20.

LIT.

Rom.

276 Sin unrepented here is carried on to Hell.

JOB 24, rightly delivered. Let him pass to overmuch heat from the snow waters. As if it were said in plain speech; ' he that is not restrained in humility under the fetters of self-discipline, from his unbelief, or from the coldness of bad practice, through immoderate wisdom falls into error. Whence too the great Preacher getting quit of this excessive heat of too refined wisdom from the hearts of his disciples saith well, Not to be wise of himself above that he ought to be wise; but to be wise unto sobriety. Lest perchance excessive heat might destroy those, of whom 'snow waters,' i. e. unbelief, or the fruits of deadened actions, held possession in the way to die. And because it is very difficult for him who accounts himself wise to bring down his mind to humility and believe those that preach right things, and reject the view of his own wrong thought, it is rightly said;

12, 3.

lxviii.

5, 16.

Ver. 19. And his sin even to hell.

82. For sin is brought even to hell,' which before the end of the present life is not by chastening reformed unto 1 John repentance. Of which same sin it is said by John, There is a sin unto death, I do not say that he shall pray for it. For a sin unto death' is a sin even until death in this way, that the pardon of that sin is sought in vain which is not corrected here. Concerning which same it is yet further subjoined;

lxix.

Ver. 20. Let mercy forget him.

Almighty God's mercy is said to forget him,' who has forgotten Almighty God's justice, in that whoever does not fear Him now as just, can never find him merciful afterward. Which same sentence is not only held out against him, who abandons the preachings of true faith, but against him likewise, who being in the right faith lives a carnal life, in that the vengeance of eternal condemnation is not got quit of, whether sin lie in faith or practice. For though the kind of condemnation be unequal, yet guilt which is not wiped away by repentance, there is no means supplied for the absolving thereof. It goes on;

The worm is his sweetness.

83. Whoever desires to make his way prosperous in this world, to surpass the rest of the world, to swell high with substance and honours, to this man no doubt worldly busi

The delight of the wicked is the worm, restless and foul. 277

6

6.

XVI.

ness is a delight, and repose a labour. For he is very much Book tired if the business of the world be lacking wherewith to be tired. Now because it belongs to the nature of worms to be put in motion unceasingly every moment, restlessness of thoughts is not unjustly denoted by the name of worms.' And so the worm is the sweetness' of the wicked soul, in that he is fed to his satisfaction from the same source whence he is unceasingly agitated in restlessness. Moreover it may be that by the title of the worm' the flesh may be more plainly denoted. Hence it is said further on, How much less man that is a worm? or the son of man c.17,14. which is a worm? And so of every one that is full of and 25, lust and devoted to the pleasures of the flesh, how great is the blindness is shewn, when it is said, The worm is his sweetness. For what is our flesh but' rottenness' and' the worm?' And whosoever pants with carnal desires, what else does he but love the worm? For what the substance of the flesh is, our graves bear witness. What parent, what faithful friend can bear to touch the flesh of one however beloved fraught with worms? And so when the flesh is lusted after, let it be considered what it is when lifeless, and it is understood what it is that is loved. For nothing has so much efficacy to subdue the appetite of carnal desire, as for every one to consider, what that which he loves alive will be when dead. For when we consider the corruption of the flesh, we see in a moment, that when the flesh is unlawfully lusted after, corruption is desired. Therefore it is well said. of the mind of the lustful man, the worm is his sweetness, in that he who is on fire with the desire of carnal corruption, pants after the stink of rottenness.

All this, as I remember that I promised in the beginning B. xi. of this third part, I have run over in brief, that the things which follow after in this work, as they are involved in great obscurity, may with God's aid be more fully gone into.

C

Opere. Ben. notes that some Mss. read 'corpore,' which would mean 'Volume.'

THE FOURTH PART.

i.

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.

As often as in the history of the holy man we betake ALLEG. Ourselves in a new book to unravel the mystery of the typical explanation, it must be either from that man's name or course of suffering that we mainly draw out the mystical interpretation, so that after the manner of dwelling houses, whilst we set forth a superscription of the title on the very front of the door post, whereas it is known whose house it is, one may enter with greater security. Now I remember that I have often said that blessed Job, both by his course of suffering and his name, marked out the sufferings of our Redeemer, and of His Body, i. e. Holy Church. For Job' is by interpretation Grieving.' And who else is represented in this grieving one saving He, concerning Whom it is Is.53,4. written, Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Concerning Whom again it is written, And with His bruise we are healed? But his friends bear the likeness of heretics, who, as we have often said already, while they set themselves to defend, only offend God. Thus let the holy man by words and wounds so tell things of his own as at the same time to set forth ours also, and most often, by the spirit of prophecy, relate things to come, surmount things present, yet sometimes so tell of those present as to be silent touching those future. The keeping then of this exercise of discernment being understood in accordance with the altering of his voice, let our understanding likewise turn about, that it may agree the more truly with his ideas in proportion as it also shifts itself with his accents. Thus by the preceding words the holy man, in sentences eloquently formed by the

ib. 5.

The wicked how forgotten of God, and how remembered. 279

XVII.

art of wisdom, set forth the offences of the bad man of Book whatever kind, and represented how damnable his conduct LIT. was, of whose punishment he directly adds, saying,

Let him not be in remembrance; let him be crushed like

an unfruitful stump.

to

MORAL.

2. For he is not brought back into the remembrance' of ii. his Creator, whosoever to the very end of his life is in subjection to evil habits. Since if the recollection of the regard from Above did make itself felt on such an one, assuredly it would recall him from his wickedness. For his deserts require that he should be utterly blotted out from his Maker's remembrance. But it is to be borne in mind that God can never strictly be said to remember;' for One Who cannot forget, in what way is it possible for Him to remember? But whereas it is our way that those whom we remember we embrace, but those whom we forget we part far from, after the usage of man God is both said remember,' when He bestows gifts, and to forget, when He forsakes one in guilt. But because He weighs all things, views all without any alternating of intermission, He both remembers the good, whom still He never forgets, and no wise remembers the bad, whom nevertheless in judgment He does ever behold. For He as it were returns to the recollection of the good, which same nevertheless He never quitted, and as it were He never regards the bad, whose deeds howsoever He has an eye on, but reserves for the last scene the judgment of condemnation thereupon. For hence it is written, The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Prov.15, beholding the evil and the good. Hence it is said by the Psalmist, The face of the Lord is upon them that do evil, to Ps. 34, cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. Therefore the persons for Him to punish He does regard, but those very persons before He did not see, in that He knows them not.' For He shall say to some at the end, I know you not whence Luke13, ye are; depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Thus, in a 27. wonderful way, He both beholds and forgets the life of bad men, in that those whom by severity of sentence He judges, as regards the remembrance of mercy He is ignorant of.

3. And these same, because they do not come into His remembrance, like an unfruitful stump are broken to pieces

3.

16.

21.

MORAL.

10.

Luke 3,

9.

280 Fruitless tree broken. The Flesh barren, the soul widowed.

JOB 24, by His judgment. For the earth supported them with a temporal outfitting, the shower of preaching poured down on them from above. But because their life never put forth the fruit of good works, the husbandman in anger cut it clean away, that according to the sentence of Truth it might not cumber the space, which another may occupy for fruit. Of Matt. 3, which same unfruitful stump' it is said by John, And now also the axe is laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down, and cast into the fire. But in this place, in order that the eternal punishments of the lost sinner may be denoted, the tree is not said to be cut away, but to be broken to pieces, in that the death indeed of the flesh cuts off the reprobate, but the punishment ensuing breaks them in pieces. For here it is as it were cut down, when he is severed from the present life. But in hell it is broken in pieces, when he is tortured with everlasting damnation. But the holy man, as he set forth the strict punishment of the froward one, at once falls back to the sin, that by the immensity of the unjustness he may effectually teach that that excessive damnation of him was not unjust. It goes on;

iii.

Ver. 21. For he fed the barren and her that beareth not, and to the widow he did not do good.

4. Who is it in this place that is denominated' barren' saving the flesh, which while it goes after things present alone is not able to engender good thoughts? and who is styled a widow' but the soul, which same because the Maker was minded to unite to Himself, He came to the marriage chamber of the carnal womb, as the Psalmist Ps. 19,5. testifies, who saith, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber? And she is rightly called a widow,' in that her Husband underwent death in her behalf, and now in the retreats of heaven hidden from her eyes as in the tract of another region He lives. Thus the wicked man feeds the barren' and scorns to do good to the widow,' because in obeying the desires of the flesh, he makes little of the care of the soul and its life. For with the whole bent and with every effort he considers how without necessities of any kind the flesh which is to die may be made to hold on, and he is indifferent to concern himself for the life of the soul,