約伯倫理 第 1299 章

they are shaken, yet they rejoice in the future reward. — By which words indeed this too is shown, that in this place nothing is said by the Lord concerning an irrational horse. For a brute animal cannot say 'Aha'; but when it is asserted to say what it is wholly unable to say, it is intimated whom it designates. For 'Aha' is a word of exultation. The horse therefore, when the trumpet is heard, says 'Aha,' because every strong preacher, when he considers that the contest of suffering is drawing near to him, exults in the exercise of virtue; nor is he terrified by the peril of the battle, because he rejoices in the triumph of victory. And so it is as if to say 'Aha' — for the holy preacher to rejoice over the suffering to come. [Old,

26.] But if the strong preacher longs for the glory of suffering, if he joyfully seeks to undergo the crisis of death for the Lord, what is it that the Truth said to that most valiant preacher himself, Peter, who drew his very virtue in name from a sturdy heart: 'When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and lead thee whither thou wouldest not' (John 21:18)? How does he rejoice over suffering, who, girded by another, is unwilling to go whither he is led? But if we weigh how the soul is shaken by the fear of death as suffering draws near, and yet rejoices over the coming reward of the kingdom, we understand how, willing to undergo the peril of the glorious contest, he is unwilling; because both in death he considers what, enduring, he may dread, and in the fruit of death he beholds what, desiring, he may seek.

70. Paul loves what he flees, and seems to flee what he loves. — Let us see how Paul loves what he flees, how he flees what he loves. For he says: 'Having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ' (Phil. 1:23). And, 'To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain' (ibid., 21). And yet he says: 'We who are in this tabernacle groan, being burdened; because we would not be unclothed, but clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life' (2 Cor. 5:4). Behold, he both desires to die, and yet dreads to be unclothed of the flesh. Why is this? Because although the victory gladdens forever, that same victory nonetheless troubles for the present by its penalty; and although the love of the reward that follows conquers, yet the pang of grief touches the soul not without sorrow.

For just as the strong man, when he is now girded with arms for the near contest of battle, both quivers and hastens, trembles and rages, and by his pallor is seen as it were to be afraid, yet by his wrath is vehemently urged on; so the holy man, when he beholds himself drawing near to suffering, is both shaken by the weakness of his nature, and strengthened by the firmness of his hope; and he trembles at the near approach of death, and yet exults that by dying he shall truly live. For to the kingdom he cannot pass except through death interposed; and therefore by trusting he as it were wavers, and by wavering he as it were trusts; and rejoicing he fears, and fearing he rejoices, because he knows that he cannot attain to the prize of rest unless he crosses over with toil that which lies between.

So we too, when we desire to drive diseases from the body, sadly indeed take the bitter cup of purgation, yet, certain of the health that follows, we rejoice. For because the body cannot otherwise attain to health, in the draught even that which is loathsome is welcome. And when the soul beholds that life lies within the bitterness, troubled with grief it grows glad. Let it be said therefore: 'When he hears the trumpet, he says Aha,' because the strong preacher, when he learns of the near contest, though as a man he trembles at the force of persecution, yet through the certainty of hope he exults at the reward of recompense. But he would in no way stand unshaken against this warfare of suffering, unless he anticipated that same suffering by meditating on it with intent thought.

For an evil that is anticipated by counsel is, by reason, subjected to the soul contending against it, because each man is the less overcome by adversity the more he is found prepared against it by foreknowledge. For often the heavy weight of fear is lightened by practice; often death itself, as when unforeseen it disturbs, so being anticipated by deliberation it gladdens. Whence rightly concerning this horse it is subjoined: 71. That victory may be carried off, let the contest be foreseen. — As if it were said more plainly: For this reason he surmounts any contest whatever, because he prepares his mind for the contest before the contest. For to 'smell the battle afar off' is by thinking to foreknow adverse things while they are still set far away, lest perchance, unforeseen, they should be able to overcome.

To smell this battle afar off Paul admonished his disciples, when he said: 'Prove your own selves whether ye be in the faith; examine yourselves' (2 Cor. 13:5). As if he openly enjoined, saying: Bring back to your mind the contests of persecutions, and weighing the inmost and hidden things of your heart, discover of what sort you may be able to prove amid tortures. This battle holy men smell afar off, when even set in the peace of the universal Church, they behold either the wars of heretics or the impending torments of persecutions from unbelievers. And while they live rightly, they often receive evils in return for good, and bear the insults of detractions with equanimity, so that, if occasion of persecution should present itself, the open enemies may find them the stronger,

the more that within the Church the darts of false brethren do not vanquish them. For he who falls from the state of patience before the wounds of tongues, is himself a witness to himself that he cannot stand firm against the swords of open persecution. Since therefore the man of God, being exercised by present things, strives against things to come, and being exercised by the least things, strives against the greater, rightly is it said of God's horse that 'he smells the battle afar off.' There follows: