第六章
Chapter 6
6:1 少年人出门以后，天使陪伴着他，他的狗也随着出去，与他们同行；他们二人取道前行，第一夜，宿在底格里斯河畔。
6:1 And Tobias went forward, and the dog followed him and they came in the evening to the river Tigris, and they lodged there.
安波罗修。我该怎么说那些狗呢？它们有一种天然的本能来显出感恩，并作为它们主人安全的警觉守卫。因此圣经向那些忘恩、懒惰、怯懦的人呼喊说：「都是哑狗，不会吠叫。」（赛 56:10）狗之所能，乃是为保护它们的主人及其家园而吠叫。故此你当学习为基督的缘故运用你的声音，当凶残的狼攻击他的羊圈时。要把话语随时放在唇边，免得你像一只沉默的看门狗，因不忠而显为放弃那托付给你的岗位。这样的一只狗成了天使的朋友与伴侣。在先知书中，天使辣法耳并非无故使这只狗陪伴托彼特的儿子去旅行，以驱逐阿斯摩太，从而确认那婚姻。鬼魔被驱逐，乃因感恩之认知；而婚姻之结合也得以稳固。因此，在一只哑巴牲畜的象征之下，天使辣法耳——作为他已应允保护的少年多俾亚的引导者——得以在他心中激起感恩之情。谁若不对那些理当受赞的人表达感谢而不感到羞愧呢？——当他看见连牲畜也躲避忘恩之罪时。这些动物以感恩的记忆保有它们所获得的养育。你难道不记得你所领受的拯救吗？[米兰的安波罗修，《六日创世记》，《拉丁教父集》14.6.17.248A-B]
AMBROSE. What shall I say about dogs who have a natural instinct to show gratitude and to serve as watchful guardians of their masters’ safety Hence Scripture cries out to the ungrateful, the slothful, and the craven: ’Dumb dogs, not able to bark.’ (Is. 56.10) To dogs, therefore, is given the ability to bark in defense of their masters and their homes. Thus you should learn to use your voice for the sake of Christ, when ravening wolves attack His sheepfold. Have the word ready on your lips, lest, like a silent watch-dog, you may appear because of your unfaithfulness to abandon the post entrusted to you. Such a dog was the friend and companion of an angel. Not without reason did Raphael in the prophetic book cause this dog to accompany the son of Tobit when he went on a journey, in order to drive out Asmodeus and thereby confirm the marriage. The demon is driven out as the result of a grateful recognition and the union is stabilized. And so, under the symbolism of a dumb animal, the angel Raphael, as director of the young man Tobias whom he had agreed to protect, was able to arouse sentiments of gratitude in him. Who would not feel shame if he did not return thanks to those who are well deserving of it, when he sees that even beasts shun the sin of ingratitude These animals hold in grateful memory the sustenance they have acquired. Are you not mindful of the salvation you have received [Ambrose of Milan, Hexameron, PL 14.6.17.248A-B]
比德。当主来拯救万民之时，圣洁的传道者追随他的脚踪，履行他所吩咐的：「所以，你们要去，使万民作我的门徒」（太 28:19）。因此主自己首先将圣灵充满哥尼流的家人，彼得便照例用水给他们施洗。（徒 10:44-48）如今教师们被称为「狗」，因为他们保护主人的属灵家业、财富和羊群，使其免受盗贼和野兽的侵扰，也就是免受污秽之灵和异端之人的侵害。[尊者比德，《多俾亚传寓意解》，《拉丁教父集》91.928A]°’ 巴西尔。多俾亚前行，那狗跟着他。狗并没有被赋予理性的分；然而在本能中，理性之能就归于它。狗天生就学会了复杂推论的秘密，世上的智者经过多年的研究，也几乎无法解开。当狗追踪猎物时，如果它看见猎物的踪迹分向不同的方向，它便考察这些不同的路径，唯独缺少言语来宣告它的推论。它说：猎物是往这边、那边、或另一个方向走的。它既不在这里，也不在那里；因此是在第三个方向。于是它忽略了虚假的踪迹，而发现了真实的踪迹。那些庄重地从事理论论证、在尘土上画线、否定两个命题以证明第三个为真的人，所做的也不过如此。难道狗的感恩不令一切对恩人忘恩的人感到羞愧吗？据说有许多狗在偏僻之处倒在被谋杀的主人身边死去。另一些狗在罪行刚刚发生时，便引导那些搜寻凶手的人，使罪犯被绳之以法。[大巴西尔，《六日创世记讲道集》9.4，《尼西亚及后尼西亚教父集》第二辑第 8 卷]
BEDE. When the Lord came to save the nations, holy preachers followed in his footsteps to fulfill what he commanded: Go and teach all nations. (Matt. 28:19) And so the Lord himself first filled Cornelius’ household with the Holy Spirit and Peter duly baptized them with water. (Acts 10:44-48) Now teachers are here called ‘dogs’ because they defend their Master’s spiritual household, wealth, and sheep from thieves and beasts, that is, from unclean spirits and heretical persons. [Bede the Venerable, Allegorica interpretatio in Tobiam PL91.928A}°’ BASIL. And Tobias went forward, and the dog followed him. The dog is not gifted with a share of reason; but with him instinct has the power of reason. The dog has learned by nature the secret of elaborate inferences, which sages of the world, after long years of study, have hardly been able to disentangle. When the dog is on the track of game, if he sees it divide in different directions, he examines these different paths, and speech alone fails him to announce his reasoning. The creature, he says, is gone here or there or in another direction. It is neither here nor there; it is therefore in the third direction. And thus, neglecting the false tracks, he discovers the true one. What more is done by those who, gravely occupied in demonstrating theories, trace lines upon the dust and reject two propositions to show that the third is the true one Does not the gratitude of the dog shame all who are ungrateful to their benefactors Many are said to have fallen dead by their murdered masters in lonely places. Others, when a crime has just been committed, have led those who were searching for the murderers, and have caused the criminals to be brought to justice. [Basil the Great, Hexameron Homily 9.4 NPNF s.2 v.8]
6:2 当少年人下到底格里斯河边去洗脚时，忽然从水里跳出一条大鱼，要吞噬少年人的脚，
6:2 And when the young man went down to wash himself, a fish leaped out of the river, and would have devoured him.
奥古斯丁。那条活着从河中出来、面对多俾亚的鱼——其心、肝被焚烧，使鬼魔逃遁——就是基督；借着胆汁的苦味，瞎眼的人得医治，世界得以恢复。[希波的奥古斯丁，《讲道集》40 论彼得与保罗]
AUGUSTINE. That fish which came alive out of the river to Tobias, whose heart, liver, consumed by passion, put the demon to flight, was Christ, and by the bitterness of the gall, the blind man was healed, and the world was restored. [Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 40n Peterand Paul]
奥普塔图斯。但我不知道这是否就是那条鱼，它被理解为基督，在族长事迹的记述中据说是在底格里斯被捕获的，多俾亚取了它的胆和肝，为要保护撒辣这位女子，并给托彼特的失明带来光明；借着同一条鱼的内脏，鬼魔阿斯摩太被从撒辣这位被理解为教会的女子身上赶走，失明也被从托彼特身上驱逐出去。这就是那鱼，借着它，洗礼被引入圣洗池的波浪之中，以致那本是水的地方，也因这鱼而被称作鱼池。[米勒维的奥普塔图斯，《论多纳徒派分裂》，《拉丁教父集》11.3.2.991A}°8
OPTATUS. But I do not know if it came with that fish, which is understood as Christ, which in the recitation of the patriarchal narratives is said to have been caught in the Tigris, whose gallbladder and liver Tobias took to guard the woman Sara and to bring light to the blindness of Tobit; by the insides of the same fish the demon Asmodeus was driven away from the girl Sara, who is understood as the Church, and blindness was expelled from Tobias. This is the fish, which baptism is introduced into the waves of the font, so that what was water may also be called a fish pool because of the fish. [Optatus of Mileve, De schismate Donatistarum, PL 11.3.2.991A}°8
比德。此处再次明显地表明了主受苦的奥秘。天使的指示下，多俾亚杀死的那条大鱼——在它试图吞吃他之后——象征人类古老的吞吃者，即魔鬼；这位魔鬼在我们救主肉身之死上暗暗期盼时，被神的能力所捕获。底格里斯河因其水流湍急而得名于虎——这最迅捷的野兽——象征我们死亡与必死性的下行之程。在其中，那巨大的鱼隐藏着，因为人类那不可见的诱惑者拥有死亡之权。（来 2:14）多俾亚停留在那奔流的底格里斯河，因为当主显现于世界时，他的生活是在罪人与必死者中间度过的，然而罪恶之水并未触及他，黑暗之王来到他面前时，也未在他里面找到任何属自己的东西。正如多俾亚出去到河中洗脚，主也接受了那本不欠他的死，为要使一切信徒——就是他自己的肢体——从死亡与罪恶的污秽中得到洁净。鱼扑向多俾亚，想要吞吃他；当主在十字架上受难时，那唆使将他钉十字架的魔鬼来到，希望或许能在他灵魂中寻得一些邪恶。[尊者比德，《多俾亚传寓意解》，《拉丁教父集》91.928B]*
BEDE. Here again the mystery of the Lord’s suffering is plainly signified. For the huge fish that Tobias killed at the angel’s prompting, after it tried to devour him, signifies the ancient devourer of humankind, namely the devil, whom the divine power snared while the devil was eagerly anticipating the death of the flesh in our Redeemer. The river Tigris, which owing to its rapid course takes its name from the tiger, the swiftest beast, indicates the downward course of our death and mortality. In it the enormous fish lay hidden because humanity’s invisible seducer had power over death. (Heb. 2:14) Tobias remained at the flowing Tigris because when the Lord appeared in the world, he led his life among sinners and mortals, yet the water of sin did not touch him nor did the prince of darkness find anything of his own in the Lord when he came near. And just as Tobias went out to the river to wash his feet, so the Lord accepted death, to which he owed no debt, so that he might wash all the faithful (that is, his own members) from death’s and sin’s pollution. The fish fell upon Tobias and wanted to devour him; when the Lord suffered on the cross, the devil, who had instructed that he be crucified-came hoping by chance to find some wickedness in his soul. [Bede the Venerable, Allegorica interpretatio in Tobiam PL 91.928B]*
6:3 天使对少年人说：「用力捉住这条鱼罢！」少年人就用力捉住了那条鱼，拖到岸上。
6:3 Then the angel said unto him, Take the fish. And the young man laid hold of the fish, and drew it to land.
比德。多俾亚惧怕那条鱼，大声呼叫说：「先生，它要扑向我。」同样，当死亡的临近之时，主也开始惊恐而极其难过。（可 14:33）他惧怕的并非魔鬼，而是战兢于死亡——这死乃因魔鬼的嫉妒、通过肉体的天然软弱而进入了整个世界。[尊者比德，《多俾亚传寓意解》，《拉丁教父集》91.928B]*°
BEDE. Terrified of the fish, Tobias cried out in a loud voice saying, ‘Sir, it is coming upon me.’ So also, when the point of death drew near, the Lord began to fear and grow weary. (Mk. 14:33) He feared not the devil, but did shudder at death, which entered the whole world through the devil’s envy through the natural weakness of the flesh. [Bede the Venerable, Allegorica interpretatio in Tobiam PL 91.928B]*°
6:4 天使对他说：「剖开这条鱼，挖出牠的胆、心和肝来，保存着，
6:4 To whom the angel said, Open the fish, and take the heart and the liver and the gall, and put them up safely.
比德。他抓住它的鳃，为要借着他权能的右手，将那最卑劣的头从那被困的身体上割下；也就是说，为要使那慈爱的救主既要从那些被那古老仇敌以邪恶联合、仿佛与他成为一体的众人之心中，将那仇敌的邪恶割断；又要将这些人嫁接到他自己教会之身体的里面。鱼的鳃所在之处，正是头与身相接之处。正如我们的主是他教会之首，教会真实地是他的身体；照样，魔鬼也是一切恶人之首，他们都是他的身体、他的肢体。因此主抓住那巨大之鱼的鳃，将鱼拉到自己身边，并将那些他所预知为光明之子的众人，从黑暗的权势中拯救并果断地连根拔起。
BEDE. Now he grabbed his gill so that he might cut off that most vile head from the trapped body with the right hand of his power; that is, so that the loving Redeemer might both sever the ancient enemy’s wickedness from the heart of those whom he had wickedly united to himself-and had made as though they were one body with him-and engraft these into the body of his own Church. For a fish has its gill where its head and body meet. Now just as our Lord is the head of his Church, and the Church is truly his body, so too is the devil head of all the wicked and they are all his body, his members. So the Lord grabbed that monstrous fish’s gill, drew the fish to himself, and delivered and confidently uprooted those whom he foreknew to be sons of light from the power of darkness.
比德。他既这样做了，经上说，那鱼在岸上他的脚前开始喘息。当主胜过了那邪恶仇敌的不义，将它带入光明，并使它在众人面前显明时，魔鬼仍骄傲地挣扎，要在主的选民中激起逼迫。[尊者比德，《多俾亚传寓意解》，《拉丁教父集》91.928D]
BEDE. Now when he had done this, it says, the fish began to pant at his feet on the shore. When the Lord overcame the wicked enemy’s iniquity, brought it into the light, and made it apparent to all, the devil still struggled pridefully to stir up persecution among the Lord’s elect. [Bede the Venerable, Allegorca interpretatio in Tobiam PL91.928D]“
6:5 少年人便把鱼剖开、取出胆、心和肝来；然后烤了几块鱼肉吃了，又腌起几块存着。6 二人又一起向前行，直到来近玛待。
6:5 So the young man did as the angel commanded him; and when they had roasted the fish, they did eat it: then they both went on their way, till they drew near to Ecbatane.
比德。主剖开那鱼，因为他明白地将魔鬼的不义向众圣徒显明，并将那些陷阱的秘密——姑且这么说——割除。他为自己保留它的「心」，因为他愿意借着圣经向众圣徒指明魔鬼的诡诈，正如经上所说：「惟有蛇比田野一切的走兽更狡猾。」（创 3:1）保罗也论到那心说：「因我们并非不知道他的诡计。」（林后 2:11）他甚至保留它的胆囊，因为他愿意因着警醒的热忱，将魔鬼以何等疯狂的恶意敌挡人类这事写下来、记念不忘。他也保留它的肝，因为他甘愿借着真理的教师，向我们显明撒但针对我们的谋算中那老练而强劲的暴力。因为据说肝的热与内在力量能将所吞下的食物煮沸，使它们能被消化。因为当我们借着细心的默想真正追问：我们所决定要成就的事该在何处完成时，我们便将它们煮沸——正如我们借着肝的热，将摄入胃中的食物煮沸。[尊者比德，《多俾亚传寓意解》，《拉丁教父集》91.929A]*
BEDE. The Lord disemboweled the fish when he plainly revealed the devil’s wickedness to the saints and cut out the secrets, as it were, of his snares. He set aside for himself his heart because he wanted to point out to the saints, from Scripture, the devil’s cunning, about which it says, Now the serpent was more cunning than all the creatures of the earth. (Gen. 3:1) Of that heart Paul also said, For we are not ignorant of its designs. (2 Cor. 2:11) He set aside even his gall-bladder because, on account of his zeal for caution, he wanted it to be written and remembered with how much malicious frenzy the devil rages against humankind. He also set aside the liver because he deigned to show us through teachers of truth the seasoned male violence of Satan’s cogitations against us. For they say that the liver’s heat and secret strength boil down foods that have been swallowed so that they can be digested. For when by careful meditation we truly inquire about in which those things that we determine to do should be completed, we boil them down, just as we, using the liver’s heat, boil down foods taken into the stomach. [Bede the Venerable, Allegorica interpretatio in Tobiam PL91.929A]*
6:7 少年人问天使说：「阿匝黎雅兄！鱼的心、肝和胆，可作什么药材？」8 他回答说：「鱼的心肝，若在魔鬼或恶神缠身的男女面前焚化成烟，一切恶魔都要从他身上逃走，永不再住在他内；9 至于鱼胆，若敷在患白膜的人的眼上，再向眼上的白膜一吹，眼便会痊愈。」10 他们进了玛待，离厄克巴塔纳已近，
6:6 Then the young man said to the angel, Brother Azarias, to what use is the heart and the liver and the gal of the fish 7 And he said unto him, Touching the heart and the liver, if a devil or an evil spirit trouble any, we must make a smoke thereof before the man or the woman, and the party shall be no more vexed. 8 As for the gall, it is good to anoint a man that has whiteness in his eyes, and he shall be healed. 9 And when they were come near to Rages,
奥古斯丁。如今众鬼魔被吸引而住于某些殿宇之中，乃是借着那些受造之物（神的受造之物，而非他们的），将合乎他们各种喜好的东西呈现给他们。它们并非像牲畜那样被食物所吸引，而是像灵体那样，被合乎他们喜好的各种象征所吸引——各种石头、木头、植物、动物、歌曲、仪式。[希波的奥古斯丁，《天主之城》21.6，《尼西亚及后尼西亚教父集》第一辑第 2 卷]
AUGUSTINE. Now demons are attracted to dwell in certain temples by means of the creatures (God’s creatures, not theirs), who present to them what suits their various tastes. They are attracted not by food like animals, but, like spirits, by such symbols as suit their taste, various kinds of stones, woods, plants, animals, songs, rites. [Augustine of Hippo, City of God, 21.6 s.1 v.2]
6:11 辣法耳对少年人说：「多俾亚弟弟！」他答说：「我在这里。」天使对他说：「今夜我们应住在辣古耳的家里，他是你的亲戚，他有一个女儿名叫撒辣。12 除了撒辣独女外，没有别的女儿，你与他的亲属关系比别人更近，所以你有权利娶她为妻，并继承她父亲所有的一切。这女孩又明智，又勇敢，又美丽绝伦，她的父亲又是好人。13 他又说：「老弟！你听我的话罢！娶她是你的权利；今夜我要向她父亲提及这女孩，使他们将她许配与你为妻；我们从辣杰斯回来时，你就娶她为妻。我深知辣古耳决不能拒绝你，而许配与别人，因为他知道你比任何人更有权利娶他的女儿；不然，按《梅瑟书》的规定，他应受死刑。老弟！现今你听我的话罢！今晚我们就提起这女孩的事，希望能把她许配与你；当我们从辣杰斯回来的时候，我们带着她，领她与我们一起回到你的家里去。」
6:10 The angel said to the young man, Brother, today we shall lodge with Raguel, who is your cousin; he also has one only daughter, named Sara; I will speak for her, that she may be given to you for a wife. 11 For to you does the right of her appertain, seeing you only are of her kindred. 12 And the maid is fair and wise: now therefore hear me, and I will speak to her father; and when we return from Rages we will celebrate the marriage: for I know that Raguel cannot marry her to another according to the law of Moses, but he shall be guilty of death, because the right of inheritance does rather appertain to you than to any other.
居普良。婚姻不可与外邦人缔结。在《多俾亚传》中：「要从你列祖的后裔中娶妻，不可娶那不属你列祖支派的陌生女子。」在《创世记》中，亚伯拉罕差遣他的仆人去为他的儿子以撒娶他的后裔利百加。在《以斯拉记》中，当犹太人被毁灭时，神仍不以此为足，除非他们离弃他们的外邦妻子，连同他们由她们所生的儿女。在《保罗达哥林多人前书》中：「丈夫活着的时候，妻子是受约束的；丈夫若长眠了，妻子就自由了，可以随意再嫁，只是要嫁给主里面的人。然而，按我的意见，她若能守节就更有福气。」又说：「你们岂不知道你们的身体是基督的肢体吗？我可以把基督的肢体作为娼妓的肢体吗？绝对不可！你们岂不知道与娼妓苟合的，就是与她成为一体吗？因为主说：『二人要成为一体。』但与主联合的，就是与主成为一灵。」在《达哥林多人后书》中：「你们不要和不信的人同负一轭。义和不义有什么相关？光明和黑暗有什么相连？」论到所罗门，在《列王纪上》：「他的妻妾诱惑他的心去随从别神。」（王上 11:4）[迦太基的居普良，《论治》13.3.62，《尼西亚前教父集》第 5 卷]
CYPRIAN. Marriage is not to be contracted with Gentiles. In Tobit: “Take a wife from the seed of your parents, and take not a strange woman who is not of the tribe of your parents.” Also in Genesis, Abraham sends his servant to take from his seed Rebecca, for his son Isaac. Also in Esdras, it was not sufficient for God when the Jews were laid waste, unless they forsook their foreign wives, with the children also whom they had begotten of them. Also in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: “The woman is bound so long as her husband lives; but if he die, she is freed to marry whom she will, only in the Lord. But she will be happier if she abide thus.” And again: “Do you not know that your bodies are the members of Christ Shall I take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot Far be it from me. Or do you not know that he who is joined together with an harlot is one body For two shall be in one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Also in the second to the Corinthians: “Be not joined together with unbelievers. For what participation is there between righteousness and unrighteousness Or what communication has light with darkness?” Also concerning Solomon in the third book of Kings: “And foreign wives turned away his heart after their gods.” [Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise 13.3.62 ANF v.5]
比德。天使建议多俾亚一进入辣古耳的家，就向辣古耳请求将他的女儿撒辣许配给他为妻。辣古耳象征外邦人；主甘愿借着他的传道者来探访他们，使他从他们的后裔中为自己娶得一位新妇，也就是说，使外邦本身成为他的教会。甚至「撒辣」这个名字也与教会相对应，因为那位撒拉——作为族长亚伯拉罕的妻子——生下了应许之子以撒，就是教会的自由之民。如今「辣古耳」这个名字，可以译为「神是他们的食物」或「神是他们的朋友」，它所指的就是那百姓；当魔鬼的诡诈被征服时，他们便将自己和属于自己的与主的团契联结起来，学会了说：「耶和华是我的牧者，我必不致缺乏」（诗 23:1），也配得听见这话：「以后我不再称你们为仆人……但我称你们为朋友。」（约 15:15）[尊者比德，《多俾亚传寓意解》，《拉丁教父集》91.929C-D]*
BEDE. The angel suggested that upon entering Raguel’s house Tobit ask for Raguel’s daughter Sara to be his wife. Raguel signifies the Gentiles, whom the Lord deigned to visit through his preachers so that he might take a bride from its stock for himself, that is, so that he might make heathendom itself be his Church. Even the name ‘Sara’ corresponds to the Church on account of the Sara who-as wife of Abraham the patriarch-bore Isaac, son of the promise, that is, the free people of the Church. Now the name ‘Raguel’, which can be translated as ‘God is their food’ or ‘God is their friend,’ designates that people who, when the devil’s deceit had been conquered, bound themselves and their own to the Lord’s fellowship and learned to say, The Lord feeds me, I shall not want, and deserves to hear, Now I shall not call you servants, but my friends. (Ps. 23:1) [Bede the Venerable, Allegorica interpretatio in Tobiam PL 91.929C -D]*
6:14 那时，多俾亚回答辣法耳说：「阿匝黎雅兄！我听说她已经嫁过七个丈夫，但是，夜间他们都一一死在洞房里；当他们正接近她时，便死去了。我还听见人说：是恶魔杀死了他们。15 现今我很害怕，因为恶魔并不危害她，只杀害愿意接近她的人；而我又是我父亲的独子，我怕我一旦死去，我必使我的父母因哀哭我而进入坟墓里去，他们也再没有别的儿子去埋葬他们。」16 天使对他说：「你不记得你父亲命你从你宗族中娶妻的命令吗！所以，老弟！如今请你听从我！不要理会这个恶魔，你娶她罢！我知道，今天晚上她必许配与你为妻。17 但是，你进入洞房以后，当拿出鱼肝和鱼心来，放在香炉的火炭上，接着便会发出一种气味，恶魔一闻到，必定逃走，永不再出现在她左右。18 当你要与她结合时，你们二人先要醒寤祈祷，求天上的大主可怜救助你们。不要害怕，因为从永远她就命定配与你了；你要救她，她要与你一同生活。并且我预料她将为你生子养女，他们对你就像兄弟一般。所以你不必忧虑！」19 多俾亚听了辣法耳的话，知道她是出自自己宗族后裔的姊妹，便十分爱她，心里也起了恋慕之情。
6:13 Then the young man answered the angel, I have heard, brother Azarias that this maid has been given to seven men, who all died in the marriage chamber. 14 And now I am the only son of my father, and I am afraid, lest if I go in unto her, I die, as the other before: for a wicked spirit loves her, which hurts no body, but those which come unto her; wherefore I also fear lest I die, and bring my father’s and my mother’s life because of me to the grave with sorrow: for they have no other son to bury them. 15 Then the angel said unto him, Do you not remember the precepts which your father gave you, that you should marry a wife of your own kindred wherefore hear me, O my brother; for she shall be given you to wife; and make you no reckoning of the evil spirit; for this same night shall she be given you in marriage. 16 And when you shall come into the marriage chamber, you shall take the ashes of perfume, and shall lay upon them some of the heart and liver of the fish, and shall make a smoke with it: 17 And the devil shall smell it, and flee away, and never come again any more: but when you shall come to her, rise up both of you, and pray to God which is merciful, who will have pity on you, and save you: fear not, for she is appointed unto you from the beginning; and you shall preserve her, and she shall go with you. Moreover I suppose that she shall bear you children. Now when Tobias had heard these things, he loved her, and his heart was effectually joined to her.
普罗斯佩尔。神拣选的计划并不废除对祷告的关注，我将用一处经文的证据来证明这一点，为求简略而略去其他一切。在《多俾亚传》中，天使辣法耳对托彼特的儿子多俾亚说：「当记念你父亲的诫命，就是他吩咐你要从你父家的亲族中娶妻。如今，弟兄啊，请听我说，不要理会那魔鬼，只管向她求婚。要知道她必在今夜被许配给你为妻。你进入洞房时，要取那鱼的肝放在炭火上：气味必散发，魔鬼必闻到，他便被驱走，再也不在她身边出现。当你要与她亲近时，你们二人要首先起来，祈求天上的主，使怜悯与拯救赐给你们。不要惧怕，因为她是在万世以前就为你命定的，你必得痊愈。」因此，虽然神的定旨不可能不成就，但它并不废除操练祷告，拣选的计划也不减损人自由意志的努力。神反而如此预先命定他所意定的效果：就是要人的功德借着行善的劳苦、恳求中的恒忍、操练德行而得以增长。他愿意按着自己的计划，也按着人自己的功德，来加冕人的善行。[阿基坦的普罗斯佩尔，《论万民的召叫》，《拉丁教父集》51.2.36.721A]“
PROSPER. That the design of the divine election does not do away with attention to prayer, I shall prove with evidence from one text, omitting all others for the sake of briefness. In the book of Tobit the angel Raphael says to Tobias, the son: Remember the commandments of your father, that he ordered you to take a wife from the family of your father. And now, hear me, brother, do not take into account that devil; but ask for her. And know that she will be given you for wife this night. And when you shall enter into the chamber, take of the liver of that fish, and put it on the coals: a smell will spread, and the devil shall smell it, and he will be driven away, and he shall never anymore make his appearance about her. And when you shall begin to desire to be with her, first rise both, and pray the Lord of heaven, that mercy and health be given you. And do not fear, for she was destined for you before the centuries, and you shall heal. Therefore, although it is impossible that God’s decree would not come true, yet it does not do away with the practice of prayer, nor does the design of the election diminish the effort of man’s free will. God rather preordained the effect He intended in such a way that He desires man’s merit to grow through the labor of good works, through perseverance in supplications, through the practice of virtues. He wants to crown the good works of men not only according to His own plan but also according to their merits. [Prosper of Aquitaine, De vocatione omnium gentium, PL 51.2.36.721A]“