Moralia in Job 1433

1. Certain men, reading the writings of the sacred utterance, when they penetrate its more sublime sentences, are wont with a swollen mind to despise the lesser commandments which are given to the weaker, and to wish to change them into another meaning. But if they rightly understood the high things in it, they would not hold the least commandments in contempt, because the divine precepts so speak in certain things to the great, that nevertheless in certain things they suit the little ones, who by increments of understanding grow, as it were, by certain steps of the mind, and come to understand greater things. Whence now it is said to the holy prophet: (Ezek. 3:1) 'Son of man, whatsoever thou findest, eat.'

For whatever is found in Sacred Scripture must be eaten, because both its small things compose the simple life, and its great things build up subtle understanding. There follows: (v. 1) 'Eat this volume, and go, speak to the children of Israel. And I opened my mouth, and he fed me with that volume.' 3. Sacred Scripture is our food and drink. Whence also the Lord threatens through another prophet: 'I will send a famine into the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord' (Amos 8:11). He, then, who says that we are worn down by hunger and thirst when his utterance is withdrawn, shows that his words are both our food and our drink. But it must be noted that they are sometimes food, sometimes drink.

For in more obscure matters, which cannot be understood unless they are expounded, Sacred Scripture is food, because whatever is expounded that it may be understood is, as it were, chewed that it may be swallowed. But in more open matters it is drink, for we swallow drink without chewing. The more open commandments, then, we drink, because we are able to understand even things not expounded. But because the prophet Ezekiel was about to hear many obscure and perplexing things, it is by no means said to him of the sacred volume, 'drink,' but 'eat.' As if it were openly said: Consider thoroughly and understand—that is, first chew, and then swallow.

But in the words of the sacred utterance this order of our study ought to be kept, that we come to know these things to this end: that, pricked with compunction over our iniquity, recognizing the evils we have done, we may avoid doing others. 4. And when now, from the great practice of tears, confidence concerning the remission of our sins has begun to arise, let us through the words of God which we understand draw others too to life. For to this end they are to be understood: that they may both profit us, and with spiritual intention be conferred upon others. Whence well it is now said: 'Eat this volume, and go, speak to the children of Israel.' As if it were said to him of the sacred food: Eat and feed, be filled and give forth, receive and scatter, be strengthened and labor. 5. And it must be noted that the prophet adds, saying:

And I opened my mouth, and he fed me with that scroll. That the mouth is in the heart another Prophet testifies, saying: Deceitful lips in the heart, and with the heart have they spoken evil (Ps. XI, 3). We therefore open the mouth when we prepare our understanding for the meaning of the sacred word. And so at the voice of the Lord the prophet opens his mouth, because at the inbreathing of the Lord's precept the desires of our heart gape open, that they may take something from the food of life. Yet this very taking is not of our own strength, unless he himself feeds us who commanded that he be eaten. For he is fed who cannot eat by himself.

And because our weakness is not fit to grasp heavenly words, he himself feeds us, who dispenses to us in due season a measure of wheat, so that in the sacred word, while today we understand what yesterday we did not know, tomorrow also we may comprehend what today we do not know, and thus by the grace of the divine dispensation we are nourished with daily food. For Almighty God, as it were, stretches out his hand to the mouth of our heart as often as he opens up understanding to us and puts the food of the sacred utterance into our senses. He therefore feeds us with the scroll when, by his dispensing, he opens up to us the meaning of Holy Scripture and fills our thoughts with its sweetness. Whence it is also added: VERSE 5. — And he said to me:

Son of man, your belly shall eat, and your bowels shall be filled with this scroll which I give you. In the old translation it does not read, Your belly shall eat, but, Your mouth shall eat, and your bowels shall be filled. For our mouth eats when we read the word of God; but our bowels are filled when we understand and keep those things over which we labor in reading. In the later translation, however, which we believe to be the truer, it is written: Your belly shall eat, and your bowels shall be filled. Now in the sacred utterance the belly is sometimes wont to be put for the mind. Whence through Jeremiah it is said: My belly, my belly, I am in pain (Jer. IV, 19). And because he had said this of the spiritual and not the bodily belly, he added:

The senses of my heart are troubled (ibid.). For it would not have pertained to the salvation of the people if the prophet had proclaimed that he was grieved in his bodily belly. But he grieved in the belly who felt the affliction of his mind. Yet why do we bring forward the example of the prophet, when we have a plainer testimony of the Lord? And it is necessary that when Truth speaks through his very self, the prophet should be silent, for the lamp has no brightness in the sun. For he says: He that believes in me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John VII, 38). For because from the mind of the faithful holy preachings flow down, as it were from the belly of believers rivers of living water run forth.

But what else are the bowels of the belly than the inward things of the mind, that is, right intention, holy desire, humble will toward God, devout will toward one's neighbor? Whence now it is rightly said: Your belly shall eat, and your bowels shall be filled; because when our mind has received the nourishment of truth, our inward parts no longer remain empty, but are satisfied with the food of life. Let us weigh, my dearest brethren, how loving is this promise, in which it is said: Your belly shall eat, and your bowels shall be filled with this scroll which I give you. For many read, and yet are hungry from that very reading. Many hear the voice of preaching, but after the voice they depart empty.

Whose belly, though it eats, yet their bowels are not filled; for although in mind they perceive the understanding of the sacred word, yet by forgetting and by not keeping what they have heard, they do not store these things in the bowels of the heart. For hence it is that through another prophet the Lord rebukes certain men, saying: Set your hearts upon your ways. You have sown much, and brought in little; you have eaten, and are not filled; you have drunk, and are not inebriated (Hag. I, 6). He sows much in his heart but brings in little, who through reading or even through hearing comes to know many things of the heavenly commandments, but by working negligently bears little fruit. He eats and is not filled, who, hearing the words of God, covets the gains or the glory of the world.

But he is well said not to be filled, because he hears one thing and hungers after another. He drinks and is not inebriated, who inclines his ear to the voice of preaching, but does not change his mind. For through drunkenness the senses of drinkers are wont to be changed. He therefore who is devoted to knowing the word of God, but desires to obtain the things of this world, drinks and is not inebriated. For if he were inebriated, without doubt he would have changed his mind, so that he would no longer seek earthly things, and would no longer love the vain and transitory things he had loved. For of the elect it is said through the Psalmist: They shall be inebriated with the plenty of your house (Ps. XXXV, 9). Because they are so filled with the love of Almighty God that, their mind being changed, they seem to be strangers to their very selves, fulfilling what is written:

Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself (Matt. XVI, 24). He denies himself who is changed for the better, and begins to be what he was not, and ceases to be what he was. But we often see certain persons, at the voice of preaching, as though pricked to conversion, having changed their habit and not their soul, so that they took on the religious garb, yet did not trample their former vices; being savagely driven by the goads of anger, growing hot with the pain of malice unto the harm of a neighbor, being proud before human eyes because of certain goods displayed, greedily seeking the gains of the present world, and having confidence of holiness from the mere outward habit which they assumed.

To whom what else is to be said, except that which the excellent master speaks to certain who keep the outward things of the law, saying: For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature (Gal. V, 6; VI, 15)? For it is not of great merit if anything be done concerning us outwardly in the body, but it is greatly to be weighed what is done in the mind. For to despise the present world, not to love the transitory, to prostrate the mind inwardly in humility before God and neighbor, to keep patience against injuries inflicted, and, patience being kept, to drive away from the heart the pain of malice, to bestow one's own upon the needy, by no means to covet what belongs to another, to love a friend in God, and

for God's sake to love those who are enemies, to mourn over the affliction of a neighbor, not to exult over the death of one who is an enemy — this is the new creature, which the same teacher of the Gentiles seeks with a watchful eye among other disciples, saying: If then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away; behold, all things are made new (2 Cor. V, 17). For to the old man it belongs to seek the present world, to love the transitory out of concupiscence, to lift up the mind in pride, not to have patience, out of the pain of malice to think upon the harm of a neighbor, not to give one's own to the needy, and to seek what belongs to others in order to multiply it, to love no one purely for God's sake,

to render enmities for enmities, to rejoice over the affliction of a neighbor — all these belong to the old man, which indeed we draw from the root of corruption. But he who now surmounts these things, and changes his mind into kindness toward the Lord's precepts, of him it is rightly said: For the old things are passed away, behold, all things are made new. Then therefore new things are made in our minds, when the vices of the old man pass away from us; and then the vices of the old man pass away, when the belly eats the precept of the sacred word, and the bowels are filled to the marrow.

For often we have seen certain persons devote themselves with their whole mind to the study of holy reading, and, amid the Lord's words recognizing in how many things they had offended, slay themselves in tears, be afflicted with continual sorrow, take delight in none of the prosperities of this world, so that to them the present life became a burden and the very light became loathsome; scarcely admitting to common conversation, and difficultly relaxing their soul from the rigor of discipline, rejoicing, for love of the Creator, only in mourning and silence. Their belly ate the sacred scroll, and their bowels were filled, because the precepts of life which their understanding could grasp their memory did not lose, but the soul gathered up in God kept these ever by mourning and by recalling. 12.

And it very often happens that all such persons, from the gift of heavenly grace, receive also the word of teaching, so that the food of interior life which they themselves sweetly ruminate within, they also gently feed to their neighbors. From whose mouth indeed preaching is so much the sweeter to the hearers, the more their action is not contrary to their preachings, because from their own life they take what through the tongue they confer upon their neighbors. Whence rightly here also the prophet subjoins: IBID. — And I ate it, and it became in my mouth as sweet as honey. The book which filled the bowels became sweet in the mouth as honey, because those know how to speak sweetly of the Almighty Lord who have learned truly to love him in the bowels of their heart.

For in his mouth Holy Scripture is sweet whose life's bowels are filled with its commandments, because it is pleasant for him to speak of which has been inwardly impressed upon him for living. For the discourse has no sweetness which a reprobate life gnaws within the conscience. Whence it is necessary that he who speaks the word of God should first take care how he lives, so that afterward he may gather from his life what things and in what manner he is to say. For to preach, the conscience of holy love builds up more than the exercise of speech, because by loving heavenly things the preacher reads within himself how he may persuade that earthly things ought to be despised.

For he who inwardly weighs his own life, and by his example outwardly builds up others by admonishing them, dips, as it were, the pen of the tongue in the heart, in that which by the hand of the word he outwardly writes for his neighbors. Whence the admirable preacher, when he had said many things to his disciples by exhorting, because within himself he suffered no contrariety from his conscience, securely added: If there be any virtue, if any praise of discipline, think on these things; which you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, these do, and the God of peace shall be with you (Phil. IV, 8, 9). There follows: VERSE 4. — And he said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and you shall speak my words to them.

In that which the Lord says to the prophet, You shall speak my words to them, what else does he do than impose upon his mouth a bridle of governance, that he presume not to say outwardly what he has not first heard within? For the false prophets spoke their own and not God's words, of whom it is written: Do not hear the words of the prophets that prophesy to you, and deceive you; they speak the vision of their own heart, not out of the mouth of the Lord (Jer. XXIII, 16). And again: I did not speak to them, and they prophesied (ibid., 21). From which it is also to be gathered that whatever expositor, in the explanation of the sacred utterance, composes something by lying in order perhaps to please his hearers, speaks his own and not the Lord's words, if indeed he lies out of zeal to please or to seduce.

For if, seeking the power in the Lord's words, he himself understands otherwise than he through whom they were uttered, even if under another understanding he seeks the buildings-up of charity, they are the Lord's words that he says, because for this alone God speaks to us through the whole of Sacred Scripture, that he may draw us to the love of himself and of a neighbor. There follows: VERSES 5-7. — For you are not sent to a people of deep speech and unknown tongue, to the house of Israel; nor to many peoples of deep speech and unknown tongue whose words you could not hear. And if you were sent to them, they would hear you. But the house of Israel will not hear you, because they will not hear me.

In the very beginning of the command by which the prophet is sent to preach, the vocation of the Gentiles and the repulsion of the Israelites is openly designated for him. For when it is said: You are not sent to many peoples of deep speech and unknown tongue whose words you could not hear, and immediately it is subjoined: And if you were sent to them, they would hear you, the obedience of the Gentiles is openly declared, which at some time was to follow the voices of the preachers without delay. And when it is subjoined: But the house of Israel will not hear you, because they will not hear me, the hardness of Judea is designated, which both knew and would not follow the words of the preachers. But the unknown tongue of the Gentiles made no delay in obeying, although it was foreign to the utterance of the law. And it is well said:

They will not hear you, because they will not hear me, according to that which is written: He that despises you, despises me (Luke X, 16). The cause also why they do not hear is subjoined, when it is said: VERSE 7. — For all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and a hard heart. When the house of Israel is declared to be of a worn (i.e. brazen) forehead, what else is to be perceived or thought, except that frequent guilt wears away the forehead of the heart in shamelessness, so that the more often it is committed, the less does the soul of the one committing it blush?

And therefore the sinner sometimes comes to such hardness of heart that he is no longer sensible under correction, because he who has grown hard by the habit of sinning in no way feels the word of the corrector, that is, the hand of one who touches, just as to Judea also, sinning ever more frequently, it is said: You have had the forehead of a harlot woman, you refused to blush (Jer. III, 3). Or certainly the forehead is worn that is accustomed to the deeds of this world, because just as there are some who prefer quiet to all the rewards and honors of the world, so there are some who, in order to seem to be something earthly in this world, sweat over labors, insist on lawsuits, mingle in quarrels.

And although they feel that they fail in body amid labors, yet overcome by love of earthly things, they are wearied with delight. To whom it is said through the prophet: Ephraim is a heifer taught to love treading out the grain (Hos. X, 11). For she, accustomed to treading in the threshing-floor, even if she is released from labor, returns of her own accord. So to certain depraved minds nothing is more laborious than if it be commanded them not to labor in the arts of this world. For often certain persons, driven back from earthly action, beseech that they may return, ask to be pressed, and count it a grave peril they have incurred that they are quiet. They are therefore of a worn forehead who not only do not flee labors, but do not even blush to seem out of place when the labors are denied them. There follows: VERSE 8.

— Behold, I have made your face stronger than their faces, and your forehead harder than their foreheads. Just as modesty is praiseworthy in what is evil, so it is reprehensible in what is good. For to blush at evil is of wisdom, but to blush at good is of foolishness. Whence it is written: There is a shame that brings sin, and there is a shame that brings glory (Sir. IV, 25). For he who blushes by repenting of the evils he has done, comes to the liberty of life. But he who blushes to do good, falls from the state of rectitude, and tends toward damnation, as is said through the Redeemer: He who is ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his majesty (Luke IX, 26).

And there are some who already conceive good things in mind, but do not yet openly contradict evils. These indeed, because they are good in mind, but have no authority in speech, are unfit for the defense of truth. For he ought to be the defender of truth who neither fears nor blushes to speak what he rightly perceives. Whence to the prophet it is now promised as a great gift: Behold, I have made your face stronger than their faces, and your forehead harder than their foreheads. But what is the sinner, except one wounded? And what the preacher, except a physician? If therefore the sinner who lies in his wound does not blush, why should the physician blush who by remedies provides health? But it often happens that the preacher is reverently heard;

but sometimes he is so despised by the perverse, as if he spoke nothing of use to them. Whence rightly now it is said: VERSE 9. — I have made your face as an adamant and as a flint. Adamant and flint are both hard; but one of them is precious, the other cheap. Adamant is taken for ornament, flint is trodden by travelers. And it often happens that those whom we behold hearing their correction too humbly, we are shy to say certain things to. But sometimes it comes about that those whom we see set aside their rebuke and hold it in contempt, we are afraid to bring the word of preaching to.

But if we are rightly wise, both toward those by whom we behold ourselves honored, and toward those by whom we see ourselves despised, we take up the authority of exhortation or of rebuke, so that we neither ought to blush at the humility of the former, nor to dread the pride of the latter. Let it therefore be said: I have made your face as an adamant, that is, if you are honored by your hearers; I have made your face as a flint, if you are trampled and despised by your hearers, so that neither by the honor bestowed may the tongue be reined in through modesty, nor through contempt may it be silent through weakness. There follows: IBID. — Do not fear them, neither be dismayed at their faces, for they are a provoking house.

This has already been said above. But it is to be noted how harsh a house is held to be, whose harshness is so frequently repeated. The sinner therefore is to be rebuked, and never to be feared, because they are a provoking house. For man ought to have been feared, if he himself had feared the Author of all as a man ought. For he who has not had the sense of reason unto the fear of God, is by so much in nothing to be feared, by how much he is not what he ought to have been. There follows: VERSES 10, 11. — And he said to me: Son of man, all my words which I speak to you, receive in your heart, and hear with your ears; and go, enter to the transmigration of the children of your people. Watchfully must it be observed that by the voice of the Lord it is said to the prophet that he should first hear his words, and afterward speak. For we hear the words

of God, if we do them. And then we rightly speak them to our neighbors, when we ourselves have first done them. This the evangelist Mark well confirms, when he narrates a miracle done by the Lord, saying: They bring to him one deaf and dumb, and they beseech him that he would lay his hand upon him (Mark VII, 32). Whose order of cure he intimates, adding: He put his fingers into his ears, and spitting he touched his tongue, and looking up to heaven he groaned, and said to him: Ephphetha, which is, Be opened. And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke rightly (ibid., 33 ff.). For what is it that God the Creator of all, when he wished to heal one deaf and dumb, put his fingers into his ears, and spitting touched his tongue?

What by the fingers of the Redeemer, except the gifts of the Holy Spirit, are designated? Whence, when in another place he had cast out a demon, he said: If by the finger of God I cast out demons, surely the kingdom of God is come upon you (Luke XI, 20). Concerning which matter it is described that he said through another evangelist: If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God is come upon you (Matt. XII, 28). From both which places it is gathered that the finger of God is called the Spirit. To put the fingers therefore into the ears, is by the gifts of the Holy Spirit to open the mind of the deaf to obeying. But what is it that spitting he touched his tongue? Saliva is to us the wisdom received from the mouth of the Redeemer in divine utterance. For saliva flows down from the head into the mouth.

That wisdom therefore which he himself is, when our tongue is touched by it, is soon formed into the words of preaching. Who looking up to heaven groaned; not because he himself needed a groan, who gave what he asked, but he taught us to groan toward him who presides over heaven, so that both our ears may be opened through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the tongue may be loosed by the saliva of the mouth, that is, by the knowledge of divine discourse, unto the words of preaching. To whom soon it is said, Ephphetha, that is, Be opened; and immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed. In which matter it is to be noted that on account of the closed ears it was said, Be opened.

But to whomever the ears of the heart have been opened unto obeying, from what follows without doubt the string of his tongue also is loosed, so that the good things which he himself has done he may speak as also to be done by others. There too it is well added: And he spoke rightly. For he speaks rightly who first by obeying has done those things which by speaking he admonishes are to be done. But as to the prophet's being sent to admonish the transmigration of the people, not only that transmigration is to be understood which was of that people in body, but also that which had been made in mind. For he had come from Jerusalem to Babylon. And what is Jerusalem but the vision of peace, what is Babylon but confusion?

But whoever falls from right works into perverse deeds, since he flows down from a good pursuit to vices, comes as it were from Jerusalem to the city of Babylon. For he has forsaken the height of good contemplation, and lies in the transmigration of confusion. This is wont often to happen to those who, when they do good things, glory in these of their own virtue. Whence the Psalmist, that he might not migrate captive from the vision of peace, that is, from good actions, to Babylon, supplicating the Lord, says: My helper, I shall not migrate (Ps. LXI, 7). For if he had trusted in himself, by falling from the works of justice he would have migrated.

But neither are those to be despaired of who have fallen from the state of rectitude into a depraved action, because behold, the prophet is sent to the transmigration of Babylon. And through another prophet the Lord says: And you shall come even to Babylon, and there you shall be delivered (Micah IV, 10). For often one, after he has fallen into the confusion of vices, blushing at the evils he has committed, returns to penitence, and by living well raises himself from his lapses. What then is this, but that he came even to Babylon, and there was delivered? He who, after being confused in mind he had committed perverse things, blushing at these very evils he had done, raises himself up against himself, and by working well returns to the state of rectitude.

In Babylon therefore is he delivered, who by divine grace is shown to be saved even out of confusion. The prophet therefore speaks to the transmigration, when he rebukes those who by transmigrating from the state of rectitude have fallen into the vices of error. There follows: VERSE 11. — And you shall speak to them, and shall say: Thus says the Lord God: if perhaps they will hear, and be still. That so often the difficulty of hearing is repeated by the divine voices, so that it is said, If perhaps they will hear, what else than the hardness of the transmigrated people is designated?

In which words there is great consolation for us, because if Almighty God, sending the prophet, declares that his words are hardly heard by a perverse people, why do we wretched ones grow sad, when often by our brethren we are despised in our admonition? For frequently we address the offenders, often we rebuke them, often we deal with them in gentle words, and yet if one hears, another disdains to hear: one in part receives the word of exhortation, and in part refuses to receive it; so that daily we may see fulfilled that which through another prophet the Lord narrates of what he did in anger, when he says: I rained upon one city, and upon another I did not rain.

One part was rained upon, and the part which was not rained upon withered (Amos IV, 7). For when one mind receives the words of holy exhortation, and another refuses to receive them, the Lord rains upon one city, and upon another he does not rain. But when the very neighbor who hears corrects himself from some vices, and yet disdains to amend himself of others, one and the same city is both in part rained upon, and in part remains dry, in which of itself it repels the rain of preaching. For there are some who do not hear the words of exhortation at all; these utterly refuse to receive the rain. And there are some who hear, but nevertheless do not follow it to the marrow, because they cut away some vices in themselves, but in others grievously persist.

For often we see certain persons who through the word of preaching repel from themselves the heat of avarice, and not only no longer seize what belongs to others, but also lavish their own upon the needy; yet do not tame the goads of anger, nor keep the governance of patience through tranquility of mind. And often others at the word of exhortation now conquer in themselves the uncleanness of the flesh, guard the body in chastity, yet do not as yet incline their soul, as they ought, to their neighbors, but through the rigor of pride lift themselves up in thought. In these, one part is rained upon, because it has borne fruit, and the part which was not rained upon has withered, because, not fully receiving the word of exhortation, it has remained barren of good work. There follows: VERSE 12.

— And the spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion: Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place. What is this, that the prophet, after he is sent to the transmigration of the children of the people, hears behind him the voice of a great commotion, saying: Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place? He had indeed been turned toward the sinners of Babylon, and behind his back he heard the voice of the glory of the Lord from his place. For the place of God is Jerusalem, that is, the vision of peace, because indeed those hearts see the things that are God's which do not descend to the transmigration of Babylon, that is, to the vices of confusion. For there God dwells where true peace is sought, where the glory of inner contemplation is loved.

For those who flow down to perversity, scorn to be the place of God. The place of the glory of God is therefore either every holy soul, or each angelic spirit remaining in the heavenly things. And the glory of the Lord is blessed from his place, when by the elect among men, or by the holy angels, eternal praise is sung to the Author of all. In that therefore the just think about the sinners to be converted, because by considering their vices they lead their eye to carnal acts, they intend as it were toward Babylon. Who nevertheless, for the sake of the state of their rectitude, because they never cease to consider the good things of the saints unto the praise of God, although through thought they intend elsewhere, hear as it were behind them the voice of the glory of the Lord from Jerusalem, that is, from his place.

But why do we linger in these things, when these words of the prophet, by the Lord's bounty, we are able to understand in another and subtler sense, and to speak more openly? For he says: And the spirit lifted me up. The spirit lifts up the preacher, when it renders his mind, raised into the love of Almighty God, a stranger now to earthly desires, so that nothing pleases him to do except those things by which he may gather up spiritual gains, and carry the fruit of his daily work to the heavenly kingdoms. Whence it is also commanded to us preachers: Work not for the food which perishes, but for that which endures unto life eternal (John VI, 27). And it is well subjoined: And I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion.

The prophet, filled with the Holy Spirit, narrates as though past the things which he foresees are to be done, because in predestination those things are already done which as yet follow in the work. Whence also in the old translation through Isaiah it is said: Who has made the things that are to come (Isa. XLV, 11, according to the Septuagint). What is it therefore that the prophet heard behind him the voice of a great commotion, except that after the discourse of preaching, which reaches to the hearts of sinners, the lamentations of the penitent follow? For all the perverse, while they do depraved things, and do not hear right things from the just, do not know how grievous are the things they commit, and out of their very ignorance, in their stupor, they are secure;

and those who lie in their faults rest, as it were, softly, just as it is said of a certain sinful and complacent people: 'He hath rested on his lees, because he lay secure in his sins' (Jer. XLVIII, 11). 28. But when the perverse begin to hear the word of preaching, and to learn what the eternal punishments are, what the terror of the judgment, how searching the examination of every single sin, they at once tremble, are filled with groans, and are made anxious with sighs that scarcely contain them; and, shaken by great dread, they burst forth into mourning and weeping. Therefore a voice of great commotion follows the prophet; because after the word of preaching are heard the mourning of the converted and the penitent.

For those who before lay quietly in their wound, being afterwards touched by the hand of healing, He redeemed unto salvation with pain. Of this commotion of the penitent it is said through another prophet: 'His feet shall stand, and the earth shall be moved' (Zach. XIV, 4); because when the footsteps of truth are fixed in the mind of the hearers, the mind itself, troubled in the consideration of itself, is set in commotion. Hence the Psalmist entreats on behalf of sinners, saying: 'Thou that sittest upon the cherubim, let the earth be moved' (Ps. XCVIII, 2). Hence, praying for the afflicted and the penitent, he says: 'Thou hast moved the earth, and hast troubled it; heal thou the breaches thereof, for it is moved' (Ps. LIX, 4).

For the earth moved and troubled is the sinner, anxious from the knowledge of his own guilt, and brought to the lamentations of penitence. For it was said to sinning man: 'Earth thou art, and into earth thou shalt go' (Gen. III, 19). Let him therefore entreat that the contrition of the earth be healed, because it is moved, so that the sinner who is afflicted for his own faults may be consoled by the joy of the heavenly mercy. This then is the voice of great commotion, when each one, judging his own deeds, is disturbed in the affliction of penitence. 29. But let us hear what that voice says: 'Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place.' For the hearts of sinners had been the place of the malignant spirit; but when, angry with their very selves, they return through penitence unto life, they become the place of the Lord's glory.

For now they rise up against themselves, now with the tears of penitence they pursue the evils they have committed. Thence therefore is heard the blessing of glory in the praise of the Lord, whence before resounded the injury done to the Creator through the love of the present world. And the hearts of the penitent now become the Lord's own place, which before, set in sin, had been an alien place. But those very persons who are converted from their sins unto the Lord not only blot out with tears the perverse things they have done, but also by wondrous works advance unto the heights, so as to become holy living creatures of Almighty God, to fly aloft by signs and mighty deeds, to forsake the earth utterly, and, having received gifts, to raise themselves toward heavenly things through desire. Concerning whom it is further added: VER. 13.

— 'And the voice of the wings of the living creatures striking one against another.' 30. The prophet hears behind him the voice of great commotion, because, as has been said, the mourning of the penitent follows the word of the preachers. He hears behind him the voice of the wings of the living creatures, because from the very mourning of the penitent arise the virtues of the saints, so that they advance in holy action all the more, the more they remember that before their knowledge of life they acted wickedly. But there is in these words a great difficulty, because it is not openly said through the prophet whether each living creature strikes its own wings against itself, or rather whether these same holy living creatures strike one another in turn with their wings, so that the wing of this one touches the other, and the wing of the other touches this creature. 31.

But because very often in sacred discourse something is said obscurely for this reason, that by the wonderful dispensation of God it may be expounded in manifold ways, we ought, the Lord granting it, to expound both to your charity. We have already often said that the wings of the living creatures are the virtues of the saints (Hom. 4, n. 1; Hom. 7, n. 22; Hom. 8, n. 1). How therefore does each one, shaking out its wings, strike one against another, save that it is plainly given to understand that, if we are made holy living creatures, virtue stirs up virtue within us, while the one impels the other to perfection? For behold, one already has the knowledge of the word of God; he learns that he should have also bowels of mercy. For through the knowledge of the word of God he learns:

'Give alms, and behold, all things are clean unto you' (Luke XI, 41). And when he has begun to be merciful in alms, he reads the words of holy authority; and whatever is said therein of mercy, he thenceforth understands by experience. For there it is written: 'I was the father of the poor' (Job XXIX, 16). Which perhaps before he read and passed over. But when in his heart mercy has begun to imitate nature, he reads and recognizes what it is to be the father of the poor, because, returning within, he understands in himself what he hears without. For it is one thing to give alms from precept, and another from charity. For to do good from precept belongs to beginners;

but to do good from charity belongs to the perfect, who not only act because it is commanded, but also love in the doing what is commanded. Hence indeed it is that in great virtue it is said through the Psalmist: 'See that I have loved Thy commandments, O Lord; in Thy mercy quicken me' (Ps. CXVIII, 159). For to do the commandments of God for the sake of the command belongs to one serving and obeying, but to do them by loving belongs to one obeying and loving. Since therefore both through knowledge the mercy of charity is learned, and through the charity of mercy in the compunct heart knowledge is multiplied, in us wing strikes wing, because virtue stirs up virtue. Thus he who keeps the good of chastity in his own body is kindled with zeal against the lustful.

that they may be cleansed from the stains of uncleanness. And often, when he finds certain ones in their falls, he subdues, afflicts, and constrains them back to the purity of chastity. And if perchance his own mind be tempted with the uncleanness of lust, from the very zeal by which he corrected others he reproves himself, and blushes to think unclean things, which he recalls having corrected in others. In this therefore wing strikes wing, while virtue impels virtue, and guards from uncleanness. 31. But if indeed, as we said before, the living creatures strike one another in turn with their wings, and one wing of each is struck against the other, the meaning of this description also lies open, the Lord granting it.

What then is it that these winged living creatures strike their wings one against another in turn, save that all the saints touch one another with their virtues, and rouse each other to advancement from the consideration of another's virtue? For not all things are given to one, lest, uplifted into pride, he fall; but to this one is given what is not given to you, and to you is given what is denied to him, so that while this one considers the good which you have and he himself has not, he prefers you to himself in his thought; and again, while you behold him to have what you yourself have not, you set yourself after him in your thought, and there comes to pass what is written: 'In honour preferring one another' (Phil. II, 3).

For, to say a few things out of many: to this one is granted the virtue of wondrous abstinence, and yet he has not the word of knowledge. To that one, however, is given the word of knowledge; and yet he strives to grasp the virtue of perfect abstinence, and cannot. To this one is granted liberty of speech, so that, affording the solaces of protection to the oppressed, he may speak freely for the defence of justice; but yet, still possessing many things in this world, he wishes to relinquish all, and cannot. To that one, however, it has already been given to relinquish all earthly things, so that he desires to have nothing in this world; but yet he does not presume to exercise the authority of his voice against sinners.

And he who for this reason ought to have spoken all the more freely, because he now has nothing whereby he might be held in this world, refuses to speak freely against others, lest he lose the very quiet of his life. To this one is given the virtue of prophecy; he already foresees many things that are to come; but yet, beholding and pitying the sickness of a neighbour who is present, he cannot heal it. To that one is given the grace of healing, and by prayers he drives away from the body of a neighbour the affliction which is at present; but yet he knows not what will follow himself a little after.

By this dispensation therefore Almighty God so distributes His gifts among His elect, that He gives to this one what He denies to that, and grants to another a greater thing which He bestows less upon another; so that while either this one beholds another to have what he himself has not, or that one considers this one to have received a greater thing which he weighs to be less present with himself, all may admire the gifts of God in one another, that is, in turn; and from this very admiration one may be humbled before the other, and he whom one sees to have what he has not, he may reckon to be set before himself by the divine judgment. Therefore the living creatures strike one another in turn with their wings, when holy minds touch one another with alternating virtues, and by touching rouse, and, being roused, fly unto advancement. 33.

Let us see how Paul, touched by the wings of the apostles and roused to penitence, considering the evils of his past persecution and the innocent life of the apostles, said: 'For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God' (1 Cor. XV, 9). He considered the innocence of the apostles, and on account of his preceding malice all the care which he displayed in the Church became vile in his eyes; and he did not attend to how many he surpassed by the understanding he had received, because, weighing their innocence, he grieved that he had once been a persecutor. But let us see whether any of the apostles admires the understanding that was given to Paul.

The first of the apostles himself is to be sought out by us, who, admonishing the disciples, says: 'Even as our most dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, hath written to you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest' (2 Pet. III, 15-16). Thus Paul admires the innocence in all the apostles, the first of the apostles admires the wisdom in Paul. Therefore they touch one another with their wings, who from that very source rouse one another to advancement, whence they fly. 34. This therefore Almighty God works in the hearts of men, which He does in the regions of the earth. For He could indeed grant all fruits to any single region;

but if any single region had no need of another region's fruits, it would not have had communion with the other. Whence it comes that to this one He grants abundance of wine, but to another of oil; He makes this one abound with a multitude of cattle, but that one with plenty of crops, so that when the one brings what the other has not, and the other renders what the former did not bring, through the communion of grace the lands, though divided, may at the same time be joined together. As therefore are the regions of the earth, so are the minds of the saints, which, while in turn they confer upon one another what they have received, as it were lend their fruits, region to regions, so that all may be joined in one charity. 35.

But amid these things it is to be known that, just as every elect one always attends in others to that which they have received from God better than themselves, so as to prefer them to himself in his thought and to prostrate himself beneath them in humility, so the mind of the reprobate never considers what good another has more than itself, but what good it itself has more than another. For they do not weigh what goods of the spirit another has received which are lacking to themselves, but what goods they themselves have, and what evils are present in another. And whereas Almighty God for this reason distributes virtues to each, that He may humble one before another in thought, the reprobate for this reason drag down to themselves the good which they have received, that from it they may be lost in elation, while they always consider the goods which they themselves have and others have not.

and they never strive to weigh how great goods others have and they themselves have not. What therefore the divine goodness disposes for the increase of humility, this the reprobate minds turn to the increase of elation; and from the diversity of gifts they fall away from the good, whence they ought to have grown in the good of humility. 36. On this account therefore it is necessary, most dear brethren, that in yourselves you should always look upon that which you have less, but in your neighbours upon that which they have received more than you, so that while you, being beneath yourselves, look up for the good which they have and you have not, you also may grow in humility toward obtaining it as well.

For if both you weigh the goods received in them, and they consider in you the gifts which you have, in turn you touch one another with your wings, so that, being roused, you may always fly unto heavenly things. There follows: VER. 13. — 'And the voice of the wheels following the living creatures, and the voice of great commotion.' 37. We said above that by the wheels of sacred discourse the Testaments are signified (Hom. 6, n. 1 seq.). The voice therefore of the wheels is the discourse of the Testaments. After the voice of the wings of the living creatures, therefore, the voice of the wheels is also heard, because, the discourse of the preachers being received, while the virtues of the saints fly up to loftier deeds and in turn impel one another to advancement, the estate of holy Church is raised up, so that throughout the whole world the pages of the sacred Testaments may be read.

For everywhere now the holy Gospel, everywhere the sayings of the apostles, everywhere the law and the prophets resound. After the voice of the wings, therefore, the voice of the wheels follows, because after the miracles of the saints the words of the sacred discourse are freely and licitly heard within holy Church. And the wheels follow the living creatures, because, as was said above, after the life of the saints came into honour, the eloquences of the Testaments also appeared venerable to men. 38. Or certainly the wheels follow the living creatures, because in the life of the holy Fathers we recognize what we ought to understand in the volume of sacred Scripture. For their action opens to us that which the page of the Testaments says in its preachings. But it is to be inquired

by us why, after it was said above, 'I heard behind me the voice of great commotion,' after the voice too of the wings and of the wheels there is added, 'And the voice of great commotion.' And if it be diligently considered, it can be found that it is not idly repeated. 39. For there are two great commotions by which our hearts are moved. One commotion is from fear, the other from charity; the one comes from the mourning of the penitent, the other from the fervour of those who love. After the word of preaching, therefore, is the first commotion, when we lament the evils which we have done; but after the voice of the wings and wheels, there is the second commotion, when with great weepings we seek the heavenly goods which we hear.