約伯倫理 第 1054 章

Verse 20.—Bread becomes abominable to him in his life, and to his soul the food that was before desirable. By bread in Sacred Scripture many things are signified: 1) Christ; 2) grace; 3) sacred doctrine; 4) the preaching of heretics; 5) the support of the present life; 6) the pleasantness of human delight.—As if he plainly said: The afflicted mind considers as bitterness whatever before pleasantly and gladly used to satisfy it. For in Sacred Scripture bread is taken sometimes as the Lord himself, sometimes as spiritual grace, sometimes as the erudition of divine doctrine, sometimes as the preaching of heretics, sometimes as the support of the present life, sometimes as the pleasantness of human delight.

By bread the Lord is signified, as he himself says in the Gospel: I am the living bread, who came down from heaven (John 6:51). Again, by bread the grace of the spiritual gift is taken, as it is said through the prophet: He who stops his ears, that he may not hear of blood, and shuts his eyes, that he may not see evil, he shall dwell on high: the fortifications of rocks shall be his loftiness; bread is given to him (Isa. 33:15-16). For what is it to stop the ears, that one may not hear of blood, except to give no consent to the sins that persuade, which are born of blood and flesh? And what is it, that one may not see evil, to shut the eyes, except not to approve of all that is contrary to rectitude?

He shall dwell on high, because although he still holds the flesh in lower things, he has already fixed his mind in sublime things. The fortifications of rocks shall be his loftiness, because he who tramples the abject desires of earthly living, lifts himself up to the supernal homeland by the examples of the fathers who went before. And because through the gift of contemplation he is satisfied with spiritual grace, it is fitly subjoined: Bread is given to him, that is, he receives the refreshment of spiritual grace, because by hoping he suspends himself from inmost goods to heavenly things. Hence also concerning the holy Church the Lord says through David: I will satisfy her poor with bread (Ps. 132:15), because in her the minds of the humble, being placed there, are filled with the refreshment of spiritual gifts.

Again, by bread the erudition of divine doctrine is designated, as it is said through the prophet: You who dwell in the land of the South, meet with bread him who flees (Isa. 21:14). For in the land of the South dwell those who, placed in the holy Church, are aglow with the charity of the supernal Spirit. But he flees who longs to escape the evils of this world. He, therefore, who dwells in the land of the South, let him meet with bread him who flees, that is, let him who is already full of the Holy Spirit within the Church console with the address of erudition him who strives to escape his own evils. To meet with bread him who flees is, forsooth, to offer the food of sacred doctrine to one fearing the eternal punishments, and now to check his swelling with terror, now to warm again his dread with exhortation.

Because the refreshment of bread is not unfittingly taken as Sacred Scripture, through the same prophet it is said to the Jews who keep the letter alone: Why do you weigh out silver, and not in bread (Isa. 55:2)? As if he said: You ponder the sacred oracles, but not unto refreshment, because while you keep the mere appearance of the letter, you lose the fatness of inner refreshment that comes from spiritual understanding. Whence there is fitly subjoined: And your labor not unto satisfaction (Isa. 55:2). Again, by bread the preaching of heretics is designated, as through Solomon the woman bearing the type of the heretical church, and calling the foolish, says: Eat gladly hidden loaves (Prov. 9:17). Or, as it is written in our translation:

Stolen waters are sweeter, and hidden bread is more pleasant. For there are certain heresies that openly fear to preach what they hold, and season their words the more among the minds of the weak, the more, as it were, reverently they conceal them. Whence not without cause it is said: Eat gladly hidden loaves. For to wretched hearts the hidden words of heretics savor the more, the more they are not held in common with the rest. Again, by bread the support of the present life is taken, as Jacob, on his way to Laban, says: Lord God, if you will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on (Gen. 28:20). And as in the Gospel the Lord says to the crowds following him:

You seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled (John 6:26). For they had been satisfied with seven loaves. And in their person the Lord detests those within the holy Church who, drawing near to the Lord through sacred orders, seek in those same orders not the merits of virtues, but the supports of the present life; nor do they consider what they ought to imitate by living, but by what gains they may be satisfied in receiving. For to follow the Lord satisfied with loaves is to have taken temporal nourishment from the holy Church. And to seek the Lord not for the signs but for the loaves is to gape after the office of religion not for the increasing of virtues, but for the seeking of supports.

Again, by bread the pleasantness of human delight is taken. Whence the prophet Jeremiah, while bewailing the lost morals of the synagogue, said: All her people groaning and seeking bread: they gave all their precious things for food to refresh the soul (Lam. 1:11). For the groaning people seeks bread, while the depraved multitude of men is afflicted, because it is not satisfied to its wish by the pleasantness of the present life. But it also gives all its precious things for food, because it inclines the virtues of the mind to the appetite of transitory delight. And it strives to refresh the soul, because it endeavors to satisfy its own perverse desires. Whence well it is soon added in the voice of that elect multitude: See, O Lord, and consider, for I am become vile (Lam. 1:11).

For God's people becomes vile, when, the number of the depraved increasing, in them not the highest and heavenly things, but the abject and earthly are pursued. Whatever savors sweet, by the force of temptation turns bitter.—Elihu therefore, by bread, what else does he call but the delight of the present life? He, after he had expressed the force of temptation, immediately added: Bread becomes abominable to him in his life, and to his soul the food that was before desirable, because, forsooth, all that before savored sweet from the very prosperity of living, afterwards through the force of temptation turns bitter.

But sometimes whatever of joy, whatever of virtue seemed to smile, is suddenly lost in the dread of temptation, and the sad mind, as it were emptied of those same virtues, is possessed by grief alone. For when it is affected a little more vehemently by the impulse of temptation, because it cannot exert the force of its accustomed strength, it grieves for it as already lost, and, feeling itself empty of itself, recognizes its own infirmity from its very emptiness. Whence soon it is, as it were, broken from all pleasantness; and, spurning the foods of former gladness, it is satisfied with that mourning alone which it gladly desires. For everyone, when the prosperity of living well smiles upon him, is made cheerful, and that very cheerfulness refreshes the mind like desirable food.

But when it is beaten by temptation pressing a little more, all joy is spurned by his mind through the loathing of grief, which mind before was gladdened as if satisfied by that same joy. Because, then, the tempted man spurns from the mouth of the heart all food of delight, and nothing else delights him but to know and to weep over himself, well is it said: Bread becomes abominable to him in his life, and to his soul the food that was before desirable. The usefulness of temptations and scourges.—But, as we said above (No. 48), for this reason we are permitted so to be tempted by the governance of the hidden dispensation, that we who make progress in virtue from the divine gift may also be reminded what we are from our own infirmity;

and that we who from the receiving of the gift perform the works of virtue may, from the memory of our infirmity, offer the sacrifice of humility. But sometimes, after the progress of powers, not only do vices tempt, but scourges also chastise. When, however, we are tempted by vices, it is dealt with us by a pious dispensation, lest we be exalted by those virtues by which we make progress. But when we are worn down by scourges, we are admonished by the rebuking evils, lest we be seduced while the world flatters. Vices, while they tempt us, humble the virtues that make progress in us; scourges, while they tempt, root out the pleasures of this world rising in the heart. Through the tempting vices we learn what we are of ourselves, through the striking scourges we recognize what we should flee of this world.

By the former we are restrained, lest we be exalted within; by the latter we are checked, lest we desire anything without. While, then, we are in this life, it is necessary both to be worn by scourges and sometimes to be tempted by vices. For whether in the labors of scourges, or in the struggle of vices, not only does our infirmity become known to us, but we also recognize in how great a virtue we have advanced. For no one recognizes his own strength in peace. For if wars are lacking, the proofs of virtues do not come forth. He is an improvident soldier who glories himself brave in peace. Because, then, often the merits of our powers are made manifest through the adversities of scourges, Elihu fitly subjoins, saying: