buried, Christ was buried (for thus with the heart we believe unto righteousness, and thus with the mouth do we make confession unto salvation*); so when the flesh came from death unto life, Christ came to life. And because Christ is the Word of God, He is also the life. And thus in a wonderful and ineffable manner He, who never laid down or lost Himself, came to Himself. But God, as was said, had come through the flesh to men, the truth to liars; for God is true, and every man a liar.^ When, therefore, He withdrew His flesh from amongst men, and carried it up there where no liar is found. He also Himself— for the Word was made flesh- returned by Himself, that is, by His flesli, to the truth, which is none other but Himself.
And this truth, we cannot doubt, although found amongst liars. He preserved even in death; for Christ was once dead, but never false.
4. Take an example, very different in character and wholly inadecpiate, yet in some lit- 5 Ph 11. II. 7.
6 Hum..\. lu.
7 R oin. 111. 4.
;26 [Tractate LXX.
tie measure helpful to the understanding of God, from things that are in peculiarly intimate subjection to God. See here in my own case, while as far as pertains to my mind I am just the same as yourselves, if I keep silence I am so to myself; but if I speak to you something suited to your understanding, in a certain sense I go forth to you without leaving myself, but at the same time approach you and yet quit not the place from which I proceed. But when I cease speaking, I return in a kind of way to myself, and in a kind of way I remain with you, if you retain what you have heard in the discourse I am delivering. And if the mere image that God made is capable of this, what may not God, the very image of God, not made by, but born of God; whose body, wherein He came forth to us and returned from us, has not ceased to be, like the sound of my voice, but abides there, where it shall die no more, and death shall have no more dominion over it? ^ Much more, perhaps, might and ought to have been said on these words of the Gospel; but your souls ought not to be burdened with spiritual food, however pleasant, especially as the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.= I Rom. vi. g.
2 Matt. xxvi. 41.
TRACTATE LXX.
Chapter XIV. 7-10.
I. The words of the holy Gospel, brethren, are rightly understood only if they are found to be in harmony with those that precede; for the premises ought to agree with the conclusion, when it is the Truth that speaks. The Lord had said before, "And if 1 go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also:^' and then had added, "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know;'^ and showed that all He said was that they knew himself. What, therefore, the meaning was of His going to Himself by Himself, — for He also lets the disciples see that it is by Him that they are to come to Him, — we have already told you, as we could, in our last discourse. When He says, therefore, " That where I am, there ye may be also," where else were they to be but in Himself? In this way is He also in Himself, and they, therefore, are just where He is, that is, in Himself. Accordingly, He Himself is that eternal life which is yet to be ours, when He has received us unto Himself; and as He is that life eternal, so is it in Him, that where He is there shall we be also, that is to say, in Himself. " For as the Father hath life in Himself," and certainly that life which He has is in no wise different from what He is Himself as its possessor, " so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself,'' ' inasmuch as He is the very life which He hath in Himself. But shall we then actually be what He is, (namely), the life, when we shall have ' Chap. V. 26.
begun our existence in that life, that is, in Himself? Certainly not, for He, by His very existence as the life, hath life, and is Himself what He hath; and as the life, is in Him, so is He in Himself: but we are not that life, but partakers of His life, and shall be there in such wise as to be wholly incapable of being in ourselves what He is, but so as, while ourselves not the life, to have Him as our life, who has Himself the life on this very account that He Himself is the life. In short. He both exists unchangeably in Himself and inseparably in the Father. But we, when wishing to exist in ourselves, were thrown into inward trouble regarding ourselves, as is expressed in the words, " My soul is cast down within me: " ^ and changing from bad to worse, cannot even, remain as we were. But when by Him we come unto the Father, according to His own words, " No man cometh unto the Father but by me," and abide in Him, no one shall be able to separate us either from the Father or from Him.
2. Connecting, therefore. His previous words with those that follow, He proceeded to say, " If ye had known me, ye should certainly have known my Father also." This conforms to His previous words, "No man cometh unto the Father but by me." And then He adds: "And from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him." But Philip, one of the apostles, not understanding what he had just heard, said, " Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." And the 2 Ps. xlii. 6.
2 Ps. xlii. 6.
Tractate LXX.]
Lord replied to him, " Have I been so long time with you, and yet have ye not known me^ Philip? he that seeth me, seeth also the Father," Here you see He complains that He had been so long time with them, and yet He was not known. But had He not Himself said, "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know;'' and on their saying that they knew it not, had convinced them that they did know, by adding the words: " I am the way, and the truth, and the life"? How, then, says He now, " Have I been so long time with you, and have ye not known me? " when, in fact, they knew both whither He went and the way, on no other grounds save that they really knew Himself? But this difficulty is easily solved by saying that some of them knew Him, and others did not, and that Philip was one of those who did not know Him; so that, when He said, "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know," He is understood as having spoken to those that knew, and not to Philip, who has it said to him, " Have I been so long time with you, and have ye not known me, Philip?" To such, then, as already knew the Son, was it now also said of the Father, "And from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him:" for such words were used because of the all-sided likeness subsisting between the Father and the Son; so that, because they knew the Son, they might henceforth be said to know the Father. Already, therefore, they knew the Son, if not all of them, those at least to whom it is said, "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know; " for He is Himself the way. But they knew not the Father, and so have also to hear, *' If ye have known me, ye have known my Father also;'' that is, through me ye have known Him also. For I am one, and He another. But that they might not think Him unlike, He adds, "And from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him." For they saw His perfectly resembling Son, but needed to have the truth impressed on them, that exactly such as was the Son whom they saw, was the Father also whom they did not see. And to this points what is afterwards said to Philij"), "He that seeth me, seeth also the Father." Not that He Himself was Father and Son, which is a notion of the Sabellians, who are also called Patripassians," condemned by the Catholic faith; but that Fatlier and Son are so alike, that he who knoweth one knoweth both. For we are accustomed to speak in this way of two who closely resemble each ' That is, those who ascribed siilTerins; Id the Father; because the Sabellians, denyinji the distinct personality of the Son, and re-KardinK Him as only a special revelation of (Jod the Father, were charKeable, therefore, with holdinK that it was Ciod the Father who ically suffered and died on the cross. — Tk.
Other, to those who are in the habit of seeincr one of them, and wish to know what like the other is, so that we say. In seeing the one, you have seen the other. In this way, then, is it said " He that seeth me, seeth also the Father." Not, certainly, that He who is the Son is also the Father, but that the Son in no respect disagrees with the likeness of the Father. For had not the Father and Son been two persons, it would not have been said, " If ye have known me, ye have known my Father also." Such is certainly the case, for "no one," He says, " cometh unto the Father but by me: if ye have known me, ye have known my Father also; " because it is I, who am the only way to the Father, that will lead you to Him, that He also may Himself become known to you. But as I am in all respects His perfect image, " from henceforth ye know Him" in knowing me; "and have seen Him," if you have seen me with the spiritual eyesight of the soul.
3. Why, then, Philip, dost thou say," Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us? Have I been so long time with you, and yet have ye not known me, Philip? He that seeth me, seeth the Father also." If it interests thee much to see this, believe at least what thou seest not. For "how," He says, " sayest thou. Show us the Father?" If thou hast seen me, who am His perfect likeness, thou hast seen Him to whom I am like. And if thou canst not directly see this, " believest thou not,'' at least, " that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" But Philip might say here, " I see Thee indeed, and believe Thy full likeness to the Father; but is one to be reproved and rebuked because, when he sees one who bears a likeness to another, he wishes to see that other to whom he is like? I know, indeed, the image, but as yet I know only the one without the other; it is not enough for me, unless I know that other whose likeness he bears. Show us, therefore, the Father, and it sufficeth us." But the Master really reproved the disciple because He saw into the heart of his questioner. For it was with tiie idea, as if the Fatlier were somehow better than the Son, that Philip had the desire to know the Father: and so he did not even know the Son, because believing that He was inferior to another. It was to correct such a notion that it was said, " He that seeth me, seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, Show us the Father?'' I see the meaning of thy words: it is not the original likeness thou seekest to see, but it is that other thou thinkest the superior. " Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" Why desirest thou to dis- [Tractate LXXI.
cover some distance between those who are thus aUke? why cravest thou the separate knowledge of those who cannot be separated? What, after this, He says not only to Philip, but to all of them together, must not now be thrust into a corner, in order that, by His help, it may be the more carefully expounded.
TRACTATE LXXI.
Chapter XIV. 10-14.
1. Give close attention, and try to understand, beloved; for while it is we who speak, it is He Himself who never withdraweth His presence from us who is our Teacher. The Lord saith, what you have just heard read, "The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father, that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works." Even His words, then, are works? Clearly so. For surely he that edifies a neighbor by what he says, works a good work. But what mean the words, " I speak not of myself," but, I who speak am not of myself? Hence He attributes what He does to Him, of whom He, that doeth them, is. For the Father is not God [as born, etc.] of any one else, while the Son is God, as equal, indeed, to the Father, but [as born] of God the Father. Therefore the former is God, but not of God; and the Light, but not of light: whereas the latter is God of God, Light of Light.
2. For in connection with these two clauses, — the one where it is said, " I speak not of myself;" and the other, which runs, "but the Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works," — we are opposed by two different classes of heretics, who, by each of them holding only to one clause, run off, not in one, but opposite directions, and wander far from the pathway of truth. For instance, the Arians say. See here, the Son is not equal to the Father, He speaketh not of Himself. The Sabellians, or Patripassians, on the other hand, say, See, He who is the Father is also the Son; for what else is this, " The P'ather that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works," but I that do them dwell in myself? You make contrary assertions, and that not only in the sense that any one thing is false, that is, contrary to truth, but in this also, when two things that are both false contradict one another. In your wanderings you have taken opposite directions; midway between the two is the path you have left. You are a far longer distance apart from each other than from the very way you have both forsaken.
Come hither, you from the one side, and you from the other: pass not across, the one to the other, but come from both sides to us, and make this the place of your mutual meeting. Ye Sabellians, acknowledge the Being you overlook; Arians, set Him whom you subordinate in His place of equality, and you will both be walking with us in the pathway of truth. For you have grounds on both sides that make mutual admonition a duty. Listen, Sabellian: so far is the Son from being the same as the Father, and so truly is He another, that the Arian maintains His inferiority to the Father, Listen, Arian: so truly is the Son equal to the Father, that the Sabellian declares Him to be identical with the Father. Do thou restore the personality thou hast abstracted, and thou, the full dignity thou hast lowered, and both of you stand together on the same ground as ourselves: because the one of you [who has been an Arian], for the conviction of the Sabellian, never lets out of sight the personality of Him who is distinct from the Father, and the other [who has been a Sabellian] takes care, for the conviction of the Arian, of not impairing the dignity of Him who is equal with the Father. For to both of you He cries,, "I and my Father are one."' When He^says "one," let the Arians listen; when He says, "we are," let the Sabellians give heed, and no longer continue in the folly of denying, the one. His equality [with the Father], the other, His distinct personality. If, then, in saying, "The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself," He is thereby accounted of a power so inferior, that what He doeth is not what He Himself willeth; listen to what He also said, "As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will." And so likewise, if in saying, " The Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works," He is on that account not to be regarded as distinct in I Chap. X. 30.
Tractate LXXIL] person from the Father, let us listen to His other words, " What things soever the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise;"' and He will be understood as speaking not of one person twice over, but of two who are one. But just because their mutual equality is such as not to interfere with their distinct personality, therefore He speaketh not of Hmiself, because He is not of Himself; and the Father also, that dwelleth in Him, Himself doeth the works, because He, by whom and with whom He doeth them, is not, save of [the Father] Himself. And then He goes on to say, " Believe ye not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? Or else believe me for the very works' sake." Formerly it was Philip only who was reproved, but now it is shown that he was not the only one there that needed reproof. " For the very works' s-ake," He says, " believe ye that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: " for had we been separated, we should have been unable to do any kind of work inseparably.
3. But what is this that follows? " Verily, veril}', I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater workb than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.'' And so He promised that He Himself would also do those greater works. Let not the servant exalt himself above his Lord, or the disciple above his Master.- He says that they will do greater works than He doeth Himself; but it is all by His doing such in or ' Chap. V. 21, 19.
' Chap. xiii. 16.
by them, and not as if they did them of themselves. Hence the song that is addressed to Him, " I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength. "3 gut what, then, are those greater works? Was it that their very shadow, as they themselves passed by, healed the sick?'* For it is a mightier thing for a shadow, than for the hem of a garment, to possess the power of healing. 5 The one work was done by Christ Himself, the other by them; and yet it was He that did both. Nevertheless, when He so spake, He was commending the efficacious power *^ of His own words: for it was in this sense He had said, " The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works." What works was He then referring to, but the words He was speaking? They were hearing and believing, and their faith was the fruit of those very words: howbeit, when the disciples preached the gospel, it was not small numbers like themselves, but nations also that believed; and such, doubtless, are greater works. And yet He said not. Greater works than these shall ye do, to lead us to suppose that it was only the apostles who would do so; for He added, " He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.'' Is the case then so, that he that believeth on Christ doeth the same works as Christ, or even greater than He did? Points like these are not to be treated in a cursory way, nor ought they to be hurriedly disposed of; and, therefore, as our present discourse must be brought to a close, we are obliged to defer their further consideration.
3 Ps. xviii. I. 5 Matt. xiv. 36.
TRACTATE LXXII ON THE SAME PASSAGE.
I. It is no easy matter to comprehend what is meant by, or in what sense we are to receive, these words of the Lord, *' He that believeth on me. the works that I do shall he do also: " and then, to this great difficulty in the way of our understanding, He has added another still more difficult, "And greater things than these shall he do." What are we to make of it? We have not found one who did such works as Christ did; and are we likely to find one who will do even greater?
But we remarked in our last discourse, that it was a greater deed to heal the sick by the passing of their shadow, as was done by the disciples, than as the Lord Himself did by the touch of the hem of His garment; antl that more believed on the apostles than on the Lord Himself, when preaching with His own lips; so that we might suppose works like these to be understood as greater: not that the disciple was to be greater than his Master, or the servant than his Lord, or the JO^ [Tractate LXXII.
adopted son than the Only-begotten, or man than God, but that by them He Himself would condescend to do these greater works, while telling them in another passage, " Without me ye can do nothing."' While He Himself, on the other hand, to say nothing of His other works, which are numberless^ made them without any aid from themselves, and without them made this world; and because He Himself thought meet to become man, without them He made also Himself. But what have they [made or done] without Him, save sin? And last of all. He straightway also withdrew from the subject all that could cause us agitation; for after saying, " He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; " He immediately went on to add, "' Because I go unto the Father; and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do." He who had said, "He will do," afterwards said, "I will do;" as if He had said, Let not this appear to you impossible; for he that believeth on me can never become greater than I am, but it is I who shall then be doing greater things than now; greater things by him that believeth on me, than by myself apart from him; yet it is I myself apart from him,^ and I myself by him [that will do the works]: and as it is apart from him, it is not he that will do them; and as, on the other hand, it is by him, although not by his own self, it is he also that will do them. And besides, to do greater things by one than apart from one, is not a sign of deficiency, but of condescension. For what can servants render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards them?^ And sometimes He hath condescended to number this also amongst His other benefits towards them, namely, to do greater works by them than apart from them. Did not that rich man go away sad from His presence, when seeking counsel about eternal life? He heard, and cast it away: and yet in after days the counsel that fell on his ears was followed, not by one, but by many, when the good Master was speaking by the disciples; He was an object of contempt to the rich man, when warned by Himself directly, and of love to those whom by means of poor men He transformed from rich into poor. Here, then, you see. He did greater works when preached by believers, than when speaking Himself to hearers. 2. But there is still something to excite I Chap. XV. 5.
^ That is, here, " without any self-originating aid of his,'' as if he had any independent and meritorious share in the work. Augustin plays on the prepositions, /cr (euvi), and prceter (etttit). — Tr.
3 Ps. cxvi. 12.
thought in His doing such greater works by the apostles; for He said not, as if merely with reference to them. The works that I do shall ye do also; and greater works than these shall ye do: but wishing to be understood as speaking of all that belonged to His family, said, " He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do." If, then, he that believeth shall do such works, he that shall do them not is certainly no believer: just as " He that loveth me, keepeth my commandments,"'' implies, of course, that he: who keepeth them not, loveth not. In another place, also. He says, " He that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, who buildeth his house upon a rock; "5 j^d he, therefore, who is unlike this wise man, without doubt either heareth these sayings and doeth them not, or faileth even to hear them. " He that believeth m me," He says, ''though he die, yet shall he live;"* and he, therefore, that shall not live, is certainly no believer now. In a similar way, ajso, it is said here, "He that believeth in me shall do [such works]: " he is, therefore, no believer who shall not do so. What have we here, then, brethren? Is it that one is not to be reckoned among believers in Christ, who shall not do greater works than Christ? It were hard, unreasonable, intolerable, to suppose so; that is, unless it be rightly understood. Let us listen, then, to the apostle, when he says, "To him that believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. ' ' ^ This is the work in which we may be doing the works of Christ, for even our very believing in Christ is the work of Christ. It is this He worketh in us, not certainly without us. Hear now, then, and understand, " He that believeth on me, the works thaLl do shall he do also:" I do them first, and he shall do them afterwards; for I do such works that he may do them also. And what are the works, but the making of a righteous man out of an ungodly one?
3. "And greater works than these shall he do." Than what, pray? Shall we say that one is doing greater works than all that Christ did who is working out his own salvation with fear and trembling? ^ A work which Christ is certainly working in him, but not without him; and one which I might, without hesitation, call greater than the heavens and the earth, and all in both within the compass of our vision. For both heaven and earth shall pass away,^ but the salvation and justi- 4 Chap. xiv. 21. 7 Rom, iv, 5.
5 Matt. vii. 24. 8 Phil. ii. 12.
6 Chap. xi. 25. 9 Matt. xxiv. 35.
Tractate LXXIII.]
1 " T fication of those predestinated thereto, that is, of those whom He foreknoweth, shall continue forever. In the former there is only the work'ing of God, but in the latter there is also His image. But there are also in the heavens, thrones, governments, principalities, powers, archangels, and angels, which are all of them the work of Christ; and is it, then, greater works also than these that he doeth, who, with Christ working in him, is a coworker in his own eternal salvation and justification? I dare not call for any hurried decision on such a point: let him who can, understand, and let him who can, judge whether it is a greater work to create righteous beings than to make righteous the ungodly. For at least, if there is equal power employed in both, there is greater mercy in the latter. For " this is the great mystery of godliness which was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." ' But when He said, " Greater works than these shall he do," there I I Tim. iii. i6. On account of the well-known textual controversy among Biblicists, this passage, as quoted by Augustin, is so far valuable, as it shows us how he read and understood the point in dispute, namely, whether it is " God was manifested " (as in our English version), or, " who [which] was manifested," as here by Augustin • in other words, whether the original text read ®e6? or OS before e<}>avipui0ri. The evidence is almost equally divided between the two; and the difficulty is chiefly caused by the ciris no necessity requiring us to suppose that all of Christ's works are to be understood. For He spake, perhaps, only of these He was now doing; and the work He was doing at that time was uttering the words of faith, and of such works specially had He spoken just before when He said, "The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father, that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works." His words, accordingly, were His works. And it is assuredly something less to preach the words of righteousness, which He did apart from us, than to justify the ungodly, W'hich He does in such a way in us that we also are doing it ourselves. It remains for us to inquire how the words are to be understood, " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I will do it." Because of the many things His believing ones ask. and receive not, there is no small question claiming our attention; but as this discourse must now be concluded, we must allow at least a little delay for its consideration and discussion.