約伯倫理 第 1394 章

25. To him are subjected not a few who seemed to shine in the Church by doctrine or holiness. For in Sacred Scripture, when the sun is figuratively set down, sometimes the Lord is signified, sometimes persecution, sometimes the manifestation of some clearly visible thing, but sometimes the understanding of the wise. For by the sun the Lord is figured, as is testified in the book of Wisdom, that all the impious on the last day of judgment, when their damnation is made known, will say: 「We have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun hath not risen upon us」 (Wisdom 5:6). As if they openly say: The ray of the inner light did not shine upon us. Whence also John says: 「A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet」 (Revelation 12:1).

For in the sun the illumination of truth, but in the moon, which fails by monthly diminishings, the mutability of temporality is understood. But the holy Church, because she is protected by the splendor of supernal light, is as it were clothed with the sun; and because she despises all temporal things, she presses the moon under her feet. Again, by the sun persecution is signified, as in the Gospel Truth says that seeds sown without roots withered when the sun was risen (Matthew 13:6), because indeed the words of life in the heart of earthly men, springing up for a temporal moment, are dried up when the heat of persecution comes over them. Again, by the sun the manifestation of clear vision is signified, as the Prophet announces the Lord appearing to the eyes of all, saying:

「In the sun he hath set his tabernacle」 (Psalm 18:6). As if he said: He showed the sacrament of the assumed humanity in the light of clear vision. And as it is said by a divine voice to the same Prophet through Nathan: 「Thou didst it in secret; but I will do this word in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun」 (2 Samuel 12:12). For what does 「the sight of the sun」 intimate but the knowledge of clear vision? Again, by the name of the sun the intellect of the wise is expressed, as it is written in the Apocalypse: 「The fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and it was given to him to afflict men with heat and with fire」 (Revelation 16:8).

To pour out the vial upon the sun is to inflict the punishments of persecution upon men shining with the splendor of wisdom; 「and it was given to him to afflict men with heat and with fire,」 because while wise men, overcome by torments, are touched by the error of acting wickedly, the weaker, persuaded by their example, are set aflame with temporal desires. For the ruins of the strong furnish increases to the perditions of the weak. Because by the sun the sharpness of wisdom is signified, by way of comparison it is also said by Solomon: 「The wise man remaineth as the sun, the fool is changed as the moon」 (Ecclesiasticus 27:12). [Old version 8] In this place, therefore, what is demonstrated by the rays of the sun but the sharp keenness of the wise?

Because indeed many who seemed to shine in the holy Church with the light of wisdom, then, either captured by persuasions, or terrified by threats, or broken by torments, are subjected to the sedition of this Leviathan, it is rightly said: 「Under him shall be the rays of the sun」 (Job 41:21). As if it were openly said: Those who within the holy Church seemed to sprinkle, as it were, the rays of light by the sharp keenness of wisdom, and to shine from above by the authority of rectitude, subject themselves by wicked working to the power of this Leviathan, so that they no longer shine from above by preaching what is right, but serve him by perversely obeying him. The rays of the sun, therefore, are under him,

when some even learned men lift up the sharp keenness of their wisdom not by acting freely, but bend it to the footsteps of this Leviathan both by the perversity of their work and by the flattery of adulation, so that the understanding which was to them like a sun from above by heavenly gift is laid under the feet of the ancient enemy by earthly cupidity. Whence also now, when any of the wise and learned, for the advantage or glory of temporal life, through a lapse of adulation subjects himself to earthly powers acting wickedly, he prostrates himself, as it were, under the footsteps of the coming Antichrist, to the rays of the sun. And Behemoth, as it were, humbles the light of heaven to himself, while by pestilent assent he tramples the minds of the wise.

But the rays of the sun are placed under the feet of this Leviathan as often as those who seem to shine with the light of doctrine perceive, with immoderate keenness, perverse things in the sacred word, and subject themselves to his errors by depraved senses; because while they raise themselves against the faithful teachings of truth, they serve the footsteps of this Leviathan by thinking falsely. So often are the rays of the sun under him, as often as the learned indeed, and those excelling in the light of understanding, either raise themselves in elation, despising the rest; or, setting aside the highest things which they perceive, are defiled with the sordid desires of the flesh; or, forgetful of heavenly things, covet earthly ones; or, not remembering that they are earth, vainly glory in the knowledge of heavenly things.

Whence it is rightly there subjoined: