約伯倫理 第 1312 章

92. By the grace of God we strip off the old man. Certain things worthy of note about the hawk. — That the hawk each year casts off its old feather, a new one being born, and without intermission grows plumage, almost no one is ignorant. But here it is not that time of plumage that is spoken of in which it is clothed in the nest, because then, indeed, being still a nestling, it cannot yet spread its wings toward the South wind; but that annual plumage is described, which, the old feather being loosened, is renewed. And indeed for domestic hawks warm and moist places are sought, that they may grow plumage the better. But it is the custom of wild ones that, when the South wind blows, they spread their wings, so that their members may grow warm by the warmth of the wind for the loosening of the old feather.

But when the wind is lacking, with their wings stretched out and beaten against the rays of the sun, they make for themselves a warming breeze, and thus, the pores being opened, either the old feathers leap out or new ones grow up. What, then, is it for the hawk to grow plumage in the South wind, except that each of the saints, touched by the birth of the Holy Spirit, grows warm, and, casting off the use of his old manner of life, takes on the form of the new man? This Paul admonishes, saying: Stripping off the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new (Coloss. III, 9). And again: Though our outward man is corrupted, yet the inward man is renewed from day to day (II Cor. IV, 16).

But to cast off the old feather is to lose the inveterate pursuits of deceitful action, and to take on the new feather is to hold a meek and simple sense by living well. For the feather of the old manner of life weighs down, and the plumage of the new transformation lifts up, so that it may render one all the lighter for flight, the newer it is. 93. For this renewal confession is necessary. — And he well says: He spreads his wings toward the South. For to spread our wings toward the South is, through the coming of the Holy Spirit, to open our thoughts by confessing, so that it may no longer please us to cover ourselves by defending, but to publish ourselves by accusing.

Then, therefore, the hawk grows plumage when it has spread its wings toward the South, because then each one clothes himself with the feathers of the virtues when he lays himself beneath the Holy Spirit by confessing his thoughts. For he who does not, by confessing, put off his old things, produces in no way the works of the new way; he who knows not how to mourn what weighs him down, cannot bring forth what lifts him up. For the very force of compunction opens the pores of the heart, and pours forth the plumage of the virtues; and when the mind zealously reproves itself for its slothful oldness, it grows young with lively newness. Let it be said, then, to blessed Job: Does the hawk grow plumage by your wisdom, spreading its wings toward the South?

that is, Have you conferred understanding upon any of the elect, so that, as the Holy Spirit breathes, he may spread the wings of his thoughts, so as to cast off the weights of the old manner of life, and take on the plumage of the virtues for the use of a new flight? So that from this he may indeed gather that he who cannot at all confer upon others the vigilance of sense has it not in himself out of himself. By this hawk too the renewed Gentile world can be designated, as if it were openly said to blessed Job: Behold in the Gentile world the future plumage of the virtues, and cast off the old feathers of pride. It follows: