33. Who are here called 'terrible ones' except evil spirits, who are to be feared and avoided by godly minds? And whereas those same evil spirits are to be believed to attach themselves severally to certain particular vices, when this wicked man seems to quit for a moment one set of faults, and begins to commit another, then surely 'the terrible ones come and go over him,' in that the soul of the bad man though one set of bad habits abandons, yet another takes possession of it. For you may often see the bad man, who is set in earthly power, agitated with furious passion, and executing all that his rage suggests; and when his fury is gone, then directly lust ravages his soul; when lust is stopped for a time, self-exaltation as on the ground of continency is immediately made to take its place in his heart, and that he may be feared by others, he aims to shew himself as an object of terror. But when the occasion requires that he should say any thing with double-dealing, laying aside in a certain sort the terribleness of pride, he flatters with an easy address, and when he ceases to shew himself proud, he does not dread to turn double-dealing. And so it is rightly said of him, in whose mind one vice continually takes the place of another, Terrible ones come and go upon him ; since for all the evil habits that he is borne down with departing and taking each other's place, his soul is as it were overrun by as many evil spirits going and returning. But it is these things which he does in act, that issue outwardly by parts and pieces, for on his soul he has all things bad tied fast at once and together. Hence it is added;
Ver. 26. All darkness is hid in his secret places.
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34. For though the hypocrite exhibits good actions on the surface, yet a certain 'darkness' of evil deeds appears in him; yet it less comes forth in act, than lies buried in his secret thought. For he who does not fulfil all things at once in execution, does in his heart in silence hold all things that may do mischief. Thus 'all darkness' is said to be 'hid in his secret places,' in that though he does not exhibit to view all things evil in himself, yet he aims to bring down all upon his fellow-creatures. Now let him add the retribution, which this soul so reprobate shall be visited with. It goes on;
A fire that is not kindled shall consume him.
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35. Most wonderfully in these few words is the fire of hell set forth! For bodily fire, in order to become fire, stands in need of bodily fuel; and when it is necessary for it to be preserved, as we well know, it is nourished by wood heaped upon it, neither can it be, except by being kindled, nor live, save by being cherished. But contrarily the fire of hell, whilst it is a bodily fire, and bodily consumes the children of perdition that are cast into it, is neither kindled by human effort, nor kept alive by wood, but being once made to be, it lasts unextinguishable: at one and the same time it needs no kindling, and lacks not heat. And so it is well said of this wicked one; A fire not kindled shall consume him ; in that the justice of the Almighty, foreseeing future events, did from the very beginning of the world create the fire of hell, which should once begin in the punishment of the wicked, but never end its heat even without fuel. But it is necessary to know, that all the children of perdition, as they sinned in Spirit and flesh conjointly, are there tormented in spirit and flesh alike. Hence it is said by the Psalmist, Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of Thine anger . [Ps. 21, 9] The Lord shall confound them in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them. For an 'oven' is heated within; but he who is 'devoured by fire' begins to be consumed from the outside. Thus that holy Scripture might shew that the lost burn both within and without, it testifies that they are at once 'devoured by fire,' and 'made as a fiery oven,' that by fire they should be tormented in the body, and by grief burn in spirit. Hence in this place too, when it is declared of the ungodly man that a fire that is not kindled shall consume him , it is forthwith added concerning his spirit;
Being left in his tabernacle, it shall go ill with him.
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36. The 'tabernacle' of the wicked man is his flesh, in that he inhabits it in joyfulness, and, if it were possible, wishes he might never quit it. But the righteous, as they place their delight in the prospect of heavenly rewards, and have their conversation in heaven, while they are still in the flesh are as if they were no longer in the flesh, in that they are not fed with any gratification of the flesh. And hence it is said to some persons; But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit [Rom. 8, 9]: not that they were not in the flesh, who by the epistles of their master received charges of exhortation; but it is in a manner to be no longer 'in the flesh,' not to own aught connected with the love of fleshly objects. But on the other hand this wicked man, because he set all his delight in a fleshly life, 'dwelt in the tabernacle' of the flesh. Which very flesh when he shall receive back in the resurrection, he shall burn along with it delivered over to the fires of hell. Then be longs to be brought out of it; then he seeks, if he might be able, to escape from his torments; then be begins to wish he could get quit of that which he loved: but because he preferred that flesh to God, it is brought to pass by the judgment of God, that by it he is more fully tormented in the fire. Here then he has no mind to leave it, and yet is severed from it, and there he wishes to leave it and yet is kept in it for punishments. And so for the increase of his torments, he is at once both removed out of the body here against his will, and held fast in the body there when he would not. Therefore because his spirit in torment longs [So A.B.C.D.'Ben. 'shall long.' lewpetrian Sept.] to get rid of the flesh, which it set before itself in loving amiss, and has not the power, it is lightly said here, being left in his tabernacle it shall go ill with him. Of whose accusing it is directly said;
Ver. 27. The heavens shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.
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37. What do we understand by 'the heavens,' but the righteous, and what by 'the earth,' but sinners? And hence in the Lord's prayer we pray; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven , meaning this, that the will of our Creator, in the same way as it is accomplished in all the righteous, may also be fulfilled in all sinners as well. Moreover of the righteous it is said, The heavens declare the glory of God [Ps. 19, 1]. And to man when he sinned the sentence is pronounced, Earth thou art, and unto earth thou shalt return . And so of this ungodly man, when dragged to that awful judgment; 'the heavens reveal his iniquity, and the earth rises up against him,' that that man, who here never spared either the good or the bad, should in that tremendous inquest have the life of the righteous and of sinners alike accusing him. And of the two indeed it is worse if a man injure the good rather than sinners; and hence it is said by the Prophet, For her blood is in the midst of her: she poured it upon the smoothest rock [ super limpidissimam petram V.] ; she poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust : [Ez. 24, 7] by 'the ground' and 'the dust' indeed denoting sinners, but by the 'very smooth rock,' the righteous man, who is not made rough by the hard grazes of sins; and so 'the blood is poured upon the very smooth rock,' when the wickedness of a bloodthirsty mind rages in the afflicting of the righteous soul. While then it is worse unjustly to distress the righteous than the unrighteous, yet it is much worse to hurt the righteous and unrighteous together; and therefore whereas the wicked have injured both the good and the bad alike, in the accusing to damnation, 'the heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him, because he at one and the same time set himself against those who savoured the things of heaven, and oppressed those who savoured of things below. But it may be that by 'the earth' we have denoted not the sinful and reprobate, but those that being busied in earthly courses, by the help of alms and of tears attain to eternal life. Concerning whom it is said by the Psalmist, when the Lord is proclaimed as coming to Judgment, He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth that He may Judge His people . [Ps. 50. 4] For He 'calls the heavens from above,' when they, who, leaving all that they had, held on the tenour of the heavenly life, are called to sit with Him in judgment, and come with Him as judges; but 'the earth is called from above,' when they who were tied down to earthly courses of action, yet sought therein for heavenly more than for earthly profit and advantage, to which persons it is said, I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed Me . So 'the heaven reveals the wickedness' of the hypocrite, and 'the earth rises up against him,' in that both they who come in company with God as judges, and they who through the ordeal of the Judgment are set free, become the witnesses of his iniquity. Thus nought of the things he has committed is hidden from sight in the time of condemnation, and if indeed many of his deeds are now concealed from his fellow-creatures by double-dealing, yet in the day of condemnation; whatever there was that lay hidden within him, it is brought to light. Hence it is fitly added;
Ver. 28. The shoot of his house shall be disclosed, and he shall be taken away in the day of God's wrath.
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38. 'The shoot of his house is disclosed,' when every thing bad that sprung up in his consciousness is shewn to view. For now the 'shoot of the hypocrite's house' remains hidden from sight, in that though his practice appears good in the delineation, yet the intent lies hidden. Since it is one thing what he does, and another thing what he has in view. But when, at the coming of the Judge, each man's conscience shall be brought forward for its testimony, (whence it is written, Their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another , [Rom. 2, 15]) then the 'shoot of the hypocrite's house is herein disclosed,' because the evil design is laid bare in his heart. 'And he shall be taken away in the day of God's wrath,' in that when the indignation of the Judge is revealed, being given to avenging fires, he is parted from His sight. For he that, whilst he lived, would not take thought of the highest things, being forced down by the weight of his sins, shall fall from the face of the Judge into the depths of punishment. But now the Judge both sees and bears with the sinner in his sins, and because it is the day of forbearance and not as yet the day of fury, He waits for each one for his conversion. Now in this day of forbearance the hypocrite as it were remains unmoved, whilst he both commits many evil deeds, and is chastised by no scourges; but 'in the day of fury he shall be taken away,' in that being carried off to punishment in the season of vengeance he is cut off from the countenance of the eternal Judge. It goes on;
Ver. 29. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage of his words from the Lord.
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39. For if, while placed in this life, he had been minded to act rightly, he would have had for his 'portion' with the Lord fellowship in the kingdom of heaven; but because he chose to be subjected to bad desires, his 'portion from the Lord' he found in torment, because he did not seek to obtain a share in the grace of that Lord. But it is well said, And the heritage of his words from the Lord . For he that is immersed in punishment for enormous deeds of wickedness perchance it was thought would never be judged for the words which he had spoken amiss. But when the strict justice of Almighty God exacts punishment from lost sinners for their froward deeds, it renders evil things to them even to the recompensing of their words, that they who are debtors for great transgressions, being consigned to punishment, may pay even the very last farthing. For they are spared the least misdemeanours, who rigorously lamented the greater evils in themselves. And those whom great sins weigh down even the very least alike put to pain in hell. Now holy men desire not to receive a portion from the Lord, but to have the Lord Himself for their portion. Hence the Prophet prays, saying, God is my portion forever [Ps. 73, 26]: but the wicked man, because he sought not to have the Lord Himself for his 'portion,' found fire for his 'portion' without the Lord, that being shut out from His face, because he did not seek to find joy in Him, he might be tormented beneath Him. These things Zophar brought forward in such a way, that by what he spoke against the hypocrite, he might strike a blow against the life of blessed Job, thinking that he who was stricken by the Lord, had not done with a simple heart all the good things which he had done. For him, whom he saw beneath the rod, he supposed to have displeased God. But the friends of blessed Job likewise maintain a likeness of heretics in this particular, in that whilst they see, in Holy Church, some, that live aright, groaning beneath the rod, they reckon that they have not good merit in good deeds, and set them down as bad men, whom they see afflicted with the scourge of God; not knowing, that is to say, that Many are the afflictions of the righteous [Ps. 43, 19], and that He scourgeth every man whom He receiveth . [Heb. 12, 6] But blessed Job, after the manner of the Holy and Universal Church, which bears with patience the darts of words at the hands of the froward, and, when she hears the sayings of the proud, never leaves the pathway of her humility, made answer with great humility of heart, saying,
C. xxi. Ver. 2. Hear I pray you my speech, and practise penitence.
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40. For he that when he said Hear , added, I pray you , shews how humbly he speaks, whilst he entreats persons, swelling with pride against him, to bring back their thought to the teaching of saving truth. But whereas holy men, within the pale of the Universal Church, are not only ready to teach what is right, but also to undergo things that are done against them, they do not dread being laughed at. Hence it is added;
Suffer me that I may speak; and after my words, if it shall seem so, laugh.
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41. For when good men speak, there are two points, which they regard in their discourse, viz. that they should be of use to themselves and their hearers, or to themselves alone, if they are unable to be of use to their hearers. For when the good things they deliver are heard to good purpose, they benefit both themselves and their hearers; but when they are turned to ridicule by the hearer, doubtless they were of use to themselves, whom they made quit of the sin of silence. And so let blessed Job, that he might serve both himself and his hearers, speak the words; Hear I pray you my speech, and practise repentance . But that he may discharge himself of the obligation which he owes, even if he is unable to avail his hearers, he adds, Suffer me that I speak; and after my words, if it shall seem so, laugh. I observe that whereas he added, and practise repentance, he first premised, Hear , but when he added the words, and after my words , if it shall seem so, laugh , he premised , Suffer me that I may speak ; for 'hearing' is of one who acts of free will, but 'bearing' of one who acts against his own inclination. And so if his friends desire to be taught, let them 'hear,' but if they are ready to mock, let them 'suffer' the things that are said; seeing that to a proud mind, instruction in humility is a grievous and onerous weight. It goes on;