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Moralia in Job 218

Latin original · 15 verses · some words can be tapped for a gloss

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218:1

V ers. 16.— Aut sicut abortivum absconditum non subsisterem: vel qui concepti non viderent lucem. 63. Sancti, ante redemptionis tempus orti, sunt velut abortixi. Plures fuerunt quam quos memorat Moyses —Abortivum, quia ante plenum tempus oritur, exstinctum protinus occultatur. Quos ergo sanctus vir alios abortivos vocat, cum quibus se quiescere potuisse considerat, nisi electos quosque, qui ab ipso mundi primordio ante redemptionis tempus exorti sunt, et tamen huic mundo semetipsos mortificare curaverunt? Qui conscriptae legis tabulas non haben- tes, quasi a ab utero mortui sunt, quia auctorem suum naturali lege timuerunt;

Verse 16.—Or as a hidden untimely birth I should not have subsisted; or like those who, being conceived, saw not the light. 63. The saints born before the time of redemption are as untimely births. They were more than those whom Moses records.—An untimely birth, because it comes forth before the full time, is straightway hidden, being extinguished. Whom else, then, does the holy man call untimely births, with whom he considers he might have rested, but each of the elect who arose from the very beginning of the world, before the time of redemption, and yet took care to mortify themselves to this world? Who, not having the tablets of the written law, were, as it were, dead from the womb, because they feared their Author by the natural law;

第十六節——或如隱藏的流產胎兒，我早已不復存在；或像那些受了孕卻未見光的人。六十三、在救贖時代以前出生的聖徒，如同流產的胎兒。他們比摩西所記的更多。——流產的胎兒，因在足月前出生，隨即因夭亡而被隱藏。那麼，聖潔之人所稱他本可與之一同安息的另一些流產胎兒，若非那些從世界起初、在救贖時代以前興起、卻仍竭力使自己向這世界死去的每一位選民，又是誰呢？他們既沒有成文律法的法版，就彷彿是從母腹中死去的，因他們憑本性的律法敬畏他們的創造者；

218:2

et cum venturum Me- diatorem crederent, studuerunt summopere, morti- ficandis voluptatibus, etiam quae scripto non acce- perant praecepta servare. Tempus itaque illud, quod juxta mundi initium mortuos huic saeculo patres no- stros protulit, quasi abortivi uterus fuit. Ibi namque Abel, qui occidenti se fratri restitisse non legitur ( Genes. iv, 8, 24). Ibi Enoch, qui talem se exhibuit, ut ambulaturus cum Domino transferretur ( Genes. v, 22, 24). Ibi Noc, qui per hoc quod divino examini placuit, b in mundo mundo superstes fuit ( Genes. vii, 23). Ibi Abraham, qui duro peregrinus est in saeculo, factus est amicus Deo ( Genes. xii, 1).

and since they believed in the Mediator to come, they strove with utmost effort, by mortifying their pleasures, to keep even those precepts which they had not received in writing. That age, therefore, which, near the beginning of the world, brought forth our fathers dead to this world, was, as it were, the womb of an untimely birth. For there was Abel, who is not read to have resisted his brother slaying him (Gen. 4:8, 24). There was Enoch, who so bore himself that, about to walk with the Lord, he was translated (Gen. 5:22, 24). There was Noah, who, by that which pleased the divine examination, remained a survivor in the cleansed world (Gen. 7:23). There was Abraham, who, being a stranger in the world, was made the friend of God (Gen. 12:1).

又因他們相信將要來的中保，就竭盡全力，藉治死自己的私慾，甚至去持守那些他們未曾以文字領受的誡命。因此，那在近世界起初之時，生出我們向這世界死去的列祖的世代，彷彿是流產胎兒的母腹。因為在那裡有亞伯，聖經沒有記載他抵抗殺他的兄弟（創四8、24）。在那裡有以諾，他如此行事為人，以致將要與主同行，就被接去了（創五22、24）。在那裡有挪亞，他藉那蒙神察驗所喜悅之事，在被潔淨的世界中存活為餘剩者（創七23）。在那裡有亞伯拉罕，他雖在世上作寄居者，卻成了神的朋友（創十二1）。

218:3

Ibi Isaac, qui caligantibus carnis oculis, per aetatem quidem prae- sentia non vidit, sed per virtutem prophetici spiri- tus in futuris etiam saeculis magna videndi luce ra- diavit ( Genes. xxvii, 1). Ibi Jacob, qui iram fratris humiliter fugit, clementer edomuit; qui prole qui- dem fecundus exstitit, sed tamen spiritus ubertate fecundior, eamdem prolem sub prophetiae suae vincu- lis astrinxit ( Genes. xxxiii, 4). Bene autem aborti- vum hoc absconditum dicitur, quia a mundi primor- diis, dum quosdam paucos Moyse scribente cogno- scimus,pars nobis maxima humani generis occultatur.

There was Isaac, who, with the eyes of the flesh grown dim, indeed did not see present things by reason of age, but by the power of the prophetic spirit shone forth even into future ages with a great light of seeing (Gen. 27:1). There was Jacob, who humbly fled his brother's wrath and gently tamed it; who, though he was fruitful in offspring, was yet more fruitful in the abundance of the spirit, and bound that same offspring under the bonds of his prophecy (Gen. 33:4). And well is this untimely birth called hidden, because from the beginnings of the world, while we know only a certain few by Moses' writing, the greatest part of the human race is concealed from us.

在那裡有以撒，他肉身的眼睛雖然昏花，因年邁確實看不見眼前之事，卻藉先知之靈的能力，甚至向將來的世代以偉大的洞見之光發出光輝（創二十七1）。在那裡有雅各，他謙卑地逃避兄長的怒氣，又溫柔地平息了它；他雖在子嗣上多產，卻在靈的豐盛上更為多產，並將那同樣的子嗣束縛在他預言的約束之下（創三十三4）。這流產的胎兒被稱為隱藏的是恰當的，因為從世界的起初，我們僅藉摩西的記載認識某少數人，而人類的絕大部分卻向我們隱藏了。

218:4

Neque enim tot justos solummodo usque ad acceptam legem exstitisse credendum est, quot Moyses brevis- sima descriptione perstrinxit. Quia ergo a mundi primordio edita multitudo honorum, ex magna parte notitiae nostrae subtrahitur, abortivum hoc abscondi- tura vocatur. Quod et non substitisse dicitur, quia, enumeratis paucis, eorum frequentia nullo apud nos memoriae scripto retinetur. [ Vet. XXXVII.] 64. Concepti sunt, sed lucem non viderunt, qui post legem ante Christum nati.—Recte vero additur: Vel qui concepti non viderunt lucem. Ili namque, qui post acceptam legem in hoc mundo nati sunt, auctori suo ejusdem legis sunt admonitione concepti.

For it is not to be believed that only so many righteous men existed up to the receiving of the law as Moses touched upon in his very brief description. Since, then, the multitude of good men brought forth from the beginning of the world is for the greater part withdrawn from our knowledge, this untimely birth is called hidden. And it is said not to have subsisted, because, when a few have been enumerated, their great number is retained among us by no written record of memory. [Old Version, chapter 37.] 64. They were conceived, but saw not the light, who were born after the law and before Christ.—Rightly, moreover, is it added: Or like those who, being conceived, saw not the light. For those who were born into this world after the receiving of the law were conceived to their Author by the admonition of that same law.

因為不可認為，直到領受律法之時，存在過的義人僅有摩西以極其簡短的敘述所提及的那麼多。既然如此，從世界起初所生出的眾多善人，其絕大部分脫離了我們的認識，這流產的胎兒便被稱為隱藏的。它被說成不復存在，是因為當少數人被列舉之後，他們的眾多便不藉任何文字的記憶記錄留存於我們中間。〔舊版，第三十七章。〕六十四、那些在律法之後、基督之前出生的人，是受了孕卻未見光。——再者，補充說「或像那些受了孕卻未見光的人」是恰當的。因為那些在律法頒佈之後出生於這世界的人，是藉那同一律法的勸誡而向他們的創造者受了孕。

218:5

Sed tamen concepti lucem minime viderunt, quia ad adventum incarnationis Dominicae, qnamvis hanc fideliter crederent, pervenire nequiverunt. In- carnatus quippe Dominus dicit: Ego sum lux mundi ( Joan. viii, 12). Atque ipsa Lux ait: Multi prophetoe et justi desideraverunt videre quae videtis, et non vi- derunt ( Matth. xiii, 17). Concepti igitur non viderunt lucem, quia ad spem venturi Mediatoris apertis pro- phetarum vocibus excitati, nequaquam potuerunt cernere ejus incarnationem.

Yet, being conceived, they by no means saw the light, because, although they faithfully believed this, they were unable to attain to the coming of the Lord's incarnation. For the Lord, having become incarnate, says: I am the light of the world (John 8:12). And that same Light says: Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which you see, and have not seen them (Matt. 13:17). Being conceived, therefore, they saw not the light, because, though roused to the hope of the Mediator to come by the open voices of the prophets, they could by no means behold His incarnation.

然而，他們雖受了孕，卻絕未見光，因為他們雖然忠心地相信這事，卻不能達到主道成肉身的來臨。因為道成肉身的主說：「我是世界的光」（約八12）。那同一的光也說：「有許多先知和義人渴望看見你們所看見的，卻沒有看見」（太十三17）。因此，他們受了孕卻未見光，因為他們雖被先知公開的聲音激勵，去盼望那將要來的中保，卻絕不能看見祂的道成肉身。

218:6

133 In his itaque con- ceptus interior formam fidei edidit, sed hanc usque ad apertam visionem divinae praesentiae non perduxit, quia prius hos a mundo mors interveniens rapuit, quam manifesta mundum Veritas c illustravit [ Vet. XXXVIII.] 65. Job proeterita cernens et fu- tura, ad aeterna anhelat. —Vir igitur sanctus spiritu aeternitatis plenus, manu cordis cuncta labentia ad memoriam astringit; et quia angusta est omnis creatura creatori, per eumdem spiritum, qui d nihil in sc vel juxta se aliud, nisi semper esse habet, hoc quod erit, hoc quod praeteriit, conspicit;

In these, therefore, the inward conception brought forth the form of faith, but did not carry it through to the open vision of the divine presence, because death, intervening, snatched these from the world before manifest Truth illumined the world. [Old Version, chapter 38.] 65. Job, beholding things past and future, pants after things eternal.—The holy man, therefore, full of the spirit of eternity, binds together to memory with the hand of the heart all things that pass away; and because every creature is narrow to the Creator, through that same Spirit, who has nothing else in Himself or beside Himself save always to be, he beholds that which shall be and that which has passed;

因此，在這些人裡面，內在的懷孕生出了信德的形式，卻未將它帶到對神聖臨在的開明異象，因為死亡插入，在明顯的真理照亮世界之前，就將這些人從世界擄去。〔舊版，第三十八章。〕六十五、約伯洞見過去與將來之事，切慕永恆之事。——因此，聖潔之人，充滿永恆的靈，以心之手將一切流逝之物束繫於記憶；又因對創造者而言一切受造之物皆是狹窄的，就藉那同一的靈——祂在自己裡面或在自己旁邊，除永遠存在之外，別無其他——洞見那將要有的，與那已過去的；

218:7

ac infra supraque mentis oculum tendit, et venientia veluti transacta considerans, ad aeternum esse medullitus inardescit, dicens: Nunc enim dormiens silerem. Nunc enim praesentis esi temporis. Et quid est stan- tem semper in praesenti quietem quaerere, nisi ad illud, cui nihil venit, nihil praeterit, gaudium aeterni- tatis anhelare? Quod nimirum Veritas semper esse suum, ut nobis, utcunque in funderet, Moyse mediante insinuat, dicens: Ego sum qui sum. Et dices filiis Israel: Qui est, misit me ad vos ( Exod. iii, 14). Sed ecce, quia labentia conspicit, quia semper praesens gaudium quaerit, quia venturae lucis memorat, quia electorum ejus ordines enumerans pensat:

and he stretches the eye of the mind below and above, and considering things coming as though they were done, he burns to the very marrow toward eternal being, saying: For now I should be sleeping in silence. 'Now,' indeed, is of the present time. And what is it to seek a quiet ever standing in the present, but to pant after that joy of eternity to which nothing comes, nothing passes away? Which Truth, indeed, intimates to us that His being is ever the same, that He might in some measure pour it into us, through the mediation of Moses, saying: I am who am. And thou shalt say to the children of Israel: He who is has sent me to you (Exod. 3:14). But behold, since he beholds things falling away, since he seeks a joy ever present, since he calls to mind the coming light, since, enumerating the ranks of His elect, he weighs them:

他向下向上伸展心靈之眼，把將來之事看作已成之事，向著永恆的存在深入骨髓地燃燒，說：「因為現在我早已靜靜安睡。」「現在」誠然是屬於現今之時。尋求一種常立於現今的安息，若非切慕那永恆的喜樂——對它一無所來、一無所去——又是甚麼呢？誠然，真理向我們表明祂的存在永遠是同一的，好使祂或多或少地將它傾注於我們，就藉著摩西為中介說：「我是自有永有的。你要對以色列人說：那自有者差我到你們這裡來」（出三14）。但看哪，既然他洞見那墜落之物，既然他尋求那常在的喜樂，既然他記念那將來的光，既然他列舉並衡量祂選民的行列：

218:8

ipsam jam nobis apertius quietem hujus lucis insinuet, et quid apud illam quotidie de pravorum conversa- tione a agitur, verbis manifestioribus demonstret. Sequitur: V ers. 17. — Ibi impii cessaverunt a tumultu, et ibi requieverunt fessi robore. 66. Impii Incarnationis beneficio a gravi labore erepti.—Paulo ante jam diximus quia corda peccan- tium per hoc quod strepitus desideriorum possidet, gravis cogitationum instigantium tumultus premit. Sed in hac luce, quam concepti minime viderunt, a tumultu suo impii cessare perhibentur, quia nimirum Mediatoris adventum, quem patres in lege positi diu praestolati sunt, ad vitae suae requiem populi gentiles invenerunt, Paulo attestante, qui ait:

let him now intimate to us more openly the quiet of this light, and show forth in plainer words what is daily done in it concerning the conversion of the wicked. There follows: Verse 17.—There the wicked have ceased from tumult, and there the weary in strength have rested. 66. The wicked, by the benefit of the Incarnation, are rescued from grievous toil.—A little before we already said that the hearts of sinners, through this that the din of desires possesses them, a grievous tumult of goading thoughts oppresses. But in this light, which those conceived by no means saw, the wicked are declared to cease from their tumult, because, without doubt, the coming of the Mediator, whom the fathers set under the law long awaited, the Gentile peoples found for the rest of their life, Paul attesting, who says:

願他如今向我們更公開地表明這光的安息，並以更明白的話語顯出那在其中每日就惡人的歸正所行之事。接著說：第十七節——在那裡惡人止息了騷亂，在那裡力氣疲乏的人得了安息。六十六、惡人藉道成肉身的恩惠，從沉重的勞苦中被拯救出來。——稍前我們已說過，罪人的心，因慾望的喧囂佔據他們，就被那煽動思念的沉重騷亂所壓。但在這光中——就是那些受孕的人絕未見過的光——惡人無疑被宣告從他們的騷亂中止息，因為外邦的百姓為著他們生命的安息，尋得了那在律法之下的列祖久候的中保的來臨，正如保羅所見證的，他說：

218:9

Quod quoerebat Israel, hoc non est consecutus, electio autem consecuta est ( Rom. xi, 7). In hac itaque luce impii a tumultu cessant, dum perversorum mentes, veritate cognita, laboriosa mundi desideria fugiunt, et tranquillitati intimi amoris acquiescunt. An non ad cessationem Vocat Lux ipsa, qbac ait: Venite ad me omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego vos reficiam: tollite jugum meum super vos, et discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis corde, et invenietis requiem animabus ve- stris; jugum enim meum suave est, et onus meum leve est ( Matth. xi, 28, 29, 30)? Quid enim grave mentis nostrae cervicibus imponit, qui vitari omne desiderium quod perturbat praecipit?

What Israel sought, that it has not obtained; but the election has obtained it (Rom. 11:7). In this light, therefore, the wicked cease from tumult, while the minds of the perverse, the truth being known, flee the toilsome desires of the world and repose in the tranquillity of inmost love. Does not the Light Himself call to this ceasing, who says: Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you: take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls; for my yoke is sweet and my burden is light (Matt. 11:28-30)? For what grievous thing does He impose upon the necks of our mind, who commands that every desire which disturbs be shunned?

以色列人所尋求的，他們沒有得著，惟有蒙揀選的人得著了（羅十一7）。因此，在這光中，惡人止息了騷亂，因為悖逆之人的心思，既認識了真理，便逃避世界勞苦的慾望，安息於至深之愛的安寧中。那光豈不親自呼召人來到這止息嗎？祂說：「凡勞苦擔重擔的，都到我這裡來，我就使你們得安息；你們當負我的軛，學我的樣式，因我心裡柔和謙卑，你們的心靈就必得享安息；因為我的軛是輕省的，我的擔子是容易的」（太十一28-30）。那吩咐要躲避一切擾亂人之慾望的主，向我們心靈的頸項加上甚麼沉重之物呢？