Moralia in Job 391

Verse 17. Upon a heap of stones his roots shall be thickened, and he shall dwell among the stones. 81. The hypocrite procures for himself the admiration of men with all his intention. For what do we understand by the name of roots, except the hidden thoughts, which come forth in what is secret, but rise up openly in the display of works? just as it is also said of the seed of the word through the prophet: And that which shall be saved of the house of Judah, and that which is left, shall send a root downward, and shall bear fruit upward (Isa. 37:31). For to send a root downward is to multiply good thought in hidden places. But to bear fruit upward is to display through the efficacy of work the right things which one has thought.

But by the name of stones in sacred Scripture men are designated, as it is said to the holy Church through Isaiah: I will make your bulwarks jasper, and your gates carved stones (Isa. 54:12). Who made plain what He had called those same stones, when He added: All your sons taught by the Lord (Isa. 54:13). And as it is said at Peter's admonition: And you also as living stones are built up, spiritual houses (1 Pet. 2:5). In this place therefore, because they are called stones, but yet are in no way called living, the reprobate and the elect can be figured intermingled under the bare appellation of stones.

This bulrush, then, which grows among the stones, thickens its roots upon a heap of rocks; for every hypocrite multiplies his thoughts in seeking after the admiration of men. For in all that hypocrites do, because by hidden thoughts they seek the praises of men, they cast, as it were, the roots of the bulrush into a heap of rocks. For while they are about to act they ponder their own praises, and once praised they turn these silently over within themselves in their thoughts. They rejoice that they have shone as men of note in human esteem. And when, puffed up with the favours of others, they swell within themselves, they often marvel in silence, even they themselves, at what they are.

They desire daily to appear loftier in their own eyes, and by marvellous inventions they grow in their work; for as the virtues weaken every vice, so arrogance strengthens it. For it forces the mind to grow young again and to prevail against its own strength, because what the vigour of health denies, the love of praise commands. Hence too, as we have said, they seek out witnesses for their deeds. But if it happens that observers are lacking for their work, they themselves narrate what they have done. And when they have begun to be carried away by favours, they often add something by lying to those very works which they report having performed. But even when they speak truths, by speaking them they make them another's; for having been rewarded by the favours they sought, they are emptied of the inmost recompense from those deeds.

The hypocrite, while he flaunts his good deeds, betrays them to the malignant spirits. He provokes the enemy to plunder, while he uncovers his riches to them. For in this, that they lay open their good deeds, they show to the malignant spirits, as to lurking foes, what they may seize as spoil. And indeed that most notorious fault of Hezekiah, known to all, prefigured their life; he who, after by a single prayer and within the space of one night he had laid low a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the enemy by the striking angel, after he had led back the sun, near to its setting, to the higher regions of heaven, after he had prolonged into longer seasons his life that had been confined by its now-approaching end, when he had received the messengers of the king of Babylon, showed all the goods that he possessed; but at once he heard by the voice of the prophet:

Behold, the days shall come, and all that is in thy house shall be carried away into Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith the Lord (2 Kings 20:17). Thus, thus indeed do hypocrites, after they grow rich in great virtues, because they neglect to beware of the snares of the malignant spirits, and are unwilling to be concealed in those very virtues, by flaunting their good deeds make them the enemy's, and betraying them, suddenly lose whatever with long striving they work at. Hence it is said through the Psalmist: He delivered their strength into captivity, and their beauty into the hands of the enemy (Ps. 78:61).

For the strength and beauty of the arrogant are delivered into the enemy's hands, because every good that is displayed through the desire of praise is made over to the jurisdiction of the hidden adversary. For he provokes the enemy to plunder who lays bare his riches to their notice. For as long as we are separated from the security of the eternal fatherland, we walk along a road of lurking robbers. He therefore who fears to be plundered on the journey must needs hide the goods that he carries. O wretched men, who, coveting the praises of men, squander in themselves the fruits of their labours; and while they long to display themselves to the eyes of others, condemn what they do! These indeed the malignant spirits, when they provoke them to boasting, despoil, as we have said, by taking their works captive.

Hence, under the figure of a certain nation, marking the malice of the ancient enemies, Truth says through the prophet: It hath laid my vineyard waste, it hath barked my fig tree, stripping it bare it hath spoiled it; its branches are made white (Joel 1:7). For when the spirits lie in wait, God's vineyard is laid waste, when the soul, full of fruits, is squandered by the desire of human praise. This nation barks God's fig tree, because, seizing the seduced mind into the appetite of favour, whereby it draws it to display, it takes from it the covering of humility; and, laying it bare, it spoils it, because as long as it is hidden in its own good deeds, it is clothed, as it were, with the bark of its own covering.

But when the mind covets that what it has done should be seen by others, then, like a fig tree despoiled, it has lost the bark that had covered it. Whereupon it is fitly added: Its branches are made white; because its works, once displayed to human eyes, grow bright—a name for holiness is taken up when the upright deed is noised abroad. But since, once the bark is removed, the branches of this fig tree wither, it is to be shrewdly observed that the deeds of the arrogant, once displayed to human eyes, are dried up in the very point from which they seek to please. The mind therefore that is betrayed through boasting is rightly called a barked fig tree, because it is both white in that it is seen, and near to withering in that it is stripped of the covering of its bark.

Within, therefore, are to be kept the things we do, if we look to receive the requital of our work from the inward Judge. For hence it is that Truth says through the Gospel: Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth; that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father, who seeth in secret, will repay thee (Matt. 6:3-4). Hence it is that of the Church of the elect it is said through the Psalmist: All the glory of the king's daughter is from within (Ps. 45:13). Hence Paul says: This is our glory, the testimony of our conscience (2 Cor. 1:12). For the Church is the daughter of kings, being begotten in good work by the preaching of the spiritual princes.

She has her glory within, because what she does she holds not for the boasting of display. Paul recalls his glory as the testimony of conscience, because, not craving the favours of another's mouth, he knows not how to place the joys of his life outside himself. [Vet. XXXVIII.] 83. Good works ought either to be hidden, or to be revealed for God's glory alone. The things we do are therefore to be concealed, lest, carrying them incautiously on the journey of this life, we lose them through the assault of robbing spirits. And yet Truth says: Let your good works shine before men, that they may glorify your Father, who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16).

But it is surely one thing when, in the display of a work, the glory of the Giver is sought, and another when private praise is coveted for the gift of the Giver. Hence again in the Gospel this same Truth says: Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men, to be seen by them (Matt. 6:1). Our work, therefore, when it is displayed before men, must first be weighed in the examination of the heart, as to what is sought through the zeal of that display. For if we seek the glory of the Giver, we keep our works, even when published, hidden in His sight. But if through these we covet our own praise, they are already poured out abroad from His sight, even if they be unknown to many.

It belongs to the perfect, having displayed a work, to seek God's glory. But it belongs to the very perfect, so to display a work as to seek the Author's glory, that at the praise offered them they know not how to rejoice with private exultation. For only then is a praiseworthy work harmlessly displayed to men, when through the mind's contempt the praise bestowed is truly trampled underfoot. And because the weaker sort do not overcome this by perfectly despising it, it necessarily remains that they hide the good which they work. For often from the very outset of display they seek their own praise. Often indeed in the display of a work they desire to make manifest the Author's glory; but caught by favours, they are swept into the desire of their own praise;

and while they neglect to judge themselves within, being scattered abroad they know not what they do; and their work fights for their own elation, and they suppose that they are rendering this as a service to the Giver. The bulrush therefore grows among the stones, because there the hypocrite stands, where he makes firm the intention of his mind. For when he strives to receive the attestation of many, he subsists, as it were, in a heap of stones. But this hypocrite, marked by the name of the bulrush, when he subdues the body by abstinence, when in bestowing what he possesses he sweats with the zeal of piety, when he is learned in the knowledge of the sacred law, when he uses the word of preaching—who, beholding him full of such great bounty, would judge him a stranger to the grace of the Giver?

And yet the heavenly dispensation bestows upon him the gifts of work, yet denies him the portion of the inheritance; it heaps up the endowments of working, and yet it disregards the life of the worker, because when the gift received is drawn to one's own praise, in the sight of the inmost Light the shadow of elation darkens it. Whence too it is well added: