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Chapter 65BenjaminMinor.1.65

CAPUT LXV. De principalitate timoris, et aliis affectibus qui quibus principentur

The First and Principal Gift

A good will is the first and greatest gift from God, restoring the divine likeness and turning a bad will into a good one through the fear of the Lord.

He says it is first among gifts, and greater in dominion. Among all God's gifts that seem to be aimed at human salvation, a good will is recognized as the first and principal gift, and through it the image of the divine likeness is restored in us.✦ Nothing a person does can be good unless it comes from a good will. Whatever is done from a good will cannot be evil. Without a good will you can't be saved at all; with a good will you can't perish at all.1 Oh, wonderful gift! Oh, singular gift! This is that first, or principal, gift given to the firstborn Reuben, because without a doubt, through the fear of the Lord, a bad will is changed into a good one.✦✦

Reuben's Sovereign Dominion

Through the allegory of Reuben ruling his brothers, the text shows how fear surpasses all other affections—love, hope, hatred, grief, and joy—in scope and authority.

So why shouldn't the one who receives the first and principal gift be first among the gifts? It is first, because every good begins from a good will; it is principal, because nothing more useful is given to human beings than a good will. First among the gifts, greater in dominion. Who would deny that this Reuben is greater than the others in dominion, when he so often even rules over all his other brothers? Before him, Levi yields, because when fear comes over it, hope falls; under his command, Judah often withdraws.2 Zebulun draws near because, when fear presses hard, love often grows cold and hatred rises. At his nod Issachar goes out and Simeon comes in, because when fear slips in, joy is often shut out and sorrow is let in. We have seen how Reuben has sometimes even been accustomed to rule his brothers; let us see how he stretches his dominion wider than the rest. Certainly, some things are what we love and others are what we hate—but we usually fear for both, while we often dread losing the former and running into the latter. So Judah and Zebulun divide the kingdom between themselves, but Reuben covers the whole, because true love reaches only good things, true hatred only evil things, while fear is directed toward both.3 Zebulun lets his brother Simeon share his portion.4 Indeed, we grieve over adversities—but not over all of them, because we do not endure them all. Levi has less dominion than Judah, yet much more dominion than Issachar.5 For there are more things we ought to love than we dare to hope for. But it's nonetheless clear that there is more reason for hope than for joy, because the things we already have to rejoice over are few compared to those we hope to obtain. So Judah and Zebulun surpass the other brothers by the greatness of their dominion; yet they can by no means reach Reuben's measure.6 So Ruben goes ahead of them all; as the first, he leaves the others far behind him. For everything people clearly love, hope for, or hate—everything they usually grieve over or rejoice in—can generate from itself many reasons for fear. For around a single thing we love, we often find several reasons to fear. In fact, as many ways as it can be lost, so many occasions for fear it can give. So this Ruben greatly expands his kingdom. But what supplies him strength is not only the multiplicity of things hidden from us, but also the changeableness of things in plain view.7 For what can I feel secure about, when I have nothing I can't lose? When in this life do I reach certainty of knowledge, I who don't know incomparably more than I know?8 Therefore, because fear spreads more widely than the other affections, Ruben is rightly said to be greater in dominion than his brothers.

The Boundary of Holy Fear

When fear grows beyond measure, it leads to presumption and danger; we must moderate fear with discernment, as Reuben's excess shows.

And his father forbids him from growing any further—right at the moment when he had been poured out like water, when he had already gone up to his father's bed and defiled his couch. "Reuben," he says, "my firstborn, you are my strength, the beginning of my sorrow, first in gifts, greater in dominion; you have been poured out like water—you will not grow, because you went up to your father's bed and defiled his couch." See what a great evil Reuben dared, because he grew beyond measure. We quickly run into great danger if our fear isn't moderated by discernment.

Read the original Latin

Primus, inquit, in donis, major imperio. Inter omnia Dei dona quae ad salutem hominis spectare videntur primum et principale donum bona voluntas esse cognoscitur, per quam in nobis divinae similitudinis imago reparatur. Quidquid homo agat, bonum esse non potest, nisi ex bona voluntate procedat. Quidquid ex bona voluntate fit, malum esse non poterit. Sine bona voluntate omnino salvari non potes, cum bona voluntate omnino perire non potes. O donum mirabile! o donum singulare! Hoc est illud primum, vel principale donum quod primogenito Ruben tribuitur, quia absque dubio per timorem Domini voluntas mala in bonam commutatur.

Cur itaque primus in donis non sit qui primum et principale donum accipit? Primum quia a bona voluntate bonum omne inchoatur; principale, quia bona voluntate hominibus utilius nihil datur. Primus in donis, major imperio. Quis hunc Ruben prae caeteris imperio majorem esse neget, qui caeteris omnibus fratribus suis persaepe etiam imperare solet? Ante ejus conspectum Levi cedit, quia superveniente timore spes cadit, ad ejus imperium saepe Judas secedit. Zabulon accedit quia, cogente timore, saepe charitas refrigescit, odium exsurgit. Ad nutum ipsius Issachar egreditur, et Simeon ingreditur, quia subintrante timore, saepe et gaudium excluditur, et dolor admittitur. Vidimus quomodo Ruben quandoque fratribus suis etiam imperare consuevit, videamus quomodo imperium suum prae caeteris latius extendit.

Certe alia sunt quae amamus, alia sunt quae odio habemus, sed pro utrisque timere solemus, dum saepe ista amittere, illa formidamus incurrere. Dividunt itaque Judas, et Zabulon inter se regnum, sed Ruben se extendit ad totum, quia verus amor ad sola bona, verum odium ad sola mala, timor se effundit ad hoc, et ad illa. Zabulon in partis suae partem fratrem suum admittit Simeonem. Pro adversis siquidem dolemus, sed non pro omnibus, quia non omnia sustinemus. Levi quam Judas imperio est minor, multo tamen quam Issachar imperio est major. Plura enim sunt quae debemus diligere, quam quae audeamus sperare. Sed constat nihilominus copiosiorem esse materiam sperandi quam gaudendi, quia habita de quibus gaudemus pauca sunt ad ea quae habenda speramus. Judas itaque et Zabulon imperii sui magnitudine caeteros fratres vincunt, verumtamen ad mensuram Ruben extendere se minime possunt.

Omnes itaque Ruben antecedit, qui caeteros primus longe post se relinquit. Omnia enim quae constat homines amare, sperare, odisse, pro quibus dolere, vel gaudere solent, multiplicis timoris causas ex se gignere valent. Saepe etenim circa unam rem quam diligimus, plures timendi causas invenimus. Quot modis siquidem perdi potest, tot timoris occasiones dare potest. Multum itaque regnum suum Ruben iste dilatat, sed vires ei administrat, non solum multiplicitas occultorum, sed etiam mutabilitas apparentium. De quo enim securus esse possum, qui nil habeo quod perdere non possum? Quando hic ad scientiae certitudinem pertingo, qui innumerabiliter plura nescio quam scio? Quia igitur timor caeteris affectibus latius diffunditur, recte Ruben fratrum comparatione imperio major esse perhibetur.

Et ne crescat a patre suo prohibetur, sed eo videlicet tempore quo sicut aqua diffusus erat, quando jam patris cubile ascenderat, stratumque ejus jam maculaverat: Ruben, inquit, primogenitus meus, tu fortitudo mea, principium doloris mei, primus in donis, major imperio, effusus es sicut aqua, non cresces, quia ascendisti cubile patris tui, et maculasti stratum ejus. Ecce Ruben quantum malum praesumpsit, quia ultra modum excrevit. Cito magnum periculum incurritur, si timor noster per discretionem non moderatur.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Gen.1.26-Gen.1.27 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
  2. ↩Gen.29.32 — And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben, for she said, "The LORD has seen my affliction; now my husband will love me."
  3. ↩Prov.1.7;Ps.111.10 — The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Ps.111.10 — The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD; good understanding belongs to all who do his works. His praise endures forever.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩cum is parallel to sine ('with' / 'without'), not temporal 'when'.
  2. 2 ↩In Richard's Benjamin Minor scheme, Levi figures hope and Judah love; Reuben (fear) can overmaster both.
  3. 3 ↩In the allegory of this chapter, Reuben is fear, Judah love, and Zebulun hatred; hoc/illa point back to the goods loved and the evils hated.
  4. 4 ↩Zebulun = hatred; Simeon = sorrow. Hatred shares its domain with grief over evils.
  5. 5 ↩Levi = hope, Judah = love, Issachar = joy: hope rules less widely than love, but more widely than joy.
  6. 6 ↩Love and hatred outrank the other affections in breadth of rule, but neither reaches the wider reach of fear (Reuben).
  7. 7 ↩occultorum / apparentium: rendered as things hidden vs. things in plain view; the contrast is between unknown threats and the instability of what already appears.
  8. 8 ↩hic rendered as "in this life" (this present condition) rather than bare "here," matching the epistemic humility of the sentence.

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