582.理性思考一下，然后告诉我，如果当今教会的信真的持续下去，那么整个人类会是什么样，这信声称，救赎唯独经由十字架受难，那些被恩赐主的功德之人，不受制于律法定罪，它还声称，这信（至于它到底在不在他里面，他根本不知道）会赦免他的罪并使他重生，如果当这信被恩赐并进入人内时，人真的配合了它的行动，那么他的合作就会玷污这信，同时丧失救恩，因为他将自己的功德和基督的功德混在了一起。理性想一想，我会说，请告诉我这是否意味着拒绝整本圣言，因圣言的主要教导是，重生通过从罪中的属灵洗礼和践行仁爱进行。那么，改造的起点，即十诫不就成了小商店里出售并用来包香料的纸张吗？宗教信仰不就是“忏悔是一个罪人，并由于神儿子的受难而向父神祈求怜悯”的一声悲叹，因而成了仅仅发自肺的口头祷告，而非发自内心的行为吗？救赎不就成了教皇的一味放纵，或象一个修道士为整个团体受鞭打的惯例吗？如果唯独信使人重生，悔改与仁爱不顶用，那么内在人（即人死后继续活着的灵），不就象一座被焚毁的城市，就象那形成外在人的废墟吗？或象被毛虫与蝗虫荒废的田野或平原吗？这种人在天人看来，完全就象珍爱怀里的毒蛇，并试图把它藏在衣服下面的人，或象沉睡者、与狼同居的羔羊，或象盖着漂亮的毯子，却穿着蜘蛛网制成的睡衣躺卧的人。凡在天堂者皆根据其重生的不同程度有指定的地方，凡在地狱者皆根据其拒绝重生的不同程度有指定的地方，这种情况下，死后的生命不就成了血气的生命，因此就象鱼或蟹的生命了吗？
582. 理性思考一下, 然后告诉我, 如果当今教会的信真的持续下去, 那么整个人类会是什么样, 这信声称, 救赎唯独经由十字架受难, 那些被恩赐主的功德之人, 不受制于律法定罪, 它还声称, 这信 (至于它到底在不在他里面, 他根本不知道) 会赦免他的罪并使他重生, 如果当这信被恩赐并进入人内时, 人真的配合了它的行动, 那么他的合作就会玷污这信, 同时丧失救恩, 因为他将自己的功德和基督的功德混在了一起。 理性想一想, 我会说, 请告诉我这是否意味着拒绝整本圣言, 因圣言的主要教导是, 重生通过从罪中的属灵洗礼和践行仁爱进行。 那么, 改造的起点, 即十诫不就成了小商店里出售并用来包香料的纸张吗? 宗教信仰不就是“忏悔是一个罪人, 并由于神儿子的受难而向父神祈求怜悯”的一声悲叹, 因而成了仅仅发自肺的口头祷告, 而非发自内心的行为吗? 救赎不就成了教皇的一味放纵, 或象一个修道士为整个团体受鞭打的惯例吗? 如果唯独信使人重生, 悔改与仁爱不顶用, 那么内在人 (即人死后继续活着的灵), 不就象一座被焚毁的城市, 就象那形成外在人的废墟吗? 或象被毛虫与蝗虫荒废的田野或平原吗? 这种人在天人看来, 完全就象珍爱怀里的毒蛇, 并试图把它藏在衣服下面的人, 或象沉睡者, 与狼同居的羔羊, 或象盖着漂亮的毯子, 却穿着蜘蛛网制成的睡衣躺卧的人。 凡在天堂者皆根据其重生的不同程度有指定的地方, 凡在地狱者皆根据其拒绝重生的不同程度有指定的地方, 这种情况下, 死后的生命不就成了血气的生命, 因此就象鱼或蟹的生命了吗?
582. Think about it rationally and tell me what the whole human race would be like if the faith of today's church were to persist - that is, the belief that the passion of the cross is the sole thing that has redeemed us; that we who have been granted the Lord's merit are not subject to the damnation of the law; that this faith itself forgives our sins and regenerates us (even though we have no way of knowing whether this faith is in us or not); and that if we were to cooperate at all in the activation of faith, which is the moment when faith is granted to us and becomes part of us, we would corrupt this faith and ruin our chances of salvation, since we would be entangling Christ's merit with our own.
I beg you, think about it rationally and tell me: Is this not the equivalent of rejecting the entire Word, since the principal teaching of the Word concerns our regeneration through spiritually washing away evils and exercising goodwill? How then are the Ten Commandments (the starting point of our reformation) more valuable than the paper in which shopkeepers roll up the spices they have sold? What then is religious practice except wailing that we are sinners and begging God the Father to have mercy on us for the sake of his Son's suffering - a mere matter of words from the lungs and not of action from the heart? How then is redemption different from a papal indulgence? How is redemption different from the punishing of a whole monastery by the flogging of a single monk, which is sometimes done?
[2] If this faith regenerates us all by itself, and we practice no repentance and develop no goodwill, how will our inner self (which is our spirit, the part of us that lives on after death) avoid being like a city that has burned to the ground? How will our outer self not be like rubble left over from that fire? How will our inner self not be like a field or a meadow laid waste by caterpillars and locusts?
From the angels' point of view, people who practice no repentance and develop no goodwill are like people who keep a pet snake hidden under their clothes close to their heart so it will not be seen. They are like a sheep that is asleep next to a wolf. They are like someone who is lying under a beautiful quilt but wearing a nightgown made of spiderwebs. What will their life be like after they die? Given that all in heaven are sorted by differences in their regeneration and all in hell are sorted by differences in their rejection of regeneration, will these people not have a life that is only bodily then, like the life of a fish or a crab?
582. Think about it rationally and tell me what the whole human race would be like, if the faith of the present-day church were to endure, a faith which states that redemption is solely through the passion on the cross, and that those who are so granted the Lord's merit are not subject to the condemnation of the law. It also states that this faith, about which a person is so ignorant he does not know if he has it, forgives his sins and regenerates him, and if anyone were to cooperate in its action when it is granted and enters into him, he would ruin this faith, throwing away his salvation with it, since he would mix his own merit with Christ's. Think about it rationally, I say, and tell me whether this would not mean rejecting the whole of the Word, where the chief teaching is that regeneration takes place by means of a spiritual washing from sins and by practising charity. What then would become of the Ten Commandments, the starting-point of reformation? Would it be any better than the paper sold in shops and twisted into screws to wrap spices? What would religion be then but bewailing the fact of being a sinner and praying God the Father to have mercy on account of His Son's suffering, a merely oral prayer coming from the lungs, without any deed on the part of the heart?
[2] Redemption then would be nothing but a papal indulgence, or like the customary practice of flogging a monk on behalf of the whole community. If that faith alone could regenerate a person, and repentance and charity played no part, what would his internal man - the spirit which goes on living after death - be but a burnt-out city, the ruins of which makes up the external man? Or like a field or a plain devastated by caterpillars and locusts? That sort of person appears to angels as if he was warming a viper in his bosom and wrapping his clothes around it to prevent it being seen; or as if someone was sleeping like a sheep with a wolf; or someone lying under a beautiful blanket in a shift woven out of spiders' webs. Then life after death, when all are assigned their places in heaven depending on how their regeneration differs, or in hell depending on the different ways they have rejected regeneration, would be nothing but the life of the flesh, the sort a fish or a crab enjoys.
582. Think rationally and say what the entire human race would be if the faith of the present church were to continue; this faith being that men are redeemed by the passion of the cross alone, and that those upon whom that merit of the Lord has been bestowed are not under the condemnation of the law; and again, that this faith (whether or not it is in him man not knowing at all), remits sins and regenerates, and that man's co-operation in the act thereof, that is, when it is being given and entering, would defile it, and at the same time deprive him of salvation, since he would thereby commingle his own merit with that of Christ. Think rationally, I say, and tell me whether the whole Word would not be thus rejected, where regeneration by means of the spiritual washing away of evils, and by the exercise of charity is especially taught. What would the Decalogue, the starting point of reformation, then be, more than the paper that is sold in small shops and used to wrap up spices? What would religion then be, but a kind of lamentation that one is a sinner, and supplication to God the Father to be merciful on account of the passion of His Son, thus a matter of the mouth and lungs only, and not of anything done from the heart? What would redemption then be but a papal indulgence; or what more than a monk's flagellation of himself for the sake of the whole assembly, as is sometimes done? If faith alone regenerated man, repentance and charity doing nothing, what would the internal man (which is the man's spirit that lives after death), be like, but a burnt city, the ruins of which form the external man; or a field or plain laid waste by caterpillars and locusts? Such a man appears to the angels altogether like one who cherishes a serpent in his bosom, and tries to conceal it under his garments; or like one sleeping like a lamb with a wolf; or like one sleeping under beautiful bed-clothing in a night-gown made of spider's webs. Or seeing that all are arranged in heaven according to the different degrees of their regeneration, and all in hell according to the different degrees in which they have rejected it, what would the life after death be but a life of the flesh, and so like that of a fish or a crab?
582. Any one can say from rational thought what the whole human race would be like if the faith of the present Church were to persist. It teaches that men were redeemed solely by the passion of the cross; that those who are gifted with the Lord's merit are not under the condemnation of the law; and further, that this faith, although a man is altogether ignorant whether it is in him or not, remits sins and regenerates; and that his co-operation in the act of faith, while it is being given and entering into him, would ruin it, and would involve his salvation in destruction, since he would be mingling his own merit with that of Christ. Any one can say, I repeat, from rational thought whether this would not result in the rejection of the whole Word, the principal teaching of which is regeneration by spiritual worship from evils, and by the practice of charity. Moreover, the Decalogue, on which reformation is founded, would be of no more use than the paper sold in shops to wrap up sweetmeats. Religion would be but a man's lamentation that he is a sinner, with supplication to God the Father to have mercy for the sake of His Son's passion; thus a thing of the lips only, of breath from the lungs, not a matter of deeds, from the heart. Redemption would be a mere papal indulgence, or nothing more than the scourging of one monk for the whole community, which is a common practice.
If faith alone regenerated a man, and not repentance and charity, the internal man, which is his spirit that lives after death, would resemble a burnt-out city, its ruins forming the external man; or a field or plain laid waste by caterpillars and locusts. A man who believes in faith alone appears to angels like one who cherishes a serpent in his bosom, covering it with his cloak to prevent its being seen. He is also like one who sleeps as a sheep in company with a wolf; or like one who lies down under a beautiful bed-quilt in a night-dress woven of spiders' webs. To those who hold this belief, after death, when all in heaven are distinguished by their advancement in regeneration and all in hell by their refusal to be regenerated, life would be merely a carnal existence, and thus like the life of a fish or a crab.
582. Dicite ex rationali cogitatione, quale foret universum Genus humanum, si perstaret fides hodiernae Ecclesiae, quae est, quod sint redempti per solam Passionem crucis, et quod qui illo Domini merito donati sunt, non sint sub legis damnatione; tum, quod fides illa, de qua homo ne hilum scit Numeri inest, remittat peccata, ac regeneret, et quod cooperatio hominis in actu ejus, qui est dum datur et intrat, pessumdaret fidem illam, et cum illa auferret salutem, quoniam suum meritum merito Christi commisceret; dicite inquam ex cogitatione rationali, annon ita totum Verbum rejectum fuisset, ubi principaliter docetur Regeneratio per spiritualem lavationem a malis, et per exercitia 1 charitatis: quid tunc Decalogus, principium reformationis, plus quam charta, quae venditur in cauponis, et formatur in volvulos circum aromata: quid tunc Religio, nisi quaedam lamentatio quod peccator sit, et supplicatio, ut Deus Pater misereatur propter passionem Filii sui, ita solius oris ex pulmone, et nihil facti ex corde: et quid tunc Redemptio nisi indulgentia papalis; aut plus quam flagellatio monachi pro toto Caetu, ut fit.
[2] Si sola illa fides regeneraret hominem, ac nihil Poenitentia et Charitas, quid tunc internus homo, qui est spiritus ejus vivens post mortem, nisi sicut urbs incensa, cujus rudera faciunt externum hominem; aut sicut ager vel campus ab erucis et locustis devastatus. Talis homo coram Angelis non apparet aliter, quam sicut gremio foveret serpentem, et superinduceret vestem ne appareat: tum etiam sicut qui dormit ut ovis cum lupo, aut sicut qui cubat sub pulchro velamento in indusio ex telis araneae contexto: et quid tunc vita post mortem, quando omnes distinguuntur secundum discrimina regenerationis in Coelo, et secundum discrimina rejectionis ejus in Inferno, nisi quam vita carnea, et sic qualis vita piscis aut cancri. 2
Footnotes: