THE SECOND PART.

i.

MYST.

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.

SAVING the historical verity, I proposed to myself to make out the sayings of blessed Job and of his friends by the mystical mode of interpretation: for it is plain to all that are acquainted with the truth, that Holy Writ takes care to hold out in promise the Redeemer of the world in all its statements, and that it has aimed to represent Him by all the Elect as by His members. And hence blessed Job is in the Latin tongue rendered grieving,' that both by his name and by his wounds the Passion of our Redeemer might be sigIs. 53,4. nified, of Whom the Prophet saith, Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. And the Tempter, having robbed him of every thing, slew both his servants and his children; in that at the time of His Passion he smote with the weapon of faithlessness not only the Jewish people, that served Him out of fear, but the very Apostles also themselves, that were regenerated in His love. The body of blessed Job is mangled with wounding, for our Redeemer does not disdain to be pierced with nails upon the stock of the Cross. And he received wounds, from the sole of the foot to the very crown of his head, in that not only in her last and lowest members, but even up to the very highest, Holy Church, which is His Body, is harassed with persecuCol. 1, tion by the raging Tempter. Hence also Paul said, And fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ. And his wife strives to persuade him to curse, in that all the carnal minds within the pale of Holy Church prove abettors

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Job's friends spoke truth, but not of his case.

VI.

313 of the cunning Tempter. For she, who prompts him to Book cursing, represents the life of the carnal sort; since, as we have already said above, all persons of unchastened habits within the pale of Holy Church, in proportion as they are brought nigh to the good by their faith, pinch them harder by their life. For because they cannot be avoided, as being of the number of the faithful, they are borne by the faithful as the greater harm, in proportion' as it is nearer home.1 see p. But his friends, who come as if to administer consolation, but run out into words of bitter upbraiding, bear the likeness of heretics, who, in striving to defend God against the righteous, only offend Him.

27.

2. These things then, which have been more fully delivered above, I have endeavoured to gather into a small compass after their mystical representation, that by this very repetition it might be recalled to the recollection of my reader, that I minister to the spiritual understanding. And yet, when occasion of usefulness demands, I also busy myself to make out with minute exactness the letter of the history, but when it is needed I embrace both at the same time, that the allegory may put forth spiritual fruit, which same nevertheless is produced by the historical verity as from the root. Now the friends of blessed Job, who, we have said, bear the likeness of heretics, we by no means condemn for their words throughout; for whereas it is delivered against them by the sentence from above, For ye have not spoken before Job 42, Me the thing that is right; and it is thereupon added, Like7. My servant Job; it is plainly manifest that that is not altogether set at nought, which is only disapproved by comparison with what is better. For they incautiously slip into censure of him, but yet, as they are the friends of so great a man, from familiar intercourse with him they learnt many mystical truths. Whence, as we have also said above, Paul uses their very words, and by taking these in aid of his statement, he testifies that they were delivered from a source of truth. Which same nevertheless Truth does rightly censure, in that no sentence, however full of force, should be delivered against a holy man. Accordingly the words of Eliphaz may be considered in a mystical sense, whereby he addresses blessed Job, saying,

JOB 5, 4. 5.

MYST.

so V.

314

The Foolish' here may mean the Jews.

Ver. 3. I have seen the foolish taking root; but suddenly I cursed his 'beauty.

3. For the Jewish people shewed itself to be foolish,' ii. in that it slightly regarded the very Presence of Eternal Wisdom in the flesh. And it waxed strong, as it were, by taking root, in that it had power over the life of the Elect to the extinction thereof in time. And Eliphaz despises such an one, cursing him, in that all heretics, whom we have said the friends of blessed Job bear a figure of, while they boast themselves in the name of Christ, censure in a way of authority the unbelief of the Jews. Concerning which same foolish one it is forthwith added,

23, 15.

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Ver. 4. His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither shall there be any to deliver them. 4. They all are the children' of this foolish man, who are generated by the preaching of that unbelief, and these are far from safety,' for though they enjoy the temporal life without trouble, they are stricken the worse with eternal vengeance, as the Lord says concerning these same sons Matt. of such an one, Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. It follows, And they are crushed in the gate, neither shall there be any to deliver them. Who else is to be understood by the name of gate, but the Mediator between God and Man, Who saith, I am the door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. The sons, then, of this foolish man advance without the gate, and they are 'crushed in the gate,' for the evil offspring of the Jews, before the Mediator's coming, prospered in the observance of the Law, but in the presence of our Redeemer itself they fell away from the service of the Divine Being, proving outcasts by the deserts of their faithlessness. And verily there is none to rescue them,' for while they strive by their persecution to kill the Redeemer Himself, they cut themselves off from the proffered means of their rescue.

John

10, 9.

iv.

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is well added concerning him,

And it

Ver. 5. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and the armed one shall scize him.

5. Now the harvest' of this foolish man was the crop of

VI.

God's gifts, when not improved by us, pass to others. 315 Sacred Writ. For the words of the Prophets are like so Book many grains of the ears, which the foolish man had, but did not eat. For the Jewish people indeed held the Law as far as the letter, but, from an infatuated pride, as to the sense thereof, they went hungering. But the hungry eateth the harvest' of this foolish one, in that the Gentile folk eats by taking in the words of the Law, in which the Jewish people toiled and laboured without taking them in. These hungry ones of faith the Lord foresaw, when He had said by the Evangelist, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Matt. 5, righteousness, for they shall be filled. Of these hungry ones Hannah saith prophesying, They that were full, have hired out 1 Sam. themselves for bread, and they that were hungry were satis-2, 5. fied. And as he lost the harvest, it is rightly added how

6.

the foolish man himself too perishes, where it is said, And himself shall the armed one seize. The old enemy, being armed,' seized the Jewish people, for he extinguished in them the life of faith by the darts of deceitful counsel, that in the very point, wherein they imagined themselves to be rooted in God, they might resist His dispensation. And Truth forewarns the Disciples of this, saying, Yea, the time John cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth 16, 2. God service. It follows.

And the thirsty shall drink his riches.

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6. The riches of this foolish' one' the thirsty drink,' in V. that by the streams of Sacred Writ, which the Jewish people possessed in the display of pride, the converted minds of the Gentiles are watered. And hence it is said to those same persons by the Prophet, Ho, every one that thirsteth, come Isaiah ye to the waters; and he that hath no silver, come ye. For 55, 1. that the divine oracles are denoted by the word 'silver,' is testified by the Psalmist in these words, The words of the Ps. 12, Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the fire. They then that have no silver,' are bidden to the waters,' in that the Gentile world which had never received the precepts of Holy Writ, is satisfied with the outpouring of Divine Revelation, which they now drink of the more eagerly, in proportion as they thirsted for it long time in a state of drought. Thus the very same Divine oracles are called at once' harvests' and 'riches;' harvests,' because they refresh the hun

6.

316 Holy Writ supplies both strong meat and easy drink.

3. of moral excellences.

MYST. be eaten,' and to be

JOB 5, gering soul; ' riches,' because they array us in a rare richness The same things are said both to drunk,' for this reason, that whereas . there are certain things therein that are obscure, which we understand not without they be interpreted, these same we in a manner swallow eating; and whereas certain other things indeed, that are easy to be understood, we so take as we find them, these we drink as if unchewed, in that we swallow them unbroken. These things we have run through in brief mode under their mystical signification, lest perchance we might seem to have passed over any thing; but because they could not be the friends of blessed Job, except in some points they also shone conspicuous for high moral worth, it remains that in their words we examine the force of their import in a moral sense, that, whilst the weight and substance of their speech is made out, it may be shewn what sort of teaching they were masters of.

MORAL. vi.

Ver. 3. I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his beauty.

7. The foolish' is as it were made fast in the earth by taking root,' in that he is fixed in the love of earth with all his heart's desire. And hence Cain is recorded to have been the first that builded a city in the earth, that it might be plainly shewn, that that same man laid a foundation in the earth, who was turned adrift from the firm hold of our heavenly country. The foolish man as it were lifts himself up by taking root,' when he is buoyed up in this world with temporal good fortune, so that he obtains whatsoever he desires, is subject to no crosses, prevails against the weak without meeting with resistance, gainsays those that do well with authority, is ever attaining to better circumstances by means of worse practices, so that from the very cause that he is forsaking the path of life, he lives for the time the happier. But when the weak see that the wicked flourish, they are alarmed, and being troubled in their own breasts by the prosperity of sinners, they inwardly falter in the mind's footsteps. It was the likeness of these same that the Psalmist took when he Ps. 73, declared, But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped; for I was envious at the sinners. when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

2.3.