26. But as far as concerns our present undertaking, neither on Mount Sinai do I see how it appears, by aU those things which were fearfully displayed to the senses of mortal men, whether God the Trinity spake, or the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit severally. But if it is allowable, without rash assertion, to venture upon a modest and hesitating con- jecture from this passage, if it is possible to understand it of one person of the Trinity, why do we not rather understand the Holy Spirit to be spoken of, since the Law itself also, which was given there, is said to have been written upon tables of CHAP. XVL] in what MANNER MOSES SAW GOD. 69 stone with the finger of God/ by which name we know the Ploly Spirit to be signified in the Gospel.^ And fifty days are numbered from the slaying of the lamb and the celebration of the Passover until the day in which these things began to be done in Mount Sinai; just as after the passion of our Lord fifty days are numbered from His resurrection, and then came the Holy Spirit which the Son of God had promised. And in that very coming of His, which we read of in the Acts of the Apostles, there appeared cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them:^ which agrees with Exodus, where it is written, " And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, be- cause the Lord descended upon it in fire:" and a little after, " And the sight of the glory of the Lord," he says, " was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel."* Or if these things were therefore wrought because neither the Father nor the Son could be there presented in that mode without the Holy Spirit, by whom the Law itself must needs be written; then we know doubtless that God appeared there, not by His own substance, which remains in- visible and unchangeable, but by the appearance above men- tioned of the creature; but that some special person of the Trinity appeared, distinguished by a proper mark, as far as my capacity of understanding reaches, we do not see.
Chap. xvi. — In what manner Moses saw Ood.
26. There is yet another difficulty which troubles most people, viz. that it is written, " And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend;" whereas a little after, the same Moses says, " JSTow therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thyself plainly, that I may see Thee, that I may find grace in Thy sight, and that I may consider that this nation is Thy people;" and a little after Moses again said to the Lord, " Show me Thy glory." What means this then, that in everything which was done, as above said, God was thought to have appeared by His own substance; whence the Son of God has been believed by these miserable people to be visible not by the creature, but by Himself; and that Moses, entering into the cloud, appeared to have had this 70 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK 11.
very object in entering, that a cloudy darkness indeed might be shown to the eyes of the people, but that Moses within might hear the words of God, as though he beheld His face; and, as it is said, " And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend;" and yet, behold, the same Moses says, " If I have found grace in Thy sight, show me Thy- self plainly "? Assuredly he knew that he saw corporeally, and he sought the true sight of God spiritually. And that mode of speech accordingly which was wrought in words, was so modified, as if it were of a friend speaking to a friend. Yet who sees God the Father with the eyes of the body? And that Word, which was in the beginning, the Word which was with God, the Word which was God, by which all things were made,^ — who sees Him with the eyes of the body? And the Spirit of wisdom, again, who sees with the eyes of the body? Yet what is " Show me now Thyself plainly, that I may see Thee," unless. Show me Thy substance? But if Moses had not said this, we must indeed have borne with those foolish people as we could, who think that the substance of God was made visible to his eyes through those things which, as above mentioned, were said or done. But when it is here demonstrated most evidently that this was not granted to him, even though he desired it; who will dare to say, that by the like forms which had appeared visibly to him also, not the creature serving God, but that itself which is God, ap- peared to the eyes of a mortal man?
28. Add, too, that which the Lord afterwards said to Moses, '•' Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see my face, and live. And the Lord said. Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shall stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee into a watch-tower^ of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen."^ * Clift — A. V. Spelunca is one reading in S. Aug., but the Benedictines read specula = watcli-tower, which the context proves to be certainly right. ' CHAP, XYIL] of the FACE, AND OF THE BACK PAETS, OF GOD. 7l Chap. xvii. — Hotv the hack parts of God were seen. The faith of the resur- rection of Christ. The Catholic Church only is the place from whence the back parts of God are seen. The hack parts of God were seen by the Israelites. It is a rash opinion to think that God the Father only was never seen by the fathers.
'Not unfitly is it commonly understood to he prefigured from the person of onr Lord Jesus Christ, that His " back parts " are to be taken to be His flesh, in which He was born of the Virgin, and died, and rose again; whether they are called back parts ^ on account of the posteriority of mortality, or because it was almost in the end of the world, that is, at a late period/ that He deigned to take it: but that His face was that form of God, in which He " thought it not robbery to be equal with God,"^ which no one certainly can see and live; whether because after this life, in which we are absent from the Lord,* and where the corruptible body presseth down the soul;^ we shall see "face to face,"^ as the apostle says — (for it is said in the Psalms of this life, " Verily every man living is altogether ^^anity;"^ and again, " For in Thy sight shall no man living be justified;"^ and in this life also, according to John, ''It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know," he says, " that when He shall, appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is,"^ which he certainly intended to be understood as after this life, when we shall have paid the debt of death, and shall have received the promise of the resurrection); — or whether that even now, in whatever degree v/e spiritually understand the wisdom of God, by which all things were made, in that same degree we die to carnal affec- tions, so that, considering this world dead to us, we also our- selves die to this world, and say what the apostle says, " The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." ^^ For it was of this death that he also says, " Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ, why as though living in the world are ye subject to ordinances V'^^ Not therefore without cause will no one be able to see the face, that is, the manifestation itself of the wis- dom of God, and live. For it is this very appearance, for the ^^ Col. ii. 20. Viventes de hoc mundo decernitis.
72 ON THE TPJNITY. [BOOK II.
contemplation of which every one sighs who strives to love God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind; to the contemplation of which, he who loves his neighbour, too, as himself builds up his neighbour also as far as he may; on which two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.^ And this is signified also in Moses hifnself. For when he had said, on account of the love of God with which he was specially inflamed, " If I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thyself plainly, that I may find grace in Thy sight;" he im- mediately subjoined, on account of the love also of his neigh- bour, " And that I may know that this nation is Thy people." It is therefore that appearance which hurries away every rational soul with the desire of itself, and the more ardently the more pure that soul is; and it is the more pure the more it rises to spiritual things; and it rises the more to spiritual things the more it dies to carnal things. But whilst we are absent from the Lord, and walk by faith, not by sight,^ we ought to see the back parts of Christ, that is His flesh, by that very faith, that is, standing on the solid foundation of faith, which the rock signifies, and beholding it from such a safe watch-tower, namely in the Catholic Church, of which it is said, " And upon this rock I will build my Church."^ For so much the more certainly we love that face of Christ, which we earnestly desire to see, as we recognise in His back parts how much first Christ loved us.
29. But in that flesh itself the faith of His resurrection saves and justifies us. For, " If thou shalt believe," he says, "in thine heart, that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved;"* and again, *' Who was delivered," he says, " for our offences, and was raised again for our justifica- tion."^ So that the reward of our faith is the resurrection of the body of our Lord. For even His enemies believe that that flesh died on the cross of His passion, but they do not believe it to have risen again. Which we believing most firmly, gaze upon it as from the solidity of a rock: whence we wait with certain hope for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body;^ because we hope for tliat in the members of CHAP. XVII.] HOW GOD APPEAEED TO MOSES. 73 Christ, that is, in ourselves, which by a sound faith we acknowledge to be perfect in Him as in our Head. Thence it is that He would not have His back parts seen, unless as He passed by, that His resurrection may be believed. Por that which is Pascha in Hebrew, is translated Passover.-^ Whence John the Evangelist also says, " Before the feast of the Pass- over, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should pass out of this world unto the Pather."^ 30. But they who believe this, but believe it not in the Catholic Church, but in some schism or in heresy, do not see the back parts of the Lord from " the place that is by Him." Por what does that mean which the Lord says, " Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock "? What earthly place is " by " the Lord, unless that is " by Him " which touches Him spiritually? Por what place is not " by " the Lord, who "reacheth from one end to another mightily, and sweetly doth order all things;"^ and of whom it is said, " Heaven is His throne, and earth is His footstool;" and who said, " Where is the house that ye build unto me, and where is the place of my rest? Por has not my hand made all those things? "* But manifestly the Catholic Church itself is under- stood to be " the place by Him," wherein one stands upon a rock, where he healthfully sees the " Pascha Domini," that is, the " Passing by"^ of the Lord, and His back parts, that is, His body, who believes in His resurrection. " And thou shalt stand," He says, " upon a rock while my glory passeth by." Por in reality, immediately after the majesty of the Lord had passed by in the glorification of the Lord, in which He rose again and ascended to the Pather, we stood firm upon the rock. And Peter himself then stood firm, so that he preached Him with confidence, whom, before he stood firm, he had thrice from fear denied;*^ although, indeed, already before placed in predestination upon the watch-tower of the rock, but with the hand of the Lord still held over him that he mi2:ht not see. Por he was to see His back parts, and the Lord had not yet " passed by," namely, from death to life; He had not yet been glorified by the resurrection.
* Isa. Ixvi. 1,2. 5 Transitus. « Matt. xxvi. 70-74.
74 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK II.
31. For as to that, too, which, follows in Exodus, " I will cover thee with mine hand while I pass by, and I will take awaj^ my hand and thon shalt see my back parts;" many Israelites, of whom Moses was then a figure, believed in the Lord after His resurrection, as if His hand had been taken off from their eyes, and they now saw His back parts. And hence the evangelist also mentions that prophecy of Isaiah, " Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes."-^ Lastly, in the Psalm, that is not unreasonably understood to be said in their person, "For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me." " By day," perhaps, when He performed manifest miracles, yet was not acknowledged by them; but " by night," when He died in suffering, when they thought still more certainly that, like any one among men, He was cut off and brought to an end. But since, when He had already passed by, so that His back parts were seen, upon the preaching to them by the Apostle Peter that it behoved Christ to suffer and rise again, they were pricked in their hearts with the grief of repentance/ that that might come to pass among the baptized which is said in the beginning of that Psalm, " Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;" therefore, after it had been said, " Thy hand is heavy upon me," the Lord, as it were, passing by, so that now He removed His hand, and His back parts were seen, there follows the voice of one who grieves and con- fesses and receives remission of sins by faith in the resurrec- tion of the Lord: " My moisture," he says, " is turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and Thou forgavest the ini- quity of my sin."^ For we ought not to be so wrapped up in the darkness of the flesh, as to think the face indeed of God to be invisible, but His back visible, since both appeared visibly in the form of a servant; but far be it from us to think anything of the kind in the form of God; far be it from us to think that the Word of God and the Wisdom of God has a face on one side, and on the other a back, as a human body CHAP. XVIII.] now GOD APPEARED TO DANIEL. 75 lias, or is at all changed either in place or time by any ap- pearance or motion.
32. Wherefore, if in those words which were wrought in Exodus, or in all those corporeal appearances, the Lord Jesus Christ was manifested; or if in some cases Christ was mani- fested, as the consideration of this passage persuades us, in others the Holy Spirit, as that which we have said above admonishes us; at any rate no such result follows, as that God the Father never appeared in any such form to the fathers. Tor many such appearances happened in those times, without either the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit being expressly named and desig- nated in them; but yet with some intimations given through certain very probable interpretations, so that it would be too rash to say that God the Father never appeared by any visible forms to the fathers or the prophets. For they gave birth to this opinion who were not able to understand in the unity of the Trinity such texts as, "N"ow unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God; "-^ and, " Whom no man hath seen, nor can see."^ Which texts are under- stood by a sound faith of that substance itself, the highest, and in the highest degree divine and unchangeable, wherein both the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is the one and only God. But those visions were wrought through the changeable creature, made subject to the unchangeable God, and did not manifest God properly as He is, but by intima- tions such as suited the causes and times of the several circumstances.
Chap, xviii. — The Vision of Daniel.
33. Although I do not know in what manner these men understand that the Ancient of Days appeared to Daniel, from whom the Son of man, which He deigned to be for our sakes, is understood to have received the kingdom; namely, from Him who says to Him in the Psalms, '' Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten Thee; ask of me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance; " ^ and who has '' put all things under His feet."* If, therefore, both the Father giving the kingdom, and the Son receiving it, appeared to 76 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK II.
Daniel in bodily form, how can those men say that the Father never appeared to the prophets, and, therefore, that He only ouo'ht to be understood to be invisible whom no man has o o seen, nor can see? For Daniel has told us thus: " I beheld,'* he says, " till the thrones were set,^ and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened," etc. And a little after, " I saw," he says, " in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and langfuao^es should serve Him: His dominion is an everlastinc^ dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."^ Behold the Father giving, and the Son receiving, an eternal kingdom; and both are in the sight of him who prophesies, in a visible form. It is not, therefore, unsuitably believed that God the Father also was wont to appear in that manner to mortals.
34. Unless, perhaps, some one shall say, that the Father is therefore not visible, because He appeared within the sight of one who was dreaming; but that therefore the Son and the Holy Spirit are visible, because Moses saw all those things being awake; as if, forsooth, Moses saw the Word and the Wisdom of God with fleshly eyes, or that even the human spirit which quickens that flesh can be seen, or even that corporeal thing which is called wind; — how much less can that Spirit of God be seen, who transcends the minds of all men, and of angels, by the ineffable excellence of the divine substance? Or can any one fall headlong into such an error as to dare to say, that the Son and the Holy Sj)irit are visible also to men who are awake, but that the Father is not visible except to those who dream? How, then, do they understand that of the Father alone, " Whom no man hath seen, nor can ^ Cast down— A. V. ^ Dan. vii. 9-14.
CHAP. XVIII.] WHETHER TPJNITY OR ONE PERSON APPEARED. 77 see "? When men sleep, are they then not men? Or cannot He, who can fashion the likeness of a body to signify Him- self through the visions of dreamers, also fashion that same bodily creature to signify Himself to the eyes of those who are awake? Whereas His own very substance, whereby He Himself is that which He is, cannot be shown by any bodily likeness to one who sleeps, or by any bodily appearance to one who is awake; but this not of the Father only, but also of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And certainly, as to those who are moved by the visions of waking men to believe that not the Father, bat only the Son, or the Holy Spirit, appeared to the corporeal sight of men, — to omit the great extent of the sacred pages, and their manifold interpretation, such that no one of sound reason ought to affirm that the person of the Father was nowhere shown to the eyes of waking men by any corporeal appearance; — but, as I said, to omit this, what do they say of our father Abraham, who was certainly awake and ministering, when, after Scripture had premised, " The Lord appeared unto Abraham," not one, or two, but three men appeared to him; no one of whom is said to have stood prominently above the others, no one more than the others to have shone with greater glory, or to have acted more authoritatively? ^ 35. Wherefore, since in that our threefold division we determined to inquire,^ first, whether the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit; or whether sometimes the Father, some- times the Son, sometimes the Holy Spirit; or whether, with- out any distinction of persons, as it is said, the one and only God, that is, the Trinity itself, appeared to the fathers through those forms of the creature: now that we have examined, so far as appeared to be sufficient, what places of the Holy Scriptures we could, a modest and cautious consideration of divine mysteries leads, as far as I can judge, to no other con- clusion, unless that we may not rashly affirm which person of the Trinity appeared to this or that of the fathers or the prophets in some body or likeness of body, unless when the context attaches to the narrative some probable intimations on the subject. For the nature itself, or substance, or essence, or ^ Gen. xviii. 1. 2 ggg above, chap. vii.
78 ON THE TRINITY. [BOOK II.
by whatever other name that very thing, which is God, what- ever it be, is to be called, cannot be seen corporeally: but we must believe that by means of the creature made subject to Him, not only the Son, or the Holy Spirit, but also the Father, may have given intimations of Himself to mortal senses by a corporeal form or likeness. And since the case stands thus, that this second book may not extend to an immoderate length, let us consider what remains in those which follow.
CHAP. I.] WHY AUGUSTINE WRITES OF THE TEINITY. 79 BOOK THIED.
THE QUESTION IS DISCUSSED WITH RESPECT TO THE APPEARANCES OF GOD SPOKEN OF IN THE PREVIOUS BOOK, WHICH WERE MADE UNDER BODILY FORMS, WHETHER ONLY A CREATURE WAS FORMED, FOR THE PURPOSE OF MANIFESTING GOD TO HUMAN SIGHT IN SUCH WAY AS HE AT EACH TIME JUDGED FITTING; OR WHETHER ANGELS, ALREADY EXISTING, WERE SO SENT AS TO SPEAK IN THE PERSON OF GOD; AND THIS, EITHER BY ASSUM- ING A BODILY APPEARANCE FROM THE BODILY CREATURE, OR BY CHANGING THEIR OWN BODIES INTO WHATEVER FORMS THEY WOULD, SUITABLE TO THE PARTICULAR ACTION, ACCORDING TO THE POWER GIVEN TO THEM BY THE CREATOR; WHILE THE ESSENCE ITSELF OF GOD WAS NEVER SEEN IN ITSELF.
Preface. — JVhy Augustine writes of the Trinity. What he claims from readers. What has been said in the previous hoo1c.