約伯倫理 第 1012 章

33. Concord in society cannot endure without patience. — Because bodily operation is carried on through the shoulder and the arm, he wishes his shoulder to fall and his arm to be crushed if he did not fulfil in deed the good things which he uttered with his mouth. As if he plainly said: If I refused to work those things which I said, may I lose that very member of the body which was given me for working; that is, may that fall from the body which I was unwilling to exercise unto usefulness. But if this sentence of cursing is to be referred to a spiritual understanding, it is assuredly clear that the arm is joined to the body through the shoulder. And just as by the arm good operation, so by the shoulder the conjunction of the social life is designated.

Whence the prophet also, beholding the peoples of the universal Church about to serve God concordantly, says: 'And they shall serve Him with one shoulder' (Zeph. 3:9). In that, therefore, which he says: 'If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, even when I saw myself superior in the gate,' he asserts that he preserved a wondrous virtue of patience, who disdained not to be borne hard upon by the least persons, nor even against that which could justly belong to him. Yet if he had by no means done this, he adds: 'Let my shoulder fall from its joint.' Because assuredly he who scorns to preserve patience quickly, through impatience, forsakes the social life. For the shoulder falls from the joint, when the mind, not being able to bear anything of adversity, forsakes fraternal concord:

and, as it were, a member is separated from the body, when he who could work good things is cut off from the universality of all the good. For never can concord be preserved except through patience alone. For frequently in human action there arises something whereby the minds of men are mutually separated from their unity and love; and unless the mind prepares itself to endure adversities, without doubt the shoulder cleaves not to the body. Hence indeed Paul says: 'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ' (Gal. 6:2). Hence through Herself Truth says: 'In your patience you shall possess your souls' (Luke 21:19). 34. Without patience, good works joined to charity perish.

— But rightly, when the shoulder falls, it is subjoined: 'And let my arm with its bones be broken': because assuredly our whole operation, though it seem to be adorned with any virtues whatever, is dissolved, unless through the bond of charity patience be preserved. For he loses to work his own good things who refuses to suffer the evil things of others. For anyone, wounded by the fervour of an irascible spirit, recoils from love, and when he does not tolerate being borne hard upon outwardly, inwardly he darkens himself through the lost light of charity; nor does he now see whither he directs the foot of good work, who has lost the eye of love. But the holy man's shoulder falls not from its joint, because, namely, his love recedes not, through impatience, from the concord of the social life.

And his arm is by no means broken, because his every operation is preserved in the joining of the shoulder, that is, in the bond of charity. But with what reflection he had wrought these many good deeds, and had held himself back from all evils, he goes on to add, saying: