24. Touching Jacob, however, that which he did at his mother’s bidding, so as to seem to deceive his father, if with diligence and in faith it be attended to, is no lie, but a mystery. The which if we shall call lies, all parables also, and figures designed for the signifying of any things soever, which are not to be taken according to their proper meaning, but in them is one thing to be understood from another, shall be said to be lies: which be far from us altogether. For he who thinks this, may also in regard of tropical expressions of which there are so many, bring in upon all of them this calumny; so that even metaphor, as it is called, that is, the usurped transferring of any word from its proper object to an object not proper, may at this rate be called a lie. For when he speaks of waving corn-fields, of vines putting forth gems,34    “Gemmare.” of the bloom of youth, of snowy hairs; without doubt the waves, the gems, the bloom, the snow, for that we find them not in those objects to which we have from other transferred these words, shall by these persons be accounted lies. And Christ a Rock, and the stony heart of the Jews; also, Christ a Lion, and the devil a lion, and innumerable such like, shall be said to be lies.35    1 Cor. x. 4; Ezek. xxxvi. 26; Rev. v. 5; 1 Pet. v. 8 Nay, this tropical expression reaches even to what is called antiphrasis, as when a thing is said to abound which does not exist, a thing said to be sweet which is sour; “lucus quod non luceat, Parcæ quod non parcant.” Of which kind is that in holy Scripture, “If he will not bless36    Job ii. 5, benedixerit: as LXX. εὐλογήσει: E.V. “curse.” Thee to Thy face;” which the devil saith to the Lord concerning holy Job, and the meaning is “curse.” By which word also the feigned crime of Naboth is named by his calumniators; for it is said that he “blessed37    1 Kings xxi. 10, 13. LXX. εὐλόγηκας: E.V. “didst blaspheme.” the king,” that is, cursed. All these modes of speaking shall be accounted lies, if figurative speech or action shall be set down as lying. But if it be no lie, when things which signify one thing by another are referred to the understanding of a truth, assuredly not only that which Jacob did or said to his father that he might be blessed, but that too which Joseph spoke as if in mockery of his brothers,38    Gen. xlii and David’s feigning of madness,39    1 Sam. xxi. 13 must be judged to be no lies, but prophetical speeches and actions, to be referred to the understanding of those things which are true; which are covered as it were with a garb of figure on purpose to exercise the sense of the pious inquirer, and that they may not become cheap by lying bare and on the surface. Though even the things which we have learned from other places, where they are spoken openly and manifestly, these, when they are brought out from their hidden retreats, do, by our (in some sort) discovering of them, become renewed , and by renewal sweet. Nor is it that they are begrudged to the learners, in that they are in these ways obscured; but are presented in a more winning manner, that being as it were withdrawn, they may be desired more ardently, and being desired may with more pleasure be found. Yet true things, not false, are spoken; because true things, not false, are signified, whether by word or by deed; the things that are signified namely, those are the things spoken. They are accounted lies only because people do not understand that the true things which are signified are the things said, but believe that false things are the things said. To make this plainer by examples, attend to this very thing that Jacob did. With skins of the kids, no doubt, he did cover his limbs; if we seek the immediate cause, we shall account him to have lied; for he did this, that he might be thought to be the man he was not: but if this deed be referred to that for the signifying of which it was really done, by skins of the kids are signified sins; by him who covered himself therewith, He who bare not His own, but others’ sins. The truthful signification, therefore, can in no wise be rightly called a lie. And as in deed, so also in word. Namely, when his father said to him, “Who art thou my son?”40    Gen. xxvii. 16–19 he answered, “I am Esau, thy first-born.” This, if it be referred to those two twins, will seem a lie; but if to that for the signifying of which those deeds and words are written, He is here to be understood, in His body, which is His Church, Who, speaking of this thing, saith, “When ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves cast out. And they shall come from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God; and, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.”41    Luke xiii. 28–30 For so in a certain sort the younger brother did bear off the primacy of the elder brother, and transfer it to himself. Since then things so true, and so truthfully, be signified, what is there here that ought to be accounted to have been done or said lyingly? For when the things which are signified are not in truth things which are not, but which are, whether past or present or future, without doubt it is a true signification, and no lie. But it takes too long in the matter of this prophetical signification by stripping off the shell to search out all,42    Enucleate cuncta rimari wherein truth hath the palm, because as by being signified they were fore-announced, so by ensuing have they become clear.

24. Jacob autem quod matre fecit auctore, ut patrem fallere videretur, si diligenter et fideliter attendatur, non est mendacium, sed mysterium. Quae si mendacia dixerimus, omnes etiam parabolae ac figurae significandarum quarumcumque rerum, quae non ad proprietatem accipiendae sunt, sed in eis aliud ex alio est intelligendum, dicentur esse mendacia: quod absit omnino. Nam qui hoc putat, tropicis etiam tam multis locutionibus omnibus potest hanc importare calumniam; ita ut et ipsa quae appellatur metaphora, hoc est de re propria ad rem non propriam verbi alicujus usurpata translatio, possit ista ratione mendacium nuncupari. Cum enim dicimus fluctuare segetes, gemmare vites, floridam juventutem, niveam canitiem; procul dubio fluctus, gemmas, florem, nivem, quia in his rebus non invenimus, in quas haec verba aliunde transtulimus, ab istis mendacia putabuntur. 0534 Et petra Christus (I Cor. X, 4), et cor lapideum Judaeorum (Ezech. XXXVI, 26): item leo Christus (Apoc. V, 5), et leo diabolus (I Petr. V, 8), et innumerabilia talia dicentur esse mendacia. Quid quod haec tropica locutio usque ad eam pervenit, quae appellatur antiphrasis, ut dicatur abundare quod non est, dicatur dulce quod acidum est; lucus quod non luceat, Parcae quod non parcant. Unde illud est in Scripturis sanctis, Si non in faciem benedixerit tibi (Job II, 5): quod diabolus ait Domino de sancto Job, et intelligitur, Maledixerit. Quo verbo et Nabuthei fictum crimen a calumniantibus nominatum est. Dictum est enim quod benedixerit regi (III Reg. XXI, 13); hoc est, maledixerit. Hi omnes modi locutionum mendacia putabuntur, si locutio vel actio figurata in mendacio deputabitur. Si autem non est mendacium, quando ad intelligentiam veritatis aliud ex alio significantia referuntur; profecto non solum id quod fecit aut dixit Jacob patri ut benediceretur, sed neque illud quod Joseph velut illudendis locutus est fratribus (Gen. XLII), neque quod David simulavit insaniam (I Reg. XXI, 13), nec caetera hujusmodi, mendacia judicanda sunt, sed locutiones actionesque propheticae ad ea quae vera sunt intelligenda referendae. Quae propterea figuratis velut amictibus obteguntur, ut sensum pie quaerentis exerceant, et ne nuda ac prompta vilescant. Quamvis quae aliis locis aperte ac manifeste dicta didicimus, cum ea ipsa de abditis eruuntur, in nostra quodam modo cognitione renovantur, et renovata dulcescunt. Nec invidentur discentibus, quod his modis obscurantur: sed commendantur magis, ut quasi subtracta desiderentur ardentius, et inveniantur desiderata jucundius. Tamen vera, non falsa dicuntur; quoniam vera, non falsa significantur, seu verbo seu facto: quae significantur enim, utique ipsa dicuntur. Putantur autem mendacia, quoniam non ea quae vera significatur, dicta intelliguntur; sed ea quae falsa sunt, dicta esse creduntur. Hoc ut exemplis fiat planius, idipsum quod Jacob fecit, attende. Haedinis certe pellibus membra contexit: si causam proximam requiramus, mentitum putabimus; hoc enim fecit ut putaretur esse qui non erat: si autem hoc factum ad illud propter quod significandum revera factum est referatur; per haedinas pelles peccata, per eum vero qui eis se operuit, ille significatus est qui non sua sed aliena peccata portavit. Verax ergo significati nullo modo mendacium recte dici potest. Ut autem in facto, ita et in verbo. Nam cum ei pater dixisset, Quis es tu, fili? ille respondit, Ego sum Esau primogenitus tuus (Gen. XXVII, 16-19). Hoc si referatur ad duos illos geminos, mendacium videbitur: si autem ad illud propter quod significandum ista gesta dictaque conscripta sunt, ille est hic intelligendus in corpore suo, quod est ejus Ecclesia, qui de hac re loquens ait, Cum videritis Abraham, et Isaac, et Jacob, et omnes Prophetas in regno Dei, vos autem expelli foras. Et venient ab oriente et occidente et aquilone et austro, et accumbent in regno Dei: et ecce sunt novissimi 0535 qui erant primi, et sunt primi qui erant novissimi (Luc. XIII, 28-30). Sic enim quodam modo minor majoris primatum frater abstulit atque in se transtulit fratris. Cum igitur tam vera tamque significentur veraciter, quid hic debet putari factum dictumve mendaciter? Cum enim quae significantur, non utique non sunt in veritate, sed sunt seu praeterita, seu praesentia, seu futura; procul dubio vera significatio est, nullumque mendacium. Sed nimis longum est in hac significatione prophetica enucleate cuncta rimari, in quibus palmam veritas habet, quia ut significando praenuntiata sunt, ita consequendo claruerunt.