Moralia in Job 221

Verse 19.—The small and the great are there, and the servant free from his master. 70. As merits here, so in heaven rewards shall be diverse.—Because in this life there is for us a distinction of works, there will without doubt be in that life a distinction of dignities, so that, as here one surpasses another by merit, there one shall transcend another in requital. Whence in the Gospel Truth says: In my Father's house are many mansions (John 14:2). But in these same many mansions there will in some manner be a very concord of the diversities of rewards; because so great a power in that peace associates us, that what each one has not received in himself, this he exults to have received in another. Whence also those not equally labouring in the vineyard (Matt. 20:10) equally all obtain the denarius.

And indeed with the Father there are many mansions, and yet unequal labourers receive the same denarius; for there will be one blessedness of joy for all, although the loftiness of life will not be the same for all. He had beheld the small and the great in this light who said, in the voice of the Head: 'Thine eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book shall all be written' (Ps. 138:16). The small and the great he had beheld when he said: 'The Lord hath blessed all that fear him, both small and great' (Ps. 113:13). 71. Who is the slave of sin, who is free from it, and that here no man is free from it. — Well, then, is it added: 'And the slave is free from his master.' For it is written, 'Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin' (John 8:34);

for assuredly whosoever subjects himself to depraved desire, submits to the dominion of iniquity the neck of a mind that was but lately free. But we contradict this master when we struggle against the iniquity that had seized us; when we violently resist habit, and, trampling down perverse desires, claim for ourselves against it the right of our inborn liberty; when by penitence we smite our fault, and wash away the stains of our defilement with weeping. For the most part, however, the mind indeed already laments what it remembers having done perversely; it already not only forsakes its wicked deeds, but even punishes them with most bitter lamentations; and yet, while it recalls what it has done, it is terrified by a grave dread of the judgement. It has already turned itself perfectly;

but it does not yet raise itself perfectly into security, because, while it weighs how great is the severity of the final examination, it trembles anxiously between hope and fear, since it knows not what the righteous Judge, when he comes, will reckon of the deeds committed, and what he will remit. For it remembers what wicked things it has committed; but whether it has worthily wept over the things committed, it knows not; and it fears lest the enormity of its fault exceed the measure of its penance. And for the most part the Truth already remits the fault, but the afflicted mind still trembles concerning pardon, while it is exceedingly anxious for itself. Here, then, the slave has already fled his master, but he is not free, because a man already forsakes his sin by correcting and repenting, and yet still greatly dreads the stern Judge concerning its recompense.

There, then, the slave will be free from his master, where there will be no more doubt concerning the pardon of sin, where the memory of his own fault no longer condemns a mind now secure, where the soul does not tremble under guilt, but rejoices, free, in His indulgence. 72. Whether there is any memory of sin in heaven: that this does not impair blessedness. But if there a man is touched by no memory of his own sin, whence does he give thanks that he has been rescued? Or how does he render thanks to the Giver for the pardon he has received, if, through forgetfulness of his past wickedness intervening, he knows not that he was a debtor to punishment? For that which the Psalmist says must not be negligently passed over: 'I will sing of thy mercies, O Lord, for ever' (Ps. 88:1).

For how does he sing of God's mercies for ever, if he knows not that he was wretched? And if he does not remember his past misery, whence does he render praises to the bounty of mercy? But again it must be asked, how the mind of the elect can be perfect in blessedness, if amid its joys the memory of its own guilt touches it. Or how does the glory of the perfect light shine bright, which fault, brought back to the soul, overshadows? But it must be known that, just as now we often recall sorrowful things with gladness, so then we shall remember our past wickedness without injury to our blessedness. For most often in a time of health we bring back past sorrows to memory without sorrow: and the more we recollect our sicknesses, the more do we love our being whole.

There will therefore be, even in that blessedness, a memory of fault—not one that pollutes the mind, but one that binds us more closely to joy; so that while the soul remembers its own sorrow without sorrow, it may both understand itself more truly to be a debtor to the Physician, and love the more the salvation received, the more it remembers from what trouble it has escaped. And so in that joy we shall then behold our evils without weariness, just as now, set in the light, we see darkness with the mind without any cloud of the heart; for even though that which we discern with the mind is dark, this belongs to the judgement of light, not to the suffering of blindness. And so for ever we shall render praise of mercy to our Giver, and we shall in no way be burdened by the consciousness of misery;

for while we look upon our evils without any evil of the mind, there will never be anything that pollutes the hearts of those who praise, from their past iniquities, and there will always be something that kindles these to the praise of the Deliverer. Because, then, the rest of the inward light so exalts the great within itself that it yet does not abandon the little ones, it is rightly said: 'The small and the great are there.' And because there the mind of the converted sinner is so touched by the memory of its fault that yet it is depressed by no confusion of that same memory, it is fittingly subjoined: 'And the slave is free from his master.'