eth away the sin of the world.' s Moreover, ' Ostiarius.
1'r.ACTATE XLVI.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
257 I am going to say something of a still more wonderful kind, in accordance with these points of similarity. For both the lamb, and the sheep, and the shepherd are friendly with one another, l)ut from the lions as their foes the sheep are protected by their shepherds: and yet of Christ, who is both sheep and Shep- herd, we have it said, " The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed.'" All this, breth- ren, understand in connection with points of similarity, not with personal qualities. It is a common thing to see the shepherds sitting on a rock, and there guarding the cattle com- mitted to their care. Surely the shepherd is better than the rock that he sits upon; and yet Christ is both the Shepherd and the rock. All this by way of comparison. But if thou askest me for His peculiar personal quality:^ "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'' 3 If thou askest me for the personal quality peculiarly His own: The only Son, from everlasting to everlasting begotten of the Father, the equal of Him that begat, the Maker of all things, unchangeable with the Father, unchanged by the assuming of human form, man by incarnation, tlie Son of man, and the Son of God. All this that I have said is not figure, but reality.
4. Therefore, let us not, brethren, be dis- turbed in understandmg Him, in harmony with certain resemblances, as Himself the door, and also the doorkeeper. For what is the door? The way of entrance. Who is the doorkeeeper? He who opens it. Who, then, is He that opens Himself, but He who unveils Himself to sight? See, when the Lord spoke at first of the door, we did not understand: so long as we did not under- stand, it was shut: He who opened it is Him- self the doorkeeper. There is no need, then, of seeking any other meaning, no need; but perhaps there is the desire. If there is so, quit not the path, go not outside of the Trin- ity. If thou art in quest of some other im- personation of the doorkeeper, bethink thee of the Holy Spirit; for the Holy Spirit will not think it unmeet to be the doorkeeper, when the Son has thouglit it meet to be Him- self the door. Look at the doorkeeper as perhaps the Holy SfMrit: aliout Him the Lord saith to His disciples, " He shall guide you into all truth. "^ J^Vhat is the door? Christ. What is Christ? The Truth. Who, then, openeth the door, but He who guidetii into all truth?
5. lint what are we to say of the hireling? He is not mentioned here among the good.
• Rev. V. 5.
3 Chap. i. I.
17 "The good Shepherd," He says, " giveth His life for the sheep. But he that is aiT hireling, and not the Shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leav- eth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catch- eth them, and scattereth the sheep." The hireling does not here bear a good character, and yet in some respects is useful; nor would he be called an hireling, did he not receive hire from his employer. Who then is this hireling, that is both blameworthy and need- ful? And here, brethren, let the Lord Him- self give us light, that we may know who the hirelings are, and be not hirelings ourselves. Who then is the hireling? There are some in office in the church, of whom the Apostle Paul saith, "Who seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's." What means that, " Who seek their own"? Who do not love Christ freely, who do not seek after God for His own sake; who are pursuing after temporal advantages, gaping for gain, covet- ing honors from men. When such things are loved by an overseer, and for such things God is served, whoever such an one may be, he is an hireling who cannot count him- self among the children. For of such also the Lord saith: " Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward." s Listen to what the Apostle Paul says of St. Timothy: " But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your circumstances; for I have no man like-minded, who will nat- urally* care for you. For all seek their own, not the things wliich are Jesus Christ's.'' ' The shepherd mourned in the midst of hire- hngs. He sought some one who sincerely loved the flock of Christ, and round about him, amongst those who were with him at that time, he found not one. Not that there was no one then in the Church of Christ but the Apostle Paul and Timothy, who had a brother's* concern for the flock; but it so happened at the time of his sending Timothy, that he had none else of his sons about him; only hirelings were with him, "who sought their own, not tiie things which are Jesus Christ's.'' And yet he himself, with a brother's an.xiety for the flock, preferred sending his son, and remaining himself amongst hirelings. Hirelings are also found among ourselves, but the Lord alone distinguisheth them. He that searchetii the heart, distinguisheth them; and yet sometimes we know them ourselves. For it was not with- out a purjwse that the Lord Himself snid also of the wolves: " Hy their fruits ye shall know * Gfrmnne, like a brother. 8 CeriiiaHf, like a brother.
258 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XLVI.
them." ' Temptations put many to the ques- tion, and then their thoughts are made man- ifest; but many remain undiscovered. The Lord's fold must have as overseers, both those who are children and those who are hirelings. But the overseers, who are sons, are the shepherds. If they are shepherds, how is there but one Shepherd, save that all of them are members of the one Shepherd, to whom the sheep belong? For they are also members of Himself as the one sheep; because " as a sheep he was led to the slaugh- ter."
6. But give heed to the fact that even the hirelings are needful. For many indeed in the Church are following after earthly profit, and yet preach Christ, and through them is heard the voice of Christ; and the sheep fol- low, not the hireling, but the Shepherd's voice speaking through the hireling. Hearken to the hirelings as pointed out by the Lord Himself: " The scribes," He saith, " and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: do what they say; but do not what they do. "'' What else said He but. Listen to the Shepherd's voice speaking through the hirelings? For sitting in Moses' seat, they teach the law of God; therefore God teacheth by them. But if they wish to teach their own things, hear them not, do them not. For certainly such seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's; but no hireling has dared to say to Christ's people. Seek your own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. For his own evil conduct he does not preach from the seat of Christ: he does injury by the evil that he does, not by the good that he says. Pluck the grapes, beware of the thorn. It is well; I see that you have understood; but for the sake of those that are slower, I shall repeat these words with greater plainness. How said I, Pluck the bunch of grapes, beware of the thorn; when the Lord saith, "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles "? That is quite true: and yet what I said is also true. Pluck the bunch of grapes, beware of the thorn. For sometimes the grape-cluster, springing from the root of the vine, finds its support in a common hedge; its branch grows, becomes embedded among thorns, and the thorn bears other fruit than its own. For the thorn has not been produced from the vine, but has become the resting-place of its runtier. Make thine inquiries only at the roots. Seek for the thorn-root, thou wilt find it apart from the vine: seek the origin of the grape, and from the root of the vine it will be found to have sprung,, And so, Moses' seat I IMatt. vii. i6.
Matt, xxiii. 2, 3.
was the vine; the morals of the Pharisees were the thorns. Sound doctrine cometh through the wicked, as the vine-branch in a hedge, a bunch of grapes among thorns. Gather care- fully, so as in seeking the fruit not to tear thine hand; and while thou art to hear one speaking what is good, imitate him not when doing what is evil. " What they tell you, do," — gather the grapes; " but what they do, do not," — beware of the thorns. Even through hirelings listen to the voice of the Shepherd, but be not hirelings yourselves, seeing ye are members of the Shepherd. Yea, Paul him- self, the holy apostle who said, " I have no one who hath a brother's concern about you; for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's," draws a distinction in another place between hirelings and sons; and see what he saith: " Some preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of good will: some of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel; but some also preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds." These were hirelings who disliked the Apostle Paul. And wh}^ such dislike, but just because they were seeking after temporal things? But mark what he adds: "What then? notwith- standing, every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is preached: and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." ^ Christ is the truth: let the truth be preached in pre- tense by hirelings, let it be preached in truth by the children: the children are waiting patiently for the eternal inheritance of the Father, the hirelings are longing for, and in a hurry to get, the temporal pay of their em- ployer. For my part let me be shorn of the human glory, which I see such an object of envy to hirelings: and yet by the tongues both of hirelings and of children let the divine glory of Christ be published abroad, seeing that, " whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached." / 7. We have seen who the hireling is also. Who, but the devil, is the wolf? And what was said of the hireling? "When he seeth the wolf coming, he fleeth: but the sheep are not his own, and he careth not for the sheep." Was the Apostle Paul such an one? Cer- tainly not. Was Peter such an one? Far from it. Was such the character of the other apostles, save Judas, the^on of perdition? Surely not. Were they shepherds then? Cer- tainly they were. And how is there one Shepherd? I have already said they were shepherds, because m.embers of the Shepherd. In that head they rejoiced, under that head 3 Phil. i. 1S-18.
Tractate XLVII.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
■59 they were in harmony together, with one spirit they lived in the bond of one body; and there- fore belonged all of them to the one Shep- herd. If, then, they were shepherds, and not hirelings, wherefore fled they when suffering persecution? Explain it to us, O Lord, In an epistle, I have seen Paul fleeing: he was let down by the wall in a basket, to escape the hands of his persecutor.' Had he, then, no care of the sheep, whom he thus aban- doned at the approach of the wolf? Clearly he had, but he commended them by his prayers to the Shepherd who was sitting in heaven; and for their advantage he preserved himself by flight, as he says in a certain place, *' To abide in the flesh is needful for you." - For all had heard from the Shepherd Him- self, " If they persecute you in one city, flee ye into another." ^ May the Lord be pleased to explain to us this point! Lord, Thou saidst to those whom Thou didst certainly wish to be faithful shepherds, and whom Thou didst form into Thine own members, " If they persecute you, flee." Doest Thou, then, injustice to them, when Thou blamest the hirelings who flee when they see the wolf coming! We ask Thee to tell us what mean- ing lies hid in the depths of the question.
Let us knock, and the keeper of the door, which is Christ, will be here to reveal Him- self.
8. Who is the hireling that seeth the wolf coming, and fleeth? He that seeketh his own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. He is one that does not venture plainly to rebuke an offender.'' Look, some one or other has sinned— grievously sinned; he ought to be rebuked, to be excommunicated: but once excommunicated, he will turn into an enemy, hatch plots, and do all the injury he can. At present, he who seeketh his own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's, in order not to lose what he follows after, the advantages of human friendship, and incur the annoyances of human enmity, keeps quiet and does not administer rebuke. See, the wolf has caught a sheep by the throat; the devil has enticed a believer into adultery: thou boldest thy peace - thou utterest no reproof. O hireling, thou hast seen the wolf coming and hast fled! Perhaps he answers and says: See, I am here; I have not fled. Thou hast fled, because thou hast been silent; thou hast been silent, because thou hast been afraid. The flight of the mind is fear. Thou stoodest with thy body, thou fleddest in thy spirit, which was not the conduct of him who said, " Though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit." ^ For how did he flee in spirit, who, though absent in the flesh, yet in his letters reproved the fornicators? Our affections are the motions of our mmds. Joy is expansion of the mind; sorrow, contraction of the mind; de- sire, a forward movement of the mind; and fear, the flight of the mind. For thou art expanded in mind when. thou art glad; con- tracted in mind when thou art in trouble; thou movest forward in mind when thou hast an earnest desire; and thou fleest in mind when thou art afraid. This, then, is how the hireling is said to flee at the sight of the wolf. Why? "Because he careth not for the sheep." Why '* careth he not for the sheep"? "Because he is an hireling."
What is that, " he is an hireling"? He seek- eth a temporal reward, and shall not dwell in the house for ever. There are still some things here to be inquired about and dis- cussed with you, but it is not prudent to burden you. For we are ministering the Lord's food to our fellow-servants; we feed as sheep in the Lord's pastures, and are fed to- gether. And just as we must not withhold what is needful, so our weak hearts are not to be overcharged with the abundance of pro- visions. Let it not then annoy your Cliarity that I do not take up to-day all that I think is still here to be discussed; but ttie same lesson will, in the Lord's name, be read over to us again on the preaching days, and be, with His help, more carefully consitlered.
5 Col.
11. 5.
TRACTATE XLVII.
Chapter X. 14-21.
I. Thosr of you who hear the word of our God. not only with willingness, but also with attention, dotilitless remember our promise because, having lingered over certain closely relrtted topics, we could not discuss all that we owed to your powers of iinderstnnding.
Indeed the same gospel lesson has also i)een 1 Accordingly, what lias i)ecn already said and read to-day which was read last Lord's day; I discoursed about we do not nu[uirc into to 26o THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XI.VII day, lest by continual repetitions we should be prevented from reaching what has still to be spoken. You know now in the Lord's name who is the good Shepherd, and in what way good shepherds are His members, and therefore the Shepherd is one. You know who is the hireling we have to bear with; who the wolf, and the thieves, and the robbers we have to beware of; who are the sheep, and what is the door whereby both sheep and shepherd enter: how we are to understand the doorkeeper. You know also that every one who enterath not by the door is a thief and a robber, and cometh not but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. All these sayings have, as I think, been sufificiently handled. To-day we ought to tell you, as far as the Lord enables us (for Jesus Christ our Saviour hath Himself told us that He is both the Shepherd and the door, and that the good Shepherd entereth in by the door), how it is that He entereth in by Himself. For if no one is a good shepherd but he that entereth I by the door, and He Himself is pre-eminently ' the good Shepherd, and also Himself the, door, I can understand it only in this way, ' that He entereth in by Himself to His sheep, and calleth them, to follow Him, and they, ' going in and out, find pasture, which is to ■ say, eternal life. j 2. I proceed, then, without more delay. - When I seek to get into you, that is, into your heart, I preach Christ: were I preaching something else, I should be trying to climb up some other way. Christ, therefore, is my gate to you: by Christ I get entrance, not to your houses, but to your hearts. It is by Christ I enter: it is Christ in me that you have been willinglj' hearing. And why is it you have thus willingly hearkened to Christ in me? Because you are the sheep of Christ, purchased with the blood of Christ. You acknowledge your own price, which is not paid by me, but is preached by my instru- mentality. He, and only He, was the buyer, who shed precious blood — the precious blood of Him who was without sin. Yet made He precious also the blood of His own, for whom He paid the price of blood: for had He not made the blood of His own precious, it would not have been said, " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."' So also when He saith, " The good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep," He is not the only one who has done such a deed; and yet if those who have done so are His members. He only Himself was the doer of it. For He was able to do so without them, l^ut I Ps. cxvi. 15.
whence had they the power apart from Him, who Himself had said, "Without me ye can do nothings"?- But from the same source we can show what others also have done, for the apostle John himself, who preached the very gospel you have been hearing, has said in his epistle, " Just as Christ laid down His life for us, so ought we also to lay down our lives for the brethren.'" "We ought," he says: He made us debtors who first set the exarnple. To the same effect it is written in a certain place, " If thou sittest down to sup at a ruler's table, make wise observation of what is set before thee; and put to thy hand, knowing that it will be thy duty to make similar provision in turn,'' * You know what is meant by the ruler's table: you there find the body and blood of Christ; let him who comes to such a table be ready with similar provision. And what is such similar pro- vision? As He laid down His life for us, so ought 7ve also, for the edification of others, and the maintenance of the faith, s io lay doivn our lives for the brethren. To the same effect He said to Peter, whom He wished to make a good shepherd, not in Peter's own person, but as a member of His body: " Peter, lovest thou me? Feed my sheep." This He did once, again, and a third time, to the disci- ple's sorrow. And when the Lord had ques- tioned him as often as He judged it needful, that he who had thrice denied might thrice confess Him, and had a third time given him the charge to feed His sheep. He said to him, " When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not." And the evangelist has explained the Lord's meaning: " But this spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God." * " Feed my sheep" applies, then, tO/ this, that thou jshouldst lay down thy life for my sheep. 1 3. And now when He saith, "As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the i Father,'' who can be ignorant of His mean- 'ing? For He knoweth the Father by Him- iself, and we by Him. That He hath know- ledge by Himself, we know already: that we also have knowledge by Him, we have like- 4 Prov. xxiii. i, 2, accordinR to the Septuagint, whose reading: of verse 2 must have been somewhat different from that of the present Hebrew text, with which our English version pretty closely agrees: " And thou shalt put a knife to thy throat, if thou art a man of appetite " (or pe7-haf>s, "if thou hast control over thy a\s- petite,",-J,r|{<.2«T w "'ITS'^NI- So somewhat similarly the Vulgate, which makes the last clause, " if thou hast power over thy life."— Tr..,..
5 This clause, " for the edification, etc., is wanting in many of the Mbs.
6 Chap..xxi. 15-19.
Tractate XLVII.]
ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
261 wise learned, for this also we have learned of Him. For He Himself hath said: "No one hath seen God at any time; ])ut the only- begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." ' And so by Him do we also get this knowledge, to whom He hath declared Him. In another place also He saith: "No one knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any one the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." - As He then knoweth the Father by Himself, and we know the Father by Him; so into the sheepfold He entereth by Himself, and we by Him. ^Ve were saying that by Christ we have a door of entrance to you; and why? Because we preach Christ. We preach Christ; and therefore we enter in by the door. But Christ preacheth Christ, for He preacheth Himself; and so the Shepherd en- tereth in by Himself. When the light shows the other things that are seen in the light, does it need some other means of being made visible itself? The light, then, exhibits both other things and itself. Whatever we under- stand, we understand with the intellect: and how, save by the intellect, do we understand the intellect itself? But does one in the same way with the bodily eye see both other things