Moralia in Job 1028

30. It is a proof of humility to confess one's own fault; of pride, to excuse it. By excusing sins we make them graver. — For these are the testimonies of true humility: both that each one should recognize his own iniquity, and, once recognized, open it by the voice of confession. But on the contrary, it is the customary vice of the human race both to commit sin secretly, and to hide what has been committed by denying it, and to multiply what has been convicted by defending it. For from that fall of the first man we derive these increases of wickedness, from whom we drew the very root of guilt. For thus, when he had touched the forbidden tree, he hid himself from the face of the Lord among the trees of paradise.

In which hiding — namely, since he could not be hidden from God — not the effect of hiding is described, but the disposition is marked. And when he was reproved by the Lord for having touched the forbidden tree, he at once answered: 'The woman whom you gave me as a companion, she herself gave me of the tree, and I ate' (Gen. III, 12). The woman also, when questioned, answered, saying: 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate' (Ibid., 13). For to this end had they been questioned, that they might blot out by confessing the sin which they had committed by transgressing. Whence the serpent also, that persuader, who was not to be recalled to pardon, was not questioned about the fault. The man therefore was asked where he was, that he might look upon the fault he had committed, and by confessing might recognize how far

was from the face of his Creator. But they both chose to apply to themselves the solaces of defense rather than of confession. And when the man wished to excuse his sin through the woman, the woman through the serpent, they increased the guilt which they tried to shield: Adam obliquely touching the Lord, as though He were the author of their sin, since He made the woman; and Eve referring her fault to the Lord, since He had placed the serpent in paradise. For they who had heard from the mouth of the deceiving devil, 'You shall be as gods' (Ibid., 5), since they could not be like God in divinity, to the heaping-up of their error strove to make God like themselves in guilt.

So therefore, while they strove to defend their guilt, they brought it about that their fault, once examined, became more atrocious than it had been when committed. 31. Many imitate Adam, who thought to hide his sin with the leaves of trees, as it were. The sinner comes forth from the tomb by confession. — Whence even now the branches of the human race still draw bitterness from this root, so that when anyone is reproved for his vice, he hides himself under words of defense as under certain leaves of trees, and as though he flees the face of the Creator into certain shadowy recesses of his own excuse, while he does not wish that what he did be known. In which hiding, indeed, he hides not himself from the Lord, but the Lord from himself. For he acts so as not to see Him who sees all things, not, however, so that he himself may not be seen.

On the contrary, for every sinner the very beginning of enlightenment is the humility of confession, since he already refuses to spare himself who is not ashamed to confess the evil which he did; and he who by defending could have been accused, by accusing himself most swiftly defends himself. Whence also to Lazarus, dead and pressed by a great mass, it is by no means said, 'Live again,' but 'Come forth' (John XI, 43). By which resurrection, which was wrought in his body, it is signified how we are raised up in heart, when, namely, it is said to the dead man, 'Come forth,' that assuredly the man dead in his sin, and already buried under the mass of an evil habit, since he lies hidden by wickedness within his own conscience, may come forth from himself by confession.

For to the dead man it is said, 'Come forth,' that he may be provoked to go out from the excusing and concealing of his sin to accusing himself with his own mouth. Whence David the prophet, coming back to life from the death of so great a crime, went forth as it were to the voice of the Lord, when, rebuked by Nathan, he accused what he had done (2 Kings XII, 13). 32. The fault of concealing sin has grown vehemently. — Since therefore this fault of concealment has grown vehemently in the human race, blessed Job well, when he said, 'If I have hidden my sin,' interposed, 'as a man.' For he perceives that to be proper to man which descends from the imitation of the old parent. Where it is fitly subjoined: 'And concealed my iniquity in my bosom.'

For sacred Scripture is often accustomed to put 'bosom' for 'mind,' just as it is said by the voice of the Church concerning our persecutors, who are indeed joined to us by nature but separated in life, through the Psalmist: 'Render to our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom' (Ps. LXXVIII, 12). As if it openly said: Let them receive into their own mind that which we, raging, work upon our bodies outwardly, so that while they punish us in part outwardly, they themselves may be perfectly punished inwardly. Since therefore the bosom is taken for the secret of the mind, to conceal iniquity in one's bosom is to hide it in the hiding-places of the conscience, and not to blot it out by confession, but to veil it by defense. On the contrary James says:

'Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be saved' (James V, 16). Solomon also says: 'He who hides his crimes shall not be directed; but he who confesses and forsakes them shall obtain mercy' (Prov. XXVIII, 13). 33. Confession of sin without humility is feigned. The signs of sincere confession. — But amid these things it must be known that very often men both confess their faults and are not humble. For we have known many who, with no one accusing them, confess themselves to be sinners; but when they have perhaps been rebuked for their fault, they seek the patronage of defense, lest they seem to be sinners.

But if, when they say it of their own accord that they are sinners, they recognized it with truthful humility, when they are accused by others they would not deny being what they had confessed. In this matter the signs of true confession are these: if, when anyone calls himself a sinner, he does not contradict another who also says this of him. For since it is written, 'The just man is the first accuser of himself' (Prov. XVIII, 17), he desires to seem not so much a sinner as just, when anyone confesses himself a sinner with no one accusing him; but he proves the truth of his confession when another rebukes the evil which we have done. But if we defend it proudly, it is clear that we were calling ourselves sinners out of ourselves in vain.

Whence we must most earnestly take care that we both confess of our own accord the evils we have done, and not deny them when others accuse us of them. For it is a vice of pride that what anyone deigns to confess about himself as though of his own accord, he disdains to have said to him by others. 34. Job's humility in the confession of sin. It is often a graver struggle to confess sins than to avoid them. — Blessed Job therefore showed how great his humility was, who both knew himself to be living among adversaries, and yet did not fear to open his faults by the voice of confession. But it is to be noted that above he speaks of his virtues, below he confesses his sins. For hence he clearly demonstrates how true were the things he said about his good deeds, who was unwilling to be silent about his evil ones.

Now he indicates his virtues, now his fault, since he makes manifest both that he committed sin and that he did not keep silent about it. Whence it appears most certainly of what great purity he was in the eyes of almighty God, who both avoided evils, that he might not commit them, and yet did not hide from men those which it befell him to commit, so that it might be both to his righteousness a glory to have turned away from sin, and to his righteousness a safeguard to have disclosed what he could not turn away from. Let this man appear great in his virtues to whomever he will; to me indeed he appears sublime even in his sins. Let those who wish admire in him the continence of chastity, let them admire the integrity of justice, let them admire the depths of piety;

I in him admire the most humble confession of sins no less than so many sublime deeds of virtues. For I know that through the shame of weakness it is often a graver struggle to disclose sins committed than to avoid those not committed; and every evil, though it be more strongly avoided, is yet more humbly disclosed. Blessed Job therefore, who, supported by so many great works, was not ashamed to confess his fault, showed in his virtues how humble he was. But since from true humility a secure authority is always born, so that it fears nothing without in proportion as the mind does not pant after the heights of things through the desire of elation, after the express confession of sin, it is rightly subjoined: