(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was 
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all discovered errors.)

Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves 
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing initially 
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi = 
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute = 
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe, 
when necessary.


ST. AUGUSTINE

LECTURES OR TRACTATES 31-44 ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN.

[Translated by Rev. John Gibb, Professor in the Presbyterian Theological 
College at London.] 


TRACTATE XXXI: CHAPTER VII. 25-36.

    1. You remember, beloved, in the former discourses,--for it was both 
read in the Gospel and also discussed by us according to our ability,--how 
that the Lord Jesus went up to the feast-day, as it were in secret, not 
because He feared lest He should be laid hold of,--He who had the power not 
to be laid hold of,--but to signify that even in that very feast which was 
celebrated by the Jews He Himself was hidden, and that the mystery of the 
feast was His own. In the passage read to-day then, that which was supposed 
to be timidity appeared as power; for He spoke openly on the feast-day, so 
that the crowds marvelled, and said that which we have heard when the 
passage was read: "Is not this he whom they sought to kill? And, lo, he 
speaketh openly, and they say nothing. Do the rulers know indeed that this 
is the Christ?" They who knew with what fierceness He was sought after, 
wondered by what power He was kept from being taken. Then, not fully 
understanding His power, they fancied it was the knowledge of the rulers, 
that these rulers knew Him to be the very Christ, and that for this reason 
they spared Him whom they had with so much eagerness sought out to be put 
to death.

    2. Then those same persons who had said, "Did the rulers know that this 
is the Christ?" proposed a question among themselves, by which it appeared 
to them that He was not the Christ; for they said in addition, "But we know 
this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he 
is." As to how this opinion among the Jews arose, that "when Christ comes, 
no man knoweth whence He is" (for it did not arise without reason), if we 
consider the Scriptures, we find, brethren, that the Holy Scriptures have 
declared of Christ that "He shall be called a Nazarene."(1) Therefore they 
foretold whence He is. Again, if we seek the place of His nativity, as that 
whence He is by birth, neither was this hidden from the Jews, because of 
the Scriptures which had foretold these things. For when the Magi, on the 
appearing of a star, sought Him out to worship Him, they came to Herod and 
told him what they sought and what they meant: and he, having called 
together those who had knowledge of the law, inquired of them where Christ 
should be born:  they told him, "In Bethlehem of Judah," and also brought 
forward the prophetic testimony.(2) If, therefore, the prophets had 
foretold both the place where the origin of His flesh was, and the place 
where His mother would bring Him forth, whence did spring that opinion 
among the Jews which we have just heard, but from this, that the Scriptures 
had proclaimed beforehand, and had foretold both? In respect of His being 
man, the Scriptures foretold whence He should be; in respect of His being 
God, this was hidden from the ungodly, and it required godly men to 
discover it. Moreover, they said this, "When Christ comes, no man knoweth 
whence He is," because that which was spoken by Isaiah produced this 
opinion in them, viz. "And His generation, who shall tell?"(3) In short, 
the Lord Himself made answer to both, that they both did, and also did not 
know whence He was; that He might testify to the holy prophecy which before 
was predicted of Him, both as to the humanity of infirmity and also as to 
the divinity of majesty.

    3. Hear, therefore, the word of the Lord, brethren; see how He 
confirmed to them both what they said, "We know this man whence he is," and 
also what they said, "When Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is. Then 
cried Christ in the temple, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I 
am: and I am not come of myself, but He that sent me is true, whom ye know 
not." That is to say, ye both know me, and ye know me not; ye both know 
whence I am, and ye know not whence I am. Ye know whence I am: Jesus of 
Nazareth, whose parents also ye knew. For in this case, the birth of the 
Virgin alone was hidden, to whom, however, her husband was witness; for the 
same was able faithfully to declare this, who was also able as a husband to 
be jealous. Therefore, this birth of the Virgin excepted, they knew all 
that in Jesus pertains to man: His face was known, His country was known, 
His family was known; where He was born was to be known by inquiry. Rightly 
then did He say, "Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am," according to 
the flesh and form of man which He bore; but according to His divinity, 
"And I am not come of myself, but He that sent me is true, whom ye know 
not;" but yet that ye may know Him, believe on Him whom He has sent, and ye 
will know Him. For, "No man has seen God at any time, except the only-
begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him:"(1) 
and, "None knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to 
reveal Him."(2)

    4. Lastly, when He had said, "But He that sent me is true, whom ye know 
not," in order to show them whence they might know that which they did not 
know, He subjoined, "I know Him." Therefore seek from me to know Him. But 
why is it that I know Him? "Because I am from Him, and He sent me." 
Gloriously has He shown both. "I am from Him," said He; because the Son is 
from the Father, and whatever the Son is, He is of Him whose Son He is. 
Hence we say that the Lord Jesus is God of God: we do not say that the 
Father is God of God, but simply God: and we say that the Lord Jesus is 
Light of Light; we do not say that the Father is Light of Light, but simply 
Light. Accordingly, to this belongs that which He said "I am from Him." But 
as to my being seen of you in the flesh, "He sent me." When thou hearest 
"He sent me," do not understand a difference of nature to be meant, but the 
authority of Him that begets.

    5. "Then they sought to take Him: but no man laid hands on Him, because 
His hour was not yet come;" that is, because He was not willing. For what 
is this. "His hour was not yet come"? The Lord was not born under fate. 
This is not to be believed concerning thee, much less concerning Him by 
whom thou wast made. If thy hour is His good will, what is His hour but His 
good will? He meant not therefore an hour in which He should be forced to 
die, but that in which He would deign to be put to death. But He was 
awaiting the time in which He should die, for He awaited also the time in 
which He should be born. The apostle, speaking of this time, says, "But 
when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son."(3) For this cause many 
say, Why did not Christ come before? To whom we must make answer, Because 
the fullness of time had not yet come, while He by whom the times were made 
sets their bounds; for He knew when He ought to come. In the first place, 
it was necessary that He should be foretold through a long series of times 
and years; for it was not something insignificant that was to come: He who 
was to be ever held, had to be for a long time foretold. The greater the 
judge that was coming, the longer the train of heralds that preceded him. 
In short, when the fullness of time came, He also came who was to deliver 
us from time. For being delivered from time, we shall come to that eternity 
where there is no time: there it is not said, When shall the hour come? for 
the day is everlasting, a day which is neither preceded by a yesterday, nor 
cut off by a morrow. But in this world days roll on, some are passing away, 
others come; none abides; and the moments in which we are speaking drive 
out one another in turn, nor stands the first syllable for the second to 
sound. Since we began to speak we are somewhat older, and without doubt I 
am just now older than I was in the morning; thus, nothing stands, nothing 
remains fixed in time. Therefore ought we to love Him by whom the times 
were made, that we may be delivered from time and be fixed in eternity, 
where there is no more changeableness of times. Great, therefore, is the 
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, in that for our sakes He was made in time, 
by whom the times were made; that He was made among all things, by whom all 
things were made; that He became what He made. For He was made what He had 
made; for He was made man who had made man, lest what He had made should 
perish. According to this dispensation, the hour of His birth had now come, 
and He was born; but not yet had come the hour of His suffering, therefore 
not yet had He suffered.

    6. In short, that ye may know that the words refer, not to the 
necessity of His dying, but to His power,--I speak this for the sake of 
some who, when they hear "His hour was not yet come," are determined on 
believing in fate, and their hearts become infatuated;--that ye may know, 
then, that it was His power of dying, recollect the passion, look at Him 
crucified. While hanging on the tree, He said, "I thirst." They, having 
heard this, offered to Him on the cross vinegar by a sponge on a reed. He 
received it, and said, "It is finished;" and, bowing His head, gave up the 
ghost. You see His power of dying, that He waited for this--until all 
things should be fulfilled that had been foretold concerning Him--to take 
place before His death. For the prophet had said, "They gave me gall for my 
meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."(4) He waited for all 
these things to be fulfilled: after they were completed, He said, "It is 
finished;" and He departed by power, because He came not by necessity. 
Hence some wondered more at this His power to die than at His ability to 
work miracles. For they came to the cross to take the bodies down from the 
tree, for the Sabbath was drawing near, and the thieves were found still 
living. The punishment of the cross was so much the harder because it 
tortured men so long, and all that were crucified were killed by a 
lingering death. But the thieves, that they might not remain on the tree, 
were forced to die by having their legs broken, that they might be taken 
down thence. The Lord, however, was found to be already dead,(1) and the 
men marvelled; and they who despised Him when living, so wondered at Him 
when dead, that some of them said, "Truly this was the Son of God."(2)  
Whence also that, brethren, where He says to those that seek Him, "I am 
He;" and they, going backward, all fell to the ground?(3) Consequently 
there was in Him supreme power. Nor was He forced to die at an hour; but He 
waited the hour on which His will might fittingly be done, not that on 
which necessity might be fulfilled against His will.

    7. "But many of the people believed on Him." The Lord made whole the 
humble and the poor. The rulers were mad, and therefore they not only did 
not acknowledge the Physician, but even were eager to slay Him. There was a 
certain crowd of people which quickly saw its own sickness, and without 
delay recognized His remedy. See what that very crowd, moved by His 
miracles, said: "When Christ cometh will He do more signs than these?" 
Surely, unless there will be two Christs, this is the Christ. Consequently, 
in saying these things, they believed on Him.

    8. But those rulers, having heard the assurance of the multitude, and 
that murmuring noise of the people in which Christ was being glorified, 
"sent officers to take Him." To take whom? Him not yet willing to be taken. 
Because then they could not take Him while He would not, they were sent to 
hear Him. teaching. Teaching what? "Then said Jesus, Yet a little while I 
am with you."  What ye wish to do now ye will do, but not just now; because 
I am not just now willing. Why am I now as yet unwilling? Because "yet a 
little while I am with you; and then I go unto Him that sent me." I must 
complete my dispensation, and in this manner come to my suffering.

    9. "Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye 
cannot come." Here He has already foretold His resurrection; for they would 
not acknowledge Him when present, and afterwards they sought Him when they 
saw the multitude already believing on Him For great signs were wrought, 
even when the Lord was risen again and ascended into heaven. Then mighty 
deeds were done by His disciples, but He wrought by them as He wrought by 
Himself: since, indeed, He had said to them, "Without me ye can do 
nothing."(4) When that lame man who sat at the gate rose up at Peter's 
voice, and walked on his feet, so that men marvelled, Peter spoke to them 
to this effect, that it was not by his own power that he did this, but in 
the virtue of Him whom they slew.(5) Many pricked in the heart said, "What 
shall we do?" For they saw themselves bound by an immense crime of impiety, 
since they slew Him whom they ought to have revered and worshipped; and 
this crime they thought inexpiable. A great wickedness indeed it was, the 
thought of which might make them despair; yet it did not behove them to 
despair, for whom the Lord, as He hung on the cross, deigned to pray. For 
He had said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.(8) He 
saw some who were His own among many who were aliens; for these He sought 
pardon, from whom at the time He was still receiving injury. He regarded 
not that He was being put to death by them, but only that He was dying for 
them. It was a great thing that was forgiven them, it was a great thing 
that was done by them and for them, so that no man should despair of the 
forgiveness of his sin when they who slew Christ obtained pardon. Christ 
died for us, but surely He was not put to death by us? But those men indeed 
saw Christ dying by their own villany; and yet they believed on Christ 
pardoning their villanies. Until they drank the blood they had shed, they 
despaired of their own salvation. Therefore said He this: "Ye shall seek 
me, and shall not find me: and where I am, ye cannot come;" because they 
were to seek Him after the resurrection, being pricked in their heart with 
remorse. Nor did He say "where I will be," but "where I am." For Christ was 
always in that place whither He was about to return; for He came in such 
manner that He did not depart from that place. Hence He says in another 
place, "No man has ascended into heaven, but He who came down from heaven, 
the Son of man who is in heaven."(7) He said not, who was in heaven. He 
spoke on the earth, and declared that He was at the same time in heaven. He 
came in such wise that He departed not thence; and He so returned as not to 
abandon us. What do ye marvel at? This is God's doing. For man, as regards 
his body, is in a place, and departs from a place; and when he comes to 
another place, he will not be in that place whence he came: but God fills 
all things, and is all everywhere; He is not held in places according to 
space. Nevertheless the Lord Christ was, as regards His visible flesh, on 
the earth: as regards His invisible majesty, He was in heaven and on earth; 
and therefore He says, "Where I am, thither ye cannot come." Nor did He 
say, "Ye shall not be able." but "ye are not able to come;" for at that 
time they were such as were not able. And that ye may know that this was 
not said to cause despair, He said something of the same kind also to His 
disciples: "Whither I go ye cannot come."(1) Yet while praying in their 
behalf, He said, "Father, I will that where I am they also may be with 
me."(2) And, finally, this He expounded to Peter, and says to him, "Whither 
I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me hereafter."(3)

    10. "Then said the Jews," not to Him, but "to themselves, Whither will 
this man go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersion 
among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?" For they knew not what they 
said; but, it being His will, they prophesied. The Lord was indeed about to 
go to the Gentiles, not by His bodily presence, but still with His feet. 
What were His feet? Those which Saul desired to trample upon by 
persecution, when the Head cried out to him, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest 
thou me?"(4) What is this saying that He said, "Ye shall seek me, and shall 
not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?" Wherefore the Lord 
said this they knew not, and yet they did predict something that was to be 
without knowing it. For this is what the Lord said that they knew not the 
place, if place however it must be called, which is the bosom of the 
Father, from which Christ never departed; nor were they competent to 
conceive where Christ was, whence Christ never withdrew, whither He was to 
return, where He was all the while dwelling. How was it possible for the 
human heart to conceive this, least of all to explain it with the tongue? 
This, then, they in no wise understood; and yet by occasion of this they 
foretold our salvation, that the Lord would go to the dispersion of the 
Gentiles, and would fulfill that which they read but did not understand. "A 
people whom I have not known served me, and by the hearing of the ear 
obeyed me,"(5) They before whose eyes He was, heard Him not; those heard 
Him in whose ears He was sounded.

    11. For of that Church of the Gentiles which was to come, the woman 
that had the issue of blood was a type: she touched and was not seen; she 
was not known and yet was healed. It was in reality a figure what the Lord 
asked: "Who touched me?" As if not knowing, He healed her as unknown: so 
has He done also to the Gentiles. We did not get to know Him in the flesh, 
yet we have been made worthy to eat His flesh, and to be members in His 
flesh. In what way? Because He sent to us. Whom? His heralds, His 
disciples, His servants, His redeemed whom He created, but whom He 
redeemed, His brethren also. I have said but little of all that they are: 
His own members, Himself; for He sent to us His own members, and He made us 
His members. Nevertheless, Christ has not been among us with the bodily 
form which the Jews saw and despised; because this also was said concerning 
Him, even as the apostle says: "Now I say that Christ was a minister of the 
circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the 
fathers.(6) He owed it to have come to those by whose fathers and to whose 
fathers He was promised. For this reason He says also Himself: "I am not 
sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel."' But what says the 
apostle in the following words? "And that the Gentiles might glorify God 
for His mercy." What, moreover, saith the Lord Himself? "Other sheep I have 
which are not of this fold.(8) He who had said, "I am not sent but unto the 
lost sheep of the house of Israel," how has He other sheep to which He was 
not sent, except that He intimated that He was not sent to show His bodily 
presence but to the Jews only, who saw and killed Him? And yet many of 
them, both before and afterwards, believed. The first harvest was winnowed 
from the cross, that there might be a seed whence another harvest might 
spring up. But at this present time, when roused by the fame of the gospel, 
and by its goodly odor, His faithful ones among all nations believe, He 
shall be the expectation of the Gentiles, when He shall come who has 
already come; when He shall be seen by all, He who was then not seen by 
some, by some was seen; when He shall come to judge who came to be judged; 
when He shall come to distinguish who came not to be distinguished. For 
Christ was not discerned by the ungodly, but was condemned with the 
ungodly; for it was said concerning Him, "He was accounted among the 
wicked."(1) The robber escaped, Christ was condemned. He who was loaded 
with criminal accusations received pardon; He who has released from their 
crimes all who confess Him, was condemned. Nevertheless even the cross 
itself, if thou considerest it well, was a judgment-seat; for the Judge 
being set up in the middle, one thief who believed was delivered, the other 
who reviled was condemned.(2) Already He signified what He is to do with 
the quick and the dead: some He will set on His right hand and others on 
His left. That thief was like those that shall be on the left hand, the 
other like those that shall be on the right. He was undergoing judgment, 
and He threatened judgment.

TRACTATE XXXII: Chapter VII. 37-39.

    1. Among the dissensions and doubtings of the Jews concerning the Lord 
Jesus Christ, among other things which He said, by which some were 
confounded, others taught: "On the last day of that feast" (for it was then 
that these things were done) which is called the feast of tabernacles; that 
is, the building of tents, of which feast you remember, my beloved, that we 
have already discoursed, the Lord Jesus Christ calls, not by speaking in 
any way soever, but by crying aloud, that whoso thirsts may come to Him. If 
we thirst, let us come; and not by our feet, but by our affections; let us 
come, not by removing from our place, but by loving. Although, according to 
the inner man, he that loves does also move from a place. But it is one 
thing to move with the body, another thing to move with the heart: he 
migrates with the body who changes his place by a motion of the body; he 
migrates with the heart who changes his affection by a motion of the heart. 
If thou lovest one thing, and didst love another thing before, thou art not 
now where thou wast.

    2. Accordingly, the Lord cries aloud to us: for, "He stood and cried 
out, if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth 
on me, as the Scripture saith., out of his belly shall flow rivers of 
living water." We are not obliged to delay to inquire what this meant, 
since the evangelist has explained it. For why the Lord said, "If any man 
thirst, let him come unto me, and drink;" and, "He that believeth on me, 
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water;" the evangelist has 
subsequently explained, saying: "But this spake He of the Spirit which they 
that believe on Him should receive. For the Spirit was not yet given, 
because Jesus was not yet glorified." There is therefore an inner thirst 
and an inner belly, because there is an inner man. And that inner man is 
indeed invisible, but the outer man is visible; but yet better is the inner 
than the outer. And this which is not seen is the more loved; for it is 
certain that the inner man is loved more than the outer. How is this 
certain? Let every man prove it in himself. For although they who live ill 
may surrender their minds to the body, yet they do wish to live, and to 
live is the property of the mind only; and they who rule, manifest 
themselves more than those things that are ruled. Now it is minds that 
rule, bodies are ruled. Every man rejoices in pleasure, and receives 
pleasure by the body: but separate the mind from it, and nothing remains in 
the body to rejoice; and if there is joy of the body, it is the mind that 
rejoices. If it has joy of its dwelling, ought it not to have joy of 
itself? And if the mind has whereof it may have delight outside itself, 
does it remain without delights within? It is quite certain that a man 
loves his soul more than his body. But further, a man loves the soul even 
in another man more than the body. What is it that is loved in a friend, 
where the love is the purer and more sincere? What in the friend is loved--
the mind, or the body? If fidelity is loved, the mind is loved; if 
benevolence is loved, the mind is the seat of benevolence: if this is what 
thou lovest in another, that he too loves thee, it is the mind thou lovest, 
because it is not the flesh, but the mind that loves. For therefore thou 
lovest, because he loves thee: ask why he loves thee, and then see what it 
is thou lovest. Consequently, it is more loved, and yet is not seen.

    3. I would say something further, by which it may more clearly appear 
to you, beloved, how much the mind is loved, and how it is preferred to the 
body. Those wanton lovers even, who delight in beauty of bodies, and are 
charmed by shapeliness of limbs, love the more when they are loved. For 
when a man loves, and finds that he is regarded with hatred, he feels more 
anger than liking. Why does he feel anger rather than liking? Because the 
love that he bestows is not given him in return. If, therefore, even the 
lovers of bodies desire to be loved in return, and this delights them more 
when they are loved, what shall we say of the lovers of minds? And if the 
lovers of minds are great, what shall we say of the lovers of God who makes 
minds beautiful? For as the mind gives grace to the body, so it is God that 
gives grace to the mind. For it is only the mind that causes that in the 
body by which it is loved; when the mind has left it, it is a corpse at 
which thou hast a horror; and how much soever thou mayest have loved its 
beautiful limbs, thou makest haste to bury it. Hence, the ornament of the 
body is the mind; the ornament of the mind is God.

    4. The Lord, therefore, cries aloud to us to come and drink, if we 
thirst within; and He says that when we have drunk, rivers of living water 
shall flow from our belly. The belly of the inner man is the conscience of 
the heart. Having drunk that water then, the conscience being purged begins 
to live; and drinking in, it will have a fountain, will be itself a 
fountain. What is the fountain, and what the river that flows from the 
belly of the inner man? Benevolence, whereby a man will consult the 
interest of his neighbor. For if he imagines that what he drinks ought to 
be only for his own satisfying, there is no flowing of living water from 
his belly; but if he is quick to consult for the good of his neighbor, then 
he becomes not dry, because there is a flowing. We will now see what it is 
that they drink who believe in the Lord; because we surely are Christians, 
and if we believe, we drink. And it is every man's duty to know in himself 
whether or not he drinks, and whether he lives by what he drinks; for the 
fountain does not forsake us if we forsake not the fountain.

    5. The evangelist explained, as I have said, whereof the Lord had cried 
out, to what kind of drink He had invited, what He had procured for them 
that drink, saying, "But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that 
believe on Him should receive: for the Spirit was not yet given, because 
Jesus was not yet glorified." What spirit does He speak of, if not the Holy 
Spirit? For every man has in himself a spirit of his own, of which I spoke 
when I was commending to you the consideration of the mind. For every man's 
mind is his own spirit: of which the Apostle Paul says, "For what man 
knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of the man which is in 
himself?" And then he added, "So also the things of God knoweth no man, but 
the Spirit of God."(1) None knows the things that are ours but our own 
spirit. I indeed do not know what are thy thoughts, nor dost thou know what 
are mine; for those things which we think within are our own, peculiar to 
ourselves; and his own spirit is the witness of every man's thoughts. "So 
also the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." We with our 
spirit, God with His: so, however, that God with His Spirit knows also what 
goes on within us; but we are not able, without His own Spirit, to know 
what takes place in God. God, however, knows in us even what we know not in 
ourselves. For Peter did not know his own weakness, when he heard from the 
Lord that he would deny Him thrice: the sick man was ignorant of his own 
condition; the Physician knew him to be sick. There are then certain things 
which God knows in us, while we ourselves know them not. So far, however, 
as belongs to men, no man knows a man as he does himself: another does not 
know what is going on within him, but his own spirit knows it. But on 
receiving the Spirit of God, we learn also what takes place in God: not the 
whole, for we have not received the whole. We know many things from the 
pledge; for we have received a pledge, and the fullness of this pledge 
shall be given hereafter. Meanwhile, let the pledge console us in our 
pilgrimage here; because he who has condescended to bind himself to us by a 
pledge, is prepared to give us much. If such is the token, what must that 
be of which it is the token?

    6. But what is meant by this which he says, "For the Spirit was not yet 
given, because Jesus was not yet glorified?" He is understood to say this 
in a sense that is evident. For the meaning is not that the Spirit of God, 
which was with God, was not in being; but was not yet in them who had 
believed on Jesus. For thus the Lord Jesus disposed not to give them the 
Spirit of which we speak, until after His resurrection; and this not 
without a cause. And perhaps if we inquire, He will favor us to find; and 
if we knock, He will open for us to enter. Piety knocks, not the hand 
though the hand also knocks, if it cease not from works of mercy. What then 
is the cause why the Lord Jesus Christ determined not to give the Holy 
Spirit until He should be glorified? which thing before we speak of as we 
may be able, we must first inquire, lest that should trouble any one, in 
what manner the Spirit was not yet in holy men, whilst we read in the 
Gospel concerning the Lord Himself newly born, that Simeon by the Holy 
Spirit recognized Him; that Anna the widow, a prophetess, also recognized 
Him;(1) that John, who baptized Him, recognized Him;(2) that Zacharias, 
being filled with the Holy Ghost, said many things; that Mary herself 
received the Holy Ghost to conceive the Lord.(3) We have therefore many 
preceding evidences of the Holy Spirit before the Lord was glorified by the 
resurrection of His flesh. Nor was it another spirit that the prophets also 
had, who proclaimed beforehand the coming of Christ. But still, there was 
to be a certain manner of this giving, which had not at all appeared 
before. For nowhere do we read before this, that men being gathered 
together had, by receiving the Holy Ghost, spoken in the tongues of all 
nations. But after His resurrection, when He first appeared to His 
disciples, He said to them: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Of this giving 
then it is said, "The Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not yet 
glorified. And He breathed upon their faces,"(4) He who with His breath 
enlivened them first man, and raised him up from the clay, by which breath 
He gave a soul to the limbs; signifying that He was the same who breathed 
upon their faces, that they might rise out of the mire and renounce their 
miry works. Then, after His resurrection, which the evangelist calls His 
glorifying, did the Lord first give the Holy Ghost to His disciples. Then 
having tarried with them forty days, as the book of the Acts of the 
Apostles shows, while they were seeing Him and companying with Him, He 
ascended into heaven in their sight. There at the end of ten days, on the 
flay of Pentecost, He sent the Holy Ghost from above. Which having 
received, they, who had been gathered together in one place, as I have 
said, being filled withal, spoke in the tongues of all nations.

    7. How then, brethren, because he that is baptized in Christ, and 
believes on Him, does not speak now in the tongues of all nations, are we 
not to believe that he has received the Holy Ghost? God forbid that our 
heart should be tempted by this faithlessness. Certain we are that every 
man receives: but only as much as the vessel of faith that he shall bring 
to the fountain can contain, so much does He fill of it. Since, therefore, 
the Holy Ghost is even now received by men, some one may say, Why is it 
that no man speaks in the tongues of all nations? Because the Church itself 
now speaks in the tongues of all nations. Before, the Church was in one 
nation, where it spoke in the tongues of all. By speaking then in the 
tongues of all, it signified what was to come to pass; that by growing 
among the nations, it would speak in the tongues of all. Whoso is not in 
this Church, does not now receive the Holy Ghost. For, being cut off and 
divided from the unity of the members, which unity speaks in the tongues of 
all, let him declare for himself; he has it not. For if he has it, let him 
give the sign which was given then. What do we mean by saying, Let him give 
the sign which was then given? Let him speak in all tongues. He answers me: 
How then, dost thou speak in all tongues? Clearly I do; for every tongue is 
mine, namely, of the body of which I am a member. The Church, spread among 
the nations, speaks in all tongues; the Church is the body of Christ, in 
this body thou art a member: therefore, since thou art a member of that 
body which speaks with all tongues, believe that thou too speakest with all 
tongues. For the unity of the members is of one mind by charity; and that 
unity speaks as one man then spoke.

    8. Consequently, we too receive the Holy Ghost if we love the Church, 
if we are joined together by charity, if we rejoice in the Catholic name 
and faith. Let us believe, brethren; as much as every man loves the Church 
of Christ, so much has he the Holy Ghost. For the Spirit is given, as the 
apostle saith, "to manifestation." To what manifestation? Just as the same 
apostle saith, "For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to 
another the word of knowledge after the same Spirit, to another faith in 
the same Spirit, to another the gift of healing in one Spirit, to another 
the working of miracles in the same Spirit."(5) For there are many gifts 
given to manifestation, but thou, it may be, hast nothing of all those I 
have said. If thou lovest, it is not nothing that thou hast: if thou lovest 
unity, whoever has aught in that unity has it also for thee. Take away 
envy, and what I have is thine too. The envious temper puts men apart, 
soundness of mind unites them. In the body, the eye alone sees; but is it 
for itself alone that the eye sees? It sees both for the hand and the foot, 
and for all the other members. If a blow be coming against the foot, the 
eye does not turn away from it, so as not to take precaution. Again, in the 
body, the hand alone works, but is it for itself alone the hand works? For 
the eye also it works: for if a coming blow comes, not against the hand, 
but only against the face, does the hand say, I will not move, because it 
is not coming to me? So the foot by walking serves all the members: all the 
other members are silent, and the tongue speaks for all. We have therefore 
the Holy Spirit if we love the Church; but we love the Church if we stand 
firm in its union and charity. For the apostle himself, after he had said 
that diverse gifts were bestowed on diverse men, just as the offices of the 
several members, saith, "Yet I show you a still more pre-eminent way;" and 
begins to speak of charity. This he put before tongues of men and angels, 
before miracles of faith, before knowledge and prophecy, before even that 
great work of mercy by which a man distributes to the poor all that he 
possesses; and, lastly, put it before even the martyrdom of the body: 
before all these so great things he put charity. Have it, and thou shalt 
have all: for without it, whatever thou canst have will profit nothing. But 
that thou mayest know that the charity of which we are speaking refers to 
the Holy Spirit (for the question now in hand in the Gospel is concerning 
the Holy Spirit), hear the apostle when he says, "The charity of God is 
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us."(1)

    9. Why then was it the will of the Lord, seeing that the Spirit's 
benefits in us are the greatest, because by Him the love of God is shed 
abroad in our hearts, to give us that Spirit after His resurrection? Why 
did He signify by this? In order that in our resurrection our love may be 
inflamed, and may part from the love of the world to run wholly towards 
God. For here we are born and die: let us not love this world; let us 
migrate hence by love; by love let us dwell above, by that love by which we 
love God. In this sojourn of our life let us meditate on nothing else, but 
that here we shall not always be, and that by good living we shall prepare 
a place for ourselves there, whence we shall never migrate. For our Lord 
Jesus Christ, after that He is risen again, "now dieth no more;" "death," 
as the apostle says, "shall no more have dominion over Him."(2) Behold what 
we must love. If we live, if we believe on Him who is risen again, He will 
give us, not that which men love here who love not God, or love the more 
the less they love Him, but love this the less the more they  love Him; but 
let us see what He has promised us. Not earthly and temporal riches, not 
honors and power in this world; for you see all these things given to 
wicked men, that they may not be highly prized by the good. Not, in short, 
bodily health itself, though it is He that gives that also, but that, as 
you see, He gives even to the beasts. Not long life; for what, indeed, is 
long that will some day have an end? It is not length of days that He has 
promised to His believers, as if that were a great thing, or decrepit old 
age, which all wish for before it comes, and all murmur at when it does 
come. Not beauty of person, which either bodily disease or that same old 
age which is desired drives away. One wishes to be beautiful, and also to 
live to be old: these two desires cannot agree together; if thou shalt be 
old, thou wilt not be beautiful; when old age comes, beauty will flee away; 
the vigor of beauty and the groaning of old age cannot dwell together in 
one body. All these things, then, are not what He promised us when He said, 
"He that believeth in me, let him come and drink, and out of his belly 
shall flow rivers of living water." He has promised us eternal life, where 
we shall have no fear, where we shall not be troubled, whence we shall have 
no migration, where we shall not die; where there is neither bewailing a 
predecessor deceased, nor a hoping for a successor. Accordingly, because 
such is what He has promised to us that love Him, and glow with the charity 
of the Holy Spirit, therefore He would not give us that same Spirit until 
He should be glorified, so that He might show in His body the life which we 
have not now, but which we hope for in the resurrection.

TRACTATE XXXIII: Chapter VII. 40-53; VIII. 1-11.

    1. You remember, my beloved, that in the last discourse, by occasion of 
the passage of the Gospel read, we spoke to you concerning the Holy Spirit. 
When the Lord had invited those that believe on Him to this drinking, 
speaking among those who meditated to lay hold of Him, and sought to kill 
Him, and were not able, because it was not His will: well, when He had 
spoken these things, there arose a dissension among the multitude 
concerning Him; some thinking that He was the very Christ, others saying 
that Christ shall not arise from Galilee. But they who had been sent to 
take Him returned clear of the crime and full of admiration. For they even 
gave witness to His divine doctrine, when those by whom they had been sent 
asked, "Why have ye not brought him?" They answered that they had never 
heard a man so speak: "For not any man so speaks." But He spake thus, 
because He was God and man. But the Pharisees, repelling their testimony, 
said to them: "Are ye also deceived?" We see, indeed, that you also have 
been charmed by his discourses. "Hath any one of the rulers or the 
Pharisees believed on him? But this multitude who know not the law are 
cursed." They who knew not the law believed on Him who had sent the law; 
and those men who were teaching the law despised Him, that it; might be 
fulfilled which the Lord Himself had said, "I am come that they who see not 
may see, and they that see may be made blind."(1) For the Pharisees, the 
teachers of the law, were made blind, and the people that knew not the law, 
and yet believed on the author of the law, were enlightened.

    2. "Nicodemus," however, "one of the Pharisees, who had come to the 
Lord by night,"--not indeed as being himself unbelieving, but timid; for 
therefore he came by night to the light, because he wished to be 
enlightened and feared to be known;--Nicodemus, I say, answered the Jews, 
"Doth our law judge a man before it hear him, and know what he doeth?" For 
they perversely wished to condemn before they examined. Nicodemus indeed 
knew, or rather believed, that if only they were willing to give Him a 
patient hearing, they would perhaps become like those who were sent to take 
Him, but preferred to believe. They answered, from the prejudice of their 
heart, what they had answered to those officers, "Art thou also a 
Galilean?" That is, one seduced as it were by the Galilean. For the Lord 
was said to be a Galilean, because His parents were from the city of 
Nazareth. I have said "His parents" in regard to Mary, not as regards the 
seed of man; for on earth He sought but a mother, He had already a Father 
on high. For His nativity on both sides was marvellous: divine without 
mother, human without father. What, then, said those would-be doctors of 
the law to Nicodemus? "Search the Scriptures, and see that out of Galilee 
ariseth no prophet." Yet the Lord of the prophets arose thence. "They 
returned," saith the evangelist, "every man to his own house."

    3. "Thence Jesus went unto the mount;" namely, to mount "Olivet,"--unto 
the fruitful mount, unto the mount of ointment, unto the mount of chrism. 
For where, indeed, but on mount Olivet did it become the Christ to teach? 
For the name of Christ is from chrism; chri^sma in the Greek, is called in 
Latin unctio, an anointing. And He has anointed us for this reason, because 
He has made us wrestlers against the devil. "And early in the morning He 
came again into the temple, and all the people came unto Him; and He sat 
down and taught them." And He was not taken, for He did not yet deign to 
suffer.

    4. And now observe wherein the Lord's gentleness was tempted by His 
enemies. "And the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman just taken 
in adultery: and they set her in the midst, and said to Him, Master, this 
woman has just been taken in adultery. Now Moses in the law commanded us, 
that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? But this they said, 
tempting Him, that they might accuse Him." Why accuse Him? Had they 
detected Himself in any misdeed; or was that woman said to have been 
concerned with Him in any manner? What, then, is the meaning of "tempting 
Him, that they might accuse Him"? We understand, brethren, that a wonderful 
gentleness shone out pre-eminently in the Lord. They observed that He was 
very meek, very gentle: for of Him it had been previously foretold, "Gird 
Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most Mighty; in Thy splendor and beauty urge 
on, march on prosperously, and reign, because of truth, and meekness, and 
righteousness."(1) Accordingly, as a teacher, He brought truth; as a 
deliverer, He brought gentleness; as a protector, He brought righteousness. 
That He was to reign on account of these things, the prophet had by the 
Holy Spirit foretold. When He spoke His truth was acknowledged; when He was 
not provoked to anger against His enemies, His meekness was praised. 
Whilst, therefore, in respect of these two,--namely, His truth and 
meekness,--His enemies were tormented with malice and envy; in respect of 
the third,--namely, righteousness,--they laid a stumbling-block for Him. In 
what way? Because the law had commanded the adulterers to be stoned, and 
surely the law could not command what was unjust: if any man should say 
other than the law had commanded, he would be detected as unjust. Therefore 
they said among themselves, "He is accounted true, he appears to be gentle; 
an accusation must be sought against him in respect of righteousness. Let 
us bring before him a woman taken in adultery; let us say to him what is 
ordered in the law concerning such: if he shall approve her being stoned, 
he will not show his gentleness; if he consent to let her go, he will not 
keep righteousness. But, say they, that he may not lose the reputation of 
gentleness, for which he is become an object of love to the people, without 
doubt he will say that she must be let go. Hence we find an opportunity of 
accusing him, and we charge him as being a transgressor of the law: saying 
to him, Thou art an enemy to the law; thou answerest against Moses, nay, 
against Him who gave the law through Moses; thou art worthy of death: thou 
too must be stoned with this woman." By these words and sentiments they 
might possibly be able to inflame envy against Him, to urge accusation, and 
cause His condemnation to be eagerly demanded. But this against whom? It 
was perversity against rectitude, falsehood against the truth, the corrupt 
heart against the upright heart, folly against wisdom. When did such men 
prepare snares, into which they did not first thrust their own heads? 
Behold, the Lord in answering them will both keep righteousness, and will 
not depart from gentleness. He was not taken for whom the snare was laid, 
but rather they were taken who laid it, because they believed not on Him 
who could pull them out of the net.

    5. What answer, then, did the Lord Jesus make? How answered the Truth? 
How answered Wisdom? How answered that Righteousness against which a false 
accusation was ready? He did not say, Let her not be stoned; lest He should 
seem to speak against the law. But God forbid that He should say, Let her 
be stoned: for He came not to lose, what He had found, but to seek what was 
lost. What then did He answer? See you how full it is of righteousness, how 
full of meekness and truth! "He that is without sin of you," saith He, "let 
him first cast a stone at her." O answer of Wisdom! How He sent them unto 
themselves! For without they stood to accuse and censure, themselves they 
examined not inwardly: they saw the adulteress, they looked not into 
themselves. Transgressors of the law, they wished the law to be fulfilled, 
and this by heedlessly accusing; not really fulfilling it, as if condemning 
adulteries by chastity. You have heard, O Jews, you have heard, O 
Pharisees, you have heard, O teachers of the law, the guardian of the law, 
but have not yet understood Him as the Lawgiver. What else does He signify 
to you when He writes with His finger on the ground? For the law was 
written with the finger of God; but written on stone because of the hard-
hearted. The Lord now wrote on the ground, because He was seeking fruit. 
You have heard then, Let the law be fulfilled, let the adulteress be 
stoned. But is it by punishing her that the law is to be fulfilled by those 
that ought to be punished? Let each of you consider himself, let him enter 
into himself, ascend the judgment-seat of his own mind, place himself at 
the bar of his own conscience, oblige himself to confess. For he knows what 
he is: for "no man knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of man which 
is in him." Each looking carefully into himself, finds himself a sinner. 
Yes, indeed. Hence, either let this woman go, or together with her receive 
ye the penalty of the law. Had He said, Let not the adulteress be stoned, 
He would be proved unjust: had He said, Let her be stoned, He would not 
appear gentle: let Him say what it became Him to say, both the gentle and 
the just, "Whoso is without sin of you, let him first cast a stone at her." 
This is the voice of Justice: Let her, the sinner, be punished, but not by 
sinners: let the law be fulfilled, but not by the transgressors of the law. 
This certainly is the voice of justice: by which justice, those men pierced 
through as if by a dart, looking into themselves and finding themselves 
guilty, "one after another all withdrew." The two were left alone, the 
wretched woman and Mercy. But the Lord, having struck them through with 
that dart of justice, deigned not to heed their fall, but, turning away His 
look from them, "again He wrote with His finger on the ground."

    6. But when that woman was left alone, and all they were gone out, He 
raised His eyes to the woman. We have heard the voice of justice, let us 
also hear the voice of clemency. For I suppose that woman was the more 
terrified when she had heard it said by the Lord, "He that is without sin 
of you, let him first cast a stone at her." But they, turning their thought 
to themselves, and by that very withdrawal having confessed concerning 
themselves, had left the woman with her great sin to Him who was without 
sin. And because she had heard this, "He that is without sin. let him first 
cast a stone at her," she expected to be punished by Him in whom sin could 
not be found. But He, who had driven back her adversaries with the tongue 
of justice, raising the eyes of clemency towards her, asked her, "Hath no 
man condemned thee?" She answered, "No man, Lord." And He said, "Neither do 
I condemn thee;" by whom, perhaps, thou didst fear to be condemned, because 
in me thou hast not found sin. "Neither will I condemn thee." What is this, 
O Lord? Dost Thou therefore favor sins? Not so, evidently. Mark what 
follows: "Go, henceforth sin no more." Therefore the Lord did also condemn, 
but condemned sins, not man. For if He were a patron of sin, He would say, 
Neither will I condemn thee; go, live as thou wilt: be secure in my 
deliverance; how much soever thou wilt sin, I will deliver thee from all 
punishment even of hell, and from the tormentors of the infernal world. He 
said not this.

    7. Let them take heed, then, who love His gentleness in the Lord, and 
let them fear His truth. For" The Lord is sweet and right."(1) Thou lovest 
Him in that He is sweet; fear Him in that He is right. As the meek, He 
said, "I held my peace;" but as the just, He said, "Shall I always be 
silent?"(2) "The Lord is merciful and pitiful." So He is, certainly. Add 
yet further, "Long-suffering;" add yet further, "And very pitiful:" but 
fear what comes last, "And true."(3) For those whom He now bears with as 
sinners, He will judge as despisers. "Or despisest thou the riches of His 
long-suffering and gentleness; not knowing that the forbearance of God 
leadeth thee to repentance? But thou, after thy hardness and impenitent 
heart, treasurest up for thyself wrath against the day of wrath and the 
revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man 
according to his deeds.(4) The Lord is gentle, the Lord is long-suffering, 
the Lord is pitiful; but the Lord is also just, the Lord is also true. He 
bestows on thee space for correction; but thou lovest the delay of judgment 
more than the amendment of thy ways. Hast thou been a bad man yesterday? 
To-day be a good man. Hast thou gone on in thy wickedness to-day? At any 
rate change to-morrow. Thou art always expecting, and from the mercy of God 
makest exceeding great promises to thyself. As if He, who has promised thee 
pardon through repentance, promised thee also a longer life. How knowest 
thou what to-morrow may bring forth? Rightly thou sayest in thy heart: When 
I shall have corrected my ways, God will put all my sins away. We cannot 
deny that God has promised pardon to those that have amended their ways and 
are converted. For in what prophet thou readest to me that God has promised 
pardon to him that amends, thou dost not read to me that God has promised 
thee a long life.

    8. From both, then, men are in danger; both from hoping and despairing, 
from contrary things, from contrary affections. Who is deceived by hoping? 
He who says, God is good, God is merciful, let me do what I please, what I 
like; let me give loose reins to my lusts, let me gratify the desires of my 
soul. Why this? Because God is merciful, God is good, God is kind. These 
men are in danger by hope. And those are in danger from despair, who, 
having fallen into grievous sins, fancying that they can no more be 
pardoned upon repentance, and believing that they are without doubt doomed 
to damnation, do say with themselves, We are already destined to be damned, 
why not do what we please? with the disposition of gladiators destined to 
the sword. This is the reason that desperate men are dangerous: for, having 
no longer aught to fear, they are to be feared exceedingly. Despair kills 
these; hope, those. The mind is tossed to and fro between hope and despair. 
Thou hast to fear lest hope slay thee; and, when thou hopest much from 
mercy, test thou fall into judgment: again, thou hast to fear lest despair 
slay thee, and, when thou thinkest that the grievous sins which thou hast 
committed cannot be forgiven thee, thou dost not repent, and thou incurrest 
the sentence of Wisdom, which says, "I also will laugh at your 
perdition."(5) How then does the Lord treat those who are in danger from 
both these maladies? To those who are in danger from hope, He says, "Be not 
slow to be converted to the Lord, neither put it off from day to day; for 
suddenly His anger will come, and in the time of vengeance, will utterly 
destroy thee.(1) To those who are in danger from despair, what does He say? 
"In what day soever the wicked man shall be converted, I will forget all 
his iniquities."(2) Accordingly, for the sake of those who are in danger by 
despair, He has offered us a refuge of pardon; and because of those who are 
in danger by hope, and are deluded by delays, He has made the day of death 
uncertain. Thou knowest not when thy last day may come. Art thou ungrateful 
because thou hast to-day on which thou mayest be improved? Thus therefore 
said He to the woman, "Neither will I condemn thee;" but, being made secure 
concerning the past, beware of the future. "Neither will I condemn thee:" I 
have blotted out what thou hast done; keep what I have commanded thee, that 
thou mayest find what I have promised.

TRACTATE XXXIV: CHAPTER VIII. 12.

    1. What we have just heard and attentively received, as the holy Gospel 
was being read, I doubt not that all of us have also endeavored to 
understand, and that each of us according to his measure apprehended what 
he could of so great a matter as that which has been read; and while the 
bread of the word is laid out, no one can complain that he has tasted 
nothing. But again I doubt not that there is scarcely any who has 
understood the whole. Nevertheless, even should there be any who may 
sufficiently understand the words of our Lord Jesus Christ now read out of 
the Gospel, let him bear with our ministry, whilst, if possible, with His 
assistance, we may, by treating thereof, cause that either all or many may 
understand that which a few are joyful of having understood for themselves.

    2. I think that what the Lord says, "I am the light of the world, "is 
clear to those that have eyes, by which they are made partakers of this 
light: but they who have not eyes except in the flesh alone, wonder at what 
is said by the Lord Jesus Christ, "I am the light of the world." And 
perhaps there may not be wanting some one too who says with himself: 
Whether perhaps the Lord Christ is that sun which by its rising and setting 
causes the day? For there have not been wanting heretics who thought this. 
The Manicheans have supposed that the Lord Christ is that sun which is 
visible to carnal eyes, exposed and public to be seen, not only by men, but 
by the beasts. But the right faith of the Catholic Church rejects such a 
fiction, and perceives it to be a devilish doctrine: not only by believing 
acknowledges it to be such, but in the case of whom it can, proves it even 
by reasoning. Let us therefore reject this kind of error, which the Holy 
Church has anathematized from the beginning. Let us not suppose that the 
Lord Jesus Christ is this sun which we see rising from the east, setting in 
the west; to whose course succeeds night, whose rays are obscured by a 
cloud, which removes from place to place by a set motion: the Lord Christ 
is not such a thing as this. The Lord Christ is not the sun that was made, 
but He by whom the sun was made. For "all things were made by Him, and 
without Him was nothing made."

    3. There is therefore a Light which made this light of the sun: let us 
love this Light, let us long to understand it, let us thirst for the same; 
that, with itself for our guide, we may at length come to it, and that we 
may so live in it that we may never die. This is indeed that Light of which 
prophecy long ago going before thus sang in the psalm: "O Lord, Thou shalt 
save men and beasts; even as Thy mercy is multiplied, O God." These are the 
words of the holy psalm: mark ye what the ancient discourse of holy men of 
God did premise concerning such a light. "Men," saith it, "and beasts Thou 
shalt save, O Lord; even as Thy mercy is multiplied, O God." For since Thou 
art God, and hast manifold mercy, the same multiplicity of Thy mercy 
reaches not only to men whom Thou hast created in Thine own image, but even 
to the beasts which Thou hast made subservient to men. For He who gives 
salvation to man, the same gives salvation also to the beast. Do not blush 
to think this of the Lord thy God: nay, rather believe this and trust it, 
and see thou think not otherwise. He that saves thee, the same saves thy 
horse and thy sheep; to come to the very least, also thy hen: "Salvation is 
of the Lord,"(1) and God saves these. Thou art uneasy, thou questionest. I 
wonder why thou doubtest. Shall He disdain to save who deigned to create? 
Of the Lord is the saving of angels, of men, and of beasts: "Salvation is 
of the Lord." Just as no man is from himself, so no man is saved by 
himself. Therefore most truly and right well doth the psalm say, "O Lord, 
Thou shall save men and beasts." Why? "Even as thy mercy is multiplied, O 
God." For Thou art God, Thou hast created, Thou savest: Thou gavest being, 
Thou givest to be in health.

    4. Since, therefore, as the mercy of God is multiplied, men and beasts 
are saved by Him, have not men something else which God as Creator bestows 
on them, which He bestows not on the beasts? Is there no distinction 
between the living creature made after the image of God, and the living 
creature made subject to the image of God? Clearly there is: beyond that 
salvation common to us with the dumb animals, there is what God bestows on 
us, but not on them. What is this? Follow on in the same psalm: "But the 
sons of men shall hope under the covert of Thy wings." Having now a 
salvation in common with their cattle, "the sons of men shall hope under 
the covert of Thy wings." They have one salvation in fact, another in hope. 
This salvation which is at present is common to men and cattle; but there 
is another which men hope for; and which they who hope for receive, they 
who despair of receive not. For it saith, "The sons of men shall hope under 
covert of Thy wings." And they that perseveringly hope are protected by 
Thee, lest they be cast down from their hope by the devil: "Under covert of 
Thy wings they shall hope." If they shall hope, what shall they hope for, 
but for what the cattle shall not have? "They shall be fully drunk with the 
fatness of Thy house; and from the torrent of Thy pleasure Thou shalt give 
them drink." What sort of wine is that with which it is laudable to be 
drunk? What sort of wine is that which disturbs not the mind, but directs 
it? What sort of wine is that which makes perpetually sane, and makes not 
insane by drinking? "They shall be fully drunk." How? "With the fatness of 
Thy house; and from the torrent of Thy pleasure Thou shalt give them 
drink." How so? "Because with Thee is the fountain of life." The very 
fountain of life walked on the earth, the same who said, "Whoso thirsts, 
let him come unto me." Behold the fountain! But we begin to speak about the 
light, and to handle the question laid down from the Gospel concerning the 
light. For we read how the Lord said, "I am the light of the world." Thence 
arose a question, test any one, carnally understanding this, should fancy 
this light to mean the sun: we came thence to the psalm, which having 
considered, we found meanwhile that the Lord is the fountain of life. Drink 
and live. "With Thee," it saith, "is the fountain of life;" therefore, 
"under the shadow of Thy wings the sons of men hope," seeking to be full 
drunk with this fountain. But we were speaking of the Light. Follow on, 
then; for the prophet, having said, "With Thee is the fountain of life," 
went on to add, "In Thy light shall we see light,"--God of God, Light of 
Light. By this Light the sun's light was made; and the Light which made the 
sun, under which He also made us, was made under the sun for our sake. That 
Light which made the sun, was made, I say, under the sun for our sake. Do 
not despise the cloud of the flesh; with that cloud it is covered, not to 
be obscured, but to be moderated.

    5. That unfailing Light, the Light of wisdom, speaking through the 
cloud of the flesh, says to men, "I am the light of the world; he that 
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." 
How He has withdrawn thee from the eyes of the flesh, and recalled thee to 
the eyes of the heart! For it is not enough to say, "Whoso followeth me 
shall not walk in darkness, but shall have light;" He added too, "of life;" 
even as it was there said, "For with Thee is the fountain of life." See 
thus, my brethren, how the words of the Lord agree with the truth of that 
psalm: both there, the light is put with the fountain of life, and by the 
Lord it is said, "light of life." But for bodily use, light and fountain 
are different things: our mouths seek a fountain, our eyes light; when we 
thirst we seek a fountain, when we are in darkness we seek light; and if we 
chance to thirst in the night, we kindle a light to come to a fountain. Not 
so with God: light and fountain are the same thing: He who shines for thee 
that thou mayest see, the same flows for thee that thou mayest drink.

    6. You see, then, my brethren, you see, if you see inwardly, what kind 
of light this is, of which the Lord says, "He that followeth me shall not 
walk in darkness." Follow the sun, and let us see if thou wilt not walk in 
darkness. Behold, by rising it comes forth to thee; it goes by its course 
towards the west. Perhaps thy journey is towards the east: unless thou 
goest in a contrary direction to that in which it travels, thou wilt 
certainly err by following it, and instead of east wilt get to the west. If 
thou follow it by land, thou wilt go wrong; if the mariner follow it by 
sea, he will go wrong. Finally, it seems to thee, suppose, that thou must 
follow the sun, and thou also travellest thyself towards the west, whither 
it also travels; let us see after it has set if thou wilt not walk in 
darkness. See how, although thou art not willing to desert it, yet it will 
desert thee, to finish the day by necessity of its service. But our Lord 
Jesus Christ, even when He was not manifest to all through the cloud of His 
flesh, was yet at the same time holding all things by the power of His 
wisdom. Thy God is whole everywhere: if thou fall not off from Him, He will 
never fall away from thee.

    7. Accordingly, "He that followeth me," saith He," shall not walk in 
darkness, but shall have the light of life." What He has promised, He put 
in a word of the future tense; for He says not has, but "shall have the 
light of life." Yet He does not say, He that shall follow me; but, he that 
does fallow me. What it is our duty to do, He put in the present tense; but 
what He has promised to them that do it, He has indicated by a word of the 
future tense. "He that followeth, shall have." That followeth now, shall 
have hereafter: followeth now by faith, shall have hereafter by sight. For, 
"whilst we are in the body," saith the apostle, "we are absent from the 
Lord: for we walk by faith, not by sight."(1) When shall we walk by sight? 
When we shall have the light of life, when we shall have come to that 
vision, when this night shall have passed away. Of that day, indeed, which 
is to arise, it is said. "In the morning I will stand near thee, and 
contemplate thee."(2) What means "in the morning"? When the night of this 
world is over, when the terrors of temptations are over, when that lion 
which goeth about roaring in the night, seeking whom it may devour, is 
vanquished. "In the morning I will stand near thee, and contemplate." Now 
what do we think, brethren, to be our duty for the present time, but what 
is again said in the psalm, "Every night through will I wash my  couch; I 
will moisten my bed with my tears"?(3) Every night through, saith he, I 
will weep; I will burn with desire for the light. The Lord sees my desire: 
for another psalm says to Him, "All my desire is before Thee; and my 
groaning is not hid from Thee."(4) Dost thou desire gold? Thou canst be 
seen; for, while seeking gold, thou wilt be manifest to men. Dost thou 
desire corn? Thou askest one that has it; whom also thou informest, while 
seeking to get at that which thou desirest. Dost thou desire God? Who sees, 
but God? From whom, then, dost thou seek God, as thou seekest bread, water, 
gold, silver, corn? From whom dost thou seek God, except from God? He is 
sought from Himself who has promised Himself. Let the soul extend her 
desire, and with more capacious bosom seek to comprehend that which "eye 
hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man."(5) 
Desire it we can, long for it we can, pant after it we can; but worthily 
conceive it, worthily unfold it in words, we cannot.

    8. Wherefore, my brethren, since the Lord says briefly, "I am the light 
of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall 
have the light of life;" in these words He has commanded one thing, 
promised another; let us do what He has commanded, that we may not with 
shameless face demand what He has promised; that He may not say to us in 
His judgment, Hast thou done what I commanded, that thou shouldest expect 
what I promised? What hast Thou commanded, then, O Lord our God? He says to 
thee, That thou shouldest follow me. Thou hast sought counsel of life? Of 
what life, but of that of which it is said, "With Thee is the fountain of 
life"? A certain man heard it said to him," Go, sell all that thou hast, 
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, 
follow me." He followed not, but went away sorrowful; he sought the "good 
Master," went to Him as a teacher, and despised His teaching; he went away 
sorrowful, tied and bound by his lusts; he went away sorrowful, having a 
great load of avarice on his shoulders. He toiled and fretted; and yet he 
thought that He, who was willing to rid him of his load, was not to be 
followed but forsaken. But after the Lord has, by the gospel, cried aloud, 
"Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest; take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in 
heart,"(6) how many, on hearing the gospel, have done what that rich man, 
on hearing from His own mouth, did not do? Therefore, let us do it now, let 
us follow the Lord; let us loose the fetters by which we are hindered from 
following Him. And who is sufficient to loose such bonds, unless He help, 
to whom it is said, "Thou hast burst asunder my bonds"?(1) Of whom another 
psalm says, "The Lord looseth them that are in bonds; the Lord raiseth up 
them that are crushed and oppressed."(2)

    9. And what do they follow, who have been loosed and raised up, but the 
Light from which they hear, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth 
me shall not walk in darkness"? For the Lord gives light to the blind. 
Therefore we, brethren, having the eye-salve of faith, are now enlightened. 
For His spittle did before mingle with the earth, by which the eyes of him 
who was born blind were anointed. We, too, have been born blind of Adam, 
and have need of Him to enlighten us. He mixed spittle with clay: "The Word 
was made flesh, and dwelt among us." He mixed spittle with earth; hence it 
was predicted, "Truth has sprung from the earth;"(3) and He said Himself, 
"I am the way, the truth, and the life." When we shall see face to face, we 
shall have the full fruition of the truth; for this also is promised to us. 
For who would dare hope for what God had not deigned either to promise or 
to give? We shall see face to face. The apostle says, "Now I know in part, 
now through a glass darkly; but then, face to face."(4) And the Apostle 
John says in his epistle, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it has 
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."(5) This is a great 
promise; if thou lovest, follow. I do love, sayest thou, but by what way am 
I to follow? If the Lord thy God had said to thee, "I am the truth and the 
life," in desiring truth and longing for life, thou mightest truly ask the 
way by which thou mightest come to these, and mightest say to thyself: A 
great thing is the truth, a great thing is the life, were there only the 
means whereby my soul might come thereto! Dost thou ask by what way? Hear 
Him say at the first, "I am the way." Before He said whither, He premised 
by what way: "I am," saith He, "the way." The way whither? "And the truth 
and the life." First, He told thee the way to come; then, whither to come. 
I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. Remaining with the Father, the 
truth and life; putting on flesh, He became the way. It is not said to 
thee, Labor in finding a way to come to the truth and life; this is not 
said to thee. Sluggard, arise: the way itself has come to thee, and roused 
thee from thy sleep; if, however, it has roused thee, up and walk. Perhaps 
thou art trying to walk, and art not able, because thy feet ache. How come 
thy feet to ache? Have they been running over rough places at the bidding 
of avarice? But the word of God has healed even the lame. Behold, thou 
sayest, I have my feet sound, but the way itself I see not. He has also 
enlightened the blind.

    10. All this by faith, so long as we are absent from the Lord, dwelling 
in the body; but when we shall have traversed the way, and have reached the 
home itself, what shall be more joyful than we? What shall be more blessed 
than we? Because nothing more at peace than we; for there will be no 
rebelling against a man. But now, brethren, it is difficult for us to be 
without strife. We have indeed been called to concord, we are commanded to 
have peace among ourselves; to this we must give our endeavor, and strain 
with all our might, that we may come at last to the most perfect peace; but 
at present we are at strife, very often with those whose good we are 
seeking. There is one who goes astray, thou wishest to lead him to the way; 
he resists, thou strivest with him: the pagan resists thee, thou disputest 
against the errors of idols and devils; a heretic resists, thou disputest 
against other doctrines of devils; a bad catholic is not willing to live 
aright, thou rebukest even thy brother within; he dwells with thee in the 
house, and seeks the paths of ruin; thou art inflamed with eager passion to 
put him right, that thou mayest render to the Lord a good account of both 
concerning him. How many necessities of strife there are on every side! 
Very often one is overcome with weariness, and says to himself, "What have 
I to do with bearing with gainsayers, bearing with those who render evil 
for good? I wish to benefit them, they are willing to perish; I wear out my 
life in strife; I have no peace; besides, I make enemies of those whom I 
ought to have as friends, if they regarded the good will of him that seeks 
their good: what business is it of mine to endure this? Let me return to 
myself, I will be kept to myself, I will call upon my God. Do return to 
thyself, thou findest strife there. If thou hast begun to follow God, thou 
findest strife there. What strife, sayest thou, do I find? "The flesh 
lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh."(6) Behold 
thou art thyself, thou art alone, thou art with thyself; behold, thou art 
bearing with no other person, but yet thou seest another law in thy members 
warring against the law of thy mind, and taking thee captive in the law of 
sin, which is in thy members. Cry aloud, then, and cry to God, that He may 
give thee peace from the inner strife: "O wretched man that I am, who shall 
deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through our Lord 
Jesus Christ."(1) Because, "He that followeth  me," saith He, "shall not 
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." All strife ended, 
immortality shall follow; for "the last enemy, death, shall be destroyed." 
And what peace will this be? "This corruptible must put on incorruption, 
and this mortal must put on immortality."(2) To which that we may come (for 
it will then be in reality), let us now follow in hope Him who said, "I am 
the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, 
but shall have the light of life."

TRACTATE XXXV: CHAPTER VIII. 13, 14.

    1. You who were present yesterday, bear in mind that we were a long 
while discoursing of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, where He says, "I 
am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, 
but shall have the light of life;" and if we wished to go on discoursing of 
that light, we might Still speak a long time; for it would be impossible 
for us to expound the matter in brief. Therefore, my brethren, let us 
follow Christ, the light of the world, that we may not be walking in 
darkness. We must fear the darkness,--not the darkness of the eyes, but 
that of the moral character; and even if it be the darkness of the eyes, it 
is not of the outer, but of the inner eyes, of those by which we discern, 
not between white and black, but between right and wrong.

    2. When our Lord Jesus Christ had spoken these things, the Jews 
answered, "Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true." Before 
our Lord Jesus Christ came, He lighted and sent many prophetic lamps before 
Him. Of these was also John Baptist, to whom the great Light itself, which 
is the Lord Christ, gave a testimony such as was given to no other man; for 
He said, "Among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater 
than John the Baptist."(1) Yet this man, than whom none was greater among 
those born of women, said of the Lord Jesus Christ, "I indeed baptize you 
in water; but He that is coming is mightier than I, whose shoe I am not 
worthy to loose."(2) See how the lamps submits itself to the Day. The Lord 
Himself bears witness that the same John was indeed a lamp: "He was," saith 
He, "a burning and a shining lamp; and ye were willing for a season to 
rejoice in his light."(3) But when the Jews said to the Lord, "Tell us by 
what authority thou doest these things," He, knowing that they regarded 
John the Baptist as a great one, and that the same whom they regarded as a 
great one had borne witness to them concerning the Lord, answered them, "I 
also will ask you one thing; tell me, the baptism of John, whence is it? 
from heaven, or from men?" Thrown into confusion, they considered among 
themselves that, if they said, "From men," they might be stoned by the 
people, who believed John to be a prophet; if they said, "From heaven," He 
might answer them, "He whom ye confess to have been a prophet from heaven 
bore testimony to me, and ye have heard from him by what authority I do 
these things." They saw, then, that whichever of these two answers they 
made, they would fall into the snare, and they said, "We do not know." And 
the Lord answered them, "Neither tell I you by what authority I do these 
things."(4) "I tell you not what I know, because you will not confess what 
you know." Most justly, certainly, were they repulsed, and they departed in 
confusion; and that was fulfilled which God the Father says by the prophet 
in the psalm, "I have prepared a lamp for my Christ" (the lamp was John); 
"His enemies I will clothe with confusion."(5)

    3. The Lord Jesus Christ, then, had the witness of prophets sent before 
Him, of the heralds that preceded the judge: He had witness from John; but 
He was Himself the 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 beginning of his Gospel, concerning John the Baptist: "There was a man 
sent from God, whose name was John. He came for a witness, 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 light. 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." Wherefore 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 that which is enlightened. For 
also our eyes are called lights;(1) 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. 
Therefore, 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 sound 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 truth, and wondrously shone upon by Him who 
enlightens 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.(2)

    4. The Jews then answered, "Thou bearest witness of thyself; thy 
witness is not true." Let us see what they hear; let us also hear, yet not 
as they did: they despising, we believing; they wishing to slay Christ, we 
desiring to live through Christ. Let this difference 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 covered, 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 enlightened 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, the Lord Jesus Christ, is 
everywhere present, because the truth is everywhere, wisdom 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. Therefore 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."(3) Hence the Lord saith, and saith truly, "Though I 
bear witness of myself, my witness is true; because I know whence I came 
and whither I go." He meant us to understand the Father here: the Son gave 
glory 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 
was 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."(1)

    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 witness to Himself. But in any case, my brethren, 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 despised 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 righteously. 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 could be 
looked upon by our weakness? But we could not look upon it: He became weak 
for the weak; by infirmity He healed infirmity; 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 convince 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 who 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 written 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: Doubtless 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."(2) Behold one lamp. Let another be produced, let the psalm be 
opened, and thence, too, let the foretold suffering of Christ be quoted: 
"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 confess 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."(3) Let one enemy blush, for it is another enemy 
that gives me the book. But lo, out of the book produced by the one enemy, 
I have vanquished the other: nor let that same who produced me the book be 
left; let him produce that by which himself also may be vanquished. 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 my name."(1) 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:"(2) 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 walk honestly as in the day."(3) 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 Lord Christ from the excellent 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 that 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."(4)

    9. When, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ shall come, and, as the 
Apostle Paul also says, will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, 
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 witness 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? 
Wherewith 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? What 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 beginning 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."(6) 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.(7) 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.

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 sublimity of his beginning 
all the rest of his preaching well agrees; and he has spoken concerning 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 resurrection, but also what He was 
before His incarnation, the only Son of the Father, the Word of the Father, 
coeternal 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 appertains 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 darkness 
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 catholic 
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 virgin, 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 bearest 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 witness of thyself; thy witness is not true," because 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 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.(1) 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?"(2) 
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, "I judge not any man." This question maybe solved in two ways: 
Either that we may understand this expression, "I judge not any man," to 
mean, I judge not any man now; 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 subjoined, "I judge not any 
man," in such manner 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. 
Christ is come, but first to save, then to judge: to adjudge to punishment 
those who would not be saved; to bring them to life who, by believing, did 
not reject salvation. Accordingly, the first dispensation of our Lord Jesus 
Christ is medicinal, not judicial; for if He had come to judge first, He 
would have found none on whom He might bestow the rewards of righteousness. 
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  must be executed; for of Him the psalm had sung, "Mercy and 
judgment will I sin to Thee, O Lord."(3) Now, He says not judgment and 
mercy," for if judgment had been first, there would be no mercy; but it is 
mercy first, then judgment. What is the mercy first? The Creator of man 
deigned to become man; was made what He had made, that the creature He had 
made might not perish. What can be added to this mercy? And yet He has 
added thereto. It was not enough for Him to be made man, He added to this 
that He was rejected of men; it was not enough to be rejected, He was 
dishonored; it was not enough to be dishonored, He was put to death; but 
even this was not enough, it was by the death of the cross. For when the 
apostle was commending to us His obedience even unto death, it was not 
enough for him to say, "He became obedient unto death;" for it was not unto 
death of any kind whatever: but he added, "even the death of the cross."(4) 
Among all kinds of death, there was nothing worse than that death. In 
short, that wherein one is racked by the most intense pains is called 
cruciatus, which takes its name from crux, a cross. For the crucified, 
hanging on the tree, nailed to the wood, were killed by a slow lingering 
death. To be crucified was not merely to be put to death; for the victim 
lived long on the cross, not because longer life was chosen, but because 
death itself was stretched out that the pain might not be too quickly 
ended. He willed to die for us, yet it is not enough to say this; He 
deigned to be crucified, became obedient even to the death of the cross. He 
who was about to take away all death, chose the lowest and worst kind of 
death: He slew death by the worst of deaths. To the Jews who understood 
not, it was indeed the worst of deaths, but it was chosen by the Lord. For 
He was to have that very cross as His sign; that very cross, a trophy, as 
it were, over the vanquished devil, He was to put on the brow of believers, 
so that the apostle said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the 
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I 
to the world."(5) Nothing was then more intolerable in the flesh, nothing 
is now more glorious on the brow. What does He reserve for His faithful 
one, when He has put such honor on the instrument of His own torture? Now 
is the cross no longer used among the Romans in the punishment of 
criminals, for where the cross of the Lord came to be honored, it was 
thought that even a guilty man would be honored if he should be crucified. 
Hence, He who came for this cause judged no man: He suffered also the 
wicked. He suffered unjust judgment, that He might execute righteous 
judgment. But it was of His mercy that He endured unjust judgment. In 
short, He became so low as to come to the cross; yea, laid aside His power, 
but published His mercy. Wherein did He lay aside His power? In that He 
would not come down from the cross, though He had the power to rise again 
from the sepulchre. Wherein did He publish His mercy? In that, when hanging 
on the cross, He said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they 
do."(1) Whether, then, it be that He said, "I judge not any man," because 
He had come not to judge the world, out to save the world; or, that, as I 
have mentioned, when He had said, "Ye judge after the flesh," He added, "I 
judge not any man," for us to understand that Christ judgeth not after the 
flesh, like as He was judged by men.

    5. But that you may know that Christ is judge even now, hear what 
follows: "And if I judge, my judgment is true." Behold, thou hast Him as 
thy judge, but acknowledge Him as thy Saviour, lest thou feel the judge. 
But why has He said that His judgment is true? "Because," saith He, "I am 
not alone, but I and the Father that sent me." I have said to you, 
brethren, that this holy Evangelist John soars exceedingly high: it is with 
difficulty that he is comprehended. But we need to remind you, beloved, of 
the deeper mystery of this soaring. Both in the prophet Ezekiel, and in the 
Apocalypse of this very John whose Gospel this is, there is mentioned a 
fourfold living creature, having four characteristic faces; that of a man, 
of an ox, of a lion, and of an eagle. Those who have handled the mysteries 
of Holy Scripture before us have, for the most part, understood by this 
living creature, or rather, these four living creatures, the four 
evangelists. They have understood the lion as put for king, because he 
appears to be, in a manner, the king of beasts on account of his strength 
and terrible valor. This character is assigned to Matthew, because in the 
generations of the Lord he followed the royal line, showing how the Lord 
was, along the royal line, of the seed of David. But Luke, because he 
begins with the priesthood of Zacharias, mentioning the father of John the 
Baptist, is designated  the ox; for the ox was an important victim in the 
sacrifice of the priests. To Mark is deservedly assigned the man Christ, 
because neither has he said anything of the royal authority, nor did he 
begin with the priestly function, but only set out with the man Christ. All 
these have departed but little from the things of earth, that is, from 
those things which our Lord Jesus Christ performed on earth; of His 
divinity they have said very little, like men walking with Him on the 
earth. There remains the eagle; this is John, the preacher of sublime 
truths, and a contemplator with steady gaze of the inner and eternal light. 
It is said, indeed, that the young eagles are tested by the parent birds in 
this way: the young one is suspended from the talons of the male parent and 
directly exposed to the rays of the sun; if it looks steadily at the sun, 
it is recognized as a true brood; if its eye quivers, it is allowed to drop 
off, as a spurious brood. Now, therefore, consider how sublime are the 
things he ought to speak who is compared to the eagle; and yet even we, who 
creep on the earth, weak and hardly of any account among men, venture to 
handle and to expound these things; and imagine that we can either 
apprehend when we meditate them, or be apprehended when we speak.

    6. Why have I said this? For perhaps after these words one may justly 
say to me: Lay aside the book then. Why dost thou take in hand what exceeds 
thy measure? Why trust thy tongue to it? To this I reply: Many heretics 
abound; and God has permitted them to abound to this end, that we may not 
be always nourished with milk and remain in senseless infancy. For inasmuch 
as they have not understood how the divinity of Christ is set forth to our 
acceptance, they have concluded according to their will: and by not 
discerning aright, they have brought in most troublesome questions upon 
catholic believers; and the hearts of believers began to be disturbed and 
to waver. Then immediately it became a necessity for spiritual men, who had 
not only read in the Gospel anything respecting the divinity of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, but had also understood it, to bring forth the armor of 
Christ against the armor of the devil, and with all their might to fight in 
most open conflict for the divinity of Christ against false and deceitful 
teachers; lest, while they were silent, others might perish. For whoever 
have thought either that our Lord Jesus Christ is of another substance than 
the Father is, or that there is only Christ, so that the same is Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit; whoever also have chosen to think that He was only 
man, not God made man, or God in such wise as to be mutable in His Godhead, 
or God in such wise as not to be man; these have made shipwreck from the 
faith, and have been cast forth from the harbor of the Church, lest by 
their inquietude they might wreck the ships in their company. Which thing 
obliged that even we, though least and as regards ourselves wholly 
unworthy, but in regard of His mercy set in some account among His 
stewards, should speak to you what either you may understand and rejoice 
with me, or, if you cannot yet understand, by believing it you may remain 
secure in the harbor.

    7. I will accordingly speak; let him who can, understand; and let him 
who cannot understand, believe: yet will I speak what the Lord saith, "Ye 
judge after the flesh; I judge not any man," either now, or after the 
flesh. "But even, if I judge, my judgment is true." Why is Thy judgment 
true? "Because I am not alone," saith He, "but I and the Father that sent 
me." What then, O Lord Jesus? If Thou wert alone would Thy judgment be 
false: and is it because Thou art not alone, but Thou and the Father that 
sent Thee, that Thou judgest truly? How shall I answer? Let Himself answer: 
He saith, "My judgment is true." Why? "Because I am not alone, but I and 
the Father that sent me." If He is with These, how has He sent Thee? And 
has He sent Thee, and yet is He also with Thee? Is it so that having been 
sent, Thou hast not departed from Him? And didst Thou come to us, and yet 
abode there? How is this to be believed? how apprehended? To these two 
questions I answer: Thou sayest rightly, how is it to be apprehended; how 
believed, thou sayest not rightly. Rather, for that reason is it right to 
believe it, because it is not immediately to be apprehended; for if it were 
a thing to be immediately apprehended, there would be no need to believe 
it, because it would be seen. It is because thou dost not apprehend that 
thou believest; but by believing thou art made capable of apprehending. For 
if thou dost not believe, thou wilt never apprehend, since thou wilt remain 
less capable. Let faith then purify thee, that understanding may fill thee. 
"My judgment is true," saith He, "because I am not alone, but I and the  
Father that sent me." Therefore, O Lord our God, Jesus Christ, Thy sending 
is Thy incarnation. So I see, so I understand: in short, so I believe, in 
case it may smack of arrogance to say, so I understand. Doubtless the Lord 
Jesus Christ is even here; rather, was here as to His flesh, is here now as 
to His Godhead: He was both with the Father and had not left the Father. 
Hence, in that, He is said to have been sent and to have come to us, His 
incarnation is set forth to us, for the Father did not take flesh.

    8. For there are certain heretics called Sabellians, who are also 
called Patripassians, who affirm that it was the Father Himself that had 
suffered. Do not thou so affirm, O Catholic; for if thou wilt be a 
Patripassian, thou wilt not be sane. Understand, then, that the incarnation 
of the Son is termed the sending of the Son; and do not believe that the 
Father was incarnate, but do not yet believe that He departed from the 
incarnate Son. The Son carried flesh, the Father was with the Son. If the 
Father was in heaven, the Son on earth, how was the Father with the Son? 
Because both Father and Son were everywhere: for God is not in such manner 
in heaven as not to be on earth. Hear him who would flee from the judgment 
of God, and found not a way to flee by: "Whither shall I go," saith he, 
"from Thy Spirit; and whither shall I flee from Thy face? If I ascend up 
into heaven, Thou art there." The question was about the earth; hear what 
follows: "If I descend unto hell, Thou art there."(1) If, then, He is said 
to be present even in hell, what in the universe remains where He is not 
present? For the voice of God with the prophet is, "I fill heaven and 
earth."(2) Hence He is everywhere, who is confined by no place. Turn not 
thou away from Him, and He is with thee. If thou wouldst come to Him, be 
not slow to love; for it is not with feet but with affections thou runnest. 
Thou comest while remaining in one place, if thou believest and lovest. 
Wherefore He is everywhere; and if everywhere, how not also with the Son? 
Is it so that He is not with the Son, while, if thou believest, He is even 
with thee?

    9. How, then, is His judgment true, but because the Son is true? For 
this He said: "And if I judge, my judgment is true; because I am not alone, 
but I and the Father that sent me." Just as if He had said, "My judgment is 
true," because I am the Son of God. How dost Thou prove that Thou art the 
Son of God? "Because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me." 
Blush, Sabellian; thou hearest the Salt, thou hearest the Father. Father is 
Father, Son is Son. He said not, I am the Father. and I the same am the 
Son; but He saith, "I am not alone." Why art Thou not alone? Because the 
Father is with me. "I am, and the Father that sent me;" thou hearest, "I 
am, and He that sent me." Lest thou lose sight of the person, distinguish 
the persons. Distinguish by understanding, do not separate by 
faithlessness; lest again, fleeing as it were Charybdis, thou rush Upon 
Scylla. For the whirlpool of the impiety of the Sabellians was swallowing 
thee, to say that the Father is the same who is Son: just now thou hast 
learned, "I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me." Thou dost 
acknowledge that the Father is Father, and that the Son is Son thou dost 
rightly acknowledge: but do not say the Father is greater, the Son is less; 
do not say, the Father is gold, the Son is silver. There is one substance, 
one Godhead, one co-eternity, perfect equality, no unlikeness. For if thou 
only believe that Christ is another, not the same person that the Father 
is, but yet imagine that in respect of His nature He is somewhat different 
from the Father, thou hast indeed escaped Charybdis, but thou hast been 
wrecked on the rocks of Scylla. Steer the middle course, avoid each of the 
two perilous sides. Father is Father, Son is Son. Thou sayest now, Father 
is Father, Son is Son: thou hast fortunately escaped the danger of the 
absorbing whirl; why wouldst thou go unto the other side to say, the Father 
is this, the Son that? The Son is another person than the Father is, this 
thou sayest rightly; but that He is different in nature, thou sayest not 
rightly. Certainly the Son is another person, because He is not the same 
who is Father and the Father is another person, because He is not the same 
who is Son: nevertheless, they are not different in nature, but the 
selfsame is both Father and Son. What means the self-same? God is one. Thou 
hast heard, "Because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me:" 
hear how thou mayest believe Father and Son; hear the Son Himself, "I and 
the Father are one."(1) He said not, I am the Father; or, I and the Father 
is one person; but when He says, "I and the Father are one," hear both, 
both the one, unum, and the are, sumus, and thou shalt be delivered both 
from Charybdis and from Scylla. In these two words, in that He said one, He 
delivers thee from Arius; in that He said are, He delivers thee from 
Sabellius. If one, therefore not diverse; if are, therefore both Father and 
Son. For He would not say are of one person; but, on the other hand, He 
would not say one of diverse. Hence the reason why He says, "my judgment is 
true," is, that thou mayest hear it briefly, because I am the Son of God. 
But I would have thee in such wise believe that I am the Son of God, that 
thou mayest understand that the Father is with me: I am not Son in such 
manner as to have left Him; I am not in such manner here that I should not 
be with Him; nor is He in such manner there as not to be with me: I have 
taken to me the form of a servant, yet have I not lost the form of God; 
therefore He saith, "I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me."

    10. He had spoken of judgment; He means to speak of testimony. "In your 
law," saith He, "it is written that the testimony of two men is true. I am 
one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth 
witness of me." He expounded the law to them also, if they were not 
unthankful. For it is a great question, my brethren, and to me it certainly 
appears to have been ordained in a mystery, where God said, "In the mouth 
of two or three witnesses every word shall stand."(2) Is truth sought by 
two witnesses? Clearly it is; so is the custom of mankind: but yet it may 
be that even two witnesses lie. The chaste Susanna was pressed by two false 
witnesses: were they not therefore false because they were two? Do we speak 
of two or of three? A whole people lied against Christ.(3) If, then, a 
people, consisting of a great multitude of men, was found a false witness, 
how is it to be understood that "in the mouth of two or three witnesses 
every word shall stand," unless it be that in this manner the Trinity is 
mysteriously set forth to us, in which is perpetual stability of truth? 
Dost thou wish to have a good cause? Have two or three witnesses,--the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In short, when Susanna, the chaste woman and 
faithful wife, was pressed by two false witnesses, the Trinity supported 
her in her conscience and in secret: that Trinity raised up from secrecy 
one witness, Daniel, and convicted the two.(4) Therefore, because it is 
written in your law that the witness of two men is true, receive our 
witness, test ye feel our judgment. "For I," saith He, "judge not any man; 
but I bear witness of myself:" I defer judgment, I defer not the witness.

    11. Let us, brethren, choose for ourselves God as our judge, God as our 
witness, against the tongues of men, against the weak suspicions of 
mankind. For He who is the judge disdains not to be witness, nor is He 
advanced in honor when He becomes judge; since He who is witness will also 
Himself be judge. In what way is He witness? Because He asks not another to 
learn from Him who thou art. In what way is He judge? Because He has the 
power of killing and making alive, of condemning and acquitting, of casting 
down into hell and of raising up into heaven, of joining to the devil and 
of crowning with the angels. Since, therefore, He has this power, He is 
judge. Now, because He requires not another witness that He may know thee; 
and that He who will hereafter judge thee is now seeing thee, there is no 
means whereby thou canst deceive Him when He begins to judge. For there is 
no furnishing thyself with false witnesses who can circumvent that judge 
when He shall begin to judge thee. This is what God says to thee: When thou 
despisedst, I did see it; and when thou believedst not, I did not frustrate 
my sentence. I delayed it, not removed it. Thou wouldst not hear what I 
enjoined, thou shall feel what I foretold. But if thou hearest what I 
enjoined, thou shall not feel the evils which I have foretold, but thou 
shall enjoy the good things which I have promised.

    12. Let it not by any means surprise any one that He says, "My judgment 
is true; because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me;" whilst 
He has said in another place, "The Father judgeth not any man, but all 
judgment hath He given to the Son." We have already discoursed on these 
same words of the evangelist, and we remind you now that this was not said 
because the Father will not be with the Son when He comes to judge, but 
because the Son alone will be apparent to the good and the bad in the 
judgment, in that form in which He suffered, and rose again, and ascended 
into heaven. For at that moment, indeed, as they were beholding Him 
ascending, the angelic voice sounded in the ears of His disciples, "So shah 
He come in like manner as ye have seen Him going into heaven;"(1) that is, 
in the form of man in which He was judged, will He judge, in order that 
also that prophetic utterance may be fulfilled, "They shall look upon Him 
whom they pierced."(2) But when the righteous go into eternal life, we 
shall see Him as He is; that will not be the judgment of the living and the 
dead, but only the reward of the living.

    13. Likewise, let it not surprise you that He says, "In your law it is 
written that the testimony of two men is true," that any man should hence 
suppose that this was not also the law of God, because it is not said, In 
the law of God: let him know that, when it is said thus, In your law, it is 
just as if He said, "In the law which was given to you;" given by whom, 
except by God? Just as we say, "Our daily bread;" and yet we say, "Give us 
this day."

TRACTATE XXXVII: CHAPTER VIII. 19, 20.

    1. What in the holy Gospel is spoken briefly ought not briefly to be 
expounded, so that what is read may he understood. The words of the Lord 
are few, but great; to be valued not by number, but by weight: not to be 
despised because they are few, but to be sought because they are great. You 
who were present yesterday have heard, as we discoursed according to our 
ability from that which the Lord said, "Ye judge after the flesh: I judge 
not any man. But yet if I judge, my judgment is true; because I am not 
alone, but I and the Father that sent me. It is written in your law, that 
the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and 
the Father that sent me beareth witness of me." Yesterday, as I have said, 
from these words a discourse was delivered to your ears and to your minds. 
When the Lord had spoken these words, they who heard," Ye judge after the 
flesh," manifested the truth of what they had heard. For they answered the 
Lord, as He spoke of God His Father, and said to Him, "Where is thy 
Father?" The Father of Christ they understood carnally, because they judged 
the words of Christ after the flesh. But He who spoke was openly flesh, but 
secretly the Word: man visible, God hidden. They saw the covering, and 
despised the wearer: they despised because they knew not; knew not, because 
they saw not; saw not, because they were blind; they were blind, because 
they believed not.

    2. Let us see, then, what answer the Lord made to this. "Where," say 
they, "is thy Father ?" For we have heard thee say, "I am not alone, but I 
and the Father that sent me:" we see thee alone, we do not see thy Father 
with thee; how sayest thou that thou art not alone, but that thou art with 
thy Father? Else show us that thy Father is with thee. And the Lord 
answered them: Do ye know me, that I should show you the Father? This is 
indeed what follows; this is what He answered in His own words, the 
exposition of which we have already premised. For see what He said, "Ye 
neither know me nor my Father: if ye knew me, ye would perhaps know my 
Father also." Ye say then, "Where is thy Father?" As if already ye knew me; 
as if what you see were all that I am. Therefore because ye know not me, I 
do not show you my Father. Ye suppose me, in fact, to be a man; hence ye 
seek a man for my father, because "ye judge after the flesh." But because, 
according to what you see, I am one thing, and another thing according to 
what you see not, and that I as hidden from you speak of my Father as 
hidden, it is requisite that you should first know me, and then ye know my 
Father also.

    3. "For if ye knew me, ye would perhaps know my Father also." He who 
knows all things is not in doubt when He says perhaps, but rebuking. Now 
see how this very word perhaps, which seems to be a word of doubting, may 
he spoken chidingly. Yea, a word expressive of doubt it is when used by 
man, for man doubts because he knows not; but when a word of doubting is 
spoken by God, from whom surely nothing is hid, it is unbelief that is 
reproved by that doubting, not the Godhead merely expressing an opinion. 
For men sometimes chidingly express doubt concerning things which they hold 
certain; that is, use a word of doubting, while in their heart they doubt 
not: just as thou wouldst say to thy slave, if thou weft angry with him, 
"Thou despisest me; but consider, perhaps I am thy master." Hence also the 
apostle, speaking to some who despised him, says: "And I think that I also 
have the Spirit of God."(1) When he says, "I think," he seems to doubt; but 
he is rebuking, not doubting. And in another place the Lord Jesus Christ 
Himself, rebuking the future unbelief of mankind, saith: "When the Son of 
man cometh, will He, thinkest thou, find faith on the earth?"(2)

    4. You now, as I think, understand how the word perhaps is used here, 
in case any weigher of words and poiser of syllables, as if to show his 
knowledge of Latin, finds fault with a word which the Word of God spoke; 
and by blaming the Word of God, remain not eloquent, but mute. For who is 
there that speaks as doth the Word which was in the beginning with God? Do 
not consider these words as we use them, and from these wish to measure 
that Word which is God. Thou hearest the Word indeed, and despisest it; 
hear God and fear Him: "In the beginning was the Word." Thou referrest to 
the usage of thy conversation, and sayest within thyself, What is a word? 
What mighty thing is a word? It sounds and passes away; after beating the 
air, it strikes the ear and is no more. Hear further: "The Word was with 
God;" remained, did not by sounding pass away. Perhaps thou still despisest 
it: "The Word was God." With thyself, O man, a word in  thy heart is a 
different thing from sound; but the word that is with thee, in order to 
pass to me, requires sound for a vehicle as it were.  It takes to itself 
sound, mounts it as a vehicle, runs through the air, comes to me and yet 
does not leave thee. But the sound, in order to come to me, left thee and 
yet did not stay with me. Now has the word that was in thy heart also 
passed away with the passing sound? Thou didst speak thy thought; and, that 
the thought which was hid with thee might come to me, thou didst sound 
syllables; the sound of the syllables conveyed thy thought to my ear; 
through my ear thy thought descended into my heart, the intermediate sound 
flew away: but that word which took to itself sound was with thee before 
thou didst sound it, and is with me, because thou didst sound it, without 
quitting thee. Consider this, thou nice weigher of sounds, whoever thou be. 
Thou despisest the Word of God, thou who comprehendest not the word of man.

    5. He, then, by whom all things were made knows all things. and yet He 
rebukes by doubting: "If ye knew me ye would perhaps know my Father also." 
He rebukes unbelievers. He spoke a like sentence to the disciples, but 
there is not a word of doubting in it, because there was no occasion to 
rebuke unbelief. For this, "If ye knew me, ye would perhaps know my Father 
also," which He said to the Jews, He said also to the disciples, when 
Philip asked, or rather, demanded of Him, saying, "Lord, show us the 
Father, and it sufficeth us:" just as if he said, We already know Thee even 
ourselves; Thou hast been apparent to us; we have seen Thee; Thou hast 
deigned to choose us; we have followed Thee, have seen Thy marvels, heard 
Thy words of Salvation, have taken Thy precepts upon us, we hope in Thy 
promises: Thou hast deigned to confer much upon us by Thy very presence: 
but still, while we know Thee, and we do not yet know the Father, we are 
inflamed with desire to see Him whom we do not yet know; and thus, because 
we know Thee, but it is not enough until we know the Father, show us the 
Father and it sufficeth us. And the Lord, that they might understand that 
they knew not what they thought they did already know, said, "Am I so long 
time with you, and ye know me not, Philip? he who hath seen me hath seen 
the Father."(1) Has this sentence a word of doubting in it? Did He say, He 
that hath seen me hath perhaps seen the Father? Why not? Because it was a 
believer that listened to Him, not a persecutor of the faith: hence did the 
Lord not rebuke, but teach. "Whoso hath seen me hath seen the Father also:" 
and here, "If ye knew me, ye would know my Father also," let us remove the 
word which indicates the unbelief of the hearers, and it is the same 
sentence.

    6. Yesterday we commended it to your consideration, beloved, and said 
that the sentences of the Evangelist John, in which he narrates to us what 
he learned from the Lord, had not required to be discussed, were that 
possible, except the inventions of heretics had compelled us. Yesterday, 
then, we briefly intimated to you, beloved, that there are heretics who are 
called Patripassians, or Sabellians after their founder: these say that the 
same is the Father who is the Son; the names different, but the person one. 
When He wills, say they, He is Father; when He wills, He is Son: still He 
is one. There are likewise other heretics who are called Arians. They 
indeed confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Son of the Father; 
the one, Father of the Son; the other, Son of the Father; that He who is 
Father is not Son, nor He who is Son is Father; they confess that the Son 
was begotten, but deny His equality. We, namely, the catholic faith, coming 
from the doctrine of the apostles planted in us, received by a line of 
succession, to be transmitted sound to posterity,--the catholic faith, I 
say, has, between both those parties, that is, between both errors, held 
the truth. In the error of the Sabellians, He is only one; the Father and 
Son is the same person: in the error of the Arians, the Father and the Son 
are indeed different persons; but the Son is not only a different person, 
but different in nature. Thou midway between these, what sayest thou? Thou 
hast shut out the Sabellian, shut out the Arian also. The Father is Father, 
the Son is Son; another person, not another in nature; for, "I and the 
Father are one," which, so far as I could, I pressed on your thoughts 
yesterday. When he hears that word, we are, let the Sabellian go away 
confounded; when he hears the