Moralia in Job 1444

What shall we say concerning the mystical senses of the prophet Ezekiel, we who scarcely grasp the very words of his narrative? For behold he says: Verses 39-41. 'And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, that the burnt-offering might be immolated upon them, and the sacrifice for sin and for trespass. And on the outer side, which goes up to the door of the gate that leads toward the North, were two tables; and on the other side, before the porch of the gate, were two tables. Four tables on this side, and four tables on that side, along the sides of the gate. There were eight tables, upon which they immolated.' In which words, indeed, a great fog of doubt arises, whether these things are said of any one gate whatsoever, or of two, or of the several gates.

But since fourfold tables are described along the sides, and afterward in the sum of the conclusion it is said: 'There were eight tables upon which they immolated,' it is plain that the Spirit does not say this of the several gates which He had described above; for if the six gates enumerated above had four tables along their sides, all together they would be called not eight, but forty-eight. Again, if this is said of one gate, our understanding is beaten back by a great obstacle: that after the porch of the gate has been described, where two tables on this side and two tables on that side are said to be, there are further mentioned, on the outer side which goes up to the door of the gate that leads toward the North, two tables, and there is added:

'And on the other side, before the porch of the gate, were two tables.' For if within the porch of the gate there were tables two by two along the sides, when it is added: 'And on the outer side were two tables,' and 'on the other side before the porch were two tables,' between which also the gate that looks toward the way of the North is mentioned—surely it is plain that there was one porch within and another without, because first the inner gate is described, and afterward, in this place, the outer gate of the North. For when he had described three gates above, he also mentioned three others of the inner court, of which the outermost he had called the gate of the North, but, as was said before, of the inner court.

Now therefore, when two tables on this side in the porch of the gate and two tables on that side are described, the discourse is still woven concerning the same inner gate, since immediately it is subjoined that on the outer side, which goes up to the door of the gate that leads toward the North, were two tables; and on the other side, before the porch of the gate, were two tables. The inner gate, then, is described as having two tables along its sides in the porch, and the outer gate likewise two. But four on this side and four on that side come to be equally, when along each of the sides two are described in the porch of the inner gate, and two on this side and that outside in the gate of the North, which all together are eight, upon which sacrifice is offered.

These matters of the outward narrative being thus discussed, let the discourse return to the spiritual understanding, which ought now to be so much the easier, the Lord granting it, as the ignorance of the outward description does not straiten us. 2. For, as was said above, by the name of the gates the holy preachers can be understood, so that the porch of the gate is the people. When the people, with humble mind, receives the words of preaching, then within it the tables are built up for sacrifice out of virtues. Again, nothing hinders if we take as the gate this: that through the mouths of preachers the understanding of sacred eloquence is opened to us, so that the porch of that gate for us are the words of preaching which we first receive humbly, that afterward we may come to the understanding of sacred eloquence.

Let the inner gate, then, be for us the New Testament, and the outer gate the Old Testament, because the one opens the spiritual understanding, and the other guarded the letter in the history of sacred eloquence for minds as yet untrained. Now the inner gate, among the now great multitude of faithful peoples, has two sides, namely the love of God and the love of neighbor. And there are two tables on this side and on that, because in the love of God faith and life must of necessity be held, while in the love of neighbor patience and kindness must above all be preserved. For in the love of God faith and life are necessary, since indeed it is written: 'Without faith it is impossible to please God' (Heb. 11:6). And again it is written:

'Faith without works is dead' (James 2:20, 26). But in the love of neighbor, patience and kindness must be kept by us, because concerning that same love it is written: 'Charity is patient, is kind' (1 Cor. 13:4)—patient, namely, that it may bear with equanimity the evils inflicted by neighbors, but kind, that it may lovingly bestow its own goods upon neighbors. The outer gate also, namely the Law, has two sides: the spiritual fathers and the carnal people. In each of these there are two tables, because in the spiritual fathers it has teaching and prophecy, and in the carnal people it has circumcision and sacrifice.

Upon these eight tables, then, sacrifice is offered, because whatsoever faith believes, whatsoever life shows forth in the example of good work, whatsoever patience humbly endures, whatsoever kindness bountifully ministers, whatsoever teaching wholesomely leads, whatsoever prophecy forewarns for the future, whatsoever circumcision has helped toward the outward commandment, whatsoever sacrifice devotion has performed—all this it shows to be a victim in the eyes of Almighty God. For in the Law, even by carnal sacrifice, what else did the people immolate but the devotion of their own heart?

But it must be noted that only four tables are mentioned as being for the burnt-offering—those, namely, which we take to be of the porch of the inner gate—so that concerning the remaining four we understand that they were built for sacrifice, not for burnt-offering. For the burnt-offering, as I already professed in the preceding discourse (Homily above), is called wholly consumed by fire. And the Law indeed commands that God and neighbor be loved, that the divine commandments be kept, and restrains from the coveting of others' goods; yet it does not bid all things to be forsaken. But in the New Testament the Truth attests to us, saying: 'Unless a man renounce all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple' (Luke 14:33). And again He says:

'Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself' (Luke 9:23). The tables of the inner gate, then, have the burnt-offering, because in the virtues of the New Testament we, as it were by a burnt-offering, set all things afire, when we renounce all things that are of this world. But the tables of the outer gate have sacrifice, yet do not have burnt-offering, because the precepts of the Law command that tithes be offered, but do not command that all things be forsaken. 3. But concerning the four tables of the inner porch it is said: 'That the burnt-offering may be immolated upon them, and for sin, and for trespass.' For this is the difference between sin and trespass: that sin is to do evil, whereas trespass is to abandon good things which ought most earnestly to be held.

Or certainly sin is in deed, trespass in thought. Rightly, then, upon the four tables of the inner gate the burnt-offering is immolated, and for sin, and for trespass; because whosoever has been able fully to despise this present world, and, forsaking all things, to give himself as a burnt-offering to the Lord, he now perfectly knows both to bewail the sins of deed and the trespasses of thought—either what evil he has done, or what good he ought to have done and did not. For he who has forsaken all now more freely beholds his own faults in weeping. And when earthly care no longer hinders his mind, by lamenting at once for deed and for thought, what else did he give to the Almighty Lord than a burnt-offering of his mind? 4.

Nor does this seem foreign to reason, that the prophet, when he spoke of the outer side and named the door of the gate, added: 'Which goes toward the North.' For in the outer keeping of the letter the Law was held. But the door of the gate is the very historical understanding of the Law, which leads to the fear of the Lord. This gate is said to go toward the North, because that same light, under the fear of death, bound the cold hearts of the Jewish people. For that people would, as it were, have run through warmth, if it had kept the Lord's precepts out of love. But because it kept the letter under the fear of the death set before it, it remained, as it were, in the torpor of cold. Whence to the new peoples, who love the eternal rewards and do not fear the temporal torments, and who are already warm, it is said:

'You have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father' (Rom. 8:15). But let it be said: 'Four tables on this side, and four tables on that side, along the sides of the gate.' For when faith and life, teaching and prophecy are kept in the minds of the good, our gate—that is, the understanding of sacred eloquence—has four tables on its side. And when, among peoples making progress, holy preaching preserves patience and kindness—which formerly among the carnal preserved circumcision and sacrifice—four tables also are shown, as it were, on the other side.

Which all together, eight, come to be for immolation—four inner, namely, for the burnt-offering, and four outer for sacrifice—because both those who in the holy Church keep faith, life, patience, and kindness now without doubt abound in the highest virtues; and those who in the synagogue knew teaching and prophecy, circumcision and sacrifice, offering some things and retaining others for themselves, gave to the Almighty Lord the victim of their devotion. But because it was said above that the four tables of the inner porch were built for this, that the burnt-offering might be immolated upon them, and for sin, and for trespass, whence those very tables were built is disclosed below, when it is subjoined: Verse 42.

'But the four tables for the burnt-offering were built of squared stones.' 5. For what do we here take the squared stones to be, but any holy persons whatsoever, whose life knows how to stand firmly both in prosperity and in adversity? For a squared stone stands equally, on whatever side it is turned. Whosoever, then, is not lifted up in prosperity, is not broken in adversity, is not drawn to evil by persuasions, is not called back from good work by revilings—he is a squared stone. And, as it were, he has a standing on every side, because he has no fall in any change whatsoever.

Surely, when the prophet knew that the people of the Jews was perishing from the faith, and foresaw that the holy Apostles would rise up in the Church, through whom many from among the Gentiles would be established in the fortitude of faith and life, he spoke in great consolation, saying: 'The stones have fallen, but we will build with squared stones' (Isa. 9:10). For the Apostle, seeing in the holy Church the martyrs and doctors rising up, grieved less over the fall of the stones—that is, over the perdition of the Jews—because he beheld the edifice of Almighty God, that is, the holy Church, being built of squared stones.

The four tables, then, are built of squared stones, because faith and life, patience and kindness were given from the life of the saints as an example to the peoples who follow, so that now the porch may have tables—that is, that the people may hold the virtues of life—in which it may kindle to Almighty God the sacrifice of prayer upon the altar of its own heart. For whatever good the minds of the peoples of the holy Church either have done or do, this they received as an example from the life of their preachers. For whence would this porch have tables, unless it had found squared stones? For, that we may briefly bring forward one of the squared stones into the midst, do you wish, most beloved brethren, to see faith? 'To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain' (Phil. 1:21).

Do you wish to know life? 'The world is crucified to me, and I to the world' (Gal. 6:14). Do you wish to hear patience? 'Even unto this hour we both hunger, and are buffeted, and are unstable, and labor, working with our own hands; we are reviled, and we bless; we suffer persecution, and we endure; we are blasphemed, and we entreat' (1 Cor. 4:11-13). Do you wish to know kindness? 'But I will most gladly spend and be spent myself for your souls' (2 Cor. 12:15). And lest perchance we believe that he was a debtor to the love of those for whom he desired to be spent, presently to those same disciples he subjoins, saying: 'Though loving you more, I be loved less' (ibid.).

When, therefore, by a faithful people the life of the holy preachers is known for the imitation of their virtues, then surely these tables are built. The synagogue also had spiritual fathers, and in the porch, of squared stones, three tables in teaching and prophecy, from which it might draw an example of life in virtues. But its untrained people, serving more through fear than following through love, was unwilling to imitate the life of the fathers which it saw; and therefore the outer gate, which goes toward the North, has no tables for the burnt-offering. But since we have said these things morally, it yet remains that we scrutinize these same tables by the typical understanding. 6.

For our gate in the inner porch has four tables, because the holy Church has been instructed by the preaching of the four Evangelists, through whose teaching it has learned to ascend in heart into the love of Almighty God, and to immolate to Him its thoughts in sacrifice. Of these, two are said to be on this side and two on that, because two Evangelists both attested the things which they saw concerning the Lord, and two related those things which they learned by the hearing of those going before. Or certainly there are four tables of the inner porch—this which we plainly perceive—because the holy Church, for the instruction of the faithful peoples, receives four orders of rulers, which Paul enumerates from the gift of Almighty God, saying:

'He himself gave some indeed to be apostles, and some prophets, and others evangelists, and others pastors and teachers' (1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11). Pastors and teachers, indeed, he names as one order of rulers, because he truly feeds the flock of God who teaches. The outer gate also had four tables, because the Synagogue held the observance of outward service through the chief priests and the elders of the people, through the Scribes and the Pharisees. Which Pharisees, indeed, were also called doctors of the Law. But whether of the outer or the inner gate, there are two tables on this side and two on that, because in its beginnings the holy Church had apostles and prophets.

But by prophets we do not mean those who were among the ancient people, but those who arose in the holy Church after the apostles. In the later time also, which now is, she has evangelists and teachers. And because the Gospel is called good tidings, we of course call those evangelists who announce the good things of the heavenly homeland to untrained peoples. These evangelists and teachers existed indeed in the earlier time, but even until now, the Lord granting it, they remain; because we perceive that still daily both unbelieving peoples are drawn to the faith, and the faithful are each instructed in good morals through teachers.

But the apostles and prophets have been taken away from this present time, and therefore we say that these tables of our gate—that is, of the holy Church—were, as it were, on the other side. 7. The gate also which goes toward the North has two tables on this side and two on that: those same, whom we have spoken of, the chief priests and elders of the people in the greater authority of government, the Scribes also and the Pharisees, who presided over that untrained people in a lesser place. But these tables are beside the gate which goes toward the North, because when those four orders presided over the people, the Synagogue, raging in the persecution of our Redeemer, burst forth into the torpor of faithlessness. These tables, however, had sacrifice, which they held according to the letter alone;

whence also they slipped into the torpor of cold, because they were not kindled by the flame of the Spirit. But the inner tables have the burnt-offering, because whether in the hearts of the apostles and prophets, or in the mind of the evangelists and teachers, the fire of the Spirit both burned and burns. Which, in that it consumes all their kinship [with the flesh] in good work, as a burnt-offering the flame of the love of God sets afire wholly and all at once whatever it finds. For they offer a burnt-offering who, whether in good work or in holy thought, are kindled to the very marrow. 8. But these tables were made of squared stones, because while daily in their hearts they meditate on the words of sacred eloquence, they are built, as it were, of squared stones, for the offering to the Lord of the burnt-offering of prayer.

For the words of Holy Scripture are squared stones, because everywhere they stand, because on no side are they found reprehensible. For in all that they narrate as past, in all that they announce as to come, in all that they preach morally, in all that they sound forth spiritually, they have, as it were, a standing on every side, because they have no ground for reproach. And so the hearts of the saints are the tables of God for the burnt-offering, built of squared stones, because those who always meditate on the words of God slay themselves to the Lord, in thought, from the carnal life. Whence it is written: 'The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted' (Ps. 37:31). And whence again it is said:

'In my heart have I hidden thy words, that I might not sin against thee' (Ps. 119:11). But since we have learned whence these tables are built, let us also hear of what measure they are. There follows: Verse 42. 'In length one cubit and a half, and in breadth one cubit and a half, and in height one cubit.' 9. A certain man expounded this place, saying: In length and breadth the tables have one cubit and a half, that is, foursquare, which joined together make three cubits. These three cubits have in height one cubit, that the mysteries of the Trinity may preserve the measure of one cubit—that is, of the divine majesty.

But this sense of the exposition cannot stand, because in that supreme Trinity which created all things and contains all things, one is nothing [divided], nor is anything one made out of two halves. For that substance has nothing of diminution or of division, which, remaining ever unchangeable, receives neither loss nor increase. But we have often said that length pertains to the long-suffering of hope, and breadth to the amplitude of charity.

The tables, then, which were built for the burnt-offering, are measured in length of one cubit and a half, because the holy fathers and teachers, who long-sufferingly extend themselves to the secrets of inmost hope, in that they live in virtues, as far indeed as pertains to the human measure, are exceedingly perfect; but as far as pertains to those divine mysteries which cannot be fully grasped by man so long as they subsist in this mortal flesh, they are not perfect. In themselves, then, they now have the cubit, but in God they do not yet have the cubit, because they now indeed make full progress in virtues, yet still they know something of God only in part. Behold, again in the measure of the table Paul comes forward as a witness.

Let us see whether his life is measured by a whole cubit. For he says: 'As many as are perfect, let us be thus minded' (Phil. 3:15). Yet as to grasping the mysteries to be perceived, that he had not perfectly reached: 'I count not myself to have apprehended' (ibid. 13). Who again says: 'We know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away' (1 Cor. 13:9-10). Who again says: 'Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known' (ibid. 12). If, then, he is perfect and yet knows in part, he has the cubit as regards himself, but nevertheless the half above himself. Let the hearts of the saints, then, be stretched out in the long-suffering of hope; let them be stretched out in the perfection which they have, by one cubit.

But because they cannot yet see fully, where they cast the eye of hope, let this which they have above one cubit be cut back to a half cubit, so that in this life they may always see themselves imperfect, and may run the more ardently toward perfection. 10. The tables also have a breadth of one cubit and a half, because the hearts of the saints, enlarged in the amplitude of charity, have the cubit as regards the neighbor whom they love and see. For they can perfectly love those whom they are able to know in some measure. But the Almighty God they love to the very marrow, they follow to the very marrow, yet they cannot love Him as much as they ought, because as yet they are not able to see Him whom they love;

and the measure of love is less where the measure of knowledge is still less. Above one cubit, then, they have also a half, because this is now whole for them in mind—that which is far less, namely charity toward the neighbor; while that which in them is far greater, namely the love of God whom they do not see, is not yet whole. Of this love, which is here begun, that it may be perfected out of the vision of the Lord in the eternal homeland, Isaiah rightly speaks, saying: 'The Lord liveth, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem' (Isa. 31:9). But it is more to be a furnace than a fire, because a fire can be even small, but in a furnace a vaster flame is kindled. Zion, indeed, is called 'watching' [speculation], and Jerusalem 'the vision of peace.'

Now our peace we here for the meanwhile behold [as watchmen], that there afterward we may see it fully. From the love of the Lord, then, there is fire in Zion, a furnace in Jerusalem, because here we burn to some degree with the flames of His love, where we contemplate something of Him; but there we shall burn fully, where we shall fully see Him whom we love. 11. The height, however, of the tables is of one cubit. For what is the height of the saints, but the faith of things invisible? For by faith is believed what is not seen, and therefore by this the mind of the just is led to the height, that it may despise all visible things on earth, and follow those invisible things which it hears of in heaven. But the height of the tables has one cubit, because there is a unity of faith in the heart of all the saints.

That the one God is a Trinity, both the fathers of the Old Testament and the preachers of the New Testament professed. And so the height of the tables has nothing more than one cubit, nothing less, because in great unity the faith of all the fathers agrees with itself. But those who, now making progress by the highest virtues in the long-suffering of hope, have one cubit and a half, and in the breadth of charity are measured by one cubit and a half, but in the height of faith grow up by one cubit—these are great, and to be venerated with the utmost admiration. They ought, then, to receive the souls of little ones into the bosom of their manner of life, and to offer them in the sight of the Lord as a kind of burnt-offering and sacrifice. Whence there openly follows: Same verse.

'Upon which they place the vessels in which the burnt-offering and the victim are immolated.' 12. For what are the souls of the faithful, but holy vessels which receive the words of godliness, that from their minds the burnt-offering of life and of prayer may be immolated? For hence it is that Paul, when he was still untrained in the calling of God—because he had already received the words of the Lord and was full of heavenly grace—is called a vessel, when it is said: 'He is to me a vessel of election' (Acts 9:15). Hence the prophet admonishes pastors and teachers, saying: 'Be ye clean, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord' (Isa. 52:11). For they themselves, as tables, bear the vessels of the Lord, who by instructing bear with the life of the faithful, that at some time they may lead it to the Lord for a burnt-offering and sacrifice.

But neither is this to be regarded carelessly, that in these same vessels both a burnt-offering and a victim are said to be immolated. For the burnt-offering, as we said above also (in the preceding Homily), is a victim, yet the victim is not always a burnt-offering, because when something is offered in part and retained in part, it is indeed a sacrifice, but it is not a burnt-offering. But there are, in the great multitude of the faithful, others who relinquish all things that are clean, distribute all that they possess, reserve nothing for themselves, pant to the very marrow after the eternal homeland, and slay themselves wholly with their whole heart in tears. These, namely, are the vessels upon the table, in which the burnt-offering is immolated.

And there are others who take care of their own household, who are concerned for their children and keep an inheritance for them, yet who, mindful of the eternal judgment, bestow mercy upon the poor and grant them food and clothing out of that portion which they have determined. These indeed are the vessels upon the table, in which a victim has been immolated, but not a holocaust.

For since the patience and teaching of the saints, by admonishing and enduring, by persuading and by inspiring fear, instruct the hearts of some even to this point, that they forsake all things and kindle their whole selves in the love of the Lord; while they teach others only to this point, that since these cannot relinquish everything, they may at least become merciful in that part wherein they prevail, and may divide their care for the flesh with their care for the soul—therefore they bear the vessels of the Lord's table built of squared stones, in which are immolated both a holocaust and a victim. For the perfect, as has been said, when they forsake all things, kindle their whole heart in the love of the Lord; and the imperfect offer that sacrifice which they have vowed in part. There follows: VERSE 43. And their brim was of one palm, turned back inward round about.

13. What does this mean, that the brims of the tables are measured by a palm, except that in a palm the hand is stretched out, and the holy fathers and doctors preach those things in which the works of their hearers are extended? For it is as though we stretch out our hand when we enlarge our works. Let every doctor therefore speak so as to exercise the heart of the hearer and shake off the sluggishness of the idle. And when he has stretched these toward good works, let him show that he possesses a palm in his brims. It must also be weighed that in the palm both the greatest and the least finger are extended. And what is designated by the greatest and the least finger, except a great and a very small deed? Let them therefore have a palm in the brims of the table, so that by the preaching of their doctors they may perform great works, in such a way that they do not omit even the least.

Let him be so intent on the least things that he be not slothful in performing the greater. Whence through the Gospel the Truth says: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have left the weightier things of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith; these things you ought to have done, and not to have left those undone (Matt. XXIII, 23). For by judgment, mercy, and faith the greater finger of action is shown; but by mint, dill, and cumin the least finger is without doubt figured. These things therefore ought to be done, and those not omitted; because if we wish to measure our work by a palm, it is necessary that the least finger be so extended that the greater finger be not drawn back. 14.

Rightly, moreover, when the brims of the tables are measured and the measure of a palm is stated, there is added "of one," so that from the preaching of the doctors, just as unity is held in faith, so also unity of mind may be preserved in work, lest through the good work which one does, another break forth into the evil of discord. For we ought so to do good works that through them we may also, as far as we rightly can, preserve unanimity with those among whom we live—that is, not by abandoning what we are doing, but by anticipating with good persuasions the evil of discord which we fear. Thus, preserving the unity of the palm in his own works, Paul forbade discord to be engendered, when he saw that the Corinthians already wished to receive a certain man who had fallen and been cast out of the Church, saying:

If you have forgiven anything to anyone, I also. For I too, if I have forgiven anything, have forgiven it for your sakes in the person of Christ, that we may not be overreached by Satan (II Cor. II, 10). He who is wont to engender evils out of good things, and to draw into discord that which is done out of charity. Whence also he immediately added concerning this same one, saying: For we are not ignorant of his devices (Ibid., 11). But the doctor who by the good things he preaches forms right action in his hearers, if he does not bind the minds of those who work into unanimity, has indeed a palm in his brims, but does not have that unity of the palm which has been mentioned. 15. It must, moreover, be greatly weighed that it is said the brims of these same tables are turned back inward.

For then are the brims of the tables turned back inward, when the doctors recall to their conscience by silent reflection that which they say, when they subtly search themselves whether they do what they speak. Rightly, moreover, when the brims of the tables are said to be turned back inward, there is also added "round about," so that they may not consider themselves in one part only, and neglect to examine themselves in another, but may inspect themselves everywhere, and, as far as they prevail, strive to fulfill in deed each thing that they teach—lest, if while preaching they neglect to do good, they be their own destroyers while being cultivators of another's field.

O doctor, behold, now you are a table, now you bear vessels, now in the faithful vessels you sustain the weight of holocaust and victim; but turn the brim inward, that is, recall your discourse to your heart. Hear what you say, do what you preach. For if you neglect to fulfill what you preach, you sow a harvest for others, and you yourself fast from partaking of the grain. Whence it is written: Whose harvest the hungry man shall eat (Job V, 5). For the hungry man eats the harvest of the doctor who speaks good things but does not do them, because he who hungers after the bread of righteousness performs the commandments which he hears, while the man himself has no fruit who labored in the sowing. Hence Solomon says: The slothful man hides his hand under his armpit, and does not even bring it to his mouth (Prov. XII, 24, cf. XXVI, 15).

No one is so slothful as to reckon it a labor to bring his hand back to his mouth even in eating. But the slothful man does not bring his hand to his mouth, because he is unwilling even to do what he says. Hence again it is said concerning those who teach well but act ill: The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting the bow, were turned back in the day of battle (Ps. LXXVII, 9). They bend the bow and shoot arrows who set forth the sentences of Holy Scripture and strike the vices of their hearers with right words; but they are turned back in the day of battle, because they return behind themselves in the temptation of vices, and are unwilling to set their breast against it, since in the contest of temptations they do not resist. Hence again it is said:

You have turned away the help of his sword, and have not aided him in battle (Ps. LXXXVIII, 44). For the sword of the leader is the word of God. Whence through Paul it is said: And the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. VI, 17). Therefore Almighty God, when He beholds a doctor unwilling to do what he says, turns away the help of his sword in the day of battle, because in the contest of temptations He does not permit the words which He gave him to be a help to his teaching. He has, therefore, a sword, but God does not aid him with it in battle, because when the adversity of temptation breaks forth, he forgets the word which he was teaching.

Behold, perhaps the doctor's discourse is concerning patience, and by the mastery of his teaching he is constrained to say how, against inflicted injuries, against contumelies heard, patience is to be preserved. But when he himself has been provoked either by injury or by insult, forgetting what he had taught, he goes to excess either in wounding his neighbor or in returning insult more grievously. Among these things, therefore, let him consider that he is a table of God, let him turn the brim inward, let him keep what he preaches. For it is written: In your patience you shall possess your souls (Luke XXI, 19). And again it is written: The teaching of a man is known by his patience (Prov. XIX, 11). If, therefore, patience is the mark of teaching, each man is shown to be so much a leader as he has been patient.

For this is the reason that that good disciple who saw his master taken up into the air cried out, through the affection of great charity, saying: My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its charioteer (IV Kings II, 12). What is it, most beloved brethren, that Elijah is called the chariot of Israel and its charioteer, except that the charioteer drives and the chariot carries? Therefore the doctor who both sustains the manners of the people by patience and teaches them by the words of sacred eloquence is called both a chariot and a charioteer. A chariot, because by enduring he carries; a charioteer, because by exhorting he drives. A chariot, because he sustains evils; a charioteer, because he exercises the people with good admonitions. 16.

But perhaps the doctor's discourse is against vainglory, and while wondrously suggesting how it ought to be shunned, he seeks vainglory by those very words with which he disputes against that same vainglory. If, therefore, he desires to obtain that which he forbids, the table does not turn its brim inward. But then will the table of the Lord, built of squared stones, have its brim turned inward, if it has been zealous to heed what it says. For it is written: Let nothing be done through contention, nor through vainglory (Phil. II, 3). And again that same excellent preacher says: Nor seeking glory from men, neither from you, nor from others (I Thess. II, 6).

For to seek transitory praise from the labor of preaching—what else is it than to sell a great thing at a cheap price? But there is a grave peril in the words of teaching, because often the favors of the hearers follow the discourse of those who teach, and when the doctors are unwilling to appear less in their sayings than that for which they had been well esteemed, that word of teaching which they had begun out of love for Almighty God in order to win souls, they afterward labor at in order to win praises. And they who first sought spiritual gains in the words of God afterward pursue temporal favors.

Whence it comes to pass that whatever right works, or words of holy teaching, perish in the judgment of Almighty God, when through these anyone pants after transitory favors. For this is said through the prophet to Judea, which the incautious mind finds in itself, if only after its fault it cautiously searches out its own thoughts: The Lord called your name a plentiful olive tree, fair, fruitful, beautiful. At the voice of great speech a fire was kindled in it, and its branches were burned up (Jer. XI, 16).

The Lord calls a plentiful and fair olive tree, fruitful and beautiful, that one whose efficacy in action, or whose holy zeal in the words of knowledge, He approves. But at the voice of great speech a fire was kindled in it, because when a man begins to be praised, he perhaps blushes to seem less than what is said of him, and strives to be what he is called. For the voice of great speech is the favor of flatterers. Whence it is written: He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice, rising up early in the night, is like one who curses (Prov. XXVII, 14). At the voice, therefore, of great speech a fire was kindled in it, because in the greatness of favor a flame is kindled in the heart from the love of praise.

But all the branches of the olive tree are burned up, because before the eyes of Almighty God, whatever things have been well done or wisely said perish, when they are done not out of love for the Lord, but with the intention of transitory praise. For thus often is a sinister thought joined to a good thought, so that scarcely does the mind itself, which engenders these thoughts, recognize it. Whence the excellent preacher, when speaking he subtly said: The word of God is living and effective, and more piercing than any two-edged sword, and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit (Heb. IV, 12), immediately added: of the joints also and the marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Ibid.). 17. For the word of God distinguishes joints and marrow.

Because it discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. For by joints bones are joined to bones. And often, while we do something with a right thought, but suddenly decline into the love of praise, and do this for praise which we had first begun to do for the sake of truth—because thoughts are joined to thoughts, they become, as it were, certain joints in the spirit. But the bones which are joined in a joint have also marrow. Which the holy preacher more openly declared, when he added: a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Ibid.). For our joints are our thoughts, but the marrow are our intentions.

And often we think one thing, and it is another thing that we intend through the thought. For if someone should defend the cause of an orphan or a widow with a proposed reward of money, and, entering the church perhaps, should say to God in his prayers: You see that I defend the cause of the orphan and the widow—that man without doubt knows what he thinks, but is ignorant of what his thought intends. For he thinks one thing, and intends another. For he seeks not the defense of the orphan or the widow, but the reward of money. For take away the temporal reward, and he does not defend the orphan and the widow.

The word of God, therefore, is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart, because it looks not at what you think within yourself, but through the marrow of the joint—that is, through the intention of the thought—at what you seek to receive. It remains, therefore, that the doctor, when he speaks, as a table of God always turn the brim inward, lest either he begin to speak with an evil intention, or, when he has begun well, being seduced by favors, he decline into another appetite. 18. But perhaps the doctor's discourse is concerning the keeping of discipline. And often it also happens that he knows not how to hold the rule of discipline which he knows how to speak, because either, moved by too great a zeal, he tempers himself less by gentleness; or, being placid with too great gentleness, he inflames himself less against vices with the goad of zeal.

For with great consideration we ought to weigh what is written, that on the vessels of the temple, between crowns and wreaths, oxen and lions and cherubim were carved, and beneath the oxen and lions little cords hanging down (III Kings VII, 29). For crowns are a sign of victory, but wreaths signify the unanimity of concord; and cherubim are said to be the fullness of knowledge. For priests and doctors, between crowns and wreaths—that is, between the fortitude of good work by which they run to victory, and the concord of charity by which they do not disagree one from another—

were designated by oxen and lions and cherubim, because in the fullness of knowledge which they possess it is necessary that they hold both the gentleness of oxen and the fervor of lions, so that in the discipline which they preach they may be both kindled with holy zeal and tranquil with fatherly sweetness. Beneath these let little cords hang down, so that they may carefully bestow even upon their subjects the reins of their discipline by which they themselves are bound. For to have little cords hanging beneath them is to hold the bonds of custody warm for their subjects. And these are then rightly preserved, when neither the gentleness of oxen is lost in the fervor of zeal, nor the terror of lions declines into gentleness. For so great ought discretion to be, that neither discipline be excessive, nor mercy be remiss.

For if a fault is dismissed in a disorderly way, he who is culpable is more grievously bound in guilt; and again, if the fault is retained without moderation, he who is corrected becomes so much the worse, in that he considers that nothing is done toward him out of the grace of kindness. Harshness, therefore, is to be exhibited to the depraved in outward show, charity in the mind; so that both the harsh show may restrain the offender, and the guardianship of charity may not lose the reward of gentleness. 19. Behold, while I speak, Joseph strikes my soul, so that he himself may come as a witness to demonstrate what I say. Certainly, when he narrated to his brothers the dream which he had seen concerning his own advancement, by the very thing that he innocently related, he stirred up the goads of malice against himself (Gen. XXXVII, 5).

By those same brothers he was sold to the Ishmaelites (Ibid., 28), led into Egypt, and by the wondrous dispensation of the Almighty Lord was set over that same Egypt (Ibid., XLI, 41). And when a famine arose in the land of Canaan, the brothers came to Egypt, found Joseph set over Egypt, and, bowing their necks to the ground, adored him (Ibid., XLII, 6-7). And because they could not change God's counsel, him whom they had sold that they might not adore, they adored because they had sold him. Then that man of God, full of the spirit of discretion, recognized his brothers though he was not recognized. But mindful of the fault, yet remitting the injury, he neither strove to repay the evils of his brothers, nor to release them without purgation. For with a suspicious voice he straightway said: You are spies;

you have come to see the weaker parts of the land. Now at once I shall take a test of you. By the health of Pharaoh you shall not go forth hence (Gen. XLII, 9, 15). O javelin in the heart! They had come as strangers, they were fleeing danger by these means, they had not received the grain which they sought, and moreover they saw themselves struck by the charge of a crime. Amid these things they are led to prison, and, brought out after three days, are still terrified with the same harshness. Now the return to the heart is made, now the memory of the fault strikes the soul, and they say among themselves: Deservedly do we suffer these things, because we sinned against our brother, seeing the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we did not hear; therefore has this tribulation come upon us (Ibid., 21).

In these things, moreover, Joseph's heart is overcome by love, he seeks a place apart, he loosens by weeping what he owed to filial affection. He returns to his brothers severe, that their tormented soul might be freed from the fault. After this, one is bound in chains, the rest are dismissed with grain, that one brother might come whom they had said they had as the youngest (Ibid., 34, 20). The brother came afterward. Piety was overcoming his mind while the innocent brother seemed present; but harshness remained in the outward show, that the guilty brothers might be purged. Grain is given, a cup is hidden in the sack of the younger brother, and after them a charge of theft is raised (Gen. XLIV, 2). They are sent that the brothers may be brought back, and it is decreed that he with whom the cup should be found be condemned to servitude.

It is found in the sack of the last brother. Then Benjamin is brought back. All the brothers, clothed, follow. O torments of mercy! It tortures, and it loves. Returning therefore, prostrate on the ground with tears, they beg pardon. For mindful of what they had promised to the father concerning that boy, they were wasting away with intolerable grief. Then piety, no longer able to restrain itself, burst forth shut up to the midst and shook out the tears of charity from the countenance of severity (Gen. XLV, 1). The anger that appeared was wiped away, and was not; the mercy that was, though it did not appear, was shown. Thus the holy man both remitted and avenged the crime of his brothers. Thus he held clemency in vigor, so that toward his offending brothers he was neither merciful without vindication, nor severe without piety. 20.

Behold, this is the mastery of discipline: to know both how to spare faults with discretion, and to cut them away with piety. But those who do not have the spirit of discretion either so dismiss sins that they do not correct, or so strike as though correcting that they do not dismiss. The doctor, therefore, to whom it is necessary to speak concerning the moderation of discipline, let him know that he is a table of God, and let him turn the brim inward, so that what he speaks in teaching, this he may vigilantly perform under the spirit of discretion. Nor, if he considers that certain things are lacking to him, does it behoove him to fall silent from preaching them. For his position demands that he speak. Let him therefore correct himself by his own words; and if he does not speak because he acts, let him act because he is compelled to speak.

Wherever, therefore, he beholds himself fulfilling in deed what he says, there let him admonish his hearers, and kindle their souls to the zeal of good action. But wherever he sees that he has not yet fulfilled what he speaks, let him equally inflame himself as well toward the good things concerning which he admonishes his hearers, so that he himself may likewise learn in deed that which through him the Truth speaks in preaching. For often that which we know not how to do by living, being compelled by the utterance of teaching, we learn by speaking; and while from the reflection of our sloth guilt is born in the mind, a compunction suddenly arising pierces through that same mind, and, roused by its own voice, that which before was torpid in idleness without a voice, awakens into action.

Behold, moreover, when the brim of the table is stretched by a palm—that is, when through the mouth of the doctor there is disputation against vices, and the heart of the hearers is kindled to good works—many who hear his words recognize how many and how great evils they have committed; and they come confessing to him, and with tears beseech him to become an intercessor for their sins, that he by praying may blot out the faults which by preaching he makes manifest. Whence also it is subjoined: VERSE 43. And upon the tables the flesh of the oblation. 21. For the holy doctors, when they pour out prayers to the Almighty Lord for the compunct and confessing sinners, in that they ask pardon for their carnal life, bear the flesh of the oblation of the Lord's table.

In order, therefore, that there may be those for whom, being converted and weeping, they may pray, it is fitting that they first preach to these same while they are set in sin; and when they have already begun to forsake sins and to hasten toward innocence, it is necessary that the increases of preaching grow greater toward them in the mouth of the doctor, and that he insist upon certain ones with the word of his teaching so much the more vehemently, the more grievously he considers that they have fallen—knowing, namely, that he himself receives the reward of a great recompense in proportion as by his words he lifts others out of deeper sins. 22. It is pleasing meanwhile to bring forth into the midst the words of the holy Gospel, whose sacred history, by that which narrates a miracle that was done, announces the miracles which are daily wrought.

For when the people, weary and fasting, had gathered to the Lord, the Lord said to His disciples: I have compassion on the multitude, for behold they have now continued with me three days, and have nothing to eat; and if I send them away fasting to their homes, they will faint on the way; for some of them came from afar (Mark VIII, 2-3). The multitude continues with the Lord for three days, when the multitude of the faithful, declining by penance the sins which they had committed, converts itself to God in deed, in speech, and in thought. These the Lord is unwilling to send away fasting to their home, lest they faint on the way, because, namely, converted sinners faint on the way of the present life, if they are dismissed in their own conscience without the food of holy teaching.