Death in original sin could not be wished for.

PREF. of original sin? He yet further adds with whom he might Job 3, have rested, saying, With kings and counsellors of the earth Vulg, which built desolate places for themselves. Who does not solitu- know that the kings and counsellors of the earth are herein

14.

dines

far removed from ' solitude,' that they are close pressed with innumerable throngs of followers? and with what difficulty do they advance to rest, who are bound in with the tightened knots of such multifarious concerns! As Scripture witnesses, where it says, But mighty men shall be mightily tormented. Wisd. Hence Truth utters these words in the Gospel; unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. He 12, 48. implies besides, whom he would have had as fellows in that Some imprecations in Holy Writ figuralive.

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rest, in the words, Or with princes that had gold, that filled Book their houses with silver. It is a rare thing for them that have gold to advance to rest, seeing that Truth saith by Itself, They that have riches shall hardly enter into the kingdom Matt. of heaven. For what joys in the other life can they look 19, 23. for, who here pant after increase of riches? Yet that our 10, 23. Redeemer might further shew this event to be most rare, and only possible by the supernatural agency of God, He saith, With men this is impossible; but with God all things Matt. are possible. Therefore because these words are, on the surface, at variance with reason, the letter itself thereby points out, that in those words the Saint delivers nothing after the letter. But if we shall first examine the nature of other curses in Av. Holy Writ, we may the more perfectly trace out the import of this one, which was uttered by the mouth of blessed Job. For how is it that David, who to those that rewarded him evil, returned it not again, upon Saul and Jonathan falling in war, curses the mountains of Gilboa in the following words, Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither 2 Sam. let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings; for there', 21. the shield of Saul is vilely cast away, as though he had not been anointed with oil? How is it that Jeremiah, seeing that his preaching was hindered by the hardness of his hearers, utters a curse, saying, Cursed be the man, who brought Jer. 20, tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee? What then did the mountains of Gilboa offend when Saul died, that neither dew nor rain should fall on them, and that the words of his sentence against them should make them barren of all produce of verdure? Why, forasmuch as Gilboa is by interpretation 'running down,' while by Saul's anointing and dying, the death of our Mediator is set forth, by the mountains of Gilboa we have no unfit representation of the uplifted hearts of the Jews, who, while they let themselves run down in the pursuit of the desires of this world, were mingled together in the death of Christ, i. e. of ' the Anointed.' And because in them the anointed King dies the death of the body, they too are left dry of all the dew of grace; of whom also it is well said, that they cannot be fields of first fruits. Because the high minds of the Hebrews bear no ' first fruits;' in that at the coming of our Redeemer, persisting

182 Our sinning is a birth of children to the world.

PREF. for the most part in unfaithfulness, they would not follow the first beginnings of the faith; for Holy Church, which for her first fruits was enriched with the multitude of the Gentiles, scarcely at the end of the world will receive into her bosom the Jews, whom she may find, and gathering none but the last, will put them as the remnant of her fruits.

22.

Is. 10, Of which very remnant Isaiah hath these words, For though thy people Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return. However, the mountains of Gilboa may for this reason be cursed by the Prophet's mouth, that whilst, the land being dried up, no fruit is produced, the possessors of the land might be stricken with the woe of that barrenness, so that they might themselves receive the sentence of the curse, who had obtained as the just reward of their iniquities to have the death of the King take place among them. But how is it that, from the lips of the Prophet, that man received the sentence of cursing, who brought to his father the tidings of his birth? Doubtless this is so much the more full of deeper mystery within, as it lacks human reason without. For perchance, if it had sounded at all reasonable without, we should never have been kindled to the pursuit of the interior meaning; and thus he the more fully implies something within, that he shews nothing that is reasonable without. For though the Prophet had come into this world from his mother's womb to be the subject of affliction, in what did the messenger of his birth do wrong? But what does the person of the Prophet represent 'carried 1 fluctu- hither and thither', except the mutability of man, which came by the dues of punishment, is thereby signified? and what is expressed by his 'father' but this world whereof we are born? And who is that man, who' brings tidings of our birth to our father,' saving our old enemy, who, when he views us fluctuating in our thoughts, prompts the evilminded, who by virtue of this world's authority have the preeminence, to persuading us to our undoing, and who, when he has beheld us doing

antis

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a favori-acts of weakness, commends these with applause as brave, and tells as it were of male children being born, when he gives joy that we have turned out corrupters of the truth by lying? He gives tidings to the father that a man child is born, when he shews the world him, whom he has prevailed with, turned

IV.

Job's 'opening his mouth. He cursed not from passion. 183 into a corrupter of innocence. For when it is said to any Book one committing a sin or acting proudly, 'Thou hast acted like a man,' what else is this than that a man child is told of in the world? Justly then is the inan cursed, who brings tidings of the birth of a man child; because his tidings betoken the damnable joy of our corrupter. Thus by these imprecations of Holy Scripture we learn what, in the case of blessed Job, we are to look for in his words of imprecation, lest he, whom God rewards after these wounds and these words, should be presumptuously condemned by the mistaken reader for his words. As then we have in some sort cleared the points, which were to be the objects of our enquiry in the preface, let us now proceed to discuss and to follow on the words of the historical form.

Ver. 1, 2, 3. After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day. And Job spake, and said, Let the day perish wherein I was born.

1. That which is here said, He opened his mouth, must not i. be gone into negligently. For by the things which Holy Scripture premises but slightly, we are apprised that what comes after is to be expected with reverence. For as we know nothing what vessels that are closed contain inside, but when the mouth of the vessels is opened, we discover what is contained within; so the hearts of the Saints, which so long as their mouth is closed are hidden, when their mouth is opened, are disclosed to view. And when they disclose their thoughts, they are said to open their mouth, that with the full bent of our mind we may hasten to find out, as in vessels that are set open, what it is that they contain, and to refresh ourselves with their inmost fragrance. And hence when the Lord was about to utter His sublime precepts on the Mount, the words precede, And He opened Matt. 5, His mouth, and taught them; though in that place this too should be taken as the meaning, that He then opened His own mouth in delivering precepts, wherein He had long while opened the mouths of the Prophets. But it requires very great nicety in considering the expression, After this, namely, in order that the excellence of all that is done may be perceived in its true light by the time. For first we have de

2.

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Cursing is either malicious or judicial. JOB 3, scribed the wasting of his substance, the destruction of his 1-3 children, the pain of his wounds, the persuasions of his wife,

HIST.

21.

the coming of his friends, who are related to have rent their garments, to have shed tears with loud cries, to have sprinkled their heads with dust, and to have sat upon the ground for long in silence, and afterwards it is added, After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day; clearly that from the very order of the account, duly weighed, it might be concluded that he could never have uttered a curse in a spirit of impatience, who broke forth into a voice of cursing whilst his friends were as yet silent. For if he had cursed under the influence of passion, doubtless upon hearing of the loss of his substance, and upon hearing the death of his

sons, his grief would have prompted him to curse. But what Job 1, he then said, we have heard before. For he said, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Again, if he had cursed under the impulse of passion, he might well have uttered a curse when he was stricken in his body, or when

10.

he was mischievously advised by his wife. But what answer

Job 2, he then gave we have already learnt; for he says, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? But after this it is set forth that his friends arrive, shed tears, seat themselves, keep silence, whereupon this is immediately subjoined, that he is said to have cursed his day. It is, then, too great an inconsistency to imagine that it was from impatience that he broke out into a voice of cursing, no man setting him on, no man driving him thereto, when we know that amidst the loss of all his goods, and the death of his children, amidst bodily afflictions, the evil counsels of his wife, he only gave great acknowledgments to his Creator with a humble mind. It is plain, then, with what feelings he spoke this when he was at rest, who even when stricken uttered such a strain of praise to God. For afterwards, when no longer stricken, he could not be guilty of pride, whom even his pain under the rod only shewed to be | full of humility. But as we know for certain that holy Scripture forbids cursing, how can we say that that is sometimes done aright, which yet we know to be forbidden by the same Holy Writ?

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