POPE, OR AN EXPOSITION ON THE BOOK OF BLESSED JOB.

VOLUME I - THE FIRST PART. — THE EPISTLE,Wherein he explains the time, occasion, division, plan, and the method of discourse and of interpretation pursued in his work. To the Most Devout and Holy Brother, my fellow Bishop Leander [a], Gregory, the servant of God's servants.

I. WHEN I knew you long since at Constantinople, my most blessed brother, at the time that I was kept there by the affairs [b] of the Apostolical See, and that you had been brought thither by an embassage, with which you were charged, on counts touching the faith of the Wisigoths [c], I then detailed in your ears all that displeased me in myself, since for late and long I declined the grace of conversion, and after that I had been inspired with an heavenly affection I thought it better to be still shrouded in the secular habit. For though I had now disclosed to me what I should seek of the love of things eternal, yet long-established custom had so cast its chains upon me, that I could not change my outward habit: and while my purpose [animus] still compelled me to engage in the service of this world as it were in semblance only, many influences began to spring up against me from caring for this same world, so that the tie which kept me to it was now no longer in semblance only, but what is more serious, in my own mind. At length being anxious to avoid all these inconveniences, I sought the haven of the monastery, and having left all that is of the world, as at that time I vainly believed, I came out naked from the shipwreck of human life.

For as the vessel that is negligently moored, is very often (when the storm waxes violent) tossed by the water out of its shelter on the safest shore, so under the cloak of the Ecclesiastical office, I found myself [d] plunged on a sudden in a sea of secular matters, and because I had not held fast the tranquillity of the monastery when in possession, I learnt by losing it, how closely it should have been held. For whereas the virtue of obedience was set against my own inclination to make me take the charge of ministering at the holy Altar, I was led to undertake that upon the grounds of the Church requiring it [sub Ecclesiae colore], which, if it might be done with impunity, I should get quit of by a second time withdrawing myself; and subsequently notwithstanding my unwillingness and reluctance, at the very time when the ministry of the Altar was a heavy weight, the further burden of the Pastoral charge was fastened on me, which I now find so much the more difficulty in bearing, as I feel myself to be unequal to it, and as I cannot take breath in any comfortable assurance in myself. For because, now that the end of the world is at hand, the times are disturbed by reason of the multiplied evils thereof, and we ourselves, who are supposed to be devoted to the inner mysteries, are thus become involved in outward cares;

just as it happened then also when I was brought to the ministry of the Altar, this was brought about for me without my knowledge, viz. that I should receive the mighty charge of the Holy Order, to the end that I might be quartered under less restraint [licentious excubarem] in an earthly palace, whither indeed I was followed by many of my brethren from the monastery, who were attached to me by a kindred affection [germana]. Which happened, I perceive, by Divine dispensation, in order that by their example, as by an anchored cable, I might ever be kept fast to the tranquil shore of prayer, whenever I should be tossed by the ceaseless waves of secular affairs. For to their society I fled as to the bosom of the safest port from the rolling swell, and from the waves of earthly occupation; and though that office which withdrew me from the monastery had with the point of its employments stabbed me to death as to my former tranquillity of life, yet in their society, by means of the appeals of diligent reading, I was animated with the yearnings of daily renewed compunction. It was then that it seemed good to those same brethren, you too adding your influence, as you yourself remember, to oblige me by the importunity of their requests to set forth the book of blessed Job; and as far as the Truth should inspire me with powers, to lay open to them those mysteries of such depth;

and they made this too an additional burden which their petition laid upon me, that I would not only unravel the words of the history in allegorical senses, but that I would go on to give to the allegorical senses the turn of a moral exercise, with the addition of somewhat yet harder, that I would crown [or 'fortify,' cingerem] the several meanings with testimonies, and that the testimonies, which I brought forward, should they chance to appear involved, should be disentangled by the aid of additional explanation.

II. At first however, when in this obscure work, which hitherto had been thoroughly treated by none before us, I learnt the extent and character of the task to which I was forced, being overcome and wearied with the mere burthen of hearing of it, I confess that I sank under it. Yet immediately, when, in a strait between my alarms and my devout aspirations, I lifted up the eyes of my mind to the Bestower of all gifts [James 1, 17], waiving my scruples, I fixed my thoughts on this, that what an affection flowing from the hearts of my brethren enjoined upon me, could not certainly be impossible, I despaired, indeed, of being a match for these things, but, stronger for my very despair of myself, I forthwith raised my hopes to Him, by Whom the tongue of the dumb is opened, Who maketh the lips of babes to speak eloquently, [Wisd. 10, 21], Who has marked the undistinguished and brute brayings of an ass with the intelligible measures of human speech. What wonder, then, that a simple man should receive understanding from Him, Who whenever He willeth, utters His truth by the mouths of the very beasts of burthen? Armed then with the strength which this thought supplied, I roused mine own drought to explore so deep a well;

and though the life of those, to whom I was compelled to give my interpretation, was far above me, yet I thought it no harm if the leaden pipe should supply streams of water for the service of men. Whereupon, without further delay, I delivered the former parts of the book, in presence, to the same brethren assembled before me; and because I found my time to be then somewhat more free, in treating of the latter portion I used dictation; and when longer intervals of time were at my disposal, many things being added, a small number omitted, and some few left as they were, all that had been taken down in my presence as I spoke, I arranged in books with amendments. For when I was giving the last part by dictation, I in like manner carefully considered the style in which I had spoken the first part, so that my business was both with regard to those parts, which I had given orally, by going through them with a careful correction, to bring them up to somewhat like dictation, and with regard to what I had dictated, that it should not greatly differ from the style of colloquial delivery; so that the one being drawn out, and the other contracted, that which unlike modes produced might be formed into a not inconsistent whole.

Though it must be added that the third portion of this work I have so left for the most part as I gave it by word of mouth, because the brethren, drawing me away to other things, would not have this to be corrected with any great degree of exactness. Pursuing my object of obeying their instructions, which I must confess were sufficiently numerous, now by the work of exposition, now by the flights of contemplation, and now by moral instruction, I have completed this work extending through thirty-five books [volumina], and six tomes [codicibus], and hence I shall be often found therein to put rather in the background the order of exposition, and to employ myself at greater length upon the wide field of contemplation and of moral instruction. But yet whosoever is speaking concerning God, must be careful to search out thoroughly whatsoever furnishes moral instruction to his hearers; and should account that to be the right method of ordering his discourse, if, when opportunity for edification requires it, he turn aside for a useful purpose from what he had begun to speak of; for he that treats of sacred writ should follow the way of a river, for if a river, as it flows along its channel, meets with open valleys on its side, into these it immediately turns the course of its current, and when they are copiously supplied, presently it pours itself back into its bed. Thus unquestionably, thus should it be with everyone that treats of the Divine Word, that if, in discussing:

any subject, he chance to find at hand any occasion of seasonable edification, he should, as it were, force the streams of discourse towards the adjacent valley, and, when he has poured forth enough upon its level of instruction, fall back into the channel of discourse which he had proposed to himself.

III. But be it known that there are some parts, which we go through in a historical exposition, some we trace out in allegory upon an investigation of the typical meaning, some we open in the lessons of moral teaching alone, allegorically conveyed, while there are some few which, with more particular care, we search out in all these ways together, exploring them in a threefold method. For first, we lay the historical foundations; next, by pursuing the typical sense, we erect a fabric of the mind to be a strong hold of faith; and moreover as the last step, by the grace of moral instruction, we, as it were, clothe the edifice with an overcast of colouring. Or at least how are the declarations of truth to be accounted of, but as food for the refreshment of the mind? These being handled with the alternate application of various methods, we serve up the viands of discourse in such sort as to prevent all disgust in the reader, thus invited as our guest, who, upon consideration of the various things presented to him, is to take that which he determines to be the choicest. Yet it sometimes happens that we neglect to interpret the plain words of the historical account, that we may not be too long in coming to the hidden senses, and sometimes they cannot be understood according to the letter, because when taken superficially, they convey no sort of instruction to the reader, but only engender error;

for here, for instance, it is said, Under Whom they are bent who bear the world. [Job 9, 13]. Now in the case of one so great, who can be ignorant that he never so fol1ows the vain fictions of the poets, as to fancy the weight of the world to be supported by the labour of the giants. Again, under the pressure of calamities he exclaims, So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than life. [Jov 7, 15] Now who that is in his right senses could believe that a man of so high praise, who in a word, we know, received from the Judge of that which is within the reward of the virtue of patience, settled amidst his afflictions to finish his life by strangling? And sometimes even the very literal words forbid its being supposed that perchance they ought to be understood according to the letter. Thus he says, Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. [Job 3, 3] And a little while afterwards he subjoins, Let darkness seize it, and let it be involved in bitterness. [ver. 5] And in cursing the same night he adds, Lo! let that night be solitary. Assuredly this day of his birth, which rolled itself out in the mere current of time, could never stand fast. In what way then did he wish it might be involved in darkness?

For having gone by, it no longer was, neither yet, if it had existence in the nature of things, could it ever feel bitterness; it is evident therefore that the words cannot possibly be spoken of a day without feeling, when the wish expressed is that it be struck with a feeling of bitterness; and if the night of his conception had gone by, blended with the other nights, after what fashion would he have it become solitary, which as it could not be arrested from the flight of time, so neither could it be separated from union with the other nights. Again he says, How long wilt Thou not depart from me, nor let me alone, till I swallow down my spittle. [Job 7, 19] Yet he had said a little above, The things which my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat. [Job 6, 7] Now who does not know that spittle is more easily swallowed than food? it is wholly inconceivable then in what connection he, who tells of his taking food, declares that he cannot swallow his spittle. Again he says, I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O Thou preserver of men? [Job 7, 20] Or more unequivocally, Wouldest Thou destroy me by the iniquities of my youth. [Job 13, 26] And yet in another answer he subjoins, My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

[Job 27, 6] How then does his heart not condemn him so long as he lives, who by a public avowal testifies that he has been a sinner, for faultiness of practice and acquittal of conscience can never meet together. Yet doubtless whereas the literal words when set against each other cannot be made to agree, they point out some other meaning in themselves which we are to seek for, as if with a kind of utterance they said, Whereas ye see our superficial form to be destructive to us, look for what may be found within us that is in place and consistent with itself.

IV. But sometimes, he who neglects to interpret the historical form of words according to the letter, keeps that light of truth concealed which is presented to him, and in laboriously seeking to find in them a further interior meaning, he loses that which he might easily obtain on the outside. Thus the Saint saith, if I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; . . . if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; [Job 31, 16-20] where it is to be observed, that if these words be violently strained to an allegorical signification, we make void all his acts of mercy. For as the word of God, by the mysteries which it contains, exercises the understanding of the wise, so usually by what presents itself on the outside, it nurses the simple-minded. It presenteth in open day that wherewith the little ones may be fed; it keepeth in secret that whereby men of a loftier range may be held in suspense of admiration. It is, as it were, a kind of river, if I may so liken it, which is both shallow [planus] and deep, wherein both the lamb may find a footing, and the elephant float at large. Therefore as the fitness of each passage requires, the line of interpretation is studiously varied accordingly, in that the true sense of the word of God is found out with so much the greater fidelity, in proportion as it shifts its course through the different kinds of examples as each case may require.

V. This exposition being such as I have described, I have transmitted to your Blessedness for your inspection, not as being due for its worth's sake, but because I remember that I promised it on your making the request. In which whatsoever your Holiness may discover that is languid or unpolished, let it be most readily excused in proportion as the circumstance is known that it was said in a state of sickness; for when the body is worn down with sickness, the mind being also affected, our exertions to express ourselves likewise become faint. For many a year's circuit has gone by since I have been afflicted with frequent pains in the bowels, and the powers of my stomach being broken down, makes me at all times and seasons weakly; and under the influence of fevers, slow, but in constant succession, I draw my breath with difficulty; and when in the midst of these sufferings I ponder with earnest heed, that according to the testimony of Scripture, He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth; [Heb. 12, 6] the more I am weighed down by the severity of present afflictions, from my anticipations for eternity, I gather strength to breathe with so much the better assurance. And perchance it was this that Divine Providence designed, that I a stricken one, should set forth Job stricken, and that by these scourges I should the more perfectly enter into the feelings of one that was scourged.

Yet it will be evident to all that consider the thing aright, that bodily ailment hinders the pursuits wherein I labour, and that with no slight power of opposition in this respect, that, when the powers of the flesh are not strong enough to discharge the office of speech, the mind cannot adequately convey its meaning. For what is the office of the body saving to be the organ of the mind; and though the musician be ever so skilled in playing [cantandi], he cannot put his art in practice unless outward aids accord with himself for that purpose, for we know that the melody [canticum] which the hand of the proficient bids, is not rightly given back by instruments that are out of order; nor does the wind express his art, if the pipe, gaping with crevices, gives a grating sound. How much more affected in quality then is a thing like this exposition of mine, wherein the grace of delivery is so dissipated by the broken condition of the instrument, that no contrivance of skill can avail to recover it! But I beg that in going through the statements of this work, you would not seek the foliage of eloquence therein: for by the sacred oracles the vanity of a barren wordiness is purposely debarred those that treat thereof, in that it is forbidden to plant a grove in the temple of God.

And doubtless we are all of us aware, that as often as the overrank crop shews stalks that abound in leaves, the grains of the ears are least filled and swelling. And hence that art of speaking itself, which is conveyed by rules of worldly training, I have despised to observe; for as the tenor of this Epistle also will tell, I do not escape the collisions of metacism, nor do I avoid the confusion of barbarisms, and I slight the observing of situations and arrangements, and the cases of prepositions; for I account it very far from meet to submit the words of the divine Oracle to the rules of Donatus. For neither are these observed by any of the translators thereof, in the authoritative [auctoritate] text of Holy Writ. Now as my exposition takes its origin from thence, it is plainly meet that this production, like a kind of offspring, should wear the likeness of its mother. Now it is the new Translation that I comment on; but when a case to be proved requires it, I take now the new and now the old for testimony, that as the Apostolic See, over which I preside by ordinance of God, uses both, the labours of my undertaking may have the support of both.

[a] Leander, who is honoured as a Saint and Doctor in Spain, was a native of Carthagena; his father Severianus was brother in law to Theodoric king of the Ostrogoths. He early devoted himself to a monastic life, and after a long continuance in it he was made Bishop of Seville, where he maintained the Faith against the Arianism which then prevailed, and received Herminigild, who reigned there under his father Liuvigild, into the church. He went on an embassy to the Emperor Tiberius as presently stated, after which he returned to Spain, but was banished for a time by Liuvigild, who, however, on his deathbed appointed him tutor to his son Recared, whom he converted from Arianism, and with his assistance established the Catholic Faith amongst the Wisigoths and Suevi. He took part (and perhaps presided, see Baronius An. 589. s. ix. and xliv. Boll. Act. Sanct. Ap. xiii. p. 277.) in the third Council of Toledo, in which the Goths were united to the Catholic Church, A.D. 589. He died in 595. He wrote a rule for Virgins to his sister Florentina, which is extant in Holstein's Codex Regularum, a Homily of his, on the conversion of the Goths, accompanies the acts of the Synod of Toledo, and the Mozarabic Missal is said by some to be founded on one arranged by him; his other works are lost. See Cave, Hist. Lit. an. 585. also the Isidoriana of Arevalus in his edition of St. Isidore, Rome 1797. There are three epistles of St. Gregory to Leander, Lib. i. Ep. 43, companying the Pallium. His brother Fulgentius, Bp. of Carthagena and Eceja, Bolland. Jan. xiv. p. 971. and his sister Florentina, Ap. xiv. and Jun xx. who devoted herself to a life of Virginity, are locally honoured as Saints. He was succeeded in the See of Seville (then called Hispalis,) by his younger brother St. Isidore.

[b] Responsa, these were all matters concerning the Roman See, that were brought under the notice of the Emperor, and the person intrusted with them was entitled Apocrisiarius. He was the Pope's Ambassador at the Imperial Court with varying powers. He was one of the Cardinal Deacons, for which reason S. Greg. on being appointed to this office was ordained Deacon, vide Du Cange in voce Apocrisiarius; also Bingham Antiq. b. iii. c. xiii. s. 6. where the office is correctly described. vide Baronius Ann. tom. x. p. 378. (an. 583. xii. xiii.) Gibbon speaks of St. Gregory's services at the Imperial Court thus; 'As soon as he had received the character of Deacon Gregory was sent to reside at the Imperial Court, and he boldly assumed in the name of St. Peter a tine of independent dignity which would have been criminal and dangerous in the most illustrious layman of the empire." See his history x.xlv. Lond. 1813. t. viii. p. 164. also p. 143.

[c] Herminigild was deposed by Liuvigild, chiefly, it seems, for embracing the Catholic Faith. The contemporary writers however, both St. Gregory of Tours and St. Isidore, consider him to have acted wrongly toward his father. Baronious indeed says that Leander went on an embassy to ask help for him from the Emperor, which he obtained, but the Greed officers betrayed his cause. An ancient Roman Breviary however says he went to Constantinople to attend the Council, 'Pro confirmandis capitulis Sanctae Trinitatis,' to confirm the articles on the Holy trinity. This he may have done previously, the fifth General Council being A.D. 553. Herminigild was unsuccessful, and obliged to leave his kingdom. He found means however to return into Spain, and maintained himself by the help of the Greeks against his father, and it is at this time that his conduct in attempting a surprise is severely blamed by St. Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. vi. 43. He was at last overpowered, and taken prisoner. St. Gregory of Rome, Dial. iii. 31, says, that he was then urged by his father to communicate with an Arian Bishop, and after resisting alike promises and threats, was put to death. he also mentions a supernatural light that surrounded his body. These circumstances are not noticed by St. Isidore or St. Greg. of Tours. Liuvigild however very soon after acknowledged privately the true faith, and recalled Leander, and placed his son and successor Recared under his direction. Herminigild is honoured as a Maryr by the Latin Church, Apr. 13. See Isidorianna caps. xviii. and lxxxix. S. Isid. hist. Goth. c. 49. The account of Mariana is more circumstantial, but seems partly imaginary.

[d] He was sent to Constantinople as Apocrisiarius immediately upon his ordination, Bar. an. 583. The Benedictive Biographer places the event earlier, in 578 or 579. life l. i. c. 5. op. t. iv. p. 211. [e] There

THE BOOKS OF THE MORALS OF ST. GREGORY THE POPE, OR AN EXPOSITION ON THE BOOK OF BLESSED JOB.

VOLUME I - THE FIRST PART. — THE PREFACE,Wherein he in few words goes through the particulars, which are to be laid open in the course of the entire work.

1. IT is often a question with many persons, who should be held for the writer of the Book of the Blessed Job; and some indeed conjecture that Moses was the author of this work, others, some one of the Prophets. For because it is related in the Book of Genesis [Gen. 36, 33] that Jobab sprung from the stock of Esau, and that he succeeded Bale [Bela E.V.] the son of Beor upon the throne, they have inferred that this Blessed Job lived long before the times of Moses, evidently from ignorance of the manner of Holy Writ, which in the earlier parts is wont to touch slightly upon events that are not to follow till long afterwards, when the object is to proceed without delay to particularize other events with greater exactness. Whence it happens, that in that case likewise it is mentioned of Jobab, that he was before there arose kings in Israel. Therefore we clearly see that He never could have lived before the Law, who is marked out as having lived during the time of the Judges of Israel; which being little attended to by some, they suppose that Moses was the writer of his acts, as placing him long before, [ut vide licet] so that in effect the self-same person who was able to deliver the precepts of the Law for our instruction; should be supposed also to have commended to us examples of virtue derived from the life of a man that was a Gentile. But some, as has been said, suppose some one of the Prophets to have been the Author of this work, maintaining that no man could have knowledge of those words of God, which have such deep mystery, save he whose mind was raised to things above by the spirit of Prophecy.

2. But who was the writer, it is very superfluous to enquire; since at any rate the Holy Spirit is confidently believed to have been the Author. He then Himself wrote them, Who dictated the things that should be written. He did Himself write them Who both was present as the Inspirer in that Saint's work, and by the mouth of the writer has consigned to us his acts as patterns for our imitation. If we were reading the words of some great man with his Epistle in our hand, yet were to enquire by what pen they were written, doubtless it would be an absurdity, to know the Author of the Epistle and understand his meaning, and notwithstanding to be curious to know with what sort of pen the words were marked upon the page. When then we .understand the matter, and are persuaded that the Holy Spirit was its Author, in stirring a question about the author, what else do we than in reading a letter enquire about the pen?

3. Yet we may with greater probability suppose that the same blessed Job, who bore the strife of the spiritual conflict, did likewise relate the circumstances of his victory when achieved; nor should it influence us that it is said in the same book, 'Job said,' or, 'Job bore this or that;' for it is the manner of Holy Scripture for the persons who are writing so to speak of themselves in it, as though they were speaking of others. Whence it is that Moses says, Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. [Numb. 12, 3] Hence John says, that Disciple whom Jesus loved; [John 19, 26] hence Luke says, that two of them were walking by the way, Cleophas and another; [Luke 24, 13] which other indeed, while he was so carefully silent about him, he shewed to have been no other than himself, as some assert. The writers then of Holy Writ because they are moved by the impulse of the Holy Spirit, do therein so bear witness of themselves as though of other persons. Thus the Holy Spirit by the mouth of Moses spake of Moses, the Holy Spirit speaking by John spoke of John. Paul too intimates that he did not speak from the dictates of his own mind, by saying, Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me.

[2 Cor. 13, 3] It is hence that the Angel who is described to have appeared to Moses, is now mentioned as an Angel, now as the Lord; an Angel in truth, in respect of that which was subservient to the external delivery; and the Lord, because He was the Director within, Who supplied the effectual power of speaking. Therefore as the speaker is inwardly directed, by virtue of his obedience to instructions, he receives the name of Angel, by virtue of his inspiration, that of Lord. Hence David exclaims, Give ear, O my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. [Ps. 78, 1] For it was neither David's law, nor David's people, but he, assuming the character of Him from whom He spoke, speaks with His authority with Whose inspiration he was filled. This we perceive to be daily practised in the Church, if we regard the thing attentively; for the reader standing in the midst of the people exclaims, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. [Exod. 3, 61] Yet that he is himself God, he says not certainly with truth, nor yet by saying what he does is the line of truth deviated from; for by his voice he first proclaims the sovereignty of Him, Whose minister he is in the office of reading.

Therefore the writers of Holy Writ, because when full of the Holy Spirit they are lifted above their own nature, are as it were put out of themselves, and in this manner they deliver sentiments about themselves, as though about other persons. In this way Blessed Job also, being under the influence of the Holy Spirit, might have written his own acts, which were, for that matter, gifts of inspiration from above, as though they were not his own; for in so far as it was a human being, who spoke things which were of God, all that he spake belonged to Another, and in so far as the Holy Spirit spake of what is proper to a human being, it was Another that gave utterance to the things that belonged to him.

[ii] 4. But we should now leave these points behind us, and hasten forward to consider the particulars of the Sacred History. Every man, even from this, that he is a man, ought to understand the Author of his being, to Whose will he must submit the more completely, in the same proportion that he reflects that of himself he is nothing; yet we, when created I by Him, neglected to take God into our thoughts. Precepts were had recourse to: precepts likewise we have refused to obey, Examples are added; these very examples too we decline to follow, which we see were set forth to us by those under the Law; for because God did openly address Himself to particular persons who were placed under the Law, we regard ourselves as unconcerned with those particular precepts, to whom they were not specially addressed; wherefore to confound our shamelessness, a Gentile is handed down to be our example, that as he that is set under the Law disdains to pay obedience to the Law, he may at least be roused by comparing himself with him, who without the Law lived as by law, The Law then was given to one gone astray; but when even under the Law he still strays, he has the testimony of those brought before him, who are without the pale of the Law, that forasmuch as we would not keep to the order of our creation [conditionis], we might be admonished of our duty by precepts, and because we scorned to obey the precepts, we might be shamed by examples, not, as we have said, the examples of those who had the restraint of the Law, but of those who had no law to restrain them from sin.

5. The Divine Providence has compassed us about, and cut off all excuse; all opening to man's equivocating arts is every way closed; a Gentile, one without the Law, is brought forward to confound the iniquity of those that are under the Law; which is well and summarily shewn by the Prophet, when He says, Be thou ashamed, O Zidon, saith the sea; [Isai. 23, 4] for in Sidon we have a figure of the stedfastness of those settled upon the foundation of the Law, and in the sea of the life of the Gentiles; accordingly, Be thou ashamed, O Zidon, saith the sea, because the life of those under the Law is convicted by the life of Gentiles, and the conduct of men in a state of religion is put to confusion by the conduct of those living in the world, so long as the first do not, even under vows, observe what they hear enjoined in precepts: the latter by their manner of life keep those ways whereunto they are not in any wise bound by legal enactments. Now for the authority this book has received, we have the weighty testimony of the sacred page itself, where the Prophet Ezekiel says, that those men alone should have deliverance granted to them., viz. Noah, Daniel, and Job; nor is it without propriety, that in the midst of Hebrew, lives, that of a righteous Gentile is placed in that authority which commands the reverence of men; because as our Redeemer came to redeem both Jews and Gentiles, so He was willing to be prophesied of by the lips both of Jews and Gentiles, that He might be named by either people [utrumque populum], Who was at a future time to suffer for both.

6. This man then, with all the surpassing powers whereby he was sustained, was known to his own conscience and to God; but had he not been stricken he would never have been the least known to us. For his virtue had its exercise indeed even in peaceful times, but it was by strokes that the report of; his virtue was stirred up to fragrance: and he, who in repose kept within himself all that he was, when disturbed did scatter; abroad the odour of his fortitude, for all to know. For as unguents, unless they be stirred, are never smelt far off, and as aromatic scents spread not their fragrance except they be burned, so the Saints in their tribulations make known all the sweetness that they have of their virtues. Whence it is well said in the Gospel, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove. [Matt. 17, 20] For unless a grain of mustard seed be bruised, the extent of its virtue is never acknowledged. For without bruising it is insipid [lene], but if it is bruised it becomes hot, and if gives out all those pungent properties that were concealed in it. Thus every good man, so long as he is not smitten, is regarded as insipid [lenis], and of slight account.

But if ever the grinding of persecution crush him, instantly he gives forth all the warmth of his savour, and all that before appeared to be weak or contemptible, is turned into godly fervour, and that which in peaceful times he had been glad to keep from view within his own bosom, he is driven by the force of tribulations to make known; so that the Prophet says with justice, Yet the Lord hath commanded His lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night He hath declared it; [Ps 42, p] for the lovingkindness of the Lord is commanded in the day time, because the season of rest is perceived by the sense of it [cognoscendo], but 'in the night it is declared,' because the gift which is received in tranquillity is made manifest in tribulation.

[iii]

7. But we ought to search out more particularly why so many strokes fell to the lot of him who maintained without blame such strict guard of the several virtues: for he had humility, as he himself even testifies, If I did despise to be judged in the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me. [Job 31, 13] He shewed hospitality, as himself describes, when he says; the stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller. [Job 31, 32] He maintained a vigorous exercise of discipline, as his own words shew; The princes refrained talking, and laid their fingers on their mouth. [Job 29, 9] With that vigour he yet retained mildness, according to his own confession, where he says, I sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, yet as one that comforteth the mourners. In almsdeeds he cherished a bountiful spirit, as he himself intimates by saying, If I have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof. [Job 31, 17] Whereas then he performed all the precepts of the several virtues, one thing was wanting to him, viz. that when stricken even he should learn to render thanks:

it was known that he knew how to serve God when surrounded by blessings, but it was meet that a most searching severity should put it to the test, whether even under the lash he would yet remain constant to his God, for chastisement is the test, whether when let to rest a man really loves. Him the adversary sought indeed to obtain that he might prove deficient [deficeret] in godliness, but obtained that he might prove a proficient [proficeret] therein. The Lord in loving-kindness permitted that to be done, which the devil in his wickedness required; for when the enemy had got leave to have him with the purpose of destroying him, by his temptations he effected that his merits were augmented. For it is written, In all this Job sinned not with his lips. [Job 1, 22] Yet doubtless there are certain words of his rejoinders, which sound harshly to readers of little experience, for the sayings of the Saints these are unable to understand in the pious sense in which they are spoken, and because they are unskilled to make their own the feelings of the afflicted Saint, therefore it is impossible for them to interpret aright the expressions of grief, for it is a sympathy that lowers itself to his state of suffering, that knows how to estimate aright the meaning of the sufferer.

8. And so they conclude that blessed Job was a defaulter in his speech, without sufficiently considering, that if they convict the blessed Job's replies, they at the same time bear witness that God's sentence concerning him was untrue. For the Lord saith to the devil, Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in all the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? [Job 1, 8] To Whom the devil presently replies, Doth Job fear God for nought? Has not Thou made an hedge about him, and about his house? But put forth Thine hand now, and touch him, and see if he hath not blessed Thee to Thy face. [v. 9, 10] The enemy then put forth his strength upon the blessed Job, but in doing this he entered the lists against God, and in this way blessed Job became the intermediate subject of the contest between God and the devil. Whoever then maintains that the holy man, when in the midst of the strokes, committed sin by the words which he uttered, what else doth he than reproach God, Who had pledged Himself [proposuerat] for him, with having been the loser? For the same God was pleased to take upon Himself the cause of the Saint under his trial, Who both extolled him before his afflictions, and on thus extolling allowed him to undergo the trial of those scourges.

If then Job is said to have gone wrong, his advocate is made out to have been foiled: though the gifts vouchsafed him alone testify, that he did not transgress at all: for who does not know that what is due to faults is not reward but chastisement? He then who merited to receive back double what he had lost, proved by this compensation that there was nought of evil, but only virtue in all that he said, and to this declaration too it is further added, that he is himself the intercessor in behalf of his guilty friends. For one that is involved in great sins, can never, when burthened with his own, discharge another's score; he then is shewn to be clear in his own case, who could obtain for others their clearance from guilt. If however it be displeasing to any, that he is himself the relator of his own goodness, let them know that in the midst of so many losses of his substance, amidst so many wounds of the body, amidst so many deaths of his children, with the friends, who had come to comfort him, breaking out into reproaches, he was urged to despair of his life, and he whom such repeated calamities had sorely smitten, was further stricken by the insulting language of the reproachers; for these, that had come to comfort him, while they upbraided him with his unrighteousness as it seemed to them, were driving him quite to give up all hope of himself;

whereas then he recalls his good deeds to mind, it is not that he lifts himself up in self applause, but sets anew [reformat] his mind to hope, when as it were sunk down amid those reproaches and those strokes. For the mind is smitten with a heavy weapon of despair, when it is both hard pressed with the tribulations of wrath from above, and galled by the reproaches of men's tongues without. Blessed Job therefore, thus pierced with the darts of so many woes, when he now feared to be brought down by their reproaches, recalled himself to a state of confidence, by the assurance derived from his past life. He then did not thereby fall into the sin of presumption, because he resisted an inward impulse to despair by the outward expression of his own eulogies, to the end that while he recounted the good things which he had done he might be saved from despairing of the good that he had sought.

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9. But now let us follow out the actual course of his trial. The enemy, full of rage, and striving to conquer the firm breast of that holy man, set up against him the engines of temptation, spoiled his substance, slew his children, smote his body, instigated his wife, and while he brought his friends to console him, urged, them to the harshest upbraiding. One friend too was more cruel in his reproaches, he reserved with the last and bitterest invective, that by the frequency of the stroke, if not otherwise, the heart might be reached by that which was ever being repeated with a fresh wound. For because he saw that he had power in the world, he thought to move him by the loss of his substance, and finding him unshaken, he smote him by the death of his children. But seeing that from that wound which made him childless he even gained strength to the greater magnifying of God's praise, he asked leave to smite the health of his body. Seeing moreover that by the pain of the body he could not compass the affecting [passionem] of the mind, he instigated his wife, for he saw that the city which he desired to storm was too strong; therefore by bringing upon him so many external plagues, he led an army as it were on the outside against him, but, when he kindled the feelings of his wife into words of mischievous persuasion, it was as though he corrupted the hearts of the citizens within;

For so from external wars we are instructed how to think of those within. For an enraged enemy, that holds a city encircled by his surrounding armies, upon perceiving its fortifications to remain unshaken, betakes himself to other methods [argumenta] of attack, with this object, that he may corrupt the hearts of some of the citizens also within; so that, when he has led on the assailants from without, he may also have cooperators within, and that when the heat of the battle increases outside, the city being left without succour by the treachery of those within, of whose faith no doubt is felt, may become his prey.

10. And thus a battering ram having been planted on the outside, as it were, he smote the walls of this city with blows many in number, as the several times that he brought tidings of calamities; while on the inside, he, as it were, corrupted the hearts of the citizens, when he set himself to undermine the strong bulwarks of this city by the persuasions of the wife. In this manner he brought to bear, from without, an hostile assault, from within, baneful counsels, that he might capture the city the sooner, in proportion as he troubled it both from within and from without. But because there are times when words are more poignant than wounds, he armed himself, as we have said, with the tongues of his friends. Those indeed that were of graver years, might perchance give the less pain by their words. The younger is made to take their place, to deal that holy bosom a wound so much the sharper, the meaner was the arm that be impelled to strike blows against it. Behold the enemy mad to strike down his indomitable strength, how many the darts of temptation that he devised, see, what numberless beleaguering engines he set about him! See how many weapons of assault he let fly, but in all his mind continued undaunted, the city stood unshaken.

[v] 11. It is the aim of enemies, when they come up face to face, to send off some in secret, who may be so much the more free to strike a blow in the flank of the hostile force, in proportion as he that is fighting is more eagerly intent upon the enemy advancing in front. Job, therefore, being caught in the warfare of this conflict, received the losses which befel him like foes in his front; he took the words of his comforters like enemies on his flank, and in all turning round the shield of his stedfastness, he stood defended at all points, and ever on the watch, parried on all sides the swords directed against him. By his silence he marks his unconcern for the loss of his substance; the flesh, dead in his children, he bewails with composure; the flesh in his own person stricken, he endures with fortitude; the flesh in his wife suggesting mischievous persuasions, he instructeth with wisdom. In addition to all this his friends start forth into the bitterness of upbraiding, and coming to appease his grief, increase its force. Thus all the engines of temptation are turned by this holy man to the augmentation of his virtues; for by the wounds his patience is tried, and by the words his wisdom is exercised. Every where he meets the enemy with an undaunted mien, for the scourges he overcame by resolution, and the words by reasoning. But his friends, who came indeed to administer consolation, but who deviate from their purpose even to using terms of reproach, must be thought to have erred more from ignorance than wickedness. For we must never imagine that so great a man had evil minded friends, but, while they fail to discern the cause of his scourges, they slide into a fault.

12. For of scourges there are sundry kinds; for there is the scourge whereby the sinner is stricken that he may suffer punishment without withdrawal [retractione], another whereby he is smitten, that he may be corrected; another wherewith sometimes a man is smitten, not for the correction of past misdeeds, but for the prevention of future; another which is very often inflicted, whereby neither a past transgression is corrected, nor a future one prevented, but which has this end, that when unexpected deliverance follows the stroke, the power of the Deliverer being known may be the more ardently beloved, and that while the innocent person is bruised by the blow, his patience may serve to increase the gain of his merits; for sometimes the sinner is stricken that he may be punished, without withdrawal, as it is said to Judaea when doomed to destruction, I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one; [Jerem. 30, 14] and again, Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable. [v. 15] Sometimes the sinner is stricken that he may be amended, as it is said to one in the Gospel, Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee;

[John 5, 14] for the words of his deliverer indicate that it was past sins which were exacting all the violence of the pain which he had endured, In some cases the person smitten, not for the obliteration of a past offence, but for the avoidance of a future one, which the Apostle Paul openly testifies of himself, saying, And lest I shall be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. [2Cor. 12, 7] For he who says, not 'that he was exalted,' but, 'lest he should be exalted,' clearly shews that by that stroke it is held in check that it may not take place, and that it is not a fault that has taken place now clearing away. But sometimes the person is stricken neither for past not yet for future transgression, but that the alone mightiness of the Divine power may be set forth in the cutting short of the striking; whence when it was said unto the Lord concerning the blind man in the Gospel, Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? the Lord answered, saying, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him: [John 9, 2.3.

in which manifestation what else is done, saving that by that scourge the excellence of his merits is increased, and while there is no past transgression wiped away, the patience may engender a mighty fortitude. For which reason the same blessed Job is first extolled by the voice of the Judge, and is then given up into the hand of the Tempter, and whereas God, in recompensing him after the scourge, speaks to him in a more familiar manner, it is plainly shewn how much greater he became by the stroke; so then the friends of blessed Job, while they were unable to distinguish the different kinds of strokes, believed him to be stricken for his guiltiness, and while they endeavoured to vindicate the justice of God in smiting him, they were driven to reprove blessed Job of unrighteousness; not knowing in fact that for this reason he was stricken, viz. that the stroke might redound to the praise of God's glory, and not that by those strokes he might be brought to amend the evil, which he had never done; and hence they are the sooner restored to pardon, because they sinned from ignorance rather than from an evil disposition; and their pride the Divine Justice puts down with so much the stronger hand, as It refuses to renew them in Its favour, saving by means of him whom they had despised. For a high mind is effectually struck down when it is bowed beneath the very person over whom it has exalted itself.

[vi] 13. But amongst these marvellous works of Divine Providence it yields us satisfaction to mark, how, for the enlightening the night of this present life, each star in its turn appears in the face of Heaven, until that towards the end of the night the Redeemer of mankind ariseth like the true Morning Star; for the space of night, being enlightened by the stars as they set and rise in their courses, is passed with the heavens in exceeding beauty. Thus in order that the ray of stars, darting forth at its appointed time, and changed in succession, might reach the darkness of our night, Abel comes to shew us innocency; Enoch, to teach purity of practice; Noah, to win admittance for lessons of endurance in hope and in work; Abraham, to manifest obedience; Isaac, to shew an example of chastity in wedded life; Jacob, to introduce patience in labour; Joseph, for the repaying evil with the favour of a good turn; Moses, for the shewing forth of mildness; Joshua, to form us to confidence against difficulties; Job, to shew patience amid afflictions. Lo what lustrous stars see we in the sky, that the foot of practice may never stumble as we walk this our night's journey; since for so many Saints as God's Providence set forth to man's cognizance, He, as it were, sent just so many stars into the sky, over the darkness of erring man, till the true Morning Star should rise, Who, being the herald to us of the eternal morning, should outshine the other stars by the radiance of His Divinity.

14. And all the elect, whilst by their holy living serving as His forerunners, gave promise of Him by prophesying both in deeds and words. For there never was any Saint who did not appear as His herald in figure; for it was meet that all should display that goodness in themselves whereby both all became good, and which they knew to be for the good of all, and therefore that blessing ought also to be promised without pause which was vouchsafed both to be received without price [sine aestimatione] and to be kept without end, that all generations might together tell what the end of all should bring to light, in the redemption of which all were partakers. And therefore it behoved that blessed Job also, who uttered those high mysteries of His Incarnation, should by his life be a sign of Him, Whom by voice he proclaimed, and by all that he underwent should shew forth what were to be His sufferings; and should so much the more truly foretel the mysteries [sacramenta] of His Passion, as he prophesied then not merely with his lips but also by suffering. But because our Redeemer has shewn Himself to be one with the Holy Church, which He has taken to Himself; for of Him it is said, Who is the Head of us all;

[Eph. 4, 15] and of the Church it is written, the Body of Christ, Which is the Church, [Col. 1, 24] whosoever in his own person betokens Him, at one time designates Him in respect of the Head, at another of the Body, so as to have not only the voice of the Head, but also of the Body; and hence the Prophet Isaiah, in giving utterance to the words of the same Lord, says, He hath put upon me a mitre like unto a Bride-. groom, and hath decked me with jewels as a Bride. [Isa. 61. 10 Vulg. Therefore because the same person that in the Head is the Bridegroom, is in the Body the Bride, it follows that when, at times, any thing is spoken from the Head, there must be a turning down by degrees or even at once to the voice of the Body, and again when any thing is said that is of the Body, there must be presently a rising to the voice of the Head. Accordingly the blessed Job conveys a type of the Redeemer, Who is to come together with His own Body:

and his wife who bids him curse, marks the life of the carnal, who having place within the Holy Church with unamended morals, as by their faith they are brought near to the godly, press them the more sorely by their lives, since while they cannot be shunned as being of the faithful, they are endured by the faithful as the greater harm by how much nearer home [deterius quanto et interius].

15. But his friends, who, while acting as his counsellors, at the same time inveigh against him, are an express image of heretics, who under shew of giving counsel, are busied in leading astray; and hence they address the blessed Job as though in behalf of the Lord, but yet the Lord does not commend them, that is, because all heretics, while they try to defend, only offend God. Whence they are plainly told, and that by the same holy man I desire to reason with God; first shewing that ye are forgers of lies, ye are followers of corrupt doctrines. [Job 13, 3.4.] According to which it appears that these by their erroneous notions stood a type of heretics, whom the holy man charges with adhering to a creed [cultui] of corrupt doctrines. But every heretic, in this, that he is seen to defend God, is a gainsayer of His troth, according to the testimony of the Psalmist, who says, That Thou mightest still the enemy and the defender [Ps. 8, 2. E.V. avenger], for he is an enemy and defender, who so preaches God as thereby to be fighting against Him.

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16. Now that blessed Job maintains the semblance of the Redeemer to come, his very name is a proof. For Job is, if interpreted, 'grieving;' by which same grief we have set forth, either our Mediator's Passion, or the travails of Holy Church, which is harassed by the manifold toils of this present life. Moreover by the word which stands for their name his friends mark out the quality of their conduct. For Eliphas is called in the Latin tongue, 'contempt of the Lord,' and what else do heretics, than in entertaining false notions of God contemn Him by their proud conceits. Baldad is by interpretation 'Oldness alone.' And well are all heretics styled, 'Oldness alone,' in the things which they speak concerning God, forasmuch as it is with no right purpose but with a longing for temporal honour that they desire to appear as preachers. For they are moved to speak not by the zeal of the new man, but by the evil principles of the old life. 'Sophar' too is rendered in the Latin language 'dissipation of the prospect,' or, 'one dissipating the prospect.' For the minds of the faithful lift themselves to the contemplation of things above; but as the words of heretics aim to prevent them in their contemplation of light objects, they do their best to 'dissipate the prospect.' Thus in the three names of Job's friends, we have set forth three cases [casus] of the ruin of heretical minds. For unless they held God in contempt, they would never entertain false notions concerning Him;

and unless they drew along with them a heart of oldness, they would: never err in the understanding of the new life; and unless they marred the contemplations of good things [or, of good men], the Supreme judgments would never condemn them with so strict a scrutiny for the guiltiness of their words. By holding God in contempt, then, they keep themselves in oldness, and by being kept in oldness, they injure the contemplation of right objects [See] by their erring discourses.

[viii] 17. Now because it sometimes happens that heretics being penetrated with the bountiful streams of Divine grace return to the unity of Holy Church, this is well represented in the very reconcilement of his friends. Yet blessed Job is bidden to intercede for them, because the sacrifices of heretics can never be acceptable to God, unless they be offered in their behalf by the hands of the universal Church, that by her merits they may obtain the recovery of salvation, whom they did strike before by assailing her with the darts of their words; and hence seven sacrifices are recorded to have been offered for them, for whereas in confessing they receive the Spirit of sevenfold grace, they do as it were obtain expiation by seven offerings. It is hence that in the Apocalypse of John the whole Church is represented by the number of seven Churches [Rev. 1, 12]. Hence it is said of wisdom by Solomon, Wisdom hath builded her house; she hath hewn, out her seven pillars. [Prov. 9, 1] And thus by the very number of the sacrifices those reconciled heretics set forth what they were before, in that these are not united to the perfection of sevenfold grace, except by returning.

18. But they are well described as having offered for themselves bulls and rams. For in the bull is figured the neck of pride, and in the ram, the leading of the flocks that follow. What then is it to slaughter bulls and rams in their behalf, but to put an end to their proud leading, so that they may think humbly of themselves, and not seduce the hearts of the innocent to follow after them. For they had started away from the unity of the Church with a swelling neck, and were drawing after them the weak folk like flocks following behind. Therefore let them come to blessed Job; i.e. return to the Church; and present bulls and rams to be slaughtered for a sevenfold sacrifice, and that they may be united to the universal Church, let them with the interposition of humility kill all the swelling humour wherewith their proud leadership savoured them.

[ix] 19. Now by Heliu, who speaks indeed with a right sense, yet runs down [derivatur] into foolish words of pride, is set forth a representation of every proud person. For there are many within the pale of Holy Church, that are too proud to put forward in a right manner the right sentiments, which they profess, and hence he is both rebuked with the words of God's upbraiding, and yet no sacrifices offered in his behalf, in that he is a believer indeed, yet high-minded. By the truth of his belief he is within, but by the obstacle which his pride presents he is not acceptable. Him [read Hunc ergo, as old ed. and Mss.] therefore rebuke reproves, but sacrifice does not restore him, because he is indeed in the faith that he ought to be in, yet the Supreme Justice, charging him with things over and above what need to be, keeps him at a distance. Hence Heliu is well rendered in the Latin tongue, 'That my God,' or, 'God, the Lord.' For proud men within Holy Church, though they keep away from God by living proudly, yet acknowledge Him by believing truly. For what is it for him to say by his name, 'That my God,' but to shew forth Him Whom he believed with a public avowal? Or what is it to say, 'God the Lord,' but to accept Him both as God by virtue of His Divinity, and to hold Him For Man by His Incarnation?

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20. It is well that after the losses of his substance, after the death of his children, after the tortures of his wounds, after the strife and conflict of words, he is raised up again with a double reward, clearly, in that Holy Church, even while yet in this present life, receives a double recompense for the toils she undergoes, since having taken in the Gentiles to the full, at the end of the world she converts to herself the souls of the Jews likewise. For it is on this account written, Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved. [Rom. 11, 25. 26.] And she will afterwards receive a double recompense, in that, when the toils of this present time are over, she rises not alone to the joy of souls, but to a blessed estate of bodies. And hence the Prophet rightly says, therefore in their land they shall possess the double. [Isa. 61, 7] For 'in the Land of the Living' the Saints possess the double, because we know they are gladdened with blessedness both of mind and body. Hence John in the Apocalypse, because it was before the resurrection of bodies that he saw the souls of the Saints crying, beheld how that they had given them a stole to each, saying, And white robes were given, one [singulae] to every one of them, and it was said, that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. [Rev. 6, 11] For before the Resurrection they are said to have received a stole to each, for that as yet they are gifted with blessedness of mind alone; and therefore they will receive each one two, whenever, together with the perfect bliss of souls, they shall be clothed also with incorruptibility of bodies.

21. Now it is very properly that the affliction indeed of blessed Job is told, but the length of time that he was under the affliction is kept back, for we see the tribulation of Holy Church in this life, but know nothing for how long she is here to undergo bruising and delay; and hence it is spoken by the mouth of Truth, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. [Acts 1, 7] Herein then, that the suffering of blessed Job is told us, we are taught what we are made acquainted withal by experience; and herein, that the length of time that he continued in his suffering is withheld, we are taught what it is we must remain ignorant of. We have drawn out these words of preface to some length, that by briefly running over it we might in a manner give a view of the whole. Now then that by long discoursing we have been brought to the commencement of our discourse, we must first settle the root of the historical meaning, that we may afterwards let our minds take their fill of the fruits of the allegorical senses.

MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB BY ST. GREGORY THE GREAT, TRANSLATED WITH NOTES AND INDICES. IN THREE VOLUMES OXFORD, JOHN HENRY PARKER; J.G.F. AND J. RIVINGTON, LONDON. 1844. [Check out the LIVE version of this project here] VOLUME I. The Epistle Wherein he explains the time, occasion, division, plan, and the method of discourse and of interpretation pursued in his work. THE FIRST PART. The Preface Wherein he in few words goes through the particulars, which are to be laid open in the course of the entire work. Book I. The first verses of the first chapter of the Book of Job are explained first historically, then in an allegorical, and lastly in a moral sense. Book II. From the sixth verse of the first chapter to the end, he follows out the exposition according to the threefold interpretation. Book III. The whole of the second chapter of the book of Job is explained after the manner of the former Books, historically, allegorically, and morally.

Book IV. Wherein Gregory, having in the Preface set forth in few words, that the letter of Scripture is at times at variance with itself, and that the imprecations of Job, as of Jeremiah and David, cannot be understood without absurdity according to the sound which they convey, explains the words of Job in historical, mystical, and moral sense, from the commencement of the third chapter to the twentieth verse of the same. Book V. He explains the remainder of chap. iii. from ver. 20. the whole of chap. iv. and the first two verses of chap. v. THE SECOND PART. Book VI. The whole of the fifth chapter, beginning at the third verse, is explained first in a spiritual sense, a few parts in an allegorical, and a great many in a moral sense. Book VII. He explains the whole of the sixth chapter, except the three last verses, in part allegorically and in part morally.

Book VIII. He explains part of the sixth chapter, from verse 27, and the whole of the seventh and eighth chapters. In the course of this exposition, from verse 11, to the end of the eighth chapter, he speaks at length on the sin of hypocrisy. Book IX. He explains the ninth chapter, together with the whole of the tenth. Book X. The whole of the eleventh chapter of the Book of Job, and the five first verses of the twelfth, being made out, he closes the Second Part of this work. VOLUME II. THE THIRD PART. Book XI. In which the twelfth chapter, from the sixth verse, the thirteenth, and the first four verses of the fourteenth, are explained, a different style being adopted for the time. Book XII. Wherein after the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Job has been explained, beginning at the fifth verse, the fifteenth chapter entire is explained for the most part in a moral sense.

Book XIII. Wherein is contained a short exposition, moral and typical, of the sixteenth and seventeenth chapters of the Book of Job. Book XIV. Wherein S. Gregory unfolds the historical, allegorical, and moral sense of the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters of the Book of Job. Book XV. In which there is a brief explanation given of the twentieth and twenty-first chapters of the Book of Job. Book XVI. After going through the twenty-second and twenty-third chapters of the Book of Job, and the twenty-fourth to the middle of verse twenty with a brief explanation, he brings the Third Part to a close. THE FOURTH PART. Book XVII. What remains of the twenty-fourth chapter beginning from the middle of verse 20, together with chapters twenty-five and twenty-six entire, he sets forth chiefly in a moral sense. Book XVIII. Contains the exposition of the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth chapters of the Book of Job, to the twenty-first verse and half through it, after manifold senses.

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. Book XX. The five concluding verses of chapter twenty-nine of the Book of Job are more largely explained, together with the whole of chapter thirty, chiefly on the subject of heretics and carnal persons distressing the Church. Book XXI. The thirty-first chapter of the Book of Job is explained to verse twenty-four, exclusive, and chastity, humility, and mercifulness being first commended, many particulars are especially taught relative to the avoiding of the occasion of sin. Book XXII. All that remained of chapter thirty-one of the Book of Job is explained, and submissiveness of mind, and moderation, patience, charity, and earnest interest for those under our charge, are especially commended.

VOLUME III. THE FIFTH PART. Book XXIII. The thirty-second chapter, and the thirty-third, as far as the twenty-second verse, are expounded; in which, while Job keeps silence, Eliu, a younger person, enters on many right and sound topics, though not rightly, or with sound intention.. Book XXIV. The last eleven verses of the thirty-third chapter and the eighteen first verses of the thirty-fourth chapter are expounded, and striking truths are taught concerning Christ the Mediator, contemplation, the course of conversion, and the pastoral office. Book XXV. In explanation of the thirty-fourth chapter from the nineteenth to the thirtieth verse, the punishments of the reprobate, and the secret judgements of God are discussed. Book XXVI. The holy Doctor expounds the seven last verses of the thirty-fourth chapter, the whole of the thirty-fifth, with the first twenty-one verses of the thirty-sixth chapter; and launches out, at very great length, into both allegorical and moral meanings.

Book XXVII. The last twelve verses of the thirty-sixth chapter are expounded, with the whole of the thirty-seventh, and their meanings ingeniously examined, for the sake of establishing a system of Christian doctrine, and ethics. THE SIXTH PART. Book XXVIII. The first eleven verses of the thirty-eighth chapter are explained, in various senses, but especially in a moral sense. Book XXIX. Twenty-two verses of the thirty-eighth chapter, from the twelfth to the thirty-third inclusive, are explained; and many truths are taught, especially concerning the arts and snares of Satan, grace, predestination, probation, and the secret judgments of God. Book XXX. Contains an exposition of the last eight verses of the thirty-eighth chapter, and of the same number of the thirty-ninth: where the holy Doctor discusses very many questions in a pious and learned manner, especially concerning the preaching of the Gospel. Book XXXI. The ninth, with the remaining verses of the thirty-ninth chapter, is explained, the last three only being omitted; and the efficacy of Divine Grace, in the preaching of the Gospel, and in the conversion of sinners, is especially demonstrated.

Book XXXII. The two last verses of the thirty-ninth chapter having been explained, the first fourteen verses of the fortieth chapter are expounded, and many things are taught, both concerning the infinite power of God, and the hurtful designs of Satan against men. Book XXXIII. Sets forth an exposition of the fifteenth, and remaining verses of the fortieth chapter, and also of the first twelve verses of the forty-first chapter: where the various arts of the devil are exposed, and predestination of free grace is taught, and reconciled with free will. Book XXXIV. The thirteenth, with the remaining verses of the forty-first chapter is explained, chiefly with reference to the pride of the Devil, and the most cruel persecutions of Antichrist against the Saints. Book XXXV. In which many things already said are repeated in recapitulation, and this immense work is brought to a close by a most lowly confession of human infirmity.