self-same thing. It is not so with man. Raise your hearts by all means from a com- parison of human weakness, that lies far be- neath; 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 wiiole, lest he should be- • Juhn V. i3.
come proud, and lose what knowledge he has gotten. With man, to be and to be able are different things. For soriietimes 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 being 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 what- ever is His, and whatever He is, is consub- stantial 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 to- gether, because He has to will and to do to- gether. 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 sub- stance 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 an3'thing. " Because He is not Son from Himself, therefore He is not able from Him- self.
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 van- ity 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 exer- cises pious hearts, especially that spoken by the Evangelist John. For they are dee[) 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."- 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 => Ecclus. V. 13.
134 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XX.
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; ' 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 say- ing, 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.
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 v/aves: the flesh walked, and the divinity di- rected. But when the flesh was walking and the divinity directing, was the Father ab- sent? If absent, how doth the Son Himself say, " but the Father abiding in me, Himself doeth tlie works?" ^ jf t^g 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 ' Matt, xiv - John X. 7.
John XIV. 10.
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 be- tween waters and waters; and the Son saw Him, according to thy dull and sluggish un- derstanding. 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 Him- self being the chief corner-stone," are brought into a state of peace in Christ; '' 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 sa37est, " 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 inseparabley Moreover, this, " The Son cannot do anytning 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 re- quired not time to beget: who produced the Word of Himself, required not a mother to beget by; the Father begetting did not pre- cede 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 4 Eph.
14-20.
Tractate XX.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
135 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 gen- erating 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; be- cause 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; " lest 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 ob- serving 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 sa)% the carnal mind should frame to itself any such twofold notion in the case of the divine unity, going on, He saith, " For what tilings 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 doetli: 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 matie 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 invisi- ble: 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 com- mands 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 maiie, 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 tiiou 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." ]f 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 tem- poral, 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 Fatlier made by the Son, since by the Word the Father made all things.
136 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XX.
II. Seek in the Father and Son a separa- tion, 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; m5unt also beyond the mind, and understand God. Thou- reach- est not unto God, unless thou hast passed be- yond 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 mid- way: 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 any- how, 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."' 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 remem- bered, and poured out my soul above me." =" 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, per- haps thou sayest, but the body is temporal. Think then of other bodies, the heavenly; they are greater, better, more magnificent.
I Matt. V. 8.
2 Ps, xli. 4, s.
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 be- yond 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, dis- tinguishes, 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 i 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 quar- ter. 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, notwithstand- ing 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 be- yond 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 Tractate XXI.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN, 0/ 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 abilit)'. 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 1 iwisd. vu. 26.
said of the Wisdom itself? " It is the radi- ance of eternal light." ' 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 bright- ness 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; tliat 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 dis- course of our Lord Jesus Christ, now that a discourse is due to you to-morrow also, be present that ye may hear.
TRACTATE XXI.
Chapter V. 20-23 I. Yesterday, so far as the Lord vouchsafed to bestow, we discussed with what ability we could, and discerned according to our capacity, how the works of the Father and of the Son are inseparable; and how the Father doeth not some, the Son others, but that the Father doeth all things through the Son, as through His Word, of which it is written, " All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made." Let us to-day look at the words that follow. And of the same Lord let us pray for mercy, and hoj)e that, if He deem it meet, we may understand what is true; but if we should not be able to do this, tliat we may not go into what is false. For it is better not to know than to go astray; but to know is better than not to know. Therefore, before all things, we ouglit to strive to know. ShouUl we be able, to God be thanks; but should we not be able mean- while to arrive at the truth, let us not go to falsehood. For we are bound to consider well what we are, and what we are treating of. We are men bearing flesh, walking in this life; and though now begotten again of the seed of the Word of God, yet in Christ renewed in such manner that we are not yet wholly rid of Adam. For truly our mortal and corruptible part that weighs down the soul' shows itself to be, and manifestly is, of Adam; but what in us is spiritual, and raises up the soul, is of God's gift and of His mercy, who has sent His only Son to partake our death with us, and to lead us to His own immortality. The Son we have for our Master, that we may not sin; and for our defender, if we have sinned and. have confessed, and been converted; an in- tercessor for us, if we have desired any good of God; and the bestower of it with the Father, because Father and Son is one God. But He was speaking these things as man to men: God concealed, the man manifest, that He might make them gods that are manifest men; and the Son of C'rod made Son of man, that He might make the sons of men sons of God. By what skill of His wisdom He doeth this, we perceive in His own words. For as a little one He speaks to little ones, but Himself little in such wise that He is also great, and we little, but in Him great. He speaks, in- ' Wisd. i.v. 15.
138 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XXI.
deed, as one cherishing and nourishing chil- dren at the breast that grow by loving.
2. He had said, " The Son cannot of Him- self do anything, but what He seeth the Father doing." We, however, understood it not that the Father doeth something sepa- rately, which when the Son seeth. Himself also doeth something of the same kind, after seeing His Father's work; but when He said, " The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what He seeth the Father doing," we understood it that the Son is wholly of the Father — that His whole substance and His whole power are of the Father that begat Him. But just now, when He had said that He doeth in like manner these things which the Father doeth, that we may not understand it to mean that the Father doeth some, the Son others, but that the Son with like power doeth the very same wnich the Father doeth, whilst the Father doeth through the Son, He went on, and said what we have heard read to-day: " For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth." Again mortal thought is disturbed. The Father showeth to the Son what things Himself doeth; therefore, saith some one, the Father doeth separately, that the Son may be able to see what He doeth. Again, there occur to hu- man thought, as it were, two artificers — as, for instance, a carpenter teaching his son his own art, and showing him whatever he doeth, that the son also may be able to do it. " Showeth Him," saith He, "all things that Himself doeth.'' Is it therefore so, that whilst He doeth, the Son doeth not, that He may be able to see the Father do? Yet, certainly, " all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made." Hence we see how the Father showeth the Son what He doeth, since the Father doeth nothing but what He doeth through the Son. What hath the Father made? He made the world. Hath He shown the world, when made, to the Son in such wise, that the Son also should make some- thing like it? Then let us see the world which the Son made. Nevertheless, both " all things were made by Him, and without Him. was nothing made," and also " the world was made by Him." ' If the world was made by Him, and all things were made by Him, and the Father doeth nothing save by the Son, where doth the Father show to the Son what He doeth, if it be not in the Son Himself, through whom. He doeth? In what place can