97:1
V ers. 8. — Considerasti servum meum Job, quod non sit similis ei super terram, vir simplex et rectus, ac timens Deum, et recedens a malo? 13. Dei diabolique pugna, cujus materia Job fuit. — Praecedenti jam sermone tractatura est, quia dia- bolus non contra Job, sed contra Deum certamen proposuit; materia vero certaminis beatus Job in medio fuit. Et si in sermonibus suis dicimus Job inter flagella deliquisse, quod sentire nefas est, Deum di- cimus in sua propositione e perdidisse. Nam ecce et in hoc loco intuendum est, quia non prius diabolus beatum Job a Domino petiit, sed eum Dominus in diaboli despectam laudavit. Et nisi in sua justitia permansurum nosset, non utique pro illo proponeret.
Verse 8. — Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him upon the earth, a simple and upright man, and fearing God, and departing from evil? 13. The combat of God and the devil, of which Job was the material. — It was already treated in the preceding discourse, that the devil proposed a combat not against Job, but against God; but blessed Job was in the midst as the material of the combat. And if in our discourses we say that Job failed amid the scourges — which it is impious to think — we say that God lost in His proposal. For behold, even in this place it must be considered, that the devil did not first ask blessed Job from the Lord, but the Lord praised him to the scorn of the devil. And unless He had known that he would remain in his justice, He would surely not have proposed him.
第八節。——你曾用心察看我的僕人約伯沒有？地上再沒有人像他完全正直、敬畏神、遠離惡事。13. 神與魔鬼的爭戰，約伯是其題材。——在前面的講論中已論及：魔鬼所提出的爭戰並非對抗約伯，乃是對抗神；而有福的約伯居於其間，作爭戰的題材。倘若我們在講論中說約伯在災禍中跌倒——這是想都不敬虔的——我們就是說神在祂的提出上失敗了。因為看哪，甚至在此處也當思量：並非魔鬼先向主求索有福的約伯，乃是主向魔鬼誇讚他、羞辱魔鬼。若非祂已知道約伯必存留在他的公義中，祂斷不會為他提出來。
97:2
Nec periturum in tentatione concederet, de quo ante tentationem, ex Dei laudibus, in tentatoris mente invidiae fuerant faces excitatae. 14. Quam astute quaerat diabolus unde nos accuset. — Sed antiquus adversarius cum quae accuset mala, non invenit, ipsa ad malum inflectere bona quaerit. Cumque de operibus vincitur, ad accusandum verba nostra perscrutatur. Cum nec in verbis accusationem reperit, intentionem cordis fuscare contendit; tan- quam bona facta bono animo non fiant, et idcirco perpendi a judice bona non debeant. Quia enim fructus arboris esse et in aestu virides conspicit, quasi vermem ponere ad radicem quaerit. Nam dicit:
Nor would He have conceded him to perish in temptation, concerning whom, before the temptation, from the praises of God, torches of envy had been kindled in the mind of the tempter. 14. How cunningly the devil seeks whence to accuse us. — But the ancient adversary, when he does not find evils which he may accuse, seeks to bend the good things themselves to evil. And when he is overcome concerning our works, he scrutinizes our words for accusation. When he finds no accusation in words either, he strives to darken the intention of the heart; as though good deeds were not done with a good mind, and therefore good things ought not to be weighed by the judge. For since he beholds the fruit of the tree to be green even in the heat, he seeks, as it were, to place a worm at the root. For he says:
論到那在試探之前，因神的稱讚而在試探者心中激起嫉妒火炬的人，祂也斷不會准他在試探中滅亡。14. 魔鬼何等狡猾地尋找控告我們的把柄。——但那古蛇仇敵，當他找不到可控告的惡時，就設法把善事本身扭向惡。當他在我們的行為上被勝過時，就搜查我們的言語尋找控告。當他在言語中也找不到控告時，就竭力抹黑內心的意念；彷彿善行不是以良善的心思而作，所以審判者就不當看重善事。因為他既見樹上的果子連在炎熱中也是青翠的，就設法彷彿把蟲子放在根上。因為他說：