436# 此事还可由以下比喻进一步说明。
若有人在自己的内室中豢养两头豹类猛兽，并且因喂养它们而能安然与之同处，则他人岂能亲近此人，除非他先将这些猛兽除去？有谁蒙召赴君王与王后的筵席，在前往之前，不先洗净自己的脸和手呢？有谁在取得纯金纯银之前，不先用火炼净矿石，使之与渣滓分离呢？有谁在把麦子收入仓廪之前，不先将稗子从麦收中分别出来呢？有谁在烹煮生肉，使其成为可食之物并陈设于桌上之前，不先撇去浮沫呢？有谁不从园中树叶上抖落虫豸，以免树叶被啮尽，果实因而败坏呢？又有谁会爱慕一个女子，并有意与她成婚，而她却为恶毒所缠裹，满身脓疮与肿瘤；纵使她粉饰面容，衣饰华美，并以口中谄媚之言竭力施展爱情的诱惑，岂能因此便受人喜爱呢？
人必须自行洁净自己，脱离诸恶，而不可等候主直接作成此事。这可用一个比喻说明：若一个仆人满面满衣皆被烟灰或粪污所玷，来到主人面前说：“主啊，洗净我吧。”主人岂不对他说：“愚昧的仆人，你说什么呢？看哪，那里有水、肥皂和巾帕；你不是有手，手中也有能力吗？你自己洗净自己吧。”
主上帝也必如此说：“洁净的凭借是从我而来；并且，你的愿意与能够也是从我而来。因此，你要使用这些从我而来的恩赐与禀赋，仿佛它们是你自己的；这样，你就必得洁净。”
436# 这一点可通过以下对比来说明：假如有人在屋里养了一只花豹和一只黑豹，喂养它们的人可以安全地与它们生活在一起；但没有人能拜访这个人，除非这些野兽被带走。当被邀请赴国王和王后的筵席时，谁不会在出席之前洗脸洗手？在获得纯金和纯银之前，谁不会先用火炼净矿物，把渣滓分离出去？在把麦子收到仓里之前，谁不会先将稗子和麦子分开？在生肉可以食用，并摆到桌子上之前，谁不会先将它烹饪煮熟？谁不会将园中树叶上的虫子打掉，免得叶子被吃掉，果实由此遭受损失？谁会爱上并试图娶一个浑身是病、长满痘痘和斑点的少女，无论她在脸上怎么化妆、穿多么漂亮的衣服，极力通过说好话和赞美而用爱的诱惑来打动人？人自己应当从邪恶中洁净自己，而不是在没有他参与合作的情况下等待主来洁净他（参看TCR 331节）。否则，他就像一个脸上和衣服上沾满烟灰或粪便的仆人，走到主人跟前，说：“主人啊，请洗净我。”他的主人岂不会回答他说：“你这愚蠢的仆人！你在说什么？看，这里有水、肥皂和手巾；难道你自己没有手、没有能力用它们吗？自己去洗！”因此，主神会说：“洁净的方法来自我；你意愿和实行的能力也来自我；因此，请把我的这些礼物和恩赐当成自己的来使用，你就会洁净。”
436. This point can be illustrated further by analogies: Suppose someone keeps a leopard and a panther in an apartment and, as the one who feeds them, is able to live safely with them. No one else can visit unless their owner first removes these wild animals. Guests invited to the table of the king and queen would not forget to wash their faces and hands before attending. Anyone must first purify ore with fire and remove slag before getting pure gold or silver. Everyone separates the tares or weeds from the harvested wheat before taking it into the barn. Everyone cooks some of the juice out of raw meat before it becomes edible and is set on the table. Everyone knocks the grubs and caterpillars off the leaves of a tree in the garden to prevent them from devouring the leaves and causing a loss of fruit. Does any man love a young woman and propose to marry her if she is riddled with malignancies or covered all over with pustules and varicose veins, no matter how much she puts makeup on her face, wears gorgeous clothing, and makes an effort to be attractive by saying nice things and paying compliments?
The need for us to purify ourselves from evils, and not to wait for the Lord to do it without our participation, is like a servant coming in with his face and clothes covered in soot or dung, approaching his master and saying, "Lord, wash me. " Surely his master would tell him, "You foolish servant! What are you saying? Look, there is the water, the soap, and a towel. Don't you have hands? Don't they work? Wash yourself!"
The Lord God is going to say, "The means of being purified come from me. Your willingness and power come from me. Therefore use these gifts and endowments of mine as your own and you will be purified. "
436. The following comparisons will serve to illustrate this further. There is no approaching someone who keeps a leopard or a panther in his room, and lives safely with them because he feeds them, unless one first gets rid of the wild animals. If anyone is invited to dine with a king and queen, does he not wash his face and hands before coming to table? Does anyone fail to heat minerals to purify them and separate them from slag before he gets pure gold and silver? Is there anyone who does not separate the tares from his wheat crop, before storing it in the granary? Is there anyone who does not boil raw meat to cook it, before it becomes eatable and is served at table? Does anyone fail to shake grubs off the leaves of his garden trees, to prevent the leaves being eaten and the fruit lost? Does anyone love a girl and aim to marry her, if she is tainted with malignant disease or covered in spots or pimples, however much she makes up her face, dresses up in fine clothes, and tries to make herself attractive by paying compliments? A person's duty to cleanse himself from evils is like a servant coming in with his face or clothes filthy with soot or dung, and going to his master and saying: 'Please wash me, Sir.' Would not the master say to him: 'You foolish servant, what is this you say? Look, here are water, soap and a towel; haven't you got hands and the power to use them? Wash yourself.' So the Lord God will say: 'The means of cleansing I have provided; and you have been given by me the power to will and act. So use the gifts and talents I have given you, and you will be cleansed.' 1
Footnotes:
1. This passage is largely repeated from 331.
436. This may be further illustrated by the following comparisons: One cannot visit another who keeps a leopard and a panther shut up in his chamber (living safely with them himself because he feeds them), until these wild beasts have been removed. Who, when invited to the table of a king and queen, does not, before he goes, wash his hands and face? Who does not purify ores by fire and separate the dross before he obtains pure gold and silver? Who does not separate the tares from the wheat, before putting the wheat into his granary? Who does not prepare raw food by cooking it before it is made eatable and placed upon the table? Who does not beat the worms from the foliage of the trees in his garden, so that the leaves may not be devoured and the fruit thereby destroyed? Who loves and seeks to marry a maiden who is full of disease, and covered with pimples and blotches, however she may paint her face, dress finely, and labor by the charms of her conversation to affect him with the enticements of love? Man himself ought to purify himself from evils [and not wait for the Lord to do this without his cooperation, see n. 331. Otherwise he would be like a servant, going to his master, with his face and clothes befouled with soot or dung, and saying, "Master, wash me." Would not his master answer him, "You foolish servant, what are you saying? See, here are water, soap, and a towel; have you not hands of your own and the power to use them? Wash yourself." And so the Lord God will say, "These means of purification are from Me; and your ability to will and do are also from Me; therefore use these My gifts and endowments as your own, and you will be purified."
436. This may be further illustrated by the following comparisons. No one can visit a man who keeps a leopard and a panther in his room, and who lives in safety with them because he feeds them, until those wild beasts are removed. What person, invited to the table of a king and queen, does not wash his face and hands before he presents himself? Who does not refine metallic ores in the fire, separating the dross, before he procures the pure gold and silver? What farmer does not separate the tares from the wheat before he puts it in his barn? Who does not remove impurities in raw food by cooking to make it eatable before being brought to the table? Who does not shake off insects from a tree in his garden, to prevent the leaves from being eaten up and the fruit destroyed? Does anyone love and intend to marry a maiden infected with disease, and covered with pimples and blotches, however she may paint her face, dress elegantly, and seek to exercise the allurements of love by her charming conversation?
A man ought to purify himself from evils. Otherwise he would be like a servant with face and clothes covered with soot and filth, who should go to his master and say, "My lord, wash me." Would not his master say to him, "You foolish servant, what do you mean? See, there are water, soap and a towel; have you not hands of your own and power to use them? Wash yourself." And the Lord God will surely say, "You have from me the means of purification, and also the will, and the power. Therefore, use these my gifts and endowments as your own, and you will be purified."
436. Hoc porro illustrari potest per has comparationes; non potest aliquis adire alterum, qui leopardum et pantheram in conclavi suo custodit, et quia dat illis edere, securus cum illis habitat, nisi prius feras illas removerit. Quis invitatus ad mensam Regis et Reginae non prius laverit faciem et manus, antequam accedit. Quis non per ignem purificat mineras, et secernit a scoriis, antequam aurum et argentum purum accipit. Quis non Zizania separat a messe tritici, antequam hoc infert in horreum. Quis non despumat Carnem crudam in coctione, antequam illa fit edulis, et apponitur super mensa. Quis non excutit vermes ex foliis arboris in horto, ne consumantur folia, et sic pereat fructus. Quis amat virginem, et cum illa nuptias intendit, quae malignis inescata est, ac pustulis et varicibus obsita, utcunque illa infucat faciem, splendide se investit, ac amoris illecebras per blanditias oris inferre studet. Quod homo se ipsum purificare debeat a malis, est 1 comparative sicut servus incedens facie et veste conspurcatis fuligine aut stercore accederet ad herum suum, ac diceret, Domine, ablue me; annon illi herus dicturus est, serve stulte, quid dicis; ecce ibi aqua, sapo, et linteum; suntne tibi manus, et posse in illis; ablue teipsum, et Dominus Deus dicturus est, sunt media purificationis a me, et quoque est tuum velle et posse a Me, quare utere illis meis donis et dotibus ut tuis, et purificaberis.
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