Tractatk XXXV.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
]0- 3, The Lord Jesus Christ, then, had the true." Let us see what they hear; let us witness of prophets sent before Him, of the also hear, yet not as they did: they despising, heralds that preceded the judge: He had! we believing; they wishing to slay Christ, we witness from John; but He was Himself the | desiring to live through Christ. Let this dif- greater witness which He bore to Himself. But those men with their feeble eyes sought lamps, because they were not able to bear the day; for that same Apostle John, whose Gospel we have in our hands, says in the be- ginning of his Gospel, concerning John the Baptist: " There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for a wit- ness, to bear witness of the light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the light, but was sent to bear witness of the liglit. That was the true light, that lighteth every man coming into the world." If "every man," therefore also lighteth John. Whence also the same John says, " We all have received out of His fullness." Where- fore discern ye these things, that your minds may profit in the faith of Christ, that ye be not always babes seeking the breasts and shrinking from solid food. You ought to be nourished and to be weaned by our holy mother the Church of Christ, and to come to more solid food by the mind, not by the belly. This discern ye then, that the light which enlighteneth is one thing, another tnat which is enlightened. For also our eyes are called lights;' and every man thus swears, touching his eyes, by these lights of his: "So may my lights live.'' This is a customary oath. Let these lights, if lights they are, be opened, and shine for thee in thy closed chamber, when the light is not there; they certainly cannot. Thetefore, as these which we have in our face, and call lights, when they are both healthy and open, need the help of light from without, — which being removed or not brought in, though they are sf)und and are open, yet they do not see, — so our mind, which is the eye of the soul, unless it be irradiated by the light of trutli, and wondrously shone upon by Him who en- lightens and is not enlightened, ^will not be able to come to wisdom nor to righteousness. For to live righteously is for us the way itself. But how can he on whom the light does not shine but stumble in the way? And hence, in such a way, we have need of seeing, in such a way it is a great thing to see. Now Tobias had the eyes in his face closed, and the son gave his hand to the father; and yet the father, by his instruction, pointed out the way to the son.- 4. The Jews then answered, " Thou bear- est witness of thyself; thy witness is not ' I.timina.
- Tobit ii. 1 1.
ference distinguish our ears and minds from theirs, and let us hear what the Lord answers to the Jews. "Jesus answered and said to them. Though I bear witness of myself, my witness is true; because I know whence I came and whither I go." The light shows both other things and also itself. Thou lightest a lamp, for instance, to look for thy coat, and the burning lamp affords thee light to find thy coat; dost thou light the lamp to see itself when it burns? A burning lamp is indeed capable at the same time of exposing to view other things which the darkness cov- ered, and also of showing itself to thine eyes. So also the Lord Christ distinguished between His faithful ones and His Jewish enemies, as between light and darkness: as between those whom He illuminated with the ray of faith, and those on whose closed eyes He shed His light. So, too, the sun shines on the face of the sighted and of the blind; both alike standing and facing the sun are shone upon in the flesh, but both are not enlight- ened in the eyesight. The one sees, the other sees not: the sun is present to both, but one is absent from the present sun. So likewise the Wisdom of God, the Word of God, tiie Lord Jesus Christ, is everywhere present, because the truth is everywhere, wis- dom is everywhere. One man in the east understands justice, another man in the west understands justice; is justice which the one understands a different thing from that which the other understands? In body they are far apart, and yet they have the eyes of their minds on one object. The justice which I, placed here, see, if justice it is, is the same which the just man, separated from me in the flesh by ever so many days' journey, also sees, and is united to me in the light of that justice. Tlierefore the light bears witness to itself; It opens the sound eyes and is its own witness, that it may be known as the light. But how about the unbelievers? Is it not present to them? It is present also to them, but they have not eyes of the heart with which to see it. Hear the sentence fetched from the Gospel itself concerning them: "And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not."' Hence the Lord saith, and saiih truly, "Though I bear witness of myself, my witness is true; because I know whence 1 came and whither I go." He meant us to understand the Father liere: ^ John i. 5.
2o6 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XXX\ the Son gave Jory to the Father. Himself the equal glorifies Him by whom He was sent. How ought man to glorify Him by whom he was created!
5. "I know whence I came and whither I go.'' He who speaks to you in person has what He has not left, and yet He came; for by coming He departed not thence, nor has He forsaken us by returning thither. Why marvel ye? It is God: this cannot be done by man; it cannot be done even by the sun. When it goes to the west it leaves the east, and until it returns to the east, when about to rise, it is not in the east; but our Lord Jesus Christ both comes and is there, both returns and is here. Hear the evangelist himself speaking in another place, and, if thou canst, understand it; if not, believe it: "God," saith he, "no man hath ever seen, but the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." He said not 7C'as in the bosom of the Father, as if by coming He had quitted the Father's bosom. Here He was speaking, and yet He declared that He was there; and when about to depart hence, what said He? " Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."'
6. The witness of the light then is true, whether it be manifesting itself or other things; for without light thou canst not see light, and without light thou canst not see any other thing whatever that is not light. If light is capable of showing other things which are not lights, is it not capable of showing itself? Does not that discover itself, without which other things cannot be made manifest? A prophet spoke a truth; but whence had he it, unless he drew it from the fountain of truth? John spoke a truth; but whence he spoke it, ask himself: "We all," saith he, "have received of His fullness." Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ is worthy to bear wit- ness to Himself. But in any case, my breth- ren, let us who are in the night of this world hear also prophecy with earnest attention: for now our Lord willed to come in humility to our weakness and the deep night-darkness of our hearts. He came as a man to be de- spised and to be honored. He came to be denied and to be confessed; to be despised and to be denied by the Jews, to be honored and confessed by us: to be judged and to judge; to be judged unjustly, to judge right- eously. Such then He came that He behoved to have a lamp to bear witness to Him. For what need was there that John should, as a lamp, bear witness to the day, if the day itself ' Matt, xxviii. 20.
could be looked upon by our weakness? But we could not look upon it: He became weak for the weak; by infirmity He healed infirm- ity; by mortal flesh He took away the death of the flesh; of His own body He made a salve for our eyes. Since, therefore, the Lord is come, and since we are still in the night of the world, it behoves us to hear also prophecies.
7. For it is from prophecy that we con- vince gainsaying pagans. Who is Christ? says the pagan. To whom we reply, He whom the prophets foretold. What prophets? asks he. We quote Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, and other holy prophets: we tell him that they came long before Christ, by what length of time they preceded His coming. We make this reply then: Prophets came before Him, and they foretold His coming. One of them answers: What prophets? We quote for him those which are daily read to us. And, said he. Who are these prophets? We answer: Those Vk'ho also foretold the things which we see come to pass. And he urges: You have forged these for yourselves, you have seen them come to pass, and have writ- ten them in what books you pleased, as if their coming had been predicted. Here in opposition to pagan enemies the witness of other enemies offers itself. We produce books written by the Jews, and reply: Doubt-« less both you and they are enemies of our faith. Hence are they scattered among the nations, that we may convince one class of enemies by another. Let the book of Isaiah be produced by the Jews, and let us see if it is not there we read, " He was led as a sheep to be slaughtered, and as a lamb before his shearer was dumb, so He opened not His mouth. In humility His judgment was taken away; by His bruises we are healed: all we as sheep went astray, and He was delivered up for our sins. "= Behold one lamp. Let another be produced, let the psalm be opened, and thence, too, let the foretold suffering of Christ be qiioted: " They pierced my hands and my feet, they counted all my bones: but they considered me and gazed upon me, they parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast the lot. My praise is with Thee; in the great assembly will I con- fess to Thee. All the ends of the earth shall be reminded, and' be converted to the Lord: all countries of the nations shall worship in His sight; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and He shall have dominion over the nations."' Let one enemy blush, for it is another enemy that gives me the book. Bui lo, out of the - Isa. liii. 5- 3 Ps. xxii. 17-29.
Tractate XXXV.]
OX THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
20: book produced by the one enemy, I have vanquished the other: nor let that same who produced me the book be left; let him pro- duce that by which himself also may be van- quished. I read another prophet, and I find the Lord speaking to the Jews: "I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord, nor will I accept sacrifice at your hands: for from the rising of the sun even to his going down, a pure sacrifice is offered to mj^ name.'' ' Thou dost not come, O Jew, to a pure sacrifice; I prove thee impure.
8. Behold, even lamps bear witness to the day, because of our weakness, for we cannot bear and look at the brightness of the day. In comparison, indeed, with unbelievers, we Christians are even now light; as the apostle says, " For ye were once darkness, but now light in the Lord: walk as children of light:" - and he says elsewhere, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast away the works of darkness, and put on us the armor of light; let us walkhon estly as in the day."^ Yet that even the day in which we now are is still night, in comparison with the light of that to which we are to come, listen to the Apostle Peter: he says that a voice came to the L.ord Christ from the ex- cellent glory, " Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. This voice," said he, "which came from heaven, we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount." But because we were not there, and have not then heard this voice from heaven, the same Peter says to us, "And we have a more sure word of prophecy." You have not heard the voice come from heaven, but you have a more sure word of prophecy. For the Lord Jesus Christ, foreseeing tliat there would be certain wicked men who would calumniate His miracles, by attributing them to magical arts, sent prophets before Him. For, supposing He was a magician, and by magical arts caused that He should be worshipped after His death, was He then a magician before He was born? Hear the prophets, O man dead, and breeding the worms of calumny, hear the prophets: I read, hear them who came before the Lord. "We have," saith the Apostle Peter, "a more sure word of prophecy, to which ye do well to give heed, as to a lamp in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts\"-* 9. When, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ shall come, and, as the Apostle Paul also says, will bring to light the hidden things of dark- ness, and will make manifest the thoughts of the heart, that every man may have praise from God; 5 then, in presence of such a day, lamps will not be needed: no prophet shall then be read to us, no book of an apostle shall be opened; we shall not require the wit- ness of John, we shall not need the Gospel itself. Accordingly all Scriptures shall be taken out of the way, — which, in the night of this world, were as lamps kindled for us that we might not remain in darkness, — when all these are taken away, that they may not shine as if we needed them, and the men of God, by whom these were ministered to us, shall themselves, together with us, behold that true and clear light. Well, what shall we see after these aids have been removed? AVhere- with shall our mind be fed? Wherewith shall our gaze be delighted? Whence shall arise that joy which neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor hath gone up into the heart of man? Wliat shall we see? I beseech you, love with me, by believing run with me: let us long for our home above, let us pant for our home above, let us feel that we are strangers here. What shall we see then?
Let the Gospel now tell us: "In the begin- ning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Thou shalt come to the fountain from which a little dew has already besprinkled thee: thou shalt see that very light, from which a ray was sent aslant and through many windings into thy dark heart, in its purity, for the seeing and bearing of which thou art being purified. John himself says, and this I cited yesterday: " Beloved, we are the sons of God; and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be: we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him even as He is."* I feel that your affections are being lifted up with me to the things that are above: but the body, which is corrupt, weighs down the soul; and, the earthly habitation depresses the mind while meditating many things. =' I am about to lay aside this book, and you too are going to depart, every man to his own house. It has been good for us to have been in the common light, good to have been glad therein, good to have rejoiced therein; but when we part from one another, let us not depart from Him.
- Eph. V. 8.
4 2 I'et. i. 17-19.
5 I Cor. iv. 5.
6 I John iii. 2.
7 Wisd. i.x. 15.
208 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
Tractate XXXVI.
TRACTATE XXXVI.
Chapter VIII. 15-18.
1. In the four Gospels, or rather in the four books of the one Gospel, Saint John the apostle, not undeservedly in respect of his spiritual understanding compared to the eagle, has elevated his preaching higher and far more sublimely than the other three; and in this elevating of it he would have our hearts likewise lifted up. For the other three evangelists walked with the Lord on earth as with a man; concerning His divinity they have said but little; but this evangelist, as if he disdained to walk on earth, just as in the very opening of his discourse he thundered on us, soared not only above the earth and above the whole compass of air and sky, but even above the whole army of angels and the whole order of invisible powers, and reached to Him by whom all things were made; saying, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made." To this so great sub- limity of his beginning all the rest of his preaching well agrees; and he has spoken con- cerning the divinity of the Lord as none other has spoken. What he had drank in, the same he gave forth. For it is not without reason that it is recorded of him in this very Gospel, that at supper he reclined on the Lord's bosom. From that breast then he drank in secret; but what he drank in secret he gave forth openly, that there may come to all nations not only the incarnation of the Son of God, and His passion and resurrec- tion, but also what He was before His incar- nation, the only Son of the Father, the Word of the Father, co-eternal with Him that begat, equal with Him by whom He was sent; but yet in that very sending made less, that the Father might be greater.
2. Whatever, then, you have heard stated in lowly manner concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, think of that economy by which He assumed flesh; but whatever you hear, or read, stated in the Gospel concerning Him that is sublime and high above all creatures, and divine, and equal and coeternal with the Father, be sure that this which you read ap- pertains to the form of God, not to the form of the servant. For if you hold this rule, you who can understand it (inasmuch as you are not all able to understand it, but you are all bound to trust it), — if, I say, you hold this rule, as men walking in the light, you will fight against the calumnies of heretical dark- ness without fear^ For there have not been wanting those who, in reading the Gospel, followed only those testimonies that concern the humility of Christ, and have been deaf to those which have declared His divinity; deaf for this reason, that they may be full of evil words. There have likewise been some, who, giving heed only to those which speak of the excellency of the Lord, even though they have read of His mercy in becoming man for our sakes, have not believed the testimonies, but accounted them false and invented by men; contending that our Lord Jesus Christ was only God, not also man Some in this way, some in that: both in error. But the catho- lic faith, holding from both the truths which each holds and preaching the truth which each believes, has both understood that Christ is God and also believed Him to be man: for each is written and each is true. Shouldst thou assert that Christ is only God, thou deniest the medicine whereby thou wast healed: shouldst thou assert that Christ is only man, thou deniest the power whereby thou wast created. Hold therefore both. O faithful soul and catholic heart, hold both, believe both, faithfully confess both. Christ is both God and also man. How is Christ God? Equal with the Father, one with the Father. How is Christ man? Born of a vir- gin, taking upon Himself mortality from man, but not taking iniquity.
3 These Jews then saw the man; they neither perceived nor believed Him to be God: and you have already heard how, among all the rest, they said to Him, " Thou bear- est witness of thyself; thy witness is not true." You have also heard what He said in reply, as it was read to you yesterday, and according to our ability discussed. To-day have been read these words of His, "Ye judge after the flesh. '^ Therefore it is, saith He, that you say to me, " Thou bearest wit- ness of thyself; thy witness is not true," be- cause you judge after the flesh, because you perceive not God; the man you see, and by persecuting the man, you offend God hidden in Him. "Ye," then, "judge after the flesh.'' Because I bear witness of myself, I therefore appear to you arrogant. For every Tractate XXXVI.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
209 man, when he wishes to bear commendatory witness of himself, seems arrogant and proud. Hence it is written, " Let not thy own mouth praise thee, but let thy neighbor's" mouth praise thee.' But this was said to man. For we are weak, and we speak to the weak. We can speak the truth, but we can also lie; although we are bound to speak the truth, still we have it in our power to lie when we will. But far be it from us to think that the darkness of falsehood could be found in the splendor of the divine light. He spoke as the light, spoke as the truth; but the light was shining in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not: therefore they judged after the flesh, "Ye," saith He, "judge after the flesh."
4. " I judge not any man." Does not the Lord Jesus Christ, then, judge any man? Is He not the same of whom we confess that He rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven, there sits at the right hand of the Father, and thence shall come to judge the quick and the dead? Is not this our faith of which the apostle says, " With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation?" ^ When, therefore, we confess these things, do we contradict the Lord? We say that He shall come a judge of the quick and the dead, whilst He says Himself, " 1 judge not any man." This question may be solved in two ways: Either that we may understand this expression, " I judge not any man," to mean, I judge not- any man notv; in accordance with what He says in another place, '' I am not come to judge the world, but to save the world;" not denying His judgment here, but deferring it. Or, otherwise, surely that when He said, "Ye judge after the flesh," He sub- joined, " I judge not any man," in such man- ner that thou shouldst understand '' after the flesh" to complete the sense. Therefore let no scruple of doubt remain in our heart against the faith which we hold and declare concerning Christ as judge. Chiist is come, but first to save, then to judge: to adjudge to punishment those who would not be saved; to brmg them to life who, by believing, did not reject salvation. Accordingly, the first dispensation of our Lord Jesus Christ is me- dicinal, not judicial; for if He had come to judge first. He would have found none on whom He might bestow the rewards of right- eousness. Because, therefore, He saw that all were sinners, and that none was exempt from the death of sin. His mercy had first to be craved, and afterwards His judgment