約伯倫理 第 1442 章 第 1/2 段

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.