約伯倫理 第 1027 章

17. Let mercy in giving succeed mercy in sparing. — Since, as Paul witnesses, charity is described as patient and kind (1 Cor. XIII, 4), through patience it evenly bears the evils of others, and through kindness it also mercifully bestows its own good things. Whence blessed Job both patiently endured those of his household who cursed him, and kindly received travellers and pilgrims at his home: giving to the former examples of conduct, aiding the latter with outward means; toward the former not provoked to anger by his gentleness, toward the latter made ready by his mercy to give relief. For the holy man, beholding the Redeemer of the human race through the spirit of prophecy, kept His precepts also in his work, by which He admonishes us, saying:

'Forgive, and you shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given to you' (Luke VI, 37). For to give pertains to the things which we have outwardly, but to forgive pertains to the loosing of the grief which we have inwardly contracted from another's fault. But it must be known that he who forgives, and does not give, even if he has not fully acted, has yet held the better part of mercy. But he who gives, and does not at all forgive, does no mercy whatever, since by almighty God a gift is not received from the hand which is offered with a heart bound in malice. 28. The conditions of meritorious almsgiving. — For the mind that offers alms ought first to be cleansed, since everything that is given to God is weighed from the mind of the giver.

All the stain of malice must therefore be wiped from our inner man by a change of thought, since the offering cannot appease the wrath of the Judge unless it please Him by the purity of the offerer. Whence it is written: 'God had respect to Abel and to his gifts, but to Cain and to his gifts He had no respect' (Gen. IV, 4, 5). For the sacred word does not say: He had respect to the gifts of Abel, and had no respect to the gifts of Cain; but first says that He had respect to Abel, and then subjoins, 'And to his gifts.' And again it says that He had no respect to Cain, and then adds, 'Nor to his gifts.' For that which is given is accepted from the heart of the giver. Therefore it was not Abel that pleased from his gifts, but the gifts offered by Abel pleased Him.

For the Lord is read to have first had respect to him who gave, before to those things which he gave. Whence blessed Job, about to declare to us his bounty in the grace of hospitality, first set forth his patience and kindness toward his adversaries: namely, that he did not exult at the ruin of an enemy, that he did not assail his persecutors with cursing words, that he evenly bore those who raged inwardly, and only then at last set forth the munificence of his hospitality; so that, hearing the order of his narration, we may learn that outward gifts are seasoned by the inner purity of the heart, so that the fabric of his virtues may teach the reader what sort of man he ought to be within himself when he supplies outward goods to others. 29. Elation to be guarded against in good works.

— But because he might not believe himself to be holy amid such heights of virtues? Who, being in any way tempted by so many merits themselves, would not, if ever as a man he should offend, be unwilling that his fault be made known to men; and think it a light thing if he sinned in the least matters; and would rather cover his fault by silence than open it by the voice of confession? For it often happens that a mind elated by its virtues, when it recognizes that much good is spread abroad concerning itself in the esteem of its neighbours, is unwilling that anything be known if there is something it does reprehensibly. And the mind endures these shadows of error precisely because swelling pride weighs down the eye of the heart.

Whence blessed Job, amid so many excellent deeds of virtues, who stood so lofty in action, in order to show how humble he was in mind, straightway added: