who sent the law beforehand by His servant, that He might Himself come with grace and truth. "For no one hath seen God at any time." And whence did He appear to that servant as far as he was able to receive Him? But " the Only-begotten," he says, "who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Hiifi.'* What signifieth "in the bosom of the Father? " In the secret of tlie Father. For God has not a bosom, as we have, in our garments, nor is He to be thought of sitting, as we do, nor is He girt with a girdle so as to have a bosom; but because our bosom is within, the secret of the Father is called the bosom of the Father. And He who knew the Father, being in the secret of the Fatlier, He declared Him. " For no man hath seen God at any time." He then came and narrated whatever He saw. What did Moses see? Moses saw a cloud, he saw an angel, he saw a fire. All that is the creature: it bore the type of its Lord, but did not manifest the presence of the Lord Himself. For thou hast it plainly slated in the law: "And Moses spake with the Lord face to face, as a friend with his friend." ' Following the same scripture, thou findest ^^oses saying: " If I have found grace in Thy sight, show me Thyself plainly, that I may see Thee." Ami it is little that he said tiiis; lie receiveil the reply, " 'I'liou canst not see my face." An angel then spake with Moses, my brethren, bearing the type of the Lord; and all those things whicii were ilone by the angel promised that future grace and truth. Those who ' K* XXMII. II, I J [Tractate III.
examine the law well know this; and when we have opportunity to speak somewhat of this matter also, we shall not fail to speak to you, beloved brethren, as far as the Lord may reveal to us.
18. But know this, that all those things which were seen in bodily form were not that substance of God, For we saw those things with the eyes of the flesh: how is the substance of God seen? Interrogate the Gospel: " Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God."' There have been men who, deceived by the vanity of their hearts, have said. The Father is invisible, but the Son is visible. How visible? If on account of His flesh, because He took flesh, the matter is manifest. For of those who saw the flesh of Christ, some believed, some crucified; and those who believed doubted when He was crucified; and unless they had touched the flesh after the resurrection, their faith would not have been recalled. If, then, on account of His flesh the Son was visible, that we also grant, and it is the Catholic faith; but if before He took flesh, as they say, that is, before He became incarnate, they are greatly deluded, and grievously err. For those visible and bodily appearances took place though the creature, in which a type might be exhibited: not in any fashion was the substance itself shown and made manifest. Give heed, beloved brethren, to this easy proof. The wisdom of God cannot be beheld by the eyes. Brethren, if Christ is the Wisdom of God and the Power of God;^ if Christ is the Word of God, and if the word of man is not seen with the eyes, can the Word of God be so seen?
19. Expel, therefore, from your hearts carnal thoughts, that you may be really under grace, that you may belong to the New Testament. Therefore is life eternal promised in the New Testament. Read the Old Testament, and see that the same things were enjoined upon a people yet carnal as upon us. For to worship one God is also enjoined upon us. " Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain " is also enjoined upon us, which is the second commandment. "Observe the Sabbath-day" is enjoined on us more than on them, because it is commanded to be spiritually observed. For the Jews observe the Sabbath in a servile manner, using it for luxuriousness and drunkenness. How much better would their women be employed in spinning wool than in dancing on that day in the balconies? God forbid, brethren, that we should call that an observance of the Sabbath. The Christian observes « Matt. V. 8.
' I Cor. i. 24.
the Sabbath spiritually, abstaining from servile work. For what is it to abstain from servile work? From sin. And how do we prove it? Ask the Lord- "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin."^ Therefore is the spiritual observance of the Sabbath enjoined upon us. Now all those commandments are more enjoined on us, and are to be observed: " Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife,"'* Are not all these things enjoined upon us also? But ask what is the reward, and thou wilt find it there said: " That thine enemies may be driven forth before thy face, and that you may receive the land which God promised to your fathers." s Because they were not able to comprehend invisible things, they were held by the visible. Wherefore held? Lest they should perish altogether, and slip into idol-worship. For they did this, my brethren, as we read, forgetful of the great miracles which God performed before their eyes. The sea was divided; a way was made in the midst of the waves; their enemies following, were covered by the same waves through which they passed:* and yet when Moses, the man of God, had departed from their sight, they asked for an idol, and said, " Make us gods to go before us; for this man has deserted us." Their whole hope was placed in man, not in God. Behold, the man is dead: was God dead who had rescued them from the land of Egypt? And when they had made to themselves the image of a calf, they offered it adoration, and said, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which delivered thee out of the land of Egypt," ^ How soon forgetful of such manifest grace! By what means could such a people be held except by carnal promises? / 20. The snme things are commanded in the Decalogue as we are commanded to obser^'e; but the same promises are not made as to us. What is promised to us? Life eternal. "And this is life eternal, that they know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."* The knowledge of God is promised: that is, grace for grace. Brethren, we now believe, we do not see; for faith the reward will be to see what we believe The prophets knew this, but it was concealed before He came. For a certain lover sighing, says in the Psalms: " One have I desired of the Lord, that will thing 3 John viii. 34. * Ex. XIV. 21-31.
4 Ex. XX. 3-17. 7 Ex. xxxii. 1-4.
S Lev. xxvi. 1-13.
^ John xvii. 3.
I Tractate IV.]
I seek after." And dost thou ask what he seeks? For perhaps he seeks a land flowuig with milk and honey carnally, although this is to be spiritually sought and desired; or perhaps the subjection of his enemies, or the death of foes, or the power and riches of this world. For he glows with love, and sighs greatly, and burns and pants. Let us see what he desires: "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after." What is it that he doth seek after? "That I may well," saith he, "in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." And suppose that thou dwellest in the house of the Lord, from what source will thy joy there be derived? " That I may behold," saith he, " the beauty of the Lord."'
21. My brethren, wherefore do you cry out, wherefore do you exult, wherefore do you love, unless that a spark of this love is there? What do you desire? I ask you. Can it be seen with the eyes? Can it be touched? Is it some fairness which delights the eyes? Are not the martyrs vehemently beloved; and when we commemorate them do we not burn with love? What is it that we love in them, brethren? Limbs torn by wild beasts? What is more revolting if thou askest the eyes of the flesh? what more fair if thou askest the eyes of the heart? How appears in your eyes a very fair young man who is a thief? How shocked are your eyes! Are the eyes of the flesh shocked? If you interrogate them, nothing is more shapely and better formed than that body; the symmetry of the limbs and the beauty of the color attract the eyes; and yet, when thou hearest that he is a thief, your mind recoils from the man. Thou beholdest on the other hand a bent old man, I Ps. xxvi. 4.
leaning upon a staff, scarcely moving himself, ploughed all over with wrinkles. Ttiou hearest that he is just: thou lovest and embracest him. Such are the rewards promised to us, my brethren: love such, sigh after such a kingdom, desire such a country, if you wish to arrive at that with which our Lord came, that is, at grace and truth. But if you covet bodily rewards from God, thou art still under the law, and therefore thou shalt not fulfill the law. For when thou seest those temporal things granted to those who offend God, thy steps falter, and thou sayest to thyself: Behold, I worship God, daily I run to church, my knees are worn with prayers, and yet I am constantly sick: there are men who commit murders, who are guilty of robberies, and yet they exult and have abundance; it is well with them. Was it such things that thou soughtest from God? Surely thou didst belong to grace, if, therefore, God gave to thee grace, because He gave freely, love freely. Do not for the sake of reward love God; let Him be the reward. Let thv soul say, " One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may behold the beauty of the Lord." Do not fear that thine enjoyment will fail through satiety: such will be that enjoyment of beauty that it will ever be present to thee, and thou shalt never be satisfied; indeed thou shalt be always satisfied, and yet never satisfied. For if I shall say that thou shalt not be satisfied, it will mean famine; and if I shall say thou shalt be satisfied, I fear satiety: where neither satiety nor famine are, I know not what to say; but God has that which He can manifest to those who know not how to express it, yet believe that they shall receive.
TRACTATE IV.
John I. 19-33.
You have very often henrd, holy brethren, and you know well, that John the I'.aptist, in proportion as he was greater than those born of women, and was more humble in his acknowledgment of the Lord, obtained the grace of being the friend of the l^ridegroom; zealous for the Bridegroom, not for himself; not seeking his own honor, but that of his Judge, whom as a herald he preceded. Therefore, to the prophets who went before, it was granted to predict concerning Christ; but to tiiis man, to point Him out with the finger. For as Christ was unknown by those wlio did not believe the prophets before He came. He remained unknown to them even when present. For He had come humbly and concealed from the first; the more concealed in proportion as He was more humble: but the people, despising in their pride the humility of God, crucified their Saviour, and made Him their condeniner.
2. But will not He who at first came con- [Tractate IV.
cealed, because humble, come again manifested, because exalted? You have just listened to the Psalm: "God shall come manifestly, and our God shall not keep silence."' He was silent that He might be judged, He will not be silent when He begins to judge. It would not have been said, " He will come manifestly," unless at first He had come concealed; nor would it have been said, " He shall not keep silence," unless He had first kept silence. How was He silent? Interrogate Isaiah: " He was brought as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer was dumb, so He opened not His mouth.' "But He shall come manifestly, and shall not keep silence." In what manner " manifestly "? "A fire shall go before Him, and round about Him a strong tempest." 3 That tempest has to carry away all the chaff from the floor, which is now being threshed; and the fire has to burn what the tempest carries away. But now He is silent; silent in judgment, but not silent in precept. For if Christ is silent, what is the purpose of these Gospels? what the purpose of the voices of the apostles, what of the canticles of the Psalms, what of the declarations of the prophets? In all these Christ is not silent. But now He is silent in not taking vengeance: He is not silent in not giving warning. But He will come in glory to take vengeance, and will manifest Himself even to all who do not* believe on Him. But now, because when present He was concealed, it behoved that He should be despised. For unless He had been despised. He would not have been crucified; if He had not been crucified. He would not have shed His blood — the price by which He redeemed us. But that He might give a price for us, He was crucified; that He might be crucified, He was despised; that He might be despised, He appeared in humility.
3. Yet because He appeared as it were in the night, in a mortal body. He lighted for Himself a lamp by which He might be seen. That lamp was John,"* concerning whom you lately heard many things: and the present passage of the evangelist contains the words of John; in the first place, and it is the chief point, his confession that he was not the Christ. But so great was the excellence of John, that men might have believed him to be the Christ: and in this he gave a proof of his humility, that he said he was not when he might have been believed to have been the Christ; therefore, "This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem to ask him. Who art thou? " But they would not have sent unless they had been moved by the excellence of his authority who ventured to baptize. "And he confessed, and denied not.'' What did he confess? "And he confessed, I am not the Christ."
4. 'And they asked him. What then? Art thou Elias? " For they knew that Elias was to precede Christ. For to no Jew was the name of Christ unknown. They did not think that he was the Christ; but they did not think that Christ would not come at all. When they were hoping that He would come, they were offended at Him when He was present, and stumbled at Him as on a low stone. For He was as yet a small stone, already indeed cut out of the mountain without hands; as saith Daniel the prophet, that he saw a stone cut out of the mountain without hands. But what follows? "And that stone," saith he, " grew, and became a great mountain, and filled the whole face of the earth." 5 Mark then, my beloved brethren, what I say: Christ, before the Jews, was already cut out from the mountain. The prophet wishes that by the mountain should be understood the Jewish kingdom. But the kingdom of the Jews had not filled the whole face of the earth. The stone was cut out from thence, because from thence was the Lord born on His advent among men. And wherefore without hands? Because without the cooperation of man did the Virgin bear Christ. Now then was that stone cut out without hands before the eyes of the Jews; but it was humble. Not without reason; because not yet had that stone increased and filled the whole earth: that He showed in His kingdom, which is the Church, with which He has filled the whole face of the earth. Because then it had not yet increased, they stumbled at Him as at a stone: and that happened in them which is written, "Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever that stone shall fall, it mil grind them to powder."* At first they fell upon Him lowly: as the lofty One He shall come upon them; but that He may grind them to powder when He comes in His exaltation. He first broke them in His lowliness. They stumbled at Him, and were broken; they were not ground, but broken: He will come exalted and will grind them. But the Jews were to be pardoned because the}' stumbled at a stone which had not j'^et increased. What sort of persons are those who stumble at the mountain itself'* Already you know who they are of whom I speak. Those who deny the Church diffused Dan.
Tractate IV.]
through the whole world, do not stumble at the lowly stone, but at the mountain itself: because this the stone became as it grew. The blind Jews did not see the lowly stone: but how great blindness not to see the mountain!
5. They saw Him then lowly, and did not know Him. He was pointed out to them by a lamp. For in the first place he, than whom no greater had arisen of those born of women, said, " I am not the Christ." It was said to him, " Art thou Ellas? He answered, I am not." For Christ sends Elias before Him: and he said, " I am not,'' and occasioned a question for us. For it is to be feared lest men, msufificiently understanding, think that John contradicted what Christ said. For in a certain place, when the Lord Jesus Christ said certain things in the Gospel regarding Himself, His disciples answered Him: " How then say the scribes," that is, those skilled in the law, "that Elias must first come?" And the Lord said, " Elias is already come, and they have done unto him what they listed;" and, if you wish to know, John the Baptist is he.' The Lord Jesus Christ said, " Elias is already come, and John the Baptist" is he; but John, being interrogated, confessed that he was not Elias, in the same manner that he confessed that he was not Christ. And as his confession that he was not Christ was true, so was his confession that he was not Elias. How then shall we compare the words of the herald with the words of the Judge? Away with the thought that the herald speaks falsehood; for that which he speaks he hears from the Judge. Wherefore then did he say, " I am not Elias; " and the Lord, " He is Elias"? Because the Lord Jesus Christ wished in him to prefigure His own advent, and to say that John was in the spirit of Elias. And what John was to the first advent, that will Elias be to the second advent. As there are two advents of the Judge, so are there two heralds. The Judge indeed was the same, but the heralds two, but not two judges. It was needful that in the first instance the Judge should come to be judged. He sent before Him His first herald; He called him Elias, because Elias will be in the second advent what John was in the first.
6. For mark, beloved brethren, hosv true it is what I say. When John was conceived, or rather when he was born, the Holy Spirit prophesied that this would be fulfilled in him: " And he shall be," he said, " the forerunner of the Highest, in the spirit and power of Elias." ^ What signifieth " in the spirit and power of Elias"? In the same Holy Spirit in the room of Elias. Wherefore in room of Elias? Because what Elias will be to the second, that John was to the first advent. Rightly therefore, speaking literally, did John reply. For the Lord spoke figuratively, " Elias, the same is John; " but he, as I have said, spoke literally when he said, " I am not Elias." Neither did John speak falsely, nor did the Lord speak falsely; neither was the word of the herald nor of the Judge false, if only thou understand. But who shall understand? He who shall have imitated the lowliness of the herald, and shall have acknowledged the loftiness of the Judge. For nothing was more lowly than the herald. My brethren, in nothing had John greater merit than in this humility, inasmuch as when he was able to deceive men, and to be thought Christ, and to have been received in the place of Christ (for so great were his grace and his excellency), nevertheless he openly confessed and said, "I am not the Christ." "Art thou Elias?" If he had said I am Elias, it would have been as if Christ were already coming in His second advent to judge, not in His first to be judged. As if saying. Elias is yet to come, " I am not," said he, " Elias. " But give heed to the lowly One before whom John came, that you may not feel the lofty One before whom Elias came. For thus also did the Lord complete the saying: " John the Baptist is he which is to come." He' came as a figure of that in which Elias is to come in his own person. Then Elias will in his own proper person be Elias, now in similitude he was John. Now John in his own proper person is John, in similitude Elias. The two heralds gave to each other their similitudes, and kept their own proper persons; but the Judge is one Lord, whether preceded by this herald or by that.
7. " And they asked him. What then? Art thou Elias? And he said, No. And they said unto him. Art thou a proj^het? and he answered. No! They said therefore unto him, ^\^lo art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What saj'est thou of thyself? He saith, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness." ^ That said Isaiah. This prophecy was fulfilled in John, " I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness." Crying what? " Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God." Would it not have seemed to you that a herald would have cried, "Go away, make room." Instead of the herald's cry - Luke i.
17- 3 Isa. xl. 3.
THE WORKS Ot" ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Tractate IV.
" Go away," John says " Come." The herald makes men stand back from the judge; to the Judge John calls. Yes, indeed, John calls men to the lowly One, that they may not experience what He will be as the e.xalted Judge. " I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah." He did not say, I am John, I am Elias, I am a prophet. But what did he say.-* This I am called, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way for the Lord: I am the prophecy itself."
8. " And they which were sent were of the Pharisees," that is, of the chief men among the Jews; " and they asked him and said unto him, Why baptizes! thou then, if thou be not the Christ, nor Elias, nor a prophet?" As if it seemed to them audacity to baptize, as if they meant to inquire, in what character baptizest thou? We ask whether thou art the Christ; thou sayest that thou art not. We ask whether thou perchance art His precursor, for we know that before the advent of Christ, Elias will come; thou answerest that thou art not. We ask, if perchance thou art some herald come long before, that is, a prophet, and hast received that power, and thou sayest that thou art not a prophet. And John was not a prophet; he was greater than a prophet. The Lord gave such testimony concerning him: " What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? " Of course implying that he was not shaken by the wind; because John was not such an one as is moved by the wind; for he who is moved by the wind is blown upon by every seductive blast. " But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment?" For John was clothed in rough garments; that is, his tunic was of camel's hair. "Behold, they who are clothed in soft raiment are in kings' houses." You did not then go out to see a man clothed in soft raiment. "But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, one greater than a prophet is here; " ' for the prophets prophesied of Christ a long time before, John pointed Him out as present, 9. "Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not the Christ, nor Elias, nor a prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water; but there standeth One among you whom ye know not," For, very truly, He was not seen, being humble, and therefore was the lamp lighted. Observe how John gives place, who might have been accounted other than he was, "He it is who cometh ' Matt. xi. 7-9.
after me, who is made before me " (that is, as we have already said, is " preferred before me "), whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose." How greatly did he humble himself! And therefore he was greatly lifted up; for he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.^ Hence, holy brethren, you ought to note that if John so humbled himself as to say, " I am not worthy to unloose His shoe-latchet," what need they have to be humbled who say, " We baptize; what we give is ours, and what is ours is holy." He said, Not I, but He; they say. We. John is not worthy to unloose His shoe's latchet; and if he had said he was worthy, how humble would he still have been! And if he had said he was worthy, and had spoken thus, " He came after me who is made before me, the latchet of whose shoe I am only worthy to unloose," he would have greatly humbled himself. But when he says that he is not worthy even to do this, truly was he full of the Holy Spirit, who in such fashion as a servant acknowledged his Lord, and merited to be made a friend instead of a servant.
10. " These things were done in Bethany, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John saw Jesus coming unto him, and saith. Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world! " Let no one so arrogate to himself as to say that he taketh away the sin of the world. Give heed now to the proud men at whom John pointed the finger. The heretics were not yet born, but already were they pointed out; against them he then cried from the river, against whom he now cries from the Gospel. Jesus comes, and what says he? " Behold the Lamb of God! " If to be innocent is to be a lamb, then John was a lamb, for was not he innocent? But who is innocent? To what extent innocent? All come from that branch and shoot, concerning which David sings, even with groamngs, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.''^ Alone, then, was He, the Lamb who came, not so. For He was not conceived in iniquity, because not conceived of mortality; nor did His mother conceive Him in sin, whom the Virgin conceived, whom the Virgin brought forth; because by faith she conceived, and by faith received Him.. Therefore, " Behold the Lamb of God." He is not a branch derived from Adam: flesh only did he derive from Adam, Adam's sin He did not assume. He who took not upon Him sin from our lump. He it is who taketh away our sin. " Behold 2 Luke xiv. 11.
3 Ps. li. 7.
Tractate IV.]
the Lamb of God. who taketh away the sin of the world! " You know that certain men say sometimes, We take away sin from men, we who are holy; for if he be not holy who baptizeth, how taketh he away the sin of another, when he is a man himself full of sin? In opposition to these disputations, let us not speak our own words, let us read what John says: " Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world! " Let there not be presumptuous confidence of men upon men; let not the sparrow flee to the mountains, but let it trust in the Lord;' and if it lift its eyes to the mountains, from whence cometh aid to it, let it understand that its aid is from the Lord who made heaven and earth. ' So great is the excellence of John, that to him it is said, '* Art thou the Christ?" He says, No. Art thou Elias? He says, No. Art thou a prophet? He says. No. Wherefore then dost thou baptize? *' Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I spake, After me cometh a Man who was made before me; for He was before me." "Cometh after me," because He was born later; "was made before me," because preferred before me; " He was before me," because, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
12. " And I knew Him not," he said; "but that He might be made manifest to Israel, therefore came I baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me. Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon Him, the same is He who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God." Give heed for a little, beloved. When did John learn Christ? For he was sent to baptize with water. They asked, Wherefore? That He might be made manifest to Israel, he said. Of what profit was the baptism of John? My brethren, if it had profited in any respect, it would have remained now, and men would have been baptized with the baptism of John, and tluis have come to the baptism of Christ. But what saith he? " That He might be made manifest to Israel," — tliat is, to Israel itself, to the peoi^le Israel, so that Christ miglit be made manifest to it, — therefore he came baptizmg with water. John received the ministry 'Ps.
* Ps, CXll. I, 3,