124 THE WORKS OP^ ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XIX, 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 judg- ment 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 quick- eneth 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 "? Mean- while let the questions now proposed engage your minds; the Ford 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 fol- low 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 judg- ment 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 honor- ing 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 honoreth not the Father that "I," sayest thou, "wish to 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; be- cause Father cannot be said if there be not a Son, as neither can Son if there be not a r'ather. 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 Him- self 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, sent Him." give greater honor to the Father, less to the Son." There- in 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, where- in 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. AVhy heareth Thy word, and yet believeth another? When we hear any one's word, is it not him that utters the word we be-lieve? is it not to him wuo speaks we lend our faith? What, then, did He mean, saying, " Whoso heai-eth 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, " be- lieveth Him that sent me," because, believing Him, he believeth His word; but again, be- lieving His word, he believeth me, because I am the Word of the Father. There is there- fore peace in the Scriptures, and all things duly disposed, and in no way clashing. Cast away, then, contention from thy heart; un- derstand the harmony of the Scriptures. Dost thou think that the Truth should speak things contrary to itself?
Tractate XIX. "1 ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
125 8. " Whoso heareth my word, and believ- eth 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 rais- eth 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. ^ Hence a resurrection does take place now, and men pass from a death to a life; from the deatii 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, there- fore, 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 w^e have be- lieved; 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 resurrec- tion of the dead, it is not as that of Lazarus,- or of the widow's son,^ or of the ruler of the synagogue's daughter,-* who were raised to die again (for in their case there was a resurrection of the dead before the resur- rection of the dead); but, as He says here, "hath," says He, "eternal life, and cometii 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 tiie 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 'I'ruth, was willing to represent to us a resurrection of the dead to eternal life before the resurrection of the dead to eternal life, " The hour cometh," ' Luke XV. 32.
1 l.uke vi. 14.
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 command 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." ^ 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 resur- rection 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.^ But let Him- self distinguish and open up what W'e 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 w^ill open it clearly. Hear ye the ^Master, while dawning upon us, and as our Sun glid- ing 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 resurrec- tion is asserted — " shall hear tlie voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live."
Why hath He added, " they tliat 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 tlie 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 l)ecause they live tliey hear; but by hearing they come to life again: " Shall hear, and they that hear * Luke XX. 36.
126 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XIX.
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, in- deed, 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 resurrec- tion 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 obey- eth not, that is, heareth and despiseth, hear- eth 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."
II. 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 Him- self." 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 Him- self, 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 exceed- ingly 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."' 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 re- moved from the fire, grows cold? A some- thing 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 your- selves 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 dark- ness when the candle is withdrawn, you have not light in yourselves. Consequently, to have light in oneself is not to need light from an- other. 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 tliere may be only this difference between the Father and the Son, that the Father hath life in Him- self, 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, tlxyself confessest that the Father hath given4ife 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 I Rom. iv. 5.
Tractate XIX.]
ON '1"HE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN, 127 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, right- eousness, 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 sup- plies 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, god- liness, 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 un- righteousness, 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."' 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." - 13. Not, then, in like manner as the soul is one thing before it is enlightened, and be- comes 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 Him- self "? 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, there- fore: "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 dcdit (hath given) to be understood for the same thing as gciiiiit (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, be- cause he who could receive existed before it was given him. When, therefore, thou hear- est it said, " He gave thee being," thou wast not in being to receive, but thou didst receive, that thou shouldst be by coming into exist- ence. 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 l)rought to pass that it should be a house. Well, then, what gave He to t'ne Son? Gave Him to be the Son, begot Him to be life — that is, "gave Him to have life in Himself " that He shoukl be the life not needing life, that He may not be understood as having life by participation For if lie had life by par- «r s..vxxin. s.
'■' Ps. XX.X' 128 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XIX.
ticipation, He might, by losing, be witliout 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 tim.e, 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 tlie Bride- groom's voice:"' 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 resur- rection 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, be- cause " the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, nd shall live." It is not some 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 Cfo 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 1 John iii. 29.