約伯倫理 第 844 章

10. 'He that is lifted up by vainglory falls in a little while.' — When the glory of the wicked is for the most part drawn out to a multitude of years, it is esteemed by the minds of the weak to be long and, as it were, stable. But when a sudden end cuts it short, it proves beyond doubt that it was brief, because the determining end makes known that what could pass away was a little thing. They are therefore lifted up for a little while, and abide not at all, because by the very fact that they aspire to appear lofty, they become through their elation far from the true essence of God. For they cannot subsist, because they are divided from the solidity of the eternal essence, and endure this first ruin, because through their private glory they fall in upon themselves. For hence it is said through the Psalmist:

'Thou didst cast them down when they were lifted up' (Ps. LXXII, 18), because they inwardly fall down by that very thing whereby they wickedly rise outwardly. Beholding this brevity of temporal glory, he again says: 'I have seen the wicked highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus; and I passed by, and lo, he was not' (Ps. XXXVI, 35). Hence again he says: 'Yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be' (ibid. 10). Hence James says: 'For what is your life? It is a vapor which appeareth for a little while' (James IV, 15). Hence the prophet, weighing the brevity of carnal glory, declares, saying: 'All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass' (Isa. XL, 6). For the power of the wicked is compared to the flower of grass, because indeed carnal glory, while it shines, falls;

while it is exalted in its own eyes, it is cut short by a sudden end and terminated. For so is the stubble caught up on high by the blast of the winds, but by a swift fall is called back to the depths. So does smoke rise to the clouds, but suddenly, by swelling up, it is dissipated into nothing. So does the mist, by thickening, raise itself from the lowest places; but the risen ray of the sun wipes it away as though it had never been. So on the surface of the grass the moisture of the nocturnal dew is sprinkled, but by the sudden heat of the daily light it is dried up. So the foamy bubbles of the waters, stirred up by beginning rains, come forth eagerly from their depths; but the more swiftly they burst and perish, the higher, being inflated, they are stretched out. And when they grow that they may appear, by growing they bring it about that they may not subsist.

Of the wicked therefore, swelling with the elation of temporal glory, yet by no means enduring in any solidity thereof, it may rightly be said: 'They are lifted up for a little while, and shall not subsist.' Concerning whom it is still further added: