15. What then, brethren? why^have I said these things? Shut the ears of your hearts against the wiles of the enemy. Understand that God made all things, and arranged them in their orders. Why, then, do we suffer many evils from a creature that God made? Because we have offended God? Do angels suffer these things? Perhaps we. too, in that life of theirs, would have no such thing to fear. For thy punishment, accuse thy sin, not the Judge, For, on account of our pride, God appointed that tiny and contemptible creature to torment us; so that, since man has become proud and has boasted himself against God, and, though mortal, has oppressed mortals, and, though man, has not acknowledged his fellowman, — since he has lifted himself up, he may be brought low by gnats. Why art thou inflated with human pride? Some one has censured thee, and thou art swollen with rage. Drive off the gnats, that thou mayest sleep: understand who thou art. For, that you may know, brethren, it was for the taming of our pride these things were created to be troublesome to us, God could have humbled Pharaoh's proud people by bears, by lions, by serpents; He sent flies and frogs upon them,= that their pride might be subdued by the meanest creatures.
16. "All things," then, brethren, "all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made." But how were all things made by Him? " That, which was made, in Him is life." It can also be read thus: " That, which was made in Hmi, is life;" and it we so read it, everything is life. For what is there that was not made in Him? For He is the Wisdom of God, and it is said in the Psalm,^ " In Wisdom hast Thou made all things." If, then, Christ is the Wisdom r of God, and the Psalm says, "In Wisdom hast Thou made all things:" as all things '^'^ were madeQ)y Him, so all things were made ^A (|n; Him. I^then, all things were made in Him, dearly beloved bretliren, and that, which was made in Him, is life, both the earth is life and wood is life. We do indeed say wood is life, but in the sense of the wood of ' Eccles. X.
2 E.\.
3 Ps..
24.
the cross, M'hence we have received life. A stone, then, is life. It is not seemly so to understand the passage, as the same most vile sect of the Manichaeans creep stealthily on us again, and say that a stone has life, that a wall has a soul, and a cord has a soul, and wool, and clothing. For so they are accustomed to talk in their raving; and when they have been driven back and refuted, they in some sort bring forward Scripture, saying, "Why is it said, 'That, which was made in Him, is life'? " For if all things were made in Him, all things are life. Be not carried away by them; read thus "That v/hich was made; ' " here make a short pause, and then go on, " in Him is life." What is the meaning of this? The earth was made, but the very earth that was made is not life; but there exists spiritually in the Wisdom itself a certain reason by which the eartn was made: this is life.
17. As far as I can, I shall explam my meaning to you, beloved. A carjaenter makes a box. First he has the box in (design ^ for if he had it not in design, how could he produce it by wprkrnan^hjp? But the box in theory is not the very box as it appears to the eyes. It exists invisibly in design, it will be visible in the work. Behold, it is made in the work; has it ceased to exist in design? The one is made in the work, and the other remains which exists in design; for that box may rot, and another be fashioned according to that which exists in design. Give heed, then, to the box as it is in design, and the box as it is in fact. The actual box is not life, the box in design is life; because the soul of the artificer, where all these things are before they are brought forth, is living. So, dearly beloved brethren, because the Wisdom of God, by which all things have been made, contains everything according to design before it is made, therefore those things which are made through this design itself are not forthwith life, but whatever h^s been made is life in Him. You see the earth, there is an earth in design; you see the sky, there is a sky in design; you see the sun and the moon, these also exist in design: but externally they are bodies, in design they are life. Understand, if in any way you are able, for a great matter has been spoken. If I am not great ' by whom it is spoken, or through whom it is spoken, still it is from a great authority. For ( these things are not spoken by me who am small; He is not small to whom I refer in saying these things. Let each one take in what he can, and to what extent he can; and he who is not able to take in any of it, let him nourish his heart, that he may become able.
Tractate II.]
How is he to nourish it? Let him nourish it with milk, that he may come to strong meat. Let him not leave Christ born through the flesh till he arrive at Christ born of the Father alone, the God-Word with God, through whom all things were made; for tnat is life, which in Him is the light of men.
i8. For this follows: " and the life was the light of men;" and from this very life are >'men illuminated. Cattle are not illuminated, because cattle have not rational minds capable of seeing wisdom. But man was made in the image of God, and has a rational mind, by which he can perceive wisdom. That life, then, by which all things were made, is itself the light; yet not the light of every animal, but of men. Wherefore a little after he says, " That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." By that light John the Baptist was • illuminated; by the same light also was John the Evangelist himself illuminated. He was filled with that light who said, " I am not the Christ; but He that cometh after me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose."' By that light he had been illuminated who said, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Therefore that life is the light of men.
I John i. 26, 27.
I John i. 26, 27.
19. But perhaps the slow hearts of some ofyou cannot yet receive that light, because they are burdened by their sins, so that they cannot see. Let them not on that account think that the light is in any way absent, because they are not able to see it; for they themselves are darkness on account of their sins. " And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." Accordingly, brethren, as in tiie case of a blind man placed in the sun, the sun is present to him, but he is absent from the sun. So every foolish man, every unjust man, every irreligious man, is blind in heart. Wisdom is present; but it is present to a blind man, and is absent from his eyes; not because it is absent from him, but because he is absent from it. What then is he to do? Let him become pure, that he may be able to see God. Just as if a man could not see because his eyes were dirty and sore with dust, rheum, or smoke, the physician would say to him: " Cleanse from your eye whatever bad tiling is in it, so that you may be able to see the light of your eyes." Dust, rheum, and smoke are sins and iniquities: remove then C^ all these things, and you will see the wisdom '•> that is present; for (iod is that wisdom, and it has been said, " Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God." ' = Matt. V. 8.
} TRACTATE il.
Chapter L 6-14.
It is fitting, brethren, that as far as possible we should treat of the text of Holy Scripture, and especially of the Holy Gospel, without omitting any portion, that both we ourselves may derive nourishment according to our capacity, and may minister to you from that source from which we have been nourished. Last Lord's day, we remember, we treated of the first section; that is, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was nothing made. Thatjvhich was made, in HimJsJife; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." So lar, I believe, had I advanced in the treatment of the passage: let all who were present recall what was then said; and those of you who were not present, believe me and those who chose to be present. Now therefore, — because we cannot always be repeating everything, out of justice to those who desire to hear what follows, and because repetition of tlie former thought is a burden to them and deprives them of what succeeds,— let t'nosc wiio were absent on the former occasion refrain from demanding repetition, but, togetlier A'ith tlu)se who were here, listen to the present e.xposition.
2. It goes on, " There was a man sent from God whose name was Joiui." 'I'nily, brethren beloved, those thiiij^s which were said before, were said regartling tiie ineffable ilivinity of Christ, and almost incffal)Iy. Fc.r who siiall comprehend " In tlie beginning w.is the Word, and the Word was with God"?
And do not allow the name word to appear mean to you, through the habit of daily words, for it is added, " and the Word was God." This Word is He of whom yesterday we spoke much; and I trust that God was present, and that even from only thus much speaking something reached your hearts. "In the beginning was the Word," He is the same, and is in the same manner; as He is, so He is always; He cannot be changed; /f- that is, He<7i-) This His name He spoke to ^iiis servant Moses: " I am that lam; and He that is hath sent me." ' Who then shall comprehend this when you see that all mortal things are variable; when you see that not only do bodies vary as to their qualities, by being born, by increasing, by becoming less, by dying, but that even souls themselves through the effect of divers volitions are distended and divided; when you see that men can obtain wisdom if they apply themselves to its light and heat, and also lose wisdom if they remove themselves from it through some evil influence? When, therefore, you see that all those things are variable, what is that which is, unless that which transcends all things which are so that they are not? Who then can receive this? Or who, in what manner soever he may have applied the strength of his mind to touch that which is, can reach to that which he may in any way have touched with his mind? It is as if one were to see his native land at a distance, and the sea intervening; he sees whither he would go, but he has not the means of going. So we desire to arrive at that our stability where that which is, is, because this alone always is as it is: the sea of this world interrupts our course, even although already we see whither we go; for many do not even see whither they go. That there might be a way by which we could go. He has come from Him to whom we wished to go. And what has He done? He has appointed a tree by which we may cross the sea. For no one is able to cross the sea of this world, unless borne by the cross of Christ. Even he who is of weak eyesight sometimes embraces this cross; and he who does not see from afar whither he goes, let him not depart from it, and it will carry him over.
3. Therefore, my brethren, I would desire to have impressed this upon your hearts: if you wish to live in a pious and Christian manner, cling to Christ according to that which He became for us, that you may arrive at Him according to that which is, and according to that which was. He approached, that 'Ex.
14.
'Ex.
14.
for us He might become this; because He "^ l)ecame that for us, on which the weak may be borne, and cross the sea of this world and reach their native country; where there will be no need of a ship, for no sea is crossed. Itjs_bett£r^tiien not to see with the mind tiiat -X which js, and yet not to depart from the cross of Cjirist, than to see it with the mind, and despise the cross of Christ. It is good beyond this, and best of all, if it be possible, that we both see whither we ought to go, and hold fast that which carries us as we go. This they were able to do, the great minds of the mountains, who have been called mountains, whom the light of divine justice pre-eminently illuminates; they were able to do this, and saw that which is. For John seeing said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'' They saw this, and in order that they might arrive at that which they saw from afar, they did not depart from the cross of Christ, and did not despise Christ's lowliness. But little ^ ones who cannot understand this, who do not depart from the cross and passion and resurrection of Christ, are conducted in that same ship to that which they do not see, in which they also arrive who do see.
4. But truly there have been some philosophers of this world who have sought for the Creator by means of the creature; for He can be found by means of the creature, as the apostle plainly says, " For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and glory; so they are without excuse." And it follows, "Because that, when they knew God;" he did not say. Because they did not know, but " Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." How darkened? It follows, when he says more plainly: " Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." ^ They saw whither they must come; but ungrateful to Him who afforded them what they saw, they wished to ascribe to themselves what they saw; and having becorne proud, they lost what they saw, and were turned from it to idols and images, and to the worship of demons, to adore the creature and to despise the Creator. But these having been blinded did those things, and became proud, that they might be blinded: when they were proud they said that they were wise. Those, therefore, concerning whom he said, "Who, 2 Rom. i. 20-22.
Tractate II.]
when they had known God," saw this which John says, that by the Word of God all things were made. For these things are also found in the books of the philosophers: and that God has an only-begotten Son, by whom are all things. They were able to see that which is, but they saw it from afar: they were unwilling to hold the lowliness of Christ, in which ship they might have arrived in safety at that which they were able to see from afar; and the cross of Christ appeared vile to them. The sea has to be crossed, and dost thou despise the wood? Oh, proud wisdom! thou laughest to scorn the crucified Christ; it is He whom thou dost see from afar: " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." But wherefore was He crucified? Because the wood of His humiliation was needful to thee. For thou hadst become swollen with pride, and hadst been cast out far from that fatherland; and by the waves of this world has the way been intercepted, and there is no means of passing to the fatherland unless borne by the wood. Ungrateful one! thou laughest Him to scorn who has come to thee that thou mayest return: He has become the way, and that through the sea:' thence He walked in the sea to show that there is a way in the sea. But thou who art not able in any way thyself to walk in the sea, be carried in a ship, be carried by the wood: believe in the crucified One, and thou shalt arrive thither. On account of thee He was crucified, to teach thee humility; and because if He should come as God, He would not be recognized. For if He should come as God, He would not come to those who were not able to see God. For not according to His Godhead does He either come or depart; since He is everywhere present, and is contained in no place. But, according to what did He come? He appeared as a man.
5. Therefore, because He was so man, that the God lay hid in Him, there was sent before Him a great man, by whose testimony He might be found to be more than man. And who is this? "He was a man." And how could that man speak the truth concerning God? "He was sent by God." What was he called? "Whose name was John." Wherefore did he come? "He came for a witness, that he might bear witness concerning the light, that all might believe through him." What sort of man was he who was to bear witness concerning the light? Something great was that John, vast merit, great grace, great loftiness! Admire, by nil means, ' Matt. xiv. 25, admire; but as it were a mountain. But a mountain is in darkness unless it be clotned with light. Therefore only admire John that you may hear what follows, " He was not that light;" lest if, when thou thinkest the mountain to be the light, thou make shipwreck on the mountain, and find not consolation. But what oughtest thou to admire? The mountain as a mountain. But lift thyself up to; Him who illuminates the mountain, which for this end was elevated that it might be the first to receive the rays, and make them known to your eyes. Therefore, " he was not thai light."
6. Wherefore then did he come? "But that he might bear witness concerning the light." Why so? " That all might believe through him." And concerning what light was he to bear witness? " That was the true light." Wherefore is it added true? Because an enlightened man is also called a light but the true light is that which enlightens For even our eyes are called lights; and nevertheless, unless either during the nijiht a lamp is lighted, or during the day the sun goes forth, these lights are open in vain. Thus, therefore, John was a light, but not the true light; because, if not enlightened, he would have been darkness; but, by enlightenment, he became a light. For unless he had been enlightened he would have been darkness, as all those once impious men, to whom, as believers, the apostle said, " Yc were sometimes darkness. '' But now, because they had believed, what? — "but now are ye light," he says, " in the Lord." =■ Unless he had added "in the Lord." we should not have understood. "Light," he says, " \x\ the Lord:" darkness you were not in the Lord. " For ye were sometimes ihirkness," where he did not add in the Lonl. Therefore, darkness in you, light in the Lord. And thus " he was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of the light."
7. But where is that light? " He was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." If every man that cometh, tiien also John. The true light, therefore, enlightened him by wiioiu lie desired Himself to be pointed out. Understand, beloved, for He came to infirm minds, to wounded hearts, to the gaze of dim-eyed souls. For this puri^ose had He come..And whence was the soul able to see that wiiidi perfectly is? Even as it commonly hajipens, tliat l)y means of some illuminated!)oily, the sun, which we cannot see with tin- eyes, is known to have arisen. Because even those ■> Eph. V. 8.
[Tractate II.
r who have wounded eyes are able to see a wall illuminated and enlightened by the sun, or a mountain, or a tree, or anything of that sort; and, by means of another body illuminated, that arising is shown to those who are not as yet able to gaze on it. Thus, therefore, all those to whom Christ came were not fit to see Him: upon John He shed the beams of His light; and by means of him confessing himself to have been irradiated and enlightened, not claiming to be one who irradiates and enlightens. He is known who enlightens. He is known who illuminates. He is known who fills. And who is it? "He who lighteth every man," he says, "who cometh into the world." For if man had not receded from that light, he would not have required to be illuminated; but for this reason has he to be illuminated here, because he departed from that light by which man might always have been illuminated.
8. What then? If He came hither, where was He? " He was in this world." He was both here and cafne hither; He was here according to His divinity, and He came hither according to the flesh; because when He was here according to His divinity. He could not be seen by the foolish, by the blind, and the wicked. These wicked men are the darkness, concerning which it was said, "The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.'' ^ Behold, both here He is now, and here He was, and here He is always; and He never departs, departs nowhither. There is need that thou have some means whereby thou mayest see that which never departs from thee; there is need that thou depart not from Him who departs nowhither; there is need that thou desert not, and thou shalt not be deserted. Do not fall, and His sun will not set to thee. If thou fallest, His sun setteth upon thee; but if thou standest. He is present with thee. But thou hast not stood: remember how thou hast fallen, how he who fell before thee cast thee down. For he cast thee down, not by violence, not by assault, but by thine own will. For hadst thou not consented unto evil, thou wouldest have stood, thou wouldest have remained enlightened. But now, because thou hast already fallen, and hast become Jf^ wounded in Keart,- — the organ by which that light can be seen, — He came to thee such as tliou mightest see; and He in such fashion manifested Himself as man, that He sought testimony from man. From man God seeks testimony, and God has man as a witness; — God has man as a witness, but on account of ' John i.
man: so infirm are we. By a lamp we seek the day; because John himself was called a lamp, the Lord saying," He was a burning and a shining light; and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light: but I have greater witness than John."^ 9. Therefore He showed that for the sake of men He desired to have Himself revealed by a lamp to the faith of those who believed, that by means of the same lamp His enemies might be confounded. There were enemies who tempted Him, and said, " Tell us by what authority doest thou these things?" " I also," saith He, "will ask you one question; answer me. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they were troubled, and said among themselves, If we shall say. From heaven, he will say unto us. Why did ye not believe him?" (Because he had borne testimony to Christ, and had said, I am not the Christ, but He. 3 " But if we shall say, Of men, we fear the people, lest they should stone us: for they held John as a prophet." Afraid of stoning, but fearing more to confess the truth, they answered a lie to the Truth; and "wickedness imposed a lie upon itself."'* For they said, "We know not." And the Lord, because they shut the door against themselves, by professing ignorance of what they knew, did not open to them, because they did not knock. For it is said. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you."^ Not only did these not knock that it might be opened to them; but, by denying that they knew, they barred that door against themselves. And the Lord says to them. Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.."* And they were confounded by means of John; and in them were the words fulfilled, "I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame." '' 10. " He was in the world, and the world was made by Him." Tliifnk not that He was in the world as the earth is in the world, as the sky is in the world, as the sun is in the world, the moon and the stars, trees, cattle, and men. He was not thus in the world. But m what manner then? ing what He had As the Artificer governmade. For He did not rhe make it as a carpenter makes a chest, chest which he makes is outside the carpenter, and so it is put in another place, while being made; and although the workman is nigh, he sits in another place, and is external to that which he fashions. But God, infused into = John V. 35.
4 I's. xxvii. 12.
* Matt. xxi. 23-27; Mark xii.
7 Ps. cx.\xii. 17.
Tractatp: II.]
fashions it; being everywhere the world, present He fashions, and withdraweth not Himself elsewhere, nor doth He, as it were, handle from without, the matter which He fashions. By the presence of His majestyHe maketh what He maketh; His presence Cgovernsjvyhat He made. Therefore was He m~tlie world as the Maker of the world; for, " The world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not."
11. What meaneth "the world was made by Him"? The heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things which are therein, are called the world. Again, in another signification, those who love the world are called the world. " The world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." Did not the heavens know their Creator, or did the angels not know their Creator, or did the stars not know their Creator, whom the demons confess? All things from all sides gave testimony. But who did not know? Those who, for their love of the world, are called the world. By loving we dwell with the heart; but because of their loving the world they deserved to be called after the name of that in which they dwelt. In the same manner as we say. This house is bad, or this house is good, we do not in calling the one bad or the other good accuse or praise the walls; but by a bad house we mean a house with bad inhabitants, and by a good house, a house with good inhabitants. In like manner we call those the world who by loving it, inhabit the world. Who are they? Those who love the world; for they dwell with their hearts in the world. For those who do not love the world in the flesh, indeed, sojourn in the world, but in their hearts they dwell in heaven, as the apostle says, "Our conversation is in heaven."' Therefore "the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not."
12. " He came unto His own,'' — because all these things were made by Him, — "and His own received Him not." Who are they? The men whom He made. The Jews whom He at the first made to be above all nations. Because other nations worshipped idols and served demons; but that people was born of the seed of Abraham, and in an eminent sense His own, because kindred through that flesh which He deigned to assume. " He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." Did they not receive Him at all? did no one receive Him? Was there no one saved? For no one shall be saved unless he who shall have received the coming Christ.
13. But John adds: " As many as received « Phil. iii. 20. [R. V.: " Our citizenship is in heaven.
' Him." What did He afford to them? Great I benevolence! Great mercy! He was born the only Son of God, and was unwilling to remain alone. Many men, when they have not sons, in advanced age adopt a son, and thus obtain by an exercise of will what nature has denied to them: this men do. But if any one have an only son, he rejoices the more in him; because he alone will possess everything, and he will not have any one to divide with him the inheritance, so that he should be poorer. Not so God: that same only Son whom He had begotten, and by whom He created all things. He sent into this world that He might not be alone, but might have adopted brethren. For we were not born of God in the manner in which the Only-begotten was born of Him, but were adopted by His grace. For He, the Only-begotten, came to loose the sins in which we were entangled, and whose burden hindered our adoption: those whom He wished to make brethren to Himself, He Himself loosed, and made jointheirs. For so saith the apostle, " But if a son, then an heir through God." And again, " Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." He did not fear to have joint-heirs, because His heritage does not become narrow if many are possessors. Those very persons. He being possessor, become His inheritance, and He in turn becomes their inlieritance. Hear in what manner they become His inheritance: " The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee. Ask.of me, and I will give Thee tlie nations for