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ST. AUGUSTINE

LECTURES OR TRACTATES 11-20 ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN.

[Translated by Rev. John Gibb, Professor in the Presbyterian Theological
College at London.]


TRACTATE XI.

CHAPTER II. 23-25; III. 1-5.

   1. OPPORTUNELY has the Lord procured for us that this passage should
occur in its order to-day: for I suppose you have observed, beloved, that
we have undertaken to consider and explain the Gospel according to John in
due course. Opportunely then it occurs, that to-day you should hear from
the Gospel, that, "Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit,
he shall not see the kingdom of God." For it is time that we exhort you,
who are still catechumens, who have believed in Christ in such wise, that
you are still bearing your sins. And none shall see the kingdom of heaven
while burdened with sins; for none shall reign with Christ, but he to whom
they have been forgiven: but forgiven they cannot be, but to him who is
born again of water and of the Holy Spirit. But let us observe all the
words what they imply, that here the sluggish may find with what
earnestness they must haste to put off their burden. For were they bearing
some heavy load, either of stone, or of wood, or even of some gain; if they
were carrying corn, or wine, or money, they would run to put off their
loads: they are carrying a burden of sins, and yet are sluggish to run. You
must run to put off this burden; it weighs you down, it drowns you.

   2. Behold, you have heard that when our Lord Jesus Christ "was in
Jerusalem at the Passover, on the feast day, many believed in His name,
seeing the signs which He did." "Many believed in His name;" and what
follows? "But Jesus did not trust Himself to them." Now what does this
mean, "They believed," or trusted, "in His name;" and yet "Jesus did not
trust Himself to them;"? Was it, perhaps, that they had not believed on
Him, but were feigning to have believed, and that therefore Jesus did not
trust Himself to them? But the evangelist would not have said, "Many
believed in His name," if he were not giving a true testimony to them. A
great thing, then, it is, and a wonderful thing: men believe on Christ, and
Christ trusts not Himself to men. Especially is it wonderful, since, being
the Son of God, He of course suffered willingly. If He were not willing, He
would never have suffered, since, had He not willed it, He had not been
born; and if He had willed this only, merely to be born and not to die, He
might have done even  whatever He willed, because He is the almighty Son of
the almighty Father Let us prove it by facts. For when they wished to hold
Him, He departed from them. The Gospel says, "And when they would have cast
Him headlong from the top of the mountain, He departed from them
unhurt."(1) And when they came to lay hold of Him, after He was sold by
Judas the traitor, who imagined that he had it in his power to deliver up
his Master and Lord, there also the Lord showed that He suffered of His own
will, not of necessity. For when the Jews desired to lay hold of Him, He
said to them, "Whom seek ye? But they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And said He,
I am He. On hearing this saying, they went backward, and fell to the
ground."(2) In this, that in answering them He threw them to the ground, He
showed His power; that in His being taken by them He might show His will.
It was of compassion, then, that He suffered. For "He was delivered up for
our sins, and rose again for our justification."(3) Hear His own words: "I
have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again: no man
taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself, that I may take it
again."(1) Since, therefore, He had such power, since He declared it by
words, showed it by deeds, what then does it mean that Jesus did not trust
Himself to them, as if they would do Him some harm against His will, or
would do something to Him against His will, especially seeing that they had
already believed in His name? Moreover, of the same persons the evangelist
says, "They believed in His name," of whom he says, "But Jesus did not
trust Himself to them." Why? "Because He knew all men, and needed not that
any should bear witness of man: for Himself knew what was in man." The
artificer knew what was in His own work better than the work knew what was
in itself. The Creator of man knew what was in man, which the created man
himself knew not. Do we not prove this of Peter, that he knew not what was
in himself, when he said, "With Thee, even to death"? Hear that the Lord
knew what was in man: "Thou with me even to death? Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice."(2) The man,
then, knew not what was in himself; but the Creator of the man knew what
was in the man. Nevertheless, many believed in His name, and yet Jesus did
not trust Himself to them. What can we say, brethren? Perhaps the
circumstances that follow will indicate to us what the mystery of these
words is. That men had believed in Him is manifest, is true; none doubts
it, the Gospel says it, the truth-speaking evangelist testifies to it.
Again, that Jesus trusted not Himself to them is also manifest, and no
Christian doubts it; for the Gospel says this also, and the same truth-
speaking evangelist testifies to it. Why, then, is it that they believed in
His name, and yet Jesus did not trust Himself to them? Let us see what
follows.

   3. "And there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus by name, a ruler of
the Jews: the same came to Him by night, and said unto Him, Rabbi (you
already know that Master is called Rabbi), we know that Thou art a teacher
come from God; for no man can do these signs which Thou doest, except God
be with him." This Nicodemus, then, was of those who had believed in His
name, as they saw the signs and prodigies which He did. For this is what he
said above: "Now, when He was in Jerusalem at the passover on the feast-
day, many believed in His name." Why did they believe? He goes on to say,
"Seeing His signs which He did." And what says he of Nicodemus? "There was
a ruler of the Jews, Nicodemus by name the same came to Him by night, and
says to Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God."
Therefore this man also had believed in His name. And why had he believed?
He goes on, "For no man can do these signs which Thou doest, except God be
with him." If, therefore, Nicodemus was of those who had believed in His
name, let us now consider, in the case of this Nicodemus, why Jesus did not
trust Himself to them. "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God." Therefore to them who have been born again cloth Jesus trust Himself.
Behold, those men had believed on Him, and yet Jesus trusted not Himself to
them. Such are all catechumens: already they believe in the name of Christ,
but Jesus does not trust Himself to them. Give good heed, my beloved, and
understand. If we say to a catechumen, Dost thou believe on Christ? he
answers, I believe, and signs himself; already he bears the cross of Christ
on his forehead, and is not ashamed of the cross of his Lord. Behold, he
has believed in His name. Let us ask him, Dost thou eat the flesh of the
Son of man, and drink the blood of the Son of man? he knows not what we
say, because Jesus has not trusted Himself to him.

   4. Therefore, since Nicodemus was of that number, he came to the Lord,
but came by night; and this perhaps pertains to the matter. Came to the
Lord, and came by night; came to the Light, and came in the darkness. But
what do they that are born again of water and of the Spirit hear from the
apostle? "Ye were once darkness, buff now light in the Lord; walk as
children of light;"(3) and again, "But we who are of the day, let us be
sober."(4) Therefore they who are born again were of the night, and are of
the day; were darkness, and are light. Now Jesus trusts Himself to them,
and they come to Jesus, not by night, like Nicodemus; not in darkness do
they seek the day. For such now also profess: Jesus has come near to them,
has made salvation in them; for He said, "Except a man eat my flesh, and
drink my blood, he shall not have life in him."(5) And as the catechumens
have the sign of the cross on their forehead, they are already of the great
house; but from servants let them become sons. For they are something who
already belong to the great house. But when did the people Israel eat the
manna?

After they had passed the Red Sea. And as to what the Red Sea signifies,
hear the apostle: "Moreover, brethren, I would not have you ignorant, that
all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea." To
what purpose passed they through the sea? As if thou wert asking of him, he
goes on to say, "And all were baptized by Moses in the cloud and in the
sea."(1) Now, if the figure of the sea had such efficacy, how great will be
the efficacy of the true form of baptism! If what was done in a figure
brought the people, after they had crossed over, to the manna, what will
Christ impart, in the verity of His baptism, to His own people: brought
over through Himself? By His baptism He brings over them that believe; all
their sins, the enemies as it were that pursue them, being slain, as all
the Egyptians perished in that sea. Whither does He bring over, my
brethren? Whither does Jesus bring over by baptism, of which Moses then
showed the figure, when he brought them through the sea? Whither? To the
manna. What is the manna? "I am," saith He, "the living bread, which came
down from heaven."(2) The faithful receive the manna, having now been
brought through the Red Sea? Why Red Sea? Besides sea, why also "red"? That
"Red Sea" signified the baptism of Christ. How is the baptism of Christ
red, but as consecrated by Christ's blood? Whither, then, does He lead
those that believe and are baptized? To the manna. Behold, "manna," I say:
what the Jews, that people Israel, received, is well known, well known what
God had rained on them from heaven; and yet catechumens know not what
Christians receive. Let them blush, then, for their ignorance; let them
pass through the Red Sea, let them eat the manna, that as they have
believed in the name of Jesus, so likewise Jesus may trust Himself to them.

   5. Therefore mark, my brethren, what answer this man who came to Jesus
by night makes. Although he came to Jesus, yet because he came by night, he
still speaks from the darkness of his own flesh. He understands not what he
hears from the Lord, understands not what he hears from the Light, "which
lighteth every man that cometh into this world."(3) Already hath the Lord
said to him, "Except a man be born again, he shall not see the kingdom of
God. Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born again when he is old?"
The Spirit speaks to him, and he thinks of the flesh. He thinks of his own
flesh, because as yet he thinks not of Christ's flesh. For when the Lord
Jesus had said, "Except a man eat my flesh, and drink my blood, he shall
not have life in him," some who followed Him were offended, and said among
themselves, "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" For they fancied
that, in saying this, Jesus meant that they would be able to cook Him,
after being cut up like a lamb, and eat Him: horrified at His words, they
went back, and no more followed Him. Thus speaks the evangelist: "And the
Lord Himself remained with the twelve; and they said to Him, Lo, those have
left Thee. And He said, Will ye also go away?"--wishing to show them that
He was necessary to them, not they necessary to Christ. Let no man fancy
that he frightens Christ, when he tells Him that he is a Christian; as if
Christ will be more blessed if thou be a Christian. It is a good thing for
thee to be a Christian; but if thou be not, it will not be ill for Christ.
Hear the voice of the psalm, "I said to the Lord, Thou art my God, since
Thou hast no need of my goods."(4) For that reason, "Thou art my God, since
of my goods Thou hast no need." If thou be without God, thou wilt be less;
if thou be with God, God will not be greater. Not from thee will He be
greater, but thou without Him wilt be less. Grow, therefore, in Him; do not
withdraw thyself, that He may, as it were, diminish. Thou wilt be renewed
if thou come to Him, wilt suffer loss if thou depart from Him. He remains
entire when thou comest to Him, remains entire even when thou fallest away.
When, therefore, He had said to His disciples, "Will ye also go away?"
Peter, that Rock, answered with the voice of all, "Lord, to whom shall we
go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." Pleasantly savored the Lord's
flesh in his mouth. The Lord, however, expounded to them, and said, "It is
the Spirit that quickeneth." After He had said, "Except a man eat my flesh,
and drink my blood, he shall not have life in him," lest they should
understand it carnally, He said, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth, but the
flesh profiteth nothing: the words which I have spoken unto you are spirit
and life."(5)

   6. This Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus by night, did not savor of
this spirit and this life. Saith Jesus to him, "Except a man be born again,
he shall not see the kingdom of God." And he, savoring of his own flesh,
while as yet he savored not of the flesh of Christ in his mouth, saith,
"How can a man be born a second time, when he is old? Can he enter a second
time into his mother's womb, and be born?" This man knew but one birth,
that from Adam and Eve; that which is from God and the Church he knew not
yet: he knew only those parents that bring forth to death, knew not yet the
parents that bring forth to life; he knew but the parents that bring forth
successors, knew not yet the ever-living parents that bring forth those
that shall abide.

   Whilst there are two births, then, he understood only one. One is of
the earth, the other of heaven; one of the flesh, the other of the Spirit;
one of mortality, the other of eternity; one of male and female, the other
of God and the Church. But these two are each single; there can be no
repeating the one or the other. Rightly did Nicodemus understand the birth
of the flesh; so understand thou also the birth of the Spirit, as Nicodemus
understood the birth of the flesh. What did Nicodemus understand? "Can a
man enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" Thus,
whosoever shall tell thee to be spiritually born a second time, answer in
the words of Nicodemus, "Can a man enter a second time into his mother's
womb, and be born?" I am already born of Adam, Adam cannot beget me a
second time. I am already born of Christ, Christ cannot beget me again. As
there is no repeating from the womb, so neither from baptism.

   7. He that is born of the Catholic Church, is born, as it were, of
Sarah, of the free woman; he that is born of heresy is, as it were, born of
the bond woman, but of Abraham's seed. Consider, beloved, how great a
mystery. God testifies, saying, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Were there not other patriarchs? Before
these, was there not holy Noah, who alone of the whole human race, with all
his house, was worthy to be delivered from the flood,--he in whom, and in
his sons, the Church was prefigured? Borne by wood, they escaped the flood.
Then afterwards great men whom we know, whom Holy Scriptures commends,
Moses faithful in all his house.(1) And yet those three are named, just as
if they alone deserved well of him: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: this is my name for ever."(2) Sublime
mystery! It is the Lord that is able to open both our mouth and your
hearts, that we may speak as He has deigned to reveal, and that you may
receive even as it is expedient for you.

   8. The patriarchs, then, are these three, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
You know that the sons of Jacob were twelve, and thence the people Israel;
for Jacob himself is Israel, and the people Israel in twelve tribes
pertaining to the twelve sons of Israel. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob three
fathers, and one people. The fathers three, as it were in the beginning of
the people; three fathers in whom the people was figured: and the former
people itself the present people. For in the Jewish people was figured the
Christian people. There a figure, here the truth; there a shadow, here the
body: as the apostle says, "Now these things happened to them in a figure."
It is the apostle's voice: "They were written," saith he, "for our sakes,
upon whom the end of the ages is come."(3) Let your mind now recur to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the case of these three, we find that free
women bear children, and that bond women bear children: we find there
offspring of free women, we find there also offspring of bond women. The
bond woman signifies nothing good: "Cast out the bond woman," saith he,
"and her son; for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son
of the free." The apostle recounts this; and he says that in those two sons
of Abraham was a figure of the two Testaments, the Old and the New. To the
Old Testament belong the lovers of temporal things, the lovers of the
world: to the New Testament belong the lovers of eternal life. Hence, that
Jerusalem on earth was the shadow of the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of
us all, which is in heaven; and these are the apostle's words.(4) And of
that city from which we are absent on our sojourn, you know much, you have
now heard much. But we find a wonderful thing in these births, in these
fruits of the womb, in these generations of free and bond women: namely,
four sorts of men; in which four sorts is completed the figure of the
future Christian people, so that what was said in the case of those three
patriarchs is not surprising, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob." For in the case of all Christians, observe,
brethren, either good men are born of evil men, or evil men of good; or
good men of good, or evil men of evil: more than these four sorts you
cannot find. These things I will again repeat: Give heed, keep them, excite
your hearts, be not dull; take in, lest ye be taken, how of all Christians
there are four sorts. Either of the good are born good, or of the evil, are
born evil; or of the good are born evil, or of the evil good. I think it is
plain. Of the good, good; if they who baptize are good, and also they who
are baptized rightly believe, and are rightly numbered among the members of
Christ. Of the evil, evil; if they who baptize are evil, and they who are
baptized approach God with a double heart, and do not observe the morals
which they hear urged in the Church, so as not to be chaff, but grain,
there. How many such there are, you know, beloved. Of the evil, good;
sometimes an adulterer baptizes, and be that is baptized is justified. Of
the good, evil; sometimes they who baptize are holy, they who are baptized
do not desire to keep the way of God.

   9. I suppose, brethren, that this is known in the Church, and that what
we are saying is manifest by daily examples; but let us consider these
things in the case of our fathers before us, how they also had these four
kinds. Of the good, good; Ananias baptized Paul. How of the evil, evil? The
apostle declares that there were certain preachers of the gospel, who, he
says, did not use to preach the gospel with a pure motive, whom, however,
he tolerates in the Christian society, saying, "What then? notwithstanding
every way, whether by occasion or in truth, Christ is preached, and in this
I rejoice."(1) Was he therefore malevolent, and did he rejoice in another's
evil? No, but rejoiced because through evil men the truth was preached, and
by the mouths of evil men Christ was preached. If these men baptized any
persons like themselves, evil men baptized evil men: if they baptized such
as the Lord admonishes, when He says, "Whatsoever they bid you, do; but do
not ye after their works,"(2) they were evil men that were baptizing good.
Good men baptized evil men, as Simon the sorcerer was baptized by Philip, a
holy man.(3) Therefore these four sorts, my brethren, are known. See, I
repeat them again, hold them, count them, think upon them; guard against
what is evil; keep what is good. Good men are born of good, when holy men
are baptized by holy; evil men are born of evil, when both they that
baptize and they that are baptized live unrighteously and ungodly; good men
are born of evil, when they are evil that baptize, and they good that are
baptized; evil men are born of good, when they are good that baptize, and
they evil that are baptized.

   10. How do we find this in these three names, "I am the God of Abraham,
and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob"? We hold the bond women among
the evil, and the free women among the good. Free women bear the good;
Sarah bare Isaac: bond women bear the evil; Hagar bare Ishmael. We have in
the case of Abraham alone the two sorts, both when the good are of the
good, and also when the evil are of the evil. But where have we evil of
good figured? Rebecca, Isaac's wife, was a free woman: read, She bare
twins; one was good, the other evil. Thou hast the Scripture openly
declaring by the voice of God, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated."(4) Rebecca bare those two, Jacob and Esau: one of them is chosen,
the other is reprobated; one succeeds to the inheritance, the other is
disinherited. God does not make His people of Esau, but makes it of Jacob.
The seed is one, those conceived are dissimilar: the womb is one, those
born of it are diverse. Was not the free woman that bare Jacob, the same
free woman that bare Esau? They strove in the mother's womb; and when they
strove there, it was said to Rebecca," Two peoples are in thy womb." Two
men, two peoples; a good people, and a bad people: but yet they strive m
one womb. How many evil men there are in the Church! And one womb carries
them until they are separated in the end: and the good cry out against the
evil, and the evil in turn cry out against the good, and both strive
together in the bowels of one mother. Will they be always together? There
is a going forth to the light in the end; the birth which is here figured
in a mystery is declared; and it will then appear that "Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated."

   11. Accordingly we have now found, brethren, of the good, good--of the
free woman, Isaac; and of the evil, evil--of the bond woman, Ishmael; and
of the good, evil--of Rebecca, Esau: where shall we find of the evil, good?
There remains Jacob, that the completion of these four sorts may be
concluded in the three patriarchs. Jacob had for wives free women, he had
also bond women: the free bear children, as do also the bond, and thus come
the twelve sons of Israel. If you count them all, of whom they were born,
they were not all of the free women, nor all of the bond women; but yet
they were all of one seed. What, then, my brethren? Did not they who were
born of the bond women possess the land of promise together with their
brethren? We have there found good sons of Jacob born of bond women, and
good sons of Jacob born of free women. Their birth of the wombs of bond
women was nothing against them, when they knew their seed in the father,
and consequently they held the kingdom with their brethren. Therefore, as
in the case of Jacob's sons, that they were born of bond women did not
hinder their holding the kingdom, and receiving the land of promise on an
equality with their brothers; their birth of bond women did not hinder
them, but the father's seed prevailed: so, whoever are baptized by evil
men, appear as if born of bond women; nevertheless, because they are of the
seed of the Word of God, which is figured in Jacob, let them not be cast
down, they shall possess the inheritance with their brethren. Therefore,
let him who is born of the good seed be without fear; only let him not
imitate the bond woman, if he is born of a bond woman. Do not thou imitate
the evil, proud, bond woman. For how came the sons of Jacob, that were born
of bond women, to possess the land of promise with their brethren, whilst
Ishmael, born of a bond woman, was cast out from the inheritance? How, but
because he was proud, they were humble? He proudly reared his neck, and
wished to seduce his brother while he was playing with him.

   12. A great mystery is there. They were playing together, Ishmael and
Isaac: Sarah sees them playing, and says to Abraham, "Cast out the bond
woman and her son; for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with my
son Isaac." And when Abraham was sorrowful, the Lord confirmed to him the
saying of his wife. Now here is evidently a mystery, that the event was
somehow pregnant with something future. She sees them playing, and says,
"Cast out the bond woman and her son." What is this, brethren? For what
evil had Ishmael done to the boy Isaac, in playing with him? That playing
was a mocking; that playing signified deception. Now attend, beloved, to
this great mystery. The apostle calls it persecution; that playing, that
play, he calls persecution: for he says, "But as then he that was born
after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, so also
now;" that is, they that are born after the flesh persecute them that are
born after the Spirit. Who are born after the flesh? Lovers of the world,
lovers of this life. Who are born after the Spirit? Lovers of the kingdom
of heaven, lovers of Christ, men that long for eternal life, that worship
God freely. They play, and the apostle calls it persecution. For after he
said these words, "And as then be that was born after the flesh persecuted
him that was born after the Spirit, so also now;" the apostle went on, and
showed of what persecution, he was speaking: "But what says the Scripture?
Cast out the bond woman and her son: for the son of the bond woman shall
not be heir with my son Isaac."[1] We search where the Scripture says this,
to see whether any persecution on Ishmael's part against Isaac preceded
this; and we find that this was said by Sarah when she saw the boys playing
together. The playing which Scripture says that Sarah saw, the apostle
calls persecution. Hence, they who seduce you by playing, persecute you the
more. "Come," say they, "Come, be baptized here, here is true baptism for
thee." Do not play, there is one true baptism; that other is play: thou
wilt be seduced, and that will be a grievous persecution to thee. It were
better for thee to make Ishmael a present of the kingdom; but Ishmael will
not have it, for he means to play. Keep thou thy father's inheritance, and
hear this: "Cast out the bond woman and her son; for the son of the bond
woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac."

   13. These men, too, dare to say that they are wont to suffer
persecution from catholic kings, or from catholic princes. What persecution
do they bear? Affliction of body: yet if at times they have suffered, and
how they suffered, let themselves know, and settle it with their
consciences; still they suffered only affliction of body: the persecution
which they cause is more grievous. Beware when Ishmael wishes to play with
Isaac, when he fawns on thee, when he offers another baptism: answer him, I
have baptism already. For if this baptism is true, he who would give thee
another would be mocking thee. Beware of the persecution of the soul. For
though the party of Donatus has at tithes suffered somewhat at the hands of
catholic princes, it was a bodily suffering, not the suffering of spiritual
deception. Hear and see in the very facts of Old Testament history all the
signs and indications of things to come. Sarah is found to have afflicted
her maid Hagar: Sarah is free. After her maid began to be proud, Sarah
complained to Abraham, and said, "Cast out the bond woman;" she has lifted
her neck against me. His wife complains of Abraham, as if it were his
doing. But Abraham, who was not bound to the maid by lust, but by the duty
of begetting children, inasmuch as Sarah had given her to him to have
offspring by her, says to her: "Behold, she is thy handmaid; do unto her as
thou wilt." And Sarah grievously afflicted her, and she fled from her face.
See, the free woman afflicted the bond woman, and the apostle does not call
that a persecution; the slave plays with his master, and he calls it
persecution: this afflicting is not called persecution; that playing is.
How does it appear to you, brethren? Do you not understand what is
signified? Thus, then, when God wills to stir up powers against heretics,
against schismatics, against those that scatter the Church, that blow on
Christ as if they abhorred Him, that blaspheme baptism, let them not
wonder; because God stirs them up, that Hagar may be beaten by Sarah. Let
Hagar know herself, and yield her neck: for when, after being humiliated,
she departed from her mistress, an angel met her, and said to her, "What is
the matter with thee, Hagar, Sarah's handmaid?" When she complained of her
mistress, what did she hear from the angel? "Return to thy mistress."(1) It
is for this that she is afflicted, that she may return; and would that she
may return, for her offspring, just like the sons of Jacob, will obtain the
inheritance with their brethren.

   14. But they wonder that Christian powers are roused against detestable
scatterers of the Church. Should they not be moved, then? How otherwise
should they give an account of their rule to God? Observe, beloved, what I
say, that it concerns Christian kings of this world to wish their mother
the Church, of which they have been spiritually born, to have peace in
their times. We read Daniel's visions and prophetical histories. The three
children praised the Lord in the fire: King Nebuchadnezzar wondered at the
children praising God, and at the fire around them doing them no harm: and
whilst he wondered, what did King Nebuchadnezzar say, he who was neither a
Jew nor circumcised, who had set up his own image and compelled all men to
adore it; but, impressed by the praises of the three children when he saw
the majesty of God present in the fire what said he? "And I will publish a
decree to all tribes and tongues in the whole earth." What sort of decree?
"Whosoever shall speak blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego, shall be cut off, and their houses shall be made a ruin."(2) See
how an alien king acts with raging indignation that the God of Israel might
not be blasphemed, because He was able to deliver the three children from
the fire: and yet they would not have Christian kings to act with severity
when Christ is contemptuously rejected, by whom not three children, but the
whole world, with these very kings, is delivered from the fire of hell! For
those three children, my brethren, were delivered from temporal fire. Is He
not the same God who was the God of the Maccabees and the God of the three
children? The latter He delivered from the fire; the former did in body
perish in the torments of fire, but in mind they remained steadfast in the
ordinances of the law. The latter were openly delivered, the former were
crowned in secret? It is a greater thing to be delivered from the flame of
hell than from the furnace of a human power. If, then, Nebuchadnezzar
praised and extolled and gave glory to God because He delivered three
children from the fire, and gave such glory as to send forth a decree
throughout his kingdom, "Whosoever shall speak blasphemy against the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut off, and their houses shall
be brought to ruin," how should not these kings be moved, who observe, not
three children delivered from the flame, but their very selves delivered
from hell, when they see Christ, by whom they have been delivered,
contemptuously spurned in Christians, when they hear it said to a
Christian, "Say that thou art not a Christian"? Men are willing to do such
deeds, but they do not wish to suffer, at all events, such punishments.

   15. For see what they do and what they suffer. They slay souls, they
suffer in body: they cause everlasting deaths, and yet they complain that
they themselves suffer temporal deaths. And yet what deaths do they suffer?
They allege to us some martyrs of theirs in persecution. See, Marculus was
hurled headlong from a rock; see, Donatus of Bagaia  was thrown into a
well. When have the Roman authorities decreed such punishments as casting
men down rocks? But what do those of our party reply? What was done I know
not; what however do ours tell?  That they hung themselves headlong and
cast the infamy of it upon the authorities. Let us call to mind the custom
of the Roman authorities, and see to whom we are to give credit. Our men
declare that those men cast themselves down headlong. If they are not the
very disciples of those men, who now cast themselves down precipices, while
no man persecutes them, let us not credit the allegation of our men: what
wonder if those men did what these are wont to do? The Roman authorities
never did employ such punishments: for had they not the power to put  them
to death openly? But those men, while  they wished to be honored when dead,
found not a death to make them more famous. In short, whatever the fact
was, I do not know. And even if thou hast suffered corporal affliction, O
party of Donatus, at the hand of the Catholic Church, as an Hagar thou hast
suffered it at the hand of Sarah; "return to thy  mistress." A point which
it was indeed necessary to discuss has detained us somewhat too long to be
at all able to expound the whole text of the Gospel Lesson. Let this
suffice you in the meantime, beloved brethren, lest, by speaking of other
matters, what has been spoken might be shut out from your hearts. Hold fast
these things, declare such things; and while yourselves are inflamed, go
your way thither, and set on fire them that are cold.

TRACTATE XII: CHAPTER III. 6-21.

   1. We observe, beloved, that the intimation with which we yesterday
excited your attention has brought you together with more alacrity, and in
greater number than usual; but meanwhile let us, if you please, pay our
debt of a discourse on the Gospel Lesson, which comes in due course. You
shall then hear, beloved, as well what we have already effected concerning
the peace of the Church, and what we hope yet further to accomplish. For
the present, then, let the whole attention of your hearts be given to the
gospel; let none be thinking of anything else. For if he who attends to it
wholly apprehends with difficulty, must not he who divides himself by
diverse thoughts let go what he has received? Moreover, you remember,
beloved, that on the last Lord's day, as the Lord deigned to help us, we
discoursed of spiritual regeneration. That lesson we have caused to be read
to you again, so that what was then left unspoken, we may now, by the aid
of your prayers in the name of Christ, fulfill.

   2. Spiritual regeneration is one, just as the generation of the flesh
is one. And Nicodemus said the truth when he said to the Lord that a man
cannot, when he is old, return again into his mother's womb and be born. He
indeed said that a man cannot do this when he is old, as if he could do it
even were he an infant. But be he fresh from the womb, or now in years, he
cannot possibly return again into the mother's bowels and be born. But just
as for the birth of the flesh, the bowels of woman avail to bring forth the
child only once, so for the spiritual birth the bowels of the Church avail
that a man be baptized only once. Therefore, in case one should say, "Well,
but this man was born in heresy, and this in schism:" all that was cut
away, if you remember what was debated to you about our three fathers, of
whom God willed to be called the God, not that they were thus alone  but
because in them alone the figure of the future people was made up  in its
completeness. For we find one born of a bond woman disinherited, one born
of a free woman made heir: again, we find one born of a free woman
disinherited, one born of a bond woman made heir. Ishmael, born of a bond
woman, disinherited; Isaac, born of a free woman, made heir: Esau, born of
a free woman, disinherited; the sons of Jacob, born of bond women, made
heirs. Thus, in these three fathers the figure of the whole future people
is seen: and not without reason God saith, "I am the God of Abraham, and
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: this," saith He, "is my name for
ever."(1) Rather let us remember what was promised to Abraham himself: for
this was promised to Isaac, and also to Jacob. What do we find? "In thy
seed shall all nations be blessed."(2) At that time the one  man believed
what as yet he saw not: men now see, and are blinded. What was promised to
the one man is fulfilled in the nations; and they who will not see what is
already fulfilled, are separating themselves from the communion of the
nations. But what avails it them that they will not see? See they do,
whether they will or no; the open truth strikes against their closed eyes.

   3. It was in answer to Nicodemus, who was of them that had believed on
Jesus, that it was said, And Jesus did not trust Himself to them. To
certain men, indeed, He did not trust Himself, though they had already
believed on Him. Thus it is written, "Many believed in His name, seeing the
signs which He did. But Jesus did not trust Himself to them. For He needed
not that any should testify of man; for Himself knew what was in man."
Behold, they already believed on Jesus, and yet Jesus did not trust Himself
to them. Why? because they were not yet born again of water and of the
Spirit. From this have we exhorted and do exhort our brethren the
catechumens. For if you ask them, they have already believed in Jesus; but
because they have not yet received His flesh and blood, Jesus has not yet
trusted Himself to them. What must they do that Jesus may trust Himself to
them? They must be born again of water and of the Spirit; the Church that
is in travail with them must bring them forth. They have been conceived;
they must be brought forth to the light: they have breasts to be nourished
at; let them not fear lest, being born, they may be smothered; let them not
depart from the mother's breasts.

   4. No man can return into his mother's bowels and be born again. But
some one is born of a bond woman? Well, did they who were born of bond
women at the former time, return into the wombs of the free to be born
anew? The seed of Abraham was in Ishmael also; but that Abraham might have
a son of the bond maid, it was at the advice of his wife. The child was of
the husband's seed, not of the womb, but at the sole pleasure of the wife.
Was his birth of a bond woman the reason why he was disinherited? Then, if
he was disinherited because he was the son of a bond woman, no sons of bond
women would be admitted to the inheritance. The sons of Jacob were admitted
to the inheritance; but Ishmael was put out of it, not because born of a
bond woman, but because he was proud to his mother, proud to his mother's
son; for his mother was Sarah rather than Hagar. The one gave her womb, the
other's will was added: Abraham would not have done what Sarah willed not:
therefore was he Sarah's son rather. But because he was proud to his
brother, proud in playing, that is, in mocking him; what said Sarah? "Cast
out the bond woman and her son; for the son of the bond woman shall not be
heir with my son Isaac."(1) It was not, therefore, the bowels of the bond
woman that caused his rejection, but the slave's neck. For the free-born is
a slave if he is proud, and, what is worse, the slave of a bad mistress, of
pride itself. Thus, my brethren, answer the man, that a man cannot be born
a second time; answer fearlessly, that a man cannot be born a second time.
Whatever is done a second time is mockery, whatever is done a second time
is play. It is Ishmael playing, let him be cast out. For Sarah observed
them playing, saith the Scripture, and said to Abraham, "Cast out the bond
woman and her son." The playing of the boys displeased Sarah. She saw
something strange in their play. Do not they who have sons like to see them
playing? She saw and disapproved it. Something or other she saw in their
play; she saw mockery in it, observed the pride of the slave; she was
displeased with it, and she cast him out. The children of bond women, when
wicked, are cast out; and the child of the free woman, when an Esau, is
cast out. Let none, therefore, presume on his birth of good parents; let
none presume on his being baptized by holy men. Let him that is baptized by
holy men still beware lest he be not a Jacob, but an Esau. This would I say
then, brethren, it is better to be baptized by men that seek their own and
love the world, which is what the name of bond woman imports, and to be
spiritually seeking the inheritance of Christ, so as to be as it were a son
of Jacob by a bond woman, than to be baptized by holy men and to become
proud, so as to be an Esau to be cast out, though born of a free woman.
Hold ye this fast, brethren. We are not coaxing you, let none of your hope
be in us; we flatter neither ourselves nor you; every man bears his own
burden. It is our duty to speak, that we be not judged unhappily: yours to
hear, and that with the heart, lest what we give be required of you; nay,
that when it is required, it may be found a gain, not a loss.

   5. The Lord says to Nicodemus, and explains to him: "Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Thou, says He, understandest a
carnal generation, when thou sayest, Can a man return into his mother's
bowels? The birth for the kingdom of God must be of water and of the
Spirit. If one is born to the temporal inheritance of a human father, be he
born of the bowels of a carnal mother; if one is born to the everlasting
inheritance of God as his Father, be he born of the bowels of the Church. A
father, as one that will die, begets a son by his wife to succeed him; but
God begets of the Church sons, not to succeed Him, but to abide with
Himself. And He goes on: "That which is horn of the flesh is flesh; and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." We are born spiritually then,
and m spirit we are born by the word and sacrament. The Spirit is present
that we may be born; the Spirit is invisibly present whereof thou art born,
for thou too must be invisibly born. For He goes on to say: "Marvel not
that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The Spirit bloweth where it
listeth, and thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it cometh, or
whither it goeth." None sees the Spirit; and how do we hear the Spirit's
voice? There sounds a psalm, it is the Spirit's voice; the gospel sounds,
it is the Spirit's voice; the divine word sounds, it is the Spirit's voice.
"Thou hearest its voice, and knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it
goeth." But if thou art born of the Spirit, thou too shall be so, that one
who is not born of the Spirit knows not, as for thee, whence thou comest,
or whither thou goest. For He said, as He went on, "So is also every one
that is born of the Spirit."

   6. "Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things be?"
And, in fact, in the carnal sense, he knew not how. In him occurred what
the Lord had said; the Spirit's voice he heard, but knew not whence it
came, and whither it was going. "Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou
a master in Israel, and knowest not these things?" Oh, brethren! what? do
we think that the Lord meant to taunt scornfully this master of the Jews?
The Lord knew what He was doing; He wished the man to be born of the
Spirit. No man is born of the Spirit if he be not humble, for humility
itself makes us to be born of the Spirit; "for the Lord is nigh to them
that are of broken heart."(1) The man was puffed up with his mastership,
and it appeared of some importance to himself that he was a teacher of the
Jews. Jesus pulled down his pride, that he might be born of the Spirit: He
taunted him as an unlearned man; not that the Lord wished to appear his
superior. What comparison can there be, God compared to man, truth to
falsehood? Christ greater than Nicodemus! Ought this to be said, can it be
said, is it to be thought? If it were said, "Christ is greater than
angels," it were ridiculous: for incomparably greater than every creature
is He by whom every creature was made. But yet He rallies the man on his
pride: "Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things?" As if
He said, Behold, thou knowest nothing, thou art a proud chief; be thou born
of the Spirit: for if thou be born of the Spirit, thou wilt keep the ways
of God, so as to follow Christ's humility. So, indeed, is He high above all
angels, that, "being in the forth of God, He thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking upon Him the form of a servant,
being made into the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man: He
humbled Himself, being made: obedient unto death" (and lest any kind of
death should please thee), "even the death of the cross."(2) He hung on the
cross, and they scoffed at Him. He could have come down from the cross; but
He deferred, that He might rise again from the tomb. He, the Lord, bore
with proud slaves;(3) the physician with the sick. If He did this, how
ought they to act whom it behoves to be born of the Spirit!--if He did
this, He who is the true Master in heaven, not of men only, but also of
angels. For if the angels are learned, they are so by the Word of God. If
they are learned by the Word of God, ask of what they are learned; and you
shall find, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God." The neck of man is done away with, only the hard and
stiff neck, that it may be gentle to bear the yoke of Christ, of which it
is said, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."(3)

   7. And He goes on, "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe
not; how shall ye believe, if I tell you heavenly things?" What earthly
things did He tell, brethren? "Except a man be born again;" is that an
earthly thing? "The Spirit bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest its
voice, and knowest not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth;" is that
earthly? For if He spoke it of the wind, as some have understood it, when
they were asked what earthly thing the Lord meant, when He said, "If I told
you earthly things, and ye believe not; how shall ye believe, if I tell you
heavenly things?"--when, I say, it was asked of certain men what "earthly
thing" the Lord meant, being in difficulty, they said, What He said, "The
Spirit bloweth where it listeth," and "its voice thou hearest, and knowest
not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth," He said concerning the wind.
Now what did He name earthly? He was speaking of the spiritual birth; and
going on, saith, "So is every one that is born of the Spirit." Then,
brethren, which of us does not see, for example, the south wind going from
south to north, or another wind coming from east to west? How, then, know
we not whence it cometh and whither it goeth? What earthly thing, then, did
He tell, which men did not believe? Was it that which He had said about
raising the temple again? Surely, for He had received His body of the
earth, and that earth taken of the earthly body He was preparing to raise
up. They did not believe Him as about to raise up earth. "If I told you
earthly things," saith He, "and ye believe not; how shall ye believe if I
tell you heavenly things?" That is, if ye believe not that I can raise up
the temple cast down by you, how shall ye believe that men can be
regenerated by the Spirit?

   8. And He goes on: "And no man hath ascended into heaven, but He that
came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven." Behold, He was
here, and was also in heaven; was here in His flesh, in heaven by His
divinity; yea, everywhere by His divinity. Born of a mother, not quitting
the Father. Two nativities of Christ are understood: one divine, the other
human: one, that by which we were to be made; the other, that by which we
were to be made anew: both marvellous; that without mother, this without
father. But because He had taken a body of Adam,--for Mary was of Adam,--
and was about to raise that same body again, it was an  earthly thing He
had said in saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up." But this was a heavenly thing, when He said, "Except a man be born
again of water and of the Spirit, he shall not see the kingdom of God."
Come then, brethren! God has willed to be the Son of man; and willed men to
be sons of God. He came down for our sakes; let us ascend for His sake. For
He alone descended and ascended, He who saith, "No man hath ascended into
heaven, but He who came down from heaven." Are they not therefore to ascend
into heaven whom He makes sons of God? Certainly they are: this is the
promise to us, "They shall be equal to the angels of God."(1) Then how is
it that no man ascends, but He that descended? Because one only descended,
only one ascends. What of the rest? What are we to understand, but that
they shall be His members, that one may ascend? Therefore it follows that
"no man hath ascended into heaven, but He who came down from heaven, the
Son of man who is in heaven." Dost thou marvel that He was both here and in
heaven? Such He made His disciples. Hear the Apostle Paul saying, "But our
conversation is in heaven."(2) If the Apostle Paul, a man, walked in the
flesh on earth, and yet had his conversation in heaven, was the God of
heaven and earth not able to be both in heaven and on earth?

   9. Therefore, if none but He descended and ascended, what hope is there
for the rest? The hope for the rest is this, that He came down in order
that in Him and with Him they might be one, who should ascend through Him.
"He saith not, And to seeds," saith the apostle, "as in many; but as in
one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." And to believers he saith, "And ye
are Christ's; and if Christ's, then are Abraham's seed."(3) What he said to
be one, that he said that we all are. Hence, in the Psalms, many sometimes
sing, to show that one is made of many; sometimes one sings, to show what
is made of many. Therefore was it only one that was healed in the pool; and
whoever else went down into it was not healed. Now this one shows forth the
oneness of the Church. Woe to them who hate unity, and make to themselves
parties among men! Let them hear him who wished to make them one, in one,
for one: let them hear him who says, Be not ye making many: "I have
planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. But neither he that
planteth is anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the
increase."(4) They were saying, "I am of Paul, I of Apollos, I of Cephas."
And he says, "Is Christ divided?" Be ye in one, be one thing, be one
person: "No man hath ascended into heaven, but He who came down from
heaven." Lo! we wish to be thine, they said to Paul. And he said to them, I
will not that ye be Paul's, but be ye His whose is Paul together with you.

   10. For He came down and died, and by that death delivered us from
death: being slain by death, He slew death. And you know, brethren, that
this death entered into the world through the devil's envy. "God made not
death," saith the Scripture, "nor delights He in the destruction of the
living; but He created all things to be." But what saith it here? "But by
the devil's envy, death entered into the whole world."(5) To the death
offered for our entertainment by the devil, man would not come by
constraint; for the devil had not the power of forcing, but only cunning to
persuade. Hadst thou not consented, the devil had brought in nothing: thy
own consenting, O man, led thee to death. Of the mortal are mortals born;
from immortals we are become mortals. From Adam all men are mortal; but
Jesus the Son of God, the Word of God, by which all things were made, the
only Son equal with the Father, was made mortal: "for the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us."

   11. He endured death, then; but death He hanged on the cross, and
mortal men are delivered from death. The Lord calls to mind a great matter,
which was done in a figure with them of old: "And as Moses," saith He,
"lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted
up; that every one who believeth on Him may not perish, but have
everlasting life." A great mystery is here, as they who read know. Again,
let them hear, as well they who have not read as they who have forgotten
what perhaps they had heard or read. The people Israel were fallen
helplessly in the wilderness by the bite of serpents; they suffered a great
calamity by many deaths: for it was the stroke of God correcting and
scourging them that He might instruct them. In this was shown a great
mystery, the figure of a thing to come: the Lord Himself testifies in this
passage, so that no man can give another interpretation than that which the
truth indicates concerning itself. Now Moses was ordered by the Lord to
make a brazen serpent, and to raise it on a pole in the wilderness, and to
admonish the people Israel, that, when any had been bitten by a serpent, he
should look to that serpent raised up on the pole. This was done: men were
bitten; they looked and were healed.(1) What are the biting serpents? Sins,
from the mortality of the flesh. What is the serpent lifted up? The Lord's
death on the cross. For as death came by the serpent, it was figured by the
image of a serpent. The serpent's bite was deadly, the Lord's death is
life-giving. A serpent is gazed on that the serpent may have no power. What
is this? A death is gazed on, that death may have no power. But whose
death? The death of life: if it may be said, the death of life; ay, for it
may be said, but said wonderfully. But should it not be spoken, seeing it
was a thing to be done? Shall I hesitate to utter that which the Lord has
deigned to do for me? Is not Christ the life? And yet Christ hung on the
cross. Is not Christ life? And yet Christ was dead. But in Christ's death,
death died. Life dead slew death; the fullness of life swallowed up death;
death was absorbed in the body of Christ. So also shall we say in the
resurrection, when now triumphant we shall sing, "Where, O death, is thy
contest? Where, O death, is thy sting?"(2) Meanwhile brethren, that we may
be healed from sin, let us now gaze on Christ crucified; for "as Moses,"
saith He, "lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man
be lifted up; that whosoever believeth on Him may not perish, but have
everlasting life." Just as they who looked on that serpent perished not by
the serpent's bites, so they who look in faith on Christ's death are healed
from the bites of sins. But those were healed from death tO temporal life;
whilst here He saith, "that they may have everlasting life." Now there is
this difference between the figurative image and the real thing: the figure
procured temporal life; the reality, of which that was the figure, procures
eternal life.

   12. "For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but
that the world through Him may be saved." So far, then, as it lies in the
physician, He is come to heal the sick. He that will not observe the orders
of the physician destroys himself. He is come a Saviour to the world: why
is he called the Saviour of the world, but that He is come to save the
world, not to judge the world? Thou wilt not be saved by Him; thou shall be
judged of thyself And why do I say, "shall be judged"? See what He says:
"He that believeth on Him is not judged, but he that believeth not." What
dost thou expect He is going to say, but "is judged"? "Already," saith He,
"has been judged." The judgment has not yet appeared, but already it has
taken place. For the Lord knoweth them that are His: He knows who are
persevering for the crown, and who for the flame; knows the wheat on His
threshing-floor, and knows the chaff; knows the good corn, and knows the
tares. He that believeth not is already judged. Why judged? "Because he has
not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God."

   13. "And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and
men loved darkness rather than light,because their deeds were evil." My
brethren, whose works does the Lord find to be good? The works of none: He
finds the works of all evil. How is it, then, that some have done the
truth, and are come to the light? For this is what follows: "But he that
doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that
they are wrought in God." In what way have some done a good work to come to
the light, namely, to Christ? And how have some loved darkness? For if He
finds all men sinners, and healeth all of sin, and that serpent in which
the Lord's death was figured healed them that were bitten, and on account
of the serpent's bite the serpent was set up, namely, the Lord's death on
account of mortal men, whom He finds unrighteous; how are we to understand
that "this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil"? How is
this? Whose works, in fact, are good? Hast Thou not come to justify the
ungodly? "But they loved," saith He, "darkness rather than light." There He
laid the emphasis: for many loved their sins; many confessed their sins;
and he who confesses his sins, and accuses them, doth now work with God.
God accuses thy sins: and if thou also accusest, thou art united to God.
There are, as it were, two things, man and sinner. That thou art called
man, is God's doing; that thou art called sinner, is man's own doing. Blot
out what thou hast done, that God may save what He has done. It behoves
thee to hate thine own work in thee, and to love the work of God in thee.
And when thy own deeds will begin to displease thee, from that time thy
good works begin, as thou findest fault with thy evil works. The confession
of evil works is the beginning of good works. Thou doest the truth, and
comest to the light. How is it thou doest the truth? Thou dost not caress,
nor soothe, nor flatter thyself; nor say, "I am righteous," whilst thou art
unrighteous: thus, thou beginnest to do the truth. Thou comest to the
light, that thy works may be made manifest that they are wrought in God;
for thy sin, the very thing that has given thee displeasure, would not have
displeased thee, if God did not shine into thee, and His truth show it
thee. But he that loves his sins, even after being admonished, hates the
light admonishing him, and flees from it, that his works which he loves may
not be proved to be evil. But he that doeth truth accuses his evil works in
himself, spares not himself, forgives not himself, that God may forgive
him: for that which he desires God to forgive, he himself acknowledges, and
he comes to the light; to which he is thankful for showing him what he
should hate in himself. He says to God, "Turn away Thy face from my sins:"
yet with what countenance says it, unless he adds, "For I acknowledge mine
iniquity, and my sin is ever before me ?"(1) Be that before thyself which
thou desirest not to be before God. But if thou wilt put thy sin behind
thee, God will thrust it back before thine eyes; and this He will do at a
time when there will be no more fruit of repentance.

   14. Run, my brethren, lest the darkness lay hold of you. Awake to your
salvation, awake while there is time; let none be kept back from the temple
of God, none kept back from the work of the Lord, none called away from
continual prayer, none be defrauded of wonted devotion. Awake, then, while
it is day: the day shines, Christ is the day. He is ready to forgive sins,
but to them that acknowledge them; ready to punish the self-defenders, who
boast that they are righteous, and think themselves to be something when
they are nothing. But he that walks in His love and mercy, even being free
from those great and deadly sins, such crimes as murder, theft, adultery;
still, because of those which seem to be minute sins, of tongue, or of
thought, or of intemperance in things permitted, he doeth the truth in
confession, and cometh to the light in good works: since many minute sins,
if they be neglected, kill. Minute are the drops that swell the rivers;
minute are the grains of sand; but if much sand is put together, the heap
presses and crushes. Bilge-water neglected in the hold does the same thing
as a rushing wave. Gradually it leaks in through the hold; and by long
leaking in and no pumping out, it sinks the ship. Now what is this pumping
out, but by good works, by sighing, fasting, giving, forgiving, so to
effect that sins may not overwhelm us? The path of this life, however, is
troublesome, full of temptations: in prosperity, let it not lift us up; in
adversity, let it not crush us. He who gave the happiness of this world
gave it for thy comfort, not for thy ruin. Again, He who scourgeth thee in
this life, doeth it for thy improvement, not for thy condemnation. Bear the
Father that corrects thee for thy training, lest thou feel the judge in
punishing thee. These things we tell you every day, and they must be often
said, because they are good and wholesome.

TRACTATE XIII: CHAPTER III. 22-29.

   1. The course of reading from the Gospel of John, as those of you who
are concerned for your own progress may remember, so proceeds in regular
order, that the passage which has now been read comes before us for
exposition to-day. You remember that we have expounded it, in the preceding
discourses, from the very beginning of the Gospel, as far as the lesson of
to-day. And though perhaps you have forgotten much of it, at least it
remains in your memory that we have done our part in it. What you have
heard from it about the baptism of John, even though you retain not all,
yet I believe you have heard that which you may retain. Also, what was said
as to why the Holy Spirit appeared in the shape of a dove; and how that
most knotty question was solved, namely, what was that something in the
Lord which John did not know, and which he learned by means of the dove,
whilst already John knew Him, since, as Jesus came to be baptized, he said
to Him, "I ought to be baptized by Thee, and comest Thou to me?" when the
Lord answered him, "Suffer it now, that all righteousness may be
fulfilled."(1)

   2. Now, therefore, the order of our reading obliges us to return to
that same John. The same is he who was prophesied of by Isaiah, "The voice
of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare yea way for the Lord, make His
paths straight."(2) Such testimony gave he to his Lord and (for the Lord
deemed him worthy) his friend. And the Lord, even his friend, did also
Himself bear witness to John. For concerning John He said, "Among them that
are born of women, there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist."
But as He put Himself before John, in that wherein He was greater, He was
God. "But he that is! less," saith He, "in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than he."(3) Less in age; greater in power, in deity, in majesty, in
brightness: even as "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God." In the preceding passages, however, John had
given testimony to the Lord, in such wise that he did indeed call Him Son
of God, but said not that He was God, nor yet denied it: he was silent as
to His being God, not denied that He was God; but yet he was not altogether
silent as to His being God, for perhaps we find this in the lesson of to-
day. He had called Him Son of God; but men, too, have been called sons of
God. He had declared Him to be of such excellence, that he was not himself
worthy to loose the latchet of His shoe. Now this greatness gives us much
to understand: whose shoe-latchet he was not worthy to loose, he than whom
none greater had arisen among them that are born of women. He was more,
indeed, than all men and angels. For we find an angel forbidding a man to
fall at his feet. For example, when in the Apocalypse an angel was showing
certain things to John, the writer of this Gospel, John, terrified at the
greatness of the vision, fell down at the angel's feet. But said the angel,
"Rise; see thou do it not: worship God, for I am thy fellow-servant, and
the brethren's."(4) An angel, then, forbade a man to fall down at his feet.
Is it not manifest that He must be above all angels, for whom a man, such
that a greater than he has not risen among them that are born of women,
declares himself to be not worthy to loose the latchet of His shoe?

   3. John, however, may say something more evidently, that our Lord Jesus
Christ is God. We may find this in the present passage, that it is perhaps
of Him we have been singing, "The Lord reigned over all the earth;" against
which they are deaf who imagine that He reigns only in Africa. But let them
not suppose that it is not of Christ it is spoken when it is said, "God
reigned over all the earth." For who else is our King, but our Lord Jesus
Christ? It is He that is our King. And what have you heard in the same
psalm, in the verse just sung? "Sing praises to our God, sing praises: sing
praises to our Kings sing praises." Whom he called God, the same he called
our King: "Sing praises to our God, sing praises: sing praises to our King,
sing ye praises with understanding." And that thou shouldest not understand
Him to whom thou singest praises to reign in one part, he says, "For God is
King of all the earth."(5) And how is He King of all the earth, who
appeared in one part of the earth, in Jerusalem, in Judea,  walking among
men, born, sucking the breast, growing, eating, drinking, waking, sleeping,
sitting at a well,  wearied; laid hold of, scourged, spat upon,  crowned
with thorns, hanged on a tree, wounded with a spear, dead, buried? How then
King of all the earth? What was seen  locally was flesh, to carnal eyes
only flesh was visible; the immortal majesty was concealed in  mortal
flesh. And with what eyes shall we be able to behold the immortal majesty,
after penetrating through the structure of the flesh? There is another eye,
there is an inner eye. Tobias, for example, was not without eyes, when,
blind in his bodily eyes, he was giving precepts of life to his son.(6) The
son was holding the father's hand, that the father might walk with his
feet, whilst the father was giving the son counsel to walk in the way of
righteousness. Here I see eyes, and there I understand eyes. And better are
the eyes of him that gives counsel of life, than his who holds the hand.
Such eyes Jesus also required when He said to Philip, "Am I so long time
with you, and ye have not known me?" Such eyes He required when He said,
"Philip, he that seeth me, seeth the Father." These are the eyes of the
understanding, these are the eyes of the mind. It is for that reason that
the psalm, when it had said, "For God is King of all the earth,"
immediately added, "Sing ye praises with understanding." For in that I say,
"Sing ye praises to our God," I say that God is our King. But yet our King
you have seen among men, as man; you have seen Him suffering, crucified,
dead: there was in that flesh something concealed, which you might have
seen with eyes of flesh. What was there concealed? "Sing ye praises with
understanding." Do not seek to see with the eyes what is beheld by the
mind. "Sing praises" with the tongue, for He is among you as flesh; but
because "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," render the sound to
the flesh, render to God the gaze of the mind "Sing ye praises with
understanding," and you see that the "Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us."

   4. Now let John also declare his witness:  "After these things came
Jesus and His disciples into the land of Judea; and there He tarried with
them, and baptized." Being baptized, He baptized. Not with that baptism
with which He was baptized did He baptize. The Lord, being baptized by a
servant gives baptism, showing the path of humility and leading to the
baptism of the Lord, that is, His own baptism, by giving an example of
humility, in not Himself refusing baptism from a servant. And in the
baptism by a servant, a way was prepared for the Lord; the Lord also being
baptized, made Himself a way for them that come to Him. Let us hear
Himself: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." If thou seekest truth,
keep the way, for the way and the truth are the same. The way that thou art
going is the same as the whither thou art going: thou art not going by a
way as one thing, to an object as another thing; not coming to Christ by
something else as a way, thou comest to Christ by Christ. How by Christ to
Christ? By Christ the man, to Christ God; by the Word made flesh, to the
Word which in the beginning was God with God; from that which man ate, to
that which angels daily eat. For so it is written, "He gave them bread of
heaven: man ate the bread of angels."(1) What is the bread of angels? "In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Re Word was
God." How has man eaten the bread of angels? "And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us."

   5. But though we have said that angels eat, do not fancy, brethren,
that this is done with teeth. For if you think so, God, of whom the angels
eat, is as it were torn in pieces. Who tears righteousness in pieces? But
still, some one asks me, And who is it that can eat righteousness? Well,
how is it said, "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled"? The  food which thou eatest
carnally perishes, in order to refresh thee; to repair thy waste it is
consumed: eat righteousness; and while thou art refreshed, it continues
entire. Just as by seeing this corporeal light, these eyes of ours are
refreshed, and yet it is a corporeal thing that is seen by corporeal eyes.
Many there have been, when too long in darkness, whose eyesight is weakened
by fasting, as it were, from light. The eyes, deprived of their food (for
they feed on light), become wearied by fasting, and weakened, so that they
cannot bear to see the light by which they are refreshed; and if the light
is too long absent, they are quenched, and the very sense of sight dies as
it were in them. What then? Does  the light become less, because so many
eyes are daily fed by it? Thy eyes  are refreshed, and the light remains
entire. As God was able to show this in the case of corporeal light to
corporeal eyes, does He not show that other light to clean hearts as
unwearied, continuing entire, and in no respect failing? What light? "In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." Let us see if this
is light. "For with Thee is the fountain of light, and in Thy light shall
we see light." On earth, fountain is one thing, light another. When
thirsting, thou seekest a fountain, and to get to the fountain thou seekest
light; and if it is not day, thou lightest a lamp to get to the fountain.
That fountain is the very light: to the thirsting a fountain, to the blind
a light. Let the eyes be opened to see the light, let the lips of the heart
be opened to drink of the fountain; that which thou drinkest, thou seest,
thou hearest. God becomes all to thee; for He is to thee the whole of these
things which thou lovest. If thou regardest things visible, neither is God
bread, nor is God water, nor is God this light, nor is He garment nor
house. For all these are things visible, and single separate things. What
bread is, water is not; and what a garment is, a house is not; and what
these things are, God is not, for they are visible things. God is all this
to thee: if thou hungerest, He is bread to thee; if thou thirstest, He is
water to thee; if thou art in darkness, He is light to thee: for He remains
incorruptible. If thou art naked, He is a garment of immortality to thee,
when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put
on immortality. All things can be said of God, and nothing is worthily said
of God. Nothing is wider than this poverty of expression. Thou seekest a
fitting name for Him, thou canst not find it; thou seekest to speak of Him
in any way soever, thou findest that He is all. What likeness have the lamb
and the lion? Both is said of Christ. "Behold the Lamb of God!" How a lion?
"The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed."(1)

   6. Let us hear John: "Jesus baptized." We said that Jesus baptized. How
Jesus? How the Lord? How the Son of God? How the Word? Well, but the Word
was made flesh. "And John also was baptizing in AEnon, near to Salim." A
certain lake, "Aenon."(2) How do we know it was a lake? "Because there was
much water there, and they came and were baptized. For John was not yet
cast into prison." If you remember (see, I say it again), I told you why
John baptized: because the Lord must needs be baptized. And why must the
Lord be baptized? Because many there would be to despise baptism, that they
might appear to be endowed with greater grace than they saw other believers
endowed with. For example, a catechumen, now living continently, might
despise a married person, and say of himself that he was better than the
other believer. That catechumen might possibly say in his heart, "What need
have I to receive baptism, to have just what that other man has, than whom
I am already better?" Therefore, lest that neck of pride should hurl to
destruction certain men much elated with the merits of their own
righteousness, the Lord was willing to be baptized by a servant, as if
addressing His chief sons: "Why do you extol yourselves? Why lift
yourselves up because you have, one prudence, another learning, another
chastity, another the courage of patience? Can you possibly have as much as
I who gave you these? And yet I was baptized by a servant, you disdain to
be baptized by the Lord." This is the sense of "to fulfill all
righteousness."

   7. But some one will say, "It were enough, then, that John baptized
only the Lord; what need was there for others to be baptized by John?" Now
we have said this too, that if John had baptized only the Lord, men would
not be without this thought, that John had a better baptism than the Lord
had. They would say, in fact, "So great was the baptism of John, that
Christ alone was worthy  to be baptized therewith." Therefore, to show that
the baptism which the Lord was to give was better than that of John,--that
the one might be understood as that of a servant,  the other as that of the
Lord,--the Lord was baptized to give an example of humility; but He was not
the only one baptized by John, lest John's baptism should appear to be
better than the baptism of the Lord. To this end, however, our Lord Jesus
Christ showed the way, as you have heard, brethren, lest any man,
arrogating to himself that he has abundance of some particular grace,
should disdain to be baptized with the baptism of the Lord. For whatever
the catechumen's proficiency, he still carries the load of his iniquity: it
is not forgiven him until he shall have come to baptism. Just as the people
Israel were not rid of the Egyptians until they had come to the Red Sea, so
no man is rid of the pressure of sins until he has come to the font of
baptism.

   8. "Then there arose a question on the part of John's disciples with
the Jews about purifying." John baptized, Christ baptized. John's disciples
were moved; there was a running after Christ, people were coming to John.
Those who came to John, he sent to Jesus to be baptized; but they who were
baptized by Christ were not sent to John. John's disciples were alarmed,
and began to dispute with the Jews, as usually happens. Understand the Jews
to have declared that Christ was greater, and that to His baptism people
ought to have recourse. John's disciples, not yet understanding this,
defended John's baptism. They came to John himself, that he might solve the
question. Understand, beloved. And here we are given to see the use of
humility, and, when people were erring in the subject of dispute, are shown
whether John desired to glory in himself. Now probably he said, "You say
the truth, you contend rightly; mine is the better baptism, I baptized
Christ Himself." John could say this after Christ was baptized. If he
wished to exalt himself, what an opportunity he had to do so! But he knew
better before whom to humble himself: to Him whom he knew to have come
after himself by birth, he willingly yielded precedence by confessing Him.
He understood his own salvation to be in Christ. He had already said above,
"We all have received out of His fullness;" and this is to confess Him to
be God. For how can all men receive of His fullness, if He be not God? For
if He is man in such wise that He is not God, then Himself also receives of
the fullness of God, and so is not God. But if all men receive of His
fullness, He is the fountain, they are drinkers. They that drink of a
fountain, both thirst and drink. The fountain never thirsts; it has never
need of itself. Men need a fountain. With thirsty stomachs and parched lips
they run to the fountain to be refreshed. The fountain flows to refresh, so
does the Lord Jesus.

   9. Let us see, then, what answer John gives: "They came unto John, and
said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou
barest witness, behold the same baptizeth, and all men come to him:" that
is, What sayest thou? Ought they not to be hindered, that they may rather
come to thee? "He answered and said, A man cannot receive anything, except
it be given him from heaven." Of whom, think you, had John said this? Of
himself. "As a man, I received," saith he, "from heaven." Note, my beloved:
"A man cannot receive anything, except it be given him from heaven Ye
yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ." As much as to
say, "Why do ye deceive yourselves? See how you have put this question
before me. What have you said to me? 'Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond
Jordan, to whom thou barest witness.' Then you know what sort of witness I
bare to Him. Am I now to say that He is not the same whom I declared Him to
be? And because I received somewhat from heaven, in order to be something,
do you wish me to be empty of it, so as to speak against the truth? 'A man
cannot receive anything, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves
bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ.'" Thou art not the Christ;
but what if thou art greater than He since thou didst baptize Him? "I am
sent:" I am the herald, He is the Judge.

   10. But hear a far stronger, a far more expressive testimony. See ye
what it is we are treating of; see ye that to love any person in place of
Christ is adultery. Why do I say this? Let us attend to the voice of John.
People could be mistaken in him, could think him to be the person he was
not. He rejects the false honor, in order to hold the truth complete. See
what he declares Christ to be; what does he say himself is? "He that hath
the bride is the bridegroom." Be chaste, love the bridegroom. But what art
thou, who sayest to us, "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom? But the
friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly
because of the bridegroom's voice." The Lord our God will help me in
proportion to the tumult of my heart, for it is full of sadness, to utter
the grief I feel; but I beseech you by Christ Himself to imagine in thought
what it will not be possible for   me to utter; for I know that my grief
cannot be expressed with befitting impressiveness. Now I see many
adulterers who desire to get possession of the bride, purchased at so great
a price, loved while deformed that she might be made fair, having been
purchased and delivered and adorned by such an one; and those adulterers
strive with their words to be loved instead of the bridegroom. Of that One
it is said, "This is He that baptizeth."(1) Who is he that goes forth from
us and says, "I am he that baptizeth"? Who is he that goes forth from us
and says, "That is holy which I give"? Who is he that goes hence and says,
"It is good for thee to be born of me"? Let us hear the friend of the
bridegroom, not the adulterers against the bridegroom; let us hear one
jealous, but not for himself.

   11. Brethen, return in thought to your own homes. I speak of carnal, I
speak of earthly things; I speak after the manner of men, for the infirmity
of your flesh. Many of you have, many of you wish to have, many, though you
wish not to have, still have had wives; many who do not at all wish to have
wives, are born of the wives of your fathers. This is a feeling that
touches every heart. There is no man so alien from mankind in human affairs
as not to feel what I say. Suppose that a man, having set out on a journey,
had commended his bride to the care of his friend: "See, I pray thee, thou
art my dear friend; see to it, lest in my absence some other may perchance
be loved in my stead." Then what sort of a person must he be, who, while
the guardian of the bride or wife of his friend, does indeed endeavor that
none other be loved, but if he wishes himself to be loved instead of his
friend, and desires to enjoy her who was committed to his care, how
detestable must he appear to all mankind! Let him see her gazing out of the
window, or joking with some one somewhat too heedlessly, he forbids her as
one who is jealous. I see him jealous, but let me see for whom he is
jealous; whether for his absent friend or for his present self. Think that
our Lord Jesus Christ has done this. He has committed His bride to the care
of His friend; He has set out on a journey to a far country to receive a
kingdom, as He says Himself in the Gospel,(2) but yet is present in His
majesty. Let the friend who has gone beyond the sea be deceived; and if he
is deceived, woe to him who deceives! Why do men attempt to deceive God,--
God who looks at the hearts of all, and searches the secrets of all? But
some heretic shows himself, and says, "'Tis I that give, 'tis I that
sanctify, 'tis I that justify; go not thou to that other sect." He does
well indeed to be jealous, but see for whom. "Go not thou to idols," saith
he,--he is rightly jealous; "nor to diviners,"--still rightly jealous. Let
us see for whom he is jealous: "What I give is holy, because it is I that
give it; he is baptized whom I baptize; he whom I baptize not is not
baptized." Hear thou the friend of the bridegroom, learn to be jealous for
thy friend; hear His voice who is "He that baptizeth." Why desire to
arrogate to thyself what is not thine? Is he so very absent who has left
here his bride? Knowest thou not, that He who rose from the dead is sitting
at the right hand of the Father? If the Jews despised Him hanging on the
tree, dost thou despise Him sitting in heaven? Be assured, beloved, that I
suffer great grief of this matter; but, as I have said, I leave the rest to
your thoughts. I cannot utter it if I speak the whole day. If I bewail it
the whole day, I do not enough. I cannot utter it, if I should have, as the
prophet says, "a fountain of tears;" and were I changed into tears, and to
become all tears, were I turned into tongues, and to become all tongues, it
were not enough.

   12. Let us return and see what this John saith: "He that hath the bride
is the bridegroom;" she is not my bride. And dost thou not rejoice in the
marriage? Yea, saith he, I do rejoice: "But the friend of the bridegroom,
who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the voice of the
bridegroom." Not because of mine own voice, saith he, do I rejoice, but
because of the Bridegroom's voice. I am in the place of hearer; He, of
speaker: I am as one that must be enlightened, He is the light; I am as the
ear, He is the word. Therefore the friend of the Bridegroom standeth and
heareth Him. Why standeth? Because he falls not. How fails not? Because he
is humble. See him standing on solid ground; "I am not worthy to loose the
latchet of His shoe." Thou doest well to be humble; deservedly thou dost
not fall; deservedly thou standest, and hearest Him, and rejoicest greatly
for the Bridegroom's voice. So also the apostle is the Bridegroom's friend;
he too is jealous, not for himself, hut for the Bridegroom. Hear his voice
when he is jealous: "I am jealous over you," said he, "with the jealousy of
God:" not with my own, nor for myself, but with the jealousy of God. Why?
How? Over whom art thou jealous, and for whom? "For I have espoused you to
one husband, to present a chaste virgin to Christ." Why dost thou fear,
then? Why art thou jealous? "I fear," saith he, "lest, as the serpent
beguiled Eve by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the
chastity which is in Christ."(1) The whole Church is called a virgin. You
see that the members of the Church are divers, that they are endowed with
and do rejoice in divers gifts: some men wedded, some women wedded; some
are widowers who seek no more to have wives, some are widows who seek no
more to have husbands; some men preserve continence from their youth, some
women have vowed their virginity to God: divers are the gifts, but all
these are one virgin. Where is this virginity? for it is not in the body.
It belongs to few women; and if virginity can be said of men, to few men in
the Church belongs a holy integrity even of body; yet one such is a more
honorable member. Other members, however, preserve virginity, not in body,
but all in mind. What is the virginity of the mind? Entire faith, firm
hope, sincere charity. This is the virginity which he, who, was jealous for
the Bridegroom, feared might be corrupted by the serpent. For, just as the
bodily member is marred in a certain part, so the seduction of the tongue
defiles the virginity of the heart. Let her who does not desire without
cause to keep virginity of body, see to it that she be not corrupted in
mind.

   13. What shall I say, then, brethren? Even the heretics have virgins,
and there are many virgins among heretics. Let us see whether they love the
Bridegroom, so that this virginity may be guarded. For whom is it guarded?
"For Christ." Let us see if it be for Christ, and not for Donatus: let us
see for whom this virginity is preserved: you can easily prove. Behold, I
show you the Bridegroom, for He shows Himself. John bears witness to Him:
"This is He that baptizeth." O thou virgin, if for this Bridegroom thou
preservest thy virginity, why runnest thou to him who says, "I am he that
baptizeth," while the friend of the Bridegroom tells thee, "This is He that
baptizeth"? Again, thy Bridegroom possesseth the whole world; why, then,
shouldst thou be defiled with a part of it? Who is the Bridegroom? "For God
is King of all the earth." This thy Bridegroom possesses the whole, because
He purchased the whole. See at what price He purchased it, that thou mayest
understand what He has purchased. What price has He given? He gave His
blood. Where gave He, where shed He, His blood? In His passion. Is it not
to thy Bridegroom thou singest, or feignest to sing, when the whole world
was purchased: "They pierced my hands and my feet, they counted all my
bones: but they themselves considered me, they looked upon me, they divided
my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast lots"? Thou art the
bride, acknowledge thy Bridegroom's vesture. Upon what vesture was the lot
cast? Ask the Gospel; see to whom thou art espoused, see from whom thou
receivest pledges. Ask the Gospel; see what it tells thee in the suffering
of the Lord. "There was a coat" there: let us see what kind; "woven from
the top throughout." What does the coat woven from the top signify, but
charity? What does this coat signify, but unity? Consider this coat, which
not even the persecutors of Christ divided. For it saith, "They said among
themselves, Let us not divide it, but let us cast lots upon it." Behold
that of which the psalm spoke! Christ's persecutors did not rend His
garment; Christians divide the Church.

   14. But what shall I say, brethren? Let us see plainly what He
purchased. For there He bought, where He paid the price. Paid it for how
much? If He paid it only for Africa, let us be Donatists, and not be called
Donatists, but Christians; since Christ bought only Africa: although even
here are other than Donatists. But He has not been silent of what He bought
in this transaction. He has made up the account: thanks be to God, He has
not tricked us. Need there is for that bride to hear, and then to
understand to whom she has vowed her virginity. There, in that psalm where
it says, "They pierced my hands and my feet, they counted all my bones;"
wherein the Lord's passion is most openly declared;--the psalm which is
read every year on the last week, in the hearing of the whole people, at
the approach of Christ's passion; and this psalm is read both among them
and us;--there, I say, note, brethren, what He has bought: let the bill of
merchandise be read: hear ye what He bought: "All the ends of the earth
shall remember, and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations
shall worship in His sight: for the kingdom is His, and He shall rule the
nations." Behold what it is He has bought! Behold! "For God, the King of
all the earth," is thy Bridegroom. Why, then, wouldst thou have one so rich
reduced to rags? Acknowledge Him: He bought the whole; yet thou sayest,
"Thou hast a part of it here." Oh, would that thou weft well-pleasing to
thy Spouse; would that thou who speakest wert not defiled, and, what is
worse, defiled in heart, not in body! Thou lovest a man instead of Christ;
lovest one that says, "'Tis I that baptize;" not hearing the friend of the
Bridegroom when he says, "This is He that baptizeth;" not hearing him when
he says, "He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom." I have not the bride,
said he; but what am I? "But the friend of the Bridegroom, who standeth and
heareth Him, rejoiceth greatly, because of the Bridegroom's voice."

   15. Evidently, then, my brethren, it profits those men nothing to keep
virginity, to have continence, to give alms. All those doings which are
praised in the Church profit them nothing; because they rend unity, namely,
that "coat" of charity. What do they? Many among them are eloquent; great
tongues, streams of tongues. Do they speak like angels? Let them hear the
friend of the Bridegroom, jealous for the Bridegroom, not for himself:
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not
charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."(1)

   16. But what say they? "We have baptism." Thou hast, but not thine. It
is one thing to have, another to own. Baptism thou hast, for thou hast
received to be baptized, received as one enlightened, provided thou be not
darkened of thyself; and when thou givest, thou givest as a minister, not
as owner; as a herald proclaiming, not as a judge. The judge speaks through
the herald, and nevertheless it is not written in the registers, "The
herald said," but, "The judge said." Therefore see if what thou givest is
thine by authority. But if thou hast received, confess with the friend of
the Bridegroom, "A man cannot receive anything, except it be given him from
heaven." Confess with the friend of the Bridegroom, "He that hath the bride
is the Bridegroom; but the friend of the Bridegroom standeth and heareth
Him." But O, would thou didst stand and hear Him, and not fall, to hear
thyself! For by hearing Him, thou wouldst stand and hear; for thou wilt
speak, and thy head is puffed with pride. I, saith the Church, if I am the
bride, if I nave received pledges, if I have been redeemed at the price of
that blood, do hear the voice of the Bridegroom; and I do hear the voice of
the Bridegroom's friend too, if he give glory to my Bridegroom, not to
himself. Let the friend speak: "He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom;
but the friend of the Bridegroom standeth and heareth Him, and rejoices
greatly because of the voice of the Bridegroom." Behold, thou hast
sacraments; and I grant that thou hast. Thou hast the form, but thou art a
branch cut off from the vine; thou hast a form, I want the root. There is
no fruit of the form, except where there is a root; but where is the root
but in charity? Hear the form of the cut-off branches; let Paul speak:
"Though I know all mysteries," saith he, "and have all prophecy, and all
faith" (and how great a faith!), "so as to remove mountains, and have not
charity, I am nothing."

   17. Let no man tell you fables, then. "Pontius wrought a miracle; and
Donatus prayed, and God answered him from heaven." In the first place,
either they are deceived, or they deceive. In the last place, grant that he
removes mountains: "And have not charity," saith the apostle, "I am
nothing." Let us see whether he has charity. I would believe that he had,
if he had not divided unity. For against those whom I may call marvel-
workers, my God has put me on my guard, saying, "In the last times there
shall arise false prophets, doing signs and wonders, to lead into error, if
it were possible, even the elect: Lo, I have foretold it to you."(1)
Therefore the Bridegroom has cautioned us, that we ought not to be deceived
even by miracles. Sometimes, indeed, a deserter frightens a plain
countryman; but whether he is of the camp, and whether he is the better of
that character with which he is marked, is what he who would not be
frightened or seduced attends to. Let us then, my brethren, hold unity:
without unity, even he who works miracles is nothing. The people Israel was
in unity, and yet wrought no miracles: Pharaoh's magicians were out of
unity, and yet they wrought the like works as Moses."(2) The people Israel,
as I have said, wrought no miracles. Who were saved with God--they who did,
or they who did not, work miracles? The Apostle Peter raised a dead person:
Simon Magus did many things: there were there certain Christians who were
not able to do either what Peter did or what Simon did; and wherein did
they rejoice? In this, that their names were written in heaven. For this is
what our Lord Jesus Christ said to the disciples on their return, because
of the faith of the Gentiles. The disciples, in truth, themselves said,
boasting, "Behold, Lord, in Thy name even the devils are subject to us."
Rightly indeed they confessed, they brought the honor to the name of
Christ; and yet what does He say to them? "Do not ye glory in this, that
the devils are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in
heaven."(3) Peter cast out devils. Some old widow, some lay person or
other, having charity, and holding the integrity of faith, forsooth does
not do this. Peter is the eye in the body, that man is the finger, yet is
he in the same body in which Peter is; and if the finger has less power
than the eye, yet it is not cut off from the body. Better is it to be a
finger and to be in the body, than to be an eye and to be plucked out of
the body.

   18. Therefore, my brethren, let no man deceive you, let no man seduce
you: love the peace of Christ, who was crucified for you, whilst He was
God. Paul says, "Neither he that planteth is anything, neither he that
watereth, but God who giveth the increase."(4) And does any of us say that
he is something? If we say that we are something, and give not the glory to
Him, we are adulterers; we desire ourselves to be loved, not the
Bridegroom. Love ye Christ, and us in Him, in whom also you are beloved by
us. Let the members love one another, but live all under the Head. With
grief indeed, my brethren, I have been obliged to speak much, and yet I
have said little: I have not been able to finish the passage; God will help
us to finish it in due season. I did not wish to burden your hearts
further; I wish them to be free for sighs and prayers in behalf of those
who are still deaf and do not understand.

TRACTATE XIV: CHAPTER III. 29-36.

   1. This lesson from the holy Gospel shows us the excellency of our Lord
Jesus Christ's divinity, and the humility of the man who earned the title
of the Bridegroom's friend; that we may distinguish between the man who is
man, and the Man who is God. For the Man who is God is our Lord Jesus
Christ, God before all ages, Man in the age of our world: God of the
Father, man of the Virgin, yet one and the same Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, Son of God, God and man. But John, a man of distinguished grace,
was sent before Him, a man enlightened by Him who is the Light. For of John
it is said, "He was not the Light, but that he should bear witness of the
Light." He may himself be called a light indeed, and rightly so; but an
enlightened, not an enlightening light. The light that enlightens, and that
which is enlightened, are different things: for even our eyes are called
lights (lumina), and yet when we open them in the dark, they do not see.
But the light that enlightens is a light both from itself and for itself,
and does not need another light for its shining; but all the rest need it,
that they may shine.

   2. Accordingly John confessed Him: as you have heard that when Jesus
was making many disciples, and they reported to John as if to excite him to
jealousy,--for they told the matter as if moved by envy, "Lo, he is making
more disciples than thou,"--John confessed what he was, and thereby merited
to belong to Him, because he dared not affirm himself to be that which
Jesus is. Now this is what John said: "A man cannot receive anything,
except it be given him from heaven." Therefore Christ gives, man receives.
"Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I
am sent before Him He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom; but the friend
of the Bridegroom, who standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth greatly because
of the Bridegroom's voice." Not of himself did he give himself joy. He that
will have joy of himself shall be sad; but he that will have his joy of God
will ever rejoice, because God is everlasting. Dost thou desire to have
everlasting joy? Cleave to Him who is everlasting. Such an one John
declared himself to be. "Because of the Bridegroom's voice, the friend of
the Bridegroom rejoiceth," not because of his own voice, and "standeth and
heareth." Therefore, if he falls, he heareth Him not: for of a certain one
who fell it is said, "And he stood not in the truth;"' this is said of the
devil. It behoves the Bridegroom's friend, then, "to stand and to hear."
What is it to stand? It is to abide in His grace, which he received. And he
hears a voice at which he rejoices. Such was John: he knew whereof he
rejoiced; he did not arrogate to himself to be what he was not; he knew
himself as one enlightened, not the enlightener. "But that was the true
Light," saith the evangelist, "that lighteneth every man coming into this
world." If "every man," then also John himself; for he too is of men.
Moreover, although none hath arisen among them that are born of women
greater than John, yet he was himself one of those that are born of women.
Is he to be compared with Him who, because He willed it, was born by a
singular and extraordinary birth? For both generations of the Lord are
unexampled, both the divine and the human: by the divine He has no mother;
by the human, no father. Therefore John was but one of the rest: of greater
grace, however, so that of those born of women none arose greater than he;
so great a testimony he gave to our Lord Jesus Christ as to call Him the
Bridegroom, and himself the Bridegroom's friend, not worthy however to
loose the latchet of the Bridegroom's shoe. You have already heard much on
this point, beloved: let us look to what follows; for it is somewhat hard
to understand. But as John himself says, that "no man can receive anything,
except it be given him from heaven," whatever we shall not have understood,
let us ask Him who gives from heaven: for we are men, and cannot receive
anything, except He, who  is not man, give it us.

   3. Now this is what follows: and John says, "This my joy therefore is
fulfilled." What is his joy? To rejoice at the Bridegroom's voice. It is
fulfilled in me, I bare my grace; more I do not assume to myself, lest also
I lose what I have received. What is this joy? "With joy rejoiceth for the
Bridegroom's voice." A man may understand, then, that he ought not to
rejoice of his own wisdom, but of the wisdom which he has received from
God. Let him ask nothing more, and he loses not what he found. For many, in
that they affirmed themselves to be wise, became fools. The apostle
convicts them, and says of them, "Because that which is known of God is
manifest to them; for God has showed it unto them." Hear ye what he says of
certain unthankful, ungodly men: "For the invisible things of Him from the
creation of the world are seen, being understood by the things that are
made, His eternal power likewise, and Godhead; so that they are without
excuse." Why without excuse? "Because, knowing God" (he said not, "because
they knew Him not "), "they glorified Him not as God, nor were thankful;
but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was
darkened: professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."(2) If they
had known God, they had known at the same time that God, and none other,
had made them wise; and they would not then attribute to themselves that
which they did not have from themselves, but to Him from whom they had
received it. But by their unthankfulness they became fools. Therefore, what
God gave freely, He took from the unthankful. John would not be this; he
would be thankful: he confessed to have received, and declared that he
rejoiced for the Bridegroom's voice, saying, "Therefore this my joy is
fulfilled."

   4. "He must increase, but I must decrease." What is this? He must be
exalted, but I must be humbled. How is Jesus to increase? How is God to
increase? The perfect does not increase. God neither increases nor
decreases. For if He increases, He is not perfect; if He decreases, he is
not God. And how can Jesus increase, being God? If to man's estate, since
He deigned to be man and was a child; and, though the Word of God, lay an
infant in a manger; and, though His mother's Creator, yet sucked the milk
of infancy of her: then Jesus having grown in age of the flesh, that
perhaps is the reason why it is said, "He must increase, but I must
decrease." But why in this? As regards the flesh, John and Jesus were of
the same age, there being six months between them: they had grown up
together; and if our Lord Jesus Christ had willed to be here longer before
His death, and that John should be here with Him, then, as they had grown
up together, so would they have grown old together: in what way, then, "He
must increase but I must decrease"? Above all, our Lord Jesus Christ being
now thirty years old, does a man who is already thirty years old still
grow? From that same age, men begin to go downward, and to decline to
graver age, thence to old age. Again, even had they both been lads, he
would not have said. "He must increase," but, We must increase together.
But now each is thirty years of age. The interval of six months makes no
difference in age; the difference is discovered by reading rather than by
the look of the persons.

   5. What means, then, "He must increase, but I must decrease"? This is a
great mystery! Before the Lord Jesus came, men were glorying of themselves;
He came a man, to lessen man's glory, and to increase the glory of God. Now
He came without sin, and found all men in sin. If thus He came to put away
sin, God may freely give, man may confess. For man's confession is man's
lowliness: God's pity is God's loftiness. Therefore, since He came to
forgive man his sins, let man acknowledge his own lowliness and let God
show His pity. "He must increase, but I must decrease:" that is, He must
give, but I must receive; He must be glorified, but I must confess. Let man
know his own condition, and confess to God; and hear the apostle as he says
to a proud, elated man, bent on extolling himself: "What hast thou that
thou didst not receive? And if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory
as if thou didst not receive it?"(1) Then let man understand that he has
received; and when he would call that his own which is not his, let him
decrease: for it is good for him that God be glorified in him. Let him
decrease in himself, that he may be increased in God. These testimonies and
this truth, Christ and John signified by their deaths. For John was
lessened by the Head: Christ was exalted on the cross; so that even there
it appeared what this is, "He must increase, but I must decrease." Again,
Christ was born when the days were just beginning to lengthen; John was
born when they began to shorten. Thus their very creation and deaths
testify to the words of John, when he says, "He must increase, but I must
decrease." May the glory of God then increase in us, and our own glory
decrease, that even ours may increase in God! For this is what the apostle
says, this is what Holy Scripture says: "He that glorieth, let him glory in
the Lord."(2) Wilt thou glory in thyself? Thou wilt grow; but grow worse in
thy evil. For whoso grows worse is justly decreased. Let God, then, who is
ever perfect, grow, and grow in thee. For the more thou understandest God,
and apprehendest Him, He seems to be growing in thee; but in Himself He
grows not, being ever perfect. Thou didst understand a little yesterday;
thou understandest more to-day, wilt understand much more to-morrow: the
very light of God increases in thee: as if thus God increases, who remains
ever perfect. It is as if one's eyes were being cured of former blindness,
and he began to see a little glimmer of light, and the next day he saw
more, and the third day still more: to him the light would seem to grow;
yet the light is perfect, whether he see it or not. Thus it is also with
the inner man: he makes progress indeed in God, and God seems to be
increasing in him; yet man himself is decreasing, that he may fall from his
own glory, and rise into the glory of God.

   6. What we have just heard, appears now distinctly and clearly. "He
that cometh from above, is above all." See what he says of Christ. What of
himself? "He that is of the earth, is of earth, and speaketh of the earth.
He that cometh from above is above all"-this is Christ; and "he that is of
the earth, is of earth, and speaketh of the earth "--this is John. And is
this the whole: John is of the earth, and speaks of the earth? Is the whole
testimony that he bears of Christ a speaking of the earth? Are they not
voices of God that are heard from John, when he bears witness of Christ?
Then how does he speak of the earth? He said this of man. So far as relates
to man in himself, he is of earth, and speaks of the earth; and when he
speaks some divine things, he is enlightened by God. For, were he not
enlightened, he would be earth speaking of earth. God's grace is apart by
itself, the nature of man apart by itself. Do but examine the nature of
man: man is born and grows, he learns the customs of men. What does he know
but earth, of earth? He speaks the things of men, knows the things of men,
minds the things of men; carnal, he judges carnally, conjectures carnally:
lo! it is man all over. Let the grace of God come, and enlighten his
darkness, as it saith, "Thou wilt lighten my candle, O Lord; my God,
enlighten my darkness;"(1) let it take the mind of man, and turn it to its
own light; immediately he begins to say, as the apostle says, "Yet not I,
but the grace of God that is with me;"(2) and, "Now I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me."(3) That is to say, "He must increase, but I must
decrease." Thus John: as regards John, he is of the earth, and speaks of
the earth; whatever that is divine thou hast heard from John, is of Him
that enlightens, not of him that receives.

   7. "He that cometh from heaven is above all; and what He hath seen and
heard, that He testifieth: and no man receiveth His testimony." Cometh from
heaven, is above all, our Lord Jesus Christ; of whom it was said above, "No
man hath ascended into heaven, but He that came down from heaven, the Son
of man who is in heaven." And He is above all; "and what He hath seen and
heard, that He speaks." Moreover, He hath a Fathers being Himself the Son
of God; He hath a Father, and He also hears of the Father. And what is that
which He hears of the Father? Who can unfold this? When can my tongue, when
can my heart be sufficient, either the heart to understand, or the tongue
to utter, what that is which the Son hath heard from the Father? May it be
the Son has heard the Word of the Father? Nay, the Son is the Word of the
Father. You see how all human effort is here wearied out; you see how all
guessing of our heart, all straining of our darkened mind, here fails. I
hear the Scripture saying that the Son speaks that which He heareth from
the Father; and again, I hear the Scripture saying that the Son is Himself
the Word of the Father: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God." The words that we speak are fleeting and
transient: as soon as thy word has sounded from thy mouth, it passeth away;
it makes its noise, and passes away into silence. Canst thou follow thy
sound, and hold it to make it stand? Thy thought, however, remains, and of
that thought that remains thou utterest many words that pass away. What say
we, brethren? When God spake, did He give out a voice, or sounds, or
syllables? If He did, in what tongue spake He? In Hebrew, or in Greek, or
in Latin? Tongues are necessary where there is a distinction of nations.
But there none can say that God spake in this tongue, or in that. Observe
thy own heart. When thou conceivest a word which thou mayest utter,--For I
will say, if I can, what we may  note in ourselves, not whereby we may
comprehend that,--well, when thou conceivest a word to utter, thou meanest
to utter a thing, and the very conception of the thing is already a word in
thy heart: it has not vet come forth, but it is already born in the heart,
and is waiting to come forth. But thou considerest the person to whom it is
to come forth, with whom thou art to speak: if he is a Latin, thou seekest
a Latin expression; if a Greek, thou thinkest of Greek words; if a Punic,
thou considerest whether thou knowest the Punic language: for the diversity
of hearers thou hast recourse to divers tongues to utter the word
conceived; but the conception itself was bound by no tongue in particular.
Whilst therefore God, when speaking, required not a language, nor took up
any kind of speech, how was He heard by the Son, seeing that God's speaking
is the Son Himself? As, in fact, thou hast in thy heart the word that thou
speakest, and as it is with thee, and is none other than the spiritual
conception itself (for just as thy soul is spirit, so also the word which
thou hast conceived is spirit; for it has not yet received sound to be
divided by syllables, but remains in the conception of thy heart, and in
the mirror of the mind); so God gave out His Word, that is, begat the Son.
And thou, indeed, begettest the word even in thy heart according to time;
God without time begat the Son by whom He created all times. Whilst,
therefore, the Son is the Word of God, and the Son spoke to us not His own
word, but the word of the Father, He willed to speak Himself to us when He
was speaking the word of the Father. This it is that John said, as was fit
and necessary; and we have expounded according to our ability. He whose
heart has not yet attained to a proper perception of so great a matter, has
whither to turn himself, has where to knock, has from whom to ask, from
whom to seek, of whom to receive.

   8. "He that cometh from heaven is above all; and what He hath seen and
heard, that testifieth He; and His testimony no man receiveth." If no man,
to what purpose came He? He means, no man of a certain class. There are
some people prepared for the wrath of God, to be damned with the devil; of
these, none receiveth the testimony of Christ. For if none at all, not any
man, received, what could these words mean, "But he that received His
testimony hath set to his seal that God is true"? Not certainly, then, no
man, if thou sayest thyself, "He that received His testimony has set to his
seal that God is true." Perhaps John, on being questioned, would answer and
say, I know what I have said, in saying no man. There are, in fact, people
born to God's wrath, and thereunto foreknown. For God knows who they are
that will and that will not believe; He knows who they are that shall
persevere in that in which they have believed, and who that shall fall
away; and all that shall be for eternal life are numbered by God; and He
knows already the people set apart. And if He knows this, and has given to
the prophets by His Spirit to know it, He gave this also to John. Now John
was observing, not with his eye,--for as regards himself he is earth, and
speaketh of earth,--but with that grace of the Spirit which he received of
God, he saw a certain people, ungodly, unbelieving. Contemplating that
people in its unbelief, he says, "His testimony, who came from heaven, no
man receiveth." No man of whom? Of them who shall be on the left hand, of
them to whom it shall be said, "Go into the everlasting fire, which is
prepared for the devil and his angels." Who are they that do receive it?
They who shall be at the right hand, they to whom it shall be said, "Come,
ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which is prepared for you from
the beginning of the world." He observes, then, in the Spirit a dividing,
but in the human race a mingling together; and that which is not yet
separated locally, he separated in the understanding, in the view of the
heart; and he saw two peoples, one of believers, one of unbelievers. Fixing
his thought on the unbelievers, he says, "He that cometh from heaven is
above all; and what He hath seen and heard, that He testifieth and no man
receiveth His testimony." He then turned his thought from the left hand,
and looked at the right, and proceeded to say, "He that received His
testimony has set to his seal that God is true." What means "has set to his
seal that God is true," if it be not that man is a liar, and God is true?
For no human being can speak any truth, unless he be enlightened by Him who
cannot lie. God, then, is true; but Christ is God. Wouldest thou prove
this? Receive His testimony and thou findest it. For "he that hath received
His testimony has set to his seal that God is true." Who is true? The same
who came from heaven, and is above all, is God, and true. But if thou dost
not yet understand Him to be God, thou hast not yet received His testimony:
receive it, and thou puttest thy seal to it; confidently thou
understandest, definitely thou acknowledgest, that God is true.

   9. "For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God." Himself is
the true God, and God sent Him: God sent God. Join both, one God, true God
sent by God. Ask concerning them singly, He is God; ask concerning them
both, they are God. Not individually God, and both Gods; but each
individual God, and both God. For so great is the charity of the Holy
Spirit-there, so great the peace of unity, that when thou questionest about
them individually, the answer to thee is, God; when thou askest concerning
the Trinity, thou gettest for answer, God. For if the spirit of man, when
it cleaves to God, is one spirit, as the apostle openly declares, "He that
is joined to the Lord is one spirit;"(1) how much more is the equal Son,
joined to the Father, together with Him one God! Hear another testimony.
You know how many believed, when they sold all they had and laid it at the
apostles' feet, that it might be distributed to each according to his need;
and what saith the Scripture of that gathering of the saints? "They had one
soul and one heart in the Lord."(2) If charity made one soul of so many
souls, and one heart of so many hearts, how great must be the charity
between the Father and the Son! Surely it must be greater than that between
those men who had one heart. If, then, the heart of many brethren was one
by charity, if the soul of many brethren was one by charity, wouldst thou
say that God the Father and God the Son are two? If they are two Gods,
there is not the highest charity between them. For if charity is here so
great as to make thy soul and thy friend's soul one soul, how can it be
then that the Father and the Son is not one God? Far be unfeigned faith
from this thought. In short, how excellent that charity is, understand
hence: the souls of many men are many, and if they love one another, it is
one soul; still, in the case of men, they may be called many souls, because
the union is not so strong. But there it is right for thee to say one God;
two or three Gods it is not right for thee to say. From this, the supreme
and surpassing excellency of charity is shown thee to be such, that a
greater cannot be.

   10. "For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God." This, of
course, he said of Christ, to distinguish himself from Christ. What then?
Did not God send John himself? Did he not say himself, "I am sent before
Him"? and, "He that sent me to baptize with water"? And is it not of John
that it is said, "Behold, I send my messenger before Thee, and he shall
prepare Thy way"?(1) Does he not himself speak the words of God, he of whom
it is said that he is more than a prophet? Then, if God sent him too, and
he speaks the words of God, how do we understand him to have distinctly
said of Christ, "He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God"? But see
what he adds: "For God giveth not the Spirit by measure." What is this,
"For God giveth not the Spirit by measure"? We find that God does give the
Spirit by measure. Hear the apostle when he says, "According to the measure
of the gift of Christ."(2) To men He gives by measure, to the only Son He
gives not by measure. How does He give to men by measure? "To one is given
by the Spirit the word of wisdom: to another the word of wisdom according
to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another
prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another kinds of tongues; to
another the gift of healing. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all
teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gift of healing? Do all
speak with tongues? Do all interpret?"(3) This man has one gift, that man
another; and what that man has, this has not: there is a measure, a certain
division of gifts. To men, therefore, it is given by measure, and concord
among them makes one body. As the hand receives one kind of gift to work,
the eye another to see, the ear another to hear, the foot another to walk;
nevertheless the soul that does all is one, in the hand to work, in the
foot to walk, in the ear to hear, in the eye to see; so are also the gifts
of believers diverse, distributed to them as to members, to each according
to his proper measure. But Christ, who gives, receives not by measure.

11. Now hear further what follows: because He had said of the Son, "For God
giveth not the Spirit by measure: the Father loveth the Son, and hath given
all things into His hand," He added, "hath given all things into His
hands," that thou mightest know also here with what distinction it is said,
"The Father loveth the Son." And why? Does the Father not love John? And
yet He has not given all things into his hand. Does the Father not love
Paul? And yet He has not given all things into his hand. "The Father loveth
the Son:" but as father loveth, not as master loveth a servant; as the Only
Son, not as an adopted son. And so "hath given all things into His hand."
What means "all things"? That the Son should be such as the Father is. To
equality with Himself He begat Him in whom it was no robbery to be in the
form of God, equal to God. "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all
things into His hand." Therefore, having deigned to send us the Son, let us
not imagine that it is something less than the Father that is sent to us.
The Father, in sending the Son, sent His other self.

   12. But the disciples, still thinking that the Father is something
greater than the Son, seeing only the flesh, and not understanding His
divinity, said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth us." As
much as to say, "We know Thee already, and bless Thee that we know Thee:
for we thank Thee that Thou hast shown Thyself to us. But as yet we know
not the Father: therefore our heart is inflamed, and occupied with a
certain holy longing of seeing Thy Father who sent Thee. Show us Him, and
we shall desire nothing more of Thee: for it sufficeth us when He has been
shown, than whom none can be greater." A good longing, a good desire; but
small intelligence. Now the Lord Jesus Himself, regarding them as small men
seeking great things, and Himself great among the small, and yet small
among the small, says to Philip, one of the disciples, who had said this:
"Am I so long time with you, and ye have not known me, Philip?" Here Philip
might have answered, Thee we have known, but did we say to Thee, Show us
Thyself? We have known Thee, but it is the Father we seek to know. He
immediately adds, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father also."(4) If,
then, One equal with the Father has been sent, let us not estimate Him from
the weakness of the flesh, but think of the majesty clothed in flesh, but
not weighed down by the flesh. For, remaining God with the Father, He was
made man among men, that, through Him who was made man, thou mightest
become such as to receive God. For man could not receive God. Man could see
man; God he could not apprehend. Why could he not apprehend God? Because he
had not the eye of the heart, by which to apprehend Him. There was
something within disordered, something without sound: man had the eyes of
the body sound, but the eyes of the heart sick. He was made man to the eye
of the body; so that, believing on Him who could be seen in bodily form,
thou mightst be healed for seeing Him whom thou wast not able to see
spiritually. "Am I so long time with you, and ye know me not, Philip? He
that hath seen me, hath seen the Father also." Why did they not see Him?
Lo, they did see Him, and yet saw not the Father: they saw the flesh, but
the majesty was concealed. What the disciples who loved Him saw, saw also
the Jews who crucified Him. Inwardly, then, was He all; and in such manner
inwardly in the flesh, that He remained with the Father when He came to the
flesh.

   13. Carnal thought does not apprehend what I say: let it defer
understanding, and begin by faith; let it hear what follows: "He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." He has not
said, The wrath of God cometh to him; but, "The wrath of God abideth on
him." All that are born mortals have the wrath of God with them. What wrath
of God? That wrath which Adam first received. For if the first man sinned,
and heard the sentence, "Thou shalt die the death," he became mortal, and
we began to be born mortal; and we have been born with the wrath of God.
From this stock came the Son, not having sin, and He was clothed with flesh
and mortality. If He partook with us of the wrath of God, are we slow to
partake with Him the grace of God? He, then, that will not believe the Son,
on the same "the wrath of God abideth." What wrath of God? That of which
the apostle says, "We also were by nature the children of wrath, even as
the rest."(1) All are therefore children of wrath, because coming of the
curse of death. Believe on Christ, for thee made mortal, that thou mayest
receive Him, the immortal; and when thou shalt have received His
immortality, thou shalt no longer be mortal. He lived, thou wast dead; He
died that thou shouldst live. He has brought us the grace of God, and has
taken away the wrath of God. God has conquered death, lest death should
conquer man.

TRACTATE XV: CHAPTER IV. 1-42.

   1. It is nothing new to your ears, beloved, that the Evangelist John,
like an eagle, takes a loftier flight, and soars above the dark mist of
earth, to gaze with steadier eyes upon the light of truth. From his Gospel
much has already been treated of and discussed through our ministry, with
the Lord's help; and the passage which has been read to-day follows in due
order. What I am about to say, with the Lord's permission, many of you will
hear in such wise that you will be reviewing what you know, rather than
learning what you know not. Yet, for all that, your attention ought not to
be slack, because it is not an acquiring, but a reviewing, of knowledge.
This has been read, and we have in our hands to discourse upon this
passage--that which the Lord Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at
Jacob's well. The things spoken there are great mysteries, and the
similitudes of great things; feeding the hungry, and refreshing the weary
soul.

   2. Now when the Lord knew this, "when He had heard that the Pharisees
had learned that He was making more disciples than John, and baptized more
(though Jesus baptized not, but His disciples), He left Judea, and departed
again into Galilee." We must not discourse of this too long, lest, by
dwelling on what is manifest, we shall lack the time to investigate and lay
open what is obscure. Certainly, if the Lord saw that the fact of their
coming to know that He made more disciples, and baptized more, would so
avail to salvation to the Pharisees in following Him, as to become
themselves His disciples, and to desire to be baptized by Him; rather would
He not have left Judea, but would have remained there for their sakes. But
because He knew their knowledge of the fact, and at the same time knew
their envy, and that they learned this, not to follow, but to persecute
him, He departed thence. He could, indeed, even when present, cause that He
should not be taken of them, if He would not; He had it in His power not to
be put to death, if He would not, since He had the power not to be born, if
He would not. But because, in everything that He did as man, He was showing
an example to them who were to believe on Him (that any one servant of God
sinneth not if he retire into another place, when he sees, it may be, the
rage of his persecutors, or of them that seek to bring his soul into evil;
but if a servant of God did this he might appear to commit sin, had not the
Lord led the way in doing it), that good Master did this to teach us, not
because He feared it.

   3. It may perhaps surprise you why it is said, that "Jesus baptized
more than John;" and after this was said, it is subjoined, "although Jesus
baptized not, but His disciples." What then? Was the statement made false,
and then corrected by this addition? Or, are both true, viz. that Jesus
both did and also did not baptize? He did in fact baptize, because it was
He that cleansed; and He did not baptize, because it was not He that
touched. The disciples supplied the ministry of the body; He afforded the
aid of His majesty. Now, when could He cease from baptizing, so long as He
ceased not from cleansing? Of Him it is said by the same John, in the
person of the Baptist, who saith, "This is He that baptizeth." Jesus,
therefore, is still baptizing; and so long as we continue to be baptized,
Jesus baptizeth. Let a man come without fear to the minister below; for he
has a Master above.

   4. But it may be one saith, Christ does indeed baptize, but in spirit,
not in body. As if, indeed, it were by the gift of another than He that any
is imbued even with the sacrament of corporal and visible baptism. Wouldest
thou know that it is He that baptizeth, not only with the Spirit, but also
with water? Hear the apostle: "Even as Christ," saith he, "loved the
Church, and gave Himself for it, purifying it with the washing of water by
the Word, that He might present to Himself a glorious Church, not having
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing."(1) Purifying it. How? "With the
washing of water by the Word." What is the baptism of Christ? The washing
of water by the Word. Take away the water, it is no baptism; take away the
Word, it is no baptism.

   5. This much, then, on the preliminary circumstances, by occasion of
which He came to a conversation with that woman, let us look at the matters
that remain; matters full of mysteries and pregnant with sacraments. "And
He must needs pass through Samaria. He cometh then to a city of Samaria
which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground which Jacob gave to
his son Joseph. Now Jacob's fountain was there." It was a well; but every
well is a fountain, yet not every fountain a well. For where the water
flows from the earth, and offers itself for use to them that draw it, it is
called a fountain; but if accessible, and on the surface, it is called only
a fountain: if, however, it be deep and far down, it is called a well, but
in such wise as not to lose the name of fountain.

   6. "Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the
well. It was about the sixth hour." Now begin the mysteries. For it is not
without a purpose that Jesus is weary; not indeed without a purpose that
the strength of God is weary; not without a purpose that He is weary, by
whom the wearied are refreshed; not without a purpose is He weary, by whose
absence we are wearied, by whose presence we are strengthened. Nevertheless
Jesus is weary, and weary with His journey; and He sits down, and that,
too, near a well; and it is at the sixth hour that, being wearied, He sits
down. All these things hint something, are intended to intimate something,
they make us eager, and encourage us to knock. May Himself open to us and
to you; He who has deigned to exhort us, so as to say, "Knock, and it shall
be opened to you." It was for thee that Jesus was wearied with His journey.
We find Jesus to be strength, and we find Jesus to be weak: we find a
strong and a weak Jesus: strong, because "in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: the same was in the
beginning with God." Wouldest thou see how this Son of God is strong? "All
things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made:" and without
labor, too, were they made. Then what can be stronger than He, by whom all
things were made without labor? Wouldest thou know Him weak? "The Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us." The strength of Christ created thee, the
weakness of Christ created thee anew. The strength of Christ caused that to
be which was not: the weakness of Christ caused that what was should not
perish. He fashioned us by His strength, He sought us by His weakness.

   7. As weak, then, He nourishes the weak, as a hen her chickens; for He
likened Himself to a hen: "How often," He saith to Jerusalem, "would I have
gathered thy children under my wings, as a hen her chickens; but thou
wouldest not!"(1) And you see, brethren, how a hen becomes weak with her
chickens. No other bird, when it is a mother, is recognized at once to be
so. We see all kinds of sparrows building their nests before our eyes; we
see swallows, storks, doves, every day building their nests; but we do not
know them to be parents, except when we see them on their nests. But the
hen is so enfeebled over her brood, that even if the chickens are not
following her, if thou see not the young ones, yet thou knowest her at once
to be a mother. With her wings drooping, her feathers ruffled, her note
hoarse, in all her limbs she becomes so sunken and abject, that, as I have
said, even though thou seest not her young, yet thou perceivest her to be a
mother. In such manner was Jesus weak, wearied with His journey. His
journey is the flesh assumed for us. For how can He, who is present
everywhere, have a journey, He who is nowhere absent? Whither does He go,
or whence, but that He could not come to us, except He had assumed the form
of visible flesh? Therefore, as He deigned to come to us in such manner,
that He appeared in the form of a servant by the flesh assumed, that same
assumption of flesh is His journey. Thus, "wearied with His journey," what
else is it but wearied in the flesh? Jesus was weak in the flesh: but do
not thou become weak; but in His weakness be strong, because what is "the
weakness of God is stronger than men."

  8. Under this image of things, Adam, who was the figure of Him that was
to be, afforded us a great indication of this mystery; rather, God afforded
it in him. For he was deemed worthy to receive a wife while he slept, and
that wife was made for him of his own rib: since from Christ, sleeping on
the cross, was the Church to come,--from His side, namely, as He slept; for
it was from His side, pierced with the spear, as He hung on the cross, that
the sacraments of the Church flowed forth. But why have I chosen to say
this, brethren? Because it is the weakness of Christ that makes us strong.
A remarkable figure of this went before in the case of Adam. God could have
taken flesh from the man to make of it a woman, and it seems that this
might have been the more suitable. For it was the weaker sex that was being
made, and weakness ought to have been made of flesh rather than of bone;
for the bones are the stronger parts it the flesh. He took not flesh to
make of it a woman; but took a bone, and of the bone was the woman shaped,
and flesh was filled in into the place of the bone. He could have restored
bone for bone; He could have taken, not a rib, but flesh, for the making of
the woman. What, then, did this signify? Woman was made, as it were,
strong, from the rib; Adam was made, as it were, weak, from the flesh. It
is Christ and the Church; His weakness is our strength.

   9. But why at the sixth hour? Because at the sixth age of the world. In
the Gospel, count up as an hour each, the first age from Adam to Noah; the
second, from Noah to Abraham; the third, from Abraham to David; the fourth,
from David to the removing to Babylon; the fifth, from the removing to
Babylon to the baptism of John: thence is the sixth being enacted. Why dost
thou marvel? Jesus came, and, by humbling Himself, came to a well. He came
wearied, because He carried weak flesh. At the sixth hour, because in the
sixth age of the world. To a well, because to the depth of this our
habitation. For which reason it is said in the psalm: "From the depth have
I cried unto Thee, O Lord."(2)He sat, as I said, because He was humbled.

   10. "And there came a woman." Figure of the Church not yet justified,
but now about to be justified: for this is the subject of the discourse.
She comes ignorant, she finds Him, and there is a dealing with her. Let us
see what, and wherefore. "There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water."
The Samaritans did not belong to the nation of the Jews: they were
foreigners, though they inhabited neighboring lands. It would take a long
time to relate the origin of the Samaritans; that we may not be detained by
long discourse of this, and leave necessary matters unsaid, suffice to say,
then, that we regard the Samaritans as aliens. And, lest you should think
that I have said this with more boldness than truth, hear the Lord Jesus
Himself, what He said of that Samaritan, one of the ten lepers whom He had
cleansed, who alone returned to give thanks: "Were there not ten cleansed?
And where are the nine? There was not another to give glory to God, save
this stranger."(3) It is pertinent to the image of the reality, that this
woman, who bore the type of the Church, comes of strangers: for the Church
was to come of the Gentiles, an alien from the race of the Jews. In that
woman, then, let us hear ourselves, and in her acknowledge ourselves, and
in her give thanks to God for ourselves. For she was the figure, not the
reality; for she both first showed forth the figure and became the reality.
For she believed on Him who, of her, set the figure before us. "She cometh,
then, to draw water." Had simply come to draw water, as people are wont to
do, be they men or women.

   11. "Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. For His disciples were
gone away into the city to buy meat. Then saith the Samaritan woman unto
Him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a
Samaritan woman? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans." You
see that they were aliens: indeed, the Jews would not use their vessels.
And as the woman brought with her a vessel with which to draw the water, it
made her wonder that a Jew sought drink of her,--a thing which the Jews
were not accustomed to do. But He who was asking drink was thirsting for
the faith of the woman herself.

   12. At length, hear who it is that asketh drink: "Jesus answered and
said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to
thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest, it may be, have asked of Him, and He
would have given thee living water." He asks to drink, and promises to give
drink. He longs as one about to receive; He abounds as one about to
satisfy. "If thou knewest," saith He, "the gift of God." The gift of God is
the Holy Spirit. But as yet He speaks to the woman guardedly, and enters
into her heart by degrees. It may be He is now teaching her. For what can
be sweeter and kinder than that exhortation? "If thou knewest the gift of
God," etc.: thus far He keeps her in suspense. That is commonly called
living water which issues from a spring: that which is collected from rain
in pools and cisterns is not called living water. And it may have flowed
from a spring; yet if it should stand collected in some place, not
admitting to it that from which it flowed, but, with the course
interrupted, separated, as it were, from the channel of the fountain, it is
not called "living water:" but that is called living water which is taken
as it flows. Such water there was in that fountain. Why, then, did He
promise to give that which He was asking?

   13. The woman, however, being in suspense, saith to Him, "Lord, thou
hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep." See how she understood
the living water, simply the water which was in that fountain. "Thou
wouldst give me living water, and I carry that with which to draw, and thou
dost not. The living water is here; how art thou to give it me?"
Understanding another thing, and taking it carnally, she does in a manner
knock, that the Master may open up that which is closed. She was knocking
in ignorance, not with earnest purpose; she is still an object of pity, not
yet of instruction.

   14. The Lord speaks somewhat more clearly of that living water. Now the
woman had said, "Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the
well, and drank of it himself, his children, and his cattle?" Thou canst
not give me of the living water of this well, because thou hast nothing to
draw with: perhaps thou promisest another fountain? Canst thou be better
than our father, who dug this well, and used it himself, and his? Let the
Lord, then, declare what He called living water. "Jesus answered and said
unto her, Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but he
that drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall not thirst forever;
but the water which I shall give him will become in him a fountain of
water, springing up into everlasting life." The Lord has spoken more
openly: "It shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into
everlasting life. He that drinketh of this water shall not thirst forever."
What more evident than that it was not visible, but invisible water, that
He was promising? What more evident than that He was speaking, not in a
carnal, but in a spiritual sense?

   15. Still, however, the woman has her mind on the flesh: she is
delighted with the thought of thirsting no more, and fancies that this was
promised to her by the Lord after a carnal sense; which it will be indeed,
but in the resurrection of the dead. She desired this now. God had indeed
granted once to His servant Elias, that during forty days he neither
hungered nor thirsted. Could not He give this always, seeing He had power
to give it during forty days? She, however, sighed for it, desiring to have
no want, no toil. To be always coming to that fountain, to be burdened with
a weight with which to supply her want, and, when that which she had drawn
is spent, to be obliged to return again: this was a daily toil to her;
because that want of hers was to be relieved, not extinguished. Such a gift
as Jesus promised delighted her; she asks Him to give her living water.

   16. Nevertheless, let us not overlook the fact that it is something
spiritual that the Lord was promising. What means, "Whoso shall drink of
this water shall thirst again?" It is true as to this water; it is true as
to what the water signified. Since the water in the well is the pleasure of
the world in its dark depth: from this men draw it with the vessel of
lusts. Stooping forward, they let down the lust to reach the pleasure
fetched from the depth of the well, and enjoy the pleasure and the
preceding lust let down to fetch it. For he who has not despatched his lust
in advance cannot get to the pleasure. Consider lust, then, as the vessel;
and pleasure as the water from the depth of the well: when one has got at
the pleasure of this world, it is meat to him, it is drink, it is a bath, a
show, an amour; can it be that he will not thirst again? Therefore, "Whoso
shall drink of this water," saith He, "will thirst again;" but if he shall
receive water of me, "he shall never thirst." "We shall be satisfied," it
saith, "with the good things of Thy house."(1) Of what water, then, is He
to give, but of that of which it is said, "With Thee is the fountain of
life"? For how shall they thirst, who "shall be drunk with the fatness of
Thy house"?(2)

   17. What He was promising them was a certain feeding and abundant
fullness of the Holy Spirit: but the woman did not yet understand; and not
understanding, how did she answer? "The woman saith unto Him, Sir, give me
this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw." Want forced
her to labor, and her weakness was pleading against the toil. Would that
she heard the invitation, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will refresh you!"(3) This is, in fact, what Jesus was saying
to her, that she might no longer labor: but she did not yet understand.

   18. At length, wishing her to understand, "Jesus saith unto her, Go,
call thy husband, and come hither." What means this, "Call thy husband"?
Was it through her husband that He wished to give her that water? Or,
because she did not understand, did He wish to teach her through her
husband? Perhaps it was as the apostle says concerning women, "If they wish
to learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home." But this the
apostle says of that where there is no Jesus present to teach. It is said,
in short, to women whom the apostle was forbidding to speak in the
Church.(4) But when the Lord Himself was at hand, and in person speaking to
her, what need was there that He should speak to her by her husband? Was it
through her husband that he spoke to Mary, while sitting at His feet and
receiving His word; while Martha, wholly occupied with much serving,
murmured at the happiness of her sister?(5) Wherefore, my brethren, let us
hear and understand what it is that the Lord says to the woman, "Call thy
husband." For it may be that He is saying also to our soul, "Call thy
husband." Let us inquire also concerning the soul's husband. Why, is not
Jesus Himself already the soul's real husband? Let the understanding be
present, since what we are about to say can hardly be apprehended but by
attentive hearers: therefore let the understanding be present to apprehend,
and perhaps that same understanding will be found to be the husband of the
soul.

   19. Now Jesus, seeing that the woman did not understand, and willing
her to understand, says to her, "Call thy husband." "For the reason why
thou knowest not what I say is, because thy understanding is not present: I
am speaking after the Spirit, and thou art hearing after the flesh. The
things which I speak relate neither to the pleasure of the ears, nor to the
eyes, nor to the smell, nor to the taste, nor to the touch; by the mind
alone are they received, by the understanding alone are they drawn up: that
understanding is not with thee, how canst thou apprehend what I am saying?
'Call thy husband,' bring thy understanding forward. What is it for thee to
have a soul? It is not much, for a beast has a soul. Wherein art thou
better than the beast? In having understanding, which the beast has not."
Then what is "Call thy husband"? "Thou dost not apprehend me, thou dost not
understand me: I am speaking to thee of the gift of God, and thy thought is
of the flesh; thou wishest not to thirst in a carnal sense, I am addressing
myself to the spirit: thy understanding is absent. 'Call thy husband.' Be
not as the horse and mule, which have no understanding.'" Therefore, my
brethren, to have a soul, and not to have understanding, that is, not to
use it, not to live according to it, is a beast's life. For we have
somewhat in common with the beasts, that by which we live in the flesh, but
it must be ruled by the understanding. For the motions of the soul, which
moves after the flesh, and longs to run unrestrainedly loose after carnal
delights, are ruled over by the understanding. Which is to be called the
husband?--that which rules, or that which is ruled? Without doubt, when the
life is well ordered the understanding rules the soul, for itself belongs
to the soul. For the understanding is not something other than the soul,
but a thing of the soul: as the eye is not something other than the flesh,
but a thing of the flesh. But whilst the eye is a thing of the flesh, yet
it alone enjoys the light; and the other fleshy members may be steeped in
light, but they cannot feel the light: the eye alone is both bathed in it,
and enjoys it. Thus in our soul there is a something called the
understanding. This something of the soul, which is called understanding
and mind, is enlightened by the higher light. Now that higher light, by
which the human mind is enlightened, is God; for "that was the true light
which enlighteneth every man coming into this world." Such a light was
Christ, such a light was speaking with the woman yet she was not present
with the understanding, to have it enlightened with that light; not merely
to have it shed upon it, but to enjoy it. Therefore the Lord said, "Call
thy husband," as if He were to say, I wish to enlighten, and yet there is
not here whom I may enlighten: bring hither the understanding through which
thou mayest be taught, by which thou mayest be ruled. Thus, put the soul
without the understanding for the woman; and having the understanding as
having the husband. But this husband does not rule the wife well, except
when he is ruled by a higher. "For the head of the woman is the man, but
the head of the man is Christ."(1) The head of the man was talking with the
woman, and the man was not present. And so the Lord, as if He said, Bring
hither thy head, that he may receive his head, says, "Call thy husband, and
come hither;" that is, Be here, be present: for thou art as absent, while
thou understandest not the voice of the Truth here present; be thou present
here, but not alone; be thou here with thy husband.

   20. And, the husband being not yet called, still she does not
understand, still she minds the flesh; for the man is absent: "I have not,"
saith she, "a husband." And the Lord proceeds and utters mysteries. Thou
mayest understand that woman really to have had at that time no husband;
she was living with some man, not a lawful husband, rather a paramour than
a husband. And the Lord said to her, "Thou hast well said, I have not a
husband." How then didst Thou say, "Call thy husband"? Now hear how the
Lord knew well that she had not a husband "He says to her," etc. In case
the woman might suppose that the Lord had said, "Thou hast well said, I
have not a husband," just because He had learned this fact of her, and not
because he knew it by His own divinity, hear something which thou hast not
said: "For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not
thy husband; this thou hast said truly."

   21. Once more He urges us to investigate the matter somewhat more
exactly concerning these five husbands. Many have in fact understood, not
indeed absurdly, nor so far improbably, the five husbands of this woman to
mean the five books of Moses. For the Samaritans' made use of these books,
and were under the same law: for it was from it they had circumcision. But
since we are hemmed in by what follows, "And he whom thou now hast is not
thy husband," it appears to me that we can more easily take the five senses
of the body to be the five former husbands of the soul. For when one is
born, before he can make use of the mind and reason, he is ruled only by
the senses of the flesh. In a little child, the soul seeks for or shuns
what is heard, and seen, and smells, and tastes, and is perceived by the
touch. It seeks for whatever soothes, and shuns whatever offends, those
five senses. At first, the soul lives according to these five senses, as
five husbands; because it is ruled by them. But why are they called
husbands? Because they are lawful and right: made indeed by God, and are
the gifts of God to the soul. The soul is still weak while ruled by these
five husbands, and living under these five husbands; but when she comes to
years of exercising reason, if she is taken in hand by the noble discipline
and teaching of wisdom, these five men are succeeded in their rule by no
other than the true and lawful husband, and one better than they, who both
rules better and rules for eternity, who cultivates and instructs her for
eternity. For the five senses rule us, not for eternity, but for those
temporal things that are to be sought or shunned. But when the
understanding, imbued by wisdom, begins to rule the soul, it knows now not
only how to avoid a pit, and to walk on even ground--a thing which the eyes
show to the soul even in its weakness; nor merely to be charmed with
musical voices, and to repel harsh sounds; nor to delight in agreeable
scents, and to refuse offensive smells; nor to be captivated by sweetness,
and displeased with bitterness; nor to be soothed with what is soft, and
hurt with what is rough. For all these things are necessary to the soul in
its weakness. Then what rule is made use of by that understanding? Not one
to discern between black and white, but between just and unjust, between
good and evil, between the profitable and the unprofitable, between
chastity and impurity, that it may love the one and avoid the other;
between charity and hatred, to be in the one, not to be in the other.

   22. This husband had not yet succeeded to those five husbands in that
woman. And where he does not succeed, error sways. For when the soul has
begun to be capable of reason, it is ruled either by the wise mind or by
error: but yet error does not rule but destroys. Wherefore, after these
five senses was that woman still wandering, and error was tossing her to
and fro. And this error was not a lawful husband, but a paramour: for that
reason the Lord saith to her, "Thou hast well said, I have not a husband.
For thou hast had five husbands." The five senses of the flesh ruled thee
at first; thou art come to the age of using reason, and yet thou art not
come to wisdom, but art fallen into error. Therefore, after those five
husbands, "this whom thou now hast is not thy husband." And if not a
husband, what was he but a paramour? And so, "Call," not the paramour, but
"thy husband," that thou mayest receive me with the understanding, and not
by error have some false notion of me. For the woman was still in error, as
she was thinking of that water; whilst the Lord was now speaking of the
Holy Ghost. Why was she erring, but because she had a paramour, not a
husband? Put away, therefore, that paramour who corrupts thee, and "go,
call thy husband." Call, and come that thou mayest understand me.

   23. "The woman saith unto Him, Sir, I see that thou art a prophet." The
husband begins to come, he is not yet fully come. She accounted the Lord a
prophet, and a prophet indeed He was; for it was of Himself He said, that
"a prophet is not without honor, save in his own country."(1) Again, of Him
it was said to Moses, "A Prophet will I raise up to them of their brethren,
like unto thee."(2) Like, namely, as to the form of the flesh, but not in
the eminence of His majesty. Accordingly we find the Lord Jesus called a
Prophet. Hence this woman is now not far wrong. "I see," she saith, "that
thou art a prophet." She begins to call the husband, and to shut out the
paramour; she begins to ask about a matter that is Wont to disquiet her.
For there was a contention between the Samaritans and the Jews, because the
Jews worshipped God in the temple built by Solomon; but the Samaritans,
being situated at a distance from it, did not worship there. For this
reason the Jews, because they worshipped God in the temple, boasted
themselves to be better than the Samaritans. "For the Jews have no dealings
with the Samaritans:" because the latter said to them, How is it you boast
and account yourselves to be better than we, just because you have a temple
which we have not? Did our fathers, who were pleasing to God, worship in
that temple? Was it not in this mountain where we are they worshipped? We
then do better, say they, who pray to God in this mountain, where our
fathers prayed. Both peoples contended in ignorance, because they had not
the husband: they were inflated against each other, on the one side in
behalf of the temple, on the other in behalf of the mountain.

   24. What, however, does the Lord teach the woman now, as one whose
husband has begun to be present? "The woman saith unto Him, Sir, I perceive
that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye
say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith
unto her, Woman, believe me." For the Church will come, as it is said in
the Song of Songs, "will come, and will pass over from the beginning of
faith."(3) She will come in order to pass through; and pass through she
cannot, except from the beginning of faith. Rightly she now hears, the
husband being present: "Woman, believe me." For there is that in thee now
which can believe, since thy husband is present. Thou hast begun to be
present with the understanding when thou calledst me a prophet. Woman,
believe me; for if ye believe not, ye will not understand.(4) Therefore,
"Woman, believe me, for the hour will come when ye shall neither in this
mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what:
we worship what we know; for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour will
come." When? "And now is." Well, what hour? "When the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth," not in this mountain, not
in the temple, but in spirit and in truth. "For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him." Why does the Father seek such to worship Him, not on a
mountain, not in the temple, but in spirit and in truth? "God is Spirit."
If God were body, it were right that He should be worshipped on a mountain,
for a mountain is corporeal; it were right He should be worshipped in the
temple, for a temple is corporeal. "God is Spirit; and they that worship
Him, must worship in spirit and in truth."

   25. We have heard, and it is manifest; we had gone out of doors, and we
are sent inward. Would I could find, thou didst say, some high and lonely
mountain! For I think that, because God is on high, He hears me the rather
from a high place. Because thou art on a mountain, dost thou imagine
thyself near to God. and that He will quickly hear thee, as if calling to
Him from the nearest place? He dwells on high, but regards the lowly. "The
Lord is near." To whom? To the high, perhaps? "To them who are contrite of
heart."(1) 'Tis a wonderful thing: He dwelleth on high, and yet is near to
the lowly; "He hath regard to lowly things, but lofty things He knoweth
from afar;"(2) He seeth the proud afar off, and He is the less near to them
the higher they appear to themselves to be. Didst thou seek a mountain,
then? Come down, that thou mayest come near Him. But wouldest thou ascend?
Ascend, but do not seek a mountain. "The ascents," it saith, "are in his
heart, in the valley of weeping."(3) The valley is humility. Therefore do
all within. Even if perhaps thou seekest some lofty place, some holy place,
make thyself a temple for God within time. "For the temple of God is holy,
which temple are ye."(4) Wouldest thou pray in a temple? Pray in thyself.
But be thou first a temple of God, for He in His temple heareth him that
prays.

   26. "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth. We worship that which we know:
ye worship ye know not what; for salvation is of the Jews." A great thing
has He attributed to the Jews; but do not understand Him to mean those
spurious Jews. Understand that wall to which another is joined, that they
may be joined together, resting on the corner-stone, which is Christ. For
there is one wall from the Jews, another from the Gentiles; these walls are
far apart, only until they are united in the Corner. Now the aliens were
strangers and foreigners from the covenants of God.(5) According to this,
it is said, "We worship what we know." It is said, indeed, in the person of
the Jews, but not of all Jews, not of reprobate Jews, but of such as were
the apostles, as were the prophets, as were all those saints who sold all
their goods, and laid the price of their goods at the apostles' feet. "For
God hath not rejected His people which He foreknew."(6)

   27. The woman heard this, and proceeded. She had already called Him a
prophet; she observes that He with whom she was speaking uttered such
things as still more pertained to the prophet; and what answer did she
make? See: "The woman saith unto Him, I know that Messias will come, who is
called Christ: when He then is come, He will show us all things." What is
this? Just now she saith, The Jews are contending for the temple, and we
for this mountain: when He has come, He will despise the mountain, and
overthrow the temple; He will teach us all things, that we may know how to
worship in spirit and in truth. She knew who could teach her, but she did
not yet know Him that was now teaching her. But now she was worthy to
receive the manifestation of Him. Now Messias is Anointed: Anointed, in
Greek, is Christ; in Hebrew, Messias; whence also, in Punic, Messe means
Anoint. For the Hebrew, Punic and Syriac are cognate and neighboring
languages.

   28. Then, "The woman saith unto Him, I know that Messias will come, who
is called Christ: when He then is come, He will tell us all things. Jesus
saith unto her, I that speak with thee am He." She called her husband; he
is made the head of the woman, and Christ is made the head of the man. Now
is the woman constituted in faith, and ruled, as about to live rightly.
After she heard this, "I that speak with thee am He," what further could
she say, when the Lord Jesus willed to manifest Himself to the woman, to
whom He had said, "Believe me?"

   29. "And immediately came His disciples, and marvelled that He talked
with the woman." That He was seeking her that was lost, He who came to seek
that which was lost: they marvelled at this. They marvelled at a good
thing, they were not suspecting an evil thing. "Yet no man said, What
seekest Thou, or why talkest Thou with her?"

   30. "The woman then left her water-pot." Having heard, "I that speak
with thee am He," and having received Christ the Lord into her heart, what
could she do but now leave her water-pot, and run to preach the gospel? She
cast out lust, anti hastened to proclaim the truth. Let them who would
preach the gospel learn; let them throw away their water-pot at the well.
You remember what I said before of the water-pot: it was a vessel with
which the water was drawn, called hydria, from its Greek name, because
water is hydor in Greek; just as if it were called aquarium, from the
Latin. She threw away her water-pot then, which was no longer of use, but a
burden to her, such was her avidity to be satisfied with that water.
Throwing her burden away, to make known Christ, "she ran to the city, and
says to those men. Come, and see a man that told me all things that ever I
did." Step by step, lest those men should get angry and indignant, and
should persecute her. "Is this Christ? Then they went out of the city, and
came to Him."

   31. "And in the meanwhile His disciples besought Him, saying, Master,
eat." For they had gone to buy meat, and had returned. "But He said, I have
meat to eat which ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to
another, Hath any man brought Him aught to eat?" What wonder if that woman
did not understand about the water? See; the disciples do not yet
understand the meat. But He heard their thoughts, and now as a master
instructs them, not in a round-about way, as He did the woman while He
still sought her husband, but openly at once: "My meat," saith He, "is to
do the will of Him that sent me." Therefore, in the case of that woman, it
was even His drink to do the will of Him that sent Him. That was the reason
why He said, "I thirst, give me to drink;" namely, to work faith in her,
and to drink of her faith, and to transplant her into His own body, for His
body is the Church. Therefore He saith," My meat is to do the will of Him
that sent me."

   32. "Say ye not, that there are yet four months, and then cometh
harvest?" He was aglow for the work, and was arranging to send forth
laborers. You count four months to the harvest; I show you another harvest,
white and ready. Behold, I say unto you, "Lift up your eyes, and see that
the fields are already white for the harvest." Therefore He is going to
send forth the reapers. "For in this is the saying true, that one reapeth,
another soweth: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice
together. I have sent you to reap that on which ye have not labored: others
have labored, and ye are entered into their labor." What then? He sent
reapers; sent He not the sowers? Whither the reapers? Where others labored
already. For where labor had already been bestowed, surely there had been
sowing; and what had been sown had now become ripe, and required the sickle
and the threshing. Whither, then, were the reapers to be sent? Where the
prophets had already preached before; for they were the sowers. For had
they not been the sowers, whence had this come to the woman, "I know that
Messias will come"? That woman was now ripened fruit, and the harvest
fields were white, and sought the sickle. "I sent you," then. Whither? "To
reap what ye have not sown: others sowed, and ye are entered into their
labors." Who labored? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Read their labors; in all
their labors there is a prophecy of Christ, and for that reason they were
sowers. Moses, and all the other patriarchs, and all the prophets, how much
they suffered in that cold season when they sowed! Therefore was the
harvest now ready in Judea. Justly was the corn there said to be as it were
ripe, when so many thousands of men brought the price of their goods, and,
laying them at the apostles' feet, having eased their shoulders of this
worldly baggage, began to follow the Lord Christ. Verily the harvest was
ripe. What was made of it? Of that harvest a few grains were thrown out,
and sowed the whole world; and another harvest is rising which is to be
reaped in the end of the world. Of that harvest it is said, "They that sow
in tears shall reap with joy."(1) But to that harvest not apostles, but
angels, shall be sent forth. "The reapers," saith He, "are the angels."(2)
That harvest, then, is growing among tares, and is awaiting to be purged in
the end of the world. But that harvest to which the disciples were sent
first, where the prophets labored, was already ripe. But yet, brethren,
observe what was said: "may rejoice together, both he that soweth and he
that reapeth." They had dissimilar labors in time, but the rejoicing they
shall enjoy alike equally; they shall receive for their wages together
eternal life.

   33. "And many Samaritans of that city believed on Him, because of the
saying of the woman, who testified, He told me all that ever I did. And
when the Samaritans came to Him, they besought Him that He would tarry with
them; and He tarried there two days. And many more believed because of His
word; and said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy words; for
we have heard Him ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of
the world." This also must be slightly noticed, for the lesson is come to
an end. The woman first announced Him, and the Samaritans believed her
testimony; and they besought Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two
days, and many more believed. And when they had believed, they said to the
woman, "Now we believe, not because of thy word; but we are come to know
Him ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world:"
first by report, then by His presence. So it is to-day with them that are
without, and are not yet Christians. Christ is made known to them by
Christian friends; and just upon the report of that woman, that is, the
Church, they come to Christ, they believe through this report. He stays
with them two days, that is, gives them two precepts of charity; and many
more believe, and more firmly believe, on Him, because He is in truth the
Saviour of the world.

TRACTATE XVI: CHAPTER IV. 43-54.

   1. The Gospel Lesson of to-day follows that of yesterday, and this is
the subject of our discourse. In this passage the meaning, indeed, is not
difficult of investigation, but worthy of preaching, worthy of admiration
and praise. Accordingly, in reciting this passage of the Gospel, we must
commend it to your attention, rather than laboriously expound it.

   Now Jesus, after His stay of two days in Samaria, "departed into
Galilee," where He was brought up. And the evangelist, as he goes on, says,
"For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet hath no honor in his own
country." It was not because He had no honor in Samaria that Jesus
departed. thence after two days; for Samaria was not His own country, but
Galilee. Whilst, therefore, He left Samaria so quickly, and came to
Galilee, where He had been brought up, how does He testify that "a prophet
hath no honor in his own country"? Rather does it seem that He might have
testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country, had He disdained
to go into Galilee, and had stayed in Samaria.

   2. Now mark well, beloved, while the Lord suggests and bestows what I
may speak, that here is intimated to us no slight mystery. You know the
question before us; seek ye out the solution of it. But, to make the
solution desirable, let us repeat the theme. The point that troubles us is,
why the evangelist said, "For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet hath
no honor in his own country." Urged by this, we go back to the preceding
words, to discover the evangelist's intention in saying this; and we find
him relating, in the preceding words of the narrative, that after two days
Jesus departed from Samaria into Galilee. Was it for this, then, thou
saidst, O evangelist, that Jesus testified that a prophet hath no honor in
his own country, just because He left Samaria after two days, and made
haste to come to Galilee? On the contrary, I should have thought it more
likely, that if Jesus had no honor in His own country, He should not have
hastened to it, and left Samaria. But if I am not mistaken, or rather,
because it is true, and I am not mistaken; for the evangelist saw what he
was saying better than I can see it, saw the truth better than I do, he who
drank it in from the Lord's bosom: for the evangelist is the same John who,
among all the disciples, reclined on the Lord's breast, and whom the Lord,
owing love to all, yet loved above the rest. Is it he, then, that should be
mistaken, and I right in my opinion? Rather, if I am piously-minded, let me
obediently hear what he said, that I may be worthy of thinking as he
thought.

   3. Hear then, dearly beloved, what I think in this matter, without
prejudice to your own judgment, if you have formed a better. For we have
all one Master, and we are fellow-disciples in one school. This, then, is
my opinion, and see whether my opinion is not true, or near the truth. In
Samaria He spent two days, and the Samaritans believed on Him; many were
the days He spent in Galilee. and yet the Galileans did not believe on Him.
Look back to the passage, or recall in memory the lesson and the discourse
of yesterday. He came into Samaria, where at first He had been preached by
that woman with whom He had spoken great mysteries at Jacob's well. After
they had seen and heard Him, the Samaritans believed on Him because of the
woman's word, and believed more firmly because of His own word, even many
more believed: thus it is written. After passing two days there (in which
number of days is mystically indicated the number of the two precepts on
which hang the whole law and the prophets, as you remember we intimated to
you yesterday), He goes into Galilee, and comes to the city Cana of
Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there, when He turned the water
into wine, as John himself writes, His disciples believed on Him; but, of
course, the house was full with a crowd of guests. So great a miracle was
wrought, and yet only His disciples believed on Him. He has now returned to
this city of Galilee. "And, behold, a certain ruler, whose son was sick,
came to Him, and began to beseech Him to go down" to that city or house,
"and heal his son; for he was at the point of death." Did he who besought
not believe? What dost thou expect to hear from me? Ask the Lord what He
thought of him. Having been besought, this is what He answered: "Except ye
see signs and wonders, ye believe not." He shows us a man lukewarm, or cold
in faith, or of no faith at all; but eager to try by the healing of his son
what manner of person Christ was, who He was, what He could do. The words
of the suppliant, indeed, we have heard: we have not seen the heart of the
doubter; but He who both heard the words and saw the heart has told us
this. In short, the evangelist himself, by the testimony of his narrative,
shows us that the man who desired the Lord to come to his house to heal his
son, had not yet believed. For after he had been informed that his son was
whole, and found that he had been made whole at that hour in which the Lord
had said, "Go thy way, thy son liveth;" then he saith, "And himself
believed, and all his house." Now, if the reason why he believed, and all
his house, was that he was told that his son was whole, and found the hour
they told him agreed with the hour of Christ's foretelling it, it follows
that when he was making the request he did not yet believe. The Samaritans
had waited for no sign, they believed simply His word; but His own fellow-
citizens deserved to hear this said to them, "Except ye see signs and
wonders, ye believe not;" and even there, notwithstanding so great a
miracle was wrought, there did not believe but "himself and his house." At
His discourse alone many of the Samaritans believed; at that miracle, in
the place where it was wrought, only that house believed. What is it, then,
brethren, that the Lord doth show us here? Galilee of Judea was then the
Lord's own country, because He was brought up in it. But now that the
circumstance portends something,--for it is not without cause that
"prodigies" are so called, but because they portend or presage something:
for the word "prodigy" is so termed as if it were porrodicium, quod porro
dicat, what betokens something to come, and portends something future,--now
all those circumstances portended something, predicted something; let us
just now assume the country of our Lord Jesus Christ after the flesh (for
He had no country on earth, except after the flesh which He took on earth);
let us, I say, assume the Lord's own country to mean the people of the
Jews. Lo, in His own country He hath no honor. Observe at this moment the
multitudes of the Jews; observe that nation now scattered over the whole
world, and plucked up by the roots; observe the broken branches, cut off,
scattered, withered, which being broken off, the wild olive has deserved to
be grafted in; look at the multitude of the Jews: what do they say to us
even now? "He whom you worship and adore was our brother." And we reply, "A
prophet hath no honor in his own country." In short, those Jews saw the
Lord as He walked on the earth and worked miracles; they saw Him giving
sight to the blind, opening the ears of the deaf, loosing the tongues of
the dumb, bracing up the limbs of the paralytics, walking on the sea,
commanding the winds and waves, raising the dead: they saw Him working such
great signs, and after all that scarcely a few believed. I am speaking to
God's people; so many of us have believed, what signs have we seen? It is
thus, therefore, that what occurred at that time betokened what is now
going on. The Jews were, or rather are, like the Galileans; we, like those
Samaritans. We have heard the gospel, have given it our consent, have
believed on Christ through the gospel; we have seen no signs, none do we
demand.

   4. For, though one of the chosen and holy twelve, yet he was an
Israelite, of the Lord's nation, that Thomas who desired to put his fingers
into the places of the wounds. The Lord censured him just as He did this
ruler. To the ruler He said, "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye believe
not;" and to Thomas He said, "Because thou hast seen, thou hast believed."
He had come to the Galileans after the Samaritans, who had believed His
word, before whom He wrought no miracles, whom He without anxiety quickly
left, strong in faith, because by the presence of His divinity He had not
left them. Now, then, when the Lord said to Thomas, "Come, reach hither thy
hand, and be not faithless, but believing;" and he, having touched the
places of the wounds, exclaimed, and said, "My Lord, and my God;" he is
chided, and has it said to him, "Because thou hast seen, thou hast
believed." Why, but "because a prophet has no honor in his own country?"
But since this Prophet has honor among strangers, what follows? "Blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."(1) We are the persons
here foretold; and that which the Lord by anticipation praised, He has
deigned to fulfill even in us. They saw Him, who crucified Him, and touched
Him with their hands, and thus a few believed; we have not seen nor handled
Him, we have heard and believed. May it be our lot, that the blessedness
which He has promised may be made good in us: both here, because we have
been preferred to His own country; and in the world to come, because we
have been grafted in instead of the branches that were broken off!

   5. For He showed that He would break off these branches, and ingraft
this wild olive, when moved by the faith of the centurion, who said to Him,
"I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but only speak the
word, and my child shall be healed: for I also am a man put under
authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to one, Go, and he goeth;
and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he
doeth it. Jesus turned to those who followed Him, and said, Verily I say
unto you, I have not found so great faith in Israel." Why not found so
great faith in Israel? "Because a prophet has no honor in his own country."
Could not the Lord have said to that centurion, what He said to this ruler,
"Go, thy child liveth?" See the distinction: this ruler desired the Lord to
come down to his house that centurion declared himself to be unworthy. To
the one it was said, "I will come and heal him;" to the other, "Go, thy son
liveth." To the one He promised His presence; the other He healed by His
word. The ruler sought His presence by force; the centurion declared
himself unworthy of His presence. Here is a ceding to loftiness; there, a
conceding to humility. As if He said to the ruler, "Go, thy son liveth;" do
not weary me. "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye believe not;" thou
desirest my presence in thy house, I am able to command by a word; do not
wish to believe in virtue of signs: the centurion, an alien, believed me
able to work by a word, and believed before I did it; you, "except ye see
signs and wonders, believe not." Therefore, if it be so, let them be broken
off as proud branches, and let the humble wild olive be grafted;
nevertheless let the root remain, while those are cut off and these
received in their place. Where does the root remain? In the patriarchs. For
the people Israel is Christ's own country, since it is of them that He came
according to the flesh; but the root of this tree is Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, the holy patriarchs. And where are they? In rest with God, in great
honor; so that it was into Abraham's bosom that the poor man, on being
promoted, was raised after his departure from the body, and in Abraham's
bosom was he seen from afar off by the proud rich man. Wherefore the root
remains, the root is praised; but the proud branches deserved to be cut
off, and to wither away; and by their cutting off, the humble wild olive
has found a place.

   6. Hear now how the natural branches are cut off, how the wild olive is
grafted in, by means of the centurion himself, whom I have thought proper
to mention for the sake of comparison with this ruler. "Verily I say unto
you, I have not found so great faith in Israel; therefore I say unto you,
that many shall come from the east and from the west." How widely the wild
olive took possession of the earth! This world was a bitter forest; but
because of the humility, because of this "I am not worthy--many shall come
from the east and from the west." And grant that they come, what shall
become of them? For if they come, they are cut off from the forest; where
are they to be ingrafted, that they may not wither? "And shall sit down,"
saith He, "with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob." At what banquet, in case
thou dost not invite to ever living, but to much drinking? Where, "shall
sit down? In the kingdom of heaven." And how will it be with them who came
of the stock of Abraham? What will become of the branches with which the
tree was full? What but to be cut off, that these may be grafted in? Show
us that they shall be cut off: "But the children of the kingdom shall go
into outer darkness."(1)

   7. Therefore let the Prophet have honor among us, because He had no
honor in His own country. He had no honor in His country, wherein He was
formed; let Him have honor in the country which He has formed. For in that
country was He, the Maker of all, made as to the form of a servant. For
that city in which He was made, that Zion, that nation of the Jews He
Himself made when He was with the Father as the Word of God: for "all
things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made." Of that man we
have to-day heard it said: "One Mediator of God and men, the man Christ
Jesus."(2) The Psalms also foretold, saying, "My mother is Sion, shall a
man say." A certain man, the Mediator man between God and men, says, "My
mother Sion." Why says, "My mother is Sion"? Because from it He took flesh,
from it was the Virgin Mary, of whose womb He took upon Him the form of a
servant; in which He deigned to appear most humble. "My mother is Sion,"
saith a man; and this man, who says, "My mother is Sion," was made in her,
became man in her. For He was God before her, and became man in her. He who
was made man in her, "Himself did found her; the Most High(3) was made man
in her most low." Because "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."
"He Himself, the Most High, founded her." Now, because He founded this
country, here let Him have honor. The country in which He was born rejected
Him; let that country receive Him which He regenerated.

TRACTATE XVII: CHAPTER V. 1-18.

   1. It ought not to be a matter of wonder that a miracle was wrought by
God; the wonder would be if man had wrought it. Rather ought we to rejoice
than wonder that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was made man, than that
He performed divine works among men. It is of greater importance to our
salvation what He was made for men, than what He did among men: it is more
important that He healed the faults of souls, than that He healed the
weaknesses of mortal bodies. But as the soul knew not Him by whom it was to
be healed, and had eyes in the flesh whereby to see corporeal deeds, but
had not yet sound eyes in the heart with which to recognise Him as God
concealed in the flesh, He wrought what the soul was able to see, in order
to heal that by which it was not able to see.

   He entered a place where lay a great multitude of sick folk--of blind,
lame, withered; and being the physician both of souls and bodies, and
having come to heal all the souls of them that should believe, of those
sick folk He chose one for healing, thereby to signify unity. If in doing
this we regard Him with a commonplace mind, with the mere human
understanding and wit, as regards power it was not a great matter that He
performed; and also as regards goodness He performed too little. There lay
so many there, and yet only one was healed, whilst He could by a word have
raised them all up. What, then, must we understand but that the power and
the goodness was doing what souls might, by His deeds, understand for their
everlasting salvation, than what bodies might gain for temporal health? For
that which is the real health of bodies, and which is looked for from the
Lord, will be at the end, in the resurrection of the dead. What shall live
then shall no more die; what shall be healed shall no more be sick; what
shall be satisfied shall no more hunger and thirst; what shall be made new
shall not grow old. But at this time, however, the eyes of the blind, that
were opened by those acts of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, were again
closed in death; and limbs of the paralytics that received strength Were
loosened again in death; and whatever was for a time made whole in mortal
limbs came to nought in the end: but the soul that believed passed to
eternal life. Accordingly, to the soul that should believe, whose sins He
had come to forgive, to the healing of whose ailments He had humbled
Himself, He gave a significant proof by the healing of this impotent man.
Of the profound mystery of this thing and this proof, so far as the Lord
deigns to grant us, while you are attentive and siding our weakness by
prayer, I will speak as I shall have ability. And whatever I am not able to
do, that will be supplied to you by Him by whose help I do what I can.

   2. Of this pool, which was surrounded with five porches, in which lay a
great multitude of sick folk, I remember that I have very often treated;
and most of you will with me recollect what I am about to say, rather than
gain the knowledge of it for the first time. But it is by no means
unprofitable to go back upon matters already known, that both they who know
not may be instructed, and they who do know may be confirmed. Therefore, as
being already known, these things must be touched upon briefly, not
leisurely inculcated. That pool and that water seem to me to have signified
the Jewish people. For that peoples are signified under the name of waters
the Apocalypse of John clearly indicates to us, where, after he had been
shown many waters, and he had asked what they were, was answered that they
were peoples.(1) That water, then--namely, that people--was shut in by the
five books of Moses, as by five porches. But those books brought forth the
sick, not healed them. For the law convicted, not acquitted sinners.
Accordingly the letter, without grace, made men guilty, whom on confessing
grace delivered. For this is what the apostle saith: "For if a law had been
given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by
the law." Why, then, was the law given? He goes on to say, "But the
Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to them that believe."(2) What more evident? Have not
these words expounded to us both the five porches, and also the multitude
of sick folk? The five porches are the law. Why did not the five porches
heal the sick folk? Because, "if there had been a law given which could
have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." Why,
then, did the porches contain those whom they did not heal? Because "the
Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to them that believe."

   3. What was done, then, that they who could not be healed in the
porches might be healed in that water after being troubled? For on a sudden
the water was seen troubled, and that by which it was troubled was not
seen. Thou mayest believe that this was wont to be done by angelic virtue,
yet not without some mystery being implied. After the water was troubled,
the one who was able cast himself in, and he alone was healed: whoever went
in after that one, did so in vain. What, then, is meant by this, unless it
be that there came one, even Christ, to the Jewish people; and by doing
great things, by teaching profitable things, troubled sinners, troubled the
water by His presence, and roused it towards His own death? But He was
hidden that troubled. For had they known Him, they would never have
crucified the Lord of glory.(1) Wherefore, to go down into the troubled
water means to believe in the Lord's death. There only one was healed,
signifying unity: whoever came thereafter was not healed, because whoever
shall be outside unity cannot be healed.

   4. Now let us see what He intended to signify in the case of that one
whom He Himself, keeping the mystery of unity, as I said before, deigned to
heal out of so many sick folk. He found in the number of this man's years
the number, so to speak, of infirmity: "He was thirty and eight years in
infirmity." How this number refers more to weakness than to health must be
somewhat more carefully expounded. I wish you to be attentive; the Lord
will aid us, so that I may fitly speak, and that you may sufficiently hear.
The number forty is commended to our attention as one consecrated by a kind
of perfection. This, I suppose, is well known to you, beloved. The Holy
Scriptures very often testify to the fact. Fasting was consecrated by this
number, as you are well aware. For Moses fasted forty days, and Elias as
many; and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ did Himself fulfill this number
of fasting. By Moses is signified the law; by Elias, the prophets; by the
Lord, the gospel. It was for this reason that these three appeared on that
mountain, where He showed Himself to His disciples in the brightness of His
countenance and vesture. For He appeared in the middle, between Moses and
Elias, as the gospel had witness from the law and the prophets.(2) Whether,
therefore, in the law, or in the prophets, or in the gospel, the number
forty is commended to our attention in the case of fasting. Now fasting, in
its large and general sense, is to abstain from the iniquities and unlawful
pleasures of the world, which is perfect fasting: "That, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we may live temperately, and righteously,
and godly in this present world." What reward does the apostle join to this
fast? He goes on to say: "Looking for that blessed hope, and the appearing
of the glory of the blessed God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ."(3) In this
world, then, we celebrate, as it were, the forty days' abstinence, when we
live aright, and abstain from iniquities and from unlawful pleasures. But
because this abstinence shall not be without reward, we look for "that
blessed hope, and the revelation of the glory of the great God, and of our
Saviour Jesus Christ." In that hope, when the reality of the hope shall
have come to pass, we shall receive our wages, a penny (denarius). For the
same is the wages given to the workers laboring in the vineyard,(4) as I
presume you remember; for we are not to repeat everything, as if to persons
wholly ignorant and inexperienced. A denarius, then, which takes its name
from the number ten, is given, and this joined with the forty makes up
fifty; whence it is that before Easter we keep the Quadragesima with labor,
but after Easter we keep the Quinquagesima with joy, as having received our
wages. Now to this, as if to the wholesome labor of a good work, which
belongs to the number forty, there is added the denarius of rest and
happiness, that it may be made the number fifty.

   5. The Lord Jesus Himself showed this also far more openly, when He
companied on earth with His disciples during forty days after His
resurrection; and having on the fortieth day ascended into heaven, did at
the end of ten days send the wages, the Holy Ghost. These were done in
signs, and by a kind of signs were the very realities anticipated. By
significant tokens are we fed, that we may be able to come to the enduring
realities. We are workmen, and are still laboring in the vineyard: when the
day is ended and the work finished, the wages will be paid. But what
workman can hold out to the receiving of the wages, unless he be fed while
be labors? Even thou thyself wilt not give thy workman only wages; wilt
thou not also bestow on him that where with he may repair his strength in
his labor? Surely thou feedest him to whom thou art to give wages. In like
manner also doth the Lord, in those significant tokens of the Scriptures,
feed us while we labor. For if that joy in understanding holy mysteries be
withdrawn from us, we faint in labor, and there will be none to come to the
reward.

   6. How, then, is work perfected in the number forty? The reason, it may
be, is, because the law was given in ten precepts, and was to be preached
throughout the whole world: which whole world, we are to mark, is made up
of four quarters, east and west, south and north, whence the number ten,
multiplied by four, comes to forty. Or, it may be, because the law is
fulfilled by the gospel, which has four books: for in the gospel it is
said, "I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." Whether, then, it
be for this reason or for that, or for some other more probable, which is
hid from us, but not from more learned men; certain it is, however, that in
the number forty a certain perfection in good works is signified, which
good works are most of all practised by a kind of abstinence from unlawful
lusts of the world, that is, by fasting in the general sense.

   Hear also the apostle when he says, "Love is the fulfilling of the
law."(1) Whence the love? By the grace of God, by the Holy Spirit. For we
could not have it from ourselves, as if making it for ourselves. It is the
gift of God, and a great gift it is: for, saith he, "the love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given to us."(2)
Wherefore love completes the law, and most truly it is said, "Love is the
perfecting of the law." Let us inquire as to this  love, in what manner the
Lord doth commend it to our consideration. Remember what I laid down: I
want to explain the number thirty-eight of the years of that impotent man,
why that number thirty-eight is one of weakness rather than of health. Now,
as I was saying, love fulfills the law. The number forty belongs to the
perfecting of the law in all works; but in love two precepts are committed
to our keeping. Keep before your eyes, I beseech you, and fix in your
memory, what I say; be ye not despisers of the word, that your soul may not
become a trodden path, where the seed cast cannot sprout, "and the fowls of
the air will come and gather it up." Apprehend it, and lay it up in your
hearts. The precepts of love, given to us by the Lord, are two: "Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all thy mind;" and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets."(3) With good reason did
the widow cast "two mites," all her substance, into the offerings of God:
with good reason did the host take "two" pieces of money, for the poor man
that was wounded by the robbers, for his making whole: with good reason did
Jesus spent two days with the Samaritans, to establish them in love. Thus,
whilst a certain good thing is generally signified by this number two, most
especially is love in its twofold character set forth to us thereby. If,
therefore, the number forty possesses the perfecting of the law, and the
law is fulfilled only in the twin precepts of love, why dost thou wonder
that he was weak and sick, who was short of forty by two?

   7. Therefore let us now see the sacred mystery whereby this impotent
man is healed by the Lord. The Lord Himself came, the Teacher of love, full
of love, "shortening," as it was predicted of Him, "the word upon the
earth,"(4) and showed that the law and the prophets hang on two precepts of
love. Upon these hung Moses with his number forty, upon these Elias with
his; and the Lord brought in this number in His testimony. This impotent
man is healed by the Lord in person; but before healing him, what does He
say to him? "Wilt thou be made whole?" The man answered that he had not a
man to put him into the pool. Truly he had need of a "man" to his healing,
but that "man" one who is also God. "For there is one God, and one Mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus."(5) He came, then, the Man who
was needed: why should the healing be delayed? "Arise," saith He; "take up
thy bed, and walk." He said three things: "Arise, Take up thy bed, and
Walk." But that "Arise" was not a command to do a work, but the operation
of healing. And the man, on being made whole, received two commands: "Take
up thy bed, and Walk." I ask you, why was it not enough to say, "Walk?" Or,
at any rate, why was it not enough to say, "Arise"? For when the man had
arisen whole, he would not have remained in the place. Would it not be for
the purpose of going away that he would have arisen? My impression is, that
He who found the man lacking two things, gave him these two precepts: for,
by ordering him to do two things, it is as if He filled up that which was
lacking.

   8. How, then, do we find the two precepts of love indicated in these
two commands of the Lord? "Take up thy bed," saith He, "and walk." What the
two precepts are, my brethren, recollect with me. For they ought to be
thoroughly familiar to you, and not merely to come into your mind when they
are recited by us, but they ought never to be blotted out from your hearts.
Let it ever be your supreme thought, that you must love God and your
neighbor: "God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and With all thy
mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." These must always be pondered,
meditated, retained, practised, and fulfilled. The love of God comes first
in the order of enjoying; but in the order of doing, the love of our
neighbor comes first. For He who commanded thee this love in two precepts
did not charge thee to love thy neighbor first, and then God, but first
God, afterwards thy neighbor. Thou however, as thou dost not yet see God
dost earn to see Him by loving thy neighbor; by loving thy neighbor thou
purgest thine eye for seeing God, as John evidently says, "If thou lovest
not thy brother whom thou seest, how canst thou love God, whom thou dost
not see?"(1) See, thou art told, "Love God." If thou say to me, "Show me
Him, that I may love Him;" what shall I answer, but what the same John
saith: "No man hath seen God at any time"? And, that you may not suppose
yourself to be wholly estranged from seeing God, he saith, "God is love;
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God."(2) Therefore love thy
neighbor; look at the source of thy love of thy neighbor; there thou wilt
see, as thou mayest, God. Begin, then, to love thy neighbor. "Break thy
bread to the hungry, and bring into thy house him that is needy without
shelter; if thou seest the naked, clothe him; and despise not those of the
household of thy seed." And in doing this, what wilt thou get in
consequence? "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning light."(3)
Thy light is thy God, a "morning light" to thee, because He shall come to
thee after the night of this world: for He neither rises nor sets, because
He is ever abiding. He will be a morning light to thee on thy return, He
who had set for thee on thy falling away from Him. Therefore, in this "Take
up thy bed," He seems to me to have said, Love thy neighbor.

   9. But why the love of our neighbor is set forth by the taking up of
the bed, is still shut up, and, as I suppose, needs to be expounded:
unless, perhaps, it offend us that our neighbor should be indicated by
means of a bed, a stolid, senseless thing. Let not my neighbor be angry if
he be set forth to us by a thing without soul and without feeling. The Lord
Himself, even our Saviour Jesus Christ, is called the corner-stone, to
build up two in Himself. He is called also a rock, from which water flowed
forth: "And that rock was Christ."(4) What wonder, then, if Christ is
called rock, that neighbor is called wood? Yet not any kind of wood
whatever; as neither that was any kind of rock soever, but one from which
water flowed to the thirsty; nor any kind soever of stone, but a corner-
stone, which in itself coupled two walls coming from different directions.
So neither mayest thou take thy neighbor to be wood of any kind soever, but
a bed. Then what is there in a bed, pray? What, but that the impotent man
was borne on it; but, when made whole, he carries the bed? What does the
apostle say? "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so shall ye fulfill the
law of Christ."(5) Now the law of Christ is love, and love is not fulfilled
except we bear one another's burdens. "Forbearing," saith he, "one another
in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace."(5) When thou wast weak thy neighbor bore thee: thou art made whole,
bear thy neighbor. So wilt thou fill up, O man, that which was lacking to
thee. "Take up thy bed, then." But when thou hast taken it up, stay not in
the place; "walk." By loving thy neighbor, by caring for thy neighbor, dost
thou perform thy going. Whither goest thy way, but to the Lord God, whom we
ought to love with the whole heart, and with the whole soul, and with the
whole mind? For we are not yet come to the Lord, but we have our neighbor
with us. Bear him, then, when thou walkest, that thou mayest come to Him
with whom thou desirest to abide. Therefore, "take up thy bed, and walk."

   10. The man did this, and the Jews were offended. For they saw a man
carrying his bed on the Sabbath-day, and they did not blame the Lord for
healing him on the Sabbath, that He should be able to answer them, that if
any of them had a beast fallen into a well, he would surely draw it out on
the Sabbath-day, and save his beast; and so, now they did not object to Him
that a man was made whole on the Sabbath-day, but that the man was carrying
his bed. But if the healing was not to be deferred, should a work also have
been commanded? "It is not lawful for thee," say they, to do what thou art
doing, "to take up thy bed." And he, in defence, put the author of his
healing before his censors, saying, "He that made me whole, the same said
unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk." Should I not take injunction from him
from whom I received healing? And they said, "Who is the man that said unto
thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?"

   11. "But he that was made whole knew not who it was" that had said this
to him. "For Jesus," when He had done this, and given him this order,
"turned away from him in the crowd." See how this also is fulfilled. We
bear our neighbor, and walk towards God; but Him, to whom we are walking,
we do not yet see: for that reason also, that man did not yet know Jesus.
The mystery herein intimated to us is, that we believe on Him whom we do
not yet see; and that He may not be seen, He turns aside in the crowd. It
is difficult in a crowd to see Christ: a certain solitude is necessary for
our mind; it is by a certain solitude of contemplation that God is seen. A
crowd has noise; this seeing requires secrecy. "Take up thy bed"--being
thyself borne, bear thy neighbor; "and walk," that thou mayest come to the
goal. Do not seek Christ in a crowd: He is not as one of a crowd; He excels
all crowd. That great fish first ascended from the sea, and He sits in
heaven making intercession for us: as the great high priest He entered
alone into that within the veil; the crowd stands without. Do thou walk,
bearing thy neighbor: if thou hast learned to bear, thou, who wast wont to
be borne. In a word, even now as yet thou knowest not Jesus, not yet seest
Jesus: what follows thereafter? Since that man desisted not from taking up
his bed and walking, "Jesus seeth him afterwards in the temple." He did not
see Jesus in the crowd, he saw Him in the temple. The Lord Jesus, indeed,
saw him both in the crowd and in the temple; but the impotent man does not
know Jesus in the crowd, but he knows Him in the temple. The man came then
to the Lord: saw Him in the temple, saw Him in a consecrated, saw Him in a
holy place. And what does the Lord say to him? "Behold, thou art made
whole; sin no more, lest some worse thing befall thee."

   12. The man, then, after he saw Jesus, and knew Him to be the author of
his healing, was not slothful in preaching Him whom he had seen: "He
departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus that had made him whole." He
brought them word, and they were mad against him; he preached his own
salvation, they sought not their own salvation.

   13. The Jews persecuted the Lord Jesus because He did these things on
the Sabbath-day. Let us hear what answer the Lord now made to the Jews. I
have told you how He is wont to answer concerning the healing of men on the
Sabbath-day, that they used not on the Sabbath-day to slight their cattle,
either in delivering or in feeding them. What does He answer concerning the
carrying of the bed? A manifest corporal work was done before the eyes of
the Jews; not a healing of the body, but a bodily work, which appeared not
so necessary as the healing. Let the Lord, then, openly declare that the
sacrament of the Sabbath, even the sign of keeping one day, was given to
the Jews for a time, but that the fulfillment of the sacrament had come in
Himself. "My Father," saith He, "worketh hitherto, and I work." He sent a
great commotion among them: the water is troubled by the coming of the
Lord, but yet He that troubles is not seen. Yet one great sick one is to be
healed by the troubled water, the whole world by the death of the Lord.

   14. Let us see, then, the answer made by the Truth: "My Father worketh
hitherto, and I work." Is it false, then, which the Scripture has said,
that "God rested from all His works on the seventh day"? And does the Lord
Jesus speak contrary to this Scripture ministered by Moses, whilst He
Himself says to the Jews, "If ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for
He wrote of me"? See, then, whether Moses did not mean it to be significant
of something that "God rested on the seventh day." For God had not become
wearied in doing the work of His own creation, and needed rest as a man.
How can He have been wearied, who made by a word? Yet is both that true,
that "God rested from His works on the seventh day;" and this also is true
that Jesus saith, "My Father worketh hitherto." But who can unfold it in
words, man to men, weak to weak, unlearned to them that seek to learn; and
if he chance to understand somewhat, unable to bring it forth and unfold it
to men, who with difficulty, it may be, receive it, even if what is
received can possibly be unfolded? Who, I say, my brethren, can unfold in
words how God both works while at rest, and rests while working? I pray you
to put this matter off while you are advancing on the way; for this seeing
requires the temple of God, requires the holy place. Bear your neighbor,
and walk. Ye shall see Him in that place where ye shall not require the
words of men.

   15. Perhaps we can more appropriately say this, that in the saying,
"God rested on the seventh day," he signified by a great mystery the Lord
and our Saviour Jesus Christ Himself, who spoke and said, "My Father
worketh hitherto, and I work." For the Lord Jesus is, of course, God. For
He is the Word of God, and you have heard that "in the beginning was the
Word;" and not any word whatsoever, but "the Word was God, and all things
were made by Him." He was perhaps signified as about to rest on the seventh
day from all His works. For, read the Gospel, and see what great works
Jesus wrought. He wrought our salvation on the cross, that all things
foretold by the prophets might be fulfilled in Him. He was crowned with
thorns; He hung on the tree; said, "I thirst," received vinegar on a
sponge, that it might be fulfilled which was said, "And in my thirst they
gave me vinegar to drink."(1) And when all His works were completed, on the
sixth day of the week, He bowed His head and gave up the ghost, and on the
Sabbath-day He rested in the tomb from all His works. Therefore it is as if
He said to the Jews, "Why do ye expect that I should not work on the
Sabbath? The Sabbath-day was ordained for you for a sign of me. You observe
the works of God: I was there when they were made, by me were they all
made; I know them. 'My Father worketh hitherto.' The Father made the light,
but He spoke that there should be light; if He spoke, it was by His Word He
made it: His Word I was, I am; by me was the world made in those works, by
me the world is ruled in these works. My Father worked when He made the
world, and hitherto now worketh while He rules the world: therefore by me
He made when He made, and by me He rules while He rules." This He said, but
to whom? To men deaf, blind, lame, impotent, not acknowledging the
physician, and as if in a frenzy they had lost their wits, wishing to slay
Him.

   16. Further, what said the evangelist as he went on? "Therefore the
Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath,
but said also that God was His Father;" not in any ordinary manner, but
how? "Making Himself equal with God." For we all say to God, "Our Father
which art in heaven;" we read also that the Jews said, "Seeing Thou art our
Father."(2) Therefore it was not for this they were angry, because He said
that God was His Father, but because He said it in quite another way than
men do. Behold, the Jews understand what the Arians do not understand. The
Arians, in fact, say that the Son is not equal with the Father, and hence
it is that the heresy was driven from the Church. Lo, the very blind, the
very slayers of Christ, still understood the words of Christ. They did not
understand Him to be Christ, nor did they understand Him to be the Son of
God: but they did nevertheless understand that in these words such a Son of
God was intimated to them as should be equal with God. Who He was they knew
not; still they did acknowledge such a One to be declared, in that "He said
God was His Father, making Himself equal with God." Was He not therefore
equal with God? He did not make Himself equal, but the Father begat Him
equal. Were He to make Himself equal, He would fall by robbery. For he who
wished to make himself equal with God, whilst he was not so, fell, and of
an angel became a devil,(3) and administered to man that cup of pride by
which himself was cast down. For this fallen said to man, envying his
standing, "Taste, and ye shall be as gods;"(3) that is, seize to yourselves
by usurpation that which ye are not made, for I also have been cast down by
robbery. He did not put forth this, but this is what he persuaded to.
Christ, however, was begotten equal to the Father, not made; begotten of
the substance of the Father. Whence the apostle thus declares Him: "Who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God."
What means "thought it not robbery"? He usurped not equality with God, but
was in that equality in which He was begotten. And how were we to come to
the equal God? "He emptied Himself, taking upon Him the form of a
servant."(5) But He emptied Himself not by losing what He was, but by
taking to Him what He was not. The Jews, despising this form of a servant,
could not understand the Lord Christ equal to the Father, although they had
not the least doubt that He affirmed this of Himself, and therefore were
they enraged: and yet He still bore with them, and sought the healing of
them, while they raged against Him.

TRACTATE XVIII: CHAPTER V. 19.

   1. John the evangelist, among his fellows and companions the other
evangelists, received this special and peculiar gift from the Lord (on
whose breast he reclined at the feast, hereby to signify that he was
drinking deeper secrets from His inmost heart), to utter those things
concerning the Son of God which may perhaps rouse the attentive minds of
the little ones, but cannot fill them, as yet not capable of receiving
them; while to minds, of somewhat larger growth, and coming to a certain
age of inner manhood, he gives in these words something whereby they may
both be exercised and fed. You have heard it when it was read, and you
remember how this discourse arose. For yesterday it was read, that
"therefore the Jews sought to kill Jesus, because He not only broke the
Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with
God." This that displeased the Jews, pleased the Father. This, without
doubt, pleases them too that honor the Son as they honor the Father; for if
it does not please them, they will not be pleasing. For God will not be
greater because it pleases thee, but thou wilt be less if it displeases
thee. Now against this calumny of theirs, coming either of ignorance or of
malice, the Lord speaks not at all what they can understand, but that
whereby they may be agitated and troubled, and, on being troubled, it may
be, seek the Physician. And He uttered what should be written, that it
might afterwards be read even by us. Now we have seen what happened in the
hearts of the Jews when they heard these words; what happens in ourselves
when we hear them, let us more fully consider. For heresies, and certain
tenets of perversity, ensnaring souls and hurling them into the deep, have
not sprung up except when good Scriptures are not rightly understood, and
when that in them which is not rightly understood is rashly and boldly
asserted. And so, dearly beloved, ought we very cautiously to hear those
things for the understanding of which we are but little ones, and that,
too, with pious heart and with trembling, as it is written, holding this
rule of soundness, that we rejoice as in food in that which we have been
able to understand, according to the faith with which we are imbued; and
what we have not yet been able to understand, that we lay aside doubting,
and defer the understanding of it for a time; that is, even if we do not
yet know what it is, that still we doubt not in the least that it is good
and true. And as for me, brethren, you must consider who I am that
undertake to speak to you, and what I have undertaken: for I have taken
upon me to treat of things divine, being a man; of spiritual things, being
carnal; of things eternal, being a mortal. Also from me, dearly beloved,
far be vain presumption, if my conversation would be sound in the house of
God, "which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of
the truth."(1) In proportion to my measure I take what I put before you:
where it is opened, I see with you; where it is shut, I knock with you.

   2. Now the Jews were moved and indignant: justly, indeed, because a man
dared to make himself equal with God; but unjustly in this, because in the
man they understood not the God. They saw the flesh, the God they knew not;
they observed the habitation, of the inhabitant they were ignorant. That
flesh was a temple, within it dwelt God. It was not the flesh that Jesus
made equal to the Father, it was not the form of a servant that He compared
to the Lord; not that which He became for us, but that which He was when He
made us. For who Christ is (I speak to Catholics) you know, because you
have rightly believed; not Word only, nor flesh only, but the Word was made
flesh to dwell among us. I recite again concerning the Word what you know:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God:" here is equality with the Father. But "the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us." Than this flesh the Father is greater. Thus the Father is
both equal and greater; equal to the Word, greater than the flesh; equal to
Him by whom He made us, greater than He who was made for us. By this sound
catholic rule, which you ought particularly to know. which you who know it
hold fast, from which your faith ought not in any case to slip, which is to
be wrested from your heart by no arguments of men, let us measure the
things we do understand; and the things which, it may be, we do not
understand, let us defer, to be hereafter measured by this rule, when we
shall be competent to do this. We know Him, then, as equal to the Father,
the Son of God, because we know Him in the beginning as God the Word. Why,
then, sought the Jews to slay Him? "Because He not only broke the Sabbath,
but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God:"
seeing the flesh, not seeing the Word. Let Him therefore speak against
them, the Word through the flesh; let Him, the dweller within, speak for
through His dwelling-place, that whoso can, shall know who He is that
dwells within.

   What saith He then to them? "Then answered Jesus, and said unto them,"
being indignant because He made Himself equal with God, "Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The Son cannot do anything of Himself, but what He seeth the
Father doing." What the Jews answered to these words is not written: and
perhaps they said nothing. Certain, however, who wish to be esteemed
Christians, are not silent, but from these words somehow conceive certain
opinions in contradiction to us, which are not to be despised, both for
their and for our sakes. The Arian heretics, namely, while they assert that
the Son, who took upon Himself flesh, is less than the Father, not by the
flesh, but before taking flesh, and not of the same substance as the
Father, take a handle of misrepresentation from these words, and reply to
us: "You see that the Lord Jesus, observing the Jews to be moved with
indignation at his making himself equal to God the Father, subjoined such
words as these, to show that he was not equal with God. For the Jews," say
they, "were provoked against Christ, because he made him self equal with
God; and Christ, wishing to cure them of this impression, and to show them
that the Son is not equal to the Father, that is, to God, saith this, as if
he said, Why are ye angry? Why are ye indignant? I am not equal to God,
since 'the Son cannot do anything of himself, except what he seeth the
Father doing.' Now," say they, "he who 'cannot do anything of himself, but
what he seeth the Father doing,' is surely less, not equal."

   4. In this distorted and depraved rule of his own heart, let the
heretic hear us, not as yet chiding, but still as it were inquiring, and
let him explain to us what he thinks. For, I suppose, whoever thou art (for
we may regard him as here present in person), thou dost hold with us, that
"in the beginning was the Word." I do hold it, saith he. And that "the Word
was with God"? This too, saith he, I hold. Proceed then, and hold the
stronger saying that follows, that "the Word was God." Even this, says he,
I hold: but yet, this, God the greater; that, God the less. Now this
somehow smells of the pagan: I thought I was speaking with a Christian. If
there is God the greater, and God the less, then we worship two Gods, not
one God. Why, saith he; dost not thou, too, affirm two Gods, equal the one
to the other? This I do not assert: for I understand this equality as
implying therein also undivided love; and if undivided love, then perfect
unity. For if the love that God put in men doth make of many hearts of men
one heart, and doth make many souls of men into one soul, as it is written
of them that believed and mutually loved one another, in the Acts of the
Apostles, "They had one soul and one heart toward God:"(1) if, therefore,
my soul and thy soul become one soul, when we think the same thing and love
one another, how much more must God the Father and God the Son be one God
in the fountain of love!

   5. But to these words, by which thy heart is disturbed, bend thy
thought, and reflect with me on that which we were seeking out concerning
the Word. We already hold that "the Word was God:" I join to this another
thing, that, having said, "This was in the beginning with God," the
evangelist immediately subjoined, "All things were made by Him." Now will I
urge thee by questioning, now will I move thee against thyself, and sue
thee against thyself: only keep this in memory concerning the Word, that
"the Word was God, and all things were made by Him." Hear now the words by
which thou wast moved to assert that the Son is less, forsooth, because He
said, "The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what He seeth the Father
doing." Just so, saith he. Explain to me this a little: This is, I presume,
how thou thinkest: that the Father doeth certain things, and the Son
observes how the Father doeth, that He may also Himself be able to do those
things which He seeth the Father doing. Thou hast set up two artisans, as
it were: the Father and the Son just like master and learner, like as
artisan fathers are wont to teach their sons their craft. Behold, I come
down to thy carnal sense: for the moment I think as thou doest: let us see
if this our conception finds an issue in harmony with the things which we
have just now alike spoken and alike hold regarding the Word, that "the
Word was God," and that "all things were made by Him." Suppose, then, the
Father, as an artisan, doing certain works, and the Son as a learner, who
"cannot of Himself do anything, but what He seeth the Father doing:" He
keenly watches, in a manner, the Father's hands, that, as He seeth Him
fashioning aught, so He may Himself in like manner fashion something
similar by His own works. But the Father here doeth all those things that
He doeth, and wishes the Son to give heed to Him, and to do the like also
Himself; by whom doeth the Father? Come! now is the time for thee to stand
to thy former opinion, which thou didst recite with me, and didst hold with
me; that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God, and all things were made by Him." But thou, after holding
with me, that all things were made by the Word, dost again, with thy carnal
wit and childish fancy, imagine with thyself God making something, and the
Word giving heed; so that when God has made, the Word also may make the
like. Now, what does God make without the Word? For if He doeth aught, then
were not all things made by the Word; thou hast given up the position which
thou didst hold. But if all things were made by the Word, correct what thou
didst understand amiss. The Father made, and made only by the Word: in what
way does the Word give heed to see the Father making without the Word, what
the Word may do in like manner? Whatever the Father hath made, He made it
by the Word; else is it false that "all things were made by Him." But it is
true that "all things were made by Him." Perhaps this did not seem enough
for thee? Well, "and without Him was nothing made."

   6. Withdraw, then, from this wisdom of the flesh, and let us inquire in
what manner it is said, "The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what He
seeth the Father doing." Let us inquire, if we are worthy to apprehend. For
I confess it is a great thing, and altogether difficult; to see the Father
doing through the Son: not the Father and the Son doing each His particular
works, but the Father doing every work whatsoever by the Son; so that not
any works are done by the Father without the Son, or by the Son without the
Father, because "all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing
made." These truths being most firmly established in the foundation of
faith, what now is the nature of this "seeing"? Thou seek-eat, as I
suppose, to know the Son doing: seek first to know the Son seeing. For
what, in fact, saith He? "The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what
He seeth the Father doing." Note what He said, "but what He seeth the
Father doing." The seeing comes first, the doing follows: He seeth in order
to do. As for thee, why seekest thou at present to know how He doeth,
whilst thou understandest not as yet how He seeth? Why runnest thou to that
which comes later, leaving that which comes first? He declares Himself as
seeing and doing, not doing and seeing; because "He cannot of Himself do
anything, but what He seeth the Father doing." Wilt thou that I explain to
thee how He doeth? Do thou explain to me how He seeth. If thou canst not
explain this, neither can I that. If thou art not yet competent to
understand this, neither am I to understand that. Wherefore let each of us
seek, each knock, that each may merit to receive. Why dost thou, as if thou
wert learned, unjustly blame me who am unlearned? I in respect of the
doing, thou in respect of the seeing, being both unlearned, let us inquire
of the Master, not childishly wrangle in His school. We have already,
however, learned together that "all things were made by Him." Therefore it
is manifest that it is not a different kind of works that the Father doeth,
that, seeing them, the Son may do other works like them; but the very same
doeth the Father by the Son, because all things were made by the Word. Now,
as to how God doeth, who knows? How made He, I will not say the world, but
thine own eye, in thy carnal attachment to which thou comparest visible
things with invisible? For thou conceivest of God such things as thou art
wont to see with these eyes. But if God might be seen with these eyes, He
would not have said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God." Accordingly, thou hast an eye of the body to see an artificer, but
thou hast not yet the eye of the heart to see God: hence, what thou art
wont to see in an artificer, thou wouldest transfer to God. Leave earthly
things on the earth; set thy heart on high.

   7. What then, beloved, are we going to explain that which we have
asked, how the Word seeth, how the Father is seen by the Word, what the
seeing of the Word is? I am not so bold, so rash, as to promise to explain
this, for myself or for you: however I estimate your measure, still I know
my own. Therefore, if you please, not to delay it longer, let us run over
the passage, and see how carnal hearts are troubled by the words of the
Lord; to this end troubled, that they may not continue in that which they
hold. Let this be wrested from them, as some toy is wrested from children,
with which they amuse themselves to their hurt, that, as persons of larger
growth, they may have more profitable things planted in them, and may be
able to make progress, instead of crawling on the earth Arise, seek, sigh,
pant with desire, and knock at what is shut. But if we do not yet desire,
not yet earnestly seek, not yet sigh, we shall only be throwing pearls to
all indiscriminately, or finding pearls ourselves, regardless of what kind.
Wherefore, beloved, I would move a longing desire in your heart. Good
character leads to right understanding: the kind of life leads to another
kind of life. One kind of life is earthly, another is heavenly: there is a
life of beasts, another of men, and another of angels. The life of beasts
is excited with earthly pleasures, seeks earthly pleasures alone, and
grovels after them with immoderate desire: the life of angels is alone
heavenly; the life of men is midway between that of angels and of beasts.
If man lives after the flesh, he is on a level with the beasts; if he lives
after the Spirit, he joins in the fellowship of angels. When thou livest
after the Spirit, examine even in the angelic life whether thou be small or
well-grown. For if thou art still a little one, the angels say to thee,
"Grow: we feed on bread; thou art nourished with milk, with the milk of
faith that thou mayest come to the meat of sight." But if there be still a
longing for filthy pleasures, if the thoughts be still of deceit, if lies
are not avoided, if perjuries be heaped on lies, shall a heart so foul dare
to say, "Explain to me how the Word sees;" even if I be able to do so, even
if I myself now see? And further, though not perhaps of this character
myself, and I am nevertheless far from this vision, how must that man be
weighed down with earthly desires, who is not yet rapt with this desire
from above! There is a wide difference between loathing and desiring; and
again, between desiring and enjoying. If thou livest as do the beasts, thou
loathest: the angels have full enjoyment. If, on the other hand, thou
livest not as the beast, thou hast no longer loathing: something thou
desirest, and dost not receive: thou hast, by the very desire, begun the
life of the angels. May it grow in thee, and be perfected in thee; and
mayest thou receive this, not of me, but of Him who made both me and thee!

   8. Yet the Lord also has not left us to chance, since, in that He said,
"The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what He seeth the Father
doing," He meant us to understand that the Father doeth, not some works
which the Son may see, and the Son doeth other works after He has seen the
Father doing; but that both the Father and Son do the very same works. For
He goes on to say, "For what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the
Son in like manner." Not after the Father hath done works, doeth the Son
other works in like manner; but, "whatever He doeth, these also the Son
doeth in like manner." If these the Son doeth which the Father doeth, then
it is by the Son that the Father doeth: if by the Son the Father doeth what
He doeth, then the Father doeth not some, the Son others; but the works of
the Father and of the Son are the same works. And how doeth the Son also
the same? Both "the same," and "in like manner." In case you should think
them the same, but in a different manner, the "same," saith He, and "in
like manner." And how could they be the same and not in like manner? Take
an example, which I presume is not too big for you: when we write letters
they are first formed by our heart, then by our hand. Certainly: why
otherwise have you all agreed, but because you perceived it to be so? It is
as I have said, it is manifest to us all. The letters are made first by our
heart, then by our body; the hand serves, the heart commands; both the
heart and the hand make the same letters. Dost think the heart doeth some
letters, the hand some others? The same indeed doeth the hand, but not in
like manner: our heart forms them intelligibly, but our hand visibly. See
how the same things are made, but not in like manner. Hence it was not
enough for the Lord to say, "What things soever the Father doeth, these
also the Son doeth;" He must add, "and in like manner." For what if thou
shouldst understand this just as thou understandest whatever thy heart
doeth, this also thy hand doeth, but in a different manner? Here, however,
he added, "These also the Son doeth in like manner." If He both doeth
these, and in like manner doeth, then awake; let the Jew be crushed, let
the Christian believe, let the heretic be convinced: The Son is equal to
the Father.

   9. "For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that
Himself doeth." Here is that "showeth." "Showeth," as it were, to whom? Of
course, as to one that sees. We return to that which we cannot explain, how
the Word seeth. Behold, man was made by the Word; but man has eyes, ears,
hands, divers members in the body: he is able by the eyes to see, by the
ears to hear, by the hands to work; the members are diverse, their offices
diverse. One member cannot do the office of another; yet, by reason of the
unity of the body, the eye sees both for itself and for the ear, and the
ear hears for itself and for the eye. Are we to suppose that something like
this holds good in the Word, seeing all things are by Him; and Scripture
has said in the psalm, "Understand, ye brutish among the people; and ye
fools, at length be wise. He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? And
He that formed the eye, shall He not see?"(1) Hence, if the Word is He that
formed the eye, for all things are by the Word; if the Word is He that
planted the ear, for all things are by the Word: we cannot say the Word
doth not hear, the Word doth not see; lest the psalm reprove us, and say,
"Fools, at length be wise." Therefore, if the Word heareth and seeth, if
the Son heareth and seeth, are we yet to search for eyes and ears in Him in
separate places? Does He by one part hear, by another see; and cannot His
ear do what His eye doth; and cannot His eye do what His ear can? Or is He
not all sight, all hearing? Perhaps yes; nay, not perhaps, but truly yes;
whilst, however, that seeing of His, and that hearing of His, is in a way
far other than it is with us. Both to see and to hear exist together in the
Word: seeing and hearing are not diverse things in Him; but hearing is
sight, and sight is hearing.

   10. And we, who see in one way, and hear in another way, how know we
this? We return perhaps to ourselves, if we are not the trangressors to
whom it is said, "Return, O trangressors, to your heart."(2) Return to your
heart: why go from yourselves, and perish from yourselves? Why go the ways
of solitude? You go astray by wandering: return ye. Whither? To the Lord.
'Tis quickly done: first return to thine own heart; thou hast wandered
abroad an exile from thyself; thou knowest not thyself, and yet thou art
asking by whom thou wast made! Return, return to thy heart, lift thyself
away from the body: thy body is thy place of abode; thy heart perceives
even by thy body. But thy body is not what thy heart is; leave even thy
body, return to thy heart. In thy body thou didst find eyes in one place,
ears in another place: dost thou find this in thy heart? Or hast thou not
ears in thy heart? Else of what did the Lord say, "Whoso hath ears to hear,
let him hear?"(3) Or hast thou not eyes in thy heart? Else of what saith
the apostle. "The eyes of your heart being enlightened?"(4) Return to thy
heart; see there what, it may be, thou canst perceive of God, for in it is
the image of God. In the inner man dwelleth Christ, in the inner man art
thou renewed after the image of God, in His own image recognize its Author.
See how all the senses of the body bring intelligence to the heart within
of what they have perceived abroad; see how many ministers the one
commander within has and what it can do by itself even without these
ministers. The eyes report to the heart things black and white; the ears
report to the same heart pleasant and harsh sounds; to the same heart the
nostrils announce sweet odors and stenches; to the same heart the taste
announces things bitter and sweet; to the same heart the touch announces
things smooth and rough; and the heart declares to itself things just and
unjust. Thy heart sees and hears and judges all other things perceived by
the senses; and, what the senses do not aspire to, discerns things just and
unjust, things evil and good. Show me the eyes, ears, nostrils, of thy
heart. Diverse are the things that are referred to thy heart, yet are there
not diverse members there. In thy flesh, thou hearest in one place, seest
in another; in thy heart, where thou seest, there thou hearest. If this be
the image, how much more mightily He whose the image is! Therefore the Son
both heareth and seeth; the Son is both the hearing itself and the seeing:
to hear is to Him the same thing as "to be;" and to see is to Him the same
thing as "to be." To see is not the same thing to thee as to be; for if
thou lose thy sight, thou canst be; and if thou lose thy hearing, thou
canst be.

   11. Do we think we have knocked? Is there raised up within us something
whereby we may even slightly conjecture whence light may come to us? It is
my opinion, brethren, I that when we speak of these things, and meditate
upon them, we are exercising ourselves. And when we are exercising
ourselves, and are as it were bent back again by our own weight to our
customary thoughts, we are like weak-eyed persons, when they are brought
forth to see the light, if perchance they had no sight at all before, and
begin in some sort to recover their sight by the assiduous care of
physicians. And when the physician would test the progress of recovery, he
tries to show them something which they sought to see, but could not while
they were blind: and while the eyesight is now somewhat recovered, they are
brought forth to the light; and as they see it, are beaten back in a manner
by the very glare; and they answer the physician, as he points out the
object, This moment I did see, but now I cannot. What then does the
physician? He brings them back to their usual ways, and applies the eye-
salve to nourish the longing for seeing that which was seen only for a
moment, so that by the very longing he may cure more completely; and if any
stinging salves are applied for the recovery of soundness, let the patient
bear it bravely, and, inflamed with love of the light, say to himself, When
will it be that with strong eyes I shall see what with sore and weak eyes I
could not? He urges the physician, and begs him to heal him. Therefore,
brethren, if, it may be, something like this has taken place in your
hearts, if somehow you have raised your heart to see the Word, and, beaten
back by its light, you have fallen back to your wonted ways; pray the
Physician to apply sharp salves, the precepts of righteousness. There is
that which thou mayest see, but not that whereby thou canst see. Thou didst
not believe me before that there is that which thou mayest see: thou art
now, as by the guidance of reason, brought to it: thou hast drawn near,
strained thine eyes to see it, throbbed, and shrunk back. Thou knowest for
certain that there is what thou mayest see, but that thou art not yet meet
to see it. Therefore be healed. What are the eye-salves? Do not lie, do not
swear falsely, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not defraud. But
thou art used to these, and it is with some pain thou art drawn away from
old habits: this is what bites, but yet heals. For I tell thee freely, by
fear of myself and of thee, if thou give up the healing, and scorn to
become meet to enjoy this light, by weakness of thine eyes, thou wilt love
darkness; and by loving darkness, wilt remain in darkness; and by remaining
in darkness, wilt be cast even into outer darkness: there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. If the love of light has effected nothing in thee,
let the fear of pain effect something.

   12. I think I have spoken long enough, and yet I have not concluded the
Gospel lesson: if I go on to declare what remains, I shall burden you, and
I fear lest even what has been drawn may be lost; therefore let this be
enough for you now, beloved. We are debtors, not now, but always as long as
we live; because we live for you. However, do you, by good living, comfort
this life of ours, so weak, toilsome, and full of peril in this world; do
not afflict and wear us out by your evil manners. For if, when offended
with your evil life, we flee from you and separate ourselves from you, and
no longer come to you, will ye not complain, and say, And if we were sick,
ye might care for us; and if we were weak, ye might have visited us?
Behold, we do care for you; behold, we do visit you; but let it not be with
us as you have heard from the apostle, "I fear lest I have bestowed labor
upon you in vain."(1)

TRACTATE XIX: CHAPTER V. 19-30.

   In the former discourse, so far as the subject impressed us, and so far
as our poverty of understanding attained to, we have spoken by occasion of
the words of the Gospel, where it is written: "The Son cannot do anything
of Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing,"--what it is for the Son--
that is, the Word, for the Son is the Word--"to see;" and as all things
were made by the Word, how it is to be understood that the Son first sees
the Father doing, and then only Himself also doeth the things which He has
seen done, seeing that the Father has done nothing except by the Son. For
"all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. We have
not, however, delivered to you anything as fully explained, and that
because we have not understood anything thus clearly set forth. For,
indeed, speech sometimes fails even where the understanding makes way; how
much more doth speech suffer defect, where the understanding has nothing
perfect! Now, therefore, as the Lord gives us, let us briefly run over the
passage, and even to-day complete the due task. Should there perchance
remain somewhat of time or of strength, we will reconsider (so far as it
may be practicable for us and with you) what it is for the Word "to see"
and "to be shown to;" since, in fact, all that is here spoken is such that,
if understood according to man's sense, carnally, the soul full of vain
fancies makes for us only certain images of the Father and the Son, just as
of two men, the one showing, the other seeing; the one speaking, the other
hearing,--all which are idols of the heart. And if now at length idols have
been cast down from their own temples, how much more ought they to be cast
down from Christian hearts!

   2. "The Son," saith He, "cannot do anything of Himself, but what He
sees the Father doing." This is true: hold this fast, while at the same
time ye do not let slip what ye have gotten in the beginning of the Gospel,
that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God," and especially that "all things were made by Him." Join this
that ye have now heard to that hearing, and let both agree together in your
hearts. Thus, "The Son cannot of Himself do anything, except what He seeth
the Father doing," is yet in such wise that what the Father doeth, He doeth
only by the Son, because the Son is His Word: and, "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;" also, "All
things were made by Him." For what things soever He doeth, the Son also
doeth in like manner; not other things, but these and not in a different,
but in like manner.

   3. "For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that
Himself doeth." To that which He said above, "except what He seeth the
Father doing," seems to belong this also, "He showeth Him all things that
Himself doeth." But if the Father doth show what He doeth, and the Son
cannot do except the Father hath shown, and if the Father cannot show
unless He hath done, it will follow that it is not through the Son that the
Father doeth all things; moreover, if we hold it fixed and unshaken, that
the Father doeth all by the Son, then He shows the Son before He doeth. For
if the Father doth show to the Son after He has done, that the Son may do
the things shown, which being shown were already done, then doubtless
something there is that the Father doeth without the Son. But the Father
doeth not anything without the Son, because the Son of God is God's Word,
and all things were made by Him. It remains, then, that possibly what the
Father is about to do, He shows as about to be done, that it may be done by
the Son. For if the Son doeth those things which the Father showeth as
already done, surely it is not by the Son that the Father hath done the
things which He thus showeth. For they could not be shown to the Son unless
they were first done, and the Son would not be able to do them unless they
were first shown; therefore were they made without the Son. But yet it is a
true thing, "All things were made by Him;" therefore they were shown before
they were made. But this we said must be put off, and returned to after
briefly scanning the passage, if, as we said, some portion of time and of
strength should remain to us for a reconsideration of the matters deferred.

   4. Attend now to a wider and more difficult question. "And greater
works than these," saith He, "will He show Him, that ye may marvel."
"Greater than these." Greater than which? The answer readily occurs: than
the cures of bodily diseases which ye have just heard: For the whole
occasion of this discourse arose about the man who was thirty and eight
years in infirmity, and was healed by the word of Christ; and in respect of
this cure, the Lord could say, "Greater works than these He will show Him,
that ye may marvel." For there are greater, and the Father will show them
to the Son. It is not "hath shown," as of a thing past, but "will show," of
a thing future; or, is about to show. Again a difficult question arises:
Why, then, is there something with the Father that has not yet been shown
to the Son? Is there something with the Father that was still hid from the
Son when He spoke these words? For surely, if it be "will show," that is to
say, "is about to show," then He has not yet shown; and He is about to show
to the Son at the same time as to these persons, since it follows, "that ye
may marvel." And this is a thing hard to see, how the Eternal Father doth
show something, as it were in time, to the coeternal Son, who knoweth all
things that are with the Father.

   5. But what are the greater works? For perhaps this is easy to
understand. "For as the Father," saith He, "raiseth up the dead, and
quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will." To raise the
dead, then, are greater works than to heal the sick. But "as the Father
raiseth the dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth whom He
will." Hence, the Father some, the Son others? But all things are by Him:
therefore the Son the same persons as the Father doth; since the Son doeth
not other things and in a different manner, but "these" and in "like
manner." Thus clearly it must be understood, and thus held. But keep in
memory that" the Son quickeneth whom He will." Here, too, know not only the
power of the Son, but also the will. Both the Son quickeneth whom He will,
and also the Father quickeneth whom He will--the Son the same persons as
the Father; and hence the power of the Father and of the Son is the same,
and also the will is the same. What follows then? "For the Father judgeth
not any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son, that all men may honor
the Son, even as they honor the Father:" this He subjoined, as rendering a
reason of the foregoing sentence. A great question comes before us; give it
you r earnest attention. The Son quickeneth whom He will, the Father
quickeneth whom He will; the son raiseth the dead, just as the Father
raiseth the dead. And further, "the Father judgeth not any man." If the
dead must be raised in the judgment, how can it be said that the Father
raiseth the dead, if He judgeth not any man, since "He hath given all
judgment to the Son"? But in that judgment the dead are raised; some rise
to life, others to punishment. If the Son doeth all this, but the Father
not, inasmuch as "He judgeth not any man, but hath given all judgment to
the Son," it will appear contrary to what has been said, viz., "As the
Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth
whom He will." Consequently the Father and the Son raise together; if they
raise together, they quicken together: hence they judge together. How,
then, is that true, "For the Father judgeth not any man, but hath given all
judgment to the Son"? Meanwhile let the questions now proposed engage your
minds; the Lord will cause that, when solved, they will delight you. For so
it is, brethren: every question, unless it stirs the mind to reflection,
will not give delight when explained. May the Lord Himself then follow with
us, in case He may perhaps reveal Himself somewhat in those matters which
He foldeth up. For He foldeth up His light with a cloud; and it is
difficult to fly like an eagle above every obscure mist with which the
whole earth is covered, and to behold the most serene light in the words of
the Lord. In case, then, He may perhaps dissipate our darkness with the
heat of His rays, and deign to reveal Himself somewhat in the sequel, let
us, deferring these questions, look at what follows.

   6. "Whoso honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father that sent Him."
This is a truth, and is plain. Since, then, "all judgment hath He given to
the Son," as He said above, "that all may honor the Son, even as they honor
the Father," what if there be those who honor the Father and honor not the
Son? It cannot be, saith He: "Whoso honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the
Father that sent Him." One cannot therefore say, I honored the Father,
because I knew not the Son. If thou didst not yet honor the Son, neither
didst thou honor the Father. For what is honoring the Father, unless it be
in that He hath a Son? It is one thing when thou art taught to honor God in
that He is God; but another thing when thou art taught to honor Him in that
He is Father. When thou art taught to honor Him in that He is God, it is as
the Creator, as the Almighty, as the Spirit supreme, eternal, invisible,
unchangeable, that thou art led to think of Him; but when thou art taught
to honor Him in that He is Father, it is the same thing as to honor the
Son; because Father cannot be said if there be not a Son, as neither can
Son if there be not a Father. But lest, it may be, thou honorest the Father
indeed as greater, but the Son as less,--as thou mayest say to me, "I do
honor the Father, for I know that He has a Son; nor do I err in the name
Father, for I do not understand Father without Son, and yet the Son also I
honor as the less,"--the Son Himself sets thee right, and recalls thee,
saying, "that all may honor the Son," not in a lower degree, but "as they
honor the Father." Therefore, "whoso honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the
Father that sent Him." "I," sayest thou, "wish to give greater honor to the
Father, less to the Son." Therein thou takest away honor from the Father,
wherein thou givest less to the Son. For, being thus minded, it must really
seem to thee that the Father either would not or could not beget a Son
equal to Himself: if He would not, He lacked the will; if He could not, He
lacked the ability. Dost thou not therefore see that, being thus minded,
wherein thou wouldst give greater honor to the Father, therein thou art
reproachful to the Father? Wherefore, so honor the Son as thou honorest the
Father, if thou wouldest honor both the Father and the Son.

   7. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whoso heareth my word, and
believeth on Him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into
judgment, but is passed," not is passing now, but is already passed, "from
death into life." And mark this, "Whoso heareth my word, and"--He says not,
believeth me, but--"believeth Him that sent me." Let him hear the word of
the Son, that he may believe the Father. Why heareth Thy word, and yet
believeth another? When we hear any one's word, is it not him that utters
the word we believe? is it not to him who speaks we lend our faith? What,
then, did He mean, saying, "Whoso heareth my word, and believeth Him that
sent me," if it be not this, because" His word is in me"? And what is
"heareth my word," but "heareth me"? So, too, "believeth Him that sent me,"
because, believing Him, he believeth His word; but again, believing His
word, he believeth me, because I am the Word of the Father. There is
therefore peace in the Scriptures, and all things duly disposed, and in no
way clashing. Cast away, then, contention from thy heart; understand the
harmony of the Scriptures. Dost thou think that the Truth should speak
things contrary to itself?

   8. "Whoso heareth my word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath eternal
life, and cometh not into judgment, but is passed from death unto life."
You remember what we laid down above, that "as the Father raiseth up the
dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth whom He will." He is
beginning already to reveal Himself; and behold, even now, the dead are
rising. For "whoso heareth my word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath
eternal life, and will not come into judgment." Prove that he has risen
again. "But is passed," saith He "from death unto life." He that is passed
from death unto life, has surely without any doubt risen again. For he
could not pass from death to life, unless he were first in death and not in
life; but when he will have passed, he will be in life, and not in death.
He was therefore dead, and is alive again; he was lost, but is found.(1)
Hence a resurrection does take place now, and men pass from a death to a
life; from the death of infidelity to the life of faith; from the death of
falsehood to the life of truth; from the death of iniquity to the life of
righteousness. There is, therefore, that which is a resurrection of the
dead.

   9. May He open the same more fully, and dawn upon us as He begins to
do! "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is." We
did look for a resurrection of the dead in the end, for so we have
believed; yea, not we looked, but are manifestly bound to look for it: for
it is not a false thing we believe, when we believe that the dead will rise
in the end. When the Lord Jesus, then, was willing to make known to us a
resurrection of the dead before the resurrection of the dead, it is not as
that of Lazarus,(2) or of the widow's son,(3) or of the ruler of the
synagogue's daughter,(4) who were raised to die again (for in their case
there was a resurrection of the dead before the resurrection of the dead);
but, as He says here, "hath," says He, "eternal life, and cometh not into
judgment, but is passed from death into life." To what life? To life
eternal. Not, then, as the body of Lazarus: for he indeed passed from the
death of the tomb to the life of men, but not to life eternal, seeing he
was to die again; whereas the dead, that are to rise again at the end of
the world, will pass to eternal life. When our Lord Jesus Christ, then, our
heavenly Master, the Word of the Father, and the Truth, was willing to
represent to us a resurrection of the dealt to eternal life before the
resurrection of the dead to eternal life, "The hour cometh," saith He.
Doubtless thou, imbued with a faith of the resurrection of the flesh, didst
look for the hour of the end of the world, which, that thou shouldst not
look for here, He added, "and now is." Therefore He saith not this, "The
hour cometh," of that last hour, when "at the commuted and the voice of the
archangel and the trump of God, the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven,
and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet Christ in the
air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord."(5) That hour will come, but is
not now. But consider what this hour is: "The hour cometh, and now is."
What happens in that hour? What, but a resurrection of the dead? And what
kind of resurrection? Such that they who rise live for ever. This will be
also in the last hour.

   10. What then? How do we understand these two resurrections? Do we, it
may be, understand that they who rise now will not rise then; that the
resurrection of some is now, of some others then? It is not so. For we have
risen in this resurrection, if we have rightly believed; and we ourselves,
who have already risen, are looking for another resurrection in the end.
Moreover, both now are we risen to eternal life, if we perseveringly
continue in the same faith; and then, too, we shall rise to eternal life,
when we shall be made equal with the angels.(6) But let Himself distinguish
and open up what we have made bold to speak; how there happens to be a
resurrection before a resurrection, not of different but of the same
persons; nor like that of Lazarus, but into eternal life. He will open it
clearly. Hear ye the Master, while dawning upon us, and as our Sun gliding
in upon our hearts; not such as the eyes of flesh desire to look upon, but
on whom the eyes of the heart fervently long to be opened. To Him, then,
let us give ear: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now
is, when the dead"--you see that a resurrection is asserted--"shall hear
the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." Why hath He
added, "they that hear shall live"? Why, could they hear unless they lived?
It would have been enough, then, to say, "The hour cometh, and now is, when
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God." We should immediately
understand them to be living, since they could not hear unless they lived.
No, saith He, not because they live they bear; but by hearing they come to
life again: "Shall hear, and they that hear shall live." What, then, is
"shall hear," but "shall obey"? For, as to the hearing of the ear, not all
who hear shall live. Many, indeed, hear and do not believe; by hearing and
not believing, they obey not; by not obeying, they live not. And so here,
they that" shall hear" are they that "shall obey." They that obey, then,
shall live: let them be sure and certain of it, shall live. Christ, the
Word of God, is preached to us; the Son of God, by whom all things were
made, who, for the dispensation's sake, surely took flesh, was born of a
virgin, was an infant in the flesh, a young man in the flesh, suffering in
the flesh, dying in the flesh, rising again in the flesh, ascending in the
flesh, promising a resurrection to the flesh, promising a resurrection to
the mind--to the mind before the flesh, to the flesh after the mind. Whoso
heareth and obeyeth, shall live; whoso heareth and obeyeth not, that is,
heareth and despiseth, heareth and believeth not, shall not live. Why shall
not live? Because he heareth not. What is "heareth not"? Obeyeth not. Thus,
then, "they that hear shall live."

   11. Turn your thoughts now to what we said had to be deferred, that it
may now, if possible, be opened. Concerning this very resurrection He
immediately subjoined, "For as the Father hath life in Himself, even so
hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." What means that, "The
Father hath life in Himself"? Not elsewhere hath He life but in Himself.
His living, in fact, is in Him, not from elsewhere, nor derived from
another. He does not, as it were, borrow life, nor, as it were, become a
partaker of life, of a life which is not what Himself is: but "hath life in
Himself," so that the very life is to Him His very self. If I should be
able yet further in some small measure to speak from this matter, by
proposing examples for informing your understanding, will depend on God's
help and the piety of your attention. God lives, and the soul also lives;
but the life of God is unchangeable, the life of the soul is changeable. In
God is neither increase nor decrease; but He is the same always in Himself,
is ever as He is: not in one way now, in another way hereafter, in some
other way before. But the life of the soul is exceedingly various: it lived
foolish, it lives wise; it lived unrighteous, it lives righteous; now
remembers, now forgets; now learns, now cannot learn; now loses what it had
learned, now apprehends what it had lost. The life of the soul is
changeable. And when the soul lives in unrighteousness, that is its death;
when again it becomes righteous, it becomes partaker of another life, which
is not what itself is, inasmuch as by rising up to God, and cleaving to
God, of Him it is justified. For it is said, "To him that believeth on Him
that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."(1) By
forsaking God, it becomes unrighteous; by coming to Him, it is made
righteous. Does it not seem to thee as it were something cold, which, when
brought near the fire, grows warm; when removed from the fire, grows cold?
A something dark, which, brought near the light, grows bright; when removed
from the light, grows dark? Something such is the soul: God is not any such
thing. Moreover, man may say that he has light now in his eyes. Let thine
eyes say then, if they can, as by a voice of their own, "We have light in
ourselves." I answer: Not correctly do you say that you have light in
yourselves: you have light, but in the heavens; you have light, but in the
moon, in candles, if it happen to be night, not in yourselves: for, being
shut, you lose what you perceive when open. Not in yourselves have you
light; keep the light if you can when the sun is set: 'tis night, enjoy the
light of night; keep the light when the candle is withdrawn; but since you
remain in darkness when the candle is withdrawn, you have not light in
yourselves. Consequently, to have light in oneself is not to need light
from another. Behold, whoso understands wherein He shows that the Son is
equal with the Father, when He saith, "As the Father hath life in Himself,
so hath He given to the Son also to have life in Himself;" that there may
be only this difference between the Father and the Son, that the Father
hath life in Himself, which none gave Him, whilst the Son hath life in
Himself which the Father gave.

   12. But here also arises a cloud that must be scattered. Let us not
lose heart, let us strive in earnest. Here are pastures of the mind; let us
not disdain them, that we may live. Behold, sayest thou, thyself confessest
that the Father hath given life to the Son, that He may have life in
Himself, even as the Father hath life in Himself; that the Father not
lacking, the Son may not lack; that as the Father is life, so the Son may
be life; and both united one life, not two lives; because God is one, not
two Gods; and this same is to be life. How, then, is the Father said to
have given life to the Son? Not so as if the Son had been without life
before, and received life from the Father that He might live; for if it
were so, He would not have life in Himself. Behold, I was speaking of the
soul. The soul exists; though it be not wise, though it be not righteous,
though it be not godly, it is soul. It is one thing for it to be soul, but
another thing to be wise, to be righteous, to be godly. Something there is,
then, in which it is not yet wise, not yet righteous, not yet godly.
Nevertheless it is not therefore nothing, it is not therefore non-life; for
it shows itself to be alive by certain of its own actions, although it does
not show itself to be wise, godly, or righteous. For if it were not living
it would not move the body, would not command the feet to walk, the hands
to work, the eyes to look, the ears to hear; would not open the mouth for
speaking, nor move the tongue to distinction of speech. So, then, by these
operations it shows itself to have life, and to be something which is
better than the body. But does it in any wise show itself by these
operations to be wise, godly, or righteous? Do not the foolish, the wicked
the unrighteous walk, work, see, hear, speak? But when the soul rises to
something which itself is not, which is above itself, and from which its
being is, then it gets wisdom, righteousness, holiness, which so long as it
was without, it was dead, and did not have the life by which itself should
live, but only that by which the body was quickened. For that in the soul
by which the body is quickened is one thing, that by which the soul itself
is quickened is another. Better, certainly, than the body is the soul, but
better than the soul itself is God. The soul, even if it be foolish,
ungodly, unrighteous, is the life of the body. But since its own life is
God, just as it supplies vigor, comeliness, activity, the functions of the
limbs to the body, while it exists in the body; so, in like manner, while
God, its life, is in the soul, He supplies to it wisdom, godliness,
righteousness charity. Accordingly, what the soul supplies to the body, and
what God supplies to the soul, are of a different kind: the soul quickens
and is quickened. It quickens while dead, even if itself is not quickened.
But when the word comes, and is poured into the hearers, and they not only
hear, but are made obedient, the soul rises from its death to its life--
that is, from unrighteousness, from folly, from ungodliness, to its God,
who is to it wisdom, righteousness, light. Let it rise to Him, and be
enlightened by Him. "Come near,' saith he, "to Him." And what shall we
have? "And be enlightened."(1) If, therefore, by "coming to" ye are
enlightened, and by "departing from" ye become darkened, your light was not
in yourselves, but in your God. Come to Him that ye may rise again: if ye
depart from Him, ye shall die. If by coming to Him ye live, and by
departing from Him ye die, your life was not in yourselves. For the same is
your life which is your light. "Because with Thee is the fountain of life,
and in Thy light we shall see light."(2)

   13. Not, then, in like manner as the soul is one thing before it is
enlightened, and becomes a better thing when it is enlightened, by
participation of a better; not so, I say, was the Word of God, the Son of
God, something else before He received life, that He should have life by
participation; but He has life in Himself, and is consequently Himself the
very life. What is it, then, that He saith, "hath given to the Son to have
life in Himself"? I would say it briefly, He begot the Son. For it is not
that He existed without life, and received life, but He is life by being
begotten. The Father is life not by being begotten; the Son is life by
being begotten. The Father is of no father; the Son is of God the Father.
The Father in His being is of none, but in that He is Father, 'tis because
of the Son. But the Son also, in that He is Son, 'tis because of the
Father: in His being, He is of the Father. This He said, therefore: "hath
given life to the Son, that He might have it in Himself." Just as if He
were to say, "The Father, who is life in Himself, begot the Son, who should
be life in Himself." Indeed, He would have this dedit (hath given) to be
understood for the same thing as genuit (hath begotten). It is like as if
we said to a person, "God hath given thee being." To whom? If to some one
already existing, then He gave him not being, because he who could receive
existed before it was given him. When, therefore, thou hearest it said, "He
gave thee being," thou wast not in being to receive, but thou didst
receive, that thou shouldst be by coming into existence. The builder gave
to this house that it should be. But what did he give to it? He gave it to
be a house. To what did he give? To this house. Gave it what? To be a
house. How could he give to a house that it should be a house? For if the
house was, to what did he give to be a house, when the house existed
already? What, then, does that mean, "gave it to be a house"? It means, he
brought to pass that it should be a house. Well, then, what gave He to the
Son? Gave Him to be the Son, begot Him to be life--that is, "gave Him to
have life in Himself " that He should be the life not needing life, that He
may not be understood as having life by participation For if He had life by
participation, He might, by losing, be without life. Do not take, nor
think, nor believe this to be possible respecting the Son. Wherefore the
Father continues the life, the Son continues the life: the Father, life in
Himself, not from the Son; the Son, life in Himself, but from the Father.
Begotten of the Father, that He might live in Himself; but the Father, not
begotten, life in Himself. Nor did He beget the Son less than Himself to
become equal by growth. For surely He by whom, being perfect, the times
were created, was not assisted by time towards His own perfection. Before
all time, He is co-eternal with the Father. For the Father has never been
without the Son; but the Father is eternal, therefore also the Son co-
eternal. Soul, what of thee? Thou wast dead, didst lose life; hear then the
Father through the Son. Arise, take to thee life, that in Him who has life
in Himself thou mayest receive the life which is not in thee. He that
giveth thee life, then, is the Father and the Son; and the first
resurrection is accomplished when thou risest to partake of the life which
thou art not thyself, and by partaking art made living. Rise from thy death
to thy life, which is thy God, and pass from death to eternal life. For the
Father hath eternal life in Himself; and unless He had begotten such a Son
as had life in Himself, it could not be that as the Father raiseth up the
dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son should quicken whom He will.

   14. But what of that resurrection of the body? For these who hear and
live, whence live, except by hearing? For "the friend of the Bridegroom
standeth and heareth Him, and rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom's
voice:"(1) not because of his own voice; that is to say, they hear and live
by partaking, not by coming into being; and all that hear live, because all
that obey live. Tell us something, O Lord, also of the resurrection of the
flesh; for there have been those who denied it, asserting that this is the
only resurrection which is wrought by faith. Of which resurrection the Lord
has just now, made mention, and inflamed our desire, because "the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall live." It is not same of
those who hear shall live, and others shall die; but "all that hear shall
live," because all that obey shall live. Behold, we see a resurrection of
the mind; let us not therefore let go our faith of the resurrection of the
flesh. And unless Thou, O Lord Jesus, declare to us this, whom shall we
oppose to those who assert the contrary? For truly all sects that have
undertaken to engraft any religion upon men have allowed this resurrection
of minds; otherwise, it might be said to them, If the soul rise not, why
speakest thou to me? What meanest thou to do in me? If thou dost not make
of the worse a better, why speakest thou? If thou dost not make a righteous
of the unrighteous, why speakest thou? But if thou dost make righteous of
the unrighteous, godly of the ungodly, wise of the foolish, thou confessest
that my soul doth rise again, if I comply with thee and believe. So, then,
all those that have founded any sect, even of false religion, while they
wished to be believed, could not but admit this resurrection of minds: all
have agreed concerning this; but many have denied the resurrection of the
flesh, and affirmed that the resurrection had taken place already in faith.
Such the apostle resisteth, saying, "Of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus, who
concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection hath taken
place already, and overthrow the faith of some."(2) They said that the
resurrection had taken place already, but in such manner that another was
not to be expected; and they blamed people who were looking for a
resurrection of the flesh, just as if the resurrection which was promised
were already accomplished in the act of believing, namely, in the mind. The
apostle censures these. Why does he censure them? Did they not affirm what
the Lord spoke just now: "The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live"? But,
saith Jesus to thee, it is of the life of minds that I am hitherto
speaking: I am not yet speaking of the life of bodies; but I speak of the
life of that which is the life of bodies, that is, of the life of souls, in
which the life of bodies exists. For I know that there are bodies lying in
the tombs; I know also that your bodies will lie in the tombs. I am not
speaking of that resurrection, but I speak of this; in this, rise ye again,
lest ye rise to punishment in that. But that ye may know that I speak also
of that, what do I add? "For as the Father hath life in Himself, even so
hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." This life which the
Father is, which the Son is, to what does it pertain? To the soul or to the
body? It is not surely the body that is sensible of that life of wisdom,
but the rational mind. For not every soul hath capacity to apprehend
wisdom. A brute beast, in fact, has a soul, but the soul of the brute beast
cannot apprehend wisdom. It is the human soul, then, that can perceive this
life which the Father hath in Himself, and hath given to the Son to have in
Himself; because that is "the true light which enlighteneth," not every
soul, but "every man coming into this world." When, therefore, I speak to
the mind itself, let it hear, that is, let it obey and live.

   15. Wherefore, keep not silent, O Lord, concerning the resurrection of
the flesh; lest men believe it not, and we continue reasoners, not
preachers. But "as the Father hath life in Himself, even so hath He given
to the Son to have life in Himself." Let them that hear, understand; let
them believe that they may understand; let them obey that they may live.
And that they may not suppose that the resurrection is finished here, let
them hear this further: "and hath given Him authority to execute judgment
also." Who hath given? The Father. To whom hath He given? To the Son;
namely, to whom He gave to have life in Himself, to the same hath He given
authority to execute judgment. "Because He is the Son of man." For this is
the Christ, both Son of God and Son of man. "In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning
with God." Behold, how He hath given Him to have life in Himself! But
because "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," was made man of the
Virgin Mary, He is the Son of man. What, therefore, hath He received as Son
of man? Authority to execute judgment. What judgment? That in the end of
the world. Then also there will be a resurrection, but a resurrection of
bodies. So, then, God raiseth up souls by Christ, the Son of God; bodies He
raiseth up by the same Christ, the Son of man. "Hath given Him authority."
He should not have this authority did He not receive it; and He should be a
man without authority. But the same who is Son of God is also Son of man.
For by adhering to the unity of person, the Son of man with the Son of God
is made one person, and the Son of God is the same person which the Son of
man is. But what characteristic it has, and wherefore, must be
distinguished. The Son of man has soul and body. The Son of God, which is
the Word of God, has man, as the soul has body. And just as soul having
body does not make two persons, but one man; so the Word, having man,
maketh not two persons, but one Christ. What is man? A rational soul,
having a body. What is Christ? The Word of God, having man. I see of what
things I speak, who I the speaker am, and to whom I am speaking.

   16. Now hear concerning the resurrection of bodies, not me, but the
Lord about to speak, on account of those who have risen again by a
resurrection from death, by cleaving to life. To what life? To a life which
knows not death. Why knows not death? Because it knows not mutability. Why
knows not mutability? Because it is life in itself. "And hath given Him
authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man." What
judgment, what kind of judgment? "Marvel not at this" which I have said,--
gave Him authority to execute judgment,--"for the hour is coming." He does
not adds "and now is:" therefore He means to make known to us a certain
hour in the end of the world. The hour is now that the dead rise, the hour
will be in the end of the world that the dead rise: but that they rise now
in the mind, then in the flesh; that they rise now in the mind by the Word
of God, the Son of God; then in the flesh by the Word of God made flesh,
the Son of man. For it will not be the Father Himself that will come to
judgment, notwithstanding the Father cloth not withdraw Himself from the
Son. How, then, is it that the Father Himself will not come? In that He
will not be seen in the judgment. "They shall look on Him whom they
pierced."(1) That form which stood before the judge, will be Judge: that
form will judge which was judged; for it was judged unjustly, it will judge
justly. There will come the form of a servant, and that same will be
apparent. For how could the form of God be made apparent to the just and to
the unjust? If the judgment were to be only among the just, then the form
of God might appear as to the just. But because the judgment is to be of
the just and of the unjust, and that it is not permitted to the wicked to
see God,--for "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,"(2)--
such a Judge will appear as may be seen by those whom He is about to crown,
and by those whom He is about to condemn. Hence the form of a servant will
be seen, the form of God will be hid. The Son of God will be hid in the
servant, and the Son of man will be manifest, because to Him "hath He given
authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man." And because
He alone will appear in the form of a servant, but the Father not, since He
has not taken upon Him the form of a servant; for that reason He saith
above: "The Father judgeth not any man, but hath given all judgment to the
Son." Rightly then had it been deferred, that the propounder might Himself
be the interpreter. For before it was hidden; now, as I think, it is
already manifest, that "He gave Him authority to execute judgment," that
"the Father judgeth not any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son:"
because the judgment is to be by that form which the Father hath not. And
what kind of judgment? "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming:" not
that which now is, for the souls to rise; but that which is to be, for the
bodies to rise.

   17. Let Him declare this more distinctly, that the heretical denier of
the resurrection of the body may not find a pretext for sophistical cavil,
although the meaning already shines out clearly. When it was said above,
"The hour is coming," He added, "and now is;" but just now, "The hour is
coming," He has not added, "and now is." Let Him, however, by the open
truth, burst asunder all handles, all loops and pegs of sophistical attack,
all the nooses of ensnaring objections. "Marvel not at this: for the hour
is coming, in which all that are in the graves." What more evident? what
more distinct? Bodies are in the graves; souls are not in the graves,
either of just or of unjust. The soul of the just man was in the bosom of
Abraham; the unjust man's soul was in hell, tormented: neither the one nor
the other was in the grave. Above, when He saith, "The hour is coming, and
now is," I beseech you give earnest heed. Ye know, brethren, that we get
the bread of the belly with toil; with how much greater toil the bread of
the mind! With labor you stand and hear, but with greater we stand and
speak. If we labor for your sake, you ought to labor with us for your own
sake. Above, then, when He said, "The hour is coming," and added, "and now
is," what did He subjoin? "When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live." He did not say, "All the dead shall
hear, and they that hear shall live;" for He meant the unrighteous to be
understood. And is it so, that all the unrighteous obey the gospel? The
apostle says openly, "But not all obey the gospel."(1) But they that hear
shall live, because all that obey the gospel shall pass to eternal life by
faith: yet all do not obey; and this is now. But certainly, in the end,
"All that are in the graves," both the just and the unjust, "shall hear His
voice, and come forth." How is it He would not say, "and shall live"? All,
indeed, will come forth, but all will not live. For in that which He said
above, "And they that hear shall live," He meant it to be understood that
there is in that very hearing and obeying an eternal and blessed life,
which not all that shall come forth from the graves will have. Here, then,
both in the mention of graves, and by the expression of a "coming forth"
from the graves, we openly understand a resurrection of bodies.

   18. "All shall hear His voice, and shall come forth." And where is
judgment, if all shall hear and all shall come forth? It is as if all were
confusion; I see no distinguishing. Certainly Thou hast received authority
to judge, because Thou art the Son of man: behold, Thou wilt be present in
the judgment;  the bodies will rise again; but tell us something of the
judgment itself, that is, of the  separation of the evil and the good. Hear
this further, then: "They that have done good into the resurrection of
life; they that have  done evil into the resurrection of judgment." When
above He spoke of a resurrection of minds and souls, did He make any
distinction? No, for all "that hear shall live;" because by hearing, viz.
by obeying, shall they live. But certainly not all will go to eternal life
by rising and coming forth from the graves,--only they that have done well;
and they that have done ill, to judgment. For here He has put judgment for
punishment. There will also be a separation, not such as there is now. For
now we are separated, not by place, but by character, affections, desires,
faith, hope, charity. Now we live together with the unjust, though the life
of all is not the same: in secret we are distinguished, in secret we are
separated; as grain on the floor, not as grain in the granary. On the
floor, grain is both separated and mixed: separated, because severed from
the chaff; mixed, because not yet winnowed. Then there will be an open
separation; a distinguishing of life just as of the character, a separation
as there is in wisdom, so also will there be in bodies. They that have done
well will go to live with the angels of God; they that have done evil, to
be tormented with the devil and his angels. And the form of a servant will
pass away. For to this end He had manifested Himself, that He might execute
judgment. After the judgment, He shall go hence, will lead with Him the
body of which He is the head, and deliver up the kingdom of God.(2) Then
will openly be seen that form of God which could not be seen by the wicked,
to whose vision the form of a servant must be shown. He says also in
another place on this wise: "These shall go away into everlasting burning"
(speaking of certain on the left), "but the just into life eternal;"(1) of
which life He says in another place: "And this is eternal life, that they
may know Thee the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."(2)
Then will He be there manifested, "who, being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God."(3) Then He will manifest Himself, as
He has promised to manifest Himself to them that love Him. For "he that
loveth me," saith He, "keepeth my commandments; and he that loveth me shall
be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself to
him."(4) He was present in person with those to whom He was speaking: but
they saw the form of a servant, they did not see the form of God. They were
being led on His own beast to His dwelling to be healed; but now being
healed, they will see, because, saith He, "I will manifest myself to him."
How is He shown equal to the Father? When He says to Philip, "He that seeth
me seeth my Father also."(5)

   19. "I cannot of myself do anything: as I  hear, I judge: and my
judgment is just."  Else we might have said to Him, "Thou wilt judge, and
the Father will not judge, for 'all judgment hath He given to the Son;' It
is not, therefore, according to the Father that Thou wilt judge." Hence He
added, "I cannot of myself do anything: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment
is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of Him that sent me."
Undoubtedly the Son quickeneth whom He will. He seeketh not His own will,
but the will of Him that sent Him. Not my own, my proper will; not mine,
not the Son of man's; not mine to resist God. For men do their own will,
not God's, when they do what they list, not what God commands; but when
they do what they list, so as yet to follow God's will, they do not their
own will, notwithstanding they do what they list to do. Do what thou art
bidden willingly, and thus shall thou both do what thou wiliest, and also
not do thine own will, but His that biddeth.

   20. What then? "As I hear, I judge." The Son "heareth," and the Father
"showeth" to Him, and the Son seeth the Father doing. But we had deferred
these matters, in order to handle them, so far as might lie in our
abilities, with somewhat greater plainness and fullness, should time and
strength remain to us after finishing the perusal of the passage. If I say
that I am able to speak yet further, you perhaps are not able to go  on
hearing. Again, perhaps, in your eagerness to hear, you say, "We are able."
Better, then, that I should confess my weakness, that, being already
fatigued, I am not able to speak longer, than that, when you are already
satiated, I should continue to pour into you what you cannot well digest.
Then,  as to this promise, which I deferred until today, should there be an
opportunity, hold me, with the Lord's help, your debtor until to-morrow.

TRACTATE XX: CHAPTER V. 19.

   1. Tag words of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially those recorded by the
Evangelist John,--who not without cause leaned on the Lord's bosom, that he
might drink in the secrets of that higher wisdom, and by evangelizing give
forth again what by loving he had drunk in,--are so secret and profound of
understanding, that they trouble all who are perverse of heart, and
exercise all who are in heart upright. Wherefore, beloved, give heed to
these few words that have been read. Let us see if in any wise we can, by
His own gift and help who has willed His words to be recited to us, which
at that time were heard and committed to writing that they might now be
read, what He means in what ye have now heard Him say: "'Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what He seeth the
Father doing: for what things soever the Father doeth, these same the Son
also doeth in like manner."

   2. Now you need to be reminded whence this discourse arose, by reason
of what precedes this passage, where the Lord had cured a certain man among
those who were lying in the five porches of that pool of Solomon, and to
whom He had said, "Take up thy bed, and go unto thy house." But this He had
done on the Sabbath; and hence the Jews, being troubled, were falsely
accusing Him as a destroyer and transgressor of the law. He then said to
them, "My Father worketh even until now, and I work."(1) For they, taking
the observance of the Sabbath in a carnal sense, fancied that God had, as
it were, slept after the labor of framing the world even to this day; and
that therefore He had sanctified that day, from which He began to rest as
from labor. Now, to our fathers of old there was ordained a sacrament of
the Sabbath,(2) which we Christians observe spiritually, in abstaining from
every servile work, that is, from every sin (for the Lord saith, "Every one
that committeth sin is the servant of sin"), and in having rest in our
heart, that is, spiritual tranquillity. And although in this life we strive
after this rests yet not until we have departed this life shall we attain
to that perfect rest. But the reason why God is said to have rested is,
that He made no creature after all was finished. Moreover, the Scripture
called it rest, to admonish us that after good works we shall rest. For
thus we have it written in Genesis, "And God made all things very good, and
God rested on the seventh day," in order that thou, O man, considering that
God Himself is said to have rested after good works, shouldest not expect
rest for thyself, until after thou hast wrought good works; and even as God
after He made man in His own image and likeness, and in him finished all
His works very good, rested on the seventh day, so mayest thou also not
expect rest to thyself, except thou return to that likeness in which thou
wast made, which likeness thou hast lost by sinning. For, in reality, God
cannot be said to have toiled, who "said, and they were done." Who is there
that, after such facility of work, desires to rest as if after labor? If He
commanded and some one resisted Him, if He commanded and it was not done,
and labored that it might be done, then justly He should be said to have
rested after labor. But when in that same book of Genesis we read, "God
said, Let there be light, and there was light; God said, Let there be a
firmament, and the firmament was made,(3) and all the rest were made
immediately at His word: to which also the psalm testifies, saying, "He
spake, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created,"(4)--how
could He require rest after the world was made, as if to enjoy leisure
after toil, He who in commanding never toiled? Consequently these sayings
are mystical, and are laid down in this wise that we may be looking for
rest after this life, provided we have done good works. Accordingly, the
Lord, restraining the impudence and refuting the error of the Jews, and
showing them that they did not think rightly of God, says to them, when
they were offended at His working men's healing on the Sabbath, "My Father
worketh until now, and I work:" do not therefore suppose that my Father so
rested on the Sabbath, that thenceforth He doth not work; but even as He
now worketh, so I also work. But as the Father without toil, so too the Son
without toil. God "said, and they were done;" Christ said to the impotent
man, "Take up thy bed, and go unto thy house," and it was done.

   3. But the catholic faith has it, that the works of the Father and of
the Son are not separable. This is what I wish, if possible, to speak to
you, beloved; but, according to those words of the Lord, "he that is able
to receive it, let him receive it."(5) But he that is not able to receive
its let him not charge it on me, but on his own dullness; and let him turn
to Him that opens the heart, that He may pour in what He freely giveth.
And, lastly, if any one may not have understood, because I have not
declared it as I ought to have declared it, let him excuse the weakness of
man, and supplicate the divine goodness. For we have within a Master,
Christ. Whatever ye are not able to receive through your ear and my mouth,
turn ye in your heart to Him who both teacheth me what to speak, and
distributeth to you in what measure He deigns. He who knows what to give,
and to whom to give, will help him that seeketh, and open to him that
knocketh. And if so be that He give not, let no one call himself forsaken.
For it may be that He delays to give something, but He leaves none hungry.
If, indeed, He give not at the hour, He is exercising the seeker, He is not
scorning the suitor. Look ye, then, and give heed to what I wish to say,
even if I should not be able to say it. The catholic faith, confirmed by
the Spirit of God in His saints, has this against all heretical
perverseness, that the works of the Father and of the Son are inseparable.
What is this that I have said? As the Father and the Son are inseparable,
so also the works of the Father and of the Son are inseparable. How are the
Father and the Son inseparable, since Himself said, "I and the Father are
one?"(6) Because the Father and the Son are not two Gods, but one God, the
Word and He whose the Word is, One and the Only One, Father and Son bound
together by charity, One God, and the Spirit of Charity also one, so that
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is made the Trinity. Therefore, not only of
the Father and Son, but also of the Holy Spirit; as there is equality and
inseparability of persons, so also the works are inseparable. I will tell
you yet more plainly what is meant by "the works are inseparable." The
catholic faith does not say that God the Father made something, and the Son
made some other thing; but what the Father made, that also the Son made,
that also the Holy Spirit made. For all things were made by the Word; when
"He spoke and they were done," it is by the Word they were done, by Christ
they were done. For " in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God: all things were made by Him." If all things were
made by Him, "God said, Let there be light, and there was light; in the
Word He made, by the Word He made.

   4. Behold, then, we have now heard the Gospel, where He answered the
Jews who were indignant "that He not only broke the Sabbath, but said also
that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.(1) For so it is
written in the foregoing paragraph. When, therefore, the Son of God, the
Truth, made answer to their erring indignation, saith He, "Verily, verily,
I say unto you, The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what He seeth
the Father doing;" as if He said, " Why are ye offended because I have said
that God is my Father, and that I make myself equal with God? I am equal in
that wise that He begat me; I am equal in that wise that He is not from me,
but I from Him." For this is implied in these words: "The Son cannot do
anything of Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing." That is, whatever
the Son hath to do, the doing it He hath of the Father. Why of the Father
hath He the doing it? Because of the Father He hath it that He is Son. Why
hath He it of the Father to be Son? Because of the Father He hath it that
He is able, of the Father that He is. For, to the Son, both to be able and
to be is the self-same thing. It is not so with man. Raise your hearts by
all means from a comparison of human weakness, that lies far beneath; and
should any of us perhaps reach to the secret, and, while awe-struck by the
brilliance as it were of a great light, should discern somewhat, and not
remain wholly ignorant; yet let him not imagine that he understands the
whole, lest he should become proud, and lose what knowledge he has gotten.
With man, to be and to be able are different things. For sometimes the man
is, and yet cannot what he wills; sometimes, again, the man is in such
wise, that he can what he wills; therefore his bring and his being able are
different things. For if man's esse and posse were the same thing, then he
could when he would. But with God it is not so, that His substance to be is
one thing, and His power to be able another thing; but whatever is His, and
whatever He is, is consubstantial with Him, because He is God: it is not so
that in one way He is, in another way is able; He has the esse and the
posse together, because He has to will and to do together. Since, then, the
power of the Son is of the Father, therefore also the substance of the Son
is of the Father; and since the substance of the Son is of the Father,
therefore the power of the Son is of the Father. In the Son, power and
substance are not different: the power is the self-same that the substance
is; the substance to be, the power to be able. Accordingly, because the Son
is of the Father, He said, "The Son cannot of Himself do anything." Because
He is not Son from Himself, therefore He is not able from Himself.

   5. He appears to have made Himself as it were less, when He said, "The
Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what He seeth the Father doing."
Hereupon heretical vanity lifts the neck; theirs, indeed, who say that the
Son is less than the Father, of less authority, of less majesty, of less
possibility, not understanding the mystery of Christ's words. But attend,
beloved, and see how they are confounded in their carnal intellect by the
words of Christ. And this is what I said a little before, that the word of
God troubles all perverse hearts, just as it exercises pious hearts,
especially that spoken by the Evangelist John. For they are deep words that
are spoken by him, not random words, nor such as may be easily understood.
So, a heretic, if he happen to hear these words, immediately rises and says
to us, "Lo, the Son is less than the Father; hear the words of the Son, who
says, 'The Son cannot do anything of Himself, but what He seeth the Father
doing.'" Wait; as it is written, "Be meek to hear the word, that thou
mayest understand."(2) Well, suppose that because I assert the power and
majesty of the Father and of the Son to be equal, I was disconcerted at
hearing these words, "The Son cannot do anything of Himself, but what He
seeth the Father doing." Well, I, being disconcerted at these words, will
ask thee, who seemest to thyself to have instantly understood them, a
question. We know in the Gospel that the Son walked upon the sea;(1) when
saw He the Father walk upon the sea? Here now he is disconcerted. Lay
aside, then, thy understanding of the words, and let us examine them
together. What do we then? We have heard the words of the Lord: "The Son
cannot of Himself do anything, but what He seeth the Father doing." The Son
walked upon the sea, the Father never walked upon the sea. Yet certainly
"the Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what He seeth the Father
doing."

   6. Return then with me to what I was saying, in case it is so to be
understood that we may both escape from the question. For I see how I,
according to the catholic faith, may escape without tripping or stumbling;
whilst thou, on the other hand, shut in on every side, art seeking a way of
escape. See by what way thou hast entered. Perhaps thou hast not understood
this that I said, See by what way thou hast entered: hear Himself saying,
"I am the door."(2) Not without cause, then, art thou seeking how thou
mayest get out; and this only thou findest, that thou hast not entered by
the door, but fell in over the wall. Therefore raise thyself up from thy
fall how thou canst, and enter by the door, that thou mayest go in without
stumbling, and go out without straying. Come by Christ, not bringing
forward of thy own heart what thou mayest say; but what He shows, that
speak. Behold how the catholic faith gets clear of this question. The Son
walked upon the sea, planted the feet of flesh on the waves: the flesh
walked, and the divinity directed. But when the flesh was walking and the
divinity directing, was the Father absent? If absent, how doth the Son
Himself say, "but the Father abiding in me, Himself doeth the works?"(3) If
the Father, abiding in the Son, Himself doeth His works, then that walking
upon the sea was made by the Father, and through the Son. Accordingly, that
walking is an inseparable work of Father and Son. I see both acting in it.
Neither the Father forsook the Son, nor the Son left the Father. Thus,
whatever the Son doeth, He doeth not without the Father; because whatever
the Father doeth, He doeth not without the Son.

   7. We have got clear of this question. Mark ye that rightly we say the
works of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit are inseparable.
But as thou understandest it, lo, God made the light, and the Son saw the
Father making light, according to thy carnal understanding, who wilt have
it that He is less, because He said, "The Son cannot of Himself do
anything, but what He seeth the Father doing." God the Father made light;
what other light did the Son make? God the Father made the firmament, the
heaven between waters and waters; and the Son saw Him, according to thy
dull and sluggish understanding. Well, since the Son saw the Father making
the firmament, and also said, "The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but
what He seeth the Father doing," then show me the other firmament made by
the Son. Hast thou lost the foundation? But they that are "built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the
chief corner-stone," are brought into a state of peace in Christ;(4) nor do
they strive and wander in heresy. Therefore we understand that the light
was made by God the Father, but through the Son; that the firmament was
made by God the Father, but through the Son. For "all things were made
through Him, and without Him was nothing made." Cast out thine
understanding, which ought not to be called understanding, but evidently
foolishness. God the Father made the world; what other world did the Son
make? Show me the Son's world. Whose is this world in which we are? Tell
us, by whom made? If thou sayest, "By the Son, not by the Father," then
thou hast erred from the Father; if thou sayest, "By the Father, not by the
Son," the Gospel answers thee thus, "And the world was made by (through)
Him, and the world knew Him not." Acknowledge Him, then, by whom the world
was made, and be not among those who knew not Him that made the world.

   8. Wherefore the works of the Father and of the Son are inseparable.
Moreover, this, "The Son cannot do anything of Himself," would mean the
same thing as if He were to say, "The Son is not from Himself." For if He
is a Son, He was begotten; if begotten, He is from Him of whom He is
begotten. Nevertheless, the Father begat Him equal to Himself. Nor was
aught wanting to Him that begat; He who begat a co-eternal required not
time to beget: who produced the Word of Himself, required not a mother to
beget by; the Father begetting did not precede the Son in age, so that He
should beget a Son younger than Himself. But perhaps some one may say, that
after many ages God begat a Son in His old age. Even as the Father is
without age, so the Son is without growth; neither has the one grown old
nor the other increased, but equal begat equal, eternal begat eternal. How,
says some one, has eternal begat eternal? As a temporary flame generates a
temporary light. The generating flame is coeval with the light which it
generates: the generating flame does not precede in time the generated
light; but from the moment the flame begins, from that moment the light
begins. Show me flame without light, and I show thee God the Father without
Son. Accordingly, "the Son cannot do anything of Himself, but what He seeth
the Father doing," implies, that for the Son to see and to be begotten of
the Father, is the same  thing. His seeing and His substance are not
different; nor are His power and substance different. All that He is, He is
of the Father; all that He can is of the Father; because what He can and
what He is is one thing, and all of the Father.

   9. Moreover, He goes on in His own words, and troubles those that
understand the matter amiss, in order to recall the erring to a right
apprehension of it. After He had said, "The Son cannot of Himself do
anything, but what He seeth the Father doing;" test a carnal understanding
of the matter should by chance creep in and turn the mind aside, and a man
should imagine as it were two mechanics, one a master, the other a learner,
attentively observing the master while making, say a chest, so that, as the
master made the chest, the learner should make another chest according to
the appearance which he looked upon while the master wrought; lest, I say,
the carnal mind should frame to itself any such twofold notion in the case
of the divine unity, going on, He saith, "For what things soever the Father
doeth, these same also the Son doeth in like manner." It is not, the Father
doeth some, the Son others like them, but the same in like manner. For He
saith not, What things soever the Father doeth, the Son also doeth others
the like; but saith He, "What things soever the Father doeth, these same
also the Son doeth in like manner." What things the Father doeth, these
also the Son doeth: the Father made the world, the Son made the world, the
Holy Ghost made the world. If three Gods, then three worlds; if one God,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, then one world was made by the
Father, through the Son, in the Holy Ghost. Consequently the Son doeth
those things which also the Father doeth, and doeth not in a different
manner; He both doeth these, and doeth them in like manner.

   10. After He had said, "these doeth," why did He add, "in like manner
doeth"? Lest another distorted understanding or error should spring up in
the mind. Thou seest, for instance, a man's work: in man there is mind and
body; the mind rules the body, but there is a great difference between body
and mind: the body is visible, the mind is invisible: there is a great
difference between the power and virtue of the mind and that of any kind of
body whatever, be it even a heavenly body. Still the mind rules its own
body, and the body doeth; and what the mind appears to do, this the body
doeth also. Thus the body appears to do this same thing that the mind
doeth, but not "in like manner." How doeth this same, but not in like
manner? The mind frames a word in itself; it commands the tongue, and the
tongue produces the word which the mind framed: the mind made, and the
tongue made; the lord of the body made, and the servant made; but that the
servant might make, it received of its lord what to make, and made while
the lord commanded. The same thing was made by both, but was it in like
manner? How not in like manner? says some one. See, the word that my mind
formed, remains in me; that which my tongue made, passed through the
smitten air, and is not. When thou hast said a word in thy mind, and
uttered it by thy tongue, return to thy mind, and see that the word which
thou hast made is there still. Has it remained on thy tongue, just as it
has in thy mind? What was uttered by the tongue, the tongue made by
sounding, the mind made by thinking; but what the tongue uttered has passed
away, what the mind thought remains. Therefore the body made that which the
mind made, but not in like manner. For the mind, indeed, made that which
the mind may hold, but the tongue made what sounds and strikes the ear
through the air. Dost thou chase the syllables, and cause them to remain?
Well, not in such manner the Father and the Son; but "these same doeth,"
and "in like manner doeth." If God made heaven that remains, this heaven
that remains the Son made. If God the Father made man that is mortal, the
same man that is mortal the Son made. What things soever the Father made
that endure, these things that endure made also the Son, because in like
manner He made; and what things soever the Father made that are temporal,
these same things that are temporal made also the Son, because He made not
only the same, but also in like manner made. For the Father made by the
Son, since by the Word the Father made all things.

   11. Seek in the Father and Son a separation, thou findest none; no, not
if thou hast mounted high; no, not even if thou hast reached something
above thy mind. For if thou turnest about among the things which thy
wandering mind makes for itself, thou talkest with thine own imaginations,
not with the Word of God; thine own imaginations deceive thee. Mount also
beyond the body, and understand the mind; mount also beyond the mind, and
understand God. Thou reachest not unto God, unless thou hast passed beyond
the mind; how much less thou reachest unto God, if thou hast tarried in the
flesh! They who think of the flesh, how far are they from understanding
what God is!--since they would not be there even if they knew the mind. Man
recedes far from God when his thoughts are of the flesh; and there is a
great difference between flesh and mind, yet a greater between mind and
God. If thou art occupied with the mind, thou art in the midway: if thou
directest thy attention beneath, there is the body; if above, there is God.
Lift thyself up from the body, pass beyond even thyself. For observe what
said the psalm, and thou art admonished how God must be thought of: "My
tears," it saith, "were made to me my bread day and night, when it was said
to me daily, Where is thy God?" As the pagans may say, "Behold our gods,
where is your God?" They indeed show us what is seen; we worship what is
not seen. And to whom can we show? To a man who has not sight with which to
see? For anyhow, if they see their gods with their eyes, we too have other
eyes with which to see our God: for "blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God."(1) Therefore, when he had said that he was troubled,
when it was daily said to him, "Where is thy God?" "these things I
remembered," saith he, "because it is daily said to me, Where is thy God?"
And as if wishing to lay hold of his God, "These things," saith he, "I
remembered, and poured out my soul above me."(2) Therefore, that I might
reach unto my God, of whom it was said to me, "Where is thy God? I poured
out my soul," not over my flesh, but "above me;" I transcended myself, that
I might reach unto Him: for He is above me who made me; none reaches to Him
but he that passes beyond himself.

   12. Consider the body: it is mortal, earthy, weak, corruptible; away
with it. Yes, perhaps thou sayest, but the body is temporal. Think then of
other bodies, the heavenly; they are greater, better, more magnificent.
Look at them, moreover, attentively. They roll from east to west, they
stand not; they are seen with the eyes, not only by man, but even by the
beast of the field. Pass beyond them too. And how, sayest thou, pass beyond
the heavenly bodies, seeing that I walk on the earth? Not in the flesh dost
thou pass beyond them, but in the mind. Away with them too: though they
shine ever so much, they are bodies; though they glitter from heaven, they
are bodies. Come, now that perhaps thou thinkest thou hast not whither to
go, after considering all these. And whither am I to go, sayest thou,
beyond the heavenly bodies; and what am I to pass beyond with the mind?
Hast thou considered all these? I have, sayest thou. By what means hast
thou considered them? Let the being that considers appear in person. The
being that considers all these, that discriminates, distinguishes, and in a
manner weighs them in the balance of wisdom, is really the mind. Doubtless,
then, better is the mind with which thou hast contemplated all these
things, than these things which thou hast contemplated. This mind, then, is
a spirit, not a body. Pass beyond it too. And that thou mayest see whither
thou art to pass beyond, compare that mind itself, in the first place, with
the flesh. Heaven forbid that thou shouldest deign so to compare it!
Compare it with the brightness of the sun, of the moon, and of the stars;
the brightness of the mind is greater. Observe, first, the swiftness of the
mind; see whether the scintillation of the thinking mind be not more
impetuous than the brilliance of the shining sun. With the mind thou seest
the sun rising. How slow is its motion compared with thy mind! What the sun
is about to do, thou canst think in a trice. It is about to come from the
east to the west; to-morrow rises from another quarter. Where thy thought
has done this, the sun still lags behind, and thou hast traversed the whole
journey. A great thing, therefore, is the mind. But how do I say is? Pass
beyond it also. For the mind, notwithstanding it be better than every kind
of body, is itself changeable. Now it knows, now knows not; now forgets,
now remembers; now wills, now wills not; now errs, now is right. Pass
therefore beyond all changeableness; not only beyond all that is seen, but
also beyond all that changes. For thou hast passed beyond the flesh which
is seen; beyond heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, which are seen. Pass,
too, beyond all that changes. For when thou hadst done with those things
that are seen, and hadst come to thy mind,  there thou didst find the
changeableness of thy mind. Is God at all changeable? Pass then, beyond
even thy mind. Pour out thy soul "above thee," that thou mayest reach unto
God, of whom it is said to thee, "Where is thy God?"

   13. Do not imagine that thou art to do something beyond a man's
ability. The Evangelist John himself did this. He soared beyond the flesh,
beyond the earth which he trod, beyond the seas which he looked upon,
beyond the air in which the fowls fly, beyond the sun, the moon, the stars,
beyond all the spirits unseen, beyond his own mind, by the very reason of
his rational soul. Soaring  beyond all these, pouring out his soul above
him, whither did he arrive? What did he see? "In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God." If, therefore, thou seest no separation
in the light, why seekest thou a separation in the work? See God, see His
Word inhering to the Word speaking, that the speaker speaks not by
syllables, but this his speaking is a shining out in the brightness of
wisdom. What is said of the Wisdom itself? "It is the radiance of eternal
light. "(1) Observe the radiance of the sun. The sun is in the heaven, and
spreads out its brightness over all lands and over all seas, and it is
simply a corporal light.

   If, indeed, thou canst separate the brightness from the sun, then
separate the Word from the Father. I am speaking of the sun. One small,
slender flame of a lamp, which can be extinguished by one breath, spreads
its light over all that lies near it: thou seest the light generated by the
flame spread out; thou seest its emission, but not a separation.
Understand, then, beloved brethren, that the Father, and the Son, and the
Holy Ghost are inseparably united in themselves; that this Trinity is one
God; that all the works of the one God are the works of the Father, of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost. All the rest which follows, and which refers to
the discourse of our Lord Jesus Christ, now that a discourse is due to you
to-morrow also, be present that ye may hear.


Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in
1867. (LNPF I/VII, Schaff). The digital version is by The Electronic Bible
Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.

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