breath of air trembled to its foundations.
Where is now all that boldness of the promiser, and his overweening confidence in himself beforehand? What now of those words, when he said, "Why cannot I follow Thee new? I will lay down my life for Thy sake.'^^ Is this the way to follow the Master, to deny his own discipleship? is it thus that one's life is laid down for the Lord, when one is frightened at a maid-servant's voice, lest it should compel us to the sacrifice? But what wonder, if God foretold what was true, and man presumptuously imagined what was false? Assuredly in this denial of the Apostle Peter, which had now entered on its first stage, we ought to take notice that not only is Christ denied by one who says that He is not Christ, but by him also who, while really a Christian, himself denies that he is so. For the Lord said not to Peter, Thou shalt deny that thou art my disciple; but, " Thou shalt deny me. ^'* Him, therefore, he denied, when he denied that he was His disciple. And what else did such a form of denial imply, but that of his own Christianity? For although the disciples of Christ were not yet called by such a name, — because it was after H^ ascension, in Antioch, first that the disciples began to be called Christians,'' — yet the thing itself, that afterwards assumed such a name, already existed, those who were afterwards called Christians were already disciples; and this common name, like the common faith, they transmitted to their posterity. He, therefore, who denied that he was Christ's disciple, denied the reality of the thing, of which the being called a Christian was only the name.
How many afterwards, not to speak of old men and women, whose satiated feelings as regards the present life might more easily enable them to brave death for the confession of Christ; and not merely the youth of 5 Chap. xiii. 37.
6 Matt. xxvi. 34, 7 Acts xi. 26 Tractate CXIII.]
both sexes, when of an age at which the exercise of fortitude seems to be fairly required; but even boys and girls could do — even as an innumerable company of holy martyrs with brave hearts and by a violent death entered the kingdom of heaven — what at that moment he was unable to do, who received the keys of that kingdom.' It is here we see why it was said, "Let these go their way," when He, who hath redeemed us by His own blood, gave Himself for us; that the saying which He spake might be fulfilled, " Of those whom Thou hast given me I have lost none.'' For assuredly, had Peter gone hence after denying the Christ, what else would have awaited him but destruction?
3. "And the servants and officers stood beside the fire of burnitig coals, for it was cold, and warmed themselves. " Though it was not winter, it was cold: which is sometimes wont to be the case even at the vernal equinox. "And Peter was standing with them, and warming himself. The high priest then asked Jesus of His disciples, and of His doctrine. Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ahvays taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither all the Jews resort, and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? ask those who heard me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said." A question occurs that ought not to be passed over, how it is that the Lord Jesus said, " I spake openly to the world; " and in particular that which He afterwards added, " In secret have I said nothing." Did He not, even in that latest discourse which He delivered to the disciples after supper, say to them, " These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs; Init the hour cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of my Father? " = If, then, He spake not openly even to the more intimate company of His disciples, but gave the promise of a time when He would speak openly, how was it that He spake openly to the world? And still further, as is also testified on the authority of the other evangelists, to those who were truly His own, in comparison with others who were not His disciples, He certainly spake with much greater plainness when He was alone with tiiem at a distance from the multitudes; for tiicn He unfolded to them the parables, which He had uttered in obscure terms to others. What then is the meaning of the words, " In secret have I said nothing "? It is in tiiis way we are to understand His saying, " I spake openly to the world; " as if He had said. There were Matt.
XVI. ig.
» Chap. xvi. 2s.
many that heard me. And that word " openly " was in a certain sense openly, and in another sense not openly. It was openly, because many heard Him; and again it was not openly, because they did not understand Him. And even what He spake to His disciples apart, He certainly spake not in secret. For who speaketh in secret, that speaketh before so many persons; as it is written, "At the mouth of tw^o or three witnesses shall every word be established: " ^ especially if that be spoken to a few which he wisheth to become known to many through them; as the Lord Himself said to the few whom He had as yet, " What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light; and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house-tops "?•* And accordingly the very thing that seemed to 1)6 spoken by Himself in secret, was in a certain sense not spoken in secret; for it was not so spoken to remain unuttered by those to whom it was spoken; but rather so in order to be preached in every possible direction. A thing therefore may be uttered at once openly, and not openly; or at the same time in secret, and yet not in secret, as it is said, " That seeing, they may see, and not see." 5 For how " may they see," save only because it is openly, and not in secret; and again, how is it that the same parties " may not see," save that it is not openly, but in secret? Howbeit the very things which they had heard without understanding, were such as could not with justice or truth he. turned into a criminal charofe au;ainst Him: and as often as they tried by their questions to find something whereof to accuse Him. He gave them sucli replies as utterly discomfited all their plots, and left no ground for the calumnies they devised. Therefore He said, " Why askest thou me? ask those who heard me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said."
4. "And when He had thus spoken, one of the officers who stood by gave Jesus a blow with his open hand, saying. Answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?" What could be truer, meeker, juster, than such an answer? For it is His [reply], from whom the prophetic voice hail issued liefore. " Make for thy goal (literally, take aim), and advance prosperously and reign, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness."* If we con- '■ Ks. xlv. 4. Ill the Hebrew text, at the close of verse 4 and beKinninK of verse s (l''.ii«. V'er. verses t and 4), there is a repetition t>f the word "iTHn*. which in K.lh cases is reiulere<l 111 our l''.nKUsh Version, " and [in] Thy majesty." My the Se|)tiia>;int, however, and the VidK'ate, and here by AuKUStin, the hitter of the two has been differently read us a verb, as if pointed TlTn.ll, [Tractate LXI.
sider who it was that received the blow, might tve not well feel the wish that he who struck it were either consumed by fire from heaven, or swallowed up by the gaping earth, or seized and carried off by devils, or visited with some other or still heavier punishment of this kind? For what one of all these could not He, who made the world, have commanded by His power, had He not wished rather to teach us the patience that overcometh the world? Some one will say here. Why did He not do what He Himself commanded?' for to one that smote Him, He ought not to have answered thus, but to have turned to him the other cheek. Nay, more than this, did He not answer truthfully, and meekly, and righteously, and at the same time not only prepare His other cheek to him who was yet again to smite it, but His whole body to be nailed to the tree? And hereby He rather showed, what needed to be shown, namely, that those great precepts of His are to be fulfilled not by bodily ostentation, but by the preparation of the heart. For it is possible that even an angry man may visibly hold out his other cheek. How much better, then, is it for one who is inwardly pacified to make a truthful answer, and with tranquil mind hold himself ready for the endurance of heavier sufferings to come? Happy is he who, in all that he suffers unjustly for righteousness' sake, can say with truth, " My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready; ^' for this it is that gives cause for that which follows: " I will sing and give praise;"' which Paul and Barnabas ^ could do even in the cruellest of bonds.
5. But let us return to what follows in the Gospel narrative. "And Annas sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest." To him, according to Matthew's account. He was led at the outset, because he was the high priest that year. For both the pontiffs are to be understood as in the habit of acting year by year alternately, that is, as chief priests; and these were at that time Annas in the sense of " Bend thy bow," " Take aim," with the ace. omitted. Our English Version combines the next two verbs 231 (T^iJi " ride prosperously,'" while in the above the distinction is preserved, "advance prosperously, ride (as a king, reign)." — Tr.
3 Here probably we should read Si7as, according to Acts xvi.
25. — MiGNE.
and Caiaphas, as recorded by the evangelist Luke, when telling of the time when John, the Lord's forerunner, began to preach the kingdom of heaven and to gather disciples. For he speaks thus: " Under the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, the word of the Lord came upon John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness,"'* etc. Accordingly these two pontiffs fulfilled their years in turn: and it was the year of Caiaphas when Christ suffered. And so, according to Matthew, when He was apprehended. He was taken to him; but first, according to John, they came with Him to Annas; not because he was his colleague, but his father-in-law. And we must suppose that it was by Caiaphas' wish that it was so done; or that their houses were so situated, that Annas could not properly be overlooked by them as they passed on their way.
6. But the evangelist, after saying that Annas sent Him bound unto Caiaphas, returns to the place of his narrative, where he had left Peter, in order to explain what had taken place in Annas' house in regard to his threefold denial. " But Peter was standing," he says, "and warming himself." He thus repeats what he had already stated before; and then adds what follows. "They said therefore unto him. Art thou also one of his disciples? He denied, and said, I am not.'' He had already denied once; this is the second time. And then, that the third denial might also be fulfilled, "one of the servants of the high priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saith. Did I not see thee in the garden with him? Peter then denied again, and immediately the cock crew." Behold, the prediction of the Physician is fulfilled, the presumption of the sick man is brought to the light. For there is no performance of what the latter had asserted, " I will lay down my life for Thy sake; '',but a performance of what the former had predicted, " Thou shalt thrice deny me."s But with the completion of Peter's threefold denial, let the present discourse be also now completed, that hereafter we may make a fresh start with the consideration of what was done respecting the Lord before Pontius Pilate the governor.
4 Luke iii. 2.
5 Chap. xiii. 38.
Tractate CXIV.]
TRACTATE CXIV Chapter XVIII. 28-32.
1. Let us now consider, so far as indicated by the evangelist John, what was done with, or in regard to, our Lord Jesus Christ, when brought before Pontius Pilate thj governor. For he returns to the place of his narrative, where he had left it, to explain the denial of Peter. He had already, you know, said, "And Annas sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest: " and having returned from where he had dismissed Peter as he was warming himself at the fire in the hall, after completing the whole of his denial, which was thrice repeated, he says, '' Then they bring Jesus unto Caiaphas ' into the hall of judgment (pretorium); " for he had said that He was sent to Caiaphas by his colleague and father-in-law Annas. But if to Caiaphas, why into the hall of judgment? Nothing else is thereby meant to be understood than the place where Pilate the governor dwelt. And therefore, either for some urgent reason Caiaphas had proceeded from the house of Annas, where both had met to give Jesus a hearing, to the governor's pretorium, and had left the hearing of Jesus to his father-in-law; or Pilate had made his pretorium in the house of Caiaphas, which was so large as to contain separate apartments for its own master, and the like for the judge. I 2. "And it was morning; and they themselves," that is, those wiio brought Jesus, *' went not into the judgment hall," to wit, { inio that part of the house which Pilate occupied, supposing it to be Caiaphas' house. And then in explanation of the reason why they went not into the judgment hall, he says, " lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover. " For it was the commencement of the days of unleavened bread: on which they accounted it defilement to enter the abode of one of another nation. Impious blindness! Would they, fcrsooth, be defiled by a stranger's abode, and not be defiled by their own wickedness? They were afraid of i)eing defiled by the pretorium of a foreign judge, and had no fear of defilement from the blood of an innocent brother: not to say more than this meanwhile, which was enough to fix guilt on the conscience of the wicked. For the additional fact, that it was ' This reading of the text is also found in " The Harmony of the Evanselists," Hook iii. chap. 7; but the true biblical reading; is now ascertained tube, oiro toO Kaia(/>a, " from Caiaphas.' — Mic.NE.
the Lord who was led to death by their impiety, and the giver of life that was on the way to be slain, may be charged, not to their conscience, but to their ignorance.
3. " Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee." Let the question be put to, and the answer come from, those who had been delivered from foul spirits, from the sickly who had been healed, the lepers who had been cleansed, the deaf who were hearing, the dumb who were speaking, the blind who were seeing, the dead who were raised to life, and, above all, the foolish who were become wise, whether Jesus were a malefactor. But these things were said by those of whom He Himself had already foretold by the prophet, " They rewarded me evil for good."- 4. "Then said Pilate unto them. Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him. It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." What is this that their insane cruelty saith? Did not they put Him to death, whom they were here presenting for the very purpose? Or does the cross, forsooth, fail to kill? Such is the folly of those who do not pursue, but persecute wisdom. What then mean the words, " It is not lawful for us to put any man to death ''? If He is a malefactor, why is it not lawful? Did not the law command them not to spare malefactors, especially (as they accounted Him to be) those who seduced them from their (lod?^ We are, however, to understanil that they said that it was not lawful for them to put any man to death, on account of the sanctity of the festal day, which they had just begun to celebrate, and on account of which they were afraid of beinj^ defiled even by entering the pretorium. Had you become so hardened, false Israelites? Were you by your excessive malice so lost to all 3 Ps. XXXV. 12.
3 Ps. XXXV. 12.
3 Deut. xiii. c;. Aupustin evidently attaches a wrong meaning to the words, AV'/'/V nt>n lictt inter ficere (/ui-nijiiam; as if these Jews thcrcliy insinuated that they did not themselves wish Christ's death: unaware, seemingly, of the fact, that, on their subjugation by the Koinans, their own rulers were still allowed to try minor offenses, but were deprived of the power of indicting capital punishment; and that, < (lusequeully, it was because they were actually bent on putting Him to death, and no less penalty would satisfy them, that they thus brought llim before the Roman governor. — Tk.
[Tractate CXIV.
sense, as to imagine that you were unpolluted by the blood of the innocent, because you gave it up to be shed by another? Was even Pilate himself going to slay Him with his own hands, when made over by you into his power for the very purpose? If you did not wish Him to be slain; if you did not lay snares for Him; if you did not get Him to be betrayed to you for money; if you did not lay hands upon Him, and bind Him, and bring Him there; if you did not with your own hands present Him, and with your voices demand Him to be slain, — then boast that He was not put to death by you. But if in addition to all these former deeds of yours, you also cried out, "Crucify, crucify [him];"' then hear what it is against you that the prophet proclaims: " The sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." ^ These, look you, are the spears, the arrows, the sword, wherewith you slew the righteous, when you said that it was not lawful for you to put any man to death. Hence it is also that when for the purpose of apprehending Jesus the chief priests did not themselves come, but sent; yet the evangelist Luke says in the same passage of his narrative, " Then said Jesus unto those who were come to him, [namely] the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and elders. Be ye come out, as against a thief," etc?^ As therefore the chief priests went not in their own persons, but by those whom they had sent, to apprehend Jesus, what else was that but coming themselves in the authority of their own order? and so all, who cried out with impious voices for the crucifixion of Christ, slew Him, not, indeed, directly with their own hands, but personally through him who was impelled to such a crime by their clamor.
5. But when the evangelist John adds, '*That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He spake, signifying what death He should die: " if we would understand such words as referring to the death of the cross, as if the Jews had said, ''It is not lawful for us to put any man to death," for this reason that it was one thing to be put to death, and I Chap. xix. 6, 2 Ps. Ivii. 4.
3 Luke xxii. 52.
another to be crucified: I do not see how such can be understood as a consequence, seeingthat this was their answer to the words that Pilate had just addressed to them, ''Take ye him, and judge him according to your law." If it were so, could they not then have taken Him, and crucified Him themselves, had they desired by any such form of punishment to avoid the putting of Him to death? But who is there that may not see the absurdity of allowing those to crucify any one, who were not allowed to put any one to death? Nay more, did not the Lord Himself call that same death of His, that is, the death of the cross, a putting to death, as we read in Mark, where he says, '* Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles: and they shall mock Him, and shall spit upon Him, and shall scourge Him, and shall put Him to death, and the third day He shall rise again "?" There is no doubt, therefore, that in so speaking the Lord signified what death He should die: not that He here meant the death of the cross to be understood, but that the Jews were to deliver Him up to the Gentiles, or, in other words, to the Romans. For Pilate was a Roman, and had been sent by the Romans into Judea as governor. That, then, this saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, namely, that, being delivered up to them, He should be put to death by the Gentiles, as Jesus had foretold would happen; therefore when Pilate, who was the Roman judge, wished to hand Him back to the Jews, that they might judge Him according to their law, they refused to receive Him, saying, " It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." And so the saying of Jesus was fulfilled, which He foretold ■ concerning His death, that, being delivered up by the Jews, He should be put to death by the Gentiles: whose crime was less than that of the Jews, who sought by this method to make themselves appear averse to His being put to death, to the end that, not their innocence, but their madness might be made manifest.
4 Mark x. 33, 34.
Tractate CXV.]
■23 TRACTATE CXV.
Chapter XVHI. 33-40.
I. What Pilate said to Christ, or what He replied to Pilate, has to be considered and handled in the present discourse. For after the words had been addressed to the Jews, " Take ye him, and judge him according to your law," and the Jews had replied, " It is not lawful for us to put any man to death, Pilate entered again into the judgment hall, and called Jesus, and said unio Him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus answered, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? " The Lord indeed knew both what He Himself asked, and what reply the other was to give; but yet He wished it to be spoken, not for the sake of information to Himself, but that what He wished us to know might be recorded in Scripture. "Pilate answered. Am I a Jew? Thine own nation, and the chief priests, have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? Jesus answered. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence." This is what the good Master wished us to know; but first there had to be shown us the vain notion that men had regarding His kingdom, whether Gentiles or Jews, from whom Pilate had heard it; as if He ought to have been punished with death on the ground of aspiring to an unlawful kingdom; or as those in the possession of royal power usually manifest their ill-will to such as are yet to attain it, as if, for example, precautions were to be used lest His kingdom should prove adverse either to the Romans or to the Jews. But the Lord was able to reply to the first question of the governor, when he asked Him, "Art thou the King of the Jews?" with the words, "My kingdom is not of this world," etc.; but I)y questioning him in turn, wliether he said this thing of himself, or heard it from others, He wished by his answer to show that He had Ijeen charged with this as a crime l)efore him by the Jews: laying open to us the thoughts of men, which were all known to Himself, that they are but vain;' and now, after Pilate's answv,r, giving them, both Jews and Gentiles, all the more reasonable ami fitting a reply, "My kingdom is not of this world."