8. Second, the fear of the Lord arises in us from the consideration of the perspicacity of divine wisdom. Whence Job: For he alone is, and no one can turn away his thoughts. And therefore I am troubled at his presence, and when I consider him, I am made fearful with dread.
He alone is, that is, from himself alone he has being, and all other things are from him. And just as all things flow from the first being, so God is the cause of all things. Therefore, if God is the cause of all things, there is no creature that is not naked in his eyes, because he himself sees and beholds the thoughts of men. Therefore Job, in the person of a man considering the divine wisdom that weighs all things, says: Considering him, I am troubled with fear. Whence, on that verse of the Psalm: He who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble, etc., the Gloss says: "Then God looks upon the earth and makes it tremble, when he illumines the earthly man by the regard of his grace and converts him to his original principle, through which all things are begun and governed. And then man trembles." - Therefore man ought greatly to consider what he thinks, what he speaks, and what he does, because God sees all things. Whence Boethius in the book On the Consolation says: "A great necessity of uprightness is imposed upon you, if you are unwilling to dissemble, since you do all things in the sight of a judge who discerns all things." And in Esther it is said: I saw you, Lord, as an Angel of God, and my heart was troubled by fear of your glory; for you are exceedingly wonderful, Lord, and your face is full of graces. - I saw you, Lord, as an Angel of God. An Angel sees and surveys all things, approves the good and rejects the evil; likewise, an Angel loves the good and hates the evil.
9. The third origin of the fear of the Lord is from the consideration of the severity of divine vengeance. Whence in Habakkuk: Lord, I have heard your report and was afraid. I heard, and my belly was troubled; at the voice my lips trembled. Let rottenness enter into my bones and swarm beneath me, that I may rest in the day of tribulation. He says: I have heard your report and was afraid, namely, that report when it shall be said: Depart, you cursed, into eternal fire. He says: Let rottenness enter into my bones, and let it swarm beneath me, that I may rest in the day of tribulation. Not only in the day of tribulation or severity of the last judgment, but of any other judgment whatsoever, because the judgments of God are many. Whence the Psalm: Pierce my flesh with your fear, for I have feared your judgments.
10. For there are seven judgments of God: six are in the present life, and the seventh is at death, and that one shall be doubled.
The first judgment of God is that of binding; the second judgment is that of blinding; the third judgment of God is that of obstinacy; the fourth judgment of God is that of abandonment; the fifth is that of scattering; the sixth is that of despair, and the seventh is that of condemnation.
The first, I say, judgment of God is that of binding, because the sinner, when he sins, is despoiled of gratuitous gifts and wounded in his natural endowments. And thus the sinner is bound by two chains, namely a proneness to evil and a difficulty toward good. By these two chains the sinner is bound into the hands of the devil, just as Peter was bound into the hands of Herod.
After this judgment follows another judgment, namely the judgment of blinding, which is figured in the book of Judges, where it is said that the Philistines, when they had captured Samson, gouged out his eyes and made him grind at the mill. For from sin man has darkness in his mind, such that he considers nothing to be sin; he thinks light to be darkness and darkness to be light, because his spiritual eyes have been blinded.
11. The third judgment of God is the judgment of obstinacy, namely when the heart of man can be softened neither by promises nor by threats nor by scourges nor by torments. Of such a one it is said: His heart shall be hardened as a stone. The wife of Lot was turned into stone. I would rather that my heart were turned into stone than that it should be so hardened.
The fourth judgment of God is the judgment of abandonment, namely when God abandons man and exposes him to every temptation and sin. The Psalm: When my strength shall fail, do not forsake me, O Lord. Depart not from me. It is a great peril when a father exposes his son in the midst of wolves.
The fifth judgment of God is the judgment of dissipation, when all things that a man does are ruined. He speaks nothing rightly, he does nothing prosperous, nothing ordered; nay, all that he does is wicked.
12. The sixth judgment of God is the judgment of despair, namely when the Lord takes away hope from man, and man believes himself to be deprived of eternal glory. Of such it is said: Despairing, they gave themselves over to lasciviousness, unto the working of all uncleanness, unto covetousness. This is the most terrible judgment. Into this judgment Judas fell; and this judgment is the greatest, such that in the present life no greater can be given.
The seventh judgment is in death, namely the judgment of condemnation. When a man dies in mortal sin, he is separated perpetually from eternal glory, and his soul is condemned to eternal fire until the end of the world, and then he will be punished also in body. Whence the Apostle says: The expectation of judgment is terrible. This judgment Habakkuk feared, but all the judgments of God David feared; whence he said: For I have feared because of thy judgments.
13. Gather together, then, these three considerations, namely the consideration of the sublimity of divine power, the consideration of the perspicacity of divine wisdom, and the consideration of the severity of divine vengeance. And who will there be who will not fear? Whence Job says: I always feared God as though waves were swelling over me, and I could not bear his weight. If you were in a small ship, when waves were surging over the ship from every side, you could not flee, because the waves would be on every side; you could not hide, because you could not conceal yourself, as a man hides himself against lightning; you could not even resist, because you would have nothing that you could set against the wave. Gather these three together; if it were so for you, you would fear greatly. And Job says: I always feared God as though waves were swelling over me. And why? I cannot flee on account of the sublimity of divine power, because if I ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into hell, thou art present; if I take my wings at dawn and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. Likewise, I cannot hide on account of the perspicacity of divine wisdom, because God sees all things. Likewise, I cannot resist on account of the severity of divine vengeance, because he who sins is punished by eternal judgment. Whence in the Gospel: Do not fear those who kill the body and after this have nothing more that they can do; but I will show you whom you should fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into gehenna. It is necessary, therefore, that we fear God. I would prefer to be in the greatest punishment of this world for seven thousand years than to endure the least eternal punishment. The Apostle: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, because God afflicts for eternity. — Behold, the origin of the fear of God. Consider the sublimity of divine power, the perspicacity of divine wisdom, and the severity of divine vengeance, that you may fear God.
14. But what usefulness is there in fearing God? Tobias says: Do not fear, my son; we lead indeed a poor life, but we shall have many good things if we fear God. The fear of God avails for three things, namely for obtaining the inflowing of divine grace, for introducing the rectitude of divine justice, and for obtaining the illumination of divine wisdom. In these three all good things are comprehended.
15. The first benefit of the fear of God, I say, is that the fear of God avails for obtaining the influx of divine grace. Whence Isaiah: To whom shall I look, except to the poor and contrite of spirit and the one trembling at my words? However powerful, rich, learned, and strong a man may be, unless he fears God, nothing avails him. Whence the Psalm: He shall not take pleasure in the strength of the horse, nor shall he be well pleased with the legs of a man: the Lord is well pleased with those who fear him, and with those who hope in his mercy; and the Apostle to the Philippians: Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to accomplish according to his good will. We cannot have the grace of God except through the fear of God, because the mercy of the Lord is from eternity and unto eternity upon those who fear him . No one receives the grace of God unless he fears God. Bernard says: "In truth I have learned that nothing is equally efficacious for meriting, preserving, and multiplying the grace of God as if at all times you are found before God not to be wise in lofty things, but to fear. Fear, therefore, when grace has smiled upon you: fear, when it has departed: fear, when it returns again." He who does not have grace ought to fear greatly for himself; likewise, if the Lord restores to a man the grace he had lost, he ought to fear greatly for himself, lest he lose it and become ungrateful, and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first .
The fear of God therefore avails for obtaining the influx of divine grace.
16. Second, the fear of God avails for introducing the rectitude of divine justice. Whence Ecclesiasticus: The fear of the Lord drives out sin. For he who is without fear cannot be justified. Injustice does not enter the soul except through sin: but the first justification of the soul is that it be subject to the divine majesty. Once this fear is destroyed, it is necessary that what follows be destroyed. On account of this it is said in Ecclesiasticus: Son, coming to the service of God, stand in justice and fear, and prepare your soul for temptation; and Ecclesiasticus says: If you do not hold yourself steadfastly in the fear of the Lord, your house will quickly be overturned. Consider David, who says: Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice in him with trembling.
17. Third, the fear of God avails for obtaining the illumination of divine wisdom, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom . For the fear of the Lord is the extrinsic principle of wisdom and the intrinsic principle and the complement of wisdom; because there is servile fear, and this is the initiator of wisdom, because, just as the needle introduces the thread and does not remain with the thread, so servile fear introduces wisdom and does not remain with wisdom. Another is the fear of punishment and of offending God; and this is the intrinsic beginning of wisdom and the root of wisdom. The third is the fear of filial reverence: and this is the complement of wisdom, because the fullness of wisdom is to fear God.
18. Fear produces these three things in us, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the root of wisdom is to fear God, and the fullness of wisdom is to fear God: Job: Behold, the fear of the Lord, that itself is wisdom. He who does not fear God knows nothing. And because the fear of the Lord avails for these three things, namely for obtaining the influx of divine wisdom, for introducing the rectitude of divine justice, and for attaining the illumination of divine wisdom; therefore Ecclesiasticus says: The fear of the Lord is like a paradise of blessing. And Solomon in Proverbs: The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that they may turn aside from the ruin of death: Jeremiah: Know and see that it is evil and bitter that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and that the fear of me is not in you. If you do not fear God, you have lost grace, you have lost justice, and you have lost true wisdom. See therefore how evil and bitter it is that you have forsaken the Lord your God. Where there is no fear, there is neither wisdom nor justice nor grace. Psalm: Their throat is an open sepulchre, the poison of asps is under their lips, with their tongues they acted deceitfully, their feet are swift to shed blood: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, destruction and unhappiness are in their ways etc.; there is no fear of God before their eyes. When a man does not have the fear of God, then his sense is turned to malice and goes forth like the poison of asps. Whence he says: Their throat is an open sepulchre, the poison of asps is under their tongue. There follows iniquity in deed: whence he says: With their tongues they acted deceitfully, their feet are swift to shed blood. When a man is disordered in affection with respect to thought, in speech with respect to utterance, and in deed with respect to effect; then he has nothing good. Whence he says: Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known, namely the way of the grace of the Holy Spirit. And why? Because there is no fear of God before their eyes.
Let us make a demonstration by reduction to the impossible. If you wish to strive to have grace, justice, and wisdom, and these cannot be had without fear: therefore the fear of God is necessary for you. Likewise, where there is no fear, there is foolishness, malice, and iniquity, destruction and unhappiness: but these are to be fled as the worst things: therefore etc. — Having considered therefore the origin and utility of the fear of the Lord, you ought to strive to have the fear of God.
19. The third particle of the fear of the Lord concerns the perfection of the fear of God. The perfection of the fear of God consists in three things, namely in perfect sanctification and cleansing of conscience, in perfect promptitude of obedience, and in perfect firmness of confidence. - First, I say, the perfection of the fear of God consists in perfect sanctification or cleansing of conscience. Hence the Apostle to the Corinthians: Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God. And how shall we perfect sanctification? It is said in Ecclesiasticus: Those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and in his sight will sanctify their souls, saying: if we do not do penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord and not into the hands of men. The Apostle to the Romans: Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you treasure up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God.
Those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, that is, they will abstain and cease from sins. Let us therefore approach the cleansing of conscience. It is a wonder how a man can remain in mortal sin. When a man enters his dwelling, he enters a tomb. I do not believe that a man enters his dwelling unless he hopes that, should he die, God will have mercy on his soul. I have seen of spiritual men that when they had a slight venial sin, they could scarcely sleep. If I had a lion bound with me, how could I sleep? The enemy holds you bound if you are in mortal sin. Rise therefore and sanctify your soul. Do not halve your confession, but confess most perfectly and most completely. Let the fear of the Lord lead you to this.
20. Another particle of the perfection of the fear of the Lord consists in perfect promptitude of obedience. Hence in the book of Chronicles: Let the fear of the Lord be with you, and do all things with diligence: as if to say: do not be sluggish or negligent, because it is written in Ecclesiastes: He who fears God neglects nothing. If I believed that a thief was going to enter my chamber and carry off my treasure, I would not leave the window open. You must always fear God, because he who keeps the whole law but offends in one point has become guilty of all. And in Deuteronomy it is said: And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, except that you fear him and keep all his commandments and walk in his ways? And Solomon says: Fear God and observe his commandments: this is the whole man, that is, the perfect man. Therefore if you wish to be perfect, fear God.
21. The third part of the perfection of the fear of the Lord consists in the perfect firmness of confidence: because the fear of the Lord is a tower of firmness and confidence, because it renders a person secure from every other fear. Psalm: His truth shall encompass you with a shield; you shall not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor the assault and the noonday devil. And in Proverbs: The fear of the Lord is a tower of strength. He who does not fear God must fear everywhere; and he who truly fears God has what no one can take from him. But he who fears something other than God has what ought to be taken from him. He who fears God cannot lose God. It is not so with money. If a man has money, he fears lest he lose it, and yet he is certain that he will lose it. But he who fears God is secure everywhere. How great is the multitude of your sweetness, O Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you; there follows: You have perfected it for those who hope in you. Therefore the fear of God ought to be perfect, because it shall be well with those who fear God, because they shall come to the blessing of glory, to which may he who with the Father, etc., lead us.