約伯倫理 第 1442 章

1. Great must be the discernment of those who read, so that in Sacred Scripture, when any single word is spoken, it should not always be believed to signify one and the same thing; just as sometimes the sun is taken in a good sense, and sometimes in a bad. For by the name of the sun sometimes our Redeemer Himself is signified, and sometimes persecution. For, as the Book of Wisdom testifies, in hell the ungodly will say: We have erred from the way of truth, and the sun of righteousness has not shone upon us (Wisdom v, 6). And of the seeds that were sown the Lord says: When the sun was risen they were scorched (Matthew XIII, 6), because, namely, when persecution comes, the words of preaching are dried up in the hearts of the reprobate. Thus the lion signifies the Lord, whence it is written: The lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed (Revelation v, 5).

Thus by the name of the lion the likeness of the devil is expressed, as the chief of shepherds says: Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter v, 8). Thus by the name of the ox the wise man is designated, whence it is written: You shall not yoke together an ox and an ass (Deuteronomy XXII, 10), that is, do not join the wise man with the foolish in preaching. Thus by the ox the foolish man is figured, as is said of him who is captured in the disgrace of love: And he follows her at once, like an ox led to the slaughter (Proverbs vii, 22);

that is, as the foolish man is dragged to death. These things then I have said, lest, because I have expounded a gate to signify the Lord, or the preachers, or Sacred Scripture, or faith, it should be believed that wherever a gate is henceforth read in this prophet it signifies something else. For when the prophet spoke of one gate, faith was rightly understood, because the faith of all the elect is one. But when other gates are named, they may be understood as those by which true life is made known through the mouths of preachers, and by which one ascends to the knowledge of spiritual sacraments. For as to the gate by which we said faith is signified, we must note that it is called the lower one. For in this life, while we are in it, being as it were placed in a valley, we are still held below.

And rightly is faith the lower gate, because to us placed on the earth it opens up knowledge. Hence now it is said: Verses 20-22. — He also measured the gate that looked toward the way of the North of the outer court, both in its length and in its breadth. And its chambers, three on this side and three on that; and its front and its porch according to the measure of the former gate: fifty cubits its length, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. But its windows and its porch and its carvings were according to the measure of the gate that looked toward the East; and the ascent to it was of seven steps, and its porch was before it.

Concerning the gate that looked toward the way of the North of the outer court, those very things are repeated which have already been said above concerning the other gate, and other things are added which the prophet had passed over in silence concerning the aforesaid gate. Therefore, in order to treat more fully of those matters which have not yet been examined, we ought briefly to repeat the things already said. For the gate looks toward the way of the North when any preacher recognizes the life of a sinner and opens to him, through the word of preaching, the inner things of life. This gate is called that of the outer court. For the outer court is the present life, in which whatever is done bodily is also seen bodily.

It is measured both in length and in breadth, because when a sinner is brought to the faith, it is necessary that his teacher consider both how much he advances in the length of hope and how much in the breadth of charity through his admonition. For he who is converted to God, if he still hopes for the goods of the present life, has no length, because short is the life in which he has placed his hope. If through the coveting of earthly things, and moreover through hatred of his neighbor, he is constricted, he has no breadth, because he knows neither to despise things transitory nor to enlarge himself in love of his neighbor. But when anyone, being converted, hopes with patient endurance for the joys of eternal life, tolerates with charity the troubles of his neighbors, and despises the coveting of the things he does not have;

the gate has length and breadth, because the glory of the preacher is the progress of the hearer. Hence to certain men it is said by the great preacher: My joy and my crown (Philippians IV, 1). And again: For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord (1 Thessalonians III, 8). And yet again: For what is our hope or joy? Is it not you, before the Lord (Ibid., II, 19)? The length therefore and the breadth is of the gate that looks toward the North, because when the preacher has converted to the faith some unbeliever grown torpid in the coldness of his sin, in that he stretches him out in the length of hope and enlarges him in the amplitude of charity, he makes that man's glory his own.

And because in the knowledge of the Holy Trinity the hearers, through the word of preaching, advance in the love of that same Trinity, this same gate has three chambers on this side and three on that, because everything that the Creator speaks of the Trinity through the New Testament, this He also shows from the Old Testament. And the heart of the hearers advances in the love of the heavenly homeland, so that the soul, cleaving to God, may sit as it were as a bride with the Bridegroom already in a kind of bridal chamber, and turn itself utterly away from earthly desires. 3. Or indeed, as was said far above (Homily 4),

because there are three orders of those who live well, namely of good married persons, of the continent, and of preachers; and because some, even placed in marriage, pant after the love of the heavenly homeland, while others, in hope of eternal joy, even mortify the flesh and flee all earthly acts and disdain to be entangled in the care of this world, while yet others despise earthly goods and preach the heavenly joys which they have come to know — what is this but that in the spiritual edifice these are the chambers, in whose thought and meditation the soul is joined to the heavenly Bridegroom?

These three orders of good men, because not only the Church from the Gentiles possesses them, but sometimes the Synagogue also possessed them, when a great multitude of spiritual men ardently awaited the grace of the Redeemer — the gate of the heavenly edifice has three chambers on this side and three on that, because any preacher, when he summons the hearer to the heavenly homeland, shows that both new fathers and old have panted with heavenly desire. For examples more often move to compunction than the words of reasoning; and when the preacher tells what sort of men others were in marriage, or in continence, or in preaching, toward the love of Almighty God in the New Testament, and what sort others were in the Old, the gate which speaks shows that it has threefold chambers on either side.

This gate has also a front, because in the life of the preacher there are open works which are seen. It has also before the front a porch, because before he introduces good works, he preaches faith, through which the soul, coming humbly, may be lifted up to the height of good actions. All these things are according to the measure of the former gate, according to what is subjoined: Verse 21. — For he measured its length of fifty cubits, and its breadth of twenty-five cubits. 4. You remember that I have already spoken of these things more fully above (Homily 5, Book II). For by the number fifty we said rest is figured, because the fiftieth year also was given as a rest to the ancient people, since it was called the jubilee;

and the number seven, through which this whole time is unrolled, being multiplied seven times, comes to forty-nine. To this a unit is added, because in the contemplation of the One eternal rest is perfected. This same number fifty, therefore, is to us length, because one cannot attain to that rest unless one can now stretch out one's hope toward it with patient endurance. For since through the number fifty we are summoned to eternal rest, this too fully instructs us: that in the tabernacle ten curtains were commanded to be made, which should have fifty loops and fifty golden rings on the side and at the top (Exodus xxvi, 4 ff.). The curtains

of the holy tabernacle are all those who advance in the adornment of Holy Church with the diverse colors of the virtues. These both veil the inner things and in every way adorn the outer, because their life, insofar as it is seen, is an ornament; and their understanding is hidden within, since the heavenly things which they keep in their mind, and cannot even utter, are in a certain way veiled in them. Rightly are there ten curtains, because through the keeping of the Decalogue the very hearts of the saints have advanced. The blue loops of the curtains were commanded to be made fifty. Blue has the appearance of the sky. The loops of the curtains, therefore, are the heavenly precepts, in which souls are bound so that, lifted up from things below, they may hang above.

These loops, moreover, have also golden rings, that is, understanding shining with true wisdom. This understanding, because it ought to be circumspect in all things and fortified by the vigilance of careful solicitude, is rightly designated by rings. 5. And it is to be noted that the loops, or the rings, are commanded to be made in the curtains at the side and at the top, because the heavenly precepts and spiritual understanding ought not only to suspend us upward in the love of God, but also to join us to our neighbor in charity. For in that we love our Creator, we hang as it were in the air by the upper loops.

But in that we love our neighbors as ourselves, we have the loops and rings at the side, so that the curtains of the tabernacle, that is, the souls of the faithful, may be joined together through charity, and not divided through discord. Hence here too, after the length of fifty cubits, immediately the breadth of twenty-five cubits is subjoined, which breadth, namely, pertains to the charity of one's neighbor. For it stretches itself out into the love of the brethren, and toward them exercises every work of good that it can. But all good works that are done bodily are exhibited through the five bodily senses, namely through sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell.

But the number five, multiplied by itself, arrives at twenty-five, because good works, when they have begun to be done, excite the mind through fervor to increase, and are multiplied of themselves. Hence they also make breadth for the mind, so that it may not be narrow through lukewarmness, but expanded in good actions through charity. For all torpor of lukewarmness is narrowness, but all kindness of charity is a great breadth. For even if the resources are lacking which might perhaps be furnished to a needy neighbor, ample is the substance of good will, which suffices for the recompense of the kingdom, as it is written: On earth peace to men of good will (Luke II, 14). There follows: Verse 22.

— But its windows and its porch and its carvings were according to the measure of the gate that looked toward the East. 6. All these things have already been said more fully above, and therefore the discourse ought not to be delayed by a tedious exposition. This, however, is greatly to be noted, that the gate to the North is declared to have all those things which the gate to the East has: namely, the windows of contemplation, the porch of humility, the carving of good working. For all who, through the fact that they were born unto God in their manner of life, have persevered in innocence, have the gate to the East, because to them the entrance of the heavenly kingdom lies open by the light which they have received.

And all who afterward, having fallen into sins, have been depressed by the coldness of their torpor, but, while they return through repentance, grow warm again toward the love of the heavenly homeland, have the gate to the North, because to them also, even after the coldness of their sin, the entrance of the heavenly kingdom lies open through mercy. The gate to the North therefore is said to have the things which the gate to the East has, because converted sinners too are so enriched with virtues just as those are rich who have avoided falling into sin. Hence too it is said by the Lord through the voice of the Psalmist: I ate ashes like bread (Psalm ci, 10), because He receives penitents just as the righteous. For it is written of sinners: They would long ago have done penance in sackcloth and ashes (Matthew XI, 21).

Ashes therefore are eaten like bread when a sinner is called back through repentance to the grace of his Maker as though innocent. The gate to the North therefore has windows, has a porch, has carvings, because when a sinner is led back to life after his faults, he often receives the light of contemplation, and from the very memory of his iniquity he takes the grace of great humility and also the efficacy of good working, so that everything which is commanded to be done may seem as it were carved into his life. Ibid. — But the ascent to it was of seven steps, and its porch was before it. 7. One ascends to the gate by seven steps, because through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit the entrance of heavenly life is opened to us.

This sevenfold grace Isaiah, enumerating it in our very Head, or in His body, which we are, says: The spirit of wisdom and understanding shall rest upon Him, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill Him (Isaiah XI, 2). These steps, speaking of heavenly things, he numbered by descending rather than by ascending, namely: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, fear. And since it is written: The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Proverbs IX, 10), it stands without doubt that one ascends from fear to wisdom, but does not return from wisdom to fear, because wisdom surely has perfect charity. And it is written:

Perfect charity casts out fear (1 John IV, 18). The prophet therefore, because he was speaking from heavenly things down to the lowest, began rather from wisdom and descended to fear. But let us, who tend from earthly things to heavenly, enumerate the same steps by ascending, so that from fear we may be able to arrive at wisdom. For in our mind the first step of ascension is the fear of the Lord; the second, piety; the third, knowledge; the fourth, fortitude; the fifth, counsel; the sixth, understanding; the seventh, wisdom. For there is the fear of the Lord in the mind. But what sort of fear is this, if piety is not with it?

For he who knows not how to have mercy on his neighbor, who dissembles in compassion for his tribulations, his fear is nothing before the eyes of Almighty God, because it is not lifted up to piety. But often piety is wont to err through inordinate mercy, if perhaps it should spare those things which are not to be spared. For sins which can be struck with the fires of Gehenna must be corrected with the scourge of discipline. But inordinate piety, when it spares temporally, drags to eternal punishment. Therefore, that piety may be true and well-ordered, it must be lifted up to another step, that is, to knowledge, that it may know both what to punish out of judgment and what to remit out of mercy. But what if one should know what each ought to do, yet not have the power of doing it?

Let our knowledge therefore grow to fortitude, so that when it sees what is to be done, it may be able to do it through fortitude of mind, lest it tremble with fear and, collapsing in dread, be unable to defend the good things which it perceives. But often fortitude, if it rushes forward improvidently and is too little circumspect against vices, falls into ruin through its very presumption. Let it therefore ascend to counsel, so that by foreseeing it may fortify beforehand everything which it can do bravely. But there cannot be counsel if understanding is lacking, because he who does not understand the evil which burdens the doer, how can he consolidate the good which helps? And so from counsel let us ascend to understanding. But what if understanding is awake indeed with great keenness, yet knows not how to govern itself with maturity?

From understanding therefore let one ascend to wisdom, so that what understanding keenly discovers, wisdom may maturely dispose. Since therefore through fear we rise to piety, through piety we are led to knowledge, through knowledge we are strengthened to fortitude, through fortitude we tend to counsel, through counsel we advance into understanding, through understanding we arrive at the maturity of wisdom, we ascend to the gate by seven steps, through which the entrance of the spiritual life is opened to us. And it is well said that a porch was before it, because unless one has first imbibed humility, one does not ascend to these steps of the spiritual gifts, as it is written:

Upon whom shall My Spirit rest, except upon the humble and quiet, and him who trembles at My words (Isaiah lxvi, 2)? Of whom it is said through the Psalmist: He has disposed ascents in his heart, in the valley of tears (Psalm lxxxiii, 6). For a valley is a humble place, and any sinner, while he humbly afflicts himself with tears in his heart, advances by the ascent of the virtues. Who again says: He sends forth springs in the valleys (Psalm ciii, 10), because Almighty God bestows the gifts of spiritual grace upon the humble. 9. By the porch faith also can be understood. For it is before the steps and the gate, because we first come to faith, that afterward, through the steps of the spiritual gifts, we may enter the entrance of the heavenly life.

For one does not come to faith through the virtues, but through faith one reaches the virtues. For Cornelius the centurion, whose alms before baptism were praised, as the angel testified, did not come to faith by works, but by faith he came to works (Acts x, 1 ff.). For to him it is said through the angel: Your prayers and your alms have ascended in the sight of God (Ibid., 4). For if he had not believed in the true God even before baptism, whom was he praying to? Or how had Almighty God heard him, if he was not asking to be perfected in good things by that same God? He knew therefore that God is the Creator of all, but that His Almighty Son had been made incarnate he did not know. For neither could he do good things, unless he had first believed. For it is written:

Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews XI, 6). He had faith therefore, whose prayers and alms were able to please God. But by good action he merited that he should perfectly know God and believe the mystery of His incarnation, so that he might come to the sacraments of baptism. Through faith therefore he came to works, but through works he was made firm in faith. And so the porch is before the steps, because he who first believed, he afterward ascends by the steps of the virtues to the entrance of the gate. There follows: Verse 23. — And the gate of the inner court over against the gate of the North, and the Eastern one. 10. In this place 'over against' is not put for opposition, but for straightness;

for the gate of the inner court was shown to be placed in such a way that the gate of the North and of the East tended toward it by a straight approach. What then is it that the inner gate, placed on a straight path, is shown over against the gate of the East and of the North, except this — which is plainly given to be understood — that whether to the Jewish and Gentile people, or to the righteous and to sinners (but sinners converted after their sins), the entrance of the heavenly kingdom is opened equally? For ample is the mercy of our Creator.

And the inner gate looks not only toward the gate of the East, but also toward that of the North, because not only to those who remain in innocence, but even to sinners who condemn their sins by repentance, the joys of the inner court are opened, so that they may come to know the ineffable mysteries of the heavenly homeland, and by knowing thirst, by thirsting run, by running arrive. These secrets of inward joy he had known who said: My soul has thirsted for the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God (Psalm xli, 3)? The preacher of the Gentiles panted toward this entrance of the heavenly kingdom when he said: I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ (Philippians I, 23). These secrets of hidden exultation the bride had known, who said:

My beloved put in his hand through the opening, and my belly trembled at his touch (Song of Songs v, 4). For the beloved puts in his hand through the opening when by His power the Lord strikes our mind through subtle understanding. And the belly trembles at His touch, because our weakness, by the fact that it is touched by the understanding of heavenly joy, is disturbed by that very exultation, and there comes to be in the mind dread together with gladness, because it now feels what it loves of heavenly joy, and yet still fears lest it not receive what it faintly feels. What then remains except that all who come to know those joys of the heavenly homeland should direct themselves to the course of the perfect life? Whence too here it is aptly subjoined: Ibid.

— And he measured from gate to gate one hundred cubits. 11. We have already said above (Homily 6, n. 16) that the number one hundred, because it is produced ten times through ten, is perfect. He therefore who sees the entrance of the inner court, must assuredly run through the life of perfection, and arrive from the gate of beginning even to the entrance of consummation.

Let the inner court therefore, which stretches from the outer gates even to the inner gate, be measured at one hundred cubits, so that he who has begun to enter by loving may have the breadth of perfection in his mind, so that in Him whom he loves neither adversities may straiten him nor prosperity elevate him, but, despising all things transitory, he may run through the court of perfection until he arrives at the hidden joys. For there are many who have already entered the entrance of the outer gate in the seven steps, according to a certain measure of the heavenly dispensation: humble through the fear of God, merciful through the study of piety, discreet through knowledge, free through fortitude of mind, cautious through counsel, provident through understanding, mature through wisdom;

but, still bound by certain necessities, they are enslaved to the cares of this world, and where they have already for the most part shaken off their mind, there they are still held unwillingly. And when they bear the superimposed burdens of earthly occupation, they are less exercised in the heavenly precepts. To pant from the marrow toward the eternal homeland is not free to them; their very desires in some way languish in them, because assuredly one impeded by temporal cares is not permitted to love the true joys which he has come to know as much as he has them within.

These men for the most part shake the neck of their mind from the yoke of the world, forsake all things, lay down the weights of earthly care, and, that they may loosen the fold of the mind more widely to the heavenly desire, seek a life apart; and, intent on holy prayers, devoted to sacred meditations, they daily afflict themselves with weeping, and burn away the oldness of the heart with the fire of love, and by kindling themselves renew themselves unto heavenly joy. These men for the most part, kindled in their very desire, now covet to depart from the flesh, and after weeping are unwilling to return to the present life. And yet they are deferred, so that love, being deferred, may profit from its very deferral, and by ardent desire, as it were, that which is denied may grow.

Thus in the region of the Gerasenes he who had been freed from the legion of demons wished now to go with the Lord, and yet it is said to him: Return to your house, and tell how great things the Lord has done for you (Luke VIII, 39). Thus the bride in the Song of Songs, anxious with holy desires, speaks, saying: In my little bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, and found him not (Song of Songs iii, 1). For she seeks the beloved in her little bed, when in her very leisure and repose the soul now longs to see the Lord, now desires to go forth to Him, now pants to be freed from the shadows of the present life. But she seeks him and finds him not, because although she desires with great love, yet it is not yet granted to her to see Him whom she loves. 12.

Such minds of the saints, therefore, what else do they do in this desire, except that they now run from the outer gates through the inner court to the gate? To whom it often happens that, when they see themselves compunct by the great gift of heavenly grace, they now esteem themselves perfect, and think themselves obedient — but because there is no one who commands hard things, they believe themselves to be patient — but because no one assails them with insults and adversities. And often it happens that they undertake spiritual ministry even unwillingly, and are led to the governance of the faithful. When these have been assailed on this side and that by great tribulations, disturbed in mind, they find themselves imperfect, who, when not assailed, had believed themselves to be perfect.

By which circumstance it comes about that they collect themselves within themselves, and silently within blush at the reproach of their own weakness, and, strengthened by their very confusion, oppose patience against adversities, and profit from tribulation — they who before, in leisure, were growing torpid from their very security. And they begin truly to be such as before they had vainly supposed themselves to be. And so, when they are deferred from the outer gates even to the inner gate through the court of good endeavor, this very inner court is measured at one hundred cubits, because by enrichment and holy exercise they daily advance to perfection. For to advance in mind through daily desires is, as it were, to have the inner court measured at one hundred cubits.

Therefore from gate to gate there are one hundred cubits, so that the very deferral of living may be, as it were, a certain course of progress, through which one daily grows in the virtues, so that one may arrive more perfectly at the inner entrance. There follows: Verses 24-26. — And he led me toward the South way, and behold a gate that looked toward the South; and he measured its front and its porch according to the former measures; and its windows and porches round about, like the other windows, fifty cubits in length and twenty-five cubits in breadth. And by seven steps one went up to it, and a porch was before its doors. 13.

All these things have already been said in the gate of the East and of the North, and it is not fitting that we should more often repeat those things which once and again in expounding we have said. Yet it is to be noted by us that in the spiritual edifice one entrance lies open to the East, another to the North, and yet another to the South. For as by the coldness of the North sinners are designated, so by the Southern way are designated those fervent in spirit, who, kindled by the warmth of the Holy Spirit, grow up in virtues as it were in the light of midday. Let the gate to the East therefore lie open, so that those who have well begun the sacraments of faith, and afterward have not been plunged into any depth of vices, may arrive at the hidden joys.

Let the gate lie open toward the North, that those who, after the beginning of warmth and light, have slipped back into the coldness and darkness of their own sins may, through the compunction of penance, come and return, and may know how true is the gladness of the inward recompense. Let the gate lie open toward the South, that those who glow with holy desires amid the virtues may, through spiritual understanding, daily penetrate the mysteries of inward joy. But amid these things it may be asked: since there are four regions of this world, why in this edifice are three gates of the outer court recorded, and not four? Which indeed would be rightly asked, had the Prophet beheld not a spiritual but a bodily edifice.

For holy Church, that is, the spiritual edifice, in order to attain to the hidden joys, has only three gates, namely faith, hope, and charity: one toward the East, another toward the North, a third toward the South. The gate toward the East is faith, because through it the true light is born in the mind. The gate toward the North is hope, because whoever is set in his sins, if he despairs of pardon, utterly loses mercy. Hence it is necessary that he who has been extinguished by his own iniquity should revive through the hope of mercy. The gate toward the South is charity, because it burns with the fire of love. For in the southern quarter the sun is drawn on high, because through charity the light of faith is lifted up into the love of God and neighbour.

By three gates, therefore, the way stretches to the inner court, because through faith, hope, and charity one arrives at the hidden joys. Another question also arises: why the gate of the inner court is said to be set over against the gate of the East and of the North, while it is passed over in silence that it lies open toward the Southern gate. But since we have said that by the East are signified those who are beginning, and by the North those who have fallen, it was fitting that either concerning the beginners, for whom the sun is still in its mildness, or concerning the fallen who yet return through conversion, it should be openly said that the gate of the inner court lies open to them, so that from these He might make us certain concerning those about whom there could have been doubt.

But concerning the Southern gate this need not have been said, because no one is ignorant that those attain to the inward joys who by fervour of spirit persevere in the virtues. For it is the custom of sacred speech to state openly the things about which there could be doubt, and to keep silence about the things that are established, as it is said through the Psalmist: They provoked Moses in the camp, and Aaron the holy one of the Lord (Ps. 105:16). For Aaron, at the demand of the people, had made the idol, and one might rightly have doubted about his life. Moses, therefore, is not called holy, because it is known by all that he is holy; and he names Aaron the holy one of the Lord, that he may take from us all doubt about his life. There follows: Verse 23. — And there were carved palm trees, one on this side and another on that, upon its front.

What is this, that formerly there was a painting of palm trees on the fronts, but now carved palm trees are recorded to be on the front? For in carving the works appear as if fashioned in the form of stones. But, as we have already said above, the painting of palms is the display of signs. Now, however, it is called a carving of palms, that the demonstration of good works may be signified; for to those very highest preachers it is said: Let them see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16). Those, therefore, who show holy works impressed upon their life, have palms carved upon their front, because how great a victory shall in time to come

will follow them, they now already show forth in their holy works. Or certainly, since we have said that faith is signified by the Eastern gate, hope by the Northern, and charity by the Southern, it must be noted by us that in the Eastern gate there is a painting of palms, but in the Northern and Southern a carving; because it often happens that those who are still beginners do not yet exercise themselves in solid and great works; whereas those who return to the virtues after their iniquities are for the most part exercised in great works, that they may be able to blot out their faults before the eyes of Almighty God. And those who have already grown in the virtues by fervour of spirit blaze forth in holy deeds like the Noon.

In the Eastern gate, then, there is a painting, but in the Northern and Southern a carving, because the sign of victory which is shown in the beginners is held more solidly and firmly in those who return and in those who are fervent. It must also be greatly noted what is said, On this side and on that. For all of us who are pressing toward the entrance of life ought to have a palm both on the right side and on the left. For in that it is said, on this side and on that, both sides are signified. On the right, therefore, he holds a palm whom prosperity does not exalt; on the left he holds a palm whom adversity does not cast down. As it were, from both sides Paul bore a palm when he said:

By the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, through glory and dishonour, through evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true (2 Cor. 6:7-8). For adversities did not break this man, nor did prosperity lift him up into swelling of mind. On this side and on that, therefore, he bore a palm, because he remained both brave in adversity and humble in prosperity. For whoever is exalted by prosperity knows not how to hold a palm on the right side. Whoever is broken in adversities is ignorant of how to bear a palm on the left side.

Therefore, that a palm may be borne on the front both on this side and on that, there ought always to be present in our minds both confidence in adversities and fear in prosperity, lest either adversities drag us into despair, or prosperity lift up the soul into confidence in itself. Hence it is that the same excellent preacher said: I know both how to be brought low, and I know how to abound; everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer want; I can do all things in Him who strengthens me (Phil. 4:12-13). Is it then, brethren, any art to be brought low and to abound, to be full and to be hungry, to abound and to suffer want, that so great a preacher should suggest that he knows these things as something great?

It is altogether an art, and a wondrous knowledge of discipline, which must be learned by us with the whole effort of the heart. For he whom his want does not break, does not draw back from thanksgiving, does not inflame with desire of temporal things, knows how to be brought low. For in this place the Apostle calls being brought low the suffering of want. For at once, on the contrary, he adds: I know also how to abound. For he who is not lifted up by the goods received, who does not twist them to the use of vainglory, who does not alone possess what he has received but mercifully divides it with the needy, knows how to abound. He who uses the food he receives not for the gorging of the belly but for the restoration of strength, nor grants to the flesh more than necessity requires, knows how to be full.

He who endures the lack of food without murmuring, and does nothing on account of the necessity of sustenance whereby his soul might fall into the snare of sin, knows how to be hungry. Him, therefore, whom neither pride lifts up in abundance, nor covetousness inflames in necessity, knows how to abound, knows how to suffer want. And that, when he immediately added, I can do all things, we might not believe these to be words of pride, he joined in whom, In Him who strengthens me. Behold, the branch went forth on high, but because it held itself in the root, it remained in verdure. For rising on high it would have withered, if it had divided itself from the root. For he attributed nothing to himself, because he confesses that he can do all things not in himself, but in Him who strengthens him.

On this side and on that, therefore, the excellent preacher holds a palm, whom neither abundance drags into pride, nor want into avarice. Let us therefore learn, brethren, to give thanks not only in prosperity, but also in adversity. For the Father out of His mercy has become our Maker, and nourishes us as adopted sons unto the inheritance of the heavenly kingdom. And He not only refreshes us with gifts, but also instructs us with scourges. Let us learn, then, to abound, so that we may share with the needy all that we have received from Him. And let not abundance lift up the mind, lest perchance it rejoice because it has for itself what another lacks, and rejoice no longer in the common good, but in its own.

From private joy the Truth recalls the disciples to the common good, when He admonishes them as they return from preaching and rejoice at the subjection of the demons, saying: Do not rejoice over this, but rather rejoice and exult that your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). For not all the elect cast out demons, yet the names of all the elect are held written in heaven. The disciples, therefore, are admonished to lay aside private gladness, but to rejoice in the common and everlasting felicity. Whoever, then, rejoices in that which another does not have, made worse by his very abundance, has a private joy. Against this our craving of abundance John admonishes us, saying:

Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world (1 John 2:15). And he soon added the reason, why: If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him (ibid.). For no man can serve two masters (Matt. 6:24), because he cannot at once love the transitory and the eternal. For if we love eternity, we possess all temporal things in their use, not in affection. And he at once subjoined the same reason, saying: Because all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). For men desire to have something even beyond what is necessary, in order that by having they may be proud, and because another does not have this, they may exalt themselves in their thoughts.

Whoever, therefore, is such, has not yet been taught to bear abundance. But often what avarice suggests from craving, he reckons to be necessity; and though lesser things suffice, he grieves that greater ones are lacking, and the incautious soul suffers a kind of necessity, as it were, which itself brings forth. And though the things he desires are excessive, he in some way excuses his avarice to himself. Abundance, therefore, is neighbour to pride. And whenever covetousness has also intercepted it, this, so to speak, has invaded it like a foreign captivity. If, then, we wish to know the art of abounding, it is necessary that we flee not only the vices that are near, but also those that come from afar.

Let us learn to suffer want, lest we seek even with sin to have the things we do not have, nor reckon those happy whom we behold laden with riches. Excessive indeed are the things which they prepare for themselves as if for the expenses of the present life. They carry much, but on the short road great is our companion on this journey, poverty, which does not straiten the soul when earthly substance is lacking, of which we must render accounts to the eternal Judge. More freely we press toward the fatherland, because as if on the road we are free of burden. Let us learn to be full, lest in taking the food of the body we serve gluttony rather than necessity. For concupiscence craves more than necessity requires. And often, while we take care to satisfy the want of the flesh, pleasure creeps in and exceeds the measure of refreshment.

Whence it comes about that fault passes into fault, because for the most part another temptation of the flesh is born thence, while the flesh is served too immoderately in refreshment. For by the sin of the first man, our nature being infirm, we are born into this world with our temptations. And the flesh is to us sometimes a helper in a good work, but sometimes a seductress into evil. If, therefore, we grant to it more than we owe, we nourish an enemy. And if to its necessity we do not render what we owe, we slay a citizen. The flesh, therefore, is to be satisfied, but only to this extent, that it may suffice to serve us in a good work. For whoever grants to it so much that it grows proud, is utterly ignorant of how to be full.

It is therefore a great art to be full, lest anyone through the satiety of the flesh burst forth into the iniquity of vileness. Let us learn to be hungry, that on account of the abundance that follows, our present want here may please us; lest the necessity of the belly draw us to fault, lest indigence suggest sin to the mind itself; and while the flesh is afflicted by the throat, the soul be provoked to covetousness, and seek, with sin, to provide whereby the flesh may be satisfied in its necessity; lest the heart leap up into indignation, and kindle the tongue into the bitterness of murmuring. Whoever, therefore, in the want of his flesh looks about himself on this side and on that, and guards himself from the snare of sin, knows how to be hungry.

Let us, then, most beloved brethren, fleeing anger and avarice in adversity, and shunning elation and immoderate joys in prosperity — since through faith, hope, and charity we long to enter the court of the inner life by three gates — hold palms on this side and on that. It pleases me yet to bring back to mind another citizen of the heavenly fatherland, and to demonstrate how he holds a palm on this side and on that.

For blessed Job, when he was richer than the men of the East, and all prosperous things abounded for him — his sons flourishing, his household increasing, his flocks teeming — stood firm in so great a fear of Almighty God, that amid the keeping of discipline, amid the doing of justice, amid many services of humility, intent upon works of mercy, devoted to offering sacrifices, he offered holocausts to the Lord for each of his sons, lest any of them should have sinned even in his heart (Job 1:1ff.). Let us weigh, then, how great was his guard of good work, who by sacrifices expiated in his sons the faults of the heart. But how just he was had become known in prosperity; yet it was greatly unknown whether he could have persevered just even amid scourges.

He was therefore to be touched with the scourge, that that holy man, questioned in prosperity, might be questioned in adversities; that he who was known to the Almighty Lord might, through scourges, become known to us and to himself. And so, the Lord ordaining it, his flocks were consumed, his keepers slain, his house overthrown, his sons extinguished, his flesh smitten from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head. His wife remained unharmed, that she might increase his wounds with the darts of words. But the holy man, sick in the temptation, healthy in the wound, prudently teaches her and answers her, saying: If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, why should we not receive evil (Job 2:10)? His friends, too, come to console, but burst forth into insults, and in the pain of his wounds add still further wounds of words.

They call him unmerciful, name him a plunderer, denounce him as violent, declare him an oppressor of the poor. What, then, would the soldier of God do, caught amid painful wounds and bitter words? Behold, the scourges of God and the words of men together press his afflicted soul toward despair; but, full of the strength of the spirit, lying with the wounds of the flesh, standing in the vigour of the mind, against the assault of despair he recalled to memory the good things he had done. Because he had been merciful, he says: I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame (Job 29:15). And again: I was a father to the poor (ibid. 16). Because he was both a keeper of discipline and kindly, he says: When I sat as a king, with the army standing about me, yet I was a comforter of them that mourned (ibid. 25).

Because he was humble, he says: If I have despised to undergo judgment with my manservant and my maidservant, when they contended against me (Job 31:13). Because he was hospitable, he confesses: If I have despised him that passed by, because he had no covering (ibid. 19). Because he was generous in gifts, he says: If his sides have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep (ibid. 20). That he was not violent, he testifies, saying: If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, even when I saw myself superior in the gate (ibid. 21). Because he never exulted at the peril of an enemy, he says: If I have rejoiced at the downfall of him that hated me (ibid. 29). Because he was patient, and bore even the malice of his own with equanimity, he says:

If the men of my tent have not said, Who will give us of his flesh that we may be filled (ibid. 31)? What, then, is it that the holy man enumerates so many of his virtues amid the scourges? What is it that with his own mouth he praises the works he had done, except that amid the wounds and words which could draw him to despair, they re-form his soul to hope? And he who had been humble in prosperity, having recalled his good deeds to memory, remained unbroken in adversity. For whose soul, amid so many scourges, would those words not have driven to despair, unless he had recalled to memory the good things he had done?

The holy man, therefore, saw his mind, on hearing so many evils, shaken toward despair, and wondrously strove to be made solid in sure hope out of his good deeds. Thus is fulfilled that which is written: In the day of good things be not unmindful of evils, and in the day of evils be not unmindful of goods (Sirach 11:27). For if, when we have good things, we call to mind the evils which either we have already suffered or can yet suffer, the good things received do not lift up the mind, because the fear of the memory of evils presses down the joy of them.

And if, when we have evils, we call to mind the goods which either we have already received, or hope that we can yet receive, it presses down the sorrow, because the memory of goods lifts one up to hope. If, therefore, most beloved brethren, we so walk by the Lord's precepts and by the examples of the saints, that neither prosperity lifts us up, nor adversity breaks us, we show that we have before the eyes of Almighty God palms on this side and on that — to whom be honour and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.