IX.

Man cannot answer God in ' one of a thousand.' 495 himself with the Author of all good things, bereaves himself Book of the good which he had received. For he that ascribes to himself blessings vouchsafed to him, is fighting against God with His own gifts. Therefore by whatsoever means he being in contempt is lifted up, it is meet that being so set up he be brought to the ground by the same. he sees that all the worth of our goodness is evil if it be strictly accounted of by the Judge of the interior, the holy man rightly subjoins;

Now because

Ver. 3. If thou wilt contend with Him, thou shalt not be able to answer Him one of a thousand.

3. In Holy Scripture, the number a thousand is wont to be iii. taken for totality. Hence the Psalmist saith, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations; when it is sufficiently plain that from the very beginning of the world up to the coming of our Lord no more than seventy-seven generations are reckoned up by the Evangelist. What then is represented in the number a thousand, save, until the bringing forth of the new offspring, the complete whole of the race foreseen. Hence it is said by John, And shall Rev. 20, reign with Him a thousand years; for that the reign of 6. Holy Church is made complete by being perfected in entire

Now forasmuch as a unit being multiplied is brought to ten, and ten being taken into itself is expanded to one hundred, which again being multiplied by ten is extended to a thousand, since we set out with one to get to one thousand, what is here denoted by the designation of ' one' but the commencement of good living? what by the fulness of the number ' a thousand,' but the perfection of that good life? Now to contend with God is not to ascribe to Him but to take to one's self the glory of one's goodness. But let the holy man consider that the man who has already received even the chiefest gifts, if he is lifted up for what has been vouchsafed him, parts with all that he had *received, and let him say, If he will contend with Him, he cannot answer Him one of a thousand. For he, that 'contends' with his Maker, is unable to ' answer Him one of a thousand,' in that the man that sets himself up on the score of perfection, proves that he lacks the very beginning of good living. For we cannot' answer Him one of a thousand,'

1.

LIT.

496

Awe due to God's Wisdom and Might.

JOB 9, since when we are lifted up for perfection of good life, we shew that we have not so much as begun this. Now we are then more really moved by our weakness, when by reflection, we are led to form an estimate how infinite is the power of the Judge.

iv.

v.

Ver. 4. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength.

For

4. What wonder is it, if we call the Maker of the wise, 'wise,' Whom we know to be Wisdom itself? and what wonder is it that he describes Him to be 'mighty,' Whom there is none that doth not know to be this very Mightiness itself? But the holy man, by the two words set forth in praise of the Creator, conveys a meaning to us, whereby to recall us in trembling to the knowledge of ourselves. God is called 'wise,' in that He exactly knows our secret hearts, and it is added that He is 'mighty,' in that He smites them forcibly, so known. And so He can neither be deceived by us, because He is wise, nor be escaped, because He is strong. Now, as wise, He beholds all things, Himself unseen, then, as strong, without let or hindrance, He punishes those whom He condemns. Who ordains this likewise here with mightiness of wisdom, that when the human mind exalts itself against the Creator, it should confound itself by that very self-exaltation. And hence it is added,

Who hath resisted Him, and had peace?

5. For He that creates all things marvellously, Himself regulates them, that after having been created, they should agree with themselves; and thus whereinsoever there is resistance made to the Creator, that agreement in peace is broken up, in that those things can never be well regulated, which lose the management of regulation above. For whatsoever things if subjected to God might have continued at peace, being left to themselves by their own act work their own confusion, in that they do not find in themselves that peace, which coming from above they contend against in the Creator. Thus that highest Angelical Spirit, who being in sub jection to God might have stood at the height, being banished, has to bear the burthen of himself, in that he roams abroad in disquietude in his own nature. Thus the first parent of the human race, in that he went against the precept of his Creator, was thereupon exposed to the insolence of the flesh,

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No peace to opposers of God. Instance of the Jews. 497

IX.

and because he would not be subject to His Maker in Book obedience, being laid low beneath himself, even the peace of the body was forthwith lost to him. Thus it is well said, Who hath resisted Him, and had peace? In that by the same act, whereby the froward mind lifts itself against its Maker, it works its own confusion in itself. Now we are said to resist God, when we try to oppose His dispensations. Not that our frailty does resist His unchangeable decree, but what it has not the power to accomplish, it yet attempts. For often human weakness knows in secret the power of His dispensation, and yet aims, if it might be able, to reverse it. It sets to work to resist, but shivers itself to pieces by the very sword of its opposition. It struggles against the interior disposition of things, but, being overcome by its own efforts, is bound fast. Therefore to have peace whilst resisting can never be; for whereas confusion follows after pride, that which is foolishly done in sin is marvellously disposed to the punishment of the doer; but the holy Man, being filled with the influence of the Spirit of prophecy, while he regards in general the confounding of human pride, thereupon directs the eyes of the mind to the special fate of the Jewish people, and shews by the ruin of a single people the punishment that awaits all that are listed up. For he immediately adds in these words,

Ver. 5. Which removed the mountains, and they knew not whom He overturned in His anger.

6. Oftentimes in Holy Writ by the title of 'mountains,' ALLEG. the loftiness of Preachers is set forth. Of whom it is said by vi. the Psalmist, The mountains shall receive peace for Thy Ps.72,3. people. For the Elect Preachers of the eternal Land are not unjustly called 'mountains,' in that by the loftiness of their lives they leave the low bottoms of earthly regions, and are brought near to heaven. Now 'Truth' ' removed the mountains' when He withdrew the holy Preachers from the stubbornness of Judæa. Whence too it is rightly said by the Psalmist, The mountains shall be carried into the heart of the sea. Ps.46,2. For 'the mountains were removed into the heart of the sea,' when the Apostles in their preaching, thrust off by the faithlessness of Judæa, came to the understanding of the Gentiles. Hence they themselves say in their Acts, It was Acts 13,

6.7.

ALLEG.

498 'Mountains' removed from Judæa and her ' pillars' shaken.

JOB 9, necessary that the word should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Now this same 'removing of the mountains' they themselves 'knew nothing of, who were overthrown in the wrath of the Lord;' for when the Hebrew people drove the Apostles from their coasts, they supposed that they had made gain, in that they had parted with the light of preaching, since as their deserts demanded, being struck with a just visitation, they were blinded by so great a delusion of the understanding, that their losing the light they accounted to be joy; but upon the rejection of the Apostles, Judæa is at once brought to destruction by the hands of the Roman Emperor Titus, and she is dispersed and scattered abroad among all nations. And hence it is rightly added to the removing of the mountains,

vii.

viii.

Ver. 6. Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof shall tremble.

7. For 'the earth was shaken out of her place,' when the Israelitish people, rooted out of the borders of Judæa, submitted the neck to the Gentiles, because she would not be subjected to the Creator. Which same earth had pillars, in that the erection of her stubbornness, which was to be destroyed, rose upon the Priests and Rulers, the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. For in these she held in her the edifice of the letter, and in her season of peace, carried the burthen of carnal sacrifices like a fabric overlaid. But when 'the mountains were removed, the 'pillars were shaken,' in that when the Apostles were withdrawn from Judæa, they were no more themselves allowed to live therein, who drove out from thence the proclaimers of life. For it was meet that they being brought into subjection should lose that earthly country, for the love of which they had not been afraid to assail the soldiers of the heavenly country. But upon the holy Teachers being drawn out, Judæa waxed altogether gross, and by the righteous inquest of Him That judgeth, she shut the eyes of the mind in the darkness of her delusion. Hence it is yet further continued;

Ver. 7. Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and shutteth up the stars as under a seal.

8. Now sometimes in Holy Writ by the title of 'sun,' we

Sun hidden and stars sealed up from those who reject Truth. 499 have the brightness of the Preachers represented, as it is Boox said by John, And the sun became black as sackcloth of Rev. 6,

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3.

IX.

hair. For at the end of time the sun is exhibited 'like 12. sackcloth of hair,' in that the shining life of them that preach is set forth before the eyes of the lost as hard and contemptible. And they are represented by the brightness of stars also, in that whilst they preach right doctrines to sinners, they enlighten the darkness of our night. And hence upon the removal of the Preachers it is said by the Prophet, The Jer. 3, stars of the rain are withholden. Now whereas the sun shines in the day time, the stars illumine the shades of night. And very often in Holy Writ by the designation of day is denoted the eternal Country, and by the name of night, the present life. Holy preachers become like the sun to our eyes, inasmuch as they open to us the view of the true light; and they shine like stars in the dark, when for the purpose of helping our necessities they manage earthly things in an active life. They, as it were, shine as the sun in the day, whilst they raise the eye of our mind to contemplate the land of interior brightness, and they glitter like stars in the night, in that even whilst they are engaged in earthly action, they guide the foot of our practice, every moment on the point of stumbling, by the example of their own uprightness. But because when the Preachers were driven out, there was none who might either shew the brightness of contemplation, or disclose the light of an active life to the Jewish people continuing in the night of their unbelief, (for the Truth, which being cast off abandoned them, when the light of preaching was removed, blinded them in reward of their wickedness,) it is rightly said, Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not, and shutteth up the stars as under a seal. For He would not let the sun rise to that people, from whom He turned away the heart of the Preachers, and He 'shut up the stars as under a seal,' in that while He kept His Preachers to themselves in silence, He hid the heavenly light from the darkened perceptions of the wicked.