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| Chapter X. Of the excellence of the perfect man who is figuratively spoken of as ambidextrous.
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Chapter X.
Of the excellence of the perfect man who is figuratively
spoken of as ambidextrous.
Those are they then who are
figuratively spoken of in holy Scripture as ἀμφοτεροδέξιον
, i.e., ambidextrous, as Ehud is described in the book of Judges
“who used either hand as the right1393
hand.” And this power we also can
spiritually acquire, if by making a right and proper use of those
things which are fortunate, and which seem to be “on the right
hand,” as well as of those which are unfortunate and as we call
it “on the left hand,” we make them both belong to the
right side, so that whatever turns up proves in our case, to use the
words of the Apostle, “the armour of righteousness.” For we
see that the inner man consists of two parts, and if I may be allowed
the expression, two hands, nor can any of the saints do without that
which we call the left hand: but by means of it the perfection of
virtue is shown, where a man by skilful use can turn both hands into
right hands. And in order to make our meaning clearer, the saint has
for his right hand his spiritual achievements, in which he is found
when with fervent spirit he gets the better of his desires and
passions, when he is free from all attacks of the devil, and without
any effort or difficulty rejects and cuts off all carnal sins, when he
is exalted above the earth and regards all things present and earthly
as light smoke or vain shadows, and scorns them as what is about to
vanish away, when with an overflowing heart he not only longs most
intensely for the future but actually sees it the more clearly, when he
is more effectually fed on spiritual contemplations, when he sees
heavenly mysteries more brightly laid open to him, when he pours forth
his prayers to God with greater purity and readiness, when he is so
inflamed with fervent of spirit as to pass with the utmost readiness of
soul to things invisible and eternal, so as scarcely to believe that he
any longer remains in the flesh. He has also a left hand, when he is
entangled in the toils of temptation, when he is inflamed with the heat
of desire for carnal lusts, when he is set on fire by emotion towards
rage and anger, when he is overcome by being puffed up with pride or
vainglory, when he is oppressed by a sorrow that worketh death, when he
is shaken to pieces by the contrivances and attacks of accidie, and
when he has lost all spiritual warmth, and grows indifferent with a
sort of lukewarmness and unreasonable grief so that not only is he
forsaken by good and kindling thoughts, but actually Psalms, prayer,
reading, and retirement in his cell all pall upon him, and all virtuous
exercises seem by an intolerable and horrible loathing to have lost
their savour. And when a monk is troubled in this way, then he knows
that he is attacked “on the left hand.” Anyone therefore
who is not at all puffed up through the aid of vainglory by any of
those things on the right hand which we have mentioned, and who
struggles manfully against those on the left hand, and does not yield
to despair and give in, but rather on the other hand seizes the armour
of patience to practise himself in virtue—this man can use both
hands as right hands, and in each action he proves triumphant and
carries off the prize of victory from that condition on the left hand
as well as that on the right. Such, we read, was the reward which the
blessed Job obtained who was certainly crowned (for a victory) on the
right hand, when he was the father of seven sons and walked as a rich
and wealthy man, and yet offered daily sacrifices to the Lord for their
purification, in his anxiety that they might prove acceptable and dear
to God rather than to himself, when his gates stood open to every
stranger, when he was “feet to lame and eyes to
blind,”1394
when the
shoulders of the suffering were kept warm by the wool of his sheep,
when he was a father to orphans and a husband to widows, when he did
not even in his heart rejoice at the fall of his enemy. And again it
was the same man who with still greater virtue triumphed over adversity
on the left hand, when deprived in one moment of his seven sons he was
not as a father overcome with bitter grief but as a true servant of God
rejoiced in the will of his Creator. When instead of being a wealthy
man he became poor, naked instead of rich, pining away instead of
strong, despised and contemptible instead of famous and honourable, and
yet preserved his fortitude of mind unshaken, when, lastly, bereft of
all his wealth and substance he took up his abode on the dunghill, and
like some stern executioner of his own body scraped with a potsherd the
matter that broke out, and plunging his fingers deep into his wounds
dragged out on every side masses of worms from his limbs. And in all
this he never fell into despair and blasphemy, nor murmured at all
against his Creator. Moreover also so little was he overcome by such a
weight of bitter temptations that the cloak which out of all his former
property remained to cover his body, and which alone could be
saved from destruction by the
devil because he was clothed with it, he rent and cast off, and covered
with it his nakedness which he voluntarily endured, which the terrible
robber had brought upon him. The hair of his head too, which was the
only thing left untouched out of all the remains of his former glory,
he shaved and cast to his tormentor, and cutting off even that which
his savage foe had left to him he exulted over him and mocked him with
that celestial cry of his: “If we have received good at the hand
of the Lord, should we not also receive evil? Naked came I out of my
mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave
and the Lord hath taken away; as it hath pleased the Lord, so is it
done; blessed be the name of the Lord.”1395
I should also with good reason call Joseph ambidextrous, as in
prosperity he was very dear to his father, affectionate to his
brethren, acceptable to God; and in adversity was chaste, and faithful
to the Lord, in prison most kind to the prisoners, forgetful of wrongs,
generous to his enemies; and to his brethren who were envious of him
and as far as lay in their powers, his murderers, he proved not only
affectionate but actually munificent. These men then and those who are
like them are rightly termed ἀμφοτεροδέξιον
, i.e., ambidextrous. For they can use either hand as the right hand,
and passing through those things which the Apostle enumerates can
fairly say: “Through the armour of righteousness on the right
hand and on the left, through honour and dishonour, through evil report
and good report, etc.” And of this right and left hand Solomon
speaks as follows in the Song of songs, in the person of the bride:
“His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace
me.”1396
And while this
passage shows that both are useful, yet it puts one under the head,
because misfortunes ought to be subject to the control of the heart,
since they are only useful for this; viz., to train us for a time and
discipline us for our salvation and make us perfect in the matter of
patience. But the right hand she hopes will ever cling to her to
cherish her and hold her fast in the blessed embrace of the Bridegroom,
and unite her to him indissolubly. We shall then be ambidextrous, when
neither abundance nor want affects us, and when the former does not
entice us to the luxury of a dangerous carelessness, while the latter
does not draw us to despair, and complaining; but when, giving thanks
to God in either case alike, we gain one and the same advantage out of
good and bad fortune. And such that truly ambidextrous man, the teacher
of the Gentiles, testifies that he himself was, when he says:
“For I have learnt in whatsoever state I am, to be content
therewith. I know both how to be brought low and I know how to abound:
everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be
hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things in Him
which strengtheneth me.”1397
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