Moralia in Job 1166

'What was made, in Him was life' (Ibid., 3-4). Let us hear also the rain of weakness: 'He came unto His own, and His own received Him not' (Ibid., 11). Therefore with the rain of His strength He commands it to descend upon the earth, because through the voices of His saints He preaches to us the weak things of His humanity in such a way as also to make known to us the wondrous and strong things of His divinity. But when we hear the power of our Creator, we are at once brought back to our own hearts by compelling dread, and considering so great a Judge above us, we weigh what things we have done worthily, and what things unworthily. Whence it is well added:

VERSE 7. — 'He sealeth in the hand of all men, that everyone may know his own works.' 47. By knowing God we recognize ourselves and judge ourselves more severely. — For the evils that men do, they disdain to weigh. But when they hear the power of the supreme strictness, they recognize that burden of their depraved works which presses them down. Struck by the words of preaching, they awake to weigh to what punishments the merit of their former deeds is dragging them. Therefore when the rain of strength descends upon the earth, it is sealed in the hand of each one, that he may know his own works, because when the power of an incomprehensible majesty is made known, one's own life is more subtly weighed by each person. 48.

By the natural light, as by the law of the mind, the depraved and the right become known. — This, however, can be understood also in another way. For the almighty Creator made man a rational creature, distinct from all things insensible and irrational, so that he could not be ignorant of what he has done. For by the law of nature he is compelled to know whether what he does is depraved or right. For why does he come to judgment for his deed, if he could not know what he did? Therefore even those who disdain to be instructed by the Lord's commandments know whether the things they do are good or evil. For if they knew not that they do good, why do they boast of certain deeds in ostentation? And again, if they are ignorant that they do evil, why in those very deeds do they shun the eyes of others?

For they are themselves witnesses to themselves that they know the evil they do to be evil, since they fear to be seen by others. For if they did not truly believe it to be evil, they would by no means dread to be seen doing it by others. Whence it is well said through a certain wise man: 'Since wickedness is fearful, it gives testimony to its own condemnation' (Wisd. XVII, 10). For while dread, striking the conscience, convicts a man concerning his deed, wickedness itself bears witness to itself that what it does is damnable. On the contrary, it is said through John: 'If our heart reprehend us not, we have confidence toward God' (1 John III, 21).

Let the wicked, therefore, flee human eyes; assuredly they cannot flee themselves. For because they know the evil they do, they have their conscience as a witness, they have their own reason as a judge. In the sin, then, which they commit, they first find within themselves the judgment of their own reason against them, and afterward they are led to the strictness of the eternal examination. And this is perhaps what is said through the Psalmist: 'Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts' (Ps. XLI, 8). For while, by the wondrous order of a hidden disposition, the evil that is done is not permitted to be unknown, the sinner already condemns himself in conscience by his own judgment, and after his own condemnation hastens to the sentence of the eternal Judge.

'Deep,' therefore, 'to call unto deep' is to pass from judgment to judgment. Let the holy preachers, then, go forth and reprove the deeds of sinners; but let the depraved hearers despise the words of the righteous, let them defend their depravities as much as they will, and by defending more shamelessly the shameless deeds they have committed, let them multiply them: assuredly they are witnesses to themselves in conscience that they are not excusable. For by this very fact, that God made man a rational creature, He 'sealeth in the hand of all men, that everyone may know his own works.'

876. But because Elihu had pronounced sentence upon the depravity of individuals, he at once turns the eyes of his mind to the very author of depravity, through whom every evil arises, so that, having in this one verse touched upon the members of the depraved head, he might also briefly describe this very head of the members. Or certainly, because above (Num. XIX) he had adduced the powers of the clouds of God, he now describes something else, so that the assaults of the adversary even against the life of the good may be made known. For there follows: VERSE 8. — 'The beast shall enter into her lair, and shall abide in her den.' 49. The devil's den is Antichrist and every reprobate.

— Who else is understood by the name of 'beast,' but the ancient enemy, who savagely assailed the deception of the first man, and by evil persuasion tore apart the integrity of his life? Against whom, through the voices of the prophets, the holy Church of the elect, to be restored to her ancient state, is promised: 'And no evil beast shall pass through her' (Isa. XXXV, 9). But this beast, when after the coming of the Redeemer, after the voices of the preachers, as after the thunder of the clouds, at the end of the world it shall have invaded that damned man who is called Antichrist, what else does it do but enter its own lair, that it may abide in its own den?

For that vessel is the devil's den and the beast's lair, so that, lying in wait for men who tread the way of this life, in it he may both hide himself by signs and slay by malice. Yet even now, before he appears openly, he possesses the hearts of all the reprobate, and holds them by hidden malice as his own den, and hides himself in their darkened minds for every purpose whereby he desires to harm the good. Or were not the hearts of the persecuting Jews the den of this beast, in whose counsels he long lay hidden, but suddenly burst forth in the voices of those crying: 'Crucify, crucify' (John XIX, 6)? And because he could not, by tempting, reach the tearing apart of the mind in our Redeemer (Matt. IV, 3), he panted for the death of His flesh.

This beast, indeed, held many hearts of the elect, but the dying Lamb shook it out of them. Whence also He says in the Gospel: 'Now shall the prince of this world be cast out' (John XII, 31). Who, by a wondrous and right judgment, while enlightening received the confessions of the humble, deserting closed the eyes of the proud. Whence it is said to Him through the Psalmist: 'Thou hast made darkness, and it is night: in it shall all the beasts of the woods go about; the young lions roaring after their prey, and seeking their food from God' (Ps. CIII, 20-21). For the Lord sets darkness when, repaying judgments to sins, He withdraws the light of His understanding. And it becomes night, because the mind of the depraved is blinded by the errors of its own ignorance.

In which all the beasts of the wood pass through, when the malignant spirits, lurking under the shade of deceit, run about in the hearts of the reprobate fulfilling their depravities. In which also the young lions roar, because the ministering spirits of the most wicked yet eminent powers rise up with importunate temptations. Yet these seek their food from God, because indeed they cannot seize souls unless they are divinely permitted to prevail by a just judgment. Whereupon it is aptly added: 'The sun ariseth, and they are gathered together, and they lie down in their dens' (Ps. CIII, 22). For when the light of truth appears through the flesh, driven out of the minds of the faithful, they are, as it were, returned to their dens, since they held only the hearts of the unfaithful.

877. What, therefore, is there called the lions' den, is here called the beast's lair. 50. The devil sometimes enters the minds of the good, but does not abide in them. — But I greatly esteem it worthy of note that this beast is said not only to enter its den, but even to abide in it. For sometimes it enters even the minds of the good, suggests unlawful things, wearies them with temptations, strives to turn the uprightness of the spirit aside to the delight of the flesh, and endeavors also to lead the delight on to consent; but nevertheless, the supernal aid resisting, it is forbidden to prevail. It can enter, then, into the minds of the good, but it cannot abide in them, because the heart of the righteous is not this beast's den.

For those minds which it possesses as its own den, without doubt it holds by abiding, because it first leads their thoughts on even to iniquitous desires, and after the iniquitous desires on even to the most wicked works. For the reprobate are not eager to repel his suggestions with the right hand of judgment, since they desire to serve, with delight subjected, his wishes. And when something depraved arises in their hearts, it is soon nourished by the zeal of delight; and when no resistance at all is made to it, it is straightway strengthened into consent, and at once consent is led on to the deed, and the deed is further weighed down by habit.

Rightly, therefore, is this beast said to abide in its den, which holds the thoughts of the reprobate so long, until it pierces their very life with the sting of depraved deed also. Whence the Lord well says to Judea through the prophet: 'How long shall hurtful thoughts abide in thee?' (Jer. IV, 14). For He reproves not that they come, but that they abide. For unlawful thoughts come even into good hearts, but nevertheless they are forbidden to abide, because all the upright, lest they offer the house of conscience to be taken captive, drive out the enemy from the very threshold of the heart. And even if at some time, by sudden suggestions, he creep up to the first entrance, yet he does not reach the door of consent.

To this beast indeed, overcome by the impulse of sudden fear, Peter by denying opened the door of his heart, but by recognizing more quickly he resisted, and by weeping he closed it (Matt. XXVI, 70). [Sect. XX.] But because the ancient enemy not only held the hearts of the persecutors by entering, but also possessed them by holding, let it rightly be said: 'The beast shall enter into her lair, and shall abide in her den.' For how much it tarried in the minds of the Jews we learn, when we hear their counsels by the attestation of the evangelical narrative.