Moralia in Job 446

Verse 12. — 'Thou hast granted me life and mercy.' 79. The inbreathing and preservation of life. — But in vain does the Creator grant us good things, if He does not Himself guard all that He grants. There follows, in the same place: 'And Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.' Now these things which we have said of the outer man, let us briefly, by way of recapitulation, show how they may fittingly agree with the inner man also. 80. Man is clay, and, grace being withdrawn, becomes dust. He suffers the wars of the flesh, but is strengthened by grace. — 'Remember, I beseech Thee, that Thou hast made me as the clay.' For as clay does our inner man exist, because the grace of the Holy Spirit is poured into the earthly mind, that it may be raised up to the understanding of its Creator.

For human thought, which had withered through the barrenness of its own sin, grows green again through the power of the Holy Spirit, as earth that has been watered. But often, while we use without interruption the powers of the heavenly gift we have received, we are lifted up to private self-confidence by the habit of continual prosperity. Whence it very often comes to pass that the same Spirit who had raised us up deserts us for a little while, in order that He may show the man to himself. Which the holy man straightway expresses, when he subjoins: 'And Thou wilt bring me back into the dust.' For because through the withdrawal of the Spirit the mind is for a little while abandoned in temptation, it is as though the earth were dried up from its former moisture, so that, being forsaken, it may feel its own infirmity, and may recognize how much the man withers without the infusion of heavenly grace.

And he is fittingly said to be brought back into the dust, because, being left to himself, he is carried away by the blast of any temptation whatever. But while, being forsaken, we are shaken, we then more subtly ponder those gifts which we recognized when breathed upon. Whence he subjoins: 'Hast Thou not milked me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?' For our mind, when through the grace of the Holy Spirit it is drawn away from the habit of the old manner of life, is milked out as milk, because it is formed in a certain tenderness and subtlety of a new beginning; and is curdled as cheese, because it is bound fast in the compacting of a thought that is growing rich, so that it may no longer flow away through desires, but, gathering itself into one love, may rise to a solid re-formation.

But very often against these same spiritual beginnings the flesh, out of its old habit, murmurs, and the mind endures wars from the man which it carries about outwardly. Whence he subjoins: 'Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh.' For with skin and flesh is the inner man clothed, because in that he is raised toward things above, he is beset by the siege of carnal motions. But him who is striving toward righteousness the Creator by no means deserts in temptation—He who by the infusion of grace forestalls even the sinner; but the mind that has been raised up He both looses outwardly to wars and strengthens inwardly. Whence it is still fittingly subjoined: 'Thou hast knit me together with bones and sinews.'

We are clothed with flesh and skin, but we are compacted with bones and sinews, because, although we are shaken by temptation rushing in from without, yet within the hand of the Creator strengthens us, lest we be broken. Thus by the motions of the flesh He humbles us toward His gifts, but by the bones of the virtues He strengthens us against temptations. He says, then: 'Thou hast clothed me with flesh and skin, Thou hast knit me together with bones and sinews.' As if he openly said: Outwardly Thou dost forsake me for proving, but nevertheless inwardly Thou guardest me, lest I perish, by binding me fast with virtues. And He who therefore grants us the uprightness of good living, does so because He kindly spares the past sins we have committed. Whence it is still fittingly subjoined: 'Thou hast granted me life and mercy.' 81.

He receives and keeps life from the prevenient and subsequent mercy of God. — For life is granted when kindness is breathed upon malignant minds. But life can by no means be received without mercy, because the Lord does not help toward obtaining the good things of righteousness, unless He first mercifully looses the wickednesses done before. Or surely He grants us both life and mercy, because that mercy whereby He goes before us unto good living, He also guards us by its following after. For unless He supply mercy in succession, the life He affords cannot be preserved. For by the very daily use of human life we grow old, and by the impulse of the outer man we depart, with slippery thought, from the things within.

And unless the heavenly visitation either quicken us unto love by pricking us, or restore us unto fear by scourging us, by a sudden lapse the whole mind is utterly destroyed, which had seemed renewed by long zeal for virtue. Whence he subjoins: 'And Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.' For the heavenly visitation guards the human spirit, when it ceases not either to smite with the scourge, or to prick with love, this spirit that has been enlarged with virtues. For if He bestows gifts, but does not continually raise it up by restoring it, that good is the more quickly lost which is not guarded by the Bestower. But behold, while the holy man humbly recognizes himself, he detects in a general way the secrets of the divine mercy that are to be brought to bear;

and while he truthfully confesses his own infirmity, he is suddenly caught up on high to the recognition of the calling of the Gentiles. For straightway he subjoins: