Moralia in Job 1436

Ezek. 40:1.—'In the five and twentieth year of our transmigration, in the beginning of the year, the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, in that same day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me thither.' 1. About to speak of mystical things, he prefaces a historical narration, so that he may bind by time what he brings forth by revelation. It is to be noted, moreover, that in the beginning of this book he indicated in what year the prophet began to prophesy; but at the end he inserted in what year he saw the last vision, so that it might be able to be recognized in how many years he carried on the book of his prophecy. For the time when he began to prophesy he set at the beginning of his discourse, saying: 'The heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God, on the fifth of the month;'

'that is the fifth year of the transmigration of king Joachin' (Ezek. 1:1-2). But now he speaks, saying: 'In the five and twentieth year of our transmigration.' For the same prophet had in the first captivity been led across into Babylonia with king Joachin (2 Kings 24:15). For concerning the second captivity of Jerusalem he subjoins: 'In the fourteenth year after the city was smitten.' For Zedekiah had reigned eleven years in the city of Jerusalem after the first captivity, in which the prophet Ezekiel was led with king Joachin into Babylon. But after the captivity of that same Zedekiah, which was now the second captivity of the city, in the fourteenth year the prophet was seeing the last vision.

Eleven and fourteen joined together therefore make twenty-five. If, then, he spoke his first vision in the fifth year of the earlier captivity, and he records that this last one took place in the twenty-fifth year, it is surely plain that through twenty years he extended the intervals of his utterance right up to the words of his last vision. Nor ought it to disturb anyone that in the middle volume of his prophecy, when he was speaking of the king of Babylon, he makes mention of the twenty-seventh year. For since in that passage he inserted nothing concerning the time of his own captivity, he clearly shows that he was reckoning by the time of that king, concerning whom he had received a commission to prophesy. But as to what he says:

'In the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month,' he expresses the time simply, so that from the very time itself he may fix in the hearts of his hearers, according to the letter, the root of the word, from which he may afterwards bring forth spiritual fruits. 2. But it is to be noted that he says: 'In the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, on this very day.' For what is the meaning of the fact that through this last vision Almighty God deigned on that very day to work the mercy of His promise—the same day on which He had fulfilled the measure of justice in the smitten city—unless it be this: that the power of the Godhead, which is not drawn into any movement or mutability of change, by that very light of justice quickens the afflicted and the penitent, by which He smites the proud and the hard-hearted? Having therefore set down beforehand the time of his vision, he adds: Verses 1, 2.

'The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me thither in the visions of God; He brought me into the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, upon which there was as it were the building of a city facing toward the south.' 3. Now the building of this city can by no means be taken according to the letter. For a little later he adds that this very building was measured with a reed of six cubits and a palm, but the gate of the same building was measured at fourteen cubits, and he states that the fronts of that gate were sixty cubits. All of which can in no way stand according to the letter.

For how is the whole building at once measured with a reed, that is with six cubits and a palm, while the gate of the building is at fourteen cubits, and the fronts of the gates extend to sixty cubits? For the gate is within the city, and the fronts are within the gates. And no reason allows it to be received that that which contains should be less than that which is contained. But in Holy Scripture even those things which can be taken according to history are for the most part to be understood spiritually, so that both faith may be kept in the truth of the history, and spiritual understanding may be gathered from the mysteries of allegory. Just as we also know that which the Psalmist says: 'For I shall behold Thy heavens, the works of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast founded' (Ps. 8:4).

Behold, in the outward description the word of reason stands, for both the heavens are the works of God, and the moon and the stars were created and founded by Him. But if the Psalmist asserts this according to the outward works alone, and not also according to the mystical sense, why, when he professed the heavens to be the works of God, and was about to name the moon and the stars, did he not likewise enumerate the sun, which we know to be His work (Gen. 1:16)? For if he was speaking according to the letter alone, being about to name the lesser light, he ought first to have named the greater light, so as to declare that the sun was founded before, and the moon and stars after.

But because he was speaking according to the mystical understanding—so that we should take the moon as the holy Church, and the stars as all the saints—he was unwilling to name the sun, because clearly he was speaking to that eternal Sun Himself, of whom it is written: 'But unto you that fear the Lord shall the Sun of righteousness arise' (Mal. 4:2). Concerning whom the reprobate shall say at the end: 'The Sun of righteousness hath not risen upon us.' Therefore by saying, 'The moon and the stars which Thou hast founded' (Ps. 8:3), and yet keeping silence about the sun which was made, he indicated that he was speaking to that Sun who made not only the sun and moon and stars bodily, but also the moon which is the Church and the stars which are all the saints, spiritually.

If therefore, when something is lacking to the history, we are led by open reason to the understanding of allegory, how much more are those things to be taken spiritually in which, according to the reason of the letter, nothing historical sounds? 'The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me thither in the visions of God; He brought me into the land of Israel.' What he had said, 'He brought me thither,' repeating this he added: 'He brought me into the land of Israel.' For he says: 'The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me thither in the visions of the Lord.' Now the hand signifies the strength of power, but the visions signify the very revelation which he had received. For the hand in the vision is strength in contemplation.

By which words what does he plainly indicate, except that he says nothing according to the letter concerning the city which he had seen? For he speaks spiritually of that which he spiritually contemplates. 4. 'And He set me down upon a very high mountain.' Whom then does the very high mountain signify but the Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus? Who is indeed of the earth, yet beyond the earth, because the flesh of our same Redeemer has its material from the lowest, but towers above in the highest by His power. Whom it were too little to call high, unless he had added 'very'; because He is not only man, but from the conception of that humanity which was assumed by Him, God-man—not only a man beyond men, but a man made even above the angels.

For hence it is said of Him through Isaiah: 'In that day shall the fruit of the earth be exalted' (Isa. 4:2). For our Creator, because He was incarnate for us, was made for us the fruit of the earth. But now the fruit of the earth is exalted, because the man born on earth reigns above the angels in heaven, because according to the voice of David and Paul, 'He hath subjected all things under His feet' (Ps. 8:8; Heb. 2:8). For in that He subjected all things to Him, He left nothing not subjected to Him. This mountain therefore is both high and very high, because although by the substance of humanity it is of the earth, yet by the loftiness of the Godhead it is incomprehensible.

Hence it is that, when the prophet Isaiah foresaw the same Lord as about to come in the flesh, being lifted up by the spirit of prophecy, he said: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains' (Isa. 2:2). For the house of the Lord was the people of Israel. That therefore was called the mountain of the house of the Lord, which deigned to be incarnate from the people of Israel. But there were in that same people holy men who might rightly be called mountains, because through the merit of their life they drew near to heavenly things. But the incarnate Only-begotten was not equal to those mountains, because by His Godhead He transcended the nature, life, and merits of all.

Whence He is rightly called the mountain above the top of the mountains, because He was found high by His Godhead even above the summits of the saints, so that those who had greatly advanced in God could scarcely touch His traces from the top of their thought. He therefore who is there called the mountain above the top of the mountains, is here declared to be the mountain exceeding high. There follows: 5. 'Upon which there was as it were the building of a city facing toward the south.' It is to be noted that it is not said, 'Upon which there was a building,' but 'as it were a building,' so that it might clearly be shown that all these things were spoken not of the fabric of a bodily city, but of a spiritual one.

For he who declares that he saw not a building, but as it were a building, sends the heart of his hearers to the spiritual fabric, as it is said through the Psalmist: 'Jerusalem, which is built as a city' (Ps. 121:3). For because that vision of inward peace is constructed from the congregation of the holy citizens, the heavenly Jerusalem is built as a city. Which nevertheless, while in this land of pilgrimage it is smitten with scourges and battered with tribulations, its stones are daily squared. And this very thing is the city, namely holy Church, which, destined to reign in heaven, still labors on earth. To whose citizens Peter says: 'And you also, as living stones, are built up' (1 Pet. 2:5). And Paul says: 'You are God's husbandry, God's building' (1 Cor.

3:9). Which city has here already, in the morals of the saints, its great building. For in a building stone bears stone, because stone is placed upon stone; and he who bears the other is borne by the other. So therefore, so in holy Church each one both bears the other and is borne by the other. For neighbors mutually support one another, that through them the building of charity may rise. Hence Paul admonishes, saying: 'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ' (Gal. 6:2). And declaring the strength of that law, he says: 'The fulness of the law is charity' (Rom. 13:10).

For if I neglect to bear you in your ways, and you disdain to endure me in my ways, whence rises the building of charity between us, whom mutual love does not join through patience? But in a building, as we said before, the stone which bears is borne, because just as I already endure the ways of those who are as yet unpracticed in the conduct of good work, so I too have been borne by those who went before me in the fear of the Lord and bore me, that being borne I might learn to bear. But these themselves also were borne by those greater than they.

But the stones which are placed at the summit and the extremity of the fabric are indeed borne by others, but bear no others, because those also who are to be born at the end of the Church—that is, at the extremity of the world—are indeed endured by their elders, that their manners may be composed to good works; but since none follow them who might advance through them, they bear upon themselves no stones of the faithful fabric. Now therefore some are borne by us, but we ourselves were borne by others. But the whole weight of the fabric the foundation bears, because our Redeemer alone endures the manners of all together. Of whom Paul says: 'For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus' (1 Cor. 3:11).

The foundation bears the stones, and is not borne by the stones, because our Redeemer endures all our faults, but in Him there was no evil which ought to have been endured. Whence it is well now said: 'He set me down upon a very high mountain, upon which there was as it were the building of a city,' because He alone sustains our manners and faults, who bears the whole fabric of holy Church. Who through the voice of the prophet says concerning those still living perversely: 'I am weary with sustaining' (Jer. 6:11). Now the Lord does not labor in sustaining, whose power of Godhead no weariness touches; but, speaking in human words, He calls His very patience toward us a labor. 6.

And it is to be noted that he saw the same city, which the prophet beheld, facing toward the south. For that the south wind is wont to be set as a type of the Holy Spirit, those who are studious in the sacred word recognize; just as, on the contrary, by the north the devil is often designated, because the one relaxes in warmth, and the other constricts in cold. And the Truth says: 'Iniquity shall abound, and the charity of many shall grow cold' (Matt. 24:12). The prophet also asserts concerning Judea, saying: 'As a cistern maketh its water cold, so hath she made her wickedness cold' (Jer. 6:7). Hence indeed the devil, the same prophet testifying, is declared to have said: 'I will sit in the mount of the covenant, in the sides of the north' (Isa. 14:13).

But on the contrary this city faces toward the southern quarter, because the grace of the Holy Spirit relaxes the torpor of the mind. Hence the Psalmist says: 'Turn again, O Lord, our captivity, as a stream in the south' (Ps. 125:4). For our captivity, which by the cold of torpor had grown sluggish to following God, is relaxed through the warmth of the Holy Spirit, that it may run into the love of God. Whence it is now also said that the city which is set on the mountain faces toward the south, because the Church of the elect opens its thoughts in the breathing of the Holy Spirit, and, descending from every height of its own pride, in God, in whom it believes,

conceives the warmth of love, so that nothing may please it except to be submitted to His grace, to be warmed by His love, to be always filled with the gift of His breathing. Whence too, kindled with mighty love, the contemplative said: 'My soul shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall delight in His salvation' (Ps. 34:9). For he who in Latin is called 'saving' is himself in Hebrew called Jesus. The prophet therefore, because he was contemplating His ways and the mystery of our redemption also through the spirit of prophecy, declares that he rejoices in the Lord and delights in Jesus, because thence he had conceived joy in his mind whence he burned the more through love.

Let us therefore weigh: if the minds of the spiritual fathers delighted in Him who had not yet come but was foreseen, whose fault is it not to love His ways, His examples, His admonitions, after He came and displayed redemption? This city therefore is said to face toward the south, as if it were plainly said that that former city, namely the Synagogue, stood toward the north in its unbelievers, which hardened in the cold of perfidy. But holy Church, which conceived the charity of faith, faces toward the south through warmth, and, as it were, leans upon a warm wind, because it rejoices not in its own confidence, but in the gift of spiritual grace. There follows: Verse 3. 'And He led me in thither.' 7.

He enters the building of the heavenly city who, in holy Church, by imitating considers the ways of the good. For to enter is to consider the building upon the mountain, namely the elect of holy Church set upon the height of virtues, in what manner by loving they may advance in the Lord. For one leads a life bound in marriage, is content with his own possessions, does not seize what is another's, bestows on the needy whatever he can of his own, and does not neglect to weep over the sins without which daily life cannot be led by the married. For because that domestic care disturbs his mind, he lifts himself up to tears.

But another has already forsaken all the things that are of the world, desires to possess nothing of it, is fed by the exercise of contemplation alone, rejoices with weeping in the hope of heavenly rewards, transcends even those things which have been permitted to be possessed, seeks to have daily secret converse with the Lord; no defilement of the passing world troubles his mind, he ever enlarges his mind in the expectation of heavenly joys. But yet another has already forsaken all the things of this world, and his mind is lifted up into the contemplation of heavenly things; yet nevertheless, for the edification of many, holding a place of governance, he who from desire does not succumb to passing things, sometimes turns back to them for the compassion of his neighbors, that from the care of them he may have mercy on the needy;

he preaches the word of life to his hearers, and ministers things necessary to both souls and bodies alike. And he who for his own part already flies out to heavenly desire through contemplation, nevertheless still toils in temporal things for the advancement and profit of his neighbors. Whosoever therefore in holy Church studies carefully to consider, that he may advance either in the life of good married folk, or in the citadel of the continent who forsake all the things that are of this world, or even in the height of the preachers, already enters the building of the city set upon the mountain. For he who neglects to consider the life of the better, that he may advance, still stands outside the fabric.

And if he admires the honor which holy Church already has in the world, he as it were beholds the building from without and is astounded. And because he is intent on outward things alone, he has not entered within. There follows: Ibid. 'And behold a man, whose appearance was as the appearance of brass.' 8. He is signified in the man, who is figured in the mountain. But this man is said to measure the building. And rightly is the Lord signified by both the man and the mountain, because He both disposes all things within holy Church by judging, and He bears the same holy Church, and by bearing lifts it up to heavenly things. So too in the holy Gospel our same Redeemer speaks, saying: 'He that entereth by the door is the shepherd of the sheep' (John 10:2). And a little after: 'I am the door' (ibid. 7).

And again after a little he adds: 'I am the good shepherd' (ibid. 11). If therefore He Himself is the shepherd, and He Himself the door, and the shepherd enters by the door, why is not in this place both the mountain and the man understood to be Himself, who measures the building upon the mountain? 9. But now it must be asked why it is said of this man: 'Whose appearance was as the appearance of brass.' Now we all know, brethren, that the metal of brass is very durable, and in every way sonorous. What is it then that the aspect of the Mediator of God and men is compared to the appearance of brass, unless this which we plainly know, that the Only-begotten Son, taking the form of a servant, turned the frailty of human flesh, through the glory of His resurrection, into eternity, because in Him is now made without hope of an end that which is durable?

For 'rising from the dead, He now dieth no more, death shall no more have dominion over Him' (Rom. 6:9). But what is it that His very incarnation is compared to sonorous metal, unless that through the same assumption of our humanity the glory of His majesty resounded to all? And He as it were has the aspect of brass in His body, because God became known to the world from the flesh. Whence too it is said through John: 'He had written upon His garment and upon His thigh: King of kings, and Lord of lords' (Rev. 19:16). For what is His garment but the body which He assumed from the Virgin? Nor yet is His garment one thing, and He Himself another. For our flesh too is called a garment, yet we ourselves are the flesh with which we are clothed.

But this garment of His, Isaiah beholding long before, stained red with the blood of His passion through the cross, said: 'Why is Thy garment red, and Thy raiment like theirs that tread in the winepress?' (Isa. 63:2). To whom He Himself answered: 'I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the nations there is no man with me' (ibid. 3). For He alone trod the winepress in which He was trodden, who by His own power conquered the passion which He endured. For He who suffered even unto the death of the cross, rose from death with glory. But it is well said: 'And of the nations

there is no man with me' (ibid.), because those for whom He had come to suffer ought to have been partakers of His passion, who, because at that time they had not yet believed, He complains of them in the passion, whose life was sought in that passion. But by the thigh is signified the propagation of the flesh. Because therefore through the propagation of the human race—as the orders of the generations are described, Matthew (Matt. 1:1ff.) or Luke (Luke 3:7, 23ff.) narrating them—He came into this world from the Virgin, and through the mystery of His incarnation made known to all nations everywhere that He was King and Lord, He had written upon His garment and upon His thigh: King of kings, and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16).

For whence He became known in the world, there He fixed the knowledge of Himself. His preaching therefore, from the flesh, is as it were a certain sound from brass. Let it therefore be rightly said: 'Whose appearance was as the appearance of brass.' There follows: Ibid. 'And a line of flax in His hand.' 10. In the Septuagint translators it is not held to be a line of flax, but a builder's line. If in this verse we hold to their translation for exposition, whom else do we take the builders to be but the holy teachers, who, by speaking spiritual things, compose living stones—that is, the souls of the elect—for the heavenly building?

For whatever the ancient fathers, whatever the prophets, whatever the apostles, whatever the successors of the apostles have spoken, what else was it but the composing of stones in this fabric of the saints which is daily being constructed? Now with the builders' line this is wont to be done, that the evenness or straightness of the rising wall may be discerned; and if a stone be within, it may be cast out; if it project outwardly, it may be called back within. And certainly daily the preaching of the teachers does this, that each soul, for which perhaps it is not expedient to undertake the burdens of governance, even though it seek to appear outwardly, may be called back within;

and again, that which wishes to lie hidden and to bear the care of itself alone, if it can be useful to itself and to many, even when it desires to lie hidden, may be brought forth outwardly that it may appear. And so it comes to pass that the order of the holy stones is kept, while often both he who wishes to come to honor is repelled, and he who flees honor is lifted up into the citadel of the sacred order. But because, as we have learned through our interpreter, the history of the Hebrews has not 'builders,' but 'a line of flax in His hand,' we ought to expound this which is more surely held among us. Now we know that a line of flax is finer than if the lines were made from something else. And what ought we to take in the line of flax, but a finer—that is, a spiritual—preaching?

For the strictness of the law was a line, but it was not of flax, because it restrained a rude people by no subtle preaching, in which by the sentence of penalty it cut away not the sins of thought, but of deed. But after the Lord through Himself, by preaching, bound even the thoughts of men, and made known that sin is perfected even in the heart, He held a line of flax in His hand. For He says: 'You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart' (Matt. 5:27; Exod. 20:14). The line of flax therefore is a subtle preaching, which binds the mind of the hearer, lest it dissolve itself even in wretched thought.

And it is to be noted that it is said that the line is in His hand, that is, the preaching is in operation. For in Himself He showed all that He taught, as it is written: 'Which Jesus began to do and to teach' (Acts 1:1). And because He committed the very things which He said also to writing, that they might be handed down to posterity, it is rightly added: Ibid. 'And a reed of measure in His hand.' 11. Concerning holy Church the Lord promises through another prophet, saying: 'There shall spring up in her the greenness of the reed and the rush' (Isa. 35:7). Which I remember to have expounded in another place (Book 13 of the Morals, n. 51), so that by the reed writers, and by the rush hearers, ought to be understood.

But because both the rush and the reed are wont to grow at the moisture of water, and both thrive from one and the same water, and the reed indeed is taken for writing, while with the rush one cannot write, what ought we to take in the rush and the reed, but that there is one doctrine of truth, which waters many hearers? But of those watered, some advance thus far in the word of God that they even become writers, namely as it were reeds; but others hear the word of life, hold the green vigor of good hope and of upright works, yet can by no means advance to writing. What are these in the water of God but a certain kind, so to speak, of rushes? Who indeed advance by growing green, but can in no wise express letters.

Our Redeemer therefore, because He granted that the words which He spoke should also be written through the diligence of teachers, held a reed in His hand. Which reed is called a reed of measure, because in the very studies of the teachers they are held under a certain dispensation of hidden judgment, so that they may profit some who read, and cannot profit others who read. Whence the holy apostles, when they asked the Master of truth speaking more openly to them why He spoke to the crowds in parables, heard: 'Because to you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not' (Matt. 13:11). Or certainly it is a reed of measure, because in His very sacred word, which is written down for us, we recognize that His dispensations are hidden.

For through His incomprehensible judgment one is sent within the measure of the elect, and another is left without, so that in no way may he deserve to belong to the number of the elect. He has therefore a line, He has in His hand a reed of measure. For he who measures a place with a line draws the line in one direction, draws it back from another, and leads hither him whom he withdraws from another quarter. So indeed, so does our Redeemer act in the gathering of men, while He leads some out from their iniquities, and leaves others in their iniquity. In those whom He deigned to gather He drew the line of hidden measure, and from those whom He judged to be forsaken, what else did He do but draw back the line?

So that both the good may be held within the measure of the heavenly fabric, and the evil may remain outside the fabric, in whom the things reckoned good are not, as it were without measure. 12. This line and reed of measure our Redeemer held in His hand, when He deigned to admonish the apostle Paul through the man of Macedonia who appeared, so that the same man of Macedonia said: 'Pass over and help us' (Acts 16:9). And yet when the apostles wished to go to preach in Asia, the Spirit of Jesus did not permit it.

What is it that the holy apostles are both called to go where perhaps they were not thinking of going, and are forbidden to go thither where they desired to go, except that the line of hidden judgment and the reed of measure is held in the hand, so that some may hear the words of life, and others may by no means deserve to hear? The line of measure therefore is that which was drawn in one direction, drawn back from another. 13. From the holy Gospel too, by its testimony, we have learned that one came who said: 'Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou shalt go' (Matt. 8:19). To whom it was answered: 'The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head' (ibid. 20). Another came who said: 'Master, suffer me first to go and bury my father.'

To whom it is said: 'Let the dead bury their dead; but follow thou me, and preach the kingdom of God' (ibid. 21, 22). What is it that the one promises to go, and is forsaken; the other wishes to return home, and yet is bidden that he ought to follow? The one is not received, the other is not released from service even for a moment's hour. By the inward dispensation therefore of hidden judgment the line and the reed of measure is led, in which both this one is drawn, and that one is left, so that the heavenly fabric may not be constructed without pious and just scrutiny. 14.

The reed of measure can also be understood as Holy Scripture, for this reason: that whosoever reads it measures himself in it—either how much he advances in spiritual virtue, or how far he has remained separated from the good things that were commanded; how much he already rises to doing good, or how far he still lies prostrate in depraved acts. There follows: Ibid. 'And He stood in the gate.' 15. Whosoever stands in the gate is in one part within, but in another part without, because one thing of him is beheld without, another is hidden within. Our Redeemer therefore, mercifully incarnate for us, stood before human eyes as it were in the gate, because both through His humanity He appeared visible, and He kept Himself invisible in His Godhead.

Hence the Jews, who had been awaiting Him according to the promise of the prophets, were thrown into confusion by the treachery of their unbelief, because they saw as mortal the very One whom they had believed would come for their deliverance. He, therefore, who stands in the gate, as was said above, is seen partly on the outside and partly on the inside. Thus not even the very treachery of the Jews was abandoned without a showing forth of divine power. For seeing His miracles, they were drawn to believe; yet again, weighing His sufferings, they disdained to believe Him to be God, since they saw Him mortal in the flesh; whence it came about that they doubted concerning the knowledge of Him.

For they saw Him hungering, thirsting, eating, drinking, growing weary, sleeping, and they judged Him to be a mere man. They saw Him raising the dead, cleansing lepers, giving light to the blind, casting out demons, and they perceived Him to be more than man. But His very miracles, when pondered in their heart, His humanity disturbed. Whence holy Church, under the voice of the bride, already longing to see Him openly, says: «Behold, He standeth behind our wall» (Cant. II, 9). For He who showed to human eyes that which He had assumed of mortal nature, and yet remained invisible in Himself, stood as it were behind a wall before those who sought to see Him in the open, because He did not offer Himself to be seen with majesty made manifest.

For He stood as it were behind a wall, who displayed the nature of the humanity which He assumed, yet hid the nature of the divinity from human eyes. Whence there also follows: «Looking through the windows, gazing through the lattices» (Ibid.). For whoever looks through windows or through lattices is neither wholly hidden nor wholly seen. Just so, without doubt, our Redeemer appeared before the eyes of those who doubted; for if, working miracles, He had suffered nothing as man, He would have appeared to them fully as God; and again, suffering human things, if He had done nothing as God, He would have been thought a mere man.

But because He both did divine things and endured human things, He looked forth upon men as it were through windows or lattices, so that He might both appear as God from His miracles and be hidden from view by His sufferings, and be discerned as man from His sufferings, yet be acknowledged to be more than man from His miracles. But since this man is said to stand in the gate, we must inquire whether with His face inward and His back outward. In this matter, if we consider what precedes and what is joined afterward, we more quickly discover in what manner he stood. For first it is said: «It was like the building of a city inclining toward the south, and He brought me thither.» And a little after, concerning the same man, it is added: «Now He stood in the gate.» And straightway there follows: «And the same man spoke to me» (v. 4).

For He who, when the prophet had been brought into the building, spoke while standing in the gate, assuredly it is established that He stood with His face inward and His back outward. But the prophet who was brought in, to whom the man standing in the gate spoke, beyond doubt held his face toward the gate, whence he heard the words of the speaker. What is it, then, that the man looks inward, the prophet outward? What is it that the face of that same man is toward the building, but the eyes of the prophet toward the gate, unless that the Only-Begotten of the Father was for this cause incarnate, that He might bring us in to the spiritual building, that is, to the faith of holy Church? Whose eyes ever behold His own building, because they attend unceasingly how much each one advances in virtues.

But the prophet looks toward the gate, because he who hears the words of God ought ever to fix the eyes of his heart upon his end, and without ceasing to meditate when he shall depart from the present life and attain to eternal joys. For it was for this that God became incarnate, that He might bring us in to faith, and lead us back to the vision of His own likeness. Whence also in the holy Gospel the Truth speaks, saying: «By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pastures» (John X, 9). He shall go in, namely, to faith; he shall go out, however, to vision; and he shall find pastures in eternal fullness. Hence also the Psalmist says: «The Lord keep thy going in and thy going out» (Ps. CXX, 8).

For the Lord keeps the going in of each soul, whereby it enters to faith, and also the going out whereby it goes out to vision, so that neither entering the Church may it be tripped up by errors, nor going out from this temporal to the eternal may it be seized by the ancient enemy. But concerning this going out of ours, which we ought daily to meditate in mind, the Apostle speaks of our Redeemer, saying: «That He might sanctify the people by His own blood, He suffered outside the gate. Let us go forth therefore to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For we have not here a lasting city, but we seek one to come» (Heb. XIII, 12, 13, 14).

The man, therefore, who appeared, stood in the gate and thus spoke, since Christ Jesus, the Mediator of God and men, even at the very time of His Passion gave the precepts of life to His disciples, so that those who believe in Him should ever look toward the gate, and, weighing His Passion with anxious consideration, should not turn the eyes of their heart away from their own going out.

We too, when we have already begun to despise the enclosures of the flesh, to pass through the straits of our mortality by desire for immortality, to stretch toward the freedom of the light on high, to pant after the joys of the heavenly homeland, hold our eyes toward the gate; because while we desire to pass from things temporal to things eternal in the sacraments, we have, as it were, already turned our backs upon the present life, and hold the face of our heart in the desire of our going forth. For it is written: «The corruptible body weigheth down the soul, and the earthly habitation presseth down the mind that museth upon many things» (Wis. IX, 15). Thus therefore, through contemplation, we already stretch in mind beyond the straits of the flesh, and yet in the sacraments which we have come to know we are held within the gate by that same fleshly straitness.

For often the mind is so suspended in divine contemplation that already it rejoices to perceive somewhat, through a certain image, of that eternal freedom «which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard» (1 Cor. II, 9); yet, beaten back by the weight of its mortality (Isai. LXIV, 6), it slips down to the depths, and is held bound by certain chains of its own punishment. He, therefore, attends to the gate, who beholds the joys of his true freedom, and now longs to go out, but is not yet able. Hence it is that the Hebrew people, delivered from the bondage of Egypt, when they saw the pillar of cloud as God spoke, each one stood in the door of his own tabernacle and worshipped (Exod. XXXIII, 10). Of whom it is said a little above:

«When Moses went out to the tabernacle, all the people rose up, and each one stood in the door of his own tent» (Ibid. 8). For there we stand, where we fix the eye of our mind. Whence Elijah says: «The Lord liveth, in whose sight I stand» (3 Kings XVII, 1). There assuredly he stood, where he had fixed his heart. But what is it that the people beheld the pillar of cloud, and stood and worshipped in the doors of their tent, unless that the human mind beholds, however dimly and as in a riddle, those things above and heavenly, already goes forth from the enclosures of its bodily habitation through uplifted thought, and humbly adores Him whose substance, though it cannot see, it yet already marvels at His power through the illumination of the Spirit?

And when Moses enters the tabernacle, the people behold his back, and stand at the doors of their tents; because when any holy preacher speaks lofty things concerning God, he already, in whatever measure, enters the tabernacle of the habitation on high. Of whose preaching the weaker ones, even if they cannot fully weigh its power, nevertheless behold it as it were from behind, since they follow through the understanding the last things which prevail over them. But even in those least things which they are able to grasp, they now, as it were, go out from their own tents and stand in the doors; because they strive both to leave the dwellings of the flesh and to advance toward those joys of eternal life which they hear of. Hence it is also that Elijah, when he heard the voice of the Lord speaking with him (3 Kings XIX, 9),

is described as having stood in the door of his cave, and to have veiled his face (v. 13); because when the voice of heavenly understanding comes into the mind through the grace of contemplation, the whole man is now not within the cave, since the care of the flesh no longer possesses the soul, but he stands in the door, because he ponders how to go out from the straits of mortality. But now, he who stands in the door of the cave and receives the words of God in the ear of his heart, it is necessary that he veil his face; because while through supernal grace we are led to understand higher things, the more subtly we are lifted up, so much the more must we ever, through humility, press ourselves down in our own understanding, lest we should try «to be more wise than it behooveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety» (Rom. XII, 3);

lest, while we too curiously examine invisible things, we go astray; lest we seek in that incorporeal nature something of a corporeal image. For to bend the ear and to cover the face is to hear the voice of the inner Substance through the mind, and yet to turn the eye of the heart away from every corporeal appearance, lest the mind fashion for itself anything corporeal in that Substance which is everywhere whole and everywhere uncircumscribed. We therefore, most dear brethren, who now through the death and resurrection of our Redeemer, and His ascension to the heavens, love the eternal joys; who know that His angels, our fellow-citizens, appeared outwardly in testimony of His divinity, let us long for the King, let us desire

the fellow-citizens whom we have come to know, and, standing in this building of holy Church, let us hold our eyes upon the gate; let us give the back of our mind to this corruption of temporal life, let us direct the face of our heart toward the freedom of the heavenly homeland. But behold, there are still many things that press upon us from the care of corruptible life. Since therefore we cannot perfectly go out, let us at least stand in the door of our cave, being destined at some time to go out prosperously through the grace of our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.