約伯倫理 第 197 章

The same. 'Let it wait for light, and see none, nor the rising of the dawning morning.' 18. Christ is one person with the good, and the devil one with the reprobate. Those who do evil, or good things not with an upright heart, hope in vain for the eternal reward. In the Gospel Truth says: 'I am the light of the world' (John 8:12). But just as our Redeemer is one person with the congregation of the good—for He is the head of the body, and we are the body of this head—so the ancient enemy is one person with the whole gathering of the reprobate, because he stands over them as a head, as it were, unto iniquity, while they, in serving what he persuades, cling as a body joined to its head.

What therefore is said of this night, that is, of the ancient enemy, it is fitting that it be extended to his body, that is, to all the wicked. Since therefore the Redeemer of the human race is the light, what is it that is said of this night: 'Let it wait for light, and see none'—save that there are some who show that they hold by words the faith which they destroy by works? Of whom it is said through Paul: 'They confess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny Him' (Titus 1:16). These, assuredly, either the things they do are evil, or they follow good works with a heart not upright. For they seek from their works not perpetual recompenses but transitory favors; and yet, because they hear themselves praised as though saints, they judge themselves to be truly saints;

and the more they think themselves irreprehensible from the estimation of many, the more securely they await the day of the strict judgment. Of whom it is well said through the prophet: 'Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord' (Amos 5:18). To whom blessed Job utters the due sentence, out of a zeal for foretelling, not out of a wish for choosing, saying: 'Let it wait for light, and see none.'

For that night, namely the dark enemy, waits for light in his members and sees none, because either those who retain faith without works, when they trust that they can be saved by that same faith in the final judgment, their hope shall be frustrated—for they demolished by their living what they held by their confessing; or those who exhibit themselves in good action for the sake of human praise, hope in vain for the recompense of good works from the coming Judge; because while they do these things for the display of praise, they have already received their reward from the human mouth, the Truth attesting, which says: 'Amen I say to you, they have received their reward' (Matthew 6:2, 5). Whereupon it is also well added: 'Nor the rising of the dawning morning.' [Old recension XV] 19.

They shall not see the brightness of the Church in the last judgment. For the Church is called dawn, which is changed from the darkness of its own sins to the light of righteousness. Whence the Bridegroom also marvels at her in the Song of Songs, saying: 'Who is this that cometh forth as the dawn rising up?' (Song of Songs 6:9). For the Church of the elect rises as it were as dawn, which forsakes the darkness of its former depravity and turns itself into the splendor of the new light. In that light, therefore, which is shown at the coming of the strict Judge, the body of the condemned enemy sees not the rising of the dawning morning;

because when the strict Judge shall come to the recompense, every wicked one, pressed down by the gloom of his own merits, is ignorant of how great a brightness the holy Church rises into the inner light of the heart. For then the mind of the elect is caught up on high, that it may be illumined by the rays of Divinity; and by the same regard with which it is flooded, it is lifted up beyond itself by the coruscating grace. Then the holy Church becomes full dawn, when it utterly loses the darkness of its own mortality and ignorance. In the judgment, therefore, it is still dawn, but in the kingdom it is day; because although with the restoration of bodies it begins to see light in the judgment, yet it consummates its sight more fully in the kingdom.

The rising of the dawn, therefore, is the beginning of the Church growing bright, which the reprobate cannot see, because from the presence of the strict Judge they are dragged away, pressed down to the darkness by the weight of their own evils. Whence it is rightly said through the prophet: 'Let the impious be taken away, that he may not see the glory of God' (Isaiah 26:10, according to the Septuagint). Hence it is that of this dawn it is said through the Psalmist: 'Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy countenance, from the disturbance of men' (Psalm 30:21). For every elect one in the judgment is hidden by the inner vision in the countenance of Divinity, while the blindness of the reprobate, struck outwardly by the strict retribution of justice, is thrown into confusion. 20. Hypocrites, discerning the works of the just but not their intention, do not see their light.

Which we also not unfittingly apply to the present, if we more subtly search out the hearts of pretenders. For the arrogant and hypocrites look outwardly upon the deeds of the good, and recognize them praised by men in their deeds, and marvel at their celebrated name, and see that they receive praises for their good deeds; but with how great a zeal they flee those same praises, they do not see. They consider the good men's open works; but that they perform these with inner hope alone, they are ignorant.

For those who are bright with the true light of righteousness are first changed from the darkness of inner intention, so that they may fully forsake within the obscurity of earthly desire, and perfectly turn their hearts to the desires of the supernal light, lest, while appearing bright to others, they be dark to themselves. The arrogant, therefore, because they consider the deeds of the good but do not weigh their hearts, imitate that whereby they may avail to be praised outwardly, not that whereby they may rise inwardly to the light of righteousness: and they know not, as it were, how to see the rising of the dawning morning, because they scorn to consider the intention of a religious mind. [Old recension XVI] 21.

Judea did not see the light of the coming Christ and of the nascent Church. The holy man, filled with the grace of the prophetic spirit, can also behold the perfidy of Judea at the coming of the Redeemer, and prophesy the losses of her blindness through these words as though in the manner of one wishing, so as to say: 'Let it wait for light, and see none, nor the rising of the dawning morning.' For Judea waited for the light, and saw it not; because she indeed sustained by prophesying the Redeemer of the human race who was to come, but by no means knew Him when He came; and the eyes of her mind which she opened to hope, she closed to the presence of the light. And she saw not the rising of the dawning morning: because she scorned to venerate those weak beginnings of the holy Church;

and while she believed that this Church was to be overthrown by the deaths of her own members, she was ignorant of the strong estate to which it would attain. But since, speaking of the unbelievers, he made known the members of the iniquitous head, he turns his words again to the very head of the wicked, saying: