Moralia in Job 1342

He excites harder temptations when he conceals snares under the appearance of virtue. — For what is taken by cartilage, but his simulation? For cartilage shows the appearance of bone, but has not the firmness of bone. And there are certain vices which show in themselves the appearance of rectitude, but proceed from the infirmity of depravity. For our enemy palliates his malice with such art, that for the most part before the eyes of the deceived mind he feigns faults to be virtues, so that thence one may as it were expect rewards, whence he is worthy to find eternal torments. For very often in the avenging of vices cruelty is practiced, and is reputed justice, and immoderate anger is believed to be the merit of righteous zeal; and while from distorted morals the sinners...

When they ought to be guided with care, they are shattered by a violent bending. Very often a slack laxity is regarded as though it were gentleness and mercy; and while offenders are spared too indulgently in temporal things, they are cruelly reserved for eternal punishments. Sometimes a wasteful squandering is believed to be compassion, and while it is a fault to guard wickedly, there is no fear of the worse thing—scattering what has been received. Sometimes tenacious stinginess is thought to be thrift, and although it is a grave vice not to give, it is believed a virtue to hold on to what has been received. Often the obstinacy of the wicked is called constancy, and while a mind does not allow itself to be turned from its depravity, it glories as though it were defending what is right.

Often inconstancy is regarded as though it were pliability, and the more a man keeps his faith whole to no one, the more he esteems himself a friend to men. Sometimes an unfitting fear is believed to be humility, and when a man, pressed by temporal dread, is silent about the defence of the truth, he judges that he is showing himself humble before his betters according to God's order. Sometimes the arrogance of the voice is esteemed as liberty, and when the truth is contradicted through pride, the impudence of speaking is thought to be the defence of the truth. Very often sloth is regarded as though it were the restraint of quiet, and when it is a grave fault not to do zealously what is right, it is believed a merit of great virtue merely to cease from wicked action. Very often the mind's restlessness is called watchful solicitude;

and when a man cannot endure quiet, in doing the things he craves he supposes that he is fulfilling the exercise of due virtue. Often, in the things that must be done, an incautious haste is believed to be the fervour of praiseworthy zeal; and when a good that is desired is corrupted by untimely action, it is thought to be done the better for being done the more quickly. Often slowness in accelerating a good is thought to be deliberation; and when one waits so that the matter may profit by reconsideration, this insidious delay trips it up. Therefore, when a fault is looked upon as though it were a virtue, one must necessarily consider that a mind abandons its vice all the more slowly the less it blushes at what it commits; and a mind abandons its vice all the more slowly when, deceived by the appearance of virtue, it even seeks a reward as recompense for it.

But a fault is easily corrected which is also blushed at, because it is felt to be a fault. Since therefore an error is more difficultly amended when it is believed to be a virtue, it is rightly said: His cartilage is like plates of iron. For this Behemoth, who under the pretext of good more fraudulently displays his cunning, thereby holds the mind more harshly in fault. Those who seek the way of holiness, having sometimes fallen into error, are more slowly amended. To cold minds they become colder. Hence it is that sometimes those who seek the way of holiness, having fallen into error, are more slowly amended. For they judge that what they do is right, and just as they join perseverance to the virtue to be cultivated, so also to their vice. They think that what they do is right, and therefore they serve their own judgment more strenuously.

Whence Jeremiah beautifully, when he had said: Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, more shining than milk, ruddier than old ivory, fairer than the sapphire; their face is now made blacker than coals, and they are not known in the streets—immediately added: Their skin has cleaved to their bones, it has withered and become like wood (Lamentations 4:7-8). For what is signified by the name of the Nazarites but the life of the abstinent and continent, which is called more shining than snow and milk? For snow congeals from water that comes from above, but milk is pressed from flesh that is nourished in lower things. What then is shown by snow but the brightness of the heavenly life, and what by milk but the administration of temporal stewardship?

And because continent men in the Church often perform such wondrous works that by them many who have held to the heavenly life, and many who have well administered earthly things, seem to be surpassed, they are said to be whiter than snow and more shining than milk. And because through fervour of spirit they sometimes seem to surpass the life of the ancient and strong fathers, it is rightly added: Ruddier than old ivory. For while the name of redness is imprinted, the flame of holy desire is signified. Now we are not ignorant that ivory is the bone of great animals. Thus they are ruddier than old ivory, because often before human eyes they stand out with more fervent zeal than certain preceding fathers. Concerning whom, that their safety may likewise be shown, it is added:

Fairer than the sapphire. For the sapphire is of an ethereal colour. And because they seem, through a heavenly manner of life, to surpass many who preceded and who strove toward the things above, they are said to have been fairer than the sapphire. But very often, while an abundance of virtues prospers even more than is expedient, the mind is led into a certain self-confidence, and deceived by its own presumption, it is suddenly darkened as sin creeps upon it; whence it is rightly added: Their face is made blacker than coals. For they become black after their whiteness, because, having lost the righteousness of God, when they presume upon themselves, they slip into sins even in those things which they do not understand;

and because after the fire of love they come to the cold of torpor, they are set beside coals now extinguished by comparison. For sometimes, when they forsake the fear of God through self-confidence, they become colder even than cold minds. Concerning whom it is rightly added: They are not known in the streets. For 'street' (platea) is so called, by the reasoning of the Greek word, for its breadth. But what is narrower for human passage than to break one's own wills? Of which passage the Truth says: Enter by the narrow gate (Matthew 7:13). And what is broader than to resist none of one's own wills, and, wherever the impulse of one's choice leads, to pour oneself out without reconsideration?

Those therefore who, through confidence in their holiness, follow themselves, setting aside the judgment of their betters, walk as it were through the streets. But they are not known in the streets, because they had shown something else of their life when, by breaking their own wills, they kept themselves on the narrow path. And it is well added: Their skin has cleaved to their bones. What is expressed by the bone but the hardness of strength, and what by the skin but the softness of infirmity? Their skin is therefore said to cleave to their bones, because by those who think perversely the infirmity of vice is regarded as the hardness of virtue. For the things they do are weak, but, deceived by the confidence of pride, they join them to strong presumptions, and the greater the things they think of themselves, the more they scorn to be amended from their wickedness. Whence it is also rightly added:

It withered and became like wood. For their fault is rendered all the more insensible the more it is even held praiseworthy among them. How rightly he calls it dry, because it grows green with no consideration of itself. What therefore in Jeremiah is called the infirmity of the skin, this in blessed Job is called the fragility of the cartilage; and what there are the bones by their hardness, here are said to be plates of iron. But this Behemoth, who through his members in the final time exercises against God's elect such arts of iniquity, and who also through himself, to deceive minds, displays himself in so great an evasiveness of snares—let us hear of what nature, of what condition he is.

For he could not know such wondrous or such malignant operation, if he did not subsist from a great condition. Whence also, with wondrous mercy, the Lord, as if rendering the causes of so great a cunning and so great a strength, added, saying: