563563 SPURIA. might be called, even as the prophets of old were called demoniacs. The prophet Elisha once sent his disciple, a prophet, with these words: "Go, and you will find Jehu the prince: lead him aside, and say to him: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I have anointed you king; and pour out the horn of oil upon him, and anoint him king." He approaches the prince. For at that time Jehu was not king, but a prince under a king. He says to him: "Come aside," and having led him away, he spoke to him these words, and anointed him from the horn: after he had anointed him, he fled and withdrew. The other princes say to Jehu: "Why did that madman come to you?" (4 Kings 9:11); as if they had said, "Why did this demoniac come? Why did that madman approach you?" Thus from the beginning prophets were treated with insults, and so were the apostles. "Why did that madman come to you?" He, fearing that if he spoke of the kingdom, it would be a danger to him (for since a king occupied the throne, it is not without danger that the kingdom is transferred to another), replied: "You know his chatter and his babbling" (Ibid.). He was assenting not to the judgment, but to the voice. "You know his chatter." Then they, understanding that the truth is never mocked, those who had mocked it, 564 hasten to learn the truth: "It is not fair," they said, "that this not be shared with us. You treat your friends with insult, you wickedly conceal that secret. If he is a madman, why do you seek the words of a madman? You act unjustly, Jehu, if you do not report it to us." Malice despises virtue, and anxiously pursues it. As they had condemned him as a demoniac, so they explored his words as if they were true. "Tell us what he revealed to you." "He led me aside, and poured upon me a horn of oil." Observe the power of truth, how the glory which was previously mocked drew them to its own adoration; how that prophet, the madman, became stronger than their laws. He says, "He led me aside, and poured upon me a horn of oil," and the princes shouted with a loud voice, "Long live the king!" Do you see how they simultaneously mocked the prophecy and wondered at it; condemned it and believed it? You called him a demoniac, and you call the one anointed by a demoniac, king? So neither for us, nor for our fathers, nor for our descendants is it appropriate to be astonished if it happens that we hear something insulting from heretics. Would that we were glorified for Christ, that we might be glorified with Christ, to whom is glory and power for ever. Amen.
MONITUM
Concerning these four sermons on Job which are very inept, says Savile, which nevertheless are found in almost all libraries, Lælius Tifernas the translator adds a fifth, which is nothing other than an [i]ἀπάνθισμα περὶ ὑπομονῆς[/i] (a selection concerning patience), which is to be presented in its own place. Savile rightly calls them inept, nor is there anything to be said at greater length.ON THE JUST AND BLESSED JOB, FIRST SERMON
(a) To us, that man, an athlete astounding and equal to the angels, who received many blows from the devil and many testimonies from God, and was endowed with many rewards by the angels as spectators, who, having been afflicted with many wounds by the enemy, was shown in the world gloriously crowned by God. For He addresses him thus: "Do you think that I have answered you in any other way than that you might appear just?" (Job 40:8). Who, therefore, could praise such a fighter according to his merit? Who would dare to weave wreaths equal to his deeds? Who will attempt to enter the immense sea of praises? For just as no one of sound mind would attempt to traverse the sea on human feet, so no one, even among the wise, would dare to attempt to convey to the listeners the well-deserved praises of that most blessed soul. For his deeds surpass all human wisdom: his contests surpass all crowns. We therefore have need of an angelic tongue, so that, touching that ointment-vessel with the very tips of our fingers, as it were, we might fill the whole church at once. For if we attempt to touch or move that vessel of Job even slightly, the church is immediately filled with the fragrance of the ointment. Let us therefore hear history saying about him: "In all these things which happened to him, Job sinned not with his lips before the Lord" (Job 1:22). Have you seen the testimony of the angels inciting to praises? Have you seen the testimony confounding the devil with his attempts? "In all these things which happened to him, he sinned not." This testimony of God, like a precious ointment, gladdens the listeners throughout the whole church. O precious vessel stored in one place of Arabia, and sending forth the good odor of ointment through the whole world! O vessel assailed by the devil with six hundred stones and blows and darts, with the ointment not poured out! Much labor was for the devil to crush that vessel and lose the ointment of piety: he took care, indeed, through the foulness of the ulcers to obscure the fragrance of the ointment. For his body sent forth a foul odor from the pus of his wounds; but the wounded vessel remained, nor did it lose the ointment, so that we also may appropriately say to him: "Your name is ointment poured out" (Cant. 1:2). It is therefore worth the effort to show the naked athlete, how he struggled, so that by looking at that admirable image, we may understand from the very nature of things that God, in order to show that He has just men on the earth who would not be seduced by flattery as Adam was, but would be crowned through a thousand torments and blows, permitted this spectacle. The apostate, he says, thinks high thoughts because you cast Adam out of paradise [after he was] deceived and the woman seduced by blandishments: behold a man who lived without the mandates of Scripture, and kept the unwritten law of nature by the strength of his mind. Apply a thousand blandishments, a thousand flatteries, just as many torments; you will not be able to overturn this excellent soul. Behold, you cast the first man out of paradise. See now, try if you can, to overthrow the athlete even from the dungheap. But let us repeat the history a little higher, if you please. There was a certain man in the region of Ausitis, named Job. And that man was blameless, just, pious, truthful, abstaining from every evil thing (Job 1:1). Such was Adam before he obeyed the woman. Therefore this man does not yield to his wife, lest he fall into a like misfortune. That one was clothed in incorruption, as He knew who formed him, and because he yielded to his wife, he was naked and condemned. This one was naked, and did not believe his wife, and because he did not believe his wife, he was clothed in angelic crowns and garments. That one, because he yielded to his wife, fell from the delights of paradise, made the earth bring forth thorns, and received death as his inheritance; this one, because he did not obey his wife, was freed both from the dungheap and from the blows, and inherited the kingdom of heaven. The one, excusing himself...