God permits justly, what man does wrongfully.

3

XI.

their hands. For if they are robbers, then they took by Book force, and there is no doubt that God is no abettor of those that use force. In what sense then does He Himself bestow what they that are robbers carry off by wicked means? We are to know then that what Almighty God in His mercy vouchsafes is one thing, and another thing what in His wrath He suffers men to have; for that which robbers do contrary to right the Equal Dispenser no otherwise than justly permits to be done by them, that both the man who is let to rob being blinded in mind may increase his guilt, and that he who suffers from his robbing, may now in the mischief thereof be chastised for some sin, which he had been guilty of before. For look, a man taking post in the pass of a mountain lies in wait for travellers passing by; now he that is taking his journey perchance has done some wickedness at one time or another, and Almighty God requiting him his evil-doing in the present life, and giving him into the hands. of the lier-in-wait, suffers him either to be spoiled of his goods, or even to be killed. And so what the robber unjustly aimed at, the same the Equitable Judge justly permitted to be done, that both the one might be repaid what he had done contrary to justice, and the other might one time or another receive the worse chastisement, by whose voluntary deed of atrocity Almighty God brought just vengeance for sin upon the head of another. He is cleansed that suffers the wrong: in the case of him that does the wrong guilt is accumulated; that either from the very depth of wickedness he may one day be brought back to repentance, or else be visited with eternal damnation, aggravated in proportion as he was borne with for long in his sin. With the first He deals in mercy that he may bring his sins to an end, with the other in severity that he may greatly add thereto, unless he betake himself to repentance; in the one evil deeds are wiped away while he suffers violence, in the other they are accumulated while he offers it. Therefore it is meet and right that Almighty God suffer that to be done which He forbids to be done, that by the very same act, whereby He now awaits and bears with the unconverted for long, He may one day smite them the worse. Therefore it is rightly said, The tabernacles of robbers are in plenty, and

7.8.9.

MORAL.

4 Bad men hold spiritual gifts as robbers, yet from God.

JOB 12, they provoke God with boldness; when He giveth all into their hand; for what the wicked take away, He does Himself give them, Who might have withstood them in their rapine, if He had been minded to pity them.

10.

iii.

I V. so

32.

4. Yet this may likewise be understood of spiritual things. For it very often happens that some have gifts of teaching vouchsafed them, yet they are swoln with the same, and have a desire to appear great by comparison with others. And to 'provoke' Almighty God is to be lifted up amongst our neighbours on the score of His gifts. Which same also are not unjustly called 'robbers,' in that whilst they speak what they never do, they take away the words of the righteous to serve the turn of their own speech. But because those very words heavenly Grace vouchsafes to some persons, whose lives notwithstanding it leaves in a course of wickedness, in themselves they are robbers;' but yet the good that is theirs they have gotten from above. It goes on;

Ver. 7,8. But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fouls of the air, and they shall tell thee. Or speak to the earth, and it shall answer thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.

5. What are we to understand by the beasts,' but men of slow parts; and what by the fowls of the air,' but those that are skilled in high and sublime truths? For of the beasts,' P. 68, i. e. the dull of sense, it is written; Thine animals1 shall dwell therein. And forasmuch as those, who have minds for sublime themes, soar among the words of the Redeemer, it is Mat. 13, written, So that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. And what by the earth,' saving men whose taste is for earthly things? Hence too it is said to the Gen. 3, first man on his forsaking the things of heaven, Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. What are we to understand by the fishes of the sea,' but the inquisitive ones Pя. 8, 8. of this world, concerning whom the Psalmist saith, The fish of the sea, that pass through the paths of the seas. Which same busy themselves in large researches into things, as it were in undiscoverable floods. Now what all these teach upon being so interrogated, he adds, saying,

19.

Ver. 9. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?

Every sort of creature bears witness to God.

5

XI.

iv.

6. As if he said in plain terms; 'Whether you ask the Book dull of understanding, or persons full of the loftiest subjects, or those devoted to earthly ways, or the men busied with investigations that belong to this world, all of them acknowledge God to be the Creator of all things, and with one consent agree about His Power, though they do not with one consent live in submission to it. For that which the righteous man speaks by his way of living too, that the unrighteous man generally is constrained to own concerning God by his voice alone, if not otherwise; and it comes to pass that evil-doers, by attesting Him, do homage to the Creator of all things, Whom by their deeds they rebel against, in that Him, Whom they have dared to fight against by their lives, they cannot deny to be the Creator of all things. Yet this same may also LIT. be understood to good purpose after the mere form of the letter alone; in that every creature, when it is looked at, as it were utters a voice of its own, bearing witness by that mere form which it has. We ask the beasts,' or 'the fowls of the air,'' the earth,' or the fish,' whilst we view them, and these answer us with one accord, that the Hand of the Lord hath wrought all things,' in that whilst they present their lineaments to our eyes, they bear witness that they are not from themselves. For by the mere circumstance that they are created, by the figure they present, they render as it were the voice of confession to their Creator, Who, as He created all things, likewise ordained how they should be conducted. Hence it is added,

Ver. 10. In Whose Hand is the soul of every living thing, and the spirit of all flesh of man.

7. For by the Hand' Power is denoted. Thus the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind,' is in the Power of Him, from Whom it has its being, that He Himself should appoint in what condition it should be, Who vouchsafed that to be, which was not. But by the soul of every living thing' may be denoted the life of beasts. Now Almighty God quickens the soul of beasts to the extent of the corporeal senses, but man's spirit He draws out to a spiritual understanding; and thus in His Hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all flesh of men,' in that both in the one, He bestows this power on the soul that it should

V.

6 Meanings of the word 'spirit. Many senses by one brain.

JOB 12, give life to the flesh, and in the other He quickens the soul 11. -to this degree, that it should attain to the understanding of

LIT.

John

19, 30.

spiri

tum,

Vulg.

eternity. But we are to bear in mind that in Holy Writ 'the spirit of man' is wont to be put in two ways. For sometimes the spirit' is put for the soul, sometimes for spiritual agency. Thus the spirit' is put for the soul, as it is written of our own Head Himself, And He bowed His Head, and gave up His Spirit'. For if the Evangelist had called any thing else the spirit' saving the soul, then surely upon that spirit departing, the soul would have remained. Moreover, the term 'spirit' is used for spiritual. agency, as Ps. 104, where it is written, Who maketh His Angels spirits, His Ministers a flaming fire. For Preachers are occasionally called 'Angels,' i. e. 'bearers of tidings,' in Holy Writ, as Mal. 2, where it is said by the Prophet, The priest's lips keep knowledge, and they seek the law from his mouth: for he is the 2V. An- Angel of the Lord of Hosts. Thus Almighty God' maketh gelus His Angels spirits,' in that He changeth His Preachers into spiritual men. But in this passage, if by the soul of every living thing,' the mere life of the body is denoted, by the spirit of all flesh of man,' there is set forth the agency of a spiritual understanding. It goes on;

4.

7.

vi.

Ver. 11. The ear trieth words, and the mouth of the eater

sarour.

8. There is scarce a person that is ignorant that the five senses of our body, viz. of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching, in all their operations of perceiving and discriminating derive the power of perception and discrimination from the brain. And whereas there is but one judge that presides within, viz. the percipient faculty of the brain, yet by their proper passages he keeps five senses distinct, God causing great marvels, so that neither the eye should hear, nor the ear see, the mouth take in scent, the nose taste, nor the hands smell; and whereas all things are determined by the one faculty of the brain, yet no one of the senses can do aught but what it received by the Creator's appointment. And so by these corporeal and external arrangements we are left to gather the interior and spiritual ones; so that by that which is open to the eye in us, we ought to pass on to the secret thing that is in us, and escapes our eyes. For we are

One Wisdom gives various powers.

Hearing is not tasting. 7

XI.

to observe, that whereas there is one Wisdom, it dwells in Book one man less, in another more. To one it gives this function, to another that; and in the manner of the brain, it uses ourselves like so many senses, that though in itself it bears no dissimilitude to itself, yet by us it is ever working different and dissimilar operations, so as for this man to receive the gift of wisdom, and that the gift of knowledge; one to have kinds of tongues, and another the grace of healing.

litus

9. But in these words wherein blessed Job saith, The ear trieth words, and the mouth of the eater savour, he seems likewise to imply something about the Elect and the damned; for the words of wisdom, which the children of perdition hear, the Elect not only hear but taste too, that that should have a savour for them in the heart, which conveys no sound to the minds of the damned, but only to their ears. For it is one thing to hear food named only, and another thing to taste of it also; then the Elect so hear of the meat of wisdom, that they taste of it, in that what they hear is full of relish to them in their very marrow1 from love; but the knowledge of1 medulthe reprobate extends only to the cognizance of the sound, so that they hear indeed of virtues, but yet from coldness of heart they know nothing what a relish they have. By which same words blessed Job condemns the inexperience of his friends, and the presumption of all that are puffed up for their learning in wisdom, in that it is one thing to know somewhat concerning God, and another to taste with the mouth of understanding the thing that is known. Therefore it is well said, Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth of the eater savour? As if it were said to the presumptuous in plain words, 'The words of instruction, which came to you only so far as to the ear, to me touch the mouth of understanding likewise in the inward savour.' But because a weak age, even when it hath a right sense, should not spring forth with incautious haste to preach, it is rightly added;

Ver. 12. With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding.

10. For these sayings are set fast in the root of wisdom, vii. which by continuance in living, are also made strong by the practice of deeds. But because there are many to whom at

'Fauces,' which means the part of the mouth toward the throat.