CAPUT X. De transgressoribus mandatorum Dei.
古代审判的警示
从始祖到旷野，圣经记载了神因人不顺服而施行的严厉审判，包括洪水、巴别、所多玛、埃及和旷野中的灭亡，显示违命必受惩罚。
If anyone wants to clearly understand the evils that offend God or endanger a kingdom, let him carefully examine divine authority—that is, the Law, the Prophets, the Gospel, and the Apostles. There he will fully find every command and precept by which God's will is carried out; there he will also find the things God has forbidden. For those forbidden things, there are many divine warnings for every rank of people—and in some who refused to listen, God's vengeance has already been carried out. The first human being, after all, was cast out of paradise for breaking God's command, condemned to exile, and punished with death—an evil the human race still feels today, as if it were planted in our very nature. Then followed another general condemnation in the flood, clearly shown to have come when vices and all kinds of evil had multiplied and the natural law had been corrupted. How serious and dangerous the presumption is that grows out of scorning God's commands is shown by the building of the tower and the confusion of languages.✦ As for Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities, it is clear by what shameful crimes they were wiped out, and how they were ruined under eternal condemnation as a warning to the human race. And yet, compared to them, Jerusalem is said to have done twice as much evil, because she had knowledge of God and his command, and still refused to keep it, following her own will.✦ For the sin of Sodom, according to the prophet, was pride, fullness and abundance, idleness, and the fact that they would not stretch out a hand to the needy and the poor. From this came forgetfulness of God, and they still went on and committed abominations.✦ The hardening of the Egyptians too—who could not be corrected by any signs or wonders, nor even by scourges—is well known for the end it reached. For it is plain how horribly Dathan and Abiram and Korah, with their companions who perished with them, were swallowed by the earth for their contempt and disobedience against God. It is clear to everyone how the mass of God's people also perished in the desert because of craving, contempt, and perverse habits God had forbidden them, until they were worn down by one disaster after another—so that none of them reached the promised land except only two who obeyed the Lord's voice.
领袖之罪与国之危
通过扫罗、约拿单、以利和亚干的例子，指出一个人的罪（尤其是领袖的罪）足以导致整个国家或人民陷入灾难。
But how often a people has fallen, or a kingdom has perished, because of one person's sin or disobedience — whether a superior's or a subject's — would take too long to list: as happened with Saul, whose kingdom, we read, was taken from him for his disobedience and given to another. For his son Jonathan too — by the strength of whose faith victory over the enemies was granted — later broke a vow of consecration: though he didn't know about it, he still gave in to craving, and he threw the whole people's victory into confusion.1 But Eli too, of the priestly order, fell because he did not correct his sons enough; indeed, when his sons fell by the just desert of their wickedness, he fell as well, and the priesthood was taken from his line. Through their negligence and wickedness the people were put to flight and cut down in battle, and the glory — along with the ark of God — was carried off from Israel, and their place was ruined at the same time.2 Achan, for his part, became disobedient out of craving and threw the whole people into confusion.
恩典下的顺服呼召
作者总结说，既然连没有明确律法的人都因违背自然律受罚，蒙基督救赎的人若不顺服将面临更大罪责；因此各人当竭力遵行神命，以免受罚，而得赏赐。
We have, of course, followed only a few cases out of many so that this may be carefully noticed: if those who scorned God's commands—and their number is endless—were exposed to so many divine punishments, dangers, and condemnations, and not only those who had received the precepts but also those who corrupted the natural law, how much greater guilt do you think those redeemed by the grace of Christ, and taught and trained by the same Lord in the way of righteousness, will face if they refuse to obey his commands?✦ Therefore, each person, in his own station and as far as he is able, must make every effort: in proportion to how much he has loved God, he should fulfill what God has commanded and guard against what God has forbidden, so that he may not be condemned with those who scorn him, but rather may be rewarded with those who carry out the divine commands. For there is no doubt that disobedience and contempt for God's precepts bring the kingdom into danger and bring damnation upon souls.
Read the original Latin
Mala quibus Deus offenditur vel periclitatur regnum, si quis liquido vult cognoscere, divinam, id est, legalem, propheticam et evangelicam, atque apostolicam perspiciat auctoritatem, ubi plene inveniet omnia mandata atque praecepta quibus Dei adempletur voluntas: ibi etiam inveniet quae Deus fieri prohibuit; pro quibus ad omnem ordinem divinae comminationes multae sunt, et in quibusdam qui audire contempserunt, ultio divina completa est. Primus quippe homo propter transgressionem divini praecepti de paradiso ejectus, et exsilio damnatus, et morte multatus est, quod malum adhuc hodie genus humanum quasi natura sibi insertum experitur. Inde facta est alia generalis damnatio in diluvio, quae multiplicatis vitiis et diversis malis, naturali lege corrupta, evenisse manifeste probatur. Quam sit etiam praesumptio gravis et periculosa quae ex contemptu praeceptorum Dei nascitur, aedificatio turris, et confusio linguarum prodit. Sodoma autem et Gomorrha et finitimae civitates, quibus flagitiis deletae, et quomodo aeterna damnatione in exemplum humani generis sint perditae manifestum est; et tamen in comparatione earum Hierusalem duplum malum fecisse legitur, eo quod notitiam et praeceptum Dei habuerit, et servare contempserit, secuta propria voluntate. Nam iniquitas sodomitica juxta prophetam fuit superbia, saturitas et abundantia, et otium, et quod egeno et pauperi manum non porrigebant: unde recessit oblivio Dei, et operati sunt adhuc abominationes. Obduratio quoque Aegyptiorum, qui nullis signis nec prodigiis, sed neque flagellis corrigi potuerunt, ad quem finem pervenerit notum est: nam Dathan et Abiron atque Core cum sociis eorum qui cum iis perierunt, quam horribili terrae hiatu, propter contemptum et inobedientiam contra Deum consumpti sunt, manifestum est. Quomodo etiam multitudo populi Dei perierit in deserto propter concupiscentiam et contemptum et perversas consuetudines a Deo illis prohibitas, donec diversis cladibus consumerentur, ita ut nullus eorum ad terram pervenerit repromissionis praeter duos tantum obedientes voci Domini, omnibus perspicuum est.
Quoties autem acciderit populum corruisse, vel regnum interiisse propter unius peccatum vel inobedientiam, sive praelati, sive subjecti, longum est enumerare: sicuti contigit in Saul, pro cujus inobedientia regnum ab eo ablatum, alterique datum legimus. Nam et filius ejus Jonathas, in cujus fidei fortitudine victoria data est de adversariis, postea sanctificationis votum transgressus, licet ignarus concupivit, et victoriam totius populi perturbavit. Sed et Heli de ordine sacerdotali, quia filios suos non satis correxit, decidit; imo filiis suis merito suae iniquitatis corruentibus corruit, sacerdotiumque de progenie ejus sublatum est; quorum negligentia et iniquitate populus in bello fugatus ac caesus est, et gloria cum area Dei de Israel translata est, simul et locus eorum dissipatus est. Achan vero propter concupiscentiam inobediens factus, totum populum perturbavit. Pauca quippe de multis prosecuti sumus, ut diligenter animadvertatur, si tot divinis ultionibus, totque periculis, tot etiam damnationibus subjacuerunt contemptores mandatorum Dei, quorum infinitus est numerus, et non solum illi qui praecepta susceperunt, verum etiam qui naturalem legem corruperunt, quanto putas reatui subjacebunt gratia Christi redempti, et ab eodem Domino in viam justitiae edocti et instructi, si praeceptis ejus obedire contempserint. Proinde necesse est ut unusquisque in ordine suo pro viribus studeat, et quantum Deum amaverit, quae jussit adimpleat, et quae vetuit caveat: ut non cum contemptoribus damnari, sed potius cum exsecutoribus divinorum praeceptorum valeat remunerari, quoniam non est dubium quin propter inobedientiam et contemptum praeceptorum Dei, regni periclitatio et animarum proveniat damnatio.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Gen.11.1-Gen.11.9 — Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. Gen.11.2 — And it happened, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they settled there. Gen.11.3 — And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And the brick served them as stone, and the bitumen served them as mortar. Gen.11.4 — Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth." Gen.11.5 — But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men had built. Gen.11.6 — And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And now nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Gen.11.7 — Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech. Gen.11.8 — So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. Gen.11.9 — Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.
- ↩Ezek.16.46-Ezek.16.52 — Your older sister is Samaria, she and her daughters, who dwells at your left hand; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. Ezek.16.47 — But you did not walk in their ways, nor did you practice their abominations; yet even in the smallest measure you did not follow them, but you acted more corruptly than they in all your paths. Ezek.16.48 — "As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "Sodom your sister has not done—she and her daughters—as you have done, you and your daughters." Ezek.16.49 — Now this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: pride, abundance of bread, and careless ease were hers and her daughters, and she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy. Ezek.16.50 — They grew proud and committed abominations before me, so I removed them, just as I saw fit. Ezek.16.51 — Samaria has not committed even half your sins. You have multiplied your abominations beyond them, and by all your abominations you have made your sisters appear righteous. Ezek.16.52 — You also—bear your disgrace, you who have judged in favor of your sisters. Because of your sins, which you have made to be more abominable than theirs, they are more in the right than you. You also—be ashamed, and bear your disgrace, for having made your sisters appear righteous.
- ↩Ezek.16.49-Ezek.16.50 — Now this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: pride, abundance of bread, and careless ease were hers and her daughters, and she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy. Ezek.16.50 — They grew proud and committed abominations before me, so I removed them, just as I saw fit.
- ↩Heb.2.2-Heb.2.3 — For if the word spoken through angels proved firm, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, Heb.2.3 — how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard?
Notes
On the Institution of a King (De institutione regia) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit