who was thirty-eight years in infirmity was healed, and Jesus commanded him, now made whole, to take up his bed and to go to his house. For this cause, indeed, the Jews with whom He was speaking were enraged. He spoke in words, as to the meaning He was silent; hinted in some measure at the meaning to those who understood, ' and hid the matter from them that were wroth. For this cause, I say, the Jews, being enraged because the Lord did this on the Sabbath, gave occasion to this discourse. Therefore let us not hear these things in such wise as if we had forgotten what was said above, but let us look back to that impotent man languishing for thirty-eight years suddenly made whole, while the Jews marvelled and were wroth. They sought darkness from the Sabbath more than light from the miracle. Speaking then to these, while they are indignant. He saith, ''Greater works than these will He show Him." " Greater than these: " than which? What ye have seen, that a man, whose infirmity had lasted thirty-eight years, was made whole; greater than these the Father is about to show to the Son. What are greater works? He goes on, saying, " For as the Father raiseth the dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth whom He will.'' Clearly these are greater. Very much greater is it that a dead man should rise, than that a sick man should recover: these are greater. But when is the Father about to show these to the Son? Does the Son not know them? And He who was speaking, did He not know how to raise the dead? Had He yet to learn how to raise the dead to life — He, I say, by whom all thmgs were made? He who caused that we should live, when we were not in being, had He yet to learn how we might be raised to life again? What, then, do His words mean?
7. But now He condescends to us, and He who a little before was speaking as God, now begins to speak as man. Notwithstanding, the same is man who is God, for God was made man; but was made what He was not, without losing what He was. The man therefore was added to the God, that He might be man who was God, but not that He should now henceforth be man and rrtjt be God. Let us then hear Him also as our brother whom we did hear as our Maker. Our Maker, because the Word in the beginning; our Brother, because born of the \nrgin Mary: -Maker, before Abraham, before Adam, before earth, before heaven, before all things corporeal and spiritual; but Brother, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the Israelitish virgin. If therefore we know Him who speaks to us as both God and man, let us understand the words of God and of man; for sometimes He speaks to us such things as are applicable to the majesty, sometimes such as are applicable to the humility. ■ For the selfsame is high who was made low, that He might make us high who are low. What, then, saith He? " The Father will show " to me " greater than these, that ye may marvel.*' To us, therefore, He is about to show, not to Him. And since it is to us that the Father is to show, for that reason He said, " that ye may marvel.'' He has, in fact, explained what He meant in saying, " The Father will show" to me. Why did He not say. The Father will show to you; but. He will show to the Son? Because also we are members of the Son; and like as what we the members learn, He Himself in a manner learns in His members. How doth He learn in us? As He suffers in us. Whence may we prove that He suffers in us? From that voice out of heaven, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?''' Is it not Himself that will sit as Judge in the end o*f the world, and, setting the just on the right, and the wicked on the left, will say, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom; for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat "? And when they shall answer, " Lord, when saw we Thee hungry? " He will say to them, " Since ye gave to one of the least of mine, ye gave to me.''- Let us at this time question Him, and let us say to Him, Lord, when wilt Thou be a learner, seeing Thou teachest all things? Immediately, indeed. He makes answer to us in our faith, When one of the least of mine doth learn. I learn.
8. Let us rejoice, then, and give thanks that we are made not only Christians, but Christ. Do ye understand, brethren, and apprehend the grace of God upon us? Marvel, be glad, we are made Christ. For if He is the head, we are the members: the whole man is He and we. I'his is what the Apostle Paul saith: "That we be no longer babes, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.'' But above he had said, " Until we all come together into the unity of faith, and to the knowledge of the Son of God, to the perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. "^ The fullness of Christ, then, is head and members. Head and members, what is that? Christ and the Church. We should indeed be arrogating this to ourselves proudly, if He did not Hims'elf deign to promise it, who saith by the same apostle, " But ye are the body of Christ, and members." ^ I Acts ix. 4. 3 Eph. iv. 14.
Tractate XXL] 9. Whenever, then, the Father showeth to Christ's members. He showeth to Christ. A certain great but yet real miracle happens. There is a showing to Christ of what Christ knew, and it is shown to Cnrist through Christ. A marvelous and great thing it is, but the Scripture so saith. Shall wc contradict the divine declarations? Shall we not rather understand them, and of His own gift render thanks to Him who freely bestowed it on us? What is this that I said, "is shown to Christ through Christ"? Is shown to the members through the head. Lo, look at this in thyself. Suppose that with thine eyes shut thou wouldest take up something, thy hand knows not whither to go; and yet thy hand is at any rate thy member, for it is not separated from thy body. Open thine eyes, now the hand sees whither it may go; while the head showed, the member followed. If, then, there could be found in thyself something such, that thy body showed to thy body, and that through thy body something was shown to thy body, then do not marvel that it is said there is shown to Christ through Christ. For the head shows that the members may see, and the head teaches that the members may learn; nevertheless one man, head and members. He willed not to separate Himself, but deigned to attach Himself to us. Far was He from us, yea, very far. What so far apart as the creature and the Creator? What so far apart as God and man? What so far as justice and iniquity? ^Vhat so far as eternity and mortality? Behold, so far from us was the Word in the beginning, God with God, by whom all things were made. How, then, was He made near, that He might be what we are, and we in Him? " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt in (among) us.'''
10. This, then, He is about to show us; this He showed to His disciples, who saw Him in the flesh. What is this? "As the Father raiseth the dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth whom He will.'' Is it that the Father some, the Son others? Surely all things were made by Him. What do we say, my brethren? Christ raised Lazarus; what dead man did the Father raise, that Christ might see how to raise Lazarus? When Christ raised Lazarus, did not the Fatlier raise him? or was it the doing of the Son alone, without the Father? Read ye the passage itself, and see that He invokes the Father that Lazarus may rise again. = As a man. He calls on the Father; as God, He doeth with the Father. Therefore also Lazarus, who rose again, was raised both by ■ John i. 14.
2 John xi. 41-44.
the Father and by the Son, in the gift and grace of the Holy Spirit; and that wonderful work the Trinity performed. Let us not, therefore, understand this, "As the Father raiseth the dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth whom He will," in such wise as to suppose that some are raised and quickened by the Father, others by the Son; but that the Son raiseth and quickeneth the very same whom the Father raiseth and quickeneth; because " all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made." And to show that He has, though given by the Father, equal power, therefore He saith, " So also the Son quickeneth whom He will," that He might therein show His will; and lest any should say, " The Father raiseth the dead by the Son, but the Father as being powerful, and as having power, the Son as by another's power, as a servant does something, as an angel," He indicated His power when He saith, " So also the Son quickeneth whom He will.'' It is not so that the Father willeth other than the Son; but as the Father and the Son have one substance, so also one will. II. And who are these dead whom the Father and the Son quicken? Are they the same of whom we have spoken — Lazarus, or that widow's son,- or the ruler of the synagogue's daughter?-* For we know that these were raised by Christ the Lord. It is some other thing that He means to signify to us, — namely, the resurrection of the dead, which we all look for; not that resurrection which certain have nad, that the rest might believe. For Lazarus rose to die again; we shall rise again to live for ever. Is it the Father that effects such a resurrection, or the Son? Nay verily, the Father in the Son. Consequently the Son, and the Father in the Son. Whence do we prove that He speaks of this resurrection? When He had said, "As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth whom He will." Lest we should understand here that resurrection which He performs for a miracle, not for eternal life. He proceeded, saying, " For the Father judgeth not any man, but all judgment hath He given to the Son." What is this? He was speaking of the resurrection of tlie dead, that " as the Father raiseth the dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth whom He will; " and immediately thereupon added as a reason, concerning the judgment, saying, " for the Father judgeth not any man, but all judgment hath He given to the S(;ii." Wliy said He this, but to indicate that He had spoken of that resurrection of 1 I.uke vil. 14.
4 Luke viii. 54.
THE WORKS OF ST, AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate XXI.
the dead which will take place in the judgment?
12. "■ For," saith He, " the Father judgeth no man, but all judgment hath He given to the Son." A little before we were thinking that the Father doeth something which the Son doeth not, when He said," The Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth;" as though the Father were doing, and the Son were seeing. In this way there was creeping in upon our mind a carnal conception, as if the Father did what the Son did not; but that the Son was looking on while the Father showed what He was doing. Then, as the Father was doing what the Son did not, just now we see the Son doing what the Father doeth not. How He turns us about, and keeps our mind busy! He leads us hither and thither, will not allow us to remain in one place of the fiesh, that by changing He may exercise us, by exercising He may cleanse us, by cleansing He may render us capable of receiving, and may fill us when made capable. What have these words to do with us? What was He speaking? What is He speaking? A little before, He said that the Father showeth to the Son whatever He doeth, I did see, as it were, the Father doing, the Son waiting to see; presently again, I see the Son doing, the Father idle: " For the Father judgeth not any man, but all judgment hath He given to the Son." When, therefore, the Son is about to judge, will the Father be idle, and not judge? What is this? What am I to understand? What dost Thou say, O Lord.'' Thou art God the Word, I am a man. Dost Thou say that "the Father judgeth not any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son"? I read in another place that Thou sayest, " I judge not any man; there is one who seeketh and judgeth."' Of whom sayest Thou, "There is one who seeketh and judgeth," unless it be of the Father? He maketh inquisition for thy wrongs, and judgeth for them. How is it to be understood here that "the Father judgeth not any man, but all judgment hath He given to the Son "? Let us ask Peter; let us hear him speaking in his epistle: " Christ suffered for us," saith he, " leaving us an example that we should follow His steps; who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered wrong, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously." = How is it true that "the Father judgeth not any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son"? We are • John viii. 15.
~ I Pet. ii. 21-23.
here in perplexity, and being perplexed let us exert ourselves, that by exertion we may be purified. Let us endeavor as best we may, by His own gift, to penetrate the deep secrets of these words. It may be that we are acting rashly, in that we wish to discuss and to scrutinize the words of God. Yet why were they spoken, but to be known? Why did they sound forth, but to be heard? Why were they heard, but to be understood? Let Him greatly strengthen us, then, and bestow somewhat on us so far as He may deem worthy; and if we do not yet penetrate to the fountain, let us drink of the brook. Behold, John himself has flowed forth to us like a brook, conveyed to us the word from on high. He brought it low, and in a manner levelled it, that we may not dread the lofty One, but may draw nigh to Him that is low.
13, By all means there is a sense, a true and strong sense, if somehow we can grasp it, in which "the Father judgeth not any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son." For this is said because none will appear to men in the judgment but the Son. The Father will be hidden, the Son will be manifest. In what will the Son be manifest? In the form in which He ascended. For in the form of God He was hidden with the Father; in the form of a servant, manifest to men. Not therefore " the Father judgeth any man, but all judgment hath He given to the Son: " only the manifest judgment, in which manifest judgment the Son will judge, since the same will appear to them that are to be judged. The Scripture shows us more clearly that it is the Son that will appear. On the fortieth day after His resurrection He ascended into heaven, while His disciples were looking on; and they hear the angelic voice: " Men of Galilee," saith it, "why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same that is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen FLim going into heaven. " ^ In what manner did they see Him go? In the flesh, which they touched, which they handled, the wounds even of which they proved by touching; in that body in which He went in and out with them for forty days, manifesting Him.self to them in truth, not in falsity; not a phantom, or shadow, or ghost, but, as Himself said, not deceiving them, " Handle and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."* That body is now indeed worthy of a heavenly habitation, not being subject to death, nor mutable by the lapse of ages. It is not as it had grown to that age from infancy, so from the age of 3 Acts i. 3-1 1.
4 Luke -xxiv. 39.
Tractate XXI.]
manhood declines to old age: He remains as He ascended, to come to those to whom He willed His word to be preached before He comes. Thus will He come in human form, and this form the wicked will see; both they on the right shall see it, and they that are separated to the left shall see it: as it is written, " They shall look on Him whom they pierced." ' If they shall look on Him whom they pierced, they shall look on that same body which they struck through with the spear; for a spear does not pierce the Word. This body, therefore, will the wicked be able to look on which they were able to wound. God hidden in the bod}^ they will not see: after the judgment He will be seen by those who will be on the right hand. This, then, is what He means when He saith, "The Father judgeth not any man, but all judgment hath He given to the Son," — that the Son will come to judgment manifest, apparent to men in human body; saying to those on the right, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom; " and to those on the left, " Go into everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. " = 14. Behold, that form of man will be seen by the godly and by the wicked, by the just and the unjust, by the believers and unbelievers, by those that rejoice and by those that mourn, by them that trusted and by them that are confounded: lo, seen it will be. When that form shall have appeared in the judgment, and the judgment shall have been finished, where it is said that the Father judgeth not any, but hath given all judgment to the Son, for this reason, that the Son will appear in the judgment in that form which He took from us. What shall be after this? When shall be seen the form of God, which all the faithful are thirsting to see? When shall be seen that Word which was in the beginning, God with God, by which all things were made? When shall be seen that form of God, of which the apostle saith, " Being in the form of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God"?3 For great is that form, in which, moreover, the quality of the Father and Son is recognized; ineffable, incomprehensible, most of till to little ones. When shall this form be seen? Behold, on the right are the just, on the left are the unjust; all alike see the man, they see the Son of man, they see Him who was pierced. Him who was crucified they see: they see Him that was made low, Him who was born of the Virgin, the Lamb of the tribe of Judali they see. But when will they see the Word, God with » Zech. xii. 13 T Phil. ii. 6.
God? He will be the very same even then, but the form of a servant will appear. The form of a servant will be shown to servants: the form of God will be reserved for sons. Wherefore let the servants be made sons: let them who are on the right hand go into the eternal inheritance promised of old, which the martyrs, though not seeing, believed, for the promise of which they poured out their blood without hesitation; let them go thither and see there. When shall they go thither? Let the Lord Himself say: "So those shall go into everlasting burning, but the righteous into life eternal."'* 15. Behold, He has named eternal life. Has He told us that we shall there see and know the Father and Son? What if we shall live for ever, yet not see that Father and Son? Hear, in another place, where He has named eternal life, and expressed what eternal life is: " Be not afraid; I do not deceive thee; not without cause have I promised to them that love me, saying, ' He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will show myself to him.' " ^ Let us answer the Lord, and say, What great thing is this, O Lord our God? What great thing is it? Wilt Thou show Thyself to us? What, then, didst Thou not show Thyself to the Jews also? Did not they see Thee who crucified Thee? But Thou wilt show Thyself in the* judgment, when we shall stand at Thy right hand; will not also they who will stand on Thy left see Thee? Wliat is it that Thou wilt show l"hyself to us? Do we, indeed, not see Thee now when Thou art speaking? He makes answer: I will show myself in the form of God; just now you see the form of a serv^ant. I will not deceive thee, O faithful man; believe that thou shalt see. Thou lovest, and yet thou dost not see: shall not love itself lead thee to see? Love, persevere in loving; I will not disappoint thy love, saith He, I who have purified thy heart. For why have I purified thy heart, but to the end that God may be seen by thee? For " blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."* "But this," saith the servant, as if disputing with the Lord, "Thou didst not express, when Thou didst say, ' The righteous shall go into life eternal; ' Thou didst not say, They shall go to see me in the form of God, and to see the Fatlier, with whom I am ecpial." Observe what He said elsewhere: " This is life eternal, that they may know Thee the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. " ' 5 John xiv. 21 7 John xvii. 3.
[Tractate XXII.
16. And immediately, then, after the judgment mentioned, all which the Father, not judging any man, hath given to the Son, what shall be? What follows? "That all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." The Jews honor the Father, despise the Son. For the Son was seen as a servant, the Father was honored as God. But the Son will appear equal with the Father, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. This we have, therefore, now in faith. Let not the Jew say, " I honor the Father; what have I to do with the Son? " Let him be answered, '" He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father. Thou liest ■every way; thou blasphemest the Son, and dost wrong to the Father. For the Father sent the Son, and thou despisest Him whom the Father sent. How canst thou honor the sender, who blasphemest the sent? " 17. Behold, says some one, the Son has been sent; and the Father is greater, because He sent. Withdraw from the flesh; the old man suggests oldness in time. Let the ancient, the perpetual, the eternal, to thee the new, call off thy understanding from time to this. Is the Son less because He is said to have been sent? I hear of a sending, not a separation. But yet, saith he, among men we see that he who sends is greater than he who is sent. Be it so; but human affairs deceive a mjyi; divine things purge him. Do not regard things human, in which the sender appears greater, the sent less; notwithstanding, things human themselves bear testimony against thee. Just as, for example, if a man wishes to ask a woman to wife, and, not being able to do this in person, sends a friend to ask for him. And there are many cases in which the greater is chosen to be sent by the less. Why, then, wouldst thou now raise a captious objection, because the one has sent, the other is sent? The sun sends out a ray, but does not separate it; the moon sends out her sheen, but does not separate it; a lamp sheds light, but does not separate it: I see there a sending forth, not a separation. For if thou seekest examples from human things, O heretical vanity, Although, as I have said, even human things in some instances refute thee, and convict of error; yet consider how different it is in the case of things human, from which you wish to deduce examples for things divine. A man that sends remains himself behind, while only the man that is sent goes forward. Does the man who sends go with him whom he sends? Yet the Father, who sent the Son, has not departed from the Son. Hear the Lord Himself saying, " Behold, the hour is coming, when every one shall depart to his own, and ye will leave me alone; but I am not alone, because the Father is with me." ' How has He, with whom He came, sent Him? How has He, from whom He has not departed, sent Him? In another place He said, " The Father abiding in me doeth the works." " Behold, the Father is in Him, works in Him. The Father sending has not departed from the Son sent, because the sent and the sender are one.
' John xvi. 32.
" John xiv. 10.
TRACTATE XXII Chapter V. 24-30.
Upon the discourses delivered yesterday and the day before, follows the Gospel lesson of to-day, which we must endeavor to expound in due course, not indeed proportionably to its importance, but according to our ability: both because you take in, not according to the bountifulness of the gushing fountain, but according to your moderate capacity; and we too speak into your ears, not so much as the fountain gives forth, but so much as we are able to take in we convey into your minds, — the matter itself working more fruitfully in your hearts than we in your ears. For a great matter is ' treated of, not by great masters, nay, rather : by very small; but He who, being great, for our sakes became small, gives us hope and I confidence. For 'if we were not encouraged [by Him, and invited to understand Him; if He abandoned us as contemptible, since we were not able to partake His divinity if He did not partake our mortality and come to us to speak His gospel to us; if He had not willed to partake with us what in us is abject and most sm.all, — then we might think that He who took on Himself our smallness, had not been willing to bestow on us His own greatness. This I have said lest any should Tractate XXII.]
H5 blame us as over-bold in handling these matters, or despair of himself that he should be able to understand, by God's gift, what the Son of God has deigned to speak to him. Therefore what He has deigned to speak to us, we ought to believe that He meant us to understand. But if we do not understand, He, being asked, gives understanding, who gave His Word unasked.
2. Lo, what these secrets of His words are, consider well. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whoso heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath eternal life." Surely we are all striving after eternal life: and He saith, " Whoso heareth my word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath eternal life." Then, would He have us hear His word, and yet would He not have us understand it? Since, if in hearing and believing is eternal life, much more in understanding. But the action of piety is faith, the fruit of faith understanding, that we may come to eternal life, when tliere will be no reading of Gospel to us; but after all pages of reading and the voice of reader and preacher have been removed out of the way, He, who has at this time dispensed to us the gospel, will Himself appear to all that are His, now present with Him with purged heart and in an immortal body never more to die, cleansing and enlightening them, now living and seeing how that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." Therefore let us consider at this time who we are, and ponder whom we hear. Christ is God, and He is speaking with men. He would have them to apprehend Him, let Him make them capable; He would have them see Him, let Him open their eyes. It is not, however, witiiout cause that He speaks to us, but because that is true which He promises to us.
3. " Whoso heareth my words," saith He, "and believeth Him that sent me, hath eternal life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed frcnn death unto life." Where, when do we come from death to life, that we come not into judgment? In this life there is a passing from death to life; in this life, which is not yet life, there is a passing hence from death unto life. What is that passing? "Whoso heareth my words," He said, "and believeth Him that sent me." Observing these, thou believest and passest. And does a man pass while standing? Evidently; for in body he stands, in mind he passes. Where was he, whence he should pass, and whither does he pass? He passes from death to life. Look at a man standhig, in whom all that is here saitl may happen. He stands, he hears; perhaps he did not believe, by hearing he believes: a little before he did not believe, just now he believes; he has made a passage, as it were, from the region of unbelief to the region of faith, by motion of the heart, not of the body, by a motion into the better; because they vvho again abandon faith move into the worse. Behold, in this life, which, just as I have