Power, that pleases now, heavy hereafter. 93 XXIV. see Rev. an honour, but as a burden. For he that is well pleased BOOK at being a judge now, feels no pleasure at beholding the Judge then. For the faults which are committed from the 6, 15. desire of obtaining power, cannot be numbered. But authority is then alone properly exercised, when it is held not in love of it, but in fear. And in order that it may be properly administered, necessity, and not our own desire, should, in the first place, impose it on us. But it neither ought to be abandoned through fear when once undertaken, nor, again, embraced as an object of desire; for fear a person should, as if by reason of humility, be guilty of greater pride, in contemning and shrinking from the course of the Divine dispensation: or should cast off the yoke of his Heavenly Ruler, the more his own private authority over others gives him pleasure. When power then is possessed it must not be greedily loved, but patiently endured; in order that then, at the judgment, it may be a light burden to our comfort, as we know it now for a service which is heavy to be borne. JOB 34, 19. BOOK XXV. In explanation of the thirty-fourth chapter from the nineteenth to the thirtieth verse, the punishments of the reprobate, and the secret judgments of God are discussed. 1. THE very mode of man's creation shews, how far he surpasses all things beside. For the reason which has been conferred on man proclaims how far a rational nature surpasses all things which are deficient in either life, or sense, or reason. And yet, because we close our eyes to inward and invisible objects, and feast them on those which are seen, we most commonly esteem a man, not for what he is in himself, but from what is accidental to him. And since we do not look at what a man is in himself, but what he can do, in our acceptance of persons we are influenced, not by the persons themselves, but by what accidentally belongs to them. And thus it comes to pass, that even that person is inwardly despised by us, who is outwardly held in honour; for whilst he is honoured for that which is about him, he is, from his own doings, placed low in our judgment. But Almighty God examines the conduct of men, solely on the nature of their deserts, and frequently inflicts severer punishment, from the very fact, that He has here given greater opportunities of serving Him. As the Truth Itself bears. Luke12, witness, saying, To whom much is given, of him much will be required. Whence it is now well said by Eliu, (ver. 19.) Who accepteth not the person of princes, and hath not regarded a tyrant, when disputing against the poor. 48. ii. 2. But by prince, or tyrant, may be understood every proud person; but the humble may be designated by the poor. He does not regard then a tyrant, when disputing against the poor, because He declares that He knows not, in the judgment, any proud men who now oppress the life of Death of the ungodly, and unprepared, sudden. the humble, saying, I know you not, whence ye are. 95 And Book because He thus destroys him, when He wills, by His Luke13, power, as He created him, when He willed, by His power, it 25. is fitly added in argument, For they are all the work of His hands. And it is immediately added, Ver 20. Suddenly shall they die, and the people shall bow down at midnight, and pass away. 20. 3. However long it be before the ungodly are taken out of iii. this life, they are taken away suddenly, and at an instant, since they know not how to foresee their end by thinking on it. That is sudden to any one, which he has not been able to think of beforehand. That rich man was taken away suddenly, who left the barns which he was preparing, and found the place of hell, which he was not looking for. He was employing his soul in thinking in one direction, he parted with it in another by his sentence. He fixed his thoughts on one object when alive, he experienced another when he was dying. For he left those temporal things, which he had long engaged in, and he found eternal things which he did not look for. Whence, in consequence of this his blind ignorance, it is well said to him by the Divine sentence, This night Luke12, do they require thy soul of thee. For that soul was taken away by night, which was lost in blindness of heart. That was taken away by night, which refused to enjoy the light of consideration, in order to foresee what it would suffer. Whence the Apostle Paul rightly says to his disciples who are thinking on future things, But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that 1 Thess. day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and children of day; we are not of the night, nor of darkness. For the day of death seizes as a thief in the night, when it casts out the souls of foolish men, which do not look onward to the future. Whence it is here also fitly subjoined, And the people shall bow down at midnight, and pass away. They bow down and pass away at midnight, who are brought low and swept away by the darkness of their negligence. They will then be bowed down by the sentence of the Judge, who now refuse to bend with humility of heart. But the Elect bow themselves of their own accord in humility, that they may not be bowed 5, 4. 5. 20. 96 The temporal life of fallen man is ever passing away. JOB 34, down against their will in death. Whence is it said to Holy Church, of the converted children of her persecutors, Is. 60, The sons of them who humbled thee, shall come bending to thee. 14. iv. 4. And he says properly of dying peoples, not that "they will pass along,” but pass away, because simply by living in the world we are daily coming to an end, and we pass along this present life, as though wearing a track in a road. But that men live subject to death, is a kind of journeying deathwards. And every day we pass of our life, we are approaching as it were on our journey by as many steps to the appointed spot. But the very increase of our years, is a wearing them away; for the length of our life begins to be not so much as it was at first. But the first man was so fashioned, that, as time passed on, he remained stationary, so as not to journey on together with it. For he remained still, as the moments hasted away; since he did not approach to the end of his life, through the increase of his days. And he stood the firmer, the closer he clung to Him who is ever stationary. But after he touched the forbidden thing, having offended his Creator, he began to pass onward together with time. Having lost, namely, the stability of an immortal condition, the stream of mortal being engulphed him. And, while borne along by youth to age, and by age to death, he learned, as he journeyed on, what he was when he remained stationary. And because we are sprung from his stock, we retain, like shoots, the bitterness of our root. For because we derive our origin from him, we inherit his course of life, at our birth, so that every moment of every day that we live, we are constantly passing away from life, and the length of our life decreases by the very means by which it is believed to increase. Since then we are daily proceeding, as our years increase, to the issue of death, it is well said. of the dying, not that they pass along, but pass away. For they pass along, even while they live, but pass away, as they die. It follows, And they will take away the violent without hand. 5. Thou understandest, 'The divine judgments.' But they will take him away without hand, who was violent with his hand. They will take him away without hand, because, Vengeance delayed falls heavier on the impenitent. 97 He namely, he is snatched away, by the violence of a sudden Book death, invisibly, who used visibly to spoil others. XXV. beheld those whom he spoiled, but beholds not him who hurries him away in death. The violent therefore is taken away without hand, because he both beholds not his spoiler, and yet is hurried along. And there follows him a severer sentence, the longer great forbearance is extended' to him 'al.' was when sinuing because the severity of God punishes a grantsinner the more strictly, the longer it has borne with him. ed.' But it is frequently the case, that while the Divine mercy is waiting for sinners, they plunge into greater blinduess of heart. Whence it is written, Knowest thou not that the Rom. 2, goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up for thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God? Observe, then, that while the man of violence is spoiling those whom he is able, is oppressing the weak, and indulging a long time all his sinful desires; because he is not smitten at once, and because his punishment is deferred to the end, his most wicked conduct is believed not to be observed by God. After then he had spoken of his death, he immediately rightly added concerning the Lord, Ver. 21. For His eyes are over the ways of men, and He considers all their steps. first 4.5. V. 6. For He was then believed not to observe them, while this man of violence was committing, unpunished, all the wickedness he could. God was supposed not to behold the deeds of the ungodly, because He was delaying to condemn them justly; and His great forbearance was regarded as a kind of carelessness. The wicked also himself believed that he was not observed by God in the commission of sin, as often as he sinned without being punished. To whom it is said by a certain wise man, Say not, I have sinned, and what Ecclus. harm hath happened to me? He does not wish to correct 5, 4. the wickedness, for which he has not suffered the punishment it deserved: and the more mercifully he is spared, the more sinfully is he urged on to wickedness: and, despising the long-suffering of the Divine forbearance, he has added to his faults, from the very circumstance that should have led him VOL. III. H |