Jily sounds.

e mind. Fa
loyments, the
cerned. It's

manner, the
the tumult of
ood purpose.
him unusual
hts, when it
nd the roc
the secret
tuons cares

fully equ
for inward
d employ

become Egyptians Egypti

had fled

tian, and

from the

re it was

the more

outwari discen

ver the

arn the

ithout

33

XXIII.

God seen in quiet, and by images, as in a dream. secret recess of the mind. For the Lord is there consulted, BOOK and we hear inwardly and in silence, what we must do openly and without. This course wise rulers daily pursue; when they are aware that they cannot settle doubtful points, they betake themselves to the secret recesses of their mind, as if to a kind of tabernacle. By looking into the Divine Law, they consult the Lord, as it were before the Ark. And what they first hear in silence, they afterwards make known to the world in their conduct. For in order that they may engage in outward employments without injury to themselves, they constantly take care to withdraw to the secrets of their heart. And they thus hear the voice of God, as it were, in a dream, while they withdraw themselves in the thoughts of their mind from the influence of carnal things. Hence is it that, in the Song of Songs, the Bride who said, I sleep, and Solom. Song 5, my heart is awake, had heard the voice of the Bridegroom 2. in dreams. As if he were saying, While I give my outward senses rest from the anxieties of this world, I have a more lively perception of inward truths, when my mind is unemployed. I am asleep to outward things, but my heart is awake within, because, when I am insensible as it were to outward objects, I have a keen apprehension of inward

secrets.

39. Well then says Eliu, that God speaketh by a dream;
and fitly did he add, In a vision of the night. For a vision
of the night usually presents itself to the contemplation of
the mind under certain images. But we perceive objects
more plainly by daylight, we see less quickly in a vision of
the night. And because all holy men, as long as they are in
this life, behold the secrets of the Divine Nature only under
certain resemblances, (since they do not, as yet, gain a clearer
sight of them as they really are;) after Eliu had said that
God speaks to us in a dream, he rightly adds, in a vision of
the night. For night' is this present life, and as long as
we are in it, we are covered with a mist of uncertain imagin-
ations as far as the sight of inward objects is concerned.
For the Prophet was sensible that he was held by a certain
mist in his sight of the Lord, when he says, My soul longed Is.26,9.
for Thee in the night. As if he were to say, I long to behold
Thee in the obscurity of this present life, but I am still

16.

34 Teaching and discipline in the soul's inner chamber.

Jos 33, surrounded by the mist of infirmity. David also wishing to avoid the gloom of this life, and waiting for the brightness of Ps. 5,3. the true light, says, In the morning I will stand before Thee, and will see. He who longs for the approach of morning, in order to behold God, perceives that he can still see but imperfectly, in the night. But because, as we said, sleeping is ceasing from outward action, Eliu rightly adds, When sleep falls upon men. And because holy men, when unemployed in outward action, rest within the chambers of their mind, he fitly subjoins, and they sleep on their bed. For holy men to sleep in their bed, is for them to take rest in the chamber Ps. 149, of their mind. Whence it is written, The saints shall exult in glory, they shall rejoice in their beds. Let it be said then that God speaks once to us through a dream in a vision of the night, when sleep falls upon men, and they sleep in their bed. Because we then doubtless discern the secrets of the Godhead, when we withdraw ourselves into the chambers of our minds from the tumultuous desires of this world. But because, as we have already frequently said before, the turmoil of worldly business closes the ear, and the rest of secret contemplation opens it, he properly subjoins,

5.

xxi.

Ver. 16. Then He openeth the ears of men, and teaching, instructeth them with discipline.

40. For when they are dead to outward objects, they hear with open ears the causes which come before their inward judgment. And when they consider minutely with themselves either their open punishments, or their secret judg ments, they cease not to afflict themselves with tears. Whence it is well said, And teaching, He instructeth them with discipline, because to a mind which reflects and wounds itself with penitence, the sorrows of compunction are like the stripes of a blow. Whence Solomon also rightly uniting together the force of these kinds of Prov.20, blows, says, The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil, and blows in the secret parts of the belly. For by the blueness of a wound he implies the discipline of blows on the body. But blows in the secret parts of the belly are the wounds of the mind within, which are inflicted by compunction. For as the belly is distended when filled with food, so is the mind puffed up when swollen with wicked

30.

er chamber.

also wishing t
ne brightness
ad before The

of morning, is
still see bet
said, sleepe
s, When sleep
unemplore

f their min
For holy me
the chamber

s shall er be said ther

a risión d eep in the

crets of th

hambers

orld B

the r

t of secre

XXIII.

Joy in godly sorrow. Four thoughts to cause compunction. 35
thoughts. The blueness then of a wound, and blows in the Book
secret parts of the belly, cleanse away evil, because both
outward discipline does away with faults, and compunction
pierces the distended mind with the punishment of penance.
But they differ from each other in this respect, that the
wounds of blows give us pain, the sorrows of compunction
have good savour. The one afflict and torture, the others
restore, when they afflict us. Through the one there is sorrow
in affliction, through the other there is joy in grief. But
because the very act of compunction wounds the mind, he
not unfitly calls it discipline.

41. For there are four modes in which the mind of a righ-
teous man is strongly affected by compunction: when he
either calls to mind his own sins, and considers WHERE HE
HATH BEEN; or when fearing the sentence of God's judgments,
and examining his own self, he thinks WHERE HE SHALL BE:
or when, carefully observing the evils of this present life, he
reflects with sorrow WHERE HE IS; or when he contemplates
the blessings of his heavenly country, and, because he does
not as yet enjoy them, beholds with regret WHERE HE
IS NOT. Paul had called to mind his former sins, and
was afflicting himself by the sight of what he had been,
when he said, I am not worthy to be called an Apostle, 1 Cor.
because I persecuted the Church of God. Again, from care-
15, 9.
fully weighing the Divine sentence, he was afraid that it was
bad for him in prospect, when he says, I chastise my body, 1 Cor. 9,
and bring it into subjection, lest perchance, when I have
preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.
And again, he was considering the evils of this present life,
when he said, While we are in this body, we are absent from 2 Cor. 5,
the Lord: and, I see another law in my members, warring Rom. 7,
against the law of my mind, and bringing me captive to the 23.
law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that
I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
And again, he was considering the blessings of his heavenly
country, when saying, We see now through a glass darkly, 1 Cor.
13, 12.
but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I
know, even as also I am known. And again, We know that 2 Cor. 5,
if our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, we have
a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in

1.

6.

27.

5.

16.

Ps. 31,

22.

36 Ills of earth known by sight of Heaven. Bodily images.

JOB 33, the heavens. And looking at the blessings of this house, he Eph. 1, says to the Ephesians, That ye may know what is the hope 18. 19. of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who have believed. But blessed Job 7, 1. Job, considering the evils of this present life, says, The life of man upon the earth is a temptation. Whence David says, Ps.39,6. Every man that liveth is altogether vanity; and though man walketh in the image of God, yet will he be disquieted in vain. But again, on contemplating his heavenly home, and weighing the evils in which he then was, and considering the Ps. 120, good things which he did not as yet enjoy, he says, Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged; and, I said in my fear, I am cast out from the sight of Thine eyes. Being raised up in an ecstasy, which our translators properly interpreted fear, he saw that he was cast out from the sight of the eyes of God. For after beholding that inward light, which flashed within his mind with bright rays through the grace of contemplation, he returned to himself; and discerned, by the knowledge he had gained, either the blessings which were there, of which he was deprived, or the evils with which he was here surrounded. For no one is able to look on the ills of life as they really are, if he is unable by contemplation to gain a taste of the blessings of the eternal country. Whence also he knew that he had been cast out of the sight of the of eyes God. For when he was raised up in a trance, he saw that which, when he fell back on himself, he lamented that he could not of himself behold.

very ray

42. For that compunction with which it dispels all bodily imaginations which crowd upon it, and annoy it, and with which it strives to fix the eye of the heart on the of the boundless light, is wont in truth more deeply to affect a perfect mind. For these appearances of bodily figures it has attracted to itself within, through infirmity of the flesh. But when it is completely filled with compunction, it is here specially on its guard, lest the imagination of circumscribed vision should delude it, when it is searching after truth; and it rejects all imaginations which present themselves to it. For since it has fallen, by their means, beneath itself, it endeavours to rise above itself, by escaping from them: and

D

dily image
is house, he
t is the hope
lory of His

ding great
But blessed

The life

David says
hough mar
quieted
home, and
dering the
Ys, Woens

my fear
ng raise!
terpreted

* the eye

h flashed

of coz

, by the ich were

h he was

Is of l

gain

ice als

God's teaching 'discipline,' because hard to keep the mind to. 37

after it has been distracted, in an unseemly manner, by many BOOK
objects, it endeavours to gather itself again together; that
prevailing by the mighty power of love, it may contemplate
one single and incorporeal Being.

43. And hence it is admitted, at times, to taste some
unusual savour of sweetness within, and is suddenly in a
measure refreshed, when breathed on by the glowing Spirit;
and is the more eager, the more it gains a taste of something
to love; and it desires that within itself, which it feels to
taste sweetly within, because it has in truth, from the love of
its sweetness, become vile in its own sight; and after having
been able, in whatever way, to enjoy it, it has discovered
what it had hitherto been without it. It endeavours to cling
closely to it, but is kept from approaching its strength, by
its own remaining weakness; and because it is unable to
contemplate its purity, it counts it sweet to weep, and,
sinking back into itself, to make its bed in the tears of its
own weakness. For it cannot fix the eyes of its mind on
that, of which it has only taken a hasty glance within;
because it is compelled by its own old habits to sink down-
wards. It meanwhile pants and strives and endeavours to
rise above itself, but sinks back, overpowered with weariness,
into its own familiar darkness. But because a mind thus
affected, has to endure itself as the cause of a stubborn
contest against itself, and because all this controversy about
ourselves causes no small amount of pain, when we are en-
gaged in it, whatever pleasure may be blended therewith;
Eliu, after having said that God speaks to us in a dream, and
that our ears are opened by His words, calls this same
opening of the ears a discipline, and with good reason.
Because the more the sound of inward wisdom by the grace
of its secret inspiration bursts forth upon us, the more does
it affect us with distress. For no one would outwardly
lament that which he is, if he had not been able to perceive
within, that which as yet he is not. For on seeing that we
ourselves were created aright, but that we were deceived by
giving a fatal consent to the persuasions of the devil, we
observe in our own case, that what we made ourselves is one
thing, and what we were made is another: that by nature we
were sound, but that we became corrupted through our own

eres

aw the

hat i

bod

I mi

rar

XXIII.