On the Contemplative Life 9

Latin original · 5 verses · some words can be tapped for a gloss

9:1

Proinde vite contemplativæsectator A ad Condi. torem suum corde illuminandus accedat, ipsi contemplando atque b infatigabiliter perfruendo vigilanter inserviat, ipsum jugiter concupiscat, præ amore ejus omnia quibus inde potest averti, c refugiat, omnes cogitationes suas, ac totam spem ex illius delectatione [al. dilectione] suspendat, litterarum divinarum sacris meditationibus vacet, in his se divinilus illuminatus oblectet, ibi se totum velut in speculo quodam a refulgente consideret: quod in se pravum deprehenderit corrigat, e quod rectum est teneat, quod deforme componai, f quod pulchrum excolat, quod sanum servet, quod infirmum assidua lectione corroboret;

Therefore let the follower of the contemplative life approach his Creator to be enlightened in heart, let him watchfully serve him by contemplating and untiringly enjoying him, let him continually desire him, let him for love of him flee all things by which he can be turned away from it, let him suspend all his thoughts and all his hope upon delight [or love] of him, let him give himself to the sacred meditations of the divine letters, let him take pleasure in them being divinely enlightened, let him there consider himself wholly as in some shining mirror: let him correct what he has detected in himself to be perverse, let him hold fast what is right, let him set in order what is misshapen, let him cultivate what is beautiful, let him preserve what is sound, let him strengthen by constant reading what is weak;

所以，讓那默觀生活的跟隨者前來就近他的造物主，使心中得著光照；讓他藉著默觀並不倦地享受祂，警醒地事奉祂；讓他不住地渴慕祂；讓他為愛祂的緣故，逃避一切能使他從中轉離的事物；讓他將自己一切的思念並全部的盼望都繫於對祂的喜愛〔或：愛〕；讓他殷勤於神聖經卷的默想；讓他在蒙神光照中以其為樂；讓他在那裡彷彿在某面光亮的鏡中全然省察自己：他在自己裡面所發覺乖謬的，就改正；正確的，就持守；扭曲的，就整治；美好的，就栽培；健全的，就保守；軟弱的，就藉著不斷的閱讀加以堅固；

9:2

Domini sui præcepta infatigabiliter legat, g inexplebiliter diligat, efficaciter impleat, et quid sibi cavendum quidve sectandum sit, ex eis sufficienter instructus agnoscat, mysteriis earumdem divinarum Scripturarum perscrutandis insistat, Christum h ibi promissum legat (Joan.

let him untiringly read the precepts of his Lord, insatiably love them, effectually fulfill them, and from them, being sufficiently instructed, let him recognize what he must beware of and what he must pursue; let him persist in searching out the mysteries of those same divine Scriptures, let him read Christ promised there (John 1:45),

讓他不倦地誦讀他主的命令，無饜地愛慕，有效地遵行，並從中得著充分的教導，認明何當提防、何當追求；讓他堅持探究這些神聖經文的奧祕，讓他誦讀在其中所應許的基督（約一45），

9:3

I, 45), repraesentatum videat, proplietatam perditionem populi contumacis intelligat, i impleri lugeat, de salute gentium gaudeat, i ex præteritis quae praedicta sunt et impleta teneat, futuris promissionibus credat, ab strepitu negotiorum saecularium k remotissimus, ea i ferventer excogitet, quibus animum suum in desiderium futurae remunerationis inflammet, studiis spiritualibus, quibus in dies singulos melior ac melior fiat, invigilet, amet otium sanctum, in quo exerceat animae suae negotium, mortuum sibi deputet mundum, ac se mundi m blandientis illecebris exhibeat crucifixum;

let him see him represented, let him understand the prophesied destruction of the stubborn people, let him mourn that it was fulfilled, let him rejoice at the salvation of the nations, let him from things past which were foretold and fulfilled hold fast, let him believe future promises; far removed from the din of secular affairs, let him fervently meditate on those things by which he may inflame his soul into the desire of the future reward; let him keep watch over spiritual pursuits, by which he may become daily better and better; let him love holy leisure, in which he may exercise the business of his soul; let him reckon the world dead to himself, and let him show himself crucified to the allurements of the flattering world;

讓他看見祂被預表出來，讓他明白那頑梗之民被預言的滅亡，讓他為其應驗而哀慟，讓他為外邦人的得救而歡喜，讓他從已過所豫言並已應驗的事得著把握，讓他相信將來的應許；讓他遠離世俗事務的喧囂，火熱地默想那些能使他的魂火熱、渴慕將來賞報的事；讓他警醒於屬靈的追求，藉此日日越發長進；讓他喜愛聖潔的安息，在其中操練他魂的事業；讓他將世界看為向自己已死，並向那諂媚之世界的引誘將自己顯為已被釘十字架；

9:4

delectationi spectaculorum præsentium incomparabiliter anteponat sui Creatoris intuitum, semper se n proficiente successu in fastigium divinae contemplationis attollat; nunquam, ne ad momentum quidem, a promissionibus futuris considerandis aversus, ad terrena respiciat; eo aciem mentis indesinenter intendat, quo pervenire desiderat; beatitudinem vitae futuras ante oculos 0 animi sui proponat et diligat; nec metuat aliquid tempo. rale, neccupial; ne aut metus amittendae rei temporalis, aut cupiditas acquirendae intentionem mentis ejus emolliat; non eum blanda corrumpant, nec adversa concutiant;

let him incomparably set the sight of his Creator before the delight of present spectacles; let him ever lift himself up, with progress advancing, to the summit of divine contemplation; never, not even for a moment, turned away from the consideration of future promises, let him look back to earthly things; let him unceasingly direct the keen edge of his mind toward that which he desires to attain; let him set before the eyes of his soul and love the blessedness of the future life; let him neither fear anything temporal, nor desire it; lest either the fear of losing a temporal thing, or the desire of acquiring one, soften the intention of his mind; let not pleasant things corrupt him, nor adverse things shake him;

讓他將其造物主的瞻仰無可比擬地置於現今景觀的歡娛之上；讓他常以進步的長進將自己提升到神聖默觀的巔峰；決不、即便片刻也不從思想將來的應許轉離，去回顧地上之事；讓他不住地將心思的鋒銳指向他所渴望達到之處；讓他將將來生活的福樂置於他魂的眼前並愛慕之；讓他既不懼怕也不貪愛任何暫時之物；免得失去暫時之物的懼怕，或得著暫時之物的貪慾，使他心思的志向軟化；讓順境不能敗壞他，逆境不能搖動他；

9:5

non inflet opinio secunda, nec sinistra dejiciat, nec falsa vituperatio sive laudatio, augeat P gaudia ejus, aut minuat; non gaudeat do temporalibus omnino, nec lugeat. Inter læta invictus ac tristia; unam faciem q animi constantis obtineat, nec r pectori ejus stabilem firmitatem, quidquid promittit mundus aut minatur, excutiat; sed idem semper ac sibi similis perseverans, mundi hujus damna 9 simul et lucra non sentiat. Et cum hæc et his similia contemplativae vitae dcsiderio affectus impleverit, non se hic jam ex omni parte perfectum, sed perficiendum in illa beata vita, quae futura est, immobiliter credat; atque t ad eam se, ubi Dei substantiam revelata facie videre possit, extendat.

let not favorable opinion puff him up, nor unfavorable cast him down, nor let false blame or praise increase or diminish his joys; let him not rejoice at all in temporal things, nor mourn over them. Amid prosperity and adversity unconquered, let him keep one countenance of a steadfast mind, nor let whatever the world promises or threatens shake the stable firmness in his breast; but persevering ever the same and like himself, let him not feel the losses and at the same time the gains of this world. And when, moved by desire of the contemplative life, he has fulfilled these and things like these, let him believe unshakeably that he is not here already perfect in every part, but to be perfected in that blessed life which is to come; and let him stretch himself out toward it, where he may see the substance of God with unveiled face.

讓有利的評論不使他自高，不利的不使他喪膽，假的責備或稱讚也不增添或減少他的喜樂；讓他全然不為暫時之物歡喜，也不為之憂愁。在順逆之中得勝不敗，讓他保持堅定心思的同一面容，無論世界所應許或所威嚇的，都不能搖動他胸中穩固的堅定；反要常存如一、與自己相似地持守，使他既不覺察這世界的虧損，也不覺察其利益。當他被默觀生活的渴慕所感動，成全了這些以及類似這些的事，讓他堅定不移地相信，他在此並非各方面都已完全，乃是要在那將要來的有福生活中得著成全；並讓他向著那生活伸展自己，得以揭開面紗看見神的本質。

← ch. 8ch. 10 →

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