ho

vho

le in correcting Congue falter,

He did not aughty words

ze it is said of ty, not as the singular and cause He had ossessed that estowed in us

We come to all to mind infirmities y brethren

as some of

ch, though

ger:

that

cater for s in the

neither

we are

ince be

ts very

alities

e not

God

ssess

the

tien

Feigned humility. Assumed simplicity.

23

to all my words. Behold I have opened my mouth, let my BOOK
tongue speak in my throat.

26. To speak in the throat is to speak softly, and not to
vociferate loudly. In which words he designates haughty
men living within holy Church. For these are said to speak
as if in the throat, when they do not clamour against the
adversaries who are without, but reprove some within the
bosom of holy Church, as if they were neighbours and
placed near them. But haughty men often make a show of
avoiding that very pride, which they entertain; and while
they do all things so as not to escape the notice of any one,
they privately mention them to particular persons, in order
that they may boast not merely of their sense of wisdom,
but also of their contempt of arrogance before men. Whence
it is now said, Let my tongue speak in my throat. As if it
were plainly said, Behold, I whisper that which I think
wisely against thee. But they sometimes break out into such
a height of impudence, as, when others are silent, to be
accustomed to praise their own sayings. Whence he
subjoins,

Ver. 3. My words are from my simple heart, and my lips
shall speak a pure sentence.

27. To say that speech is simple, is a praise of great xiv.
weight. But because the haughty possess it not, they assert
the more anxiously that they possess it, in order that they
may be heard with less apprehension. And they declare
that they are going to speak with pure intention, because
they are afraid of their wicked duplicity being discovered. But
they often also blend together truth and falsehood, that their
falsehood may be the more speedily believed, from its being
discerned that they speak the truth. Because then Eliu
both said that he would speak with pure intention, and by
calling his words' sentences' ushered them in with applause,
he subjoins the same 'sentence' which he promised, saying,
Ver. 4. The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath
of the Almighty hath given me life.

28. Intending to subjoin truth, he first uttered boastful
words, and being about to state the sound opinions he held,
he first made known how huge was his swelling. The minds

XV.

XXIII.

16.

18.

12.

3.

24

Good words out of season defile the speaker.

Jos 33, of the arrogant are doubtless so very mad, that even in what they think rightly, they are disfigured by the deformity of their pride. And hence even their sound opinions do not instruct their hearers, because in truth they lead them by their haughty sentiments not to reverence but to despise them. And when words of folly are blended with wise sayings, even their wisdom is not kept in mind, because their folly is despised by him who hears it. For hence it is said Lev. 15, by Moses, A man who suffers a running of seed shall be unclean. For what are our words but seed? And when this is poured forth in due measure, the mind of the hearer, as the womb of her who conceives, is made fruitful for an offspring of good works. But if it escapes at improper times, pollut ing him that emits it, it loses its generating power. For if words were not seed, the Athenians would never have said of Acts 17, Paul, as he was preaching to them, What would this wordActs 14, sower1 say? of whom Luke says, He was the chief speaker. Seed, then, which is intended for the purpose of procreation, verbius. when it escapes in an improper manner, pollutes the other members: and speech also, by which learning ought to be implanted in the hearts of the hearers, if uttered out of due order, brings disgrace even on the truths it utters. And hence Eliu also pollutes even the truths he is able to entertain, when he is ignorant of what he is saying, or to whom he is saying it, and suffers, as it were, discharge of seed, when he employs his tongue, which is fitted to answer useful purpose, in words of empty sound. But he speaks in proper order of his being made, and receiving life. For he says, that he was made by the Spirit, and that he received life by the breath of God. For it is written of Adam when created, Gen. 2, He breathed into his face the breath of life, and man was made into a living soul. But let us listen whether he proceeds properly with what he has well laid down. Ver. 5. If thou canst, answer me, and stand before my It follows, face.

Isemini

7.

xvi.

29. Behold how in relating the true order of his creation, he suddenly bursts forth into the pride of haughty arrogance, and, in other words, repeats the same statement, by saying,

Ver. 6, 7. Behold, God made me as well as thee, and I am

eaker.

even in what
deformity of
nions do not

ad them by
to despise

th wise say
ecause their

e it is said
d shall be
when this
arer, as the

offspring
s, pollut

For il

e said of is tcond Speaker. reation,

Eliu promises wonders. St. Paul's gentleness. 25

XXIII.

also formed of the same clay; yet let not my wonder terrify BOOK thee, and my eloquence be burdensome to thee. What then is meant by Eliu acknowledging the order of his true creation, and not knowing the limits of proper speech? What by his putting himself on a level with Job when created, and setting himself above him when about to speak? What but this, that though haughty men remember that they are equal in nature to other men, yet that through the pride of knowledge they do not deign even to believe that they have even their equals: and that though they compare themselves with them, in the condition of their nature, they place themselves above them from pride in their wisdom. They decide that though they were made equal by birth, yet they have not continued so, in their way of life. And from their not being equal to them as it were in their way of life, they count it a greater marvel that they were equal to them when they were born. And hence Eliu says, when inflated with pride, Behold, God made me as well as thee, and I also was formed from the same clay; yet let not my wonder terrify thee, vor my eloquence be burdensome to thee. For it is peculiar to the arrogant, that they always believe, even before they speak, that they are going to say some wonderful thing, and that they anticipate their own words by their own admiration, because, with all their acuteness, they are not sensible how great a folly is their very pride. We must observe also that Paul, when he was giving the Hebrews some striking warnings, subjoined, I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of Heb.13, consolation, for I have written to you in few words. But Eliu uttered empty words, and afterwards added, as if for consolation, Let not my wonder terrify thee, nor my eloquence be burdensome to thee. The one called his sayings the word of consolation, the other called them eloquence, and a marvel. Behold, how different in taste are the fruits which spring forth from diverse roots of thought. The one thinks humbly of his high qualities, the other exalts himself without reason on his scanty endowments. What then is specially to be observed in all this, but that those who are about to rise, think themselves low, and that they who are soon to fall,

of due

And

enter

hom

when

Oper

The text seems scarcely grammatical, but the sense cannot be far from what is given.

22.

26 Job was right in saying he was scourged without fault.

JOB 33, ever stand on high ground? As Solomon bears witness, 8-12. The heart is exalled before destruction, and is brought low 16, 18. before honour. It follows,

Prov.

6.

xvi.

Ver. 8. Thou hast spoken then in mine ears, and I have heard the voice of thy words. And subjoining the very words, he says,

Ver. 9-11. I am clean, and without spot of sin, and there is no iniquity in me, because He hath found complaints in me, therefore He hath counted me as His enemy, He hath placed my feet in the stocks, He hath guarded all my ways. And in answer to these words which he said blessed Job had spoken, he immediately states his own opinion, saying,

Ver. 12. This is the thing then in which thou art not justified.

30. Blessed Job had indeed truly said, that he had been Job 27, scourged without any fault. For he said of himself exactly Job 2,3. what the Lord had said of him to the devil, Thou hast moved Me against him to afflict him without cause. But Eliu did not believe, that his fault doing nothing in it, he could be scourged as a matter of grace. For he did not know that by his scourgings his fault was not corrected, but his merits increased, and because he had said that he had been scourged without any fault, he reproves him in these words, saying, This is the thing then in which thou art not justified. For it is the special fault of the arrogant, to be more eager to convict, than to console; and to consider that whatever sufferings they see befal men, have befallen them solely from their sins. They know not how to enquire deeply into the secret judg some ments of God', and humbly to investigate that which they Mss.add cannot understand: for while pride at their knowledge raises them on high, it frequently casts them down from the secret investigation of God's judgments.

'Dei.'

31. For suffering of mind is an impediment in the way of truth: because while it puffs us up, it obscures our view. For if these persons ever seem to acquire wisdom, they feed, as it were, on the husks of things, and not on the marrow of their inmost sweetness; and with their brilliant abilities, they frequently reach only to the outside of things, but know not the savour of their inward taste; for, in truth, though

had been exactl

t moved

Elu did

uld be that by meris urged This

Knowledge deeply felt does not puff up.

27

Nor do they BOOK

15.

tentia, sensu.

entia

sen

XXIII.

sharp-sighted outwardly, they are blind within.
form such a notion of God, as tastes secretly within, but
such as when thrown outward gives a sound. And though they
gain in their understanding a knowledge of some mysteries,
they can have no experience of their sweetness: and if they
know how they exist, yet they know not, as I said, how they
savour. And so it is frequently the case, that though they
speak boldly, yet they know not how to live up to what they
profess. Whence a certain wise man well said, May God Wisd. 7,
grant me to speak these things according to my sentence.
For sentence is derived from sense. And a man who wishes sen-
not merely to speak from outward knowledge, but to feel and
experience what he says, is anxious to give utterance to the
truths he holds, not as a matter of mere knowledge', but sci-
of real feeling". But the mind of haughty men does not,
penetrate the meaning of its own words; because by a righ- tentia
teous judgment it is driven away from the inward taste of
things, and is wrecked by that applause which it desires
from without. But real knowledge influences without elating;
and makes those whom it has filled, not proud, but sorrowful.
For when any one is filled therewith, he is in the first place
anxious to know himself: and conscious of his own state,
he acquires thereby a greater savour of strength, the more
truly sensible he is of his own weakness therein. And this
very humility opens to him more widely the pathway of
this knowledge, and when he beholds his own weakness, this
very knowledge opens to him the hidden recesses of sublime
secrets; and pressed down by this knowledge, he is made
more subtle to press forward into things hidden. Eliu then
does not in the scourgings of blessed Job discover their true
reason, because he knows not how to search for it with
humility and being more ready to reproach than to console,
he says, It is in this thing, then, that thou art not justified.

32. We must observe further, that blessed Job said that his Job13,2.
foot was placed in the stocks, but that he never said that he
was clean, in the way in which is objected to him, or free
from sin, or without spot, and iniquity. But Eliu, in his
desire to reprove austerely what has been said, falsely added
what had not been said. For they who are ever eager to
reprove and not to encourage, frequently state many false-