約伯倫理 第 1110 章

Verse 9. — 'Because of the multitude of slanderers they will cry out, and they will wail because of the force of the arm of tyrants' (Job xxxv, 9). Those who despoil us of virtues by depraved examples are worse than those who despoil us of outward goods. We may rightly call slanderers all the wicked, not only those who seize outward goods, but also those who by their evil ways and by the example of a reprobate life strive to scatter our inner things. For the former aspire to invade the things that are external to us, but the latter seek to plunder us within. The former cease not to rage out of love of things, the latter out of hatred of virtues. The former envy what we have, the latter what we are. The former are eager to seize outward goods because they please them; the latter labor to scatter inward goods because they displease them.

By as much, therefore, as the life of morals surpasses the substance of possessions, by so much is he the graver slanderer who by his evil sight brings violence upon our morals, than he who by violent oppression inflicts loss upon our goods. The latter has taken nothing away from our sustenance, but has set before us examples of perdition. He therefore has inflicted the graver calumny, in that he has stirred a quiet heart into temptation. Who, even if he has by no means persuaded us to the works of his deed, has nevertheless brought upon us the combat of temptation. We endure, therefore, a grave calumny from his life, because indeed we suffer within what we must overcome with labor. And because in this world there abounds an evil life to torment, it is rightly said: 'Because of the multitude of slanderers they will cry out.'

Some persuade to base things, others command and compel to them by tyrannical force. But because they sometimes strive to extort even by unbridled force those things which they cannot persuade by words, it is fitly subjoined: 'And they will wail because of the force of the arm of tyrants.' For whoever compels us by his example to live evilly, still uses against us the voice of the slanderer; but whoever, while persuading to sin, also assails us with terror, already rages against us with the arm of tyranny. For it is one thing to persuade to vices by living, another to command by terrifying. While therefore we behold the examples of evil action, we as it were still hear the clamor of the slanderer; but while we are compelled by force to sin, we already endure the tyrant in our heart. Yet the minds of the elect resist their attempts.

One must go to God not only through smooth things, but also through rough ones. But the minds of the strong, immovably fixed in God, despise these things by as much as they perceive that they grow up against the precepts of the Creator. For, awaiting the rewards of eternity, they draw strength from adversities, since, as the battle increases, they do not doubt that a more glorious victory awaits them. Thus, therefore, the desires of the elect, while they are pressed, make progress by adversity, just as fire is pressed by a blast that it may grow; and whence it seems as it were to be extinguished, thence it is strengthened. For in this we show with how great a desire we burn toward the Lord, if we pass over to Him not only through the tranquil and smooth, but also through the rough and hard. Hence indeed the prophet says:

'Who made my feet like those of a stag' (Psalm xvii, 34 [Ps. 18:33]). For when the stag ascends the ridges of the mountains, it passes over by a given leap whatever rough things it beholds, whatever entangled in thorns are set in its way, and without any obstacle to its course is raised up to the higher places. So also the minds of the elect transcend by the leap of contemplation whatever they perceive to withstand and oppose them in this world, and after the manner of stags, despising the thorns of earthly things, they lift themselves up to the things above. Hence again he says: 'And in my God I shall leap over the wall' (ibid., 30 [Ps. 18:29]). For a wall is everything that is set against our journey, lest one pass over to Him who is loved.

But we leap over the wall when, out of love for the supernal fatherland, we trample whatever things have been set in our way in this world. Hence through the same Prophet the Lord says to the striving soul: 'I heard you in the hidden place of the tempest, I proved you at the waters of contradiction' (Psalm lxxx, 8 [Ps. 81:7]). For the hidden place of the tempest is when, in the contrite heart, the waves of tempting thoughts swell, when against the pursuits of holy love the tumults of secular cares dash themselves. In the hidden place of the tempest, therefore, one is heard, because this very fluctuation of tribulation is the cry of one entreating. But because there are by no means lacking those who strive to persuade perverse things to such as seek good things, the waters of contradiction are the peoples who resist.

And because desire is then proved when it is resisted by some adversity, it is rightly said: 'I proved you at the waters of contradiction.' By these efforts of the virtues, then, the strong make progress from adversity; but the weak often languish in their desires if any things are set against them from the opposite side, and when they are struck by a mighty tribulation, they fail through faintheartedness. Whence Elihu, casting upon blessed Job the reproaches of faintheartedness, after first mentioning the oppressions of the wicked, presently pursues the faintheartednesses of the weak, saying: