約伯倫理 第 1371 章

47. The teeth of Leviathan are the same false teachers. — For with the name changed, He willed to intimate as his teeth, in another way, those whom above He called gates. For the perverse preachers are his gates, because they open the entrance of perdition. They are his teeth, because those whom they take captive in error they crush away from the solidity of truth. For just as we take for the teeth of holy Church those who by their preachings grind down the hardness of sinners — whence it is said to her through Solomon: Thy teeth are as flocks of shorn sheep coming up from the washing (Song of Songs 4:2); which are not undeservedly compared to shorn and washed sheep, because, taking on a harmless life, in the laver of baptism they laid aside the old fleeces of their former manner of living —

so also by the teeth of this Leviathan are figured the masters of errors, because by biting they tear in pieces the life of the reprobate, and, having drawn them away from the integrity of truth, they slay them in the sacrifice of falsehood. Whose preaching indeed could easily be despised by hearers, but the terror of secular powers, joined before human judgments, exalts it. 48. The powers of the world fortify them. Some rage with words, others with swords. The snares of Antichrist arise from false miracles. — Rightly therefore is it said: About his teeth is terror; that is, the perverse powers of this world protect the wicked preachers of Antichrist. For those whom the latter aim to seduce by speaking, many of the powerful are eager to terrify by raging.

About his teeth therefore is terror, as if it were openly said: For this reason these perverse preachers crush some by their persuading, because round about them are others who afflict by terrifying the minds of the weak. What manner of time of persecution therefore will that appear, when, to pervert the piety of the faithful, some hedge them in with words, others with swords! For who, even though weak, would not despise the teeth of this Leviathan, if the terror of the surrounding secular powers did not fortify them? But a twofold cunning is exercised against them, because what is said to them by some with flattering words, is commanded by others with striking swords.

The action of both, that is, of the powerful and of those who speak, is comprised in a brief sentence in John's Apocalypse, where it is said: The power of the horses is in their mouth and in their tails (Revelation 9:19). For in the mouth of the teachers is figured knowledge; in the tail, the power of the secular. For by the tail, which is behind, is designated the temporal state of this world which is to be set behind, of which Paul the Apostle says: But one thing, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before (Philippians 3:13). For behind is everything that passes away, but before is everything that, coming, abides.

To these horses therefore, that is, to the most wicked preachers, running everywhere by carnal impulse, there is power in the mouth and in the tail, because they indeed preach by persuading perverse things, but, propped up by temporal powers, they exalt themselves by those things which are behind. And because they can appear despicable, they exact reverence for themselves from their wicked hearers through those by whose patronage they are supported. Whence here too not undeservedly is terror described as being about his teeth, because it is wrought by many terrors, that in their perverse preachings, if not the sentence of truth, at least the temporal power may be feared. Whence the Psalmist well described this same Antichrist, saying:

Under his tongue is toil and sorrow; he sitteth in ambush with the rich in secret places (Psalm 9:28-29). For on account of his perverse dogmas, under his tongue is toil and sorrow; on account of the appearance of miracles, he sits in ambush; on account of the glory of secular power, with the rich in secret places. For because he uses at once both the fraud of miracles and earthly power, he is declared to sit both in secret places and with the rich in power: