約伯倫理 第 804 章

Verse 13. — For He alone is, and no one can turn aside His thought. 45. God alone is, in comparison with whose essence our being is not-being. — Are there not angels and men, heaven and earth, air and seas, all things that fly, four-footed beasts, and creeping things? And surely it is written: He created all things that they might be (cf. Gen. 1). Since therefore in the nature of things there are so many, why is it now said by the voice of the blessed man: For He alone is? But it is one thing to be, another to be principally; one thing to be mutably, and another to be immutably. For all these things are, but they are not principally, because in themselves they in no wise subsist, and unless they be held by the hand of the Governor, they can in no wise be.

For all things subsist in Him by whom they were created; nor do the things that live give life to themselves, nor are the things that move and do not live led to motion by their own bidding; but He moves all, who quickens some, and some, not quickened, wondrously ordering, preserves in their utmost being. For all things were made out of nothing, and their essence would again tend toward nothing, unless the Author of all retained it by the hand of His governance. All things therefore that were created, neither prevail through themselves to subsist nor to be moved; but they subsist in so far as they have received that they ought to be; they are moved in so far as they are disposed by a hidden instinct. For behold, a sinner is to be scourged out of human affairs:

the earth grows dry in his labors, the sea is shaken in his shipwrecks, the air grows fiery in his sweats, the heaven grows dark against him with floods, men are inflamed in his oppressions, and even the angelic powers are moved in his adversity. Are these things, whether those we have called inanimate or those living, agitated by their own instincts and not rather by divine impulsions? Whatsoever it is, therefore, that rages outwardly, through it is to be beheld He who disposes this inwardly. In every cause, therefore, He alone is to be beheld who principally is; who also says to Moses: I am who am. Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: He who is hath sent me unto you (Exod. 3:14).

Since therefore we are scourged through the things that we see, we ought solicitously to fear Him whom we do not see. Let the holy man therefore despise whatever outwardly terrifies, whatever through its own essence, unless it were governed, would tend toward nothing; and with the eye of the mind, all things being suppressed, let him behold the One in comparison with whose essence our being is not-being, and let him say: For He alone is. 519. [Received Reading, chapter 17.] 46. God is immutable in nature and in will. — Concerning whose immutability it is aptly subjoined: And no one can turn aside His thought. For as He is immutable in nature, so is He immutable in will. His thought indeed none turns aside, because no one prevails to resist His hidden judgments.

For even though there were some who seemed to have turned aside His thought by their supplications, His inward thought was such, that they might have been able to turn aside His sentence by entreating, and might receive from Him what they should do with Him. Let him say therefore: And no one can turn aside His thought, because judgments once fixed can in no wise be changed. Whence it is written: He set a decree, and it shall not pass away (Ps. 148:6); and again: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away (Mark 13:31); and again: For my thoughts are not as your thoughts, neither are my ways as your ways (Isa. 55:8).

When therefore the sentence seems outwardly to be changed, the inward counsel is not changed, because concerning each thing there is immutably established within whatsoever is mutably done without. There follows: