the Lord Himself says most distinctly, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." '-^ Therefore, if the Son is the truth, what is the Father but what the Truth Himself says, " He that sent me is true "? The Son is the truth, the Father true. I inquire which is the greater, but find equality. For the true Father is true not because He contained a part of that truth, but because He begat it entire.
8. I see I must speak more plainly. And, not to detain you long, let me treat only of this point to-day. When I have finished what, I Verax an Veritas.
■ John xi with God's help, I wish to say, my dis- course shall close. I have said this, then, to enlist your attention. Every soul, as being a thing, is mutable; and although a great creature, yet a creature; though superior to the body, yet made. Every soul, then, since it is changeable — that is, sometimes believes, sometimes disbelieves; atone time wishes, at another time refuses; at one time is adulter- ous, at another chaste; now good, and again wicked, — is changeable. But God is that which is, and so has retained as His own peculiar name, " I am who am." ^ Such also is the Son, when He says, " If ye believe not that I am; " and thereto pertains also, " Who art thou? The Beginning" (ver. 25). God therefore is unchangeable, the soul change- able. When the soul receives from God the elements of its goodness it becomes good by participation, just as by participation thine eye seeth. For it sees not when the light is withdrawn, while so long as it shares in the light it sees. Since then by participntion the soul is made good, if zV changes and becomes bad, the goodness remains that made it good. For there is a goodness of which it partook when good; and when it has turned to evil, that goodness continues entire. If the soul fall away and become evil, there is no lessen- ing of goodness; if it return and become good, that goodness is not enlarged. Thine eye participates in this light, and thou seest. Is it shut? Then thou hast not diminished the light. Is it open? Thou hast not increased the light. By this illustration, brethren, under- stand that if the soul is pious, there is piety with God, of which the soul is partaker; if the soul is chaste, there is chastity with God, of which it partakes; if it is good, there is goodness with God, of which it partakes; if it is true, there is truth with God, of which the soul is partaker. Whereof if the soul is no partaker, every man is false;'* and if every man may be false, no man islrue of himself. ^ But the true Father is true of Himself,5 for He begat the Truth. It is one thing to say, That man is true, for he has taken in the truth: it is another, God is true, for He begat the Truth. See then how God is true, — not by participating in, but by generating the Truth. I see you have understood me, and am glad. Let this suffice you to-day. The rest, according as He gives it, we shall ex- pound when the Lord pleases.
3 Ex, iii. 14.
4 Ps. cxvi. II.
5 Dc sua.
Tractate XL.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
225 TRACTATE XL.
Chapter VIII. 28-^2.
1. Of the holy Gospel according to John, which you see in our hand, your Charity has already heard much, whereon by God's grace we have discoursed according to our ability, pressing on your notice that this evangelist, specially, has chosen to speak of the Lord's | divinity, wherein He is equal with the Father 1 and the only Son of God; and on that account he has been compared to the eagle, because no other bird is understood to take a loftier flight. Accordingly, to what follows in order, as the Lord enables us to treat of it, listen | with all your attention.
2. We have spoken to you on the preced- ing passage, suggesting how the Father may be understood as True, and the Son as the Truth. But when the Lord Jesus said, " He that sent me is true," the Jews understood not that He spake to them of the Father. And He said to them, as you have just heard in the reading, " Wlien ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am, and [that] I do nothing of myself; but as the Father hath taught me, I speak these things. ' ' What means this? For it looks as if all He said was, that they would know who He was after His passion. Without doubt, therefore, He saw that some there, whom He Himself knew, whom with the rest of His saints He Himself in His foreknowledge had chosen before the foundation of the world, would»be- lieve after His passion. These are the very persons whom we are constantly commending, and with much entreaty setting forth for your imitation. For on the sending down of the Holy Spirit after the Lord's passion, and resurrection, and ascension, when miracles were being done in the name of Him whom, as if (lead, the persecuting Jews had despised, they were pricked in their hearts; and they who in their rage slew Him were changed and believed; and they who in their rage shed His blood, now in the spirit of faith drank it; to wit, those three thousand, and those five thousand Jews' whom now He saw there, wiien He said, " When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [He]." It was as if He had said, 1 let your recognition lie over till I have couipieled my passion: in your own order ye shall know who I am. Not that all who heard Him were '.Alts ii. 17, 41; iv. 4.
only then to believe, that is, after the Lord's passion; for a little after it is said, "As He spake these words, many believed on Him; " and the Sun of man was not yet lifted up. But the lifting up He is speaking of is that of His passion, not of His glorification; of the cross, not of heaven; for He was e.xalted there also when He hung on the tree. But that exaltation was His humiliation; for then He became obedient even to the death of the cross.'' This required to be accomplished by the hands of those who should afterwards believe, and to whom He says, " When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [He]." And why so, but that no one might despair, however guilty his conscience, when he saw those forgiven their homicide who had slain the Christ?
3, The Lord then, recognizing such in that crowd, said, "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [He]." You know already what "I am" signifies; and we must not be continually re- peating, lest so great a subject beget distaste. Recall that, " I am who am," and '' He who is hath sent me,"^ and you will recognize tlie meaning of the words, " Then shall ye know that I am." But both the Father is, and the Holy Spirit is. To the same is belongs the whole Trinity. But because the Lord spake as the Son, in order that, when He says, " Then shall ye know that I am," there might be no chance of entrance for the error of the Sabellians, that is, of the Patripassians, — an error which I have charged you not to hold, but to beware of, — the error, I mean, of those who have said. The Father and Son are one and tlie same; two names, but one reality; — to guard them against tliat error, when the Lord said, "Then shall ye know that I am,'' that He might not be understood as Himself the Father, He immediately added, "And I do nothing of myself; but as my Father taught me, I speak these thmgs." Already was the Sabellian beginning to rejoice over the discovery of a ground for his error; but immediately on showing himself as it were in the shade, he was confounded by the light of the following sentence. Thou tlioughtest that He was the Father, because He said, "I Tin " Hear now that He is the Son: "And - Phil. ii. 8.
7i: X. 111. 14.
226 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XL, I do nothing of myself." What means this, " I do nothing of myself"? Of myself I am not. For the Son is God, of the Father; but the Father is God, yet not of the Son. The Son is God of God, and the Father is God, but not of God. The Son is light of light; and the Father is light, but not of light. The Son is, but there is [One] of whom He is; and the Father is, but there is none of whom He is.
4. Let not then, my brethren, His further words, "As my Father hath taught me, I speak these things,'' be the occasion of any carnal thought stealing into your minds. For human weakness cannot think, but as it is ac- customed to act and to hear. Do not then set before your eyes as it were two men, one the father, the other the son, and the father speaking to the son; as any one of you may do, when you say something to your son, ad- monishing and instructing him how to speak, to charge his memory with what you have told him, and, having done so, to express it in words, to enunciate distinctly, and convey to the ears of others what he has apprehended with his own. Think not thus, lest you be fabricating idols in your heart. The human shape, the outlines of human limbs, the form of human flesh, the outward senses, stature and motions of the body, the functions of the tongue, the distinctions of sounds, — think not of such as existing in that Trinity, save as they pertain to the servant-form, which the only-begotten Son assumed, when the Word was made flesh to dwell among us.- Thereof I forbid thee not, human weakness, to think according to thy knowledge: nay, rather I require thee. If the faith that is in thee be true, think of Christ as such; but as such of the Virgin Mary, not of God the Father. He was an infant, He grew as a man. He walked as a man. He hungered, He thirsted as a man. He slept as a man; at last He suffered as a man, hung on the tree, was slain and buried as a man. In the same form He rose again; in the same, before the eyes of His disciples, He ascended into heaven; in the same will He yet come to judgment. For angel lips have declared in the Gospel, " He shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven. " ^ When then you think of the servant-form in Christ, think of a human likeness, if you have faith; but when you think, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," '* away with all human fashioning from your heart. Banish from your thoughts everything bounded by corporeal hmits, in- I De: so in what follows. 3 Acts i. II.
eluded in local measurement, or spread out in a mass, how great soever its size. Perish utterly such a figment from your heart. Think, if you can, on the beauty of wisdom, picture to yourself the beauty of righteous- ness. Has that a shape? a size? a color? It has none of these, and yet it is; for if it were not, it would neither be loved nor worthy of praise, nor be cherished in our heart and life as an object of honor and affection. But men here become wise; and whence would they so, had wisdom no existence? And further, O man, if thou canst not see thine own wisdom with the eyes of the flesh, nor think of it by the same mental imagery as thou canst of bodily things, wilt thou dare to thrust the shape of a human body on the wisdom of God?
5. What shall we say then, brethren? How spake the Fatlier to the Son, seeing that the Son says, "As the Father taught me, I speak these things"? Did He speak to Him? When the Father taught the Son, did He use words, as you do when you teach your son? How could He use words to the Word! What words, many in number, could be used to the one Word? Did the Word of the Father approach His ears to the Father's mouth? Such things are carnal: banish them from your hearts. For this I say, if only you have understood my words, I certainly have spoken and my words have sounded, and by their sound have reached your ears, and through your sense of hearing have car- ried their meaning to your mind, if so be you have understood. Suppose that some person of Latin s speech has heard, but has only heard without understanding, what I have said. As regards the noise issuing from my mouth, he who has understood not has been a sharer therein just like yourselves. He has heard that sound; the same syllables have smote on his ears, but they /have produced no effect on his mind. Why? Because he understood not. But if you have understood, whence comes your understanding? My words have sounded in the ear: have I kindled any light in the heart? Without doubt, if what I have said is true, and this truth you have not only heard, but also understood, two things have there been wrought (distin- guish between them), hearing and intelli- gence. Hearing has been wrought by me, but by whom has understanding? I have spoken to the ear, that you might hear; who has spoken to your heart for understanding? Doubtless some one has also said something 5 " Latin '' here, as used by Augustin, would require to be translated " English," to give the exact force of the illustration in an English version. — Tk.
Tractate XL.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN 2 2 7 to your heart, that not only the noise of words might strike your ear, but something also of the truth might descend into your heart. Some one has spoken also to your heart, but you do not see him. If, brethren, you liave understood, your heart also has been spoken to. Intelligence is the gift of God. And who, if you have understood, has spoken so in your heart, but He to whom the Psalm says, ''Give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments?'*' For example, the bishop has spoken. What has he said? some one asks. You repeat what he has spoken, and add. He has said the truth. Then an- other, who has not understood, says. What has he said, or what is it you are praising? Both have heard me; I have spoken to both; but to one of them God has spoken. If we may compare small things with great (for what are we to Him?), something, I know not what, of an incorporeal and spiritual kind God works in us, which is neither sound to strike the ear, nor color to be discerned by the eyes, nor smell to enter the nostrils, nor taste to be judged of by the mouth, nor anything hard or soft to be sensible to the touch; yet some- thing there is which it is easy to feel, — im- possible to explain. If then God, as I was saying, speaks in our hearts without sound, how speaks He to His Son? Thus then, brethren, think thus as much as you can, if, as I have said, we ma}^ in some measure com- pare small things with great: think thus. In an incorporeal way the Father spoke to the Son, because in an incorporeal way the Father begat the Son. Nor did He so teach Him as if He had begotten Him untaught; but to have taught Him is the same as to have be- gotten Him full of knowledge; and this, "The Father hath taught me," is the same as, The Father hath begotten me already knowing. For if, as few understand, tne na- ture of the Truth is simple, to be is to the Son the same as to know. From Him there- fore He has knowledge, from whom He has being.* Not that from Him He had first being, and afterwards knowledge; but as in begetting He gave Him to be, so in begetting He gave Him to know; for, as was said, to the simple nature of the Truth, being is not one thing and knowing another, but one and the same.
6. Thus then He spake to the Jews, and added, "And He that sent me is witl^ me." He had already said this also before, but of this important point He is constantly remind- ing them,- " He sent me," and " He is with me." If then, O Lord, He is with Thee, ■ P: 73- 2 Ut novcrit~iit iit.
not SO much hath the One been sent by the other, but ye Both have come. And yet, while Both are together. One was sent, the Other was the sender; for incarnation is a sending, and the incarnation itself belongs only to the Son and not to the Father. The Father therefore sent the Son, but did not withdraw from the Son. For it was not that the Father was absent from the place to which He sent the Son. For where is not the Maker of all things? Where is He not, who said, "I fill heaven and earth"?' Buc per- haps the Father is everywhere, and the Son not so? Listen to the evangelist: " He was in this world, anti the world was made by Him."* Therefore said He, " He that sent me," by whose power as Father I am incar- nate, " is with me, — hath not left me." Why hath He not left me? "He hath not left me," He says, "alone; for I do always those things that please Him." I'hat equality ex- ists always; not from a certain beginning, and then onwards; but without beginning, without end. For Divine generation has no beginning in time, since time itself was created by the Only-begotten.
7. "As He spake these words, many be- lieved on Him." Would that, wliile I speak also, many, who before this were otherwise disposed, understood and be;ieved on Him! For perhaps there are some Arians in this large assembly. I dare not sus[)ect that there are any Sabellians, who say that the Father Himself is one with the Son, seeing that heresy is too old, and has been gradually eviscerated. But that of the Arians seems still to have some movement about it, like that of a putrefying carcase, or certainly, at the most, like a man at the last gasp; and from this some still require deliverance, just as from that other many were delivered. This province, indeed, diil not use to have such; but ever since the arrival of many foreigners, some of these have also found their way to our neighborhood. See then, while the Lord spake tiiese words, many Jews believed on Him. May I see also that, while I am speaking,.Arians are believing, not on me, but with me!
8. " 'i'hen said the Lord to those Jews who believed on Him, If ye continue in my word." "Continue," I say, for you are now initiated and have begun to be there. " If ye con- tinue," that is. in the faith which is now be- gun in you who believe, to what will you at- tain? See the nature of tfie beginning, anil whither it leads. You have- loved t!u' foiuula- tion, give lieed to the summit, and out of this 3 Jt-r.
■t Cli.ip. i. 10.
228 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractatic XL.
low condition seek that other elevation. For faith nas humility, but knowledge and immor- tality and eternity possess not lowliness, but loftiness; that is, upraising, all-sufificiency, eternal stability, full freedom from hostile assault, from fear of failure. That which has its beginning in faith is great, but is despised. In a building also the foundation is usually of little account with the unskilled. A large trench is made, and stones are thrown in every way and everywhere. No embellishment, no beauty are apparent there; just as also in the root of a tree there is no appearance of beauty. And yet all that delights you in the tree has sprung from the root. You look at the root and feel no delight: you look at the tree and admire it. Foolish man! what you admire has grown out of that which gave you no delight. The faith of believers seems a thing of little value, — you have no scales to weigh It. Hear then to what it attains, and see its greatness: as the Lord Himself says in another place, " If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed."' What is there of less account than that, yet what is there pervaded with greater energy? What more minute, yet what more fervidly expansive? And so " ye '' also. He says, " if ye continue in my word," wherein ye have believed, to what will ye be brought? "ye shall be my disciples indeed." And what does that benefit us? " and ye shall know the truth."
9. What, brethren, does He promise be- lievers? "And ye shall know the truth." Why so? Had they not come to such know- ledge when the Lord was speaking? If they had not, how did they believe? They be- lieved, not because they knew, but that they might come to know. For we believe in order that we may know, we do not know in order that we may believe. For what we shall yet know, neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered the heart of man.'' For what is faith, but believing what you see not? Faith then is to believe what you see not; truth, to see what you have believed, as He Himself saith in a certain place. The Lord then walked on earth, first of all, for the crea- tion of faith. He was man. He was made in a low condition. He was seen by all, but not by all was He known. By many was He rejected, by the multitude was He slain, by few was He mourned; and yet even by those who mourned Him, His true being was still unrecognized. All this is the beginning as it were of faith's lineaments and future up- building. As the Lord, referring thereto, saith in a certain place, " He that loveth me I Matt. xvii. 20.
4; 1 Cor.
11. 9.
keepeth my commandments; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." 3 They certainly already saw the per- son to whom they were listening; and yet to them, if they loved Him, does He give it as a promise that they should see Him. So also here, "Ye shall know the truth." How so? Is that not the truth which Thou hast been speaking? The truth it is, but as yet it is only believed, not beheld. If you abide in that which is believed, you shall attain ta that which is seen. Hence John' himself, the holy evangelist, says in his epistle, '' Dearly beloved, we are the sons of God; but it is not yet apparent what we shall be." We are so already, and something we shall be. What more shall we be than we are? Listen: " It is not yet apparent what we shall be: [but] we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him." How? " For we shall see Him as He is."'' A grfeat promise, but the reward of faith. You seek the reward; then let the work precede. If you believe, ask for the reward of faith; but if you believe not, with what face can you seek the reward of faith? "If" then "ye continue In my word, ye shall be my disciples indeed," that ye may behold the very truth as it is, not through sounding words, but in dazzling light, wherewith He shall satisfy ^ us: as we read in the psalm, " The light of Thy countenance is impressed upon us."* We are God's money: we have wandered away as coin from the treasury. The impression that was stamped upon us has been rubbed out by our wandering. He has come to refashion, for He it was that fashioned us at first; and He is Himself asking for His money, as Caesar for his. Therefore He says, " Render unto Csesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's:"'' to C^sar his money, to God yourselves. And then shall the truth be reproduced in us.
ID. What shall I say to your Charity? Oh that our hearts were in some measure r.spiring after that ineffable glory! Oh that we were passing our pilgrimage in sighs, and loving not the world, and continually pushing onwards with pious minds to Him who hath called us! Longing is the very bosom of the heart. We shall attain, if with all our power we give way to our longing. Such in our behalf is the ob- ject of the divine Scriptures, of the assembling of the people, of the celebration of the sacra- 6 Ps. iv. 6: Aug., with Vulg.. translates 12*"^J?"nCi passively and indie, Instead of active and imperat., as Eiiijl. \"ers. — Tr.
7 Matt..\.\ii. 21.
Tractate XLI.]
OX THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
229 singing God's