• Matt. vii. 24-27.
val! For, through hearing and not doing, the flood cometh, this annual festival; the torrent is filled, it will pass away and become dry, but woe to him whom it shall carry away! Know this, tlien, beloved, that unless a man hears and does, he builds not upon the rock, and he does not belong to that great name which the Lord so commended. For He has called thy attention. For if Simon had been called Peter before, thou wouldest not have so clearly seen the mystery of the rock, and thou wouldest have thought that he was called so by chance, not by the providence of God? therefore God willed that he should be called first something else, that by the very change of name the reality of the sacrament might be commended to our notice.
15. "And the day following He would go forth into Galilee, and finding Philip, He saith unto him. Follow me. Now he was of the city of Andrew and Peter. And Philip findeth Nathanael " (Philip who had been already called by the Lord); "and he said unto him. We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus, the son of Joseph." He was called tlie son of that man to whom His mother had been espoused. For that He was conceived and born while she was still a virgin, all Chris- tians know well from the Gospel. This Philip said to Nathanael, and he added the place, " from Nazareth." And Nathanael said unto him, " From Nazareth something good can come." What is the meaning, brethren? Not as some read, for it is likewise wont to be read, " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?'' For the words of Philip follow, who says, " Come and see." But the words of Philip can suitably follow both read- ings, whether you read it thus, as confirming, " From Nazareth something good can come," to which Philip replies, "Come and see;" or whether as doubting, and making the whole a question, " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Come and see." Since then, whether read in this manner or in that, the words following are not incomixatible, it is for us to inquire which of the two interpretations we shall adojit.
16. What sort of a man this Nathanael was, we prove by the words which follow. Hear what sort of a man he was; the Lord Himself bears testimony. Great is the Lord, known by the testimony of John; blessed Nathanael, known by tlie testimony of the truth. Be- cause the Lord, although He Iiad not been commended by the testimony of John, Him- self to Himself bore testimony, because the truth is sufficient for its own testimony. But because men were not able to receive the truth, 54 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate VII.
they sought the truth by means of a lamp, and therefore John was sent to show them the Lord. Hear the Lord bearing testimony to Nathanael: *' Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? PhiHp says to him, Come and see. And Jesus sees Nathanael coming to Him, and says concern- ing him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." Great testimony! Not of An- drew, nor of Peter, nor of Philip was that said which was said of Nathanael, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile."
17. What do we then, brethren? Ought this man to be the first among the apostles? Not only is Nathanael not found as first among the apostles, but he is neither the middle nor the last among the twelve, although the Son of God bore such testimony to him, saying, " Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." Is the reason asked for? In so far as the Lord intimates, we find a probable reason. For we ought to understand that Nathanael was learned and skilled in the law; and for that reason was the Lord unwilling to place him among His disciples, because He chose unlearned persons, that He might by them confound the world. Listen to the apostle speaking these things: "For ye see,'' saith he, "your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are. mighty; and base things of the world, and things that are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, as though they were things that are, to bring to nought things that are."' If a learned man had been chosen, perhaps he would have said that he was chosen for the reason that his learning made him worthy of choice. Our Lord Jesus Christ, wishing to break the necks of the proud, did not seek the orator by means of the fisherman, but by the fisherman He gained the emperor. Great was Cyprian as an orator, but before him was Peter the fisherman, by means of whom not only the orator, but also the emperor, should believe. No noble was chosen in the first place, no learned man, because God chose the weak things of the world that He might confound the strong. This man, then, was great and without guile, and for this reason only was not chosen, lest the Lord should seem to any to have chosen the learned. And from this same learning in the law, it came that when he heard '' from Nazareth," — for he had searched the Scripture, and knew that the Saviour was to be expected thence, what ' I Cor. i. 20-28.
the other scribes and Pharisees had difficulty in knowing, — this man, then, very learned in the law, when he heard Philip saying, "We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Naza- reth, the son of Joseph; " — this man, who knew the Scriptures excellently well, when he heard the name " Nazareth," was filled with hope, and said, " From Nazareth some- thing good can come."
18. Let us now see the rest concerning this man. " Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." What is " in whom is no guile?" Perhaps he had no sin? Perhaps he was not sick? Perhaps he did not need a physician? God forbid. No one is born here in such fashion as not to need that Physician. What, then, is the meaning of the words, "in whom is no guile"? Let us search a little more intently — it will appear presently — in the name of the Lord. The Lord says dolus [guile]; and every one who understands Latin knows that dolus is when one thing is done and another feigned. Give heed, beloved. Dolus (guile) is not dolor (pain). I say this because many brethren, not well skilled in Latin, so speak as to say. Dolus tor- ments him, using it for dolo7'. Dolus is fraud, it is deceit. When a man conceals one thing. in his heart, and speaks another, it is guile, and he has, as it were, two hearts; he has, as it were, one recess of his heart where he sees the truth, and another recess where he conceives falsehood. And that you may know that this is guile, it is said in the Psalms, " Lips of guile." What are " lips of guile"?
It follows, " In a heart and in a heart have they spoken evil." ^ What is " in a heart and in a heart," unless in a double heart? If, then, guile was not in Nathanael, the Physi- cian judged him to be curable, not whole. A whole man is one thing, a curable another, an incurable a third: he who is sick, but not hopelessly sick, is called curable; he who is sick hopelessly, incurable; but he who is al- ready whole does not need a physician. The Physician, then, who had come to cure, saw that he was curable, because there was no guile in him. How was guile not in him, if he is a sinner? He confesses that he is a sinner. For if he is a sinner, and says that he is a just man, there is guile in his mouth. Therefore in Nathanael He praised the con, fession of sin. He did not judge that he was not a sinner.
19. Wherefore, when the Pharisees, who seemed righteous to themselves, blamed the Lord, because, as physician, he mixed with 2PS.
XI. 3.
Tractate VII.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
55 the sick, and when they said, "Behold with whom he eats, with pubHcans and sinners," the Physician replied to the madmen, "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." ' That is to say, be- cause you call yourselves righteous when you are sinners, because you judge yourselves to be whole when you are languishing, you put away from you the medicine, and do not hold fast health. Plence that Pharisee who had asked the Lord to dinner, was whole in his own eyes; but that sick woman rushed into the house to which she had not been invited, and, made impudent by the desire of health, approached not the head of the Lord, nor the hands, but the feet; washed them with tears, wiped them with her hair, kissed them, anointed them with ointment, — made peace, sinner as she was, with the footprints of the Lord. The Pharisee who sat at meat there, as though whole himself, blamed the Physi- cian, and said within himself, "This man, if he were a prophet, would have known what woman touched his feet." He suspected that He knew not, because He did not repulse her to prevent His being touched with un- clean hands; but He did know, He permitted Himself to be touched, that the touch itself might heal. The Lord, seeing the heart of the Pharisee, put forth a parable: " There was a certain creditor, which had two debtors; the one owed five hundred denars, and the other fifty; and when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Which of them loved him most?'' He answered, " I suppose. Lord, he to whom he forgave most." And turning to the woman, He said unto Simon, " Seest thou this woman? I en- tered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet; but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head: thou gavest me no kiss; she hath not ceased to kiss my feet: thou gavest me no oil; she hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore, I say unto thee, to her are forgiven many sins, for she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little."^ That is to say, thou art more sick, but thou thinkest thyself whole; thou thinkest that little is forgiven thee when thou owest more. Well did she, because guile was not in her, deserve medicine. What means, guile was not in her? She con- fessed her sins. This He also praises in Na- thanael, that guile was not in him; for many Pharisees who abounded in sins said that they were righteous, and brought guile with them, which made it impossible for them to be healed.
20. Jesus then saw this man in whom was no guile, and said, " Behold an Israelite in- deed, in whom is no guile.'' Nathanael saith unto Him, "Whence knowest Thou me?" Jesus answered and said, "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig (that is, under the fig-tree), I saw thee." Nathanael answered and said unto Him, " Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel." Some great thing Na- thanael may have understood in the saying, "When thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee, before that Philip called thee;" for his words, " Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel," were not dissimilar to those of Peter so long afterwards, when the Lord said unto him, " Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." And there He named the rock, and praised the strength of the Church's sup- port in this faith. Here already Nathanael says, "Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel." Wherefore? Because it was said to him, "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee."
21. We must inquire whether this fig-tree signifies anything. Listen, my brethren. We find the fig-tree cursed because it had leaves only, and not fruit.^ In the beginning of the human race, when Adam and Eve had sinned, they made themselves girdles of fig leaves.* Fig leaves then signify sins. Nathanael then was under the fig-tree, as it were under the shadow of death. The Lord saw him, he con- cerning whom itwas said,"Theythat sat under the shadow of death, unto them hath light arisen." ^ What then was said to Nathanael? Thou sayest to me, O Nathanael, " Wlience knowest thou me? " Even now thou speak- est to me, because Philip called thee. He whom an apostle had already called. He per- ceived to belong to His Church. O thou Church, O thou Israel, in whom is no guile! if thou art the people, Israel, in whom is no guile, thou hast even now known Christ by His apostles, as Nathanael knew Christ by Philip. But His compassion beheld thee before thou knewest Him, when thou wert lying under sin. For did we first seek Christ, and not He seek us? Did we come sick to I the Physician, and not the Physician to the sick? Was not that sheep lost, and did not the shepherd, leaving the ninety and nine in the wilderness, seek and find it, and joyfully ' Matt.
- I.uke vii. 36-47.
3 Matt..\x. 19.
4( en. 111. 7.
S Isa. ix. 2.
56 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate VII.
carry it back on his shoulders? Was not that piece of money lost, and the woman lighted the lamp, and searched in the whole house until she found it? And when she had found it, " Rejoice with me," she said to her neigh- bors, " for I have found the piece of money which I lost.''' In like manner were we lost as the sheep, lost as the piece of money; and our Shepherd found the sheep, but sought the sheep; the woman found the piece of money, but sought the piece of money. What is the woman? The flesh of Christ. What is the lamp? "I have prepared a lamp for my Christ."^ Therefore were we sought that we might be found; having been found, we speak. Let us not be proud, for before we were found we were lost, if we had not been sought. Let them then not say to us whom we love, and whom we desire to gain to the peace of the Catholic Church, " What do you wish with us? Why seek you us if we are sinners? " We seek you for this reason that you perish not: we. seek you because we were sought; we wish to find you because we have been found.
22. When, then, Nathanael had said, " Whence knowest Thou me? " the Lord said to him, "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee." O thou Israel without guile, whosoever thou art; 0 people living by faith, before I called thee by my apostles, when thou wast under the shadow of death, and thou sawest not me, 1 saw thee. The Lord then says to him, " Be- cause I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, thou believest: thou shalt see a greater thing than these." What is this, thou shalt see a greater thing than these? And He saith unto him, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye shall see heaven open, and angels as- cending and descending upon the Son of man." Brethren, this is something greater than " under the fig-tree I saw thee. " For it is more that the Lord justified us when called than that He saw us lying under the shadow of death. For what profit would it have been to us if we had remained where He saw us? Should we not be lying there? What is this greater thing? When have we seen angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man?
23. Already on a former occasion I have spoken of these ascending and descending angels; but lest you should have forgotten, I shall speak of the latter briefly by way of re- calhng it to your recollection. I should use more words if I were introducing, not recall- ing the subject. Jacob saw a ladder in a ' Luke XV. 4-10.
2 Ps. cxxxii. 17.
dream; and on a ladder he saw angels ascend- ing and descending: and he anointed the stone which he had placed at his head.^ You have heard that the Messias is Christ; you have heard that Christ is the Anointed. For Jacob did not place the stone, the anointed stone, that he might come and adore it: otherwise that would have been idolatry, not a pointing out of Christ. What was done w^s a pointing out of Christ, so far as it behoved such a pointing out to be made, and it was Christ that was pointed out. A stone was anointed, but not for an idol. A stone anointed; why a stone? "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confound- ed."" Why anointed? Because Christus comes from chrisma. But what saw he then on the ladder? Ascending and descending angels. So it is the Church, brethren: the angels of God are good preachers, preaching Christ; this is the meaning of, " they ascend and descend upon the Son of man." How do they ascend, and how do they descend? In one case we have an example; listen to the Apostle Paul. What we find in him, let us believe regarding the other preachers of the truth. Behold Paul ascending: " I know a man in Christ fourteen years ago was caught up into the third heaven (whether in the body, orwhether outof the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth), and that he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. "5 You have heard him ascending, hear him descending: "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto car- nal; as babes in Christ I have fed you with milk, not with meat."^ Behold he de- scended who had ascended. Ask whether he ascended to the third heaven. Ask whether he descended to give milk to babes. Hear that he descended: "I became a babe in the midst of you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children. ''7 For we see l;oth nurses and mothers descend to babes, and although they be able to speak Latin, they shorten the words, shake their tongues in a certain man- ner, in order to frame childish endearments from a methodical language; because if they speak according to rule, the infant does not understand nor profit. And if there be a father well skilled in speaking, and such an orator that the forum resounds with his eloquence, and the judgment-seats shake, if he have a little son, on his return home he puts aside the forensic eloquence to which he had ascended, and in child's language descends to his little one. Hear in one place the Tractate VIII.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
D/ apostle himself ascending and descending in t'le same sentence: " For whetlier," says he, '•'we be beside ourselves, it is to Ciod; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause."' What is " we are beside ourselves"? That we see those things which it is not lawful for a man to speak. What is " we are sober for your cause? Have I judged myself to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified?" If the Lord Himself as- cended and descended, it is evident that His preachers ascend by imitation, descend by preaching.
I 2 Cor. V. 13.
24. And if we have detained you somewhat longer than is our wont, the design was that the dangerous hours might pass: we imagine that those people have now brought their vanity to a close. But let us, bretliren, hav- ing fed upon the feasts of salvation, do what remains, that we may in a religious manner fill up the Lord's day with spiritual joys, and compare the joys of verity with the joys of vanity;^ and if we are horrified, let us grieve; if we grieve, let us pray; if we pray, may we be heard; if we are heard, we gain them also.
- [The heathen spectacles.]
TRACTATE VIII.
Chapter H. 1-4, I. The miracle indeed of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby He made the water into wine, is not marvellous to tiiose who know that it was God's doing. For He who made wine on that day at the marriage feast, in tnose six water-pots, which He commanded to be filled with water, the self-same does this every year in vines. For even as that which the ser- vants put into the water-pots was turned into wine by the doing of the Lord, so in like manner also is what the clouds pour forth changed into wine by the doing of the snme Lord. But we do not wonder at the latter, because it happens every year: it has lost its marvel lousness by its constant recurrence. And yet it suggests a greater consideration than that which was done in the water-pots. For who is there that considers the works of God, whereby this whole world is governed and regulated, who is not amazed and over- whelmed with miracles? If he considers the vigorous power of a single grain of any seed whatever, it is a mighty thing, it inspires him with awe. But since men, intent on a differ- ent matter, have lost the consideration of the works of God, by which they should daily praise Him as the Creator, God has, as it were, reserved to Himself the doing of certain extraordinary actions, that, by striking them with wonder, He might rouse men as from sleep to worship Him. A dead man has risen again; men marvel: so many are born daily, and none marvels. If we reflect more considerately, it is a matter of greater wonder for one to be who was not before, than for one who was to come to life again. Yet the same God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, doeth by His word all these things; and it is He who created that governs also. The former miracles He did by His Word, God with Himself; the latter miracles He did by the same Word incarnate, and for us made man. As we wonder at the things which were done by the man Jesus, so let us wonder at the things which where done by Jesus God. By Jesus God were made heaven, and earth, and the sea, all the garniture of heaven, the abounding riches of the earth, and the fruitfulness of the sea; — all these things which lie within the reach of our eyes were made by Jesus God. And we look at these things, and if His own spirit is in us they in such manner please us, that we praise Him that contrived them; not in such man- ner that turning ourselves to the works we turn away from the Maker, and, in a manner, turning our face to the things made and our backs to Him that made them.
2. And these things indeed we see; they lie before our eyes. But what of those we do not see, as angels, virtues, powers, domin- ions,and every inhabitant of this fabric which is above the heavens, and beyond the reach of our eyes? Yet angels, too, when neces- sary, often showed themselves to men. Has not God made all these too by His Word, that is, by His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ? What of the human soul itself, which is not seen, and yet by its works shown in the flesh excites great admiration in those tliat (Inly reflect on them, — by whom was it made, unless by God? And through whom 58 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate VIII.
was it made, unless through the Son of God? Not to speak as yet of the soul of man: the soul of any brute whatever, see how it regu- lates the huge body, puts forth the senses, the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the nostrils to smell, the taste to discern flavors, — the members, in short, to execute their respective functions! Is it the body, not the soul, namely the inhabitant of the body, that doeth these things? The soul is not apparent to the eyes, nevertheless it excites admiration by these its actions. Direct now thy consid- eration to the soul of man, on which God has bestowed understanding to know its Creator, to discern and distinguish between good and evil, that is, between right and wrong: see how many things it does through the body! Observe this whole world arranged in the same human commonwealth, with what adminis- trations, with what orderly degrees of author- ity, with what conditions of citizenship, with what laws, manners, arts! The whole of this is brought about by the soul, and yet this power of the soul is not visible. When with- drawn from the body, the latter is a mere carcase: first, it in a manner preserves it from rottenness. For all flesh is corruptible, and falls off into putridity unless preserved by the soul as by a kind of seasoning. But the human soul has this quality in common with the soul of the brute; those qualities rather are to be admired which I have stated, such as belong to the mind and intellect, wherein also it is renewed after the image of its Creator, after whose image man was formed.' What will this power of the soul be when this body shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality? ^ If such is its power, acting through corruptible flesh, what shall be its power through a spiritual body, after the resurrection of the dead? Yet this soul, as I have said, of ad- mirable nature and substance, is a thing in- visible, intellectual; this soul also was made by God Jesus, for He is the Word of God. " All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made."