約伯倫理 第 560 章

Verses 18, 19. — A falling mountain flows away, and a rock is removed from its place. Waters hollow out stones, and by inundation little by little the earth is consumed; and men therefore you will destroy in like manner. 22. Some are overthrown by sudden, others by slow and enticing temptations. — This happens frequently, that, as cliffs fall, a rock is carried to other places; that waters hollow out stones, and little by little the earth is consumed by inundations. But with great attention we must examine what is added: And men therefore you will destroy in like manner. For what is this, that to a falling mountain and a removed rock, to a hollowed-out stone and to earth consumed by inundation, the destruction of man is compared, except this — which is plainly given to be understood — that there are two kinds of temptation?

One, which occurs even in the mind of a righteous man through a sudden event, in such a way that he is so suddenly tempted that it strikes and lays him low by an unlooked-for onset, and he does not see his own fall until after he has fallen. The other, which comes little by little into the mind, and infects the resisting soul with gentle suggestions, and consumes all the strengths of righteousness in it, not by its own excess, but by its assiduity. Because, therefore, there is one temptation which for the most part lays low the righteous by a sudden invasion, let it be said: A falling mountain flows away, and a rock is removed from its place; that is, the holy mind, whose place had been righteousness, is by a sudden impulse removed to fault.

Again, because there is another temptation, which gently pours itself into the heart of man, and corrupts and consumes all the hardness of his fortitude, let it be said: Waters hollow out stones, because, namely, the assiduous and soft allurements of lust absorb the hardness of the mind, and a slow and subtle vice corrupts the hard and strong resolve of the mind. Hence it is added: And by inundation little by little the earth is consumed. For just as by flowing water the earth is little by little consumed, so by a vice creeping in gently even a strong mind is absorbed.

Hence it is well added: And men therefore you will destroy in like manner; that is, because when by your just judgment you permit temptation suddenly to dominate the mind of him who is seen to stand on high, you make the mountain fall and flow away; and when the will is changed to vice, the rock is as it were removed to another place; but when you allow a hidden and subtle, yet assiduous, temptation to prevail over the minds of those who are believed to be strong, then, as it were, waters hollow out stones, and by inundation little by little the earth is consumed, because indeed the hardness of the mind, subdued by gentle suggestion, is softened. 23. David, a high mountain, fell by a sudden fall. Solomon, by the enticement of sin creeping in little by little.

— Let us see how high a mountain that David was, who by the prophetic spirit was able to contemplate such great mysteries of God; but let us behold how suddenly he flowed away in his fall, who, while walking on his terrace, coveted and took another's wife, and slew her husband with the loss of his own army (2 Kings [Samuel] xi, 4 and following) — by a sudden fall the mountain fell, when that mind, accustomed to heavenly mysteries, was overcome by an unlooked-for temptation and subdued to so monstrous a shamefulness. So the rock was removed from its place, when the prophet's soul, shut out from the mysteries of prophecy, came to devise shameful things. Let us also see how waters hollow out stones, and by inundation little by little the earth is consumed. Solomon indeed

by the immoderate use and assiduity of women was brought even to this, that he built a temple to idols (3 Kings [1 Kings] xi, 7); and he who had first built a temple to God, by the assiduity of lust, laid low even unto perfidy, did not fear to build temples to idols. And so it came about that from the constant wantonness of the flesh he arrived even at perfidy of mind. What else therefore did waters do but hollow out the stone, and by inundation little by little the earth was consumed, because, by the infusion of sin creeping in little by little, the earth of his heart flowed away to its consumption? Let blessed Job therefore consider both temptations, whether the sudden and immense, or the slow and more prolonged;

let him consider the falls of men, and from these things which happen outwardly let him seize inwardly a contemplation, saying: A falling mountain flows away, and a rock is removed from its place. Waters hollow out stones, and by inundation little by little the earth is consumed; and men therefore you will destroy in like manner; that is, just as these insensible things now suddenly collapse, now are little by little consumed by the softening infusion of waters, so also him whom you have created rational you either cast down by a sudden temptation, or permit to be consumed by a long and slow one. And presently he explains that same rational creature in the words that follow, saying: