Such hroiKjht humbly io feed at the ' crib' ofHoly Writ. 427
Or will it abide bu thy crib? Book
3. By ' crib' in this place, Holy Scripture itself is, not -^^^—
unfitly, understood; in which holy animals are fed with the
food of the word. Of whom it is said by the Prophet;
Thine animals ivill dwell therein. Hence also our Lord, l^s. 68,
when born, was found by shepherds in a manger, because
His Incarnalion is learned in that Scripture of the Prophets,
which refreshes us. This rhinoceros therefore, that is to
say, every haughty person, in the beginning of the rising
Church, when it heard the sayings of the Patriarchs, the
mysteries of the Prophets, and the secrets of the Gospel,
made jest of them; because it scorned the more to be
confined and fed in the manger of the Preachers, the more
it gave itself up to its own pleasures, and occupied the wide
plain of its own desperation. It is this wide plain of the
proud that Paul well speaks of, when saying, Who despair- E^h.i^
ing, have given themselves over to lasciviousnesSy to work all '^•
uncleanness with greediness. For every one gives himself
wider range in present evil, the more he despairs of attaining
eternal blessings after this life. But Almighty God bore for
a long time with this rhinoceros, wandering through the
plain of sinful pleasure, and yet, when He willed, suddenly
fastened it to His own manger, that being safely confined it
might receive the food of life, lest it should entirely lose its
life through fatal liberty ? For behold we now see that the
mighty men of this world, and its chief rulers, willingly hear
the preachings of the Lord, that they constantly read them,
and every where depart not from His manger ; because
they transgress not, in their conduct, the precepts of the
Lord, which they know either by reading or by hearing, but
contentedly submit to stand confined, as it were, near the
food of the word, that by feeding and abiding there, they
may become fat. But, when we behold this wrought by
God's agency, what else do we behold but this rliinoceros
abiding at tlie manger? But since this rhinoceros, after it
has received the food of preaching, ought to display the fmit
of good works, it is rightly subjoined
;
Ver. 10. Wilt thou bind, the rhinoceros with thy band to
plough ^
4. The bands of the Church, are the precepts of disci- iv.
F f 2