Other Writings, Part 11

We have arrived, as the Lord has willed it, to the day of our promise. He will grant this also, that we may arrive at the fulfillment of the promise. For then those things which we say, if they are useful to us and to you, are from Him; but those things which proceed from man are false, as our Lord Jesus Christ Himself has said, He that speaks a lie speaks of his own. [John 8:44] No one has anything of his own except falsehood and sin. But if man has any truth and justice, it is from that fountain after which we ought to thirst in this desert, so that being, as it were, bedewed by some drops from it, and comforted in the meantime in this pilgrimage, we may not fail by the way, but reach His rest and satisfying fullness. If then he that speaks a lie speaks of his own, he who speaks the truth speaks of God. John is true, Christ is the Truth; John is true, but every true man is true from the Truth. If, then, John is true, and a man cannot be true except from the Truth, from whom was he true, unless from Him who said, I am the truth? [John 14:6] The Truth, then, could not speak contrary to the true man, or the true man contrary to the Truth. The Truth sent the true man, and he was true because sent by the Truth. If it was the Truth that sent John, then it was Christ that sent him. But that which Christ does with the Father, the Father does; and what the Father does with Christ, Christ does. The Father does nothing apart from the Son, nor the Son anything apart from the Father: inseparable love, inseparable unity: inseparable majesty, inseparable power, according to these words which He Himself propounded, I and my Father are one. [John 10:30] Who then sent John? If we say the Father, we speak truly; if we say the Son, we speak truly; but to speak more plainly, we say the Father and the Son. But whom the Father and the Son sent, one God sent; because the Son said, I and the Father are one. How, then, did he not know Him by whom he was sent? For he said, I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me. I interrogate John: Who sent you to baptize with water? What did He say to you? Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. Is it this, O John, that He said to you who sent you? It is manifest that it was this; who, then, sent you? Perhaps the Father. True God is the Father, and the Truth is God the Son: if the Father without the Son sent you, God without the Truth sent you; but if you are true, because you speak the truth, and dost speak of the Truth, the Father did not send you without the Son, but the Father and the Son together sent you. If, then, the Son sent you with the Father, how did you not know Him by whom you were sent? He whom you had seen in the Truth, Himself sent you that He might be recognized in the flesh, and said, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost.

2. Did John hear this that he might know Him whom he had not known, or that he might more fully know Him whom he had already known? For if he had been entirely ignorant of Him, he would not have said to Him when He came to the river to be baptized, I have need to be baptized by You, and You come to me? [Matthew 3:14] He knew Him therefore. But when did the dove descend? When the Lord had been baptized, and was ascending from the water. But if He who sent Him said, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost, and he knew Him not, but when the dove descended he learned to know Him, and the time at which the dove descended was when the Lord was going up from the water; but John had known the Lord, when the Lord came to him to the water: it is made plain to us that John after a manner knew, and after a manner did not at first know the Lord. And unless we understand it so, he was a liar. How was he true acknowledging the Lord and saying, Comest Thou to me to be baptized, and, I have need to be baptized by You? Is he true when he said this? And how is he again true when he says, I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He who baptizes with the Holy Ghost? The Lord was made known by a dove, not to him who knew Him not, but to him who in a manner knew Him, and in a manner knew Him not. It is for us to discover what, in Him, John did not know, and learned by the dove.

3. Why was John sent baptizing? Already, I recollect, I have explained that to you, beloved, according to my ability. For if the baptism of John was necessary for our salvation, it ought even now to be used. For we cannot think that men are not saved now, or that more are not saved now, or that there was one salvation then, another now. If Christ has been changed, the salvation has also been changed; if salvation is in Christ, and Christ Himself is the same, there is the same salvation to us. But why was John sent baptizing? Because it behooved Christ to be baptized. Wherefore did it behoove Christ to be baptized? Wherefore did it behoove Christ to be born? Wherefore did it behoove Christ to be crucified? For if He had come to point out the way of humility, and to make Himself the way of humility; in all things had humility to be fulfilled by Him. He deigned from this to give authority to His own baptism, that His servants might know with what alacrity they ought to run to the baptism of the Lord, when He Himself did not refuse to receive the baptism of a servant. This favor was bestowed upon John that it should be called his baptism.

4. Give heed to this, exercise your discrimination, and know it, beloved. The baptism which John received is called the baptism of John: alone he received such a gift. No one of the just before him and no one after him so received a baptism that it should be called his baptism. He received it indeed, for of himself he could do nothing: for if any one speaks of his own, he speaks of his own a lie. And whence did he receive it except from the Lord Jesus Christ? From Him he received power to baptize whom he afterwards baptized. Do not marvel; for Christ acted in the same manner in respect to John as in respect to His mother. For concerning Christ it was said, All things were made by Him. [John 1:3] If all things were made by him, Mary also was made by Him, of whom Christ was afterwards born. Give heed, beloved; in the same manner that He did create Mary, and was created by Mary, so did He give the baptism of John, and was baptized by John.

5. For this purpose therefore did He receive baptism from John, in order that, receiving what was inferior from an inferior, He might exhort inferiors to receive that which was superior. But wherefore was not He alone baptized by John, if John, by whom Christ was baptized, was sent for this end, to prepare a way for the Lord, that is, for Christ Himself? This we have already explained, but we recur to it, because it is necessary for the present question. If our Lord Jesus Christ had been alone baptized with the baptism of John;— hold fast what we say; let not the world have such power as to efface from your hearts what the Spirit of God has written there; let not the thorns of care have such power as to choke the seed which is being sown in you: for why are we compelled to repeat the same things, but because we are not sure of the memory of your hearts?— and if then the Lord alone had been baptized with the baptism of John, there would be persons who would so reckon it, that the baptism of John was greater than is the baptism of Christ. For they would say, that baptism is so much the greater, that Christ alone deserved to be baptized with it. Therefore, that an example of humility might be given us by the Lord, that the salvation of baptism might be obtained by us, Christ accepted what for Him was not necessary, but on our account was necessary. And again, lest that which Christ received from John should be preferred to the baptism of Christ, others also were permitted to be baptized by John. But for those who were baptized by John that baptism did not suffice: for they were baptized with the baptism of Christ; because the baptism of John was not the baptism of Christ. Those who receive the baptism of Christ do not seek the baptism of John; those who received the baptism of John sought the baptism of Christ. Therefore was the baptism of John sufficient for Christ. How should it not be sufficient, when not even it was necessary? For to Him was no baptism necessary; but in order to exhort us to receive His baptism, He received the baptism of His servant. And lest the baptism of the servant should be preferred to the baptism of the Lord, other fellow-servants were baptized with the baptism of the servant. But it behooved those fellow-servants who were baptized with that baptism to be likewise baptized with the baptism of the Lord: but those who were baptized with the baptism of the Lord do not require the baptism of the fellow-servant.

6. Since, then, John had accepted a baptism which may be properly called the baptism of John, but the Lord Jesus Christ would not give His baptism to any, not that no one should be baptized with the baptism of the Lord, but that the Lord Himself should always baptize: that was done, that the Lord should baptize by means of servants; that is to say, those whom the servants of the Lord were to baptize, the Lord baptized, not they. For it is one thing to baptize in the capacity of a servant, another thing to baptize with power. For baptism derives its character from Him through whose power it is given; not from him through whose ministry it is given. As was John, so was his baptism: the righteous baptism of a righteous man; but of a man who had received from the Lord that grace, and so great grace, that he was worthy to be the forerunner of the Judge, and to point Him out with the finger, and to fulfill the saying of that prophecy: The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way for the Lord. [Isaiah 40:3] As was the Lord, such was His baptism: the baptism of the Lord, then, was divine, because the Lord was God.

7. But the Lord Jesus Christ could, if He wished, have given power to one of His servants to give a baptism of his own, as it were, in His stead, and have transferred from Himself the power of baptizing, and assigned it to one of His servants, and have given the same power to the baptism transferred to the servant as it had when bestowed by the Lord. This He would not do, in order that the hope of the baptized might be in him by whom they acknowledged themselves to have been baptized. He would not, therefore, that the servant should place his hope in the servant. And therefore the apostle exclaimed, when he saw men wishing to place their hope in himself, Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? [1 Corinthians 1:13] Paul then baptized as a servant, not as the power itself; but the Lord baptized as the power. Give heed. He was both able to give this power to His servants, and unwilling. For if He had given this power to His servants — that is to say, that what belonged to the Lord should be theirs — there would have been as many baptisms as servants; so that, as we speak of the baptism of John, we should also have spoken of the baptism of Peter, the baptism of Paul, the baptism of James, the baptism of Thomas, of Matthew, of Bartholomew: for we spoke of that baptism as that of John. But perhaps some one objects, and says, Prove to us that that baptism was called the baptism of John. I will prove it from the very words of the Truth Himself, when He asked the Jews, The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven, or of men? [Matthew 21:25] Therefore, lest as many baptisms should be spoken of as there are servants who received power from the Lord to baptize, the Lord kept to Himself the power of baptizing, and gave to His servants the ministry. The servant says that he baptizes; he says so rightly, as the apostle says, And I baptized also the household of Stephanas; [1 Corinthians 1:16] but as a servant. Therefore, if even he be bad, and he happen to have the ministration of baptism, and if men do not know him, but God knows him, God, who has kept the power to Himself, permits baptism to be administered through him.

8. But this John did not know in the Lord. That He was the Lord he knew, and that he ought to be baptized by Him he knew; and he confessed that He was the Truth, and that he, the true man, was sent by the Truth: this he knew. But what was in Him which he knew not? That he was about to retain to Himself the power of His baptism, and was not to transmit or transfer it to any servant; but that, whether a good servant baptized in a ministerial manner, or whether an evil servant baptized, the person baptized should not know that he was baptized, unless by Him who kept to Himself the power of baptizing. And that you may know, brethren, what John did not know in Him, he learned it by means of the dove: for he knew the Lord; but that He was to retain to Himself the power of baptizing, and not to give it to any servant, he did not yet know. Regarding this he said, I knew Him not. And that you may know that he there learned this, give heed to what follows: But He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He. What same is He? The Lord? But he already knew the Lord. Suppose, then, that John had said thus far, I knew Him not: but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said to me — We ask, what He said? It follows: Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him. I do not say what follows. In the meantime give heed: Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He. But what same is He? What did He who sent me mean to teach me by means of a dove? That He was Himself the Lord. Already I knew by whom I was sent; already I knew Him to whom I said, Comest Thou to me to be baptized? I have need to be baptized by You. So far, then, did I know the Lord, that I wished to be baptized by Him, not that He should be baptized by me; and then He said to me, Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. [Matthew 3:15] I came to suffer; do I not come to be baptized? Let all righteousness be fulfilled, says my God to me. Let all righteousness be fulfilled; let me teach entire humility. I know that there will be proud ones in my future people; I know that some men then will be eminent in some grace, so that when they see ordinary persons baptized, they, because they consider themselves better, whether in continence, or in almsgiving, or in doctrine, will perhaps not deign to receive what has been received by their inferiors. It was needful that I should heal them, so that they should not disdain to come to the baptism of the Lord, because I came to the baptism of the servant.

9. Already, then, John knew this, and he knew the Lord. What then did the dove teach? What did He desire to teach by means of the dove — that is, by means of the Holy Spirit thus coming to teach who had sent him to whom He said, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He? Who is this He? The Lord? I know. But did you already know this, that the same Lord having the power to baptize, was not to give that power to any servant, but to retain it to Himself, so that all who were baptized by the ministration of the servant, should not impute their baptism to the servant, but to the Lord? Did you already know this? I did not know this: so what did He say to me? Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, the same is He who baptizes with the Holy Ghost. He does not say, He is the Lord; He does not say, He is the Christ; He does not say, He is God; He does not say, He is Jesus; He does not say, He is the One who was born of the Virgin Mary, after you, before you. This He does not say, for this John did already know. But what did he not know? That this great authority of baptism the Lord Himself was to have, and to retain to Himself, whether present in the earth or absent in body in the heaven, and present in majesty; lest Paul should say, my baptism; lest Peter should say, my baptism. Therefore see, give heed to the words of the apostles. None of the apostles said, my baptism. Although there was one gospel of all, yet you find that they said, my gospel: you do not find that they say, my baptism.

10. This, then, my brethren, John learned. What John learned by means of the dove let us also learn. For the dove did not teach John without teaching the Church, the Church to which it was said, My dove is one. [Song of Songs 6:8] Let the dove teach the dove; let the dove know what John learned by the dove. The Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove. But this which John learned in the dove, wherefore did he learn it in the dove? For it behooved him to learn, and perhaps it did not so much behoove him to learn as to learn by the dove. What shall I say, my brethren, concerning the dove? Or when will faculty of tongue or heart suffice to speak as I wish? And perchance, my wish falls short of my duty in speaking; even if I were able to speak as I wish, how much less am I able to speak as I ought? I could wish to hear one better than myself speak this, rather than speak of it to you.

11. John learns to know Him whom he knew; but he learns in Him with regard to what he did not know; with regard to what he did know, he does not learn. And what did he know? The Lord. What did he not know? That the power of the Lord's baptism was not to pass from the Lord to any man, but that the ministration of it plainly would do so; the power from the Lord to no one, the ministration both to good and bad. Let not the dove shrink from the ministration of the bad, but have regard to the power of the Lord. What injury does a bad servant do to you where the Lord is good? What impediment can the malicious herald put in your way if the judge is well-disposed? John learned by means of the dove this. What is it that he learned? Let him repeat it himself. The same said to me, says he, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding on Him, this is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. Let not those seducers deceive you, O dove, who say, We baptize. Acknowledge, dove, what the dove has taught: This is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. By means of the dove we are taught that this is He; and do you think that you are baptized by his authority by whose ministration you are baptized? If you think this, you are not as yet in the body of the dove; and if you are not in the body of the dove, it is not to be wondered at that you have not simplicity; for by means of the dove, simplicity is chiefly designated.

12. Wherefore, my brethren, by the simplicity of the dove did John learn that This is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost, unless to show that these are not doves who have scattered the Church? Hawks they were, and kites. The dove does not tear. And you see that they hold us up to hatred, for the persecutions, as they call them, which they have suffered. Bodily persecutions, indeed, if they are to be so called, they have suffered, since these were the scourges of the Lord, plainly administering temporal correction, lest He should have to condemn them eternally, if they did not acknowledge it and amend themselves. They truly persecute the Church who persecute by means of deceit; they strike the heart more heavily who strike with the sword of the tongue; they shed blood more bitterly who, as far as they can, slay Christ in man. They seem to be in fear, as it were, of the judgment of the authorities. What does the authority do to you if you are good? But if you are evil, fear the authority; For he bears not the sword in vain, [Romans 13:4] says the apostle. Draw not the sword wherewith you strike Christ. Christian, what do you persecute in a Christian? What did the Emperor persecute in you? He persecuted the flesh; you in a Christian persecute the Spirit. You do not slay the flesh. And, nevertheless, they do not spare the flesh; as many as they were able, they slew with the sword; they spared neither their own nor strangers. This is known to all. The authority is hated because it is legitimate; he acts in a hated manner who acts according to the law; he acts without incurring hatred who acts contrary to the laws. Give heed, each one of you, my brethren, to what the Christian possesses. His humanity he has in common with many, his Christianity distinguishes him from many, and his Christianity belongs to him more strictly than his humanity. For, as a Christian, he is renewed after the image of God, by whom man was made after the image of God; [Colossians 3:10] but as a man he might be bad, he might be a pagan, he might be an idolater. This you persecute in the Christian, which is his better part; for this by which he lives you wish to take away from him. For he lives tempo rally according to the spirit of life, by which his body is animated, but he lives for eternity according to the baptism which he received from the Lord; you wish to take this away from him which he received from the Lord, this you wish to take away from him by which he lives. Robbers, with regard to those whom they wish to despoil, have the purpose to enrich themselves and to deprive their victims of all that they have; but you take from him, and with you there will not be anything more, for there does not accrue more to you because you take from him. But, truly, they do the same as those who take away the natural life: they take it away from another, and yet they themselves have not two lives.

13. What, then, do you wish to take away? What displeases you in the man whom you wish to rebaptize? You are not able to give what he already has, but you make him deny what he has. What greater cruelty did the pagan persecutor of the Church commit? Swords were stretched out against the martyrs, wild beasts were let loose, fires were applied: for what purpose these things? In order that the sufferer might be induced to say, I am not a Christian. What do you teach him whom you wish to rebaptize, unless that he first say, I am not a Christian? For the same purpose for which the persecutor put forth the flame, you put forth the tongue; you do by seducing what he did not do by slaying. And what is it you give, and to whom are you to give it? If he tells you the truth, and does not lie, seduced by you, he will say, I have. Thou ask, Have you baptism? I have, he says. As long as he says, I have, you say, I will not give. And do not give, for that which you wish to give cannot cleave to me; because what I received cannot be taken away from me. But wait, nevertheless; let me see what you would teach me. Say, he said, in the first place, I have not. But this I have; if I shall say, I have not, I lie; for what I have I have. You have not, he says. Teach me that I have it not. An evil man gave it to you. If Christ is evil, an evil man did give it to me. Christ, he says, is not evil; but Christ did not give it to you. Who then gave it to me? Reply, I know that I received it from Christ. He who gave it to you, he says, was not Christ, but some traditor. I shall see to it who was the minister; I shall see who was the herald. Concerning the official, I do not dispute; I give heed to the Judge: and, perchance, in your objection to the official, you speak falsely. But I decline to discuss it; let the Lord of both decide the cause of His own official. If, perhaps, I were to ask for proof, you could give none; indeed, you lie, it has been proved that you were not able to give proof. But I do not place my case on this, lest from my zealous defense of innocent men you infer that I have placed my hope even on innocent men. Let the men be what they may, I received from Christ, I was baptized by Christ. No, he says; not Christ, but that bishop baptized you, and that bishop communicates to them. By Christ I have been baptized, I know. How do you know? The dove taught me, which John saw. O evil kite, you may not tear me from the bowels of the dove. I am numbered among the members of the dove, because what the dove taught, this I know. You say to me, This man or that baptized you: by means of the dove it is said to me and to you, This is He which baptizes. Which shall I believe, the kite or the dove?

14. Tell me certainly, that you may be confounded by that lamp by which also were the former enemies confounded, who were like to you, the Pharisees, who, when they questioned the Lord by what authority He did those things: I also, said He, will ask you this question, Tell me, the baptism of John, whence is it? From heaven, or of men? And they, who were preparing to spread their wiles, were entangled by the question, and began to debate with themselves, and say, If we shall answer, It is from heaven, He will say unto us, Wherefore did ye not believe him? For John had said of the Lord, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! [John 1:29] Why then do you inquire by what authority I act? O wolves, what I do, I do by the authority of the Lamb. But that you may know the Lamb, why do you not believe John, who said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world? They, then, knowing what John had said regarding the Lord, said among themselves, If we shall say that John's baptism is from heaven, He will say unto us, Wherefore then did ye not believe him? If we shall say, It is of men, the people will stone us; for they hold John as a prophet. Hence, they feared men; hence, they were confounded to confess the truth. Darkness replied with darkness; but they were overcome by the light. For what did they reply? We know not; regarding that which they knew, they said, We know not. And the Lord said, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. [Matthew 21:23-27] And the first enemies were confounded. How? By the lamp. Who was the lamp? John. Can we prove that he was the lamp? We can prove it; for the Lord says: He was a burning and a shining lamp. [John 5:35] Can we prove also that the enemies were confounded by him? Listen to the psalm: I have prepared, he says, a lamp for my Christ. His enemies I will clothe with shame.

15. As yet, in the darkness of this life, we walk by the lamp of faith: let us hold also to the lamp John, and let us confound by him the enemies of Christ; indeed, let Christ Himself confound His own enemies by His own lamp. Let us put the question which the Lord put to the Jews, let us ask and say, The baptism of John, whence is it? From heaven, or of men? What will they say? Mark, if they are not as enemies confounded by the lamp. What will they say? If they shall say, Of men, even their own will stone them; but if they shall say, From heaven, let us say to them, Wherefore, then, did ye not believe him? They perhaps say, We believe him. Wherefore, then, do you say that you baptize, when John says, This is He which baptizes? But it behooves, they say, the ministers of so great a Judge who baptize, to be righteous. And I also say, and all say, that it behooves the ministers of so great a Judge to be righteous; let the ministers, by all means, be righteous if they will; but if they will not be righteous who sit in the seat of Moses, my Master made me safe, of whom His Spirit said, This is He which baptizes. How did He make me safe? The scribes and the Pharisees, He says, sit in Moses' seat: what they say, do; but what they do, that do not ye: for they say, and do not. [Matthew 23:2-3] If the minister is righteous, I reckon him with Paul, I reckon him with Peter; with those I reckon righteous ministers: because, in truth, righteous ministers seek not their own glory; for they are ministers, they do not wish to be thought judges, they abhor that one should place his hope on them; therefore, I reckon the righteous minister with Paul. For what does Paul say? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. Neither is he that plants anything, nor he that waters; but God who gives the increase. [1 Corinthians 3:6-7] But he who is a proud minister is reckoned with the devil; but the gift of Christ is not contaminated, which flows through him pure, which passes through him liquid, and comes to the fertile earth. Suppose that he is stony, that he cannot from water rear fruit; even through the stony channel the water passes, the water passes to the garden beds; in the stony channel it causes nothing to grow, but nevertheless it brings much fruit to the gardens. For the spiritual virtue of the sacrament is like the light: both by those who are to be enlightened is it received pure, and if it passes through the impure it is not stained. Let the ministers be by all means righteous, and seek not their own glory, but His glory whose ministers they are; let them not say, The baptism is mine; for it is not theirs. Let them give heed unto John. Behold, John was full of the Holy Spirit; and he had his baptism from heaven, not from men; but how long had he it? He said himself, Prepare the way for the Lord. [John 1:23] But when the Lord was known, Himself became the way; there was no longer need for the baptism of John to prepare the way for the Lord.

16. What, however, are they accustomed to say against us? Behold, after John, baptism was given. For before that question was properly treated in the Catholic Church, many erred in it, both great and good men; but because they were members of the dove, they did not cut themselves off, and in their case that happened which the apostle said, If in anything you are otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. [Philippians 3:15] Whence those who separated themselves became unteachable. What then are they wont to say? Behold, after John baptism was given; after heretical baptism is it not to be given? Because certain who had the baptism of John were commanded by Paul to be baptized, [Acts 19:3-5] for they had not the baptism of Christ. Why then, say they, do you exaggerate the merit of John, and, as it were, underrate the misery of heretics? I also grant to you that the heretics are wicked; but the heretics gave the baptism of Christ, which baptism John did not give.

17. I go back to John, and say, This is he which baptizes. For John is better than a heretic, just as John is better than a drunkard, as John is better than a murderer. If we ought to baptize after the worse because the apostles baptized after the better, whosoever among them were baptized by a drunkard — I do not say by a murderer, I do not say by the satellite of some wicked man, I do not say by the robber of other men's goods, I do not say by the oppressor of orphans, or a separater of married persons; I speak of none of these; I speak of what happens every year, of what happens every day; I speak of what all are called to, even in this city, when it is said to them, Let us play the part of the irrational, let us have pleasure, and on such a day as this of the calends of January we ought not to fast: these are the things I speak of, these trifling everyday proceedings — when one is baptized by a drunkard, who is better? John or the drunkard? Reply, if you can, that the drunkard is better than John! This you will never venture to do. Do you then, as a sober man, baptize after your drunkard. For if the apostles baptized after John, how much more ought the sober to baptize after the drunkard? Or do you say, the drunkard is in unity with me? Was not John then, the friend of the Bridegroom, in unity with the Bridegroom?

18. But I say to you yourself, whoever you are, Are you better than John? You will not venture to say: I am better than John. Then let your own baptize after you if they are better. For if baptism was administered after John, blush that baptism is not administered after you. You will say, But I have and teach the baptism of Christ. Acknowledge, then, now the Judge, and do not be a proud herald. You give the baptism of Christ, therefore baptism is not administered after you: after John it was administered, because he gave not the baptism of Christ, but his own; for he had in such manner received it that it was his own. You are then not better than John: but the baptism given through you is better than that of John; for the one is Christ's, but the other is that of John. And that which was given by Paul, and that which was given by Peter, is Christ's; and if baptism was given by Judas it was Christ's. Judas gave baptism and after Judas baptism was not repeated; John gave baptism, and baptism was repeated after John: because if baptism was given by Judas, it was the baptism of Christ; but that which was given by John, was John's baptism. We prefer not Judas to John; but the baptism of Christ, even when given by the hand of Judas, we prefer to the baptism of John, rightly given even by the hand of John. For it was said of the Lord before He suffered, that He baptized more than John; then it was added: Howbeit, Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples. [John 4:1-2] He, and not He: He by power, they by ministry; they performed the service of baptizing, the power of baptizing remained in Christ. His disciples, then, baptized, and Judas was still among his disciples: and were those, then, whom Judas baptized not again baptized; and those whom John baptized were they again baptized? Plainly there was a repetition, but not a repetition of the same baptism. For those whom John baptized, John baptized; those whom Judas baptized, Christ baptized. In like manner, then, they whom a drunkard baptized, those whom a murderer baptized, those whom an adulterer baptized, if it was the baptism of Christ, were baptized by Christ. I do not fear the adulterer, the drunkard, or the murderer, because I give heed unto the dove, through whom it is said to me, This is He which baptizes.

19. But, my brethren, it is madness to say that — I will not say Judas — but that any man was better than he of whom it was said, that Among those that are born of women, there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist. [Matthew 11:11] No servant then is preferred to him; but the baptism of the Lord, even when given through an evil servant, is preferred to the baptism even of a servant who was a friend. Listen to the sort of persons whom the Apostle Paul mentions, false brethren, preaching the word of God through envy, and what he says of them: And I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. [Philippians 1:15-18] They proclaimed Christ, through envy indeed, but still they proclaimed Christ. Consider not the why, but the whom: through envy is Christ preached to you. Behold Christ, avoid envy. Do not imitate the evil preacher, but imitate the Good One who is preached to you. Christ then was preached by some out of envy. And what is envy? A shocking evil. By this evil was the devil cast down; this malignant pest it was which cast him down; and certain preachers of Christ were possessed by it, whom, nevertheless, the apostle permitted to preach. Wherefore? Because they preached Christ. But he who envies, hates; and he who hates, what is said concerning him? Listen to the Apostle John: He who hates his brother is a murderer. [1 John 3:15] Behold, after John baptism was given, after a murderer baptism was not given; because John gave his own baptism, the murderer gave the baptism of Christ. That sacrament is so sacred that not even the ministration of a murderer pollutes it.

20. I do not reject John, but rather I believe John. In what do I believe John? In that which he learned through the dove? What did he learn through the dove? This is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. Now therefore, brethren, hold this fast and impress it upon your hearts; for if I would more fully explain today, Wherefore through the dove? time fails. For I have, I think, to some extent made plain to you, holy brethren, that a matter which had to be learned was instilled into John by means of the dove, a matter with regard to Christ which John did not know, although he already knew Christ; but why it behooved this matter to be pointed out by means of the dove, I would say, were it possible to say it briefly: but because it would take long to say, and I am unwilling to burden you, since I have been helped by your prayers to perform my promise; with the renewed help of your pious attention and good wishes, it will likewise become clear to you, wherefore John with regard to that matter which he learned regarding the Lord, namely, that it is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost, and that to none of His servants had he transferred the power of baptizing— why this it became him not to learn except through the dove.

1. I Confess to you, holy brethren, I was afraid the cold would have made you cold in assembling yourselves together; but since you prove by this, your crowded assembly, that you are fervent in spirit, I doubt not that you have also prayed for me, that I may pay you what I owe. For I promised you in the name of Christ that, as the shortness of the time prevented us from expounding it before, I would today discuss why God was pleased to manifest the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove. That this may be explained, this day has dawned on us; and I perceive that from eagerness to hear, and pious devotion, you have come together in greater number than usual. May God, by our mouth, fulfill your expectation. For your coming together is of your love; but love of what? If of us, even that is well; for we desire to be loved by you, but not in ourselves. Because we love you in Christ, do you love us in Christ in return, and let our love mutually sigh towards God; for the note of the dove is a sighing or moaning.

2. Now if the dove's note is a moaning, as we all know it to be, and doves moan in love, hear what the apostle says, and wonder not that the Holy Ghost willed to be manifested in the form of a dove: For what we should pray for as we ought, says he, we know not; but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. [Romans 8:26] What then, my brethren? Shall we say this, that the Spirit groans where He has perfect and eternal blessedness with the Father and the Son? For the Holy Spirit is God, even as the Son of God is God, and the Father God. I have said God thrice, but not three Gods; for indeed it is God thrice rather than three Gods; because the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one God: this you know full well. It is not then in Himself with Himself in that Trinity, in that blessedness, in that His eternal substance, that the Holy Spirit groans; but in us He groans because He makes us to groan. Nor is it a little matter that the Holy Spirit teaches us to groan, for He gives us to know that we are sojourners in a foreign land, and He teaches us to sigh after our native country; and through that very longing do we groan. He with whom it is well in this world, or rather he who thinks it is well with him, who exults in the joy of carnal things, in the abundance of things temporal, in an empty felicity, has the cry of the raven; for the raven's cry is full of clamor, not of groaning. But he who knows that he is in the pressure of this mortal life, a pilgrim absent from the Lord, [2 Corinthians 5:6] that he does not yet possess that perpetual blessedness which is promised to us, but that he has it in hope, and will have it in reality when the Lord shall come openly in glory who came before in humility concealed; he, I say, who knows this does groan. And so long as it is for this he groans, he does well to groan; it was the Spirit that taught him to groan, he learned it from the dove. Many indeed groan by reason of earthly misery. They are shattered, it may be, by losses, or weighed down by bodily ailment, or shut up in prisons, or bound with chains, or tossed about on the waves of the sea, or hedged in by the ensnaring devices of their enemies. Therefore do they groan, but not with the moaning of the dove, not with love of God, not in the Spirit. Accordingly, when such are delivered from these same afflictions, they exult with loud voices, whereby it is made manifest that they are ravens, not doves. It was with good reason that a raven was sent forth from the ark, and returned not again; a dove was sent forth, and it returned. These two birds Noah sent forth. [Genesis 8:6, 9] He had there the raven, and also the dove. That ark contained both kinds; and if the ark was a figure of the Church, you see indeed that in the present deluge of the world, the Church must of necessity contain both kinds, as well the raven as the dove. Who are the ravens? They who seek their own. Who are the doves? They who seek the things that are Christ's. [Philippians 2:21]

3. Therefore, when He sent the Holy Spirit He manifested Him visibly in two ways — by a dove and by fire: by a dove upon the Lord when He was baptized, by fire upon the disciples when they were gathered together. For when the Lord had ascended into heaven after His resurrection, having spent forty days with His disciples, and the day of Pentecost being fully come, He sent unto them the Holy Spirit as He had promised. Accordingly the Spirit coming at that time filled the place, and there was first a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, and there appeared unto them, it says, cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they began to speak with tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Here we have seen a dove descending upon the Lord; there, cloven tongues upon the assembled disciples: in the former, simplicity is shown; in the latter, fervency. Now there are who are said to be simple, who are only indolent; they are called simple, but they are only slow. Not such was Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost: he was simple, because he injured no one; he was fervent, because he reproved the ungodly. For he held not his peace before the Jews. His are those burning words: You stiff-necked and uncircumcised of heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit. Mighty impetuosity; but it is the dove without gall raging. For that you know that he was fierce without gall, see how, upon hearing these words, they who were the ravens immediately took up stones and rushed together upon this dove. They begin to stone Stephen; and he who a little before stormed and glowed with ardor of spirit, — who had, as it were, made an onset on his enemies, and like one full of violence had attacked them in such fiery and burning words as you have heard, You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, that any one who heard those words might fancy that Stephen, if he were allowed, would have them consumed at once — but when the stones thrown from their hands reached him, with fixed knee he says, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. [Acts 7:51-59] He held fast to the unity of the dove. For his Master, upon whom the dove descended, had done the same thing before him; who, while hanging on the cross, said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. [Luke 23:34] Wherefore by the dove it is shown that they who are sanctified by the Spirit should be without guile; and that their simplicity should not continue cold is shown us by the fire. Nor let it trouble you that the tongues were divided; for tongues are diverse, therefore the appearance was that of cloven tongues. Cloven tongues, it says, as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. There is a diversity of tongues, but the diversity of tongues does not imply schisms. Be not afraid of separation in the cloven tongues; in the dove recognize unity.

4. Hence in this manner it behooved the Holy Spirit to be manifested when coming upon the Lord, that every one might understand that if he has the Holy Spirit he ought to be simple as the dove, to have true peace with his brethren, that peace which the kisses of doves signify. Ravens have their kisses too; but in the case of the ravens it is a false peace, in that of the dove a true peace. Not every one, therefore, who says, Peace be with you, is to be listened to as if he were a dove. How then are the kisses of ravens distinguished from those of doves? Ravens kiss, but they tear; the nature of doves is innocent of tearing. Where consequently there is tearing, there is not true peace in the kisses. They have true peace who have not torn the Church. Ravens feed upon carrion, it is not so with the dove; it lives on the fruits of the earth, its food is innocent. This, brethren, is really worthy of admiration in the dove. Sparrows are very small birds, but yet they kill flies at least. The dove does nothing of this sort, for it does not feed on what is dead. They who have torn the Church feed on the dead. God is mighty; let us pray that they who are devoured by them, and perceive it not, may come to life again. Many acknowledge that they do come to life again, for at their coming we daily express joy with them in the name of Christ. Be simple, but only in such wise that you be fervent, and let your fervor be in your tongues. Hold not your peace, speak with glowing tongues, set those that are cold on fire.

5. For why, my brethren? Who does not see what they do not? And no wonder; for they who are unwilling to return from that are just like the raven that was sent forth from the ark. For who does not see what they see not? They are unthankful even to the Holy Spirit Himself. See, the dove descended upon the Lord, upon the Lord when baptized: and thereupon was manifested that holy and real Trinity, which to us is one God. For the Lord went up out of the water, as we read in the Gospel: And, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit descending like a dove, and it abode upon Him: and immediately a voice followed, You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. [Matthew 3:16] The Trinity most manifestly appears: the Father in the voice, the Son in the man, the Spirit in the dove. In this Trinity let us see, as we do see, whereunto the apostles were sent forth, and what it is wonderful those men do not see. Not indeed that they really do not see, but that they really shut their eyes to that which strikes them in the very face: that whereunto the disciples were sent forth in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by Him of whom it is said, This is He that baptizes: it was said, in fact, to His ministers, by Him who has retained this authority to Himself.

6. Now this it was in Him that John saw, and came to know which he did not know. Not that he did not know Him to be the Son of God, or that he did not know Him to be the Lord, or not know Him to be the Christ; or that he did not know this too, that it was He who should baptize with water and with the Holy Ghost. This he did know; but that he should do this so as to retain the authority to Himself and transfer it to none of His ministers, this is what he learned in the dove. For by this authority, which Christ has retained to Himself alone, and conferred upon none of His ministers, though He has deigned to baptize by His ministers; by this authority, I say, stands the unity of the Church, which is figured in the dove, concerning which it is said, My dove is one, the only one of her mother. [Song of Songs 6:8] For if, as I have already said, my brethren, the authority were transferred by the Lord to His minister, there would be as many baptisms as ministers, and the unity of baptism would no longer exist.

7. Mark, brethren; before our Lord Jesus Christ came to His baptism (for it was after the baptism that the dove descended, whereby John recognized something that was peculiar to Him, since he was told, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending like a dove, and remaining on Him, the same is He that baptizes with the Holy Ghost), John knew that He it was that baptizes with the Holy Ghost; but that it should be with this peculiarity, that the authority should not pass from Him to another, notwithstanding He confers it, this is what he learned there. And whence do we prove that John did already know that the Lord was to baptize with the Holy Ghost; so that what he must be understood to have learned by the dove is, that the Lord was to baptize with the Holy Ghost in such wise that the authority should not pass from Him to any other man? Whence do we prove this? The dove descended after the Lord was baptized; but before the Lord came to be baptized by John in the Jordan, we have said that John knew Him, on the evidence of those words, in which he says, Comest Thou to me to be baptized? I have need to be baptized by You. Well, he did know Him to be the Lord, knew Him to be the Son of God; how do we prove that he knew already that the same was He who should baptize with the Holy Ghost? Before He came to the river, while many people were running together to John to be baptized, he says to them, I indeed baptize you with water; but He that comes after me is greater than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose; the same shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. [Matthew 3:14] Already he knew this also. What then did he learn from the dove, that he may not afterwards be found a liar (which God forbid we should think), if it be not this, that there was to be a certain peculiarity in Christ, such that, although many ministers, be they righteous or unrighteous, should baptize, the virtue of baptism would be attributed to Him alone on whom the dove descended, and of whom it was said, This is He that baptizes with the Holy Ghost? Peter may baptize, but this is He that baptizes; Paul may baptize, yet this is He that baptizes; Judas may baptize, still this is He that baptizes.

8. For if the sanctity of baptism be according to the diversity of merits in them that administer it, then as merits are diverse there will be diverse baptisms; and the recipient will imagine that what he receives is so much the better, the better he appears to be from whom he received it. The saints themselves — understand brethren, they that belong to the dove, that have their part in that city of Jerusalem, the good themselves in the Church, of whom the apostle says, The Lord knows them that are His [2 Timothy 2:19] — are endued with different graces, and do not all possess like merits. Some are more holy than others, some are better than others. Therefore if one receive baptism from him, for example, who is a righteous saint, another from another who is of inferior merit with God, of inferior degree, of inferior continence, of inferior life, how notwithstanding is that which they receive one, equal and like, if it be not because, This is He that baptizes? Just, then, as when the good and the better administer baptism, one man does not receive a good thing, another a better; but, notwithstanding that the ministers were one good the other better, they receive what is one and equal, not a better in the one case and a worse in the other; so, too, when a bad man administers baptism, through the ignorance or forbearance of the Church (for bad men either are not known as such, or are borne with; the chaff is tolerated until the floor be fully purged at the last), that which is given is one, not unlike because the ministers are unlike, but like and equal because This is He that baptizes.

9. Therefore, beloved, let us see what those men desire not to see; not what they may not see, but what they grieve to see, as though it were shut against them. Whither were the disciples sent to baptize as ministers, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost? Whither were they sent? Go, said He, baptize the nations. You have heard, brethren, how that inheritance comes, Ask of me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the utmost bounds of the earth for Your possessions. You have heard how that from Sion went forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. [Isaiah 2:3] For it was there the disciples were told, Go, baptize the nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. [Matthew 28:19] We became attentive when we heard, Go, baptize the nations. In whose name? In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. This is one God; for it says not in the names of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, but in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Where you hear one name, there is one God; just as it was said of Abraham's seed, and the Apostle Paul expounds it, In your seed shall all nations be blessed; he said not, In seeds, as in many, but as in one, and in your seed which is Christ. Wherefore, just as the apostle wished to show you that, because in that place it is not said in seeds, Christ is one; so here too, when it is said, in the name, not in the names, even as these, in seed, not in seeds, is it proved that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one God.

10. But lo, say the disciples to the Lord, we are told in what name we are to baptize; You have made us ministers, and hast said to us, Go, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Whither shall we go? Whither? Have you not heard? To Mine inheritance. You ask, Whither shall we go? To that which I bought with my blood. Whither then? To the nations, says He. I fancied that He said, Go, baptize the Africans in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Thanks be to God, the Lord has solved the question the dove has taught us. Thanks be to God, it was to the nations the apostles were sent; if to the nations, then to all tongues. The Holy Spirit signified this, being divided in the tongues, united in the dove. Here the tongues are divided, there the dove unites them. The tongues of the nations agreed, perhaps that of Africa alone disagreed. What can be more evident, my brethren? In the dove the unity, in the tongues the community of the nations. For once the tongues became discordant through pride, and then of one became many tongues. For after the flood certain proud men, as if endeavoring to fortify themselves against God, as if anything were high for God, or anything could give security to pride, raised a tower, apparently that they might not be destroyed by a flood, should there come one thereafter. For they had heard and considered that all iniquity was swept away by a flood; to abstain from iniquity they would not; they sought the height of a tower as a defense against a flood; they built a lofty tower. God saw their pride, and frustrated their purpose by causing that they should not understand one another's speech, and thus tongues became diverse through pride. [Genesis 11:1-9] If pride caused diversities of tongues, Christ's humility has united these diversities in one. The Church is now bringing together what that tower had sundered. Of one tongue there were made many; marvel not: this was the doing of pride. Of many tongues there is made one; marvel not: this was the doing of charity. For although the sounds of tongues are various, in the heart one God is invoked, one peace preserved. How then should the Holy Spirit have been manifested when signifying a unity, if not by the dove, so that it might be said to the Church brought into a state of peace, My dove is one? How ought humility to have been represented but by an innocent, sorrowing bird; not by a proud, exulting bird like the raven?

11. But perhaps they will say: Well, as it is a dove, and the dove is one, baptism there cannot be apart from the one dove. Therefore if the dove is with you, or if you be yourself a dove, do you give me, when I come to you, that which I have not. You know that this is what they say; but you will presently see that it is not of the voice of the dove, but of the clamor of the raven. For attend a little, beloved, and fear their devices; nay, beware of them, and listen to the words of gainsayers only to reject them, not to swallow them and take them into your bowels. Do therein what the Lord did when they offered Him the bitter draught, He tasted, and spat it out; [Matthew 27:34] so also you hear and cast away. What indeed say they? Let us see. Lo, says he, You are the dove. O Catholic Church, it is to you it is said, My dove is one, the only one of her mother, to you certainly is it said. Stop, do not question me; prove first whether to me it was said; if it was said to me, I would hear it at once. To you, says he, it was said. I answer, in the voice of the Catholic Church, To me. And this answer, brethren, sounding forth from my mouth alone, has sounded, as I believe, also from your hearts, and we all affirmed together, yea, to the Catholic Church was it said, One is my dove, the only one of her mother. Apart from this dove, says he further, there is no baptism: I was baptized apart from this dove, consequently have not baptism; if I have not baptism, why do you not give it me when I come to you?

12. I also will put questions; let us meanwhile lay aside the inquiry as to whom this was said, My dove is one, the only one of her mother;— as yet we are inquiring — it was said either to me or to you; let us postpone the question as to whom it was said. This is what I ask, if the dove is simple, innocent, without gall, peaceful in its kisses, not fierce with its talons, I ask whether the covetous, the rapacious, the crafty, the sottish, the infamous, belong to the members of this dove? Are they members of this dove? Far be the thought, says he. And who would really say this, brethren? To speak of nothing else, if I mention the rapacious alone, members of the hawk they may be, not members of the dove. Kites seize and plunder, so do hawks, so do ravens; doves do not plunder nor tear, consequently they who snatch and rob are not members of the dove. Was there not even one rapacious person among you? Why abides the baptism, which in this case the hawk, not the dove, has given? Why do you not among yourselves baptize after robbers, after adulterers, after drunkards? Why not baptize after the avaricious among yourselves? Are these all members of the dove? You so dishonor your dove that you make those that have the nature of the vulture her members. What, then, brethren, what say we? There are the bad and the good in the Catholic Church, but with them the bad only. But perhaps I say this with a hostile feeling: let this too be afterwards examined. They do say, certainly, that among them are the good and the bad; for, should they assert that they have only the good, let their own credit it, and I subscribe. With us, let them say, there are none but holy, righteous, chaste, sober men; no adulterers, no usurers, no deceivers, no false swearers, no wine-bibbers;— let them say this, for I heed not their tongues, I touch their hearts. But since they are well known to us, and to you, and to their own, just as you are known both to yourselves in the Catholic Church and to them, neither let us find fault with them, nor let them flatter themselves. We confess that in the Church there are good and bad, yet as the grain and the chaff. Sometimes he who is baptized by the grain is chaff, and he who is baptized by the chaff is grain. Otherwise, if his baptism who is baptized by the grain stands good, and his who is baptized by the chaff not, then it is not true, This is He that baptizes. But if it is true This is He that baptizes, then what is given by the chaff stands good, and he baptizes in like manner as the dove. For the bad man (who administers baptism) is not the dove, nor belongs to the members of the dove, nor can he possibly be affirmed to be so, either with us in the Catholic Church or with them, if they assert that their Church is the dove. What then are we to understand, brethren? Since it is evident, and known to all, and they must admit, though it be against their will, that when with them bad men give baptism, it is not given after those bad men; and with us, too, when the bad give baptism, it is not given after them. The dove does not baptize after the raven; why then would the raven baptize after the dove?

13. Consider, beloved, why also was there a something pointed out by means of the dove, as that the dove — namely, the Holy Spirit in the shape of a dove — came to the Lord on being baptized, and rested upon Him, while by the coming of the dove John learned this, that there dwelt in the Lord a power peculiarly His own to baptize? Because it was by this power peculiar to Himself, as I have said, the peace of the Church was made secure. And yet it may be that one may have baptism apart from the dove; but that baptism apart from the dove should do him good, is impossible. Consider, beloved, and understand what I say, for by this deception they mislead such of our brethren as are dull and cold. Let us be more simple and more fervent. See, say they, have I received, or have I not? I answer, You have received. Well, if I have received, there is nothing which you can give me; I am safe, even on your own evidence. For I affirm that I have received, and you, too, confess that I have received: I am safe by the confession of both: what then do you promise me? Why would you make me a Catholic, when you would not give me anything further, seeing you confess that I have already received that which you affirm yourself to possess? But when I say, Come to me, I say that you do not possess, who yet confessest that I do. Why do you say, Come to me?

14. The dove teaches us. From the head of the Lord she answers, and says, You have baptism, but the charity with which I groan you have not. How is this, says he, I have baptism, and have not charity? Have I the sacraments, and not charity? Do not shout: show me how can he who divides unity have charity? I, says he, have baptism. You have; but that baptism, without charity, profits you nothing; because without charity you are nothing. The baptism itself, even in him who is nothing, is not nothing. Baptism, indeed, is something, aye, something great, for His sake, of whom it is said, This is He that baptizes. But lest you should fancy that that which is great can profit you anything, if you be not in unity, it was after He was baptized that the dove descended, as if intimating, If you have baptism, be in the dove, lest what you have profit you not. Come, then, to the dove, we say; not that you may begin to have what you had not before, but that what you did have may begin to profit you. For you had baptism to destruction without; if you shall have it within, it begins to profit you to salvation.

15. For not only was baptism not profitable to you, and not also hurtful. Even holy things may be hurtful. In the good, indeed, holy things are to salvation; in the evil, to judgment. For we certainly know, brethren, what we receive, and what we receive is at any rate holy, and no one says that it is not: and what says the apostle? But he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself. [1 Corinthians 11:29] He does not say that the thing itself is bad, but that the evil man, by receiving it amiss, receives the good thing which he does receive to judgment. Was that morsel which the Lord delivered to Judas evil? God forbid. The physician would not give poison; it was health the physician gave; but by unworthily receiving it, he who received it not being at peace, received it unto destruction. So likewise also he who is baptized. I have (baptism), says he, for myself. You have it, I admit. Give good heed to what you have; by that very thing which you have you will be condemned. Wherefore? Because you have what belongs to the dove apart from the dove. If you have what is the dove's in the dove, you are safe. Suppose yourself a soldier: if you have your general's mark within the lines, you serve in safety; but if you have it out of bounds, not only that mark will not be of advantage to you for service, but you will even be punished as a deserter. Come, then, come, and do not say, I have already, I have enough. Come; the dove is calling you, calling you by her sighing. My brethren, to you I say, call by groaning, not by quarreling; call by praying, by invitation, by fasting; let them by your charity understand that you pity them. I doubt not, my brethren, that if they see your sorrow they will be astonished, and will come to life again. Come, then, come; be not afraid; be afraid if you do not come; nay, be not afraid, rather bewail yourself. Come, you will rejoice if you will come; you will indeed groan in the tribulations of your pilgrimage, but you will rejoice in hope. Come where the dove is, to whom it was said, My dove is one, the only one of her mother. Do you see not the one dove upon the head of Christ, do you not see the tongues throughout the whole world? It is the same Spirit by the dove and by the tongues: if by the dove the same Spirit, and by the tongues the same Spirit, then was the Holy Spirit given to the whole world, from which Spirit you have cut yourself off, that you might clamor with the raven, not that you might sigh with the dove. Come, then.

16. But you are anxious, it may be, and sayest, I was baptized without; I fear lest therefore I am guilty, in that I was baptized without. Already you begin to know what you have to bewail. You say truly that you are guilty, not because of your re ceiving, but because of your receiving without. Keep then what you have received; amend your receiving it without. You have received what is the dove's apart from the dove. Here are two things said to you: You have received, and, Apart from the dove you have received. In that you have received, I approve; that you have received without, I disapprove. Keep then what you have received, it is not changed, but recognized: it is the mark of my king, I will not profane it. I will correct the deserter, not change the mark.

17. Boast not of your baptism because I call it a real baptism. Behold, I say that it is so; the whole Catholic Church says that it is so; the dove regards it, and acknowledges it, and groans because you have it without; she sees therein what she may acknowledge, sees also what she may correct. It is a real baptism, come. Thou boastest that it is real, and yet will you not come? What then of the wicked, who do not belong to the dove? Says the dove to you, Even the wicked, among whom I groan, who belong not to my members, and it must needs be that I groan among them, have not they that which you boast of having? Have not many drunkards baptism? Have not many covetous? Have not many idolaters, and, what is worse, who are such by stealth? Do not the pagans resort, or at least did resort, publicly to idols? And now Christians secretly seek out diviners and consult astrologers. And yet these have baptism; but the dove groans among ravens. Why then do you boast in the having it? This that you have, the wicked man also has. Have humility, charity, peace; have the good thing which as yet you have not, so that the good thing which you have may profit you.

18. For what you have, even Simon Magus had: the Acts of the Apostles are witness, that canonical book which has to be read in the Church every year. You know that every year, in the season following the Lord's Passion, that book is read, wherein it is written, how the apostle was converted, and from a persecutor became a preacher; [Acts ix] also, how on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was sent in cloven tongues as of fire. [Acts ii] There we read that in Samaria many believed through the preaching of Philip: and he is understood to have been either one of the apostles or one of the deacons; for we read there that seven deacons were ordained, among whom is the name of Philip. Well, then, through the preaching of Philip the Samaritans believed; Samaria began to abound in believers. This Simon Magus was there. By his magical arts he had so befooled the people, that they fancied him to be the power of God. Impressed, however, by the signs which were done by Philip, he also believed; but in what manner he believed, the events that followed afterwards proved. And Simon also was baptized. The apostles, who were at Jerusalem, heard this. Peter and John were sent to those in Samaria; they found many baptized; and as none of them had as yet received the Holy Ghost — in like manner as He at that time descended, so as that they on whom the Holy Spirit came should speak with tongues, for a manifest token that the nations would believe — they laid their hands on them, praying for them, and they received the Holy Ghost. This Simon — who was not a dove but a raven in the Church, because he sought his own things, not the things which are Jesus Christ's; whence he loved the power which was in the Christians more than the righteousness — Simon, I say, saw that the Holy Spirit was given by the laying on of the hands of the apostles (not that it was given by them, but given in answer to their prayers), and he said to them, How much money will you that I give you, so that by the laying on of my hands also, the Holy Ghost may be given? And Peter said to him, Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God was to be bought with money. To whom said he, Your money perish with you? Undoubtedly to one that was baptized. Baptism he had already; but he did not cleave to the bowels of the dove. Understand that he did not; attend to the very words of the Apostle Peter, for he goes on, You have no part nor lot in this faith: for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness. [Acts 8:5-23] The dove has no gall; Simon had, and for that reason he was separated from the bowels of the dove. What did baptism profit him? Do not therefore boast of your baptism, as if that were of itself enough for your salvation. Be not angry, put away your gall, come to the dove. Here that will profit you, which without not only did not profit you, but even was prejudicial to you.

19. Neither say, I will not come, because I was baptized without. So, begin to have charity, begin to have fruit, let there be fruit found in you, and the dove will send you within. We find this in Scripture. The ark was made of incorruptible wood. The incorruptible timbers are the saints, the faithful that belong to Christ. For as in the temple the living stones of which it is built are said to be faithful men, so likewise the incorruptible timbers are they who persevere in the faith. In that same ark, then, the timbers were incorruptible. Now the ark is the Church, it is there the dove baptizes; for the ark was borne on the water, the incorruptible timbers were baptized within. We find that certain timbers were baptized without, such as all the trees that were in the world. Nevertheless the water was the same, not another sort; all had come from heaven, or from abysses of the fountains. It was the same water in which the incorruptible timbers which were in the ark were baptized, and in which the timbers that were without were baptized. The dove was sent forth, and at first found no rest for its feet; it returned to the ark, for all was full of water, and it preferred to return rather than be rebaptized. But the raven was sent out before the water was dried up. Rebaptized, it desired not to return, and died in those waters. May God avert from us that raven's death. For why did not the raven return, unless because it was taken off by the waters? But on the other hand, the dove not finding rest for its feet, while the water was crying to it on every side, Come, come, dip yourself here; just as these heretics cry, Come, come, here you have it; the dove, finding no rest for its feet, returned to the ark. And Noah sent it out a second time, just as the ark sends you out to speak to them; and what did the dove afterwards? Because there were timbers without that were baptized, it brought back to the ark an olive branch. That branch had both leaves and fruit. Let there not be in you words only, nor leaves only; let there be fruit, and you return to the ark, not of yourself, the dove calls you back. Groan ye without, that you may call them back within.

20. Moreover, as to this fruit of the olive, if the matter be examined, you will find what it was. The fruit of the olive signifies charity. How do we prove this? Just as oil is kept down by no liquid, but bursting through all, bounds up and overtops them; so likewise charity cannot be pressed to the bottom, but must of necessity show itself at the top. Therefore the apostle says of it, Yet show I unto you a more excellent way. Since we have said of oil that it overtops other liquids, in case it should not be of charity, the apostle said, I show you a more excellent way, let us hear what follows. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I have become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. Go now, Donatus, and cry, I am eloquent; go now, and cry, I am learned. How far eloquent? How far learned? Have you spoken with the tongues of angels? Yet though you were to speak with the tongues of angels, not having charity, I should hear only sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. I want solidity; let me find fruit among the leaves; let there be not words merely, let them have the olive, let them return to the ark.

21. But I have the sacrament, you will say. You say the truth; the sacrament is divine; you have baptism, and that I confess. But what says the apostle? If I should know all mysteries, and have prophecy and all faith, so that I could remove mountains; in case you should say this, I believe; enough for me. But what says James? The devils believe and tremble. [James 2:19] Faith is mighty, but without charity it profits nothing. The devils confessed Christ. Accordingly it was from believing, but not from loving, they said, What have we to do with You? [Mark 1:24] They had faith, but not charity; hence they were devils. Boast not of faith; so far you are on a level with the devils. Say not to Christ, What have I to do with You? For Christ's unity speaks to you. Come, learn peace, return to the bowels of the dove. You have been baptized without; have fruit, and you return to the ark.

22. But do you say, Why do you seek us if we are bad men? That you may be good. The reason why we seek you is, because you are bad; for if you were not bad, we should have found you, and would not be seeking you. He who is good is already found; he who is bad is still sought after. Consequently, we are seeking you; return ye to the ark. But I have baptism already. Though I should know all mysteries, and have prophecy and all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. Let me see fruit there; let me see the olive there, and you are called back to the ark.

23. But what do you say? Behold, we suffer many evils. Would that you suffered these for Christ, not for your own honor! Hear what follows: They, indeed, boast sometimes, because they do many alms, give to the poor; because they suffer afflictions: but it is for Donatus, not for Christ. Consider how you suffer, for if you suffer for Donatus, it is for a proud man: you are not in the dove if you are suffering for Donatus. Donatus was not the friend of the Bridegroom; for had he been, he would have sought the glory of the Bridegroom, not his own. See the friend of the Bridegroom saying, This is He that baptizes. He, for whom you are suffering, was not the friend of the Bridegroom. You have not the wedding garment; and if you have come to the feast, you will be put out of doors; nay, you have been cast out of doors already, and for that reason you are wretched: return at length, and do not boast. Hear what the apostle says: Though I should distribute all my goods to the poor, and give my body to be burnt, but have not charity. See what you do not have. Though, he says, I should give my body to be burnt; and that, too, for the name of Christ; but since there are many who do this boastfully, not with charity, therefore, Though I should give my body to be burnt, and have not charity, it profits me nothing. [1 Corinthians 13:2-3] It was by charity those martyrs, who suffered in time of persecution, did this; but these men do it of their vanity and pride; for in the absence of a persecutor, they throw themselves headlong into destruction. Come, then, that you may have charity. But we have our martyrs. What martyrs? They are not doves; hence they attempted to fly, and fell over the rock.

24. You see then, my brethren, that all things cry against them, all the divine pages, all prophecy, the whole gospel, all the apostolic letters, every sigh of the dove, and yet they awake not, they do not yet rouse from their sleep. But if we are the dove, let us groan, let us persevere, let us hope; God's compassion will be with you, that the fire of the Holy Spirit may glow in your simplicity; and they will come. There must be no despairing; pray, preach, love; the Lord is able to the utmost. Already they begin to be sensible of their shame; many have become sensible of it, and blushed; Christ will aid, that the rest also may become sensible of it. However, my brethren, at least let the chaff alone remain there; let all the grain be gathered together; let whatever has borne fruit among them return to the ark by the dove.

25. Failing everywhere else, what do they now allege against us, not finding what to say? They have taken away our houses, they have taken away our estates. They bring forward wills. See, Gaius Seius made a grant of an estate to the church over which Faustinus presided. Of what church was Faustinus bishop? What is the church? To the church over which Faustinus presided, said he. But Faustinus presided not over a church, but over a sect. The dove, however, is the Church. Why cry out? We have not devoured houses; let the dove have them. Let inquiry be made who the dove is, and let her have them. For you know, my brethren, that those houses of theirs are not Augustine's; and if you know it not, and imagine that I delight in the possession of them, God knows, yea, knows my judgment respecting those estates, and even what I suffer in that matter; He knows my groaning, since He has deigned to impart to me somewhat of the dove. Behold, there are those estates; by what right do you assert your claim to them? By divine right, or by human? Let them answer: Divine right we have in the Scriptures, human right in the laws of kings. By what right does every man possess what he possesses? Is it not by human right? For by divine right, The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. The poor and the rich God made of one clay; the same earth supports alike the poor and the rich. By human right, however, one says, This estate is mine, this house is mine, this servant is mine. By human right, therefore, is by right of the emperors. Why so? Because God has distributed to mankind these very human rights through the emperors and kings of this world. Do you wish us to read the laws of the emperors, and to act by the estates according to these laws? If you will have your possession by human right, let us recite the laws of the emperors; let us see whether they would have the heretics possess anything. But what is the emperor to me? You say. It is by right from him that you possess the land. Or take away rights created by emperors, and then who will dare say, That estate is mine, or that slave is mine, or this house is mine? If, however, in order to their possessing these things, men have received rights derived from kings, will you that we read the laws, that you may be glad in having even a single garden, and impute it to nothing but the clemency of the dove that you are permitted to remain in possession even there? For there are to be read well known laws, in which the emperors have directed that those who, being outside the communion of the Catholic Church, usurp to themselves the name of Christians, and are not willing in peace to worship the Author of peace, may not dare to possess anything in the name of the Church.

26. But what have we to do with the emperor? But I have already said that we are treating of human right. And yet the apostle would have us obey kings, would have us honor kings, and said, Honor the king. [1 Peter 2:17] Do not say, What have I to do with the king? as in that case, what have you to do with the possession? It is by the rights derived from kings that possessions are enjoyed. You have said, What have I to do with the king? Say not then that the possessions are yours; because it is to those same human rights, by which men enjoy their possessions, you have referred them. But it is with divine right I have to do, says he. Well, let us read the Gospel; let us see how far extends the Catholic Church of Christ, upon whom the dove came, which taught, This is He that baptizes. In what way, then, can he possess by divine right, who says, I baptize; while the dove says, This is He that baptizes; while the Scripture says, My dove is one, the only one of her mother? Why have you torn the dove? — nay, rather, have torn your own bowels, for while you are yourselves torn to pieces, the dove continues entire. Therefore, my brethren, if, driven from every point, they have nothing to say, I will tell them what to do; let them come to the Catholic Church, and together with us, they will have not only the earth, but Him also who made heaven and earth.

1. We rejoice at your numbers, for you have come together with readiness and in greater numbers than we could have hoped. This it is that delights and consoles us in all the labors and dangers of this life, your love towards God, and pious zeal, and assured hope, and fervor of spirit. You heard when the psalm was read, that the needy and poor man cries to God in this world. For it is the voice, as you have often heard, and ought to remember, not of one man, and yet of one man; not of one, because the faithful are many — many grains groaning amid the chaff diffused throughout the whole world — but of one, because all are members of Christ, and thus one body. This people, then, poor and needy, does not know to rejoice with the world: its grief is within, and its joy is within, where no one sees but He who listens to him who groans, and crowns him who hopes. The rejoicing of the world is vanity. With great expectation is it hoped for and it cannot, when it comes, be held fast. For this day which is a day of rejoicing in this city to the lost, tomorrow will, of course, cease to be; nor will they themselves be the same tomorrow that they are today. And all things pass away, fly away, and vanish like smoke; and woe to those who love such things! For every soul follows what it loves. All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field: the grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of the Lord abides forever. [Isaiah 40:1-8] Behold what you must love if you desire to abide forever. But you had this to reply: How can I apprehend the word of God? The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. [John 1:14]

2. Wherefore, beloved, let it belong to our neediness and poverty to grieve for those who seem to themselves to abound. For their joy is as that of madmen. But as a madman rejoices for the most part in his madness, and laughs, and grieves over him who is in his senses, so let us, beloved, if we have received the medicine coming from heaven, because we all were madmen, as if made whole, because those things which we did love we do not love — let us, I say, groan unto God for those who are yet in madness, for He is able to save them also. And there is need that they should look upon themselves and be displeased with themselves: to behold they desire, and to behold themselves they have not known. For if they for a little turn their eyes upon themselves, they see their own confusion. But until this take place, let our pursuits be different, let the recreations of our souls be different; our grief avails more than their joy. As far as regards the number of the brethren, it is difficult to conceive that any one of the men should have been carried away by that celebration; but as regards the number of the sisters, it grieves us, and this is a greater cause for grief, that they do not rather repair to the Church, whom if not fear, modesty at all events ought to deter from the public scene. May He see to this who sees it; and may His mercy be present to heal all. Let us who have come together feed upon the feast of God, and let our joy be His word. For He has invited us to His gospel, and He is our food, than whom nothing is sweeter, if only a man have a healthy palate in his heart.

3. But I imagine, beloved brethren, that you remember that this Gospel is read in order in suitable portions; and I think that it has not escaped you what has lately been treated of, specially the recent matters concerning John and the dove. Concerning John, namely, what new thing he learned concerning the Lord by means of the dove, although he had already known the Lord. And this was discovered by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, that John indeed already knew the Lord, but that the Lord Himself was to baptize, that the power of baptizing He would not transfer from Himself to any one, this he learned by means of the dove, because it was said to him, On whom you shall see the Spirit descending as a dove, and abiding upon Him, this is He which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. [John 1:33] What is This is He? Not another, although by means of another. But why by means of a dove? Many things were said, and I am not able, nor is there need that I should go over all — principally, however, to denote peace, because also the trees which were baptized outside, because the dove found in them fruit, it brought to the ark, as you remember the dove sent out by Noah from the ark, which floated on the flood and was washed by baptism, was not submerged. When, then, it was sent forth, it brought an olive branch; but it had not leaves alone, it had also fruit. [Genesis 8:8-11] This, then, we ought to wish for our brethren who are baptized outside, that they may have fruit; the dove will not permit them to remain outside, but bring them back to the ark. For the whole of fruit is charity, without which a man is nothing, whatever else he have. And this, which is most fully said by the apostle, we have mentioned and recounted. For he says, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I have become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal; and though I should have all knowledge, and know all mysteries, and have all prophecy, and should have all faith (but in what sense did he say all faith?), so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I should distribute all my goods to the poor, and though I should give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing. [1 Corinthians 13:1-3] But in no manner are they able to say that they have charity who divide unity. These things were said: let us see what follows.

4. John bare record because he saw. What record did he bear? That this is the Son of God. It behooved, then, that He should baptize who is God's only Son, not His adopted son. Adopted sons are the ministers of the only Son: the only Son has power; the adopted, the ministry. In the case that a minister baptizes who does not belong to the number of sons, because he lives evilly and acts evilly, what is our consolation? This is He which baptizes.

5. The next day, John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God! Assuredly, in a special sense, the Lamb; for the disciples were also called lambs: Behold, I send you as lambs in the midst of wolves. [Matthew 10:16] They were also called light: You are the light of the world; [Matthew 5:14] but in another sense is He called so, concerning whom it was said, That was the true light, which lights every man that comes into the world. [John 1:9] In like manner was He called the dove in a special sense, alone without stain, without sin; not one whose sins have been washed away, but One who never had stain. For what? Because John said concerning the Lord, Behold the Lamb of God, was not John himself a lamb? Was he not a holy man? Was he not the friend of the Bridegroom? Wherefore, with a special meaning, said John of Him, This is the Lamb of God; because solely by the blood of this Lamb alone could men be redeemed.

6. My brethren, if we acknowledge our price, that it is the blood of the Lamb, who are they who this day celebrate the festival of the blood of I know not what woman, and how ungrateful are they! The gold was snatched, they say, from the ear of a woman, and the blood ran, and the gold was placed on a pair of scales or on a balance, and the advantage was much on the side of the blood. If the blood of a woman was sufficiently weighty to outweigh the gold, what power to outweigh the world has the blood of the Lamb by whom the world was made? And, indeed, that spirit, I know not who, was pacified by the blood that he should depress the weight. Impure spirits knew that Jesus Christ would come, they had heard of His coming from the angels, they had heard of it from the prophets, and they expected it. For if they were not expecting it, why did they exclaim, What have we to do with You? Have You come before the time to destroy us? We know who You are; the Holy One of God. [Mark 1:24] They expected that He would come, but they were ignorant of the time. But what have you heard in the psalm regarding Jerusalem? For Your servants have taken pleasure in her stones, and will pity the dust thereof. You shall arise, says he, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time has come that You will have mercy upon her. When the time came for God to have mercy, the Lamb came. What sort of a Lamb whom wolves fear? What sort of a Lamb is it who, when slain, slew a lion? For the devil is called a lion, going about and roaring, seeking whom he may devour. [1 Peter 5:8] By the blood of the Lamb the lion was vanquished. Behold the spectacles of Christians. And what is more: they with the eyes of the flesh behold vanity, we with the eyes of the heart behold truth. Do not think, brethren, that our Lord God has dismissed us without spectacles; for if there are no spectacles, why have ye come together today? Behold, what we have said you saw, and you exclaimed; you would not have exclaimed if you had not seen. And this is a great thing to see in the whole world, the lion vanquished by the blood of the Lamb: members of Christ delivered from the teeth of the lions, and joined to the body of Christ. Therefore some spirit or other contrived the counterfeit that His image should be bought for blood, because he knew that the human race was at some time to be redeemed by the precious blood. For evil spirits counterfeit certain shadows of honor to themselves, that they may deceive those who follow Christ. So much so, my brethren, that those who seduce by means of amulets, by incantations, by the devices of the enemy, mingle the name of Christ with their incantations: because they are not now able to seduce Christians, so as to give them poison they add some honey, that by means of the sweet the bitter may be concealed, and be drunk to ruin. So much so, that I know that the priest of that Pilleatus was sometimes in the habit of saying, Pilleatus himself also is a Christian. Why so, brethren, unless that they were not able otherwise to seduce Christians?

7. Do not, then, seek Christ elsewhere than where Christ wished Himself to be preached to you; and as He wished Himself to be preached to you, in that fashion hold Him fast, in that manner write Him on your heart. It is a wall against all the assaults, and against all the snares of the enemy. Do not fear, he does not tempt unless he has been permitted; it is certain that he does nothing unless permitted or sent. He is sent as an evil angel by a power holding him in control: he is permitted when he asks anything; and this, brethren, does not take place unless that the just may be tried, the unjust punished. Why, then, do you fear? Walk in the Lord your God; be assured, what He does not wish you to suffer you do not suffer; what He permits you to suffer is the scourge of one correcting, not the punishment of one condemning. We are being educated for an eternal inheritance, and do we spurn to be scourged? My brethren, if a boy were to refuse the punishment of cuffs or stripes from his father, would he not be called proud, incorrigible, ungrateful towards paternal discipline? And for what does an earthly father educate his son? That he may not lose the temporal things which he has acquired for him, which he has collected for him, which he does not wish him to lose, which he who leaves them cannot retain eternally. He does not teach a son with whom he is to possess, but one who is to possess after him. My brethren, if a father teaches a son who is to succeed him, and teaches him also that he will have to pass through all these things, in same way as he who is admonishing him is destined to pass through them, how do you wish that He educate us, our Father to whom we are not to succeed, but to whom we are to approach, and with whom we are to abide eternally in an inheritance which does not decay nor die, and which no storms can desolate? He is Himself both the inheritance and the Father. Shall we possess Him, and ought we not to undergo training? Let us hear the instruction of the Father. When our head aches, let us not have recourse to the superstitious intercessor, to the diviners and remedies of vanity. My brethren, shall I not mourn over you? Daily do I find these things; and what shall I do? Not yet have I persuaded Christians that their hope ought to be placed in God. Behold, if one dies to whom one of these remedies has been given (and how many have died with remedies, and how many have lived without them!), with what confidence does the spirit go forth to God? He has lost the sign of Christ, and has received the sign of the devil. Perhaps he may say that he has not lost the sign of Christ. You can have, then, the sign of Christ along with the sign of the devil. Christ does not desire community of ownership, but He desires to possess alone what He has purchased. He has bought at so great a price that He may possess alone: you make Him the partner of that devil to whom you sold yourself by your sin. Woe to the double-hearted, [Sirach 2:12] to those who in their hearts give part to God and part to the devil. God, being angry that the devil has part there, departs, and the devil will possess the whole. Not in vain, therefore, says the apostle, Neither give place to the devil. [Ephesians 4:27] Let us know the Lamb, then, brethren; let us know our price.

8. John stood, and two of his disciples. Behold two of John's disciples: since John, the friend of the Bridegroom, was such as he was, he sought not his own glory, but bore witness to the truth. Did he wish that his disciples should remain with him and not follow the Lord? Rather he himself showed hisdisciples whom they should follow. For they accounted of him as though he were the lamb; and he said, Why do you give heed to me? I am not the lamb; behold the Lamb of God, of whom also he had already said, Behold the Lamb of God. And what benefit does the Lamb of God confer upon us? Behold, he says, who takes away the sin of the world. The two who were with John followed Him when they heard this.

9. Let us see what follows: Behold the Lamb of God. This John said, and the two disciples heard him speak, and followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and says unto them, What do you seek? And they said, Rabbi (that is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest Thou? They did not follow Him in such manner as that they should cleave to Him; for it is plain when they clave unto Him, for He called them from the ship. For one of the two was Andrew, as you have just heard, and Andrew was the brother of Peter; and we know from the Gospel that the Lord called Peter and Andrew from the ship, saying, Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men. [Matthew 4:19] And from that time they clave unto Him, so as not to go away. On the present occasion these two followed Him, not as those who were not again to leave Him, but to see where He dwelt, and to fulfill the Scripture: Let your foot wear out the threshold of His doors; arise to come to Him continually, and be instructed in His precepts. [Sirach 6:36-37] He showed them where He dwelt: they came and remained with Him. What a blessed day they spent, what a blessed night! Who can make known to us those things which they heard from the Lord? Let us also build in our heart, and make a house into which He may come and teach us, and have converse with us.

10. What do you seek? They said to Him, Rabbi (which is to say, being interpreted, Master), where dwellest Thou? He says to them, Come and see. And they came and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that day: and it was about the tenth hour. Do we think that it did in no wise pertain to the evangelist to tell us what hour it was? Is it possible that he wished us to give heed to nothing in that, to inquire after nothing? It was the tenth hour. That number signifies the law, because the law was given in ten commandments. But the time had come for the law to be fulfilled by love, because it could not be fulfilled by the Jews by fear. Hence the Lord says, I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill. [Matthew 5:17] Suitably, then, at the tenth hour did these two follow Him, at the testimony of the friend of the Bridegroom, and that He at the tenth hour heard Rabbi (which is interpreted, Master). If at the tenth hour the Lord heard Rabbi, and the tenth number pertains to the law, the master of the law is no other than the giver of the law. Let no one say that one gave the law, and that another teaches the law: for the same teaches it who gave it; He is the Master of His own law, and teaches it. And mercy is in His tongue, therefore mercifully teaches He the law, as it is said regarding wisdom, The law and mercy does she carry in her tongue. [Proverbs 31:26] Do not fear that you are not able to fulfill the law, flee to mercy. If you can not fulfill the law, make use of that covenant, make use of the bond, make use of the prayers which the heavenly One, skilled in the law, has ordained and composed for you.

11. For those who have a cause, and wish to supplicate the emperor, seek for some one skilled in the law, and trained in the schools, to compose their petition for them; lest perchance, if they ask in an unbecoming manner, they not only do not obtain what they seek, but get punishment instead of a benefit. When, therefore, the apostles sought to petition, and could not find how to approach the Emperor God, they said to Christ, Lord, teach us to pray; that is to say, O you who are our skilled One in the law, our Assessor, yea, the Concessor of God, compose for us prayers. And the Lord taught them from the book of the celestial law, taught them how to pray; and in that which He taught, He laid down a certain condition: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. [Luke 11:1-4] If you seek not according to the law, you become guilty. Do you not tremble before the Emperor, having become guilty? Offer the sacrifice of humility, offer the sacrifice of mercy; pray, saying, Forgive me, for I also forgive. But if you say, do. For what will you do? Whither will you go if you have lied in your prayers? Not as it is said in the forum, you shall lose the benefit of the rescript; but you shall not obtain a rescript. For it is the law of the forum that he who shall have lied in his petition shall derive no benefit from that which he has obtained. But this among men, because a man can be deceived: the emperor might have been deceived, when you addressed to him your petition; for you said what you would, and he to whom you spoke knew not whether it was true or false; he sent you away to your adversary to be confuted if possible, so that if before the judge you should be convicted of falsehood (because he was not able not to grant the rescript, not knowing whether you had lied), you should lose the benefit of the rescript, in the place to which you had taken it. But God, who knows whether you lie or speakest the truth, does not cause you to lose in the judgment the benefit, but does not permit you to obtain it, because you have dared to lie to the Truth.

12. What, then, will you do? Tell me. To fulfill the law in every part, so as to offend in nothing, is difficult: the condition of guilt is therefore certain; will you refuse to use the remedy? Behold, my brethren, what a remedy the Lord has provided for the sicknesses of the soul! What then? When your head aches, we praise you if you place the gospel at your head, instead of having recourse to an amulet. For so far has human weakness proceeded, and so lamentable is the estate of those who have recourse to amulets, that we rejoice when we see a man who is upon his bed, and tossed about with fevers and pains, placing his hope on nothing else than that the gospel lies at his head; not because it is done for this purpose, but because the gospel is preferred to amulets. If, then, it is placed at the head to allay the pain of the head, is it not placed at the heart to heal it from sin? Let it be done then. Let what be done? Let it be placed at the heart, let the heart be healed. It is well — well that you should have no further care regarding the safety of the body, than to ask it from God. If He knows that it will do you good, He will give it you; if He give it not to you, it would not have profited you to have it. How many are sick in bed, and for that reason are innocent! For if they were to recover, they would go forth to commit acts of wickedness. To how many is health an injury! The robber who goes forth to the narrow path to slay a man, how much better for him would it have been to have been sick! And he who rises by night to dig through his neighbor's wall, how much better for him to be tossed by fever! If he were ill, he would have been comparatively innocent; being well, he is guilty of wickedness. It is known, then, to God what is expedient for us: let us make this only our endeavor, that our hearts be whole from sins; and when it happens that we are scourged in the body, let us pray to Him for relief. The Apostle Paul besought Him that He would take away the thorn in his flesh, and He would not. Was he disturbed? Was he filled with sadness, and did he speak of himself as deserted? Rather did he say that he was not deserted, because that was not taken away which he desired to be taken away, to the end that infirmity might be cured. For this he found in the voice of the Physician, My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. [2 Corinthians 12:8-9] Whence do you know, then, that God does not wish to heal you? As yet it is expedient for you to be scourged. Whence do you know how diseased that is which the physician cuts, using his knife on the diseased parts? Does he not know the measure, what he is to do, and how far he is to do it? Does the shrieking of him he cuts restrain the hands of the physician cutting according to his art? The one cries, the other cuts. Is he cruel who does not listen to the man crying out, or is he not rather merciful in following the wound, that he may heal the sick man? These things have I said, my brethren, in order that no one seek any other aid than that of God, when we happen to be under the reproof of God. See that you perish not; see that you do not depart from the Lamb, and be devoured by the lion.

13. We have declared, then, why it was at the tenth hour. Let us see what follows: One of the two which heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He finds his own brother Simon, and says unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. Messias, in Hebrew; Christ, in Greek; in Latin, Anointed. Χρῖσμα is anointing in Greek; Christ, therefore, is the Anointed. He is peculiarly anointed, pre-eminently anointed; wherewith all Christians are anointed, He is pre-eminently anointed. Hear how He speaks in the psalm: Wherefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows. For all the holy ones are His fellows, but He in a peculiar sense is the Holy of Holies, peculiarly anointed, peculiarly Christ.

14. And he brought him to Jesus; and when Jesus beheld him, He said, You are Simon the son of Joannes: you shall be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, Peter. It is not a great thing that the Lord said whose son Peter was. What is great to the Lord? He knew all the names of His own saints, whom He predestinated before the foundation of the world; and do you wonder that He said to one man, You are the son of this man, and you shall be called this or that? Is it a great matter that He changed his name, and converted it from Simon to Peter? Peter is from petra, a rock, but the petra [rock]; is the Church; in the name of Peter, then, was the Church figured. And who is safe, unless he who builds upon the rock? And what says the Lord Himself? He that hears these my words, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man building his house upon a rock (he does not yield to temptation). The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that hears my words, and does them not (now let each one of us fear and beware), I will liken him to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. [Matthew 7:24-27] What profit is it to enter the Church for him who builds upon the sand? For, by hearing and not doing, he builds indeed, but on the sand. For if he hears nothing, he builds nothing; but if he hears, he builds. But we ask, Where? For if he hears and does, he builds upon the rock; if he hears and does not, he builds upon the sand. There are two kinds of builders, those building upon the rock, and those building upon the sand. What, then, are those who do not hear? Are they safe? Does He say that they are safe because they do not build? They are naked beneath the rains, before the winds, before the floods; when these come, they carry away those persons before they overthrow the houses. It is then the only security, both to build, and to build upon the rock. If you will hear and do not, you build, but you build a ruin: and when temptation comes it overthrows the house, and carries away you with the ruin. But if you do not hear, you are naked; you yourself art dragged away by those temptations. Hear, then, and do; it is the only remedy. How many, perchance, on this day, by hearing and not doing, are hurried away on the stream of this festival! For, through hearing and not doing, the flood comes, this annual festival; the torrent is filled, it will pass away and become dry, but woe to him whom it shall carry away! Know this, then, beloved, that unless a man hears and does, he builds not upon the rock, and he does not belong to that great name which the Lord so commended. For He has called your attention. For if Simon had been called Peter before, you would not have so clearly seen the mystery of the rock, and you would have thought that he was called so by chance, not by the providence of God; therefore God willed that he should be called first something else, that by the very change of name the reality of the sacrament might be commended to our notice.

15. And the day following He would go forth into Galilee, and finding Philip, He says unto him, Follow me. Now he was of the city of Andrew and Peter. And Philip finds Nathanael (Philip who had been already called by the Lord); and he said to him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus, the son of Joseph. He was called the son of that man to whom His mother had been espoused. For that He was conceived and born while she was still a virgin, all Christians know well from the Gospel. This Philip said to Nathanael, and he added the place, from Nazareth. And Nathanael said to him, From Nazareth something good can come. What is the meaning, brethren? Not as some read, for it is likewise wont to be read, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? For the words of Philip follow, who says, Come and see. But the words of Philip can suitably follow both readings, whether you read it thus, as confirming, From Nazareth something good can come, to which Philip replies, Come and see; or whether as doubting, and making the whole a question, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Come and see. Since then, whether read in this manner or in that, the words following are not incompatible, it is for us to inquire which of the two interpretations we shall adopt.

16. What sort of a man this Nathanael was, we prove by the words which follow. Hear what sort of a man he was; the Lord Himself bears testimony. Great is the Lord, known by the testimony of John; blessed Nathanael, known by the testimony of the truth. Because the Lord, although He had not been commended by the testimony of John, Himself to Himself bore testimony, because the truth is sufficient for its own testimony. But because men were not able to receive the truth, they sought the truth by means of a lamp, and therefore John was sent to show them the Lord. Hear the Lord bearing testimony to Nathanael: Nathanael said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip says to him, Come and see. And Jesus sees Nathanael coming to Him, and says concerning him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Great testimony! Not of Andrew, nor of Peter, nor of Philip was that said which was said of Nathanael, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.

17. What do we then, brethren? Ought this man to be the first among the apostles? Not only is Nathanael not found as first among the apostles, but he is neither the middle nor the last among the twelve, although the Son of God bore such testimony to him, saying, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Is the reason asked for? In so far as the Lord intimates, we find a probable reason. For we ought to understand that Nathanael was learned and skilled in the law and for that reason was the Lord unwilling to place him among His disciples, because He chose unlearned persons, that He might by them confound the world. Listen to the apostle speaking these things: For you see, says he, your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things that are despised, has God chosen, yea, and things which are not, as though they were things that are, to bring to nought things that are. [1 Corinthians 1:20-28] If a learned man had been chosen, perhaps he would have said that he was chosen for the reason that his learning made him worthy of choice. Our Lord Jesus Christ, wishing to break the necks of the proud, did not seek the orator by means of the fisherman, but by the fisherman He gained the emperor. Great was Cyprian as an orator, but before him was Peter the fisherman, by means of whom not only the orator, but also the emperor, should believe. No noble was chosen in the first place, no learned man, because God chose the weak things of the world that He might confound the strong. This man, then, was great and without guile, and for this reason only was not chosen, lest the Lord should seem to any to have chosen the learned. And from this same learning in the law, it came that when he heard from Nazareth,— for he had searched the Scripture, and knew that the Saviour was to be expected thence, what the other scribes and Pharisees had difficulty in knowing — this man, then, very learned in the law, when he heard Philip saying, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph; — this man, who knew the Scriptures excellently well, when he heard the name Nazareth, was filled with hope, and said, From Nazareth something good can come.

18. Let us now see the rest concerning this man. Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. What is in whom is no guile? Perhaps he had no sin? Perhaps he was not sick? Perhaps he did not need a physician? God forbid. No one is born here in such fashion as not to need that Physician. What, then, is the meaning of the words, in whom is no guile? Let us search a little more intently — it will appear presently — in the name of the Lord. The Lord says dolus [guile]; and every one who understands Latin knows that dolus is when one thing is done and another feigned. Give heed, beloved. Dolus (guile) is not dolor (pain). I say this because many brethren, not well skilled in Latin, so speak as to say, Dolus torments him, using it for dolor. Dolus is fraud, it is deceit. When a man conceals one thing in his heart, and speaks another, it is guile, and he has, as it were, two hearts; he has, as it were, one recess of his heart where he sees the truth, and another recess where he conceives falsehood. And that you may know that this is guile, it is said in the Psalms, Lips of guile. What are lips of guile? It follows, In a heart and in a heart have they spoken evil. What is in a heart and in a heart, unless in a double heart? If, then, guile was not in Nathanael, the Physician judged him to be curable, not whole. A whole man is one thing, a curable another, an incurable a third: he who is sick, but not hopelessly sick, is called curable; he who is sick hopelessly, incurable; but he who is already whole does not need a physician. The Physician, then, who had come to cure, saw that he was curable, because there was no guile in him. How was guile not in him, if he is a sinner? He confesses that he is a sinner. For if he is a sinner, and says that he is a just man, there is guile in his mouth. Therefore in Nathanael He praised the confession of sin, He did not judge that he was not a sinner.

19. Wherefore, when the Pharisees, who seemed righteous to themselves, blamed the Lord, because, as physician, he mixed with the sick, and when they said, Behold with whom he eats, with publicans and sinners, the Physician replied to the madmen, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. [Matthew 11:11-13] That is to say, because you call yourselves righteous when you are sinners, because you judge yourselves to be whole when you are languishing, you put away from you the medicine, and do not hold fast health. Hence that Pharisee who had asked the Lord to dinner, was whole in his own eyes; but that sick woman rushed into the house to which she had not been invited, and, made impudent by the desire of health, approached not the head of the Lord, nor the hands, but the feet; washed them with tears, wiped them with her hair, kissed them, anointed them with ointment — made peace, sinner as she was, with the footprints of the Lord. The Pharisee who sat at meat there, as though whole himself, blamed the Physician, and said within himself, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known what woman touched his feet. He suspected that He knew not, because He did not repulse her to prevent His being touched with unclean hands; but He did know, He permitted Himself to be touched, that the touch itself might heal. The Lord, seeing the heart of the Pharisee, put forth a parable: There was a certain creditor, which had two debtors; the one owed five hundred denars, and the other fifty; and when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Which of them loved him most? He answered, I suppose, Lord, he to whom he forgave most. And turning to the woman, He said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, you gave me no water for my feet; but she has washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head: you gave me no kiss; she has not ceased to kiss my feet: you gave me no oil; she has anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore, I say unto you, to her are forgiven many sins, for she loved much; but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. [Luke 7:36-47] That is to say, you are more sick, but you think yourself whole; you think that little is forgiven you when you owe more. Well did she, because guile was not in her, deserve medicine. What means, guile was not in her? She confessed her sins. This He also praises in Nathanael, that guile was not in him; for many Pharisees who abounded in sins said that they were righteous, and brought guile with them, which made it impossible for them to be healed.

20. Jesus then saw this man in whom was no guile, and said, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathanael says unto Him, Whence know Thou me? Jesus answered and said, Before that Philip called you, when you were under the fig (that is, under the fig-tree), I saw you. Nathanael answered and said to Him, Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel. Some great thing Nathanael may have understood in the saying, When you were under the fig-tree, I saw you, before that Philip called you; for his words, You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel, were not dissimilar to those of Peter so long afterwards, when the Lord said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. And there He named the rock, and praised the strength of the Church's support in this faith. Here already Nathanael says, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel. Wherefore? Because it was said to him, Before that Philip called you, when you were under the fig-tree, I saw you.

21. We must inquire whether this fig-tree signifies anything. Listen, my brethren. We find the fig-tree cursed because it had leaves only, and not fruit. [Matthew 20:19] In the beginning of the human race, when Adam and Eve had sinned, they made themselves girdles of fig leaves. [Genesis 3:7] Fig leaves then signify sins. Nathanael then was under the fig-tree, as it were under the shadow of death. The Lord saw him, he concerning whom it was said, They that sat under the shadow of death, unto them has light arisen. [Isaiah 9:2] What then was said to Nathanael? You say to me, O Nathanael, Whence do you know me? Even now you speak to me, because Philip called you. He whom an apostle had already called, He perceived to belong to His Church. O you Church, O you Israel, in whom is no guile! If you are the people, Israel, in whom is no guile, you have even now known Christ by His apostles, as Nathanael knew Christ by Philip. But you beheld His compassion before you knew Him, when you were lying under sin. For did we first seek Christ, and not He seek us? Did we come sick to the Physician, and not the Physician to the sick? Was not that sheep lost, and did not the shepherd, leaving the ninety-nine in the wilderness, seek and find it, and joyfully carry it back on his shoulders? Was not that piece of money lost, and the woman lighted the lamp, and searched in the whole house until she found it? And when she had found it, Rejoice with me, she said to her neighbors, for I have found the piece of money which I lost. [Luke 15:4-10] In like manner were we lost as the sheep, lost as the piece of money; and our Shepherd found the sheep, but sought the sheep; the woman found the piece of money, but sought the piece of money. What is the woman? The flesh of Christ. What is the lamp? I have prepared a lamp for my Christ. Therefore were we sought that we might be found; having been found, we speak. Let us not be proud, for before we were found we were lost, if we had not been sought. Let them then not say to us whom we love, and whom we desire to gain to the peace of the Catholic Church, What do you wish with us? Why do you seek us if we are sinners? We seek you for this reason that you perish not: we seek you because we were sought; we wish to find you because we have been found.

22. When, then, Nathanael had said How do You know me? the Lord said to him, Before that Philip called you, when you were under the fig-tree, I saw you. O you Israel without guile, whosoever you are; O people living by faith, before I called you by my apostles, when you were under the shadow of death, and you saw not me, I saw you. The Lord then says to him, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig-tree, you believe; you shall see a greater thing than these. What is this, you shall see a greater thing than these? And He says unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you shall see heaven open, and angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man. Brethren, this is something greater than under the fig-tree I saw you. For it is more that the Lord justified us when called than that He saw us lying under the shadow of death. For what profit would it have been to us if we had remained where He saw us? Should we not be lying there? What is this greater thing? When have we seen angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man?

23. Already on a former occasion I have spoken of these ascending and descending angels; but lest you should have forgotten, I shall speak of the latter briefly by way of recalling it to your recollection. I should use more words if I were introducing, not recalling the subject. Jacob saw a ladder in a dream; and on a ladder he saw angels ascending and descending: and he anointed the stone which he had placed at his head. [Genesis 28:12-18] You have heard that the Messias is Christ; you have heard that Christ is the Anointed. For Jacob did not place the stone, the anointed stone, that he might come and adore it: otherwise that would have been idolatry, not a pointing out of Christ. What was done was a pointing out of Christ, so far as it behooved such a pointing out to be made, and it was Christ that was pointed out. A stone was anointed, but not for an idol. A stone anointed; why a stone? Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, elect, precious: and he that believes in Him shall not be confounded. Why anointed? Because Christus comes from chrisma. But what saw he then on the ladder? Ascending and descending angels. So it is the Church, brethren: the angels of God are good preachers, preaching Christ; this is the meaning of, they ascend and descend upon the Son of man. How do they ascend, and how do they descend? In one case we have an example; listen to the Apostle Paul. What we find in him, let us believe regarding the other preachers of the truth. Behold Paul ascending: I know a man in Christ fourteen years ago was caught up into the third heaven (whether in the body, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows), and that he heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. [2 Corinthians 12:2-4] You have heard him ascending, hear him descending: I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal; as babes in Christ I have fed you with milk, not with meat. [1 Corinthians 3:1-2] Behold he descended who had ascended. Ask whether he ascended to the third heaven. Ask whether he descended to give milk to babes. Hear that he descended: I became a babe in the midst of you, even as a nurse cherishes her children. [1 Thessalonians 2:7] For we see both nurses and mothers descend to babes, and although they be able to speak Latin, they shorten the words, shake their tongues in a certain manner, in order to frame childish endearments from a methodical language; because if they speak according to rule, the infant does not understand nor profit. And if there be a father well skilled in speaking, and such an orator that the forum resounds with his eloquence, and the judgment-seats shake, if he have a little son, on his return home he puts aside the forensic eloquence to which he had ascended, and in child's language descends to his little one. Hear in one place the apostle himself ascending and descending in the same sentence: For whether, says he,we be beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. [2 Corinthians 5:13] What is we are beside ourselves? That we see those things which it is not lawful for a man to speak. What is we are sober for your cause? Have I judged myself to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified? If the Lord Himself ascended and descended, it is evident that His preachers ascend by imitation, descend by preaching.

24. And if we have detained you somewhat longer than is our wont, the design was that the dangerous hours might pass: we imagine that those people have now brought their vanity to a close. But let us, brethren, having fed upon the feasts of salvation, do what remains, that we may in a religious manner fill up the Lord's day with spiritual joys, and compare the joys of verity with the joys of vanity; and if we are horrified, let us grieve; if we grieve, let us pray; if we pray, may we be heard; if we are heard, we gain them also.

1. The miracle indeed of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby He made the water into wine, is not marvellous to those who know that it was God's doing. For He who made wine on that day at the marriage feast, in those six water-pots, which He commanded to be filled with water, the self-same does this every year in vines. For even as that which the servants put into the water-pots was turned into wine by the doing of the Lord, so in like manner also is what the clouds pour forth changed into wine by the doing of the same Lord. But we do not wonder at the latter, because it happens every year: it has lost its marvellousness by its constant recurrence. And yet it suggests a greater consideration than that which was done in the water-pots. For who is there that considers the works of God, whereby this whole world is governed and regulated, who is not amazed and overwhelmed with miracles? If he considers the vigorous power of a single grain of any seed whatever, it is a mighty thing, it inspires him with awe. But since men, intent on a different matter, have lost the consideration of the works of God, by which they should daily praise Him as the Creator, God has, as it were, reserved to Himself the doing of certain extraordinary actions, that, by striking them with wonder, He might rouse men as from sleep to worship Him. A dead man has risen again; men marvel: so many are born daily, and none marvels. If we reflect more considerately, it is a matter of greater wonder for one to be who was not before, than for one who was to come to life again. Yet the same God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, does by His word all these things; and it is He who created that governs also. The former miracles He did by His Word, God with Himself; the latter miracles He did by the same Word incarnate, and for us made man. As we wonder at the things which were done by the man Jesus, so let us wonder at the things which where done by Jesus God. By Jesus God were made heaven, and earth, and the sea, all the garniture of heaven, the abounding riches of the earth, and the fruitfulness of the sea — all these things which lie within the reach of our eyes were made by Jesus God. And we look at these things, and if His own spirit is in us they in such manner please us, that we praise Him that contrived them; not in such manner that turning ourselves to the works we turn away from the Maker, and, in a manner, turning our face to the things made and our backs to Him that made them.

2. And these things indeed we see; they lie before our eyes. But what of those we do not see, as angels, virtues, powers, dominions, and every inhabitant of this fabric which is above the heavens, and beyond the reach of our eyes? Yet angels, too, when necessary, often showed themselves to men. Has not God made all these too by His Word, that is, by His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ? What of the human soul itself, which is not seen, and yet by its works shown in the flesh excites great admiration in those that duly reflect on them — by whom was it made, unless by God? And through whom was it made, unless through the Son of God? Not to speak as yet of the soul of man: the soul of any brute whatever, see how it regulates the huge body, puts forth the senses, the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the nostrils to smell, the taste to discern flavors — the members, in short, to execute their respective functions! Is it the body, not the soul, namely the inhabitant of the body, that does these things? The soul is not apparent to the eyes, nevertheless it excites admiration by these its actions. Direct now your consideration to the soul of man, on which God has bestowed understanding to know its Creator, to discern and distinguish between good and evil, that is, between right and wrong: see how many things it does through the body! Observe this whole world arranged in the same human commonwealth, with what administrations, with what orderly degrees of authority, with what conditions of citizenship, with what laws, manners, arts! The whole of this is brought about by the soul, and yet this power of the soul is not visible. When withdrawn from the body, the latter is a mere carcass: first, it in a manner preserves it from rottenness. For all flesh is corruptible, and falls off into putridity unless preserved by the soul as by a kind of seasoning. But the human soul has this quality in common with the soul of the brute; those qualities rather are to be admired which I have stated, such as belong to the mind and intellect, wherein also it is renewed after the image of its Creator, after whose image man was formed. [Colossians 3:10] What will this power of the soul be when this body shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality? [1 Corinthians 15:54] If such is its power, acting through corruptible flesh, what shall be its power through a spiritual body, after the resurrection of the dead? Yet this soul, as I have said, of admirable nature and substance, is a thing invisible, intellectual; this soul also was made by God Jesus, for He is the Word of God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.

3. When we see, therefore, such deeds wrought by Jesus God, why should we wonder at water being turned into wine by the man Jesus? For He was not made man in such manner that He lost His being God. Man was added to Him, God not lost to Him. This miracle was wrought by the same who made all those things. Let us not therefore wonder that God did it, but love Him because He did it in our midst, and for the purpose of our restoration. For He gives us certain intimations by the very circumstances of the case. I suppose that it was not without cause He came to the marriage. The miracle apart, there lies something mysterious and sacramental in the very fact. Let us knock, that He may open to us, and fill us with the invisible wine: for we were water, and He made us wine, made us wise; for He gave us the wisdom of His faith, while before we were foolish. And it appertains, it may be, to this wisdom, together with the honor of God, and with the praise of His majesty, and with the charity of His most powerful mercy, to understand what was done in this miracle.

4. The Lord, on being invited, came to the marriage. What wonder if He came to that house to a marriage, having come into this world to a marriage? For, indeed, if He came not to a marriage, He has not here a bride. But what says the apostle? I have espoused you to one husband, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ. Why does he fear lest the virginity of Christ's bride should be corrupted by the subtlety of the devil? I fear, says he, lest as the serpent beguiled Eve by his subtlety, so also your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and chastity which is in Christ. [2 Corinthians 11:3] Thus has He here a bride whom He has redeemed by His blood, and to whom He has given the Holy Spirit as a pledge. He has freed her from the bondage of the devil: He died for her sins, and is risen again for her justification. [Romans 4:25] Who will make such offerings to his bride? Men may offer to a bride every sort of earthly ornament — gold, silver, precious stones, houses, slaves, estates, farms — but will any give his own blood? For if one should give his own blood to his bride, he would not live to take her for his wife. But the Lord, dying without fear, gave His own blood for her, whom rising again He was to have, whom He had already united to Himself in the Virgin's womb. For the Word was the Bridegroom, and human flesh the bride; and both one, the Son of God, the same also being Son of man. The womb of the Virgin Mary, in which He became head of the Church, was His bridal chamber: thence He came forth, as a bridegroom from his chamber, as the Scripture foretold, And rejoiced as a giant to run his way. From His chamber He came forth as a bridegroom; and being invited, came to the marriage.

5. It is because of an indubitable mystery that He appears not to acknowledge His mother, from whom as the Bridegroom He came forth, when He says to her, Woman, what have I to do with you? Mine hour is not yet come. What is this? Did He come to the marriage for the purpose of teaching men to treat their mothers with contempt? Surely he to whose marriage He had come was taking a wife with the view of having children, and surely he wished to be honored by those children he would beget: had Jesus then come to the marriage in order to dishonor His mother, when marriages are celebrated and wives married with the view of having children, whom God commands to honor their parents? Beyond all doubt, brethren, there is some mystery lurking here. It is really a matter of such importance that some — of whom the apostle, as we have mentioned before, has forewarned us to be on our guard, saying, I fear, lest, as the serpent beguiled Eve by his subtlety, so also your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and chastity which is in Christ,— taking away from the credibility of the gospel, and asserting that Jesus was not born of the Virgin Mary, used to endeavor to draw from this place an argument in support of their error, so far as to say, How could she be His mother, to whom He said, Woman, what have I to do with you? Wherefore we must answer them, and show them why the Lord said this, lest in their insanity they appear to themselves to have discovered something contrary to wholesome belief, whereby the chastity of the virgin bride may be corrupted, that is, whereby the faith of the Church may be injured. For in very deed, brethren, their faith is corrupted who prefer a lie to the truth. For these men, who appear to honor Christ in such wise as to deny that He had flesh, do nothing short of proclaiming Him a liar. Now they who build up a lie in men, what do they but drive the truth out of them? They let in the devil, they drive Christ out; they let in an adulterer, shut out the bridegroom, being evidently paranymphs, or rather, the panderers of the serpent. For it is for this object they speak, that the serpent may possess, and Christ be shut out. How does the serpent possess? When a lie possesses. When falsehood possesses, then the serpent possesses; when truth possesses, then Christ possesses. For Himself has said, I am the truth; [John 14:6] but of that other He said, He stood not in the truth, because the truth is not him. [John 8:44] And Christ is the truth in such wise that you should receive the whole to be true in Him. The true Word, God equal with the Father, true soul, true flesh, true man, true God, true nativity, true passion, true death, true resurrection. If you say that any of these is false, rottenness enters, the worms of falsehood are bred of the poison of the serpent, and nothing sound will remain.

6. What, then, is this, says one, which the Lord says, Woman, what have I to do with you? Perhaps the Lord shows us in the sequel why He said this: Mine hour, says He, is not yet come. For thus is how He says, Woman, what have I to do with you? Mine hour is not yet come. And we must seek to know why this was said. But first let us therefrom withstand the heretics. What says the old serpent, of old the hissing instiller of poison? What says he? That Jesus had not a woman for His mother. Whence do you prove that? From this, says he, because Jesus said, Woman, what have I to do with you? Who has related this, that we should believe that Jesus said it? Who has related it? None other than John the evangelist. But the same John the evangelist said, And the mother of Jesus was there. For this is how he has told us: The next day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. And having been invited to the marriage, Jesus had come there with His disciples. We have here two sayings uttered by the evangelist. The mother of Jesus was there, said the evangelist; and it is the same evangelist that has told us what Jesus said to His mother. And see, brethren, how he has told us that Jesus answered His mother, having said first, His mother said to Him, in order that you may keep the virginity of your heart secure against the tongue of the serpent. Here we are told in the same Gospel, the record of the same evangelist, The mother of Jesus was there, and His mother said to Him. Who related this? John the evangelist. And what said Jesus in answer to His mother? Woman, what have I to do with you? Who relates this? The very same Evangelist John. O most faithful and truth-speaking evangelist, you tell me that Jesus said, Woman, what have I to do with you? why have you added His mother, whom He does not acknowledge? For you have said that the mother of Jesus was there, and that His mother said to Him; why did you not rather say, Mary was there, and Mary said to Him. Thou tellest as these two facts, His mother said to Him, and Jesus answered her, Woman, why have I to do with you? Why do you do this, if it be not because both are true? Now, those men are willing to believe the evangelist in the one case, when he tells us that Jesus said to His mother, Woman, what have I to do with you? and yet they will not believe him in the other, when he says, The mother of Jesus was there, and His mother said to Him. But who is he that resists the serpent and holds fast the truth, whose virginity of heart is not corrupted by the subtlety of the devil? He who believes both to be true, namely, that the mother of Jesus was there, and that Jesus made that answer to His mother. But if he does not as yet understand in what manner Jesus said, Woman, what have I to do with you? let him meanwhile believe that He said it, and said it, moreover, to His mother. Let him first have the piety to believe, and he will then have fruit in understanding.

7. I ask you, O faithful Christians, Was the mother of Jesus there? Answer ye, She was. Whence know you? Answer, The Gospel says it. What answer made Jesus to His mother? Answer ye, Woman, what have I to do with you? Mine hour is not yet come. And whence know you this? Answer, The Gospel says it. Let no man corrupt this your faith, if you desire to preserve a chaste virginity for the Bridegroom. But if it be asked of you, why He made this answer to His mother, let him declare who understands; but he who does not as yet understand, let him most firmly believe that Jesus made this answer, and made it moreover to His mother. By this piety he will learn to understand also why Jesus answered thus, if by praying he knock at the door of truth, and do not approach it with wrangling. Only this much, while he fancies himself to know, or is ashamed because he does not know, why Jesus answered thus, let him beware lest he be constrained to believe either that the evangelist lied when he said, The mother of Jesus was there, or that Jesus Himself suffered for our sins by a counterfeit death and for our justification showed counterfeit scars; and that He spoke falsely in saying, If you continue in my word, you are my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. [John 8:31] For if He had a false mother, false flesh, false death, false wounds in His death, false scars in His resurrection, then it will not be the truth, but rather falsehood, that shall make free those that believe in Him. Nay, on the contrary, let falsehood yield to truth, and let all be confounded who would have themselves be accounted truth-speaking, because they endeavor to prove Christ a deceiver, and will not have it said to them, We do not believe you because you lie, when they affirm that truth itself has lied. Nevertheless, if we ask them, Whence know you that Christ said, Woman, what have I to do with you? they answer that they believe the Gospel. Then why do they not believe the Gospel when it says, The mother of Jesus was there, and, His mother said to Him? Or if the Gospel lies here, how are we to believe it there, that Jesus said this, Woman, what have I to do with you? Why do not those miserable men rather faithfully believe that the Lord did so answer, not to a stranger, but to His mother; and also piously seek to know why He did so answer? There is a great difference between him who says, I would know why Christ made this answer to His mother, and him who says, I know that it was not to His mother that Christ made this answer. It is one thing to be willing to understand what is shut up, another thing to be unwilling to believe what is open. He who says, I would know why Christ thus made answer to His mother, wishes the Gospel, in which he believes, opened up to him; but he who says, I know that it was not to His mother that Christ made this answer, accuses of falsehood the very Gospel, wherein he believed that Christ did so answer.

8. Now then, if it seem good, brethren, those men being repulsed, and ever wandering in their own blindness, unless in humility they be healed, let us inquire why our Lord answered His mother in such a manner. He was in an extraordinary manner begotten of the Father without a mother, born of a mother without a father; without a mother He was God, without a father He was man; without a mother before all time, without a father in the end of times. What He said was said in answer to His mother, for the mother of Jesus was there, and His mother said to Him. All this the Gospel says. It is there we learn that the mother of Jesus was there, just where we learn that He said to her, Woman, what have I to do with you? Mine hour is not yet come. Let us believe the whole; and what we do not yet understand, let us search out. And first take care, lest perhaps, as the Manichæans found occasion for their falsehood, because the Lord said, Woman, what have I to do with you? the astrologers in like manner may find occasion for their deception, in that He said, Mine hour is not yet come. If it was in the sense of the astrologers He said this, we have committed a sacrilege in burning their books. But if we have acted rightly, as was done in the times of the apostles, [Acts 19:19] it was not according to their notion that the Lord said, Mine hour is not yet come. For, say those vain-talkers and deceived seducers, you see that Christ was under fate, as He says, Mine hour is not yet come. To whom then must we make answer first — to the heretics or to the astrologers? For both come of the serpent, and desire to corrupt the Church's virginity of heart, which she holds in undefiled faith. Let us first reply to those whom we proposed, to whom, indeed, we have already replied in great measure. But lest they should think that we have not what to say of the words which the Lord uttered in answer to His mother, we prepare you further against them; for I suppose what has already been said is sufficient for their refutation.

9. Why, then, said the Son to the mother, Woman, what have I to do with you? Mine hour is not yet come? Our Lord Jesus Christ was both God and man. According as He was God, He had not a mother; according as He was man, He had. She was the mother, then, of His flesh, of His humanity, of the weakness which for our sakes He took upon Him. But the miracle which He was about to do, He was about to do according to His divine nature, not according to His weakness; according to that wherein He was God not according to that wherein He was born weak. But the weakness of God is stronger than men. [1 Corinthians 1:25] His mother then demanded a miracle of Him; but He, about to perform divine works, so far did not recognize a human womb; saying in effect, That in me which works a miracle was not born of you, you gave not birth to my divine nature; but because my weakness was born of you, I will recognize you at the time when that same weakness shall hang upon the cross. This, indeed, is the meaning of Mine hour is not yet come. For then it was that He recognized, who, in truth, always did know. He knew His mother in predestination, even before He was born of her; even before, as God, He created her of whom, as man, He was to be created, He knew her as His mother: but at a certain hour in a mystery He did not recognize her; and at a certain hour which had not yet come, again in a mystery, He does recognize her. For then did He recognize her, when that to which she gave birth was a-dying. That by which Mary was made did not die, but that which was made of Mary; not the eternity of the divine nature, but the weakness of the flesh, was dying. He made that answer therefore, making a distinction in the faith of believers, between the who; and the how, He came. For while He was God and the Lord of heaven and earth, He came by a mother who was a woman. In that He was Lord of the world, Lord of heaven and earth, He was, of course, the Lord of Mary also; but in that wherein it is said, Made of a woman, made under the law, He was Mary's son. The same both the Lord of Mary and the son of Mary; the same both the Creator of Mary and created from Mary. Marvel not that He was both son and Lord. For just as He is called the son of Mary, so likewise is He called the son of David; and son of David because son of Mary. Hear the apostle openly declaring, Who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. [Romans 1:3] Hear Him also declared the Lord of David; let David himself declare this: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand. And this passage Jesus Himself brought forward to the Jews, and refuted them from it. [Matthew 22:45] How then was He both David's son and David's Lord? David's son according to the flesh, David's Lord according to His divinity; so also Mary's son after the flesh, and Mary's Lord after His majesty. Now as she was not the mother of His divine nature, while it was by His divinity the miracle she asked for would be wrought, therefore He answered her, Woman, what have I to do with you? But think not that I deny you to be my mother: Mine hour is not yet come; for in that hour I will acknowledge you, when the weakness of which you are the mother comes to hang on the cross. Let us prove the truth of this. When the Lord suffered, the same evangelist tells us, who knew the mother of the Lord, and who has given us to know about her in this marriage feast, — the same, I say, tells us, There was there near the cross the mother of Jesus; and Jesus says to His mother, Woman, behold your son! And to the disciple, Behold your mother! He commends His mother to the care of the disciple; commends His mother, as about to die before her, and to rise again before her death. The man commends her a human being to man's care. This humanity had Mary given birth to. That hour had now come, the hour of which He had then said, Mine hour is not yet come.

10. In my opinion, brethren, we have answered the heretics. Let us now answer the astrologers. And how do they attempt to prove that Jesus was under fate? Because, say they, Himself said, Mine hour is not yet come. Therefore we believe Him; and if He had said, I have no hour, He would have excluded the astrologers: but behold, say they, He said, Mine hour is not yet come. If then He had said, I have no hour, the astrologers would have been shut out, and would have no ground for their slander; but now that He said, Mine hour is not yet come, how can we contradict His own words? 'Tis wonderful that the astrologers, by believing Christ's words, endeavor to convince Christians that Christ lived under an hour of fate. Well, let them believe Christ when He says, I have power to lay down my life and to take it up again: no man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself, and I take it again. [John 10:18] Is this power then under fate? Let them show us a man who has it in his power when to die, how long to live: this they can never do. Let them, therefore, believe God when He says, I have power to lay down my life, and to take it up again; and let them inquire why it was said, Mine hour is not yet come; and let them not because of these words, be imposing fate on the Maker of heaven, the Creator and Ruler of the stars. For even if fate were from the stars, the Maker of the stars could not be subject to their destiny. Moreover, not only Christ had not what you call fate, but not even have you, or I, or he there, or any human being whatsoever.

11. Nevertheless, being deceived, they deceive others, and propound fallacies to men. They lay snares to catch men, and that, too, in the open streets. They who spread nets to catch wild beasts even do it in woods and desert places: how miserably vain are men, for catching whom the net is spread in the forum! When men sell themselves to men, they receive money; but these give money in order to sell themselves to vanities. For they go in to an astrologer to buy themselves masters, such as the astrologer is pleased to give them: be it Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, or any other named profanity. The man went in free, that having given his money he might come out a slave. Nay, rather, had he been free he would not have gone in; but he entered whither his master Error and his mistress Avarice dragged him. Whence also the truth says, Every one that does sin is the slave of sin. [John 8:34]

12. Why then did He say, Mine hour is not yet come? Rather because, having it in His power when to die, He did not yet see it fit to use that power. Just as we, brethren, say, for example, Now is the appointed hour for us to go out to celebrate the sacraments. If we go out before it is necessary, do we not act perversely and absurdly? And because we act only at the proper time, do we therefore in this action regard fate when we so express ourselves? What means then, Mine hour is not yet come? When I know that it is the fitting time for me to suffer, when my suffering will be profitable, then I will willingly suffer. That hour is not yet: that you may preserve both, this, Mine hour is not yet come; and that, I have power to lay down my life, and power to take it again. He had come, then, having it in His power when to die. And surely it would not have been right were He to die before He had chosen disciples. Had he been a man who had not his hour in his own power, he might have died before he had chosen disciples; and if haply he had died when his disciples were now chosen and instructed, it would be something conferred on him, not his own doing. But, on the contrary, He who had come having in His power when to go, when to return, how far to advance, and for whom the regions of the grave were open, not only when dying but when rising again; He, I say, in order to show us His Church's hope of immortality, showed in the head what it behooved the members to expect. For He who has risen again in the head will also rise again in all His members. The hour then had not yet come, the fit time was not yet. Disciples had to be called, the kingdom of heaven to be proclaimed, the Lord's divinity to be shown forth in miracles, and His humanity in His very sympathy with mortal men. For He who hungered because He was man, fed so many thousands with five loaves because He was God; He who slept because He was man, commanded the winds and the waves because He was God. All these things had first to be set forth, that the evangelists might have whereof to write, that there might be what should be preached to the Church. But when He had done as much as He judged to be sufficient, then His hour came, not of necessity, but of will, — not of condition, but of power.

13. What then, brethren? Because we have replied to these and those, shall we say nothing as to what the water-pots signify? What the water turned into wine? What the master of the feast? What the bridegroom? What in mystery the mother of Jesus? What the marriage itself? We must speak of all these, but we must not burden you. I would have preached to you in Christ's name yesterday also, when the usual sermon was due to you, my beloved, but I was hindered by certain necessities. If you please then, holy brethren, let us defer until tomorrow what pertains to the hidden meaning of this translation, and not burden both your and our own weakness. There are many of you, perhaps, who have today come together on account of the solemnity of the day, not to hear the sermon. Let those who come tomorrow come to hear, so that we may not defraud those who are eager to learn, nor burden those who are fastidious.

1. May the Lord our God be present, that He may grant us to render you what we promised. For yesterday, if you remember, holy brethren, when the shortness of the time prevented us from completing the sermon we had begun, we put off until today the unfolding, by God's assistance, of those things which are mystically put in hidden meanings in this fact of the Gospel lesson. We need not, therefore, now stay any longer to commend the miracle of God. For He is the same God who, throughout the whole creation, works miracles every day, which become lightly esteemed by men, not because of the ease with which they are wrought, but by reason of their constant recurrence. Those uncommon works, however, which were done by the same Lord — that is, by the Word for us made flesh — occasioned greater astonishment to men, not because they are greater than those which He daily performs in the creation, but because these which happen every day are accomplished as it were in the course of nature; but the others appear exhibited to the eyes of men, wrought by the efficacy of a power, as it were, immediately present. We said, as you remember, one dead man rose again, people were amazed, while no man wonders at the birth every day of those who were not in being. In like manner, who does not wonder at water turned into wine, although God is doing this every year in vines? But since all the works which the Lord Jesus did, serve not only to rouse our hearts by their miraculous character, but also to edify our hearts in the doctrine of faith, it behooves us thoroughly to examine into the meaning and significance of those works. For the consideration of the meaning of all these things we deferred, as you remember, till today.

2. The Lord, in that He came to the marriage to which He was invited, wished, apart from the mystical signification, to assure us that marriage was His own institution. For there were to be those of whom the apostle spoke, forbidding to marry, [1 Timothy 4:3] and asserting that marriage was an evil, and of the devil's institution: notwithstanding the same Lord declares in the Gospel, on being asked whether it be lawful for a man to put away his wife for any cause, that it is not lawful save for the cause of fornication. In His answer, if you remember, He said, What God has joined together let not man put asunder. [Matthew 19:6] And they that are well instructed in the catholic faith know that God instituted marriage; and as the union of man and wife is from God, so divorce is from the devil. But in the case of fornication it is lawful for a man to put away his wife, because she first chose to be no longer wife in not preserving conjugal fidelity to her husband. Nor are those women who vow virginity to God, although they hold a higher place of honor and sanctity in the Church, without marriage. For they too, together with the whole Church, attain to a marriage, a marriage in which Christ is the Bridegroom. And for this cause, therefore, did the Lord, on being invited, come to the marriage, to confirm conjugal chastity, and to show forth the sacrament of marriage. For the bridegroom in that marriage, to whom it was said, You have kept the good wine until now, represented the person of the Lord. For the good wine — namely, the gospel — Christ has kept until now.

3. For now let us begin to uncover the hidden meanings of the mysteries, so far as He in whose name we made you the promise may enable us. In the ancient times there was prophecy, and no times were left without the dispensation of prophecy. But the prophecy, since Christ was not understood therein, was water. For in water wine is in some manner latent. The apostle tells us what we are to understand by this water: Even unto this day, says he, while Moses is read, that same veil is upon their heart; that it is not unveiled because it is done away in Christ. And when you shall have passed over, says he, to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. [2 Corinthians 3:14-16] By the veil he means the covering over of prophecy, so that it was not understood. When you have passed over to the Lord, the veil is taken away; so likewise is tastelessness taken away when you have passed over to the Lord; and what was water now becomes wine to you. Read all the prophetic books; and if Christ be not understood therein, what can you find so insipid and silly? Understand Christ in them, and what you read not only has a taste, but even inebriates you; transporting the mind from the body, so that forgetting the things that are past, you reach forth to the things that are before. [Philippians 3:13]

4. Wherefore, prophecy from ancient times, even from the time when the series of human births began to run onwards, was not silent concerning Christ; but the import of the prophecy was concealed therein, for as yet it was water. Whence do we prove that in all former times, until the age in which the Lord came, prophecy did not fail concerning Him? From the Lord's own saying. For when He had risen from the dead, He found His disciples doubting concerning Himself whom they had followed. For they saw that He was dead, and they had no hope that He would rise again; all their hope had gone. On what ground was the thief, after receiving praise, deemed worthy to be that same day in Paradise? Because when bound on the cross he confessed Christ, while the disciples doubted concerning Him. Well, He found them wavering, and in a manner reproving themselves because they had looked for redemption in Him. Yet they sorrowed for Him as cut off without fault, for they knew Him to be innocent. And this is what the disciples themselves said, after His resurrection, when He had found certain of them in the way, sorrowful, Are you only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which have come to pass there in these days? And He said to them, What things? And they said, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deeds and words before God and all the people: how our priests and rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and bound Him to the cross. But we trusted that it was He who should have redeemed Israel; and today is now the third day since these things were done. After one of the two whom He found in the way going to a neighboring village had spoken these and other words, Jesus answered and said, O irrational, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered all these things. and to enter into His glory? And beginning from Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And likewise, in another place, when He would even have His disciples touch Him with their hands, that they might believe that He had risen in the body, He says, These are the words which I have spoken unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said to them, Thus it is written, that Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

5. When these words of the Gospel are understood, and they are certainly clear, all the mysteries which are latent in this miracle of the Lord will be laid open. Observe what He says, that it behooved the things to be fulfilled in Christ that were written of Him. Where were they written? In the law, says He, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms. He omitted no part of the Old Scriptures. These were water; and hence the disciples were called irrational by the Lord, because as yet they tasted to them as water, not as wine. And how did He make of the water wine? When He opened their understanding, and expounded to them the Scriptures, beginning from Moses, through all the prophets; with which being now inebriated, they said, Did not our hearts burn within us in the way, when He opened to us the Scriptures? For they understood Christ in those books in which they knew Him not before. Thus our Lord Jesus Christ changed the water into wine, and that has now taste which before had not, that now inebriates which before did not. For if He had commanded the water to be poured out of the water-pots, and so Himself had put in the wine from the secret repositories of the creature, whence He made bread when He satisfied so many thousands; for five loaves were not in themselves sufficient to satisfy five thousand men, nor even to fill twelve baskets, but the omnipotence of the Lord was, as it were, a fountain of bread; so likewise He might, on the water being poured out, have poured in wine: but had He done this, He would appear to have rejected the Old Scriptures. When, however, He turns the water itself into wine, He shows us that the Old Scripture also is from Himself, for at His own command were the water-pots filled. It is from the Lord, indeed, that the Old Scripture also is; but it has no taste unless Christ is understood therein.

6. But observe what Himself says, The things which were written in the law, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. And we know that the law extends from the time of which we have record, that is, from the beginning of the world: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. [Genesis 1:1] Thence down to the time in which we are now living are six ages, this being the sixth, as you have often heard and know. The first age is reckoned from Adam to Noah; the second, from Noah to Abraham; and, as Matthew the evangelist duly follows and distinguishes, the third, from Abraham to David; the fourth, from David to the carrying away into Babylon; the fifth, from the carrying away into Babylon to John the Baptist; [Matthew 1:17] the sixth, from John the Baptist to the end of the world. Moreover, God made man after His own image on the sixth day, because in this sixth age is manifested the renewing of our mind through the gospel, after the image of Him who created us; [Colossians 3:10] and the water is turned into wine, that we may taste of Christ, now manifested in the law and the prophets. Hence there were there six water-pots, which He bade be filled with water. Now the six water-pots signify the six ages, which were not without prophecy. And those six periods, divided and separated as it were by joints, would be as empty vessels unless they were filled by Christ. Why did I say, the periods which would run fruitlessly on, unless the Lord Jesus were preached in them? Prophecies are fulfilled, the water-pots are full; but that the water may be turned into wine, Christ must be understood in that whole prophecy.

7. But what means this: They contained two or three metretæ apiece? This phrase certainly conveys to us a mysterious meaning. For by metretæ he means certain measures, as if he should say jars, flasks, or something of that sort. Metreta is the name of a measure, and takes its name from the word measure. For μέτρον is the Greek word for measure, whence the word metretæ is derived. They contained, then, two or three metretæ apiece. What are we to say, brethren? If He had simply said three apiece, our mind would at once have run to the mystery of the Trinity. And, perhaps, we ought not at once to reject this application of the meaning, because He said, two or three apiece; for when the Father and Son are named, the Holy Spirit must necessarily be understood. For the Holy Spirit is not that of the Father only, nor of the Son only, but the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. For it is written, If any man love the world, the Spirit of the Father is not in him. [1 John 2:15] And again, Whoever has not the Spirit of Christ is none of His. [Romans 8:9] The same, then, is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. Therefore, the Father and the Son being named, the Holy Spirit also is understood, because He is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. And when there is mention of the Father and Son, two metretæ, as it were, are mentioned; but since the Holy Spirit is understood in them, three metretæ. That is the reason why it is not said, Some containing two metretæ apiece, others three apiece; but the same six water-pots contained two or three metretæ apiece. It is as if he had said, When I say two apiece, I would have the Spirit of the Father and of the Son to be understood together with them; and when I say three apiece, I declare the same Trinity more plainly.

8. Wherefore, whoever names the Father and the Son ought thereby to understand the mutual love of the Father and Son, which is the Holy Spirit. And perhaps the Scriptures on being examined (I do not say that I am able to show you this today, or as if another proof cannot be found) — nevertheless, the Scriptures, perhaps, on being searched, do show us that the Holy Spirit is charity. And do not count charity a thing cheap. How, indeed, can it be cheap, when all things that are said to be not cheap are called dear (chara)? Therefore, if what is not cheap is dear, what is dearer than dearness itself (charitas)? The apostle so commends charity to us that he says, I show unto you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I have become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and have prophecy and all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I distribute all my goods to the poor, and give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing. [1 Corinthians 13:1-3] How great, then, is charity, which, if wanting, in vain have we all things else; if present, rightly have we all things! Yet the Apostle Paul, setting forth the praise of charity with copiousness and fullness, has said less of it than did the Apostle John in brief, whose Gospel this is. For he has not hesitated to say, God is love. It is also written, Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given us. [Romans 5:5] Who, then, can name the Father and the Son without thereby understanding the love of the Father and Son? Which when one begins to have, he will have the Holy Spirit; which if one has not, he will not have the Holy Spirit. And just as your body, if it be without spirit, namely your soul, is dead; so likewise your soul, if it be without the Holy Spirit, that is, without charity, will be reckoned dead. Therefore The water-pots contained two metretæ apiece, because the Father and the Son are proclaimed in the prophecy of all the periods; but the Holy Spirit is there also, and therefore it is added, or three apiece. I and the Father, says He, are one. [John 10:30] But far be it from us to suppose that where we are told, I and the Father are one, the Holy Spirit is not there. Yet since he named the Father and the Son, let the water-pots contain two metretæ apiece; but attend to this, or three apiece. Go, baptize the nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. So, therefore, when it says two apiece, the Trinity is not expressed but understood; but when it says, or three, the Trinity is expressed also.

9. But there is also another meaning that must not be passed over, and which I will declare: let every man choose which he likes best. We keep not back what is suggested to us. For it is the Lord's table, and the minister ought not to defraud the guests, especially when they hunger as you now do, so that your longing is manifest. Prophecy, which is dispensed from the ancient times, has for its object the salvation of all nations. True, Moses was sent to the people of Israel alone, and to that people alone was the law given by him; and the prophets, too, were of that people, and the very distribution of times was marked out according to the same people; whence also the water-pots are said to be according to the purification of the Jews: nevertheless, that the prophecy was proclaimed to all other nations also is manifest, forasmuch as Christ was concealed in him in whom all nations are blessed, as it was promised to Abraham by the Lord, saying, In your seed shall all nations be blessed. [Genesis 22:18] But this was not as yet understood, for as yet the water was not turned into wine. The prophecy therefore was dispensed to all nations. But that this may appear more agreeably, let us, so far as our time permits, mention certain facts respecting the several ages, as represented respectively by the water-pots.

10. In the very beginning, Adam and Eve were the parents of all nations, not of the Jews only; and whatever was represented in Adam concerning Christ, undoubtedly concerned all nations, whose salvation is in Christ. What better can I say of the water of the first water-pot than what the apostle says of Adam and Eve? For no man will say that I misunderstand the meaning when I produce, not my own, but the apostle's. How great a mystery, then, concerning Christ does that of which the apostle makes mention contain, when he says, And the two shall be in one flesh: this is a great mystery! [Ephesians 5:31] And lest any man should understand that greatness of mystery to exist in the case of the individual men that have wives, he says, But I speak concerning Christ and the Church. What great mystery is this, the two shall be one flesh? While Scripture, in the Book of Genesis, was speaking of Adam and Eve, it came to these words, Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they two shall be one flesh. [Genesis 2:24] Now, if Christ cleave to the Church, so that the two should be one flesh, in what manner did He leave His Father and His mother? He left His Father in this sense, that when He was in the form of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking to Him the form of a servant. [Philippians 2:6] In this sense He left His Father, not that He forsook or departed from His Father, but that He did not appear unto men in that form in which He was equal with the Father. But how did He leave His mother? By leaving the synagogue of the Jews, of which, after the flesh, He was born, and by cleaving to the Church which He has gathered out of all nations. Thus the first water-pot then held a prophecy of Christ; but so long as these things of which I speak were not preached among the peoples, the prophecy was water, it was not yet changed into wine. And since the Lord has enlightened us through the apostle, to show us what we were in search of, by this one sentence, The two shall be one flesh; a great mystery concerning Christ and the Church; we are now permitted to seek Christ everywhere, and to drink wine from all the water-pots. Adam sleeps, that Eve may be formed; Christ dies, that the Church may be formed. When Adam sleeps, Eve is formed from his side; when Christ is dead, the spear pierces His side, that the mysteries may flow forth whereby the Church is formed. Is it not evident to every man that in those things then done, things to come were foreshadowed, since the apostle says that Adam himself was the figure of Him that was to come? Who is, says he, the figure of Him that was to come. [Romans 5:14] All was mystically prefigured. For, in reality, God could have taken the rib from Adam when he was awake, and formed the woman. Or was it, haply, necessary for him to sleep lest he should feel pain in his side when the rib was taken away? Who is there that sleeps so soundly that his bones may be torn from him without his awaking? Or was it because it was God that tore it out, that the man did not feel it? Well, He who could take it from him without pain when he was asleep, could do it also when he was awake. But, without doubt, the first water-pot was being filled, there was a dispensation of the prophecy of that time concerning this which was to be.

11. Christ was represented also in Noah and in that ark of the whole world. For why were all kinds of animals shut in, in the ark but to signify all nations? For God could again create every kind of animals. When as yet they were not, did He not say, Let the earth bring forth, and the earth brought forth? From the same source He could make anew, whence He then made; by a word He made, by a word He could make again: were it not that He was setting before us a mystery, and filling up the second water-pot of prophetical dispensation, that the world might by the wood be delivered in a figure; because the life of the world was to be nailed on wood.

12. Now, in the third water-pot, to Abraham, as I have mentioned before, it was said, In your seed shall all nations be blessed. And who does not see whose figure Abraham's only son was, he who bore the wood for the sacrifice of himself, to that place whither he was being led to be offered up? For the Lord bore his own cross, as the Gospel tells us. This will be enough to say concerning the third water-pot.

13. But as to David, why do I say that his prophecy extends to all nations, when we have just heard the psalm (and it is difficult to mention a psalm in which the same is not sounded forth)? But certainly, as I have said, we have been just singing, Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit among all nations. And this is why the Donatists are as men cast forth from the marriage: just as the man who had not a wedding garment was invited, and came, but was cast forth from the number of the guests because he had not the garment to the glory of the bridegroom; for he who seeks his own glory, not Christ's, has not the wedding garment: for they refuse to agree with him who was the friend of the Bridegroom, and says, This is He that baptizes. And deservedly was that which he was not made, by way of rebuke, an objection to him who had not the wedding garment, Friend, how are you come hither? [Matthew 22:13] And just as he was speechless, so also are these. For what can tongue-clatter avail when the heart is mute? For they know that inwardly, and with their own selves, they have not anything to say. Within, they are mute; without, they make a din. But whether they will or no, they hear this sung even among themselves, Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit among the nations: and by not communicating with all nations, what do they but acknowledge themselves to be disinherited?

14. Now what I said, brethren, that prophecy extends to all nations (for I wish to show you another meaning in the expression, Containing two or three metretæ apiece), — that prophecy, I say, extends to all nations, is pointed out, as we have just now reminded you, in Adam, who is the figure of Him that was to come. Who does not know that from him all nations are sprung; and that in the four letters of his name the four quarters of the globe, by their Greek appellations, are indicated? For if the east, west, north, and south are expressed in Greek even as Holy Scripture mentions them in various places, the initial letters of the words, you will find, make the word Adam: for in Greek the four quarters of the world are called Anatole, Dysis, Arktos, Mesembria. If you write these four words, one under the other, like four verses, the capital letters form the word Adam. The same is represented in Noah, by reason of the ark, in which were all animals, significant of all nations: the same in Abraham, to whom it was said more clearly, In your seed shall all nations be blessed: the same in David, from whose psalms, to omit other expressions, we have just been singing, Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit among all nations. Now to what God is it said Arise, but to Him who slept? Arise, O God, judge the earth. As if it were said, You have been asleep, having been judged by the earth; arise, to judge the earth. And whither does that prophecy extend, For You shall inherit among all nations?

15. Moreover, in the fifth age, in the fifth water-pot as it were, Daniel saw a stone that had been cut from a mountain without hands, and had broken all the kingdoms of the earth; and he saw the stone grow and become a great mountain, so as to fill the whole face of the earth. [Daniel 2:34] What can be plainer, my brethren? The stone is cut from a mountain: the same is the stone which the builders rejected, and has become the head of the corner. From what mountain is it cut, if not from the kingdom of the Jews, of which our Lord Jesus Christ was born according to the flesh? And it is cut without hands, without human exertion; because Christ sprung from a virgin, without a husband's embrace. The mountain from which it was cut had not filled the whole face of the earth; for the kingdom of the Jews did not possess all nations. But, on the other hand, the kingdom of Christ we see occupying the whole world.

16. To the sixth age belongs John the Baptist, than whom none greater has arisen among those born of women; of whom it was said, that he was greater than a prophet. [Matthew 11:11] And how did John show that Christ was sent to all nations? When the Jews came to him to be baptized, that they might not pride themselves on the name of Abraham, he said to them, O generation of vipers, who has proclaimed to you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance; that is, be humble; for he was speaking to proud people. But whereof were they proud? Of their descent according to the flesh, not of the fruit of imitating their father Abraham. What said he to them? Say not, We have Abraham for our father: for God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. [Matthew 3:9] Meaning by stones all nations, not on account of their durable strength, as in the case of that stone which the builders rejected, but on account of their stupidity and their foolish insensibility, because they had become like the things which they were accustomed to worship: for they worshipped senseless images, themselves equally senseless. They that make them are like them, and so are all they that trust in them. Accordingly, when men begin to worship God, what do they hear said to them? That ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven; who makes His sun to rise on the good and on the evil, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. [Matthew 5:45] Wherefore, if a man becomes like that which he worships, what is meant by God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham? Let us ask ourselves and we shall see that it is a fact. For of those nations are we come, but we should not have come of them had not God of the stones raised up children unto Abraham. We are made children of Abraham by imitating his faith, not by being born of his flesh. For just as they by their degeneracy have been disinherited, so have we by imitating been adopted. Therefore, brethren, this prophecy also of the sixth water-pot extended to all nations; and hence it was said concerning all, containing two or three metretæ apiece.

17. But how do we show that all nations belong to the two or three metretæ apiece? It was a matter of reckoning, in some measure, that he should say the same water-pots contained two apiece, which he had said contained three apiece; evidently in order to intimate to us a mystery therein. How are there two metretæ apiece? Circumcision and uncircumcision. Scripture mentions these two classes of people, and leaves out no kind of men, when it says, Circumcision and uncircumcision; [Colossians 3:11] in these two appellations you have all nations: they are the two metretæ apiece. In these two walls, meeting from different quarters, Christ became the corner-stone, in order to make peace in Himself. [Ephesians 2:14] Let us show also the three metretæ apiece in the case of these same all nations. Noah had three sons, through whom the human race was restored. Hence the Lord says, The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. [Luke 13:21] What is this woman, but the flesh of the Lord? What is the leaven, but the gospel? What the three measures, but all nations, on account of the three sons of Noah? Therefore the six water-pots containing two or three metretæ apiece are six periods of time, containing the prophecy relating to all nations, whether as represented in two sorts of men, namely, Jews and Greeks, as the apostle often mentions them; or in three sorts, on account of the three sons of Noah. For the prophecy was represented as reaching unto all nations. And because of that reaching it is called a measure, even as the apostle says, We have received a measure for reaching unto you. [2 Corinthians 10:13] For in preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, he says, A measure for reaching unto you.

1. In the psalm you have heard the groaning of the poor, whose members endure tribulations over the whole earth, even unto the end of the world. Make it your chief business, my brethren, to be among and of these members: for all tribulation is to pass away. Woe to them that rejoice! [Luke 6:25] Blessed, says the Truth, are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. God has become man: what shall man be, for whom God has become man? Let this hope comfort us in every tribulation and temptation of this life. For the enemy does not cease to persecute; and when he does not openly rage, he plots in secret. How does he plot? And for wrath, they worked deceitfully. Thence is he called a lion and a dragon. But what is said to Christ? You shall tread on the lion and the dragon. Lion, for open rage; dragon, for hidden treachery. The dragon cast Adam out of Paradise; as a lion, the same persecuted the Church, as Peter says: For your adversary, the devil, goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. [1 Peter 5:8] Let it not seem to you as if the devil had lost his ferocity. When he blandly flatters, then is he the more vigilantly to be guarded against. But amid all these treacherous devices and temptations of his, what shall we do but that which we have heard in the psalm: And I, when they were troublesome to me, clothed me in sackcloth, and humbled my soul in fasting. There is one that hears prayer, hesitate not to pray; but He that hears abides within. You need not direct your eyes towards some mountain; you need not raise your face to the stars, or to the sun, or to the moon; nor must you suppose that you are heard when you pray beside the sea: rather detest such prayers. Only cleanse the chamber of your heart; wheresoever you are, wherever you pray. He that hears is within, within in the secret place, which the psalmist calls his bosom, when he says, And my prayer shall be turned in my own bosom. He that hears you is not beyond you; you have not to travel far, nor to lift yourself up, so as to reach Him as it were with your hands. Rather, if you lift yourself up, you shall fall; if you humble yourself, He will draw near you. Our Lord God is here, the Word of God, the Word made flesh, the Son of the Father, the Son of God, the Son of man; the lofty One to make us, the humble to make us anew, walking among men, bearing the human, concealing the divine.

2. He went down, as the evangelist says, to Capernaum, He, and His mother, and His brethren, and His disciples; and they continued there not many days. Behold He has a mother, and brethren, and disciples: whence He has a mother, thence brethren. For our Scripture is wont to call them brethren, not only that are sprung from the same man and woman, or from the same mother, or from the same father, though by different mothers; or, in truth, that are of the same degree as cousins by the father's or mother's side: not these alone is our Scripture wont to call brethren. The Scripture must be understood as it speaks. It has its own language; one who does not know this language is perplexed and says, Whence had the Lord brethren? For surely Mary did not give birth a second time? Far from it! With her begins the dignity of virgins. She could be a mother, but a woman known of man she could not be. She is spoken of as mulier [which usually signifies a wife], but only in reference to her sex, not as implying loss of virgin purity: and this follows from the language of Scripture itself. For Eve, too, immediately she was formed from the side of her husband, and as yet not known of her husband, is, as you know, called mulier: And he made her a woman [mulier]. Then, whence the brethren? The kinsmen of Mary, of whatever degree, are the brethren of the Lord. How do we prove this? From Scripture itself. Lot is called Abraham's brother; he was his brother's son. Read, and you will find that Abraham was Lot's uncle on the father's side, and yet they are called brethren. Why, but because they were kinsmen? Laban the Syrian was Jacob's uncle by the mother's side, for he was the brother of Rebecca, Isaac's wife and Jacob's mother. [Genesis 28:5] Read the Scripture, and you will find that uncle and sister's son are called brothers. [Genesis 29:12-15] When you have known this rule, you will find that all the blood relations of Mary are the brethren of Christ.

3. But rather were those disciples brethren; for even those kinsmen would not be brethren were they not disciples: and to no advantage brethren, if they did not recognize their brother as their master. For in a certain place, when He was informed that His mother and His brethren were standing without, at the time He was speaking to His disciples, He said: Who is my mother? Or who are my brethren? And stretching out His hand over His disciples, He said, These are my brethren; and, Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, the same is my mother, and brother, and sister. [Matthew 12:46-50] Therefore also Mary, because she did the will of the Father. What the Lord magnified in her was, that she did the will of the Father, not that flesh gave birth to flesh. Give good heed, beloved. Moreover, when the Lord was regarded with admiration by the multitude, while doing signs and wonders, and showing forth what lay concealed under the flesh, certain admiring souls said: Happy is the womb that bare You: and He said, Yea, rather, happy are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. [Luke 11:27] That is to say, even my mother, whom you have called happy, is happy in that she keeps the word of God: not because in her the Word was made flesh and dwelt in us; but because she keeps that same word of God by which she was made, and which in her was made flesh. Let not men rejoice in temporal offspring, but let them exult if in spirit they are joined to God. We have spoken these things on account of that which the evangelist says, that He dwelt in Capernaum a few days, with His mother, and His brethren, and His disciples.

4. What follows upon this? And the Jews' passover was at hand; and He went up to Jerusalem. The narrator relates another matter, as it came to his recollection. And He found in the temple those that sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting: and when He had made, as it were, a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple; the oxen likewise, and the sheep; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; and said to them that sold doves, Take these things hence; and make not my Father's house a house of merchandise. What have we heard, brethren? See, that temple was still a figure, and yet the Lord cast out of it all that sought their own, all who had come to market. And what did they sell there? Things which people needed in the sacrifices of that time. For you know, beloved, that sacrifices were given to that people, in consideration of the carnal mind and stony heart yet in them, to keep them from falling away to idols: and they offered there for sacrifices oxen, sheep, and doves: you know this, for you have read it. It was not a great sin, then, if they sold in the temple that which was bought for the purpose of offering in the temple: and yet He cast them out thence. If, while they were selling what was lawful and not against justice (for it is not unlawful to sell what it is honorable to buy), He nevertheless drove those men out, and suffered not the house of prayer to be made a house of merchandise; how, if He found drunkards there, what would the Lord do? If the house of God ought not to be made a house of trading, ought it to be made a house of drinking? But when we say this, they gnash upon us with their teeth; but the psalm which you have heard comforts us: They gnashed upon me with their teeth. Yet we know how we may be cured, although the strokes of the lash are multiplied on Christ, for His word is made to bear the scourge: The scourges, says He, were gathered together against me, and they knew not. He was scourged by the scourges of the Jews; He is now scourged by the blasphemies of false Christians: they multiply scourges for their Lord, and know it not. Let us, so far as He aids us, do as the psalmist did: But as for me, when they were troublesome to me, I put on sackcloth, and humbled my soul with fasting.

5. Yet we say, brethren (for He did not spare those men: He who was to be scourged by them first scourged them), that He gave us a certain sign, in that He made a scourge of small cords, and with it lashed the unruly, who were making merchandise of God's temple. For indeed every man twists for himself a rope by his sins: Woe to them who draw sins as a long rope? Who makes a long rope? He who adds sin to sin. How are sins added to sins? When the sins which have been committed are covered over by other sins. One has committed a theft: that he may not be found out to have committed it, he seeks the astrologer. It were enough to have committed theft: why will you add sin to sin? Behold two sins committed. When you are forbidden to go to the astrologer, you revile the bishop: behold three sins. When you hear it said of you, Cast him forth from the Church; you say, I will betake me to the party of Donatus: behold you add a fourth sin. The rope is growing; be afraid of the rope. It is good for you to be corrected here, when you are scourged with it; that it may not be said of you at the last, Bind ye his hands and feet, and cast him forth into outer darkness. [Matthew 22:3] For, With the cords of his own sins is every one bound. [Proverbs 5:22] The former of these is the saying of the Lord, the latter that of another Scripture; but yet both are the sayings of the Lord. With their own sins are men bound and cast into outer darkness.

6. However, to seek the mystery of the deed in the figure, who are they that sell oxen? Who are they that sell sheep and doves? They are they who seek their own in the Church, not the things which are Christ's. They account all a matter of sale, while they will not be redeemed: they have no wish to be bought, and yet they wish to sell. Yes; good indeed is it for them that they may be redeemed by the blood of Christ, that they may come to the peace of Christ. Now, what does it profit to acquire in this world any temporal and transitory thing whatsoever, be it money, or pleasure of the palate, or honor that consists in the praise of men? Are they not all wind and smoke? Do they not all pass by and flee away? Are they not all as a river rushing headlong into the sea? And woe to him who shall fall into it, for he shall be swept into the sea. Therefore ought we to curb all our affections from such desires. My brethren, they that seek such things are they that sell. For that Simon too, wished to buy the Holy Ghost, just because he meant to sell the Holy Ghost; and he thought the apostles to be just such traders as they whom the Lord cast out of the temple with a scourge. For such an one he was himself, and desired to buy what he might sell: he was of those who sell doves. Now it was in a dove that the Holy Ghost appeared. [Matthew 3:16] Who, then, are they, brethren, that sell doves, but they who say, We give the Holy Ghost? But why do they say this, and at what price do they sell? At the price of honor to themselves. They receive as the price, temporal seats of honor, that they may be seen to be sellers of doves. Let them beware of the scourge of small cords. The dove is not for sale: it is given freely; for grace, or favor, it is called. Therefore, my brethren, just as you see them that sell, common chapmen, each cries up what he sells: how many stalls they have set up! Primianus has a stall at Carthage, Maximianus has another, Rogatus has another in Mauritania, they have another in Numidia, this party and that, which it is not in our power now to name. Accordingly,one goes round to buy the dove, and everyone at his own stall cries up what he sells. Let the heart of such an one turn away from every seller; let him come where he receives freely. Aye, brethren, and they do not blush, that, by these bitter and malicious dissensions of theirs, they have made of themselves so many parties, while they assume to be what they are not, while they are lifted up, thinking themselves to be something when they are nothing. [Galatians 6:3] But what is fulfilled in them, since that they will not be corrected, but that which you have heard in the psalm: They were rent asunder, and felt no remorse?

7. Well, who sell oxen? They who have dispensed to us the Holy Scriptures are understood to mean the oxen. The apostles were oxen, the prophets were oxen. Whence the apostle says: You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain. Does God take care for oxen? Or says He it for our sakes? Yea, for our sakes He says it: that he who plowes should plow in hope; and he that threshes, in hope of partaking. [1 Corinthians 9:9-10] Those oxen, then, have left to us the narration of the Scriptures. For it was not of their own that they dispensed, because they sought the glory of the Lord. Now, what have ye heard in that psalm? And let them say continually, The Lord be magnified, they that wish the peace of His servant. God's servant, God's people, God's Church. Let them who wish the peace of that Church magnify the Lord, not the servant: and let them say continually, The Lord be magnified. Who, let say? Them who wish the peace of His servant. The voice of that people, of that servant, is clearly that voice which you have heard in lamentations in the psalm, and were moved at hearing, because you are of that people. What was sung by one, re-echoed from the hearts of all. Happy they who recognized themselves in those voices as in a mirror. Who, then, are they that wish the peace of His servant, the peace of His people, the peace of the one whom He calls His only one, and whom He wishes to be delivered from the lion: Deliver mine only one from the power of the dog? They who say always, The Lord be magnified. Those oxen, then, magnified the Lord, not themselves. See this ox magnifying his Lord, because the ox knows his owner; [Isaiah 1:3] observe that ox in fear lest men desert the ox's owner and rely on the ox: how he dreads them that are willing to put their confidence in him: Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? [1 Corinthians 1:13] Of what I gave, I was not the giver: freely you have received; the dove came down from heaven. I have planted, says he, Apollo, watered; but God gave the increase: neither he that plants is anything, neither he that waters; but God that gives the increase. [1 Corinthians 3:6-7] And let them say always, The Lord be magnified, they that wish the peace of His servant.

8. These men, however, deceive the people by the very Scriptures, that they may receive honors and praises at their hand, and that men may not turn to the truth. But in that they deceive, by the very Scriptures, the people of whom they seek honors, they do in fact sell oxen: they sell sheep too; that is, the common people themselves. And to whom do they sell them, but to the devil? For if the Church be Christ's sole and only one, who is it that carries off whatever is cut away from it, but that lion that roars and goes about, seeking whom he may devour? [1 Peter 5:8] Woe to them that are cut off from the Church! As for her, she will remain entire. For the Lord knows them that are His. [2 Timothy 2:19] These, however, so far as they can, sell oxen and sheep, they sell doves too: let them guard against the scourge of their own sins. But when they suffer some such things for these their iniquities, let them acknowledge that the Lord has made a scourge of small cords, and is admonishing them to change themselves and be no longer traffickers: for if they will not change, they shall at the end hear it said, Bind ye these men's hands and feet, and cast them forth into outer darkness.

9. Then the disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Your house has eaten me up: because by this zeal of God's house, the Lord cast these men out of the temple. Brethren, let every Christian among the members of Christ be eaten up with zeal of God's house. Who is eaten up with zeal of God's house? He who exerts himself to have all that he may happen to see wrong there corrected, desires it to be mended, does not rest idle: who if he cannot mend it, endures it, laments it. The grain is not shaken out on the threshing-floor that it may enter the barn when the chaff shall have been separated. If you are a grain, be not shaken out from the floor before the putting into the granary; lest you be picked up by the birds before you be gathered into the granary. For the birds of heaven, the powers of the air, are waiting to snatch up something off the threshing-floor, and they can snatch up only what has been shaken out of it. Therefore, let the zeal of God's house eat you up: let the zeal of God's house eat up every Christian, zeal of that house of God of which he is a member. For your own house is not more important than that wherein you have everlasting rest. You go into your own house for temporal rest, you enter God's house for everlasting rest. If, then, you busy yourself to see that nothing wrong be done in your own house, is it fit that you suffer, so far as you can help, if you should chance to see anything wrong in the house of God, where salvation is set before you, and rest without end? For example, do you see a brother rushing to the theatre? Stop him, warn him, make him sorry, if the zeal of God's house does eat you up. Do you see others running and desiring to get drunk, and that, too, in holy places, which is not decent to be done in any place? Stop those whom you can, restrain whom you can, frighten whom you can, allure gently whom you can, do not, however, rest silent. Is it a friend? Let him be admonished gently. Is it a wife? Let her be bridled with the utmost rigor. Is it a maid-servant? Let her be curbed even with blows. Do whatever you can for the part you bear, and so you fulfill. The zeal of Your house has eaten me up. But if you will be cold, languid, having regard only to yourself, and as if yourself were enough to you, and saying in your heart, What have I to do with looking after other men's sins? Enough for me is the care of my own soul: this let me keep undefiled for God — come, does there not recur to your mind the case of that servant who hid his talent and would not lay it out? Was he accused because he lost it, and not because he kept it without profit? [Matthew 25:25-30] So hear ye then, my brethren, that you may not rest idle. I am about to give you counsel: may He who is within give it; for though it be through me, it is He that gives it. You know what to do, each one of you, in his own house, with his friend, his tenant, his client, with greater, with less: as God grants an entrance, as He opens a door for His word, do not cease to win for Christ; because you were won by Christ.

10. The Jews said to Him, What sign do you show unto us, seeing that you do these things? And the Lord answered, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and do you say, In three days I will rear it up? Flesh they were, fleshly things they minded; but He was speaking spiritually. But who could understand of what temple He spoke? But yet we have not far to seek; He has discovered it to us through the evangelist, he has told us of what temple He said it. But He spoke, says the evangelist, of the temple of His body. And it is manifest that, being slain, the Lord did rise again after three days. This is known to us all now: and if from the Jews it is concealed, it is because they stand without; yet to us it is open, because we know in whom we believe. The destroying and rearing again of that temple, we are about to celebrate in its yearly solemnity: for which we exhort you to prepare yourselves, such of you as are catechumens that you may receive grace; even now is the time, even now let that be purposed which may then come to the birth. Now, that thing we know.

11. But perhaps this is demanded of us, whether the fact that the temple was forty and six years in building may not have in it some mystery. There are, indeed, many things that may be said of this matter; but what may briefly be said, and easily understood, that we say meanwhile. Brethren, we have said yesterday, if I mistake not, that Adam was one man, and is yet the whole human race. For thus we said, if you remember. He was broken, as it were, in pieces; and, being scattered, is now being gathered together, and, as it were, conjoined into one by a spiritual fellowship and concord. And the poor that groan, as one man, is that same Adam, but in Christ he is being renewed: because an Adam has come without sin, to destroy the sin of Adam in His own flesh, and that Adam might renew to himself the image of God. Of Adam then is Christ's flesh: of Adam the temple which the Jews destroyed, and the Lord raised up in three days. For He raised His own flesh: see, that He was thus God equal with the Father. My brethren, the apostle says, Who raised Him from the dead. Of whom says he this? Of the Father. He became, says he, obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore also God raised Him from the dead, and gave Him a name which is above every name. [Philippians 2:8] He who was raised and exalted is the Lord. Who raised Him? The Father, to whom He said in the psalms, Raise me up and I will requite them. Hence, the Father raised Him up. Did He not raise Himself? And does the Father anything without the Word? What does the Father without His only One? For, hear that He also was God. Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Did He say, Destroy the temple, which in three days the Father will raise up? But as when the Father raises, the Son also raises; so when the Son raises, the Father also raises: because the Son has said, I and the Father are one. [John 10:30]

12. Now, what does the number Forty-six mean? Meanwhile, how Adam extends over the whole globe, you have already heard explained yesterday, by the four Greek letters of four Greek words. For if you write the four words, one under the other, that is, the names of the four quarters of the world, of east, west, north, and south, which is the whole globe — whence the Lord says that He will gather His elect from the four winds when He shall come to judgment; [Mark 13:27] — if, I say, you take these four Greek words —ἀνατολὴ, which is east; δύσις, which is west; ἄρχτος, which is north; μεσημβρία, which is south; Anatole, Dysis, Arctos, Mesembria — the first letters of the words make Adam. How, then, do we find there, too, the number forty-six? Because Christ's flesh was of Adam. The Greeks compute numbers by letters. What we make the letter A, they in their tongue put Alpha, α, and Alpha, α, is called one. And where in numbers they write Beta, β, which is their b , it is called in numbers two. Where they write Gamma, γ, it is called in their numbers three. Where they write Delta, δ, it is called in their numbers four; and so by means of all the letters they have numbers. The letter we call M, and they call My, μ, signifies forty; for they say My, μ, τεσσαράχοντα . Now look at the number which these letters make, and you will find in it that the temple was built in forty-six years. For the word Adam has Alpha, α, which is one: it has Delta, δ, which is four; there are five for you: it has Alpha, α, again, which is one; there are six for you: it has also My, μ, which is forty; there have you forty-six. These things, my brethren, were said by our elders before us, and that number forty-six was found by them in letters. And because our Lord Jesus Christ took of Adam a body, not of Adam derived sin; took of him a corporeal temple, not iniquity which must be driven from the temple: and that the Jews crucified that very flesh which He derived from Adam (for Mary was of Adam, and the Lord's flesh was of Mary); and that, further, He was in three days to raise that same flesh which they were about to slay on the cross: they destroyed the temple which was forty-six years in building, and that temple He raised up in three days.

13. We bless the Lord our God, who gathered us together to spiritual joy. Let us be ever in humility of heart, and let our joy be with Him. Let us not be elated with any prosperity of this world, but know that our happiness is not until these things shall have passed way. Now, my brethren, let our joy be in hope: let none rejoice as in a present thing, lest he stick fast in the way. Let joy be wholly of hope to come, desire be wholly of eternal life. Let all sighings breathe after Christ. Let that fairest one alone, who loved the foul to make them fair, be all our desire; after Him alone let us run, for Him alone pant and sigh; and let them say always, The Lord be magnified, that wish the peace of His servant.

1. Opportunely has the Lord procured for us that this passage should occur in its order to day: for I suppose you have observed, beloved, that we have undertaken to consider and explain the Gospel according to John in due course. Opportunely then it occurs, that today you should hear from the Gospel, that, Unless a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he shall not see the kingdom of God. For it is time that we exhort you, who are still catechumens, who have believed in Christ in such wise, that you are still bearing your sins. And none shall see the kingdom of heaven while burdened with sins; for none shall reign with Christ, but he to whom they have been forgiven: but forgiven they cannot be, but to him who is born again of water and of the Holy Spirit. But let us observe all the words what they imply, that here the sluggish may find with what earnestness they must haste to put off their burden. For were they bearing some heavy load, either of stone, or of wood, or even of some gain; if they were carrying grain, or wine, or money, they would run to put off their loads: they are carrying a burden of sins, and yet are sluggish to run. You must run to put off this burden; it weighs you down, it drowns you.

2. Behold, you have heard that when our Lord Jesus Christ was in Jerusalem at the Passover, on the feast day, many believed in His name, seeing the signs which He did. Many believed in His name; and what follows? But Jesus did not trust Himself to them. Now what does this mean, They believed, or trusted, in His name; and yet Jesus did not trust Himself to them;? Was it, perhaps, that they had not believed on Him, but were feigning to have believed, and that therefore Jesus did not trust Himself to them? But the evangelist would not have said, Many believed in His name, if he were not giving a true testimony to them. A great thing, then, it is, and a wonderful thing: men believe in Christ, and Christ trusts not Himself to men. Especially is it wonderful, since, being the Son of God, He of course suffered willingly. If He were not willing, He would never have suffered, since, had He not willed it, He had not been born; and if He had willed this only, merely to be born and not to die, He might have done even whatever He willed, because He is the almighty Son of the almighty Father. Let us prove it by facts. For when they wished to hold Him, He departed from them. The Gospel says, And when they would have cast Him headlong from the top of the mountain, He departed from them unhurt. [Luke 4:30] And when they came to lay hold of Him, after He was sold by Judas the traitor, who imagined that he had it in his power to deliver up his Master and Lord, there also the Lord showed that He suffered of His own will, not of necessity. For when the Jews desired to lay hold of Him, He said to them, Whom do you seek? But they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And said He, I am He. On hearing this saying, they went backward, and fell to the ground. [John 18:4-6] In this, that in answering them He threw them to the ground, He showed His power; that in His being taken by them He might show His will. It was of compassion, then, that He suffered. For He was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification. [Romans 4:25] Hear His own words: I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again: no man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself, that I may take it again. [John 10:18] Since, therefore, He had such power, since He declared it by words, showed it by deeds, what then does it mean that Jesus did not trust Himself to them, as if they would do Him some harm against His will, or would do something to Him against His will, especially seeing that they had already believed in His name? Moreover, of the same persons the evangelist says, They believed in His name, of whom he says, But Jesus did not trust Himself to them. Why? Because He knew all men, and needed not that any should bear witness of man: for Himself knew what was in man. The artificer knew what was in His own work better than the work knew what was in itself. The Creator of man knew what was in man, which the created man himself knew not. Do we not prove this of Peter, that he knew not what was in himself, when he said, With You, even to death? Hear that the Lord knew what was in man: Thou with me even to death? Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before the cock crow, you shall deny me thrice. The man, then, knew not what was in himself; but the Creator of the man knew what was in the man. Nevertheless, many believed in His name, and yet Jesus did not trust Himself to them. What can we say, brethren? Perhaps the circumstances that follow will indicate to us what the mystery of these words is. That men had believed in Him is manifest, is true; none doubts it, the Gospel says it, the truth-speaking evangelist testifies to it. Again, that Jesus trusted not Himself to them is also manifest, and no Christian doubts it; for the Gospel says this also, and the same truth-speaking evangelist testifies to it. Why, then, is it that they believed in His name, and yet Jesus did not trust Himself to them? Let us see what follows.

3. And there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus by name, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Him by night, and said to Him, Rabbi (you already know that Master is called Rabbi), we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no man can do these signs which You do, except God be with him. This Nicodemus, then, was of those who had believed in His name, as they saw the signs and prodigies which He did. For this is what he said above: Now, when He was in Jerusalem at the passover on the feast-day, many believed in His name. Why did they believe? He goes on to say, Seeing His signs which He did. And what says he of Nicodemus? There was a ruler of the Jews, Nicodemus by name the same came to Him by night, and says to Him, Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God. Therefore this man also had believed in His name. And why had he believed? He goes on, For no man can do these signs which You do, unless God be with him. If, therefore, Nicodemus was of those who had believed in His name, let us now consider, in the case of this Nicodemus, why Jesus did not trust Himself to them. Jesus answered and said to him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Therefore to them who have been born again does Jesus trust Himself. Behold, those men had believed on Him, and yet Jesus trusted not Himself to them. Such are all catechumens: already they believe in the name of Christ, but Jesus does not trust Himself to them. Give good heed, my beloved, and understand. If we say to a catechumen, Do you believe in Christ, he answers, I believe, and signs himself; already he bears the cross of Christ on his forehead, and is not ashamed of the cross of his Lord. Behold, he has believed in His name. Let us ask him, Do you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink the blood of the Son of man? He knows not what we say, because Jesus has not trusted Himself to him.

4. Therefore, since Nicodemus was of that number, he came to the Lord, but came by night; and this perhaps pertains to the matter. Came to the Lord, and came by night; came to the Light, and came in the darkness. But what do they that are born again of water and of the Spirit hear from the apostle? You were once darkness, but now light in the Lord; walk as children of light; [Ephesians 5:8] and again, But we who are of the day, let us be sober. [1 Thessalonians 5:8] Therefore they who are born again were of the night, and are of the day; were darkness, and are light. Now Jesus trusts Himself to them, and they come to Jesus, not by night, like Nicodemus; not in darkness do they seek the day. For such now also profess: Jesus has come near to them, has made salvation in them; for He said, Except a man eat my flesh, and drink my blood, he shall not have life in him. [John 6:54] And as the catechumens have the sign of the cross on their forehead, they are already of the great house; but from servants let them become sons. For they are something who already belong to the great house. But when did the people Israel eat the manna? After they had passed the Red Sea. And as to what the Red Sea signifies, hear the apostle: Moreover, brethren, I would not have you ignorant, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. To what purpose passed they through the sea? As if you were asking of him, he goes on to say, And all were baptized by Moses in the cloud and in the sea. [1 Corinthians 10:1] Now, if the figure of the sea had such efficacy, how great will be the efficacy of the true form of baptism! If what was done in a figure brought the people, after they had crossed over, to the manna, what will Christ impart, in the verity of His baptism, to His own people, brought over through Himself? By His baptism He brings over them that believe; all their sins, the enemies as it were that pursue them, being slain, as all the Egyptians perished in that sea. Whither does He bring over, my brethren? Whither does Jesus bring over by baptism, of which Moses then showed the figure, when he brought them through the sea? Whither? To the manna. What is the manna? I am, says He, the living bread, which came down from heaven. [John 6:51] The faithful receive the manna, having now been brought through the Red Sea? Why Red Sea? Besides sea, why also red? That Red Sea signified the baptism of Christ. How is the baptism of Christ red, but as consecrated by Christ's blood? Whither, then, does He lead those that believe and are baptized? To the manna. Behold, manna, I say: what the Jews, that people Israel, received, is well known, well known what God had rained on them from heaven; and yet catechumens know not what Christians receive. Let them blush, then, for their ignorance; let them pass through the Red Sea, let them eat the manna, that as they have believed in the name of Jesus, so likewise Jesus may trust Himself to them.

5. Therefore mark, my brethren, what answer this man who came to Jesus by night makes. Although he came to Jesus, yet because he came by night, he still speaks from the darkness of his own flesh. He understands not what he hears from the Lord, understands not what he hears from the Light, which lights every man that comes into this world. [John 1:9] Already has the Lord said to him, Unless a man be born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus says unto Him, How can a man be born again when he is old? The Spirit speaks to him, and he thinks of the flesh. He thinks of his own flesh, because as yet he thinks not of Christ's flesh. For when the Lord Jesus had said, Except a man eat my flesh, and drink my blood, he shall not have life in him, some who followed Him were offended, and said among themselves, This is a hard saying; who can hear it? For they fancied that, in saying this, Jesus meant that they would be able to cook Him, after being cut up like a lamb, and eat Him: horrified at His words, they went back, and no more followed Him. Thus speaks the evangelist: And the Lord Himself remained with the twelve; and they said to Him, Lo, those have left You. And He said, Will ye also go away?— wishing to show them that He was necessary to them, not they necessary to Christ. Let no man fancy that he frightens Christ, when he tells Him that he is a Christian; as if Christ will be more blessed if you be a Christian. It is a good thing for you to be a Christian; but if you be not, it will not be ill for Christ. Hear the voice of the psalm, I said to the Lord, You are my God, since You have no need of my goods. For that reason, You are my God, since of my goods You have no need. If you be without God, you will be less; if you be with God, God will not be greater. Not from you will He be greater, but you without Him will be less. Grow, therefore, in Him; do not withdraw yourself, that He may, as it were, diminish. You will be renewed if you come to Him, will suffer loss if you depart from Him. He remains entire when you come to Him, remains entire even when you fall away. When, therefore, He had said to His disciples, Will ye also go away? Peter, that Rock, answered with the voice of all, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Pleasantly savored the Lord's flesh in his mouth. The Lord, however, expounded to them, and said, It is the Spirit that quickens. After He had said, Except a man eat my flesh, and drink my blood, he shall not have life in him, lest they should understand it carnally, He said, It is the Spirit that quickens, but the flesh profits nothing: the words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and life. [John 6:54-59]

6. This Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus by night, did not savor of this spirit and this life. Says Jesus to him, Unless a man be born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God. And he, savoring of his own flesh, while as yet he savored not of the flesh of Christ in his mouth, says, How can a man be born a second time, when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born? This man knew but one birth, that from Adam and Eve; that which is from God and the Church he knew not yet: he knew only those parents that bring forth to death, knew not yet the parents that bring forth to life; he knew but the parents that bring forth successors, knew not yet the ever-living parents that bring forth those that shall abide.

Whilst there are two births, then, he understood only one. One is of the earth, the other of heaven; one of the flesh, the other of the Spirit; one of mortality, the other of eternity; one of male and female, the other of God and the Church. But these two are each single; there can be no repeating the one or the other. Rightly did Nicodemus understand the birth of the flesh; so understand also the birth of the Spirit, as Nicodemus understood the birth of the flesh. What did Nicodemus understand? Can a man enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Thus, whosoever shall tell you to be spiritually born a second time, answer in the words of Nicodemus, Can a man enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born? I am already born of Adam, Adam cannot beget me a second time. I am already born of Christ, Christ cannot beget me again. As there is no repeating from the womb, so neither from baptism.

7. He that is born of the Catholic Church, is born, as it were, of Sarah, of the free woman; he that is born of heresy is, as it were, born of the bond woman, but of Abraham's seed. Consider, beloved, how great a mystery. God testifies, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Were there not other patriarchs? Before these, was there not holy Noah, who alone of the whole human race, with all his house, was worthy to be delivered from the flood, — he in whom, and in his sons, the Church was prefigured? Borne by wood, they escaped the flood. Then afterwards great men whom we know, whom Holy Scriptures commends, Moses faithful in all his house. [Numbers 12:7] And yet those three are named, just as if they alone deserved well of him: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: this is my name forever. [Exodus 3:6, 15] Sublime mystery! It is the Lord that is able to open both our mouth and your hearts, that we may speak as He has deigned to reveal, and that you may receive even as it is expedient for you.

8. The patriarchs, then, are these three, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You know that the sons of Jacob were twelve, and thence the people Israel; for Jacob himself is Israel, and the people Israel in twelve tribes pertaining to the twelve sons of Israel. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob three fathers, and one people. The fathers three, as it were in the beginning of the people; three fathers in whom the people was figured: and the former people itself the present people. For in the Jewish people was figured the Christian people. There a figure, here the truth; there a shadow, here the body: as the apostle says, Now these things happened to them in a figure. It is the apostle's voice: They were written, says he, for our sakes, upon whom the end of the ages has come. [1 Corinthians 10:11] Let your mind now recur to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the case of these three, we find that free women bear children, and that bond women bear children: we find there offspring of free women, we find there also offspring of bond women. The bond woman signifies nothing good: Cast out the bond woman, says he, and her son; for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with the son of the free. The apostle recounts this; and he says that in those two sons of Abraham was a figure of the two Testaments, the Old and the New. To the Old Testament belong the lovers of temporal things, the lovers of the world: to the New Testament belong the lovers of eternal life. Hence, that Jerusalem on earth was the shadow of the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of us all, which is in heaven; and these are the apostle's words. And of that city from which we are absent on our sojourn, you know much, you have now heard much. But we find a wonderful thing in these births, in these fruits of the womb, in these generations of free and bond women: namely, four sorts of men; in which four sorts is completed the figure of the future Christian people, so that what was said in the case of those three patriarchs is not surprising, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For in the case of all Christians, observe, brethren, either good men are born of evil men, or evil men of good; or good men of good, or evil men of evil: more than these four sorts you cannot find. These things I will again repeat: Give heed, keep them, excite your hearts, be not dull; take in, lest ye be taken, how of all Christians there are four sorts. Either of the good are born good, or of the evil, are born evil; or of the good are born evil, or of the evil good. I think it is plain. Of the good, good; if they who baptize are good, and also they who are baptized rightly believe, and are rightly numbered among the members of Christ. Of the evil, evil; if they who baptize are evil, and they who are baptized approach God with a double heart, and do not observe the morals which they hear urged in the Church, so as not to be chaff, but grain, there. How many such there are, you know, beloved. Of the evil, good; sometimes an adulterer baptizes, and he that is baptized is justified. Of the good, evil; sometimes they who baptize are holy, they who are baptized do not desire to keep the way of God.

9. I suppose, brethren, that this is known in the Church, and that what we are saying is manifest by daily examples; but let us consider these things in the case of our fathers before us, how they also had these four kinds. Of the good, good; Ananias baptized Paul. How of the evil, evil? The apostle declares that there were certain preachers of the gospel, who, he says, did not use to preach the gospel with a pure motive, whom, however, he tolerates in the Christian society, saying, What then, notwithstanding every way, whether by occasion or in truth, Christ is preached, and in this I rejoice. [Philippians 1:18] Was he therefore malevolent, and did he rejoice in another's evil? No, but rejoiced because through evil men the truth was preached, and by the mouths of evil men Christ was preached. If these men baptized any persons like themselves, evil men baptized evil men: if they baptized such as the Lord admonishes, when He says, Whatsoever they bid you, do; but do not ye after their works, [Matthew 23:3] they were evil men that were baptizing good. Good men baptized evil men, as Simon the sorcerer was baptized by Philip, a holy man. [Acts 8:13] Therefore these four sorts, my brethren, are known. See, I repeat them again, hold them, count them, think upon them; guard against what is evil; keep what is good. Good men are born of good, when holy men are baptized by holy; evil men are born of evil, when both they that baptize and they that are baptized live unrighteously and ungodly; good men are born of evil, when they are evil that baptize, and they good that are baptized; evil men are born of good, when they are good that baptize, and they evil that are baptized.

10. How do we find this in these three names, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? We hold the bond women among the evil, and the free women among the good. Free women bear the good; Sarah bare Isaac: bond women bear the evil; Hagar bare Ishmael. We have in the case of Abraham alone the two sorts, both when the good are of the good, and also when the evil are of the evil. But where have we evil of good figured? Rebecca, Isaac's wife, was a free woman: read, She bare twins; one was good, the other evil. You have the Scripture openly declaring by the voice of God, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Rebecca bare those two, Jacob and Esau: one of them is chosen, the other is reprobated; one succeeds to the inheritance, the other is disinherited. God does not make His people of Esau, but makes it of Jacob. The seed is one, those conceived are dissimilar: the womb is one, those born of it are diverse. Was not the free woman that bare Jacob, the same free woman that bare Esau? They strove in the mother's womb; and when they strove there, it was said to Rebecca, Two peoples are in your womb. Two men, two peoples; a good people, and a bad people: but yet they strive in one womb. How many evil men there are in the Church! And one womb carries them until they are separated in the end: and the good cry out against the evil, and the evil in turn cry out against the good, and both strive together in the bowels of one mother. Will they be always together? There is a going forth to the light in the end; the birth which is here figured in a mystery is declared; and it will then appear that Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

11. Accordingly we have now found, brethren, of the good, good — of the free woman, Isaac; and of the evil, evil— of the bond woman, Ishmael; and of the good, evil— of Rebecca, Esau: where shall we find of the evil, good? There remains Jacob, that the completion of these four sorts may be concluded in the three patriarchs. Jacob had for wives free women, he had also bond women: the free bear children, as do also the bond, and thus come the twelve sons of Israel. If you count them all, of whom they were born, they were not all of the free women, nor all of the bond women; but yet they were all of one seed. What, then, my brethren? Did not they who were born of the bond women possess the land of promise together with their brethren? We have there found good sons of Jacob born of bond women, and good sons of Jacob born of free women. Their birth of the wombs of bond women was nothing against them, when they knew their seed in the father, and consequently they held the kingdom with their brethren. Therefore, as in the case of Jacob's sons, that they were born of bond women did not hinder their holding the kingdom, and receiving the land of promise on an equality with their brothers; their birth of bond women did not hinder them, but the father's seed prevailed: so, whoever are baptized by evil men, appear as if born of bond women; nevertheless, because they are of the seed of the Word of God, which is figured in Jacob, let them not be cast down, they shall possess the inheritance with their brethren. Therefore, let him who is born of the good seed be without fear; only let him not imitate the bond woman, if he is born of a bond woman. Do not imitate the evil, proud, bond woman. For how came the sons of Jacob, that were born of bond women, to possess the land of promise with their brethren, while Ishmael, born of a bond woman, was cast out from the inheritance? How, but because he was proud, they were humble? He proudly reared his neck, and wished to seduce his brother while he was playing with him.

12. A great mystery is there. They were playing together, Ishmael and Isaac: Sarah sees them playing, and says to Abraham, Cast out the bond woman and her son; for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. And when Abraham was sorrowful, the Lord confirmed to him the saying of his wife. Now here is evidently a mystery, that the event was somehow pregnant with something future. She sees them playing, and says, Cast out the bond woman and her son. What is this, brethren? For what evil had Ishmael done to the boy Isaac, in playing with him? That playing was a mocking; that playing signified deception. Now attend, beloved, to this great mystery. The apostle calls it persecution; that playing, that play, he calls persecution: for he says, But as then he that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, so also now; that is, they that are born after the flesh persecute them that are born after the Spirit. Who are born after the flesh? Lovers of the world, lovers of this life. Who are born after the Spirit? Lovers of the kingdom of heaven, lovers of Christ, men that long for eternal life, that worship God freely. They play, and the apostle calls it persecution. For after he said these words, And as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, so also now; the apostle went on, and showed of what persecution, he was speaking: But what says the Scripture? Cast out the bond woman and her son: for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. We search where the Scripture says this, to see whether any persecution on Ishmael's part against Isaac preceded this; and we find that this was said by Sarah when she saw the boys playing together. The playing which Scripture says that Sarah saw, the apostle calls persecution. Hence, they who seduce you by playing, persecute you the more. Come, say they, Come, be baptized here, here is true baptism for you. Do not play, there is one true baptism; that other is play: you will be seduced, and that will be a grievous persecution to you. It were better for you to make Ishmael a present of the kingdom; but Ishmael will not have it, for he means to play. Keep your father's inheritance, and hear this: Cast out the bond woman and her son; for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.

13. These men, too, dare to say that they are wont to suffer persecution from catholic kings, or from catholic princes. What persecution do they bear? Affliction of body: yet if at times they have suffered, and how they suffered, let themselves know, and settle it with their consciences; still they suffered only affliction of body: the persecution which they cause is more grievous. Beware when Ishmael wishes to play with Isaac, when he fawns on you, when he offers another baptism: answer him, I have baptism already. For if this baptism is true, he who would give you another would be mocking you. Beware of the persecution of the soul. For though the party of Donatus has at times suffered somewhat at the hands of catholic princes, it was a bodily suffering, not the suffering of spiritual deception. Hear and see in the very facts of Old Testament history all the signs and indications of things to come. Sarah is found to have afflicted her maid Hagar: Sarah is free. After her maid began to be proud, Sarah complained to Abraham, and said, Cast out the bond woman; she has lifted her neck against me. His wife complains of Abraham, as if it were his doing. But Abraham, who was not bound to the maid by lust, but by the duty of begetting children, inasmuch as Sarah had given her to him to have offspring by her, says to her: Behold, she is your handmaid; do unto her as you will. And Sarah grievously afflicted her, and she fled from her face. See, the free woman afflicted the bond woman, and the apostle does not call that a persecution; the slave plays with his master, and he calls it persecution: this afflicting is not called persecution; that playing is. How does it appear to you, brethren? Do you not understand what is signified? Thus, then, when God wills to stir up powers against heretics, against schismatics, against those that scatter the Church, that blow on Christ as if they abhorred Him, that blaspheme baptism, let them not wonder; because God stirs them up, that Hagar may be beaten by Sarah. Let Hagar know herself, and yield her neck: for when, after being humiliated, she departed from her mistress, an angel met her, and said to her, What is the matter with you, Hagar, Sarah's handmaid? When she complained of her mistress, what did she hear from the angel? Return to your mistress. [Genesis 16:9] It is for this that she is afflicted, that she may return; and would that she may return, for her offspring, just like the sons of Jacob, will obtain the inheritance with their brethren.

14. But they wonder that Christian powers are roused against detestable scatterers of the Church. Should they not be moved, then? How otherwise should they give an account of their rule to God? Observe, beloved, what I say, that it concerns Christian kings of this world to wish their mother the Church, of which they have been spiritually born, to have peace in their times. We read Daniel's visions and prophetical histories. The three children praised the Lord in the fire: King Nebuchadnezzar wondered at the children praising God, and at the fire around them doing them no harm: and while he wondered, what did King Nebuchadnezzar say, he who was neither a Jew nor circumcised, who had set up his own image and compelled all men to adore it; but, impressed by the praises of the three children when he saw the majesty of God present in the fire what said he? And I will publish a decree to all tribes and tongues in the whole earth. What sort of decree? Whosoever shall speak blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut off, and their houses shall be made a ruin. [Daniel iii] See how an alien king acts with raging indignation that the God of Israel might not be blasphemed, because He was able to deliver the three children from the fire: and yet they would not have Christian kings to act with severity when Christ is contemptuously rejected, by whom not three children, but the whole world, with these very kings, is delivered from the fire of hell! For those three children, my brethren, were delivered from temporal fire. Is He not the same God who was the God of the Maccabees and the God of the three children? The latter He delivered from the fire; the former did in body perish in the torments of fire, but in mind they remained steadfast in the ordinances of the law. The latter were openly delivered, the former were crowned in secret. [2 Maccabbees vii] It is a greater thing to be delivered from the flame of hell than from the furnace of a human power. If, then, Nebuchadnezzar praised and extolled and gave glory to God because He delivered three children from the fire, and gave such glory as to send forth a decree throughout his kingdom, Whosoever shall speak blasphemy against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut off, and their houses shall be brought to ruin, how should not these kings be moved, who observe, not three children delivered from the flame, but their very selves delivered from hell, when they see Christ, by whom they have been delivered, contemptuously spurned in Christians, when they hear it said to a Christian, Say that you are not a Christian? Men are willing to do such deeds, but they do not wish to suffer, at all events, such punishments.

15. For see what they do and what they suffer. They slay souls, they suffer in body: they cause everlasting deaths, and yet they complain that they themselves suffer temporal deaths. And yet what deaths do they suffer? They allege to us some martyrs of theirs in persecution. See, Marculus was hurled headlong from a rock; see, Donatus of Bagaia was thrown into a well. When have the Roman authorities decreed such punishments as casting men down rocks? But what do those of our party reply? What was done I know not; what however do ours tell? That they flung themselves headlong and cast the infamy of it upon the authorities. Let us call to mind the custom of the Roman authorities, and see to whom we are to give credit. Our men declare that those men cast themselves down headlong. If they are not the very disciples of those men, who now cast themselves down precipices, while no man persecutes them, let us not credit the allegation of our men: what wonder if those men did what these are wont to do? The Roman authorities never did employ such punishments: for had they not the power to put them to death openly? But those men, while they wished to be honored when dead, found not a death to make them more famous. In short, whatever the fact was, I do not know. And even if you have suffered corporal affliction, O party of Donatus, at the hand of the Catholic Church, as an Hagar you have suf fered it at the hand of Sarah; return to your mistress. A point which it was indeed necessary to discuss has detained us somewhat too long to be at all able to expound the whole text of the Gospel Lesson. Let this suffice you in the meantime, beloved brethren, lest, by speaking of other matters, what has been spoken might be shut out from your hearts. Hold fast these things, declare such things; and while yourselves are inflamed, go your way there, and set on fire them that are cold.

1. We observe, beloved, that the intimation with which we yesterday excited your attention has brought you together with more alacrity, and in greater number than usual; but meanwhile let us, if you please, pay our debt of a discourse on the Gospel Lesson, which comes in due course. You shall then hear, beloved, as well what we have already effected concerning the peace of the Church, and what we hope yet further to accomplish. For the present, then, let the whole attention of your hearts be given to the gospel; let none be thinking of anything else. For if he who attends to it wholly apprehends with difficulty, must not he who divides himself by diverse thoughts let go what he has received? Moreover, you remember, beloved, that on the last Lord's day, as the Lord deigned to help us, we discoursed of spiritual regeneration. That lesson we have caused to be read to you again, so that what was then left unspoken, we may now, by the aid of your prayers in the name of Christ, fulfill.

2. Spiritual regeneration is one, just as the generation of the flesh is one. And Nicodemus said the truth when he said to the Lord that a man cannot, when he is old, return again into his mother's womb and be born. He indeed said that a man cannot do this when he is old, as if he could do it even were he an infant. But be he fresh from the womb, or now in years, he cannot possibly return again into the mother's bowels and be born. But just as for the birth of the flesh, the bowels of woman avail to bring forth the child only once, so for the spiritual birth the bowels of the Church avail that a man be baptized only once. Therefore, in case one should say, Well, but this man was born in heresy, and this in schism: all that was cut away, if you remember what was debated to you about our three fathers, of whom God willed to be called the God, not that they were thus alone but because in them alone the figure of the future people was made up in its completeness. For we find one born of a bond woman disinherited, one born of a free woman made heir: again, we find one born of a free woman disinherited, one born of a bond woman made heir. Ishmael, born of a bond woman, disinherited; Isaac, born of a free woman, made heir: Esau, born of a free woman, disinherited; the sons of Jacob, born of bond women, made heirs. Thus, in these three fathers the figure of the whole future people is seen: and not without reason God says, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: this, says He, is my name forever. [Exodus 3:6, 15] Rather let us remember what was promised to Abraham himself: for this was promised to Isaac, and also to Jacob. What do we find? In your seed shall all nations be blessed. [Genesis 22:18] At that time the one man believed what as yet he saw not: men now see, and are blinded. What was promised to the one man is fulfilled in the nations; and they who will not see what is already fulfilled, are separating themselves from the communion of the nations. But what avails it them that they will not see? See they do, whether they will or no; the open truth strikes against their closed eyes.

3. It was in answer to Nicodemus, who was of them that had believed on Jesus, that it was said, And Jesus did not trust Himself to them. To certain men, indeed, He did not trust Himself, though they had already believed on Him. Thus it is written, Many believed in His name, seeing the signs which He did. But Jesus did not trust Himself to them. For He needed not that any should testify of man; for Himself knew what was in man. Behold, they already believed on Jesus, and yet Jesus did not trust Himself to them. Why? Because they were not yet born again of water and of the Spirit. From this have we ex horted and do exhort our brethren the catechumens. For if you ask them, they have already believed in Jesus; but because they have not yet received His flesh and blood, Jesus has not yet trusted Himself to them. What must they do that Jesus may trust Himself to them? They must be born again of water and of the Spirit; the Church that is in travail with them must bring them forth. They have been conceived; they must be brought forth to the light: they have breasts to be nourished at; let them not fear lest, being born, they may be smothered; let them not depart from the mother's breasts.

4. No man can return into his mother's bowels and be born again. But some one is born of a bond woman? Well, did they who were born of bond women at the former time, return into the wombs of the free to be born anew? The seed of Abraham was in Ishmael also; but that Abraham might have a son of the bond maid, it was at the advice of his wife. The child was of the husband's seed, not of the womb, but at the sole pleasure of the wife. Was his birth of a bond woman the reason why he was disinherited? Then, if he was disinherited because he was the son of a bond woman, no sons of bond women would be admitted to the inheritance. The sons of Jacob were admitted to the inheritance; but Ishmael was put out of it, not because born of a bond woman, but because he was proud to his mother, proud to his mother's son; for his mother was Sarah rather than Hagar. The one gave her womb, the other's will was added: Abraham would not have done what Sarah willed not: therefore was he Sarah's son rather. But because he was proud to his brother, proud in playing, that is, in mocking him; what said Sarah? Cast out the bond woman and her son; for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac. [Genesis 21:9-10] It was not, therefore, the bowels of the bond woman that caused his rejection, but the slave's neck. For the free-born is a slave if he is proud, and, what is worse, the slave of a bad mistress, of pride itself. Thus, my brethren, answer the man, that a man cannot be born a second time; answer fearlessly, that a man cannot be born a second time. Whatever is done a second time is mockery, whatever is done a second time is play. It is Ishmael playing, let him be cast out. For Sarah observed them playing, says the Scripture, and said to Abraham, Cast out the bond woman and her son. The playing of the boys displeased Sarah. She saw something strange in their play. Do not they who have sons like to see them playing? She saw and disapproved it. Something or other she saw in their play; she saw mockery in it, observed the pride of the slave; she was displeased with it, and she cast him out. The children of bond women, when wicked, are cast out; and the child of the free woman, when an Esau, is cast out. Let none, therefore, presume on his birth of good parents; let none presume on his being baptized by holy men. Let him that is baptized by holy men still beware lest he be not a Jacob, but an Esau. This would I say then, brethren, it is better to be baptized by men that seek their own and love the world, which is what the name of bond woman imports, and to be spiritually seeking the inheritance of Christ, so as to be as it were a son of Jacob by a bond woman, than to be baptized by holy men and to become proud, so as to be an Esau to be cast out, though born of a free woman. Hold ye this fast, brethren. We are not coaxing you, let none of your hope be in us; we flatter neither ourselves nor you; every man bears his own burden. It is our duty to speak, that we be not judged unhappily: yours to hear, and that with the heart, lest what we give be required of you; nay, that when it is required, it may be found a gain, not a loss.

5. The Lord says to Nicodemus, and explains to him: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Unless a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Thou, says He, understandest a carnal generation, when you say, Can a man return into his mother's bowels? The birth for the kingdom of God must be of water and of the Spirit. If one is born to the temporal inheritance of a human father, be he born of the bowels of a carnal mother; if one is born to the everlasting inheritance of God as his Father, be he born of the bowels of the Church. A father, as one that will die, begets a son by his wife to succeed him; but God begets of the Church sons, not to succeed Him, but to abide with Himself. And He goes on: That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. We are born spiritually then, and spirit we are born by the word and sacrament. The Spirit is present that we may be born; the Spirit is invisibly present whereof you are born, for you too must be invisibly born. For He goes on to say: Marvel not that I said to you, You must be born again. The Spirit blows where it lists, and you hear its voice, but know not whence it comes, or whither it goes. None sees the Spirit; and how do we hear the Spirit's voice? There sounds a psalm, it is the Spirit's voice; the gospel sounds, it is the Spirit's voice; the divine word sounds, it is the Spirit's voice. You hear its voice, and know not whence it comes, and whither it goes. But if you are born of the Spirit, you too shall be so, that one who is not born of the Spirit knows not, as for you, whence you come, or whither you go. For He said, as He went on, So is also every one that is born of the Spirit.

6. Nicodemus answered and said to Him, How can these things be? And, in fact, in the carnal sense, he knew not how. In him occurred what the Lord had said; the Spirit's voice he heard, but knew not whence it came, and whither it was going. Jesus answered and said to him, Are you a master in Israel, and know not these things? Oh, brethren! What? Do we think that the Lord meant to taunt scornfully this master of the Jews? The Lord knew what He was doing; He wished the man to be born of the Spirit. No man is born of the Spirit if he be not humble, for humility itself makes us to be born of the Spirit; for the Lord is near to them that are of broken heart. The man was puffed up with his mastership, and it appeared of some importance to himself that he was a teacher of the Jews. Jesus pulled down his pride, that he might be born of the Spirit: He taunted him as an unlearned man; not that the Lord wished to appear his superior. What comparison can there be, God compared to man, truth to falsehood? Christ greater than Nicodemus! Ought this to be said, can it be said, is it to be thought? If it were said, Christ is greater than angels, it were ridiculous: for incomparably greater than every creature is He by whom every creature was made. But yet He rallies the man on his pride: Are you a master in Israel, and know not these things? As if He said, Behold, you know nothing, you are a proud chief; be born of the Spirit: for if you be born of the Spirit, you will keep the ways of God, so as to follow Christ's humility. So, indeed, is He high above all angels, that, being in the form of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking upon Him the form of a servant, being made into the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man: He humbled Himself, being made obedient unto death (and lest any kind of death should please you), even the death of the cross. [Philippians 2:6-8] He hung on the cross, and they scoffed at Him. He could have come down from the cross; but He deferred, that He might rise again from the tomb. He, the Lord, bore with proud slaves; [Matthew 11:30] the physician with the sick. If He did this, how ought they to act whom it behooves to be born of the Spirit! — if He did this, He who is the true Master in heaven, not of men only, but also of angels. For if the angels are learned, they are so by the Word of God. If they are learned by the Word of God, ask of what they are learned; and you shall find, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The neck of man is done away with, only the hard and stiff neck, that it may be gentle to bear the yoke of Christ, of which it is said, My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. [Matthew 11:30]

7. And He goes on, If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not; how shall you believe, if I tell you heavenly things? What earthly things did He tell, brethren? Unless a man be born again; is that an earthly thing? The Spirit blows where it lists, and you hear its voice, and know not whence it comes, or whither it goes; is that earthly? For if He spoke it of the wind, as some have understood it, when they were asked what earthly thing the Lord meant, when He said, If I told you earthly things, and you believe not; how shall you believe, if I tell you heavenly things?— when, I say, it was asked of certain men what earthly thing the Lord meant, being in difficulty, they said, What He said, The Spirit blows where it lists, and its voice you hear, and know not whence it comes, or whither it goes, He said concerning the wind. Now what did He name earthly? He was speaking of the spiritual birth; and going on, says, So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Then, brethren, which of us does not see, for example, the south wind going from south to north, or another wind coming from east to west? How, then, know we not whence it comes and whither it goes? What earthly thing, then, did He tell, which men did not believe? Was it that which He had said about raising the temple again? Surely, for He had received His body of the earth, and that earth taken of the earthly body He was preparing to raise up. They did not believe Him as about to raise up earth. If I told you earthly things, says He, and you believe not; how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? That is, if you believe not that I can raise up the temple cast down by you, how shall you believe that men can be regenerated by the Spirit?

8. And He goes on: And no man has ascended into heaven, but He that came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven. Behold, He was here, and was also in heaven; was here in His flesh, in heaven by His divinity; yea, everywhere by His divinity. Born of a mother, not quitting the Father. Two nativities of Christ are understood: one divine, the other human: one, that by which we were to be made; the other, that by which we were to be made anew: both marvellous; that without mother, this without father. But because He had taken a body of Adam, — for Mary was of Adam, — and was about to raise that same body again, it was an earthly thing He had said in saying, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. But this was a heavenly thing, when He said, Unless a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he shall not see the kingdom of God. Come then, brethren! God has willed to be the Son of man; and willed men to be sons of God. He came down for our sakes; let us ascend for His sake. For He alone descended and ascended, He who says, No man has ascended into heaven, but He who came down from heaven. Are they not therefore to ascend into heaven whom He makes sons of God? Certainly they are: this is the promise to us, They shall be equal to the angels of God. [Matthew 22:30] Then how is it that no man ascends, but He that descended? Because one only descended, only one ascends. What of the rest? What are we to understand, but that they shall be His members, that one may ascend? Therefore it follows that no man has ascended into heaven, but He who came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven. Do you marvel that He was both here and in heaven? Such He made His disciples. Hear the Apostle Paul saying, But our conversation is in heaven. [Philippians 3:20] If the Apostle Paul, a man, walked in the flesh on earth, and yet had his conversation in heaven, was the God of heaven and earth not able to be both in heaven and on earth?

9. Therefore, if none but He descended and ascended, what hope is there for the rest? The hope for the rest is this, that He came down in order that in Him and with Him they might be one, who should ascend through Him. He says not, And to seeds, says the apostle, as in many; but as in one, And to your seed, which is Christ. And to believers he says, And you are Christ's; and if Christ's, then are Abraham's seed. What he said to be one, that he said that we all are. Hence, in the Psalms, many sometimes sing, to show that one is made of many; sometimes one sings, to show what is made of many. Therefore was it only one that was healed in the pool; and whoever else went down into it was not healed. Now this one shows forth the oneness of the Church. Woe to them who hate unity, and make to themselves parties among men! Let them hear him who wished to make them one, in one, for one: let them hear him who says, Be not ye making many: I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. But neither he that plants is anything, neither he that waters; but God that gives the increase. [1 Corinthians 3:6-7] They were saying, I am of Paul, I of Apollos, I of Cephas. And he says, Is Christ divided? Be in one, be one thing, be one person: No man has ascended into heaven, but He who came down from heaven. Lo! We wish to be yours, they said to Paul. And he said to them, I will not that you be Paul's, but be His whose is Paul together with you.

10. For He came down and died, and by that death delivered us from death: being slain by death, He slew death. And you know, brethren, that this death entered into the world through the devil's envy. God made not death, says the Scripture, nor delights He in the destruction of the living; but He created all things to be. But what says it here? But by the devil's envy, death entered into the whole world. [Wisdom 1:2] To the death offered for our entertainment by the devil, man would not come by constraint; for the devil had not the power of forcing, but only cunning to persuade. Had you not consented, the devil had brought in nothing: your own consenting, O man, led you to death. Of the mortal are mortals born; from immortals we have become mortals. From Adam all men are mortal; but Jesus the Son of God, the Word of God, by which all things were made, the only Son equal with the Father, was made mortal: for the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

11. He endured death, then; but death He hanged on the cross, and mortal men are delivered from death. The Lord calls to mind a great matter, which was done in a figure with them of old: And as Moses, says He, lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up; that every one who believes in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life. A great mystery is here, as they who read know. Again, let them hear, as well they who have not read as they who have forgotten what perhaps they had heard or read. The people Israel were fallen helplessly in the wilderness by the bite of serpents; they suffered a great calamity by many deaths: for it was the stroke of God correcting and scourging them that He might instruct them. In this was shown a great mystery, the figure of a thing to come: the Lord Himself testifies in this passage, so that no man can give another interpretation than that which the truth indicates concerning itself. Now Moses was ordered by the Lord to make a brazen serpent, and to raise it on a pole in the wilderness, and to admonish the people Israel, that, when any had been bitten by a serpent, he should look to that serpent raised up on the pole. This was done: men were bitten; they looked and were healed. [Numbers 21:6-9] What are the biting serpents? Sins, from the mortality of the flesh. What is the serpent lifted up? The Lord's death on the cross. For as death came by the serpent, it was figured by the image of a serpent. The serpent's bite was deadly, the Lord's death is life-giving. A serpent is gazed on that the serpent may have no power. What is this? A death is gazed on, that death may have no power. But whose death? The death of life: if it may be said, the death of life; ay, for it may be said, but said wonderfully. But should it not be spoken, seeing it was a thing to be done? Shall I hesitate to utter that which the Lord has deigned to do for me? Is not Christ the life? And yet Christ hung on the cross. Is not Christ life? And yet Christ was dead. But in Christ's death, death died. Life dead slew death; the fullness of life swallowed up death; death was absorbed in the body of Christ. So also shall we say in the resurrection, when now triumphant we shall sing, Where, O death, is your contest? Where, O death, is your sting? [1 Corinthians 15:54] Meanwhile brethren, that we may be healed from sin, let us now gaze on Christ crucified; for as Moses, says He, lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believes in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life. Just as they who looked on that serpent perished not by the serpent's bites, so they who look in faith on Christ's death are healed from the bites of sins. But those were healed from death to temporal life; while here He says, that they may have everlasting life. Now there is this difference between the figurative image and the real thing: the figure procured temporal life; the reality, of which that was the figure, procures eternal life.

12. For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him may be saved. So far, then, as it lies in the physician, He has come to heal the sick. He that will not observe the orders of the physician destroys himself. He has come a Saviour to the world: why is he called the Saviour of the world, but that He has come to save the world, not to judge the world? You will not be saved by Him; you shall be judged of yourself. And why do I say, shall be judged? See what He says: He that believes in Him is not judged, but he that believes not. What do you expect He is going to say, but is judged? Already, says He, has been judged. The judgment has not yet appeared, but already it has taken place. For the Lord knows them that are His: He knows who are persevering for the crown, and who for the flame; knows the wheat on His threshing-floor, and knows the chaff; knows the good grain, and knows the tares. He that believes not is already judged. Why judged? Because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.

13. And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. My brethren, whose works does the Lord find to be good? The works of none: He finds the works of all evil. How is it, then, that some have done the truth, and have come to the light? For this is what follows: But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. In what way have some done a good work to come to the light, namely, to Christ? And how have some loved darkness? For if He finds all men sinners, and heals all of sin, and that serpent in which the Lord's death was figured healed them that were bitten, and on account of the serpent's bite the serpent was set up, namely, the Lord's death on account of mortal men, whom He finds unrighteous; how are we to understand that this is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil? How is this? Whose works, in fact, are good? Have You not come to justify the ungodly? But they loved, says He, darkness rather than light. There He laid the emphasis: for many loved their sins; many confessed their sins; and he who confesses his sins, and accuses them, does now work with God. God accuses your sins: and if you also accuse, you are united to God. There are, as it were, two things, man and sinner. That you are called man, is God's doing; that you are called sinner, is man's own doing. Blot out what you have done, that God may save what He has done. It behooves you to hate your own work in you, and to love the work of God in you. And when your own deeds will begin to displease you, from that time your good works begin, as you find fault with your evil works. The confession of evil works is the beginning of good works. You do the truth, and come to the light. How is it you do the truth? Thou dost not caress, nor soothe, nor flatter yourself; nor say, I am righteous, while you are unrighteous: thus, you begin to do the truth. You come to the light, that your works may be made manifest that they are wrought in God; for your sin, the very thing that has given you displeasure, would not have displeased you, if God did not shine into you, and His truth show it you. But he that loves his sins, even after being admonished, hates the light admonishing him, and flees from it, that his works which he loves may not be proved to be evil. But he that does truth accuses his evil works in himself, spares not himself, forgives not himself, that God may forgive him: for that which he desires God to forgive, he himself acknowledges, and he comes to the light; to which he is thankful for showing him what he should hate in himself. He says to God, Turn away Your face from my sins: yet with what countenance says it, unless he adds, For I acknowledge mine iniquity, and my sin is ever before me? Be that before yourself which you desire not to be before God. But if you will put your sin behind you, God will thrust it back before your eyes; and this He will do at a time when there will be no more fruit of repentance.

14. Run, my brethren, lest the darkness lay hold of you. Awake to your salvation, awake while there is time; let none be kept back from the temple of God, none kept back from the work of the Lord, none called away from continual prayer, none be defrauded of wonted devotion. Awake, then, while it is day: the day shines, Christ is the day. He is ready to forgive sins, but to them that acknowledge them; ready to punish the self-defenders, who boast that they are righteous, and think themselves to be something when they are nothing. But he that walks in His love and mercy, even being free from those great and deadly sins, such crimes as murder, theft, adultery; still, because of those which seem to be minute sins, of tongue, or of thought, or of intemperance in things permitted, he does the truth in confession, and comes to the light in good works: since many minute sins, if they be neglected, kill. Minute are the drops that swell the rivers; minute are the grains of sand; but if much sand is put together, the heap presses and crushes. Bilge-water neglected in the hold does the same thing as a rushing wave. Gradually it leaks in through the hold; and by long leaking in and no pumping out, it sinks the ship. Now what is this pumping out, but by good works, by sighing, fasting, giving, forgiving, so to effect that sins may not overwhelm us? The path of this life, however, is troublesome, full of temptations: in prosperity, let it not lift us up; in adversity, let it not crush us. He who gave the happiness of this world gave it for your comfort, not for your ruin. Again, He who scourges you in this life, does it for your improvement, not for your condemnation. Bear the Father that corrects you for your training, lest you feel the judge in punishing you. These things we tell you every day, and they must be often said, because they are good and wholesome.

1. The course of reading from the Gospel of John, as those of you who are concerned for your own progress may remember, so proceeds in regular order, that the passage which has now been read comes before us for exposition today. You remember that we have expounded it, in the preceding discourses, from the very beginning of the Gospel, as far as the lesson of today. And though perhaps you have forgotten much of it, at least it remains in your memory that we have done our part in it. What you have heard from it about the baptism of John, even though you retain not all, yet I believe you have heard that which you may retain. Also, what was said as to why the Holy Spirit appeared in the shape of a dove; and how that most knotty question was solved, namely, what was that something in the Lord which John did not know, and which he learned by means of the dove, while already John knew Him, since, as Jesus came to be baptized, he said to Him, I ought to be baptized by You, and You come to me? when the Lord answered him, Suffer it now, that all righteousness may be fulfilled. [Matthew 3:14]

2. Now, therefore, the order of our reading obliges us to return to that same John. The same is he who was prophesied of by Isaiah, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare a way for the Lord, make His paths straight. [Isaiah 40:3] Such testimony gave he to his Lord and (for the Lord deemed him worthy) his friend. And the Lord, even his friend, did also Himself bear witness to John. For concerning John He said, Among them that are born of women, there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist. But as He put Himself before John, in that wherein He was greater, He was God. But he that is less, says He, in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. [Matthew 11:11] Less in age; greater in power, in deity, in majesty, in brightness: even as in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the preceding passages, however, John had given testimony to the Lord, in such wise that he did indeed call Him Son of God, but said not that He was God, nor yet denied it: he was silent as to His being God, not denied that He was God; but yet he was not altogether silent as to His being God, for perhaps we find this in the lesson of today. He had called Him Son of God; but men, too, have been called sons of God. He had declared Him to be of such excellence, that he was not himself worthy to loose the latchet of His shoe. Now this greatness gives us much to understand: whose shoe-latchet he was not worthy to loose, he than whom none greater had arisen among them that are born of women. He was more, indeed, than all men and angels. For we find an angel forbidding a man to fall at his feet. For example, when in the Apocalypse an angel was showing certain things to John, the writer of this Gospel, John, terrified at the greatness of the vision, fell down at the angel's feet. But said the angel, Rise; see that you do it not: worship God, for I am your fellow-servant, and the brethren's. [Revelation 22:8-9] An angel, then, forbade a man to fall down at his feet. Is it not manifest that He must be above all angels, for whom a man, such that a greater than he has not risen among them that are born of women, declares himself to be not worthy to loose the latchet of His shoe?

3. John, however, may say something more evidently, that our Lord Jesus Christ is God. We may find this in the present passage, that it is perhaps of Him we have been singing, The Lord reigned over all the earth; against which they are deaf who imagine that He reigns only in Africa. But let them not suppose that it is not of Christ it is spoken when it is said, God reigned over all the earth. For who else is our King, but our Lord Jesus Christ? It is He that is our King. And what have you heard in the same psalm, in the verse just sung? Sing praises to our God, sing praises: sing praises to our King, sing praises. Whom he called God, the same he called our King: Sing praises to our God, sing praises: sing praises to our King, sing praises with understanding. And that you should not understand Him to whom you sing praises to reign in one part, he says, For God is King of all the earth. And how is He King of all the earth, who appeared in one part of the earth, in Jerusalem, in Judea,walking among men, born, sucking the breast, growing, eating, drinking, waking, sleeping, sitting at a well, wearied; laid hold of, scourged, spat upon,crowned with thorns, hanged on a tree, wounded with a spear, dead, buried? How then King of all the earth? What was seen locally was flesh, to carnal eyes only flesh was visible; the immortal majesty was concealed in mortal flesh. And with what eyes shall we be able to behold the immortal majesty, after penetrating through the structure of the flesh? There is another eye, there is an inner eye. Tobias, for example, was not without eyes, when, blind in his bodily eyes, he was giving precepts of life to his son. [Tobit iv] The son was holding the father's hand, that the father might walk with his feet, while the father was giving the son counsel to walk in the way of righteousness. Here I see eyes, and there I understand eyes. And better are the eyes of him that gives counsel of life, than his who holds the hand. Such eyes Jesus also required when He said to Philip, Am I so long time with you, and you have not known me? Such eyes He required when He said, Philip, he that sees me, sees the Father. These are the eyes of the understanding, these are the eyes of the mind. It is for that reason that the psalm, when it had said, For God is King of all the earth, immediately added, Sing praises with understanding. For in that I say, Sing praises to our God, I say that God is our King. But yet our King you have seen among men, as man; you have seen Him suffering, crucified, dead: there was in that flesh something concealed, which you might have seen with eyes of flesh. What was there concealed? Sing praises with understanding. Do not seek to see with the eyes what is beheld by the mind. Sing praises with the tongue, for He is among you as flesh; but because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, render the sound to the flesh, render to God the gaze of the mind. Sing praises with understanding, and you see that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

4. Now let John also declare his witness: After these things came Jesus and His disciples into the land of Judea; and there He tarried with them, and baptized. Being baptized, He baptized. Not with that baptism with which He was baptized did He baptize. The Lord, being baptized by a servant, gives baptism, showing the path of humility and leading to the baptism of the Lord, that is, His own baptism, by giving an example of humility, in not Himself refusing baptism from a servant. And in the baptism by a servant, a way was prepared for the Lord; the Lord also being baptized, made Himself a way for them that come to Him. Let us hear Himself: I am the way, the truth, and the life. If you seek truth, keep the way, for the way and the truth are the same. The way that you are going is the same as the whither you are going: you are not going by a way as one thing, to an object as another thing; not coming to Christ by something else as a way, you come to Christ by Christ. How by Christ to Christ? By Christ the man, to Christ God; by the Word made flesh, to the Word which in the beginning was God with God; from that which man ate, to that which angels daily eat. For so it is written, He gave them bread of heaven: man ate the bread of angels. What is the bread of angels? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. How has man eaten the bread of angels? And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

5. But though we have said that angels eat, do not fancy, brethren, that this is done with teeth. For if you think so, God, of whom the angels eat, is as it were torn in pieces. Who tears righteousness in pieces? But still, some one asks me, And who is it that can eat righteousness? Well, how is it said, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled? The food which you eat carnally perishes, in order to refresh you; to repair your waste it is consumed: eat righteousness; and while you are refreshed, it continues entire. Just as by seeing this corporeal light, these eyes of ours are refreshed, and yet it is a corporeal thing that is seen by corporeal eyes. Many there have been, when too long in darkness, whose eyesight is weakened by fasting, as it were, from light. The eyes, deprived of their food (for they feed on light), become wearied by fasting, and weakened, so that they cannot bear to see the light by which they are refreshed; and if the light is too long absent, they are quenched, and the very sense of sight dies as it were in them. What then? Does the light become less, because so many eyes are daily fed by it? Your eyes are refreshed, and the light remains entire. As God was able to show this in the case of corporeal light to corporeal eyes, does He not show that other light to clean hearts as unwearied, continuing entire, and in no respect failing? What light? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. Let us see if this is light. For with You is the fountain of light, and in Your light shall we see light. On earth, fountain is one thing, light another. When thirsting, you seek a fountain, and to get to the fountain you seek light; and if it is not day, you light a lamp to get to the fountain. That fountain is the very light: to the thirsting a fountain, to the blind a light. Let the eyes be opened to see the light, let the lips of the heart be opened to drink of the fountain; that which you drink, you see, you hear, God becomes all to you; for He is to you the whole of these things which you love. If you regard things visible, neither is God bread, nor is God water, nor is God this light, nor is He garment nor house. For all these are things visible, and single separate things. What bread is, water is not; and what a garment is, a house is not; and what these things are, God is not, for they are visible things. God is all this to you: if you hunger He is bread to you; if you thirst He is water to you; if you are in darkness, He is light to you: for He remains incorruptible. If you are naked, He is a garment of immortality to you, when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality. All things can be said of God, and nothing is worthily said of God. Nothing is wider than this poverty of expression. You seek a fitting name for Him, you can not find it; you seek to speak of Him in any way soever, you find that He is all. What likeness have the lamb and the lion? Both is said of Christ. Behold the Lamb of God! How a lion? The Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. [Revelation 5:5]

6. Let us hear John: Jesus baptized. We said that Jesus baptized. How Jesus? How the Lord? How the Son of God? How the Word? Well, but the Word was made flesh. And John also was baptizing in Ænon, near to Salim. A certain lake, Ænon. How do we know it was a lake? Because there was much water there, and they came and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison. If you remember (see, I say it again), I told you why John baptized: because the Lord must needs be baptized. And why must the Lord be baptized? Because many there would be to despise baptism, that they might appear to be endowed with greater grace than they saw other believers endowed with. For example, a catechumen, now living continently, might despise a married person, and say of himself that he was better than the other believer. That catechumen might possibly say in his heart, What need have I to receive baptism, to have just what that other man has, than whom I am already better? Therefore, lest that neck of pride should hurl to destruction certain men much elated with the merits of their own righteousness, the Lord was willing to be baptized by a servant, as if addressing His chief sons: Why do you extol yourselves? Why lift yourselves up because you have, one prudence, another learning, another chastity, another the courage of patience? Can you possibly have as much as I who gave you these? And yet I was baptized by a servant, you disdain to be baptized by the Lord. This is the sense of to fulfill all righteousness.

7. But some one will say, It were enough, then, that John baptized only the Lord; what need was there for others to be baptized by John? Now we have said this too, that if John had baptized only the Lord, men would not be without this thought, that John had a better baptism than the Lord had. They would say, in fact, So great was the baptism of John, that Christ alone was worthy to be baptized therewith. Therefore, to show that the baptism which the Lord was to give was better than that of John, — that the one might be understood as that of a servant, the other as that of the Lord, — the Lord was baptized to give an example of humility; but He was not the only one baptized by John, lest John's baptism should appear to be better than the baptism of the Lord. To this end, however, our Lord Jesus Christ showed the way, as you have heard, brethren, lest any man, arrogating to himself that he has abundance of some particular grace, should disdain to be baptized with the baptism of the Lord. For whatever the catechumen's proficiency, he still carries the load of his iniquity: it is not forgiven him until he shall have come to baptism. Just as the people Israel were not rid of the Egyptians until they had come to the Red Sea, so no man is rid of the pressure of sins until he has come to the font of baptism.

8. Then there arose a question on the part of John's disciples with the Jews about purifying. John baptized, Christ baptized. John's disciples were moved; there was a running after Christ, people were coming to John. Those who came to John, he sent to Jesus to be baptized; but they who were baptized by Christ were not sent to John. John's disciples were alarmed, and began to dispute with the Jews, as usually happens. Understand the Jews to have declared that Christ was greater, and that to His baptism people ought to have recourse. John's disciples, not yet understanding this, defended John's baptism. They came to John himself, that he might solve the question. Understand, beloved. And here we are given to see the use of humility, and, when people were erring in the subject of dispute, are shown whether John desired to glory in himself. Now probably he said, You say the truth, you contend rightly; mine is the better baptism, I baptized Christ Himself. John could say this after Christ was baptized. If he wished to exalt himself, what an opportunity he had to do so! But he knew better before whom to humble himself: to Him whom he knew to have come after himself by birth, he willingly yielded precedence by confessing Him. He understood his own salvation to be in Christ. He had already said above, We all have received out of His fullness; and this is to confess Him to be God. For how can all men receive of His fullness, if He be not God? For if He is man in such wise that He is not God, then Himself also receives of the fullness of God, and so is not God. But if all men receive of His fullness, He is the fountain, they are drinkers. They that drink of a fountain, both thirst and drink. The fountain never thirsts; it has never need of itself. Men need a fountain. With thirsty stomachs and parched lips they run to the fountain to be refreshed. The fountain flows to refresh, so does the Lord Jesus.

9. Let us see, then, what answer John gives: They came unto John, and said to him, Rabbi, he that was with you beyond Jordan, to whom you bore witness, behold the same baptizes, and all men come to him: that is, What do you say? Ought they not to be hindered, that they may rather come to you? He answered and said, A man cannot receive anything, unless it be given him from heaven. Of whom, think you, had John said this? Of himself. As a man, I received, says he, from heaven. Note, my beloved: A man cannot receive anything, unless it be given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ. As much as to say, Why do you deceive yourselves? See how you have put this question before me. What have you said to me? 'Rabbi, he that was with you beyond Jordan, to whom you bore witness.' Then you know what sort of witness I bare to Him. Am I now to say that He is not the same whom I declared Him to be? And because I received somewhat from heaven, in order to be something, do you wish me to be empty of it, so as to speak against the truth? 'A man cannot receive anything, unless it be given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ.' You are not the Christ; but what if you are greater than He since you baptized Him? I am sent: I am the herald, He is the Judge.

10. But hear a far stronger, a far more expressive testimony. See ye what it is we are treating of; see ye that to love any person in place of Christ is adultery. Why do I say this? Let us attend to the voice of John. People could be mistaken in him, could think him to be the person he was not. He rejects the false honor, in order to hold the truth complete. See what he declares Christ to be; what does he say himself is? He that has the bride is the bridegroom. Be chaste, love the bridegroom. But what are you, who sayest to us, He that has the bride is the bridegroom? But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. The Lord our God will help me in proportion to the tumult of my heart, for it is full of sadness, to utter the grief I feel; but I beseech you by Christ Himself to imagine in thought what it will not be possible for me to utter; for I know that my grief cannot be expressed with befitting impressiveness. Now I see many adulterers who desire to get possession of the bride, purchased at so great a price, loved while deformed that she might be made fair, having been purchased and delivered and adorned by such an one; and those adulterers strive with their words to be loved instead of the bridegroom. Of that One it is said, This is He that baptizes. [John 1:33] Who is he that goes forth from us and says, I am he that baptizes? Who is he that goes forth from us and says, That is holy which I give? Who is he that goes hence and says, It is good for you to be born of me? Let us hear the friend of the bridegroom, not the adulterers against the bridegroom; let us hear one jealous, but not for himself.

11. Brethen, return in thought to your own homes. I speak of carnal, I speak of earthly things; I speak after the manner of men, for the infirmity of your flesh. Many of you have, many of you wish to have, many, though you wish not to have, still have had wives; many who do not at all wish to have wives, are born of the wives of your fathers. This is a feeling that touches every heart. There is no man so alien from mankind in human affairs as not to feel what I say. Suppose that a man, having set out on a journey, had commended his bride to the care of his friend: See, I pray you, you are my dear friend; see to it, lest in my absence some other may perchance be loved in my stead. Then what sort of a person must he be, who, while the guardian of the bride or wife of his friend, does indeed endeavor that none other be loved, but if he wishes himself to be loved instead of his friend, and desires to enjoy her who was committed to his care, how detestable must he appear to all mankind! Let him see her gazing out of the window, or joking with some one somewhat too heedlessly, he forbids her as one who is jealous. I see him jealous, but let me see for whom he is jealous; whether for his absent friend or for his present self. Think that our Lord Jesus Christ has done this. He has committed His bride to the care of His friend; He has set out on a journey to a far country to receive a kingdom, as He says Himself in the Gospel, [Luke 19:12] but yet is present in His majesty. Let the friend who has gone beyond the sea be deceived; and if he is deceived, woe to him who deceives! Why do men attempt to deceive God — God who looks at the hearts of all, and searches the secrets of all? But some heretic shows himself, and says, 'Tis I that give, 'tis I that sanctify, 'tis I that justify; go not to that other sect. He does well indeed to be jealous, but see for whom. Go not to idols, says he — he is rightly jealous; nor to diviners,— still rightly jealous. Let us see for whom he is jealous: What I give is holy, because it is I that give it; he is baptized whom I baptize; he whom I baptize not is not baptized. Hear the friend of the bridegroom, learn to be jealous for your friend; hear His voice who is He that baptizes. Why desire to arrogate to yourself what is not yours? Is he so very absent who has left here his bride? Do you not know, that He who rose from the dead is sitting at the right hand of the Father? If the Jews despised Him hanging on the tree, do you despise Him sitting in heaven? Be assured, beloved, that I suffer great grief of this matter; but, as I have said, I leave the rest to your thoughts. I cannot utter it if I speak the whole day. If I bewail it the whole day, I do not enough. I cannot utter it, if I should have, as the prophet says, a fountain of tears; and were I changed into tears, and to become all tears, were I turned into tongues, and to become all tongues, it were not enough.

12. Let us return and see what this John says: He that has the bride is the bridegroom; she is not my bride. And do you not rejoice in the marriage? Yea, says he, I do rejoice: But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the voice of the bridegroom. Not because of my own voice, says he, do I rejoice, but because of the Bridegroom's voice. I am in the place of hearer; He, of speaker: I am as one that must be enlightened, He is the light; I am as the ear, He is the word. Therefore the friend of the Bridegroom stands and hears Him. Why stands? Because he falls not. How falls not? Because he is humble. See him standing on solid ground; I am not worthy to loose the latchet of His shoe. You do well to be humble; deservedly you do not fall; deservedly you stand, and hear Him, and rejoicest greatly for the Bridegroom's voice. So also the apostle is the Bridegroom's friend; he too is jealous, not for himself, but for the Bridegroom. Hear his voice when he is jealous: I am jealous over you, said he, with the jealousy of God: not with my own, nor for myself, but with the jealousy of God. Why? How? Over whom are you jealous, and for whom? For I have espoused you to one husband, to present a chaste virgin to Christ. Why do you fear, then? Why are you jealous? I fear, says he, lest, as the serpent beguiled Eve by his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the chastity which is in Christ. [2 Corinthians 11:2-3] The whole Church is called a virgin. You see that the members of the Church are various, that they are endowed with and do rejoice in various gifts: some men wedded, some women wedded; some are widowers who seek no more to have wives, some are widows who seek no more to have husbands; some men preserve continence from their youth, some women have vowed their virginity to God: various are the gifts, but all these are one virgin. Where is this virginity, for it is not in the body. It belongs to few women; and if virginity can be said of men, to few men in the Church belongs a holy integrity even of body; yet one such is a more honorable member. Other members, however, preserve virginity, not in body, but all in mind. What is the virginity of the mind? Entire faith, firm hope, sincere charity. This is the virginity which he, who, was jealous for the Bridegroom, feared might be corrupted by the serpent. For, just as the bodily member is marred in a certain part, so the seduction of the tongue defiles the virginity of the heart. Let her who does not desire without cause to keep virginity of body, see to it that she be not corrupted in mind.

13. What shall I say, then, brethren? Even the heretics have virgins, and there are many virgins among heretics. Let us see whether they love the Bridegroom, so that this virginity may be guarded. For whom is it guarded? For Christ. Let us see if it be for Christ, and not for Donatus: let us see for whom this virginity is preserved: you can easily prove. Behold, I show you the Bridegroom, for He shows Himself. John bears witness to Him: This is He that baptizes. O you virgin, if for this Bridegroom you preserve your virginity, why do you run to him who says, I am he that baptizes, while the friend of the Bridegroom tells you, This is He that baptizes? Again, your Bridegroom possesses the whole world; why, then, should you be defiled with a part of it? Who is the Bridegroom? For God is King of all the earth. This your Bridegroom possesses the whole, because He purchased the whole. See at what price He purchased it, that you may understand what He has purchased. What price has He given? He gave His blood. Where gave He, where shed He, His blood? In His passion. Is it not to your Bridegroom you sing, or feignest to sing, when the whole world was purchased: They pierced my hands and my feet, they counted all my bones: but they themselves considered me, they looked upon me, they divided my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast lots? You are the bride, acknowledge your Bridegroom's vesture. Upon what vesture was the lot cast? Ask the Gospel; see to whom you are espoused, see from whom you receive pledges. Ask the Gospel; see what it tells you in the suffering of the Lord. There was a coat there: let us see what kind; woven from the top throughout. What does the coat woven from the top signify, but charity? What does this coat signify, but unity? Consider this coat, which not even the persecutors of Christ divided. For it says, They said among themselves, Let us not divide it, but let us cast lots upon it. Behold that of which the psalm spoke! Christ's persecutors did not rend His garment; Christians divide the Church.

14. But what shall I say, brethren? Let us see plainly what He purchased. For there He bought, where He paid the price. Paid it for how much? If He paid it only for Africa, let us be Donatists, and not be called Donatists, but Christians; since Christ bought only Africa: although even here are other than Donatists. But He has not been silent of what He bought in this transaction. He has made up the account: thanks be to God, He has not tricked us. Need there is for that bride to hear, and then to understand to whom she has vowed her virginity. There, in that psalm where it says, They pierced my hands and my feet, they counted all my bones; wherein the Lord's passion is most openly declared — the psalm which is read every year on the last week, in the hearing of the whole people, at the approach of Christ's passion; and this psalm is read both among them and us — there, I say, note, brethren, what He has bought: let the bill of merchandise be read: hear ye what He bought: All the ends of the earth shall remember, and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship in His sight: for the kingdom is His, and He shall rule the nations. Behold what it is He has bought! Behold! For God, the King of all the earth, is your Bridegroom. Why, then, would you have one so rich reduced to rags? Acknowledge Him: He bought the whole; yet you say, You have a part of it here. Oh, would that you were well-pleasing to your Spouse; would that you who speaks were not defiled, and, what is worse, defiled in heart, not in body! You love a man instead of Christ; love one that says, 'Tis I that baptize; not hearing the friend of the Bridegroom when he says, This is He that baptizes; not hearing him when he says, He that has the bride is the Bridegroom. I have not the bride, said he; but what am I? But the friend of the Bridegroom, who stands and hears Him, rejoices greatly, because of the Bridegroom's voice.

15. Evidently, then, my brethren, it profits those men nothing to keep virginity, to have continence, to give alms. All those doings which are praised in the Church profit them nothing; because they rend unity, namely, that coat of charity. What do they? Many among them are eloquent; great tongues, streams of tongues. Do they speak like angels? Let them hear the friend of the Bridegroom, jealous for the Bridegroom, not for himself: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I have become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. [1 Corinthians 13:1]

16. But what say they? We have baptism. You have, but not yours. It is one thing to have, another to own. Baptism you have, for you have received to be baptized, received as one enlightened, provided you be not darkened of yourself; and when you give, you give as a minister, not as owner; as a herald proclaiming, not as a judge. The judge speaks through the herald, and nevertheless it is not written in the registers, The herald said, but, The judge said. Therefore see if what you give is yours by authority. But if you have received, confess with the friend of the Bridegroom, A man cannot receive anything, unless it be given him from heaven. Confess with the friend of the Bridegroom, He that has the bride is the Bridegroom; but the friend of the Bridegroom stands and hears Him. But O, would you stood and hear Him, and not fall, to hear yourself! For by hearing Him, you would stand and hear; for you will speak, and your head is puffed with pride. I, says the Church, if I am the bride, if I have received pledges, if I have been redeemed at the price of that blood, do hear the voice of the Bridegroom; and I do hear the voice of the Bridegroom's friend too, if he give glory to my Bridegroom, not to himself. Let the friend speak: He that has the bride is the Bridegroom; but the friend of the Bridegroom stands and hears Him, and rejoices greatly because of the voice of the Bridegroom. Behold, you have sacraments; and I grant that you have. You have the form, but you are a branch cut off from the vine; you have a form, I want the root. There is no fruit of the form, except where there is a root; but where is the root but in charity? Hear the form of the cut-off branches; let Paul speak: Though I know all mysteries, says he, and have all prophecy, and all faith (and how great a faith!), so as to remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

17. Let no man tell you fables, then. Pontius wrought a miracle; and Donatus prayed, and God answered him from heaven. In the first place, either they are deceived, or they deceive. In the last place, grant that he removes mountains: And have not charity, says the apostle, I am nothing. Let us see whether he has charity. I would believe that he had, if he had not divided unity. For against those whom I may call marvel-workers, my God has put me on my guard, saying, In the last times there shall arise false prophets, doing signs and wonders, to lead into error, if it were possible, even the elect: Lo, I have foretold it to you. [Mark 13:22-23] Therefore the Bridegroom has cautioned us, that we ought not to be deceived even by miracles. Sometimes, indeed, a deserter frightens a plain countryman; but whether he is of the camp, and whether he is the better of that character with which he is marked, is what he who would not be frightened or seduced attends to. Let us then, my brethren, hold unity: without unity, even he who works miracles is nothing. The people Israel was in unity, and yet wrought no miracles: Pharaoh's magicians were out of unity, and yet they wrought the like works as Moses. [Exodus 7:12] The people Israel, as I have said, wrought no miracles. Who were saved with God — they who did, or they who did not, work miracles? The Apostle Peter raised a dead person: Simon Magus did many things: there were there certain Christians who were not able to do either what Peter did or what Simon did; and wherein did they rejoice? In this, that their names were written in heaven. For this is what our Lord Jesus Christ said to the disciples on their return, because of the faith of the Gentiles. The disciples, in truth, themselves said, boasting, Behold, Lord, in Your name even the devils are subject to us. Rightly indeed they confessed, they brought the honor to the name of Christ; and yet what does He say to them? Do not ye glory in this, that the devils are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. [Luke 10:17] Peter cast out devils. Some old widow, some lay person or other, having charity, and holding the integrity of faith, forsooth does not do this. Peter is the eye in the body, that man is the finger, yet is he in the same body in which Peter is; and if the finger has less power than the eye, yet it is not cut off from the body. Better is it to be a finger and to be in the body, than to be an eye and to be plucked out of the body.

18. Therefore, my brethren, let no man deceive you, let no man seduce you: love the peace of Christ, who was crucified for you, while He was God. Paul says, Neither he that plants is anything, neither he that waters, but God who gives the increase. [1 Corinthians 3:7] And does any of us say that he is something? If we say that we are something, and give not the glory to Him, we are adulterers; we desire ourselves to be loved, not the Bridegroom. Love ye Christ, and us in Him, in whom also you are beloved by us. Let the members love one another, but live all under the Head. With grief indeed, my brethren, I have been obliged to speak much, and yet I have said little: I have not been able to finish the passage; God will help us to finish it in due season. I did not wish to burden your hearts further; I wish them to be free for sighs and prayers in behalf of those who are still deaf and do not understand.

1. This lesson from the holy Gospel shows us the excellency of our Lord Jesus Christ's divinity, and the humility of the man who earned the title of the Bridegroom's friend; that we may distinguish between the man who is man, and the Man who is God. For the Man who is God is our Lord Jesus Christ, God before all ages, Man in the age of our world: God of the Father, man of the Virgin, yet one and the same Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Son of God, God and man. But John, a man of distinguished grace, was sent before Him, a man enlightened by Him who is the Light. For of John it is said, He was not the Light, but that he should bear witness of the Light. He may himself be called a light indeed, and rightly so; but an enlightened, not an enlightening light. The light that enlightens, and that which is enlightened, are different things: for even our eyes are called lights (lumina), and yet when we open them in the dark, they do not see. But the light that enlightens is a light both from itself and for itself, and does not need another light for its shining; but all the rest need it, that they may shine.

2. Accordingly John confessed Him: as you have heard that when Jesus was making many disciples, and they reported to John as if to excite him to jealousy, — for they told the matter as if moved by envy, Lo, he is making more disciples than you,— John confessed what he was, and thereby merited to belong to Him, because he dared not affirm himself to be that which Jesus is. Now this is what John said: A man cannot receive anything, unless it be given him from heaven. Therefore Christ gives, man receives. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him. He that has the bride is the Bridegroom; but the friend of the Bridegroom, who stands and hears Him, rejoices greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice. Not of himself did he give himself joy. He that will have joy of himself shall be sad; but he that will have his joy of God will ever rejoice, because God is everlasting. Do you desire to have everlasting joy? Cleave to Him who is everlasting. Such an one John declared himself to be. Because of the Bridegroom's voice, the friend of the Bridegroom rejoices, not because of his own voice, and stands and hears. Therefore, if he falls, he hears Him not: for of a certain one who fell it is said, And he stood not in the truth; [John 8:44] this is said of the devil. It behooves the Bridegroom's friend, then, to stand and to hear. What is it to stand? It is to abide in His grace, which he received. And he hears a voice at which he rejoices. Such was John: he knew whereof he rejoiced; he did not arrogate to himself to be what he was not; he knew himself as one enlightened, not the enlightener. But that was the true Light, says the evangelist, that lightens every man coming into this world. If every man, then also John himself; for he too is of men. Moreover, although none has arisen among them that are born of women greater than John, yet he was himself one of those that are born of women. Is he to be compared with Him who, because He willed it, was born by a singular and extraordinary birth? For both generations of the Lord are unexampled, both the divine and the human: by the divine He has no mother; by the human, no father. Therefore John was but one of the rest: of greater grace, however, so that of those born of women none arose greater than he; so great a testimony he gave to our Lord Jesus Christ as to call Him the Bridegroom, and himself the Bridegroom's friend, not worthy however to loose the latchet of the Bridegroom's shoe. You have already heard much on this point, beloved: let us look to what follows; for it is somewhat hard to understand. But as John himself says, that no man can receive anything, unless it be given him from heaven, whatever we shall not have understood, let us ask Him who gives from heaven: for we are men, and cannot receive anything, except He, who is not man, give it us.

3. Now this is what follows: and John says, This my joy therefore is fulfilled. What is his joy? To rejoice at the Bridegroom's voice. It is fulfilled in me, I have my grace; more I do not assume to myself, lest also I lose what I have received. What is this joy? With joy rejoices for the Bridegroom's voice. A man may understand, then, that he ought not to rejoice of his own wisdom, but of the wisdom which he has received from God. Let him ask nothing more, and he loses not what he found. For many, in that they affirmed themselves to be wise, became fools. The apostle convicts them, and says of them, Because that which is known of God is manifest to them; for God has showed it unto them. Hear ye what he says of certain unthankful, ungodly men: For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are seen, being understood by the things that are made, His eternal power likewise, and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. Why without excuse? Because, knowing God (he said not, because they knew Him not), they glorified Him not as God, nor were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened: professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. [Romans 1:19-22] If they had known God, they had known at the same time that God, and none other, had made them wise; and they would not then attribute to themselves that which they did not have from themselves, but to Him from whom they had received it. But by their unthankfulness they became fools. Therefore, what God gave freely, He took from the unthankful. John would not be this; he would be thankful: he confessed to have received, and declared that he rejoiced for the Bridegroom's voice, saying, Therefore this my joy is fulfilled.

4. He must increase, but I must decrease. What is this? He must be exalted, but I must be humbled. How is Jesus to increase? How is God to increase? The perfect does not increase. God neither increases nor decreases. For if He increases, He is not perfect; if He decreases, he is not God. And how can Jesus increase, being God? If to man's estate, since He deigned to be man and was a child; and, though the Word of God, lay an infant in a manger; and, though His mother's Creator, yet sucked the milk of infancy of her: then Jesus having grown in age of the flesh, that perhaps is the reason why it is said, He must increase, but I must decrease. But why in this? As regards the flesh, John and Jesus were of the same age, there being six months between them: they had grown up together; and if our Lord Jesus Christ had willed to be here longer before His death, and that John should be here with Him, then, as they had grown up together, so would they have grown old together: in what way, then, He must increase but I must decrease? Above all, our Lord Jesus Christ being now thirty years old, does a man who is already thirty years old still grow? From that same age, men begin to go downward, and to decline to graver age, thence to old age. Again, even had they both been lads, he would not have said, He must increase, but, We must increase together. But now each is thirty years of age. The interval of six months makes no difference in age; the difference is discovered by reading rather than by the look of the persons.

5. What means, then, He must increase, but I must decrease? This is a great mystery! Before the Lord Jesus came, men were glorying of themselves; He came a man, to lessen man's glory, and to increase the glory of God. Now He came without sin, and found all men in sin. If thus He came to put away sin, God may freely give, man may confess. For man's confession is man's lowliness: God's pity is God's loftiness. Therefore, since He came to forgive man his sins, let man acknowledge his own lowliness and let God show His pity. He must increase, but I must decrease: that is, He must give, but I must receive; He must be glorified, but I must confess. Let man know his own condition, and confess to God; and hear the apostle as he says to a proud, elated man, bent on extolling himself: What have you that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you glory as if you did not receive it? [1 Corinthians 4:7] Then let man understand that he has received; and when he would call that his own which is not his, let him decrease: for it is good for him that God be glorified in him. Let him decrease in himself, that he may be increased in God. These testimonies and this truth, Christ and John signified by their deaths. For John was lessened by the Head: Christ was exalted on the cross; so that even there it appeared what this is, He must increase, but I must decrease. Again, Christ was born when the days were just beginning to lengthen; John was born when they began to shorten. Thus their very creation and deaths testify to the words of John, when he says, He must increase, but I must decrease. May the glory of God then increase in us, and our own glory decrease, that even ours may increase in God! For this is what the apostle says, this is what Holy Scripture says: He that glories, let him glory in the Lord. [1 Corinthians 1:31] Will you glory in yourself? You will grow; but grow worse in your evil. For whoever grows worse is justly decreased. Let God, then, who is ever perfect, grow, and grow in you. For the more you understand God, and apprehendest Him, He seems to be growing in you; but in Himself He grows not, being ever perfect. You understood a little yesterday; you understand more today, will understand much more tomorrow: the very light of God increases in you: as if thus God increases, who remains ever perfect. It is as if one's eyes were being cured of former blindness, and he began to see a little glimmer of light, and the next day he saw more, and the third day still more: to him the light would seem to grow; yet the light is perfect, whether he see it or not. Thus it is also with the inner man: he makes progress indeed in God, and God seems to be increasing in him; yet man himself is decreasing, that he may fall from his own glory, and rise into the glory of God.

6. What we have just heard, appears now distinctly and clearly. He that comes from above, is above all. See what he says of Christ. What of himself? He that is of the earth, is of earth, and speaks of the earth. He that comes from above is above all — this is Christ; and he that is of the earth, is of earth, and speaks of the earth — this is John. And is this the whole: John is of the earth, and speaks of the earth? Is the whole testimony that he bears of Christ a speaking of the earth? Are they not voices of God that are heard from John, when he bears witness of Christ? Then how does he speak of the earth? He said this of man. So far as relates to man in himself, he is of earth, and speaks of the earth; and when he speaks some divine things, he is enlightened by God. For, were he not enlightened, he would be earth speaking of earth. God's grace is apart by itself, the nature of man apart by itself. Do but examine the nature of man: man is born and grows, he learns the customs of men. What does he know but earth, of earth? He speaks the things of men, knows the things of men, minds the things of men; carnal, he judges carnally, conjectures carnally: lo! It is man all over. Let the grace of God come, and enlighten his darkness, as it says, You will lighten my candle, O Lord; my God, enlighten my darkness; let it take the mind of man, and turn it to its own light; immediately he begins to say, as the apostle says, Yet not I, but the grace of God that is with me; [1 Corinthians 15:10] and, Now I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me. [Galatians 2:20] That is to say, He must increase, but I must decrease. Thus John: as regards John, he is of the earth, and speaks of the earth; whatever that is divine you have heard from John, is of Him that enlightens, not of him that receives.

7. He that comes from heaven is above all; and what He has seen and heard, that He testifies: and no man receives His testimony. Comes from heaven, is above all, our Lord Jesus Christ; of whom it was said above, No man has ascended into heaven, but He that came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven. And He is above all; and what He has seen and heard, that He speaks. Moreover, He has a Father, being Himself the Son of God; He has a Father, and He also hears of the Father. And what is that which He hears of the Father? Who can unfold this? When can my tongue, when can my heart be sufficient, either the heart to understand, or the tongue to utter, what that is which the Son has heard from the Father? May it be the Son has heard the Word of the Father? Nay, the Son is the Word of the Father. You see how all human effort is here wearied out; you see how all guessing of our heart, all straining of our darkened mind, here fails. I hear the Scripture saying that the Son speaks that which He hears from the Father; and again, I hear the Scripture saying that the Son is Himself the Word of the Father: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The words that we speak are fleeting and transient: as soon as your word has sounded from your mouth, it passes away; it makes its noise, and passes away into silence. Can you follow your sound, and hold it to make it stand? Your thought, however, remains, and of that thought that remains you utter many words that pass away. What say we, brethren? When God spoke, did He give out a voice, or sounds, or syllables? If He did, in what tongue spoke He? In Hebrew, or in Greek, or in Latin? Tongues are necessary where there is a distinction of nations. But there none can say that God spoke in this tongue, or in that. Observe your own heart. When you conceive a word which you may utter — For I will say, if I can, what we may note in ourselves, not whereby we may comprehend that — well, when you conceive a word to utter, you mean to utter a thing, and the very conception of the thing is already a word in your heart: it has not yet come forth, but it is already born in the heart, and is waiting to come forth. But you consider the person to whom it is to come forth, with whom you are to speak: if he is a Latin, you seek a Latin expression; if a Greek, you think of Greek words; if a Punic, you consider whether you know the Punic language: for the diversity of hearers you have recourse to various tongues to utter the word conceived; but the conception itself was bound by no tongue in particular. Whilst therefore God, when speaking, required not a language, nor took up any kind of speech, how was He heard by the Son, seeing that God's speaking is the Son Himself? As, in fact, you have in your heart the word that you speak, and as it is with you, and is none other than the spiritual conception itself (for just as your soul is spirit, so also the word which you have conceived is spirit; for it has not yet received sound to be divided by syllables, but remains in the conception of your heart, and in the mirror of the mind); so God gave out His Word, that is, begot the Son. And you, indeed, beget test the word even in your heart according to time; God without time begot the Son by whom He created all times. Whilst, therefore, the Son is the Word of God, and the Son spoke to us not His own word, but the word of the Father, He willed to speak Himself to us when He was speaking the word of the Father. This it is that John said, as was fit and necessary; and we have expounded according to our ability. He whose heart has not yet attained to a proper perception of so great a matter, has whither to turn himself, has where to knock, has from whom to ask, from whom to seek, of whom to receive.

8. He that comes from heaven is above all; and what He has seen and heard, that testifies He; and His testimony no man receives. If no man, to what purpose came He? He means, no man of a certain class. There are some people prepared for the wrath of God, to be damned with the devil; of these, none receives the testimony of Christ. For if none at all, not any man, received, what could these words mean, But he that received His testimony has set to his seal that God is true? Not certainly, then, no man, if you say yourself, He that received His testimony has set to his seal that God is true. Perhaps John, on being questioned, would answer and say, I know what I have said, in saying no man. There are, in fact, people born to God's wrath, and thereunto foreknown. For God knows who they are that will and that will not believe; He knows who they are that shall persevere in that in which they have believed, and who that shall fall away; and all that shall be for eternal life are numbered by God; and He knows already the people set apart. And if He knows this, and has given to the prophets by His Spirit to know it, He gave this also to John. Now John was observing, not with his eye — for as regards himself he is earth, and speaks of earth — but with that grace of the Spirit which he received of God, he saw a certain people, ungodly, unbelieving. Contemplating that people in its unbelief, he says, His testimony, who came from heaven, no man receives. No man of whom? Of them who shall be on the left hand, of them to whom it shall be said, Go into the everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. Who are they that do receive it? They who shall be at the right hand, they to whom it shall be said, Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which is prepared for you from the beginning of the world. He observes, then, in the Spirit a dividing, but in the human race a mingling together; and that which is not yet separated locally, he separated in the understanding, in the view of the heart; and he saw two peoples, one of believers, one of unbelievers. Fixing his thought on the unbelievers, he says, He that comes from heaven is above all; and what He has seen and heard, that He testifies and no man receives His testimony. He then turned his thought from the left hand, and looked at the right, and proceeded to say, He that received His testimony has set to his seal that God is true. What means has set to his seal that God is true, if it be not that man is a liar, and God is true? For no human being can speak any truth, unless he be enlightened by Him who cannot lie. God, then, is true; but Christ is God. Would you prove this? Receive His testimony and you find it. For he that has received His testimony has set to his seal that God is true. Who is true? The same who came from heaven, and is above all, is God, and true. But if you do not yet understand Him to be God, you have not yet received His testimony: receive it, and you put your seal to it; confidently you understand, definitely you acknowledge, that God is true.

9. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God. Himself is the true God, and God sent Him: God sent God. Join both, one God, true God sent by God. Ask concerning them singly, He is God; ask concerning them both, they are God. Not individually God, and both Gods; but each individual God, and both God. For so great is the charity of the Holy Spirit there, so great the peace of unity, that when you question about them individually, the answer to you is, God; when you ask concerning the Trinity, you get for answer, God. For if the spirit of man, when it cleaves to God, is one spirit, as the apostle openly declares, He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit; [1 Corinthians 6:17] how much more is the equal Son, joined to the Father, together with Him one God! Hear another testimony. You know how many believed, when they sold all they had and laid it at the apostles' feet, that it might be distributed to each according to his need; and what says the Scripture of that gathering of the saints? They had one soul and one heart in the Lord. [Acts 4:32] If charity made one soul of so many souls, and one heart of so many hearts, how great must be the charity between the Father and the Son! Surely it must be greater than that between those men who had one heart. If, then, the heart of many brethren was one by charity, if the soul of many brethren was one by charity, would you say that God the Father and God the Son are two? If they are two Gods, there is not the highest charity between them. For if charity is here so great as to make your soul and your friend's soul one soul, how can it be then that the Father and the Son is not one God? Far be unfeigned faith from this thought. In short, how excellent that charity is, understand hence: the souls of many men are many, and if they love one another, it is one soul; still, in the case of men, they may be called many souls, because the union is not so strong. But there it is right for you to say one God; two or three Gods it is not right for you to say. From this, the supreme and surpassing excellency of charity is shown you to be such, that a greater cannot be.

10. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God. This, of course, he said of Christ, to distinguish himself from Christ. What then? Did not God send John himself? Did he not say himself, I am sent before Him? And, He that sent me to baptize with water? And is it not of John that it is said, Behold, I send my messenger before You, and he shall prepare Your way? [Malachi 3:1] Does he not himself speak the words of God, he of whom it is said that he is more than a prophet? Then, if God sent him too, and he speaks the words of God, how do we understand him to have distinctly said of Christ, He whom God has sent speaks the words of God? But see what he adds: For God gives not the Spirit by measure. What is this, For God gives not the Spirit by measure? We find that God does give the Spirit by measure. Hear the apostle when he says, According to the measure of the gift of Christ. [Ephesians 4:7] To men He gives by measure, to the only Son He gives not by measure. How does He give to men by measure? To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of wisdom according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another kinds of tongues; to another the gift of healing. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gift of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? [1 Corinthians 12:8-30] This man has one gift, that man another; and what that man has, this has not: there is a measure, a certain division of gifts. To men, therefore, it is given by measure, and concord among them makes one body. As the hand receives one kind of gift to work, the eye another to see, the ear another to hear, the foot another to walk; nevertheless the soul that does all is one, in the hand to work, in the foot to walk, in the ear to hear, in the eye to see; so are also the gifts of believers diverse, distributed to them as to members, to each according to his proper measure. But Christ, who gives, receives not by measure.

11. Now hear further what follows: because He had said of the Son, For God gives not the Spirit by measure: the Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand, He added, has given all things into His hands, that you might know also here with what distinction it is said, The Father loves the Son. And why? Does the Father not love John? And yet He has not given all things into his hand. Does the Father not love Paul? And yet He has not given all things into his hand. The Father loves the Son: but as father loves, not as master loves a servant; as the Only Son, not as an adopted son. And so has given all things into His hand. What means all things? That the Son should be such as the Father is. To equality with Himself He begot Him in whom it was no robbery to be in the form of God, equal to God. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. Therefore, having deigned to send us the Son, let us not imagine that it is something less than the Father that is sent to us. The Father, in sending the Son, sent His other self.

12. But the disciples, still thinking that the Father is something greater than the Son, seeing only the flesh, and not understanding His divinity, said to Him, Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us. As much as to say, We know You already, and bless You that we know You: for we thank You that You have shown Yourself to us. But as yet we know not the Father: therefore our heart is inflamed, and occupied with a certain holy longing of seeing Your Father who sent You. Show us Him, and we shall desire nothing more of You: for it suffices us when He has been shown, than whom none can be greater. A good longing, a good desire; but small intelligence. Now the Lord Jesus Himself, regarding them as small men seeking great things, and Himself great among the small, and yet small among the small, says to Philip, one of the disciples, who had said this: Am I so long time with you, and you have not known me, Philip? Here Philip might have answered, You we have known, but did we say to You, Show us Yourself? We have known You, but it is the Father we seek to know. He immediately adds, He that has seen me, has seen the Father also. [John 14:8-9] If, then, One equal with the Father has been sent, let us not estimate Him from the weakness of the flesh, but think of the majesty clothed in flesh, but not weighed down by the flesh. For, remaining God with the Father, He was made man among men, that, through Him who was made man, you might become such as to receive God. For man could not receive God. Man could see man; God he could not apprehend. Why could he not apprehend God? Because he had not the eye of the heart, by which to apprehend Him. There was something within disordered, something without sound: man had the eyes of the body sound, but the eyes of the heart sick. He was made man to the eye of the body; so that, believing on Him who could be seen in bodily form, you might be healed for seeing Him whom you were not able to see spiritually. Am I so long time with you, and you know me not, Philip? He that has seen me, has seen the Father also. Why did they not see Him? Lo, they did see Him, and yet saw not the Father: they saw the flesh, but the majesty was concealed. What the disciples who loved Him saw, saw also the Jews who crucified Him. Inwardly, then, was He all; and in such manner inwardly in the flesh, that He remained with the Father when He came to the flesh.

13. Carnal thought does not apprehend what I say: let it defer understanding, and begin by faith; let it hear what follows: He that believes in the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him. He has not said, The wrath of God comes to him; but, The wrath of God abides on him. All that are born mortals have the wrath of God with them. What wrath of God? That wrath which Adam first received. For if the first man sinned, and heard the sentence, You shall die the death, he became mortal, and we began to be born mortal; and we have been born with the wrath of God. From this stock came the Son, not having sin, and He was clothed with flesh and mortality. If He partook with us of the wrath of God, are we slow to partake with Him the grace of God? He, then, that will not believe the Son, on the same the wrath of God abides. What wrath of God? That of which the apostle says, We also were by nature the children of wrath, even as the rest. [Ephesians 2:3] All are therefore children of wrath, because coming of the curse of death. Believe on Christ, for you made mortal, that you may receive Him, the immortal; and when you shall have received His immortality, you shall no longer be mortal. He lived, you were dead; He died that you should live. He has brought us the grace of God, and has taken away the wrath of God. God has conquered death, lest death should conquer man.

1. It is nothing new to your ears, beloved, that the Evangelist John, like an eagle, takes a loftier flight, and soars above the dark mist of earth, to gaze with steadier eyes upon the light of truth. From his Gospel much has already been treated of and discussed through our ministry, with the Lord's help; and the passage which has been read today follows in due order. What I am about to say, with the Lord's permission, many of you will hear in such wise that you will be reviewing what you know, rather than learning what you know not. Yet, for all that, your attention ought not to be slack, because it is not an acquiring, but a reviewing, of knowledge. This has been read, and we have in our hands to discourse upon this passage — that which the Lord Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. The things spoken there are great mysteries, and the similitudes of great things; feeding the hungry, and refreshing the weary soul.

2. Now when the Lord knew this, when He had heard that the Pharisees had learned that He was making more disciples than John, and baptized more (though Jesus baptized not, but His disciples), He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. We must not discourse of this too long, lest, by dwelling on what is manifest, we shall lack the time to investigate and lay open what is obscure. Certainly, if the Lord saw that the fact of their coming to know that He made more disciples, and baptized more, would so avail to salvation to the Pharisees in following Him, as to become themselves His disciples, and to desire to be baptized by Him; rather would He not have left Judea, but would have remained there for their sakes. But because He knew their knowledge of the fact, and at the same time knew their envy, and that they learned this, not to follow, but to persecute him, He departed thence. He could, indeed, even when present, cause that He should not be taken of them, if He would not; He had it in His power not to be put to death, if He would not, since He had the power not to be born, if He would not. But because, in everything that He did as man, He was showing an example to them who were to believe in Him (that any one servant of God sins not if he retire into another place, when he sees, it may be, the rage of his persecutors, or of them that seek to bring his soul into evil; but if a servant of God did this he might appear to commit sin, had not the Lord led the way in doing it), that good Master did this to teach us, not because He feared it.

3. It may perhaps surprise you why it is said, that Jesus baptized more than John; and after this was said, it is subjoined, although Jesus baptized not, but His disciples. What then? Was the statement made false, and then corrected by this addition? Or, are both true, viz. that Jesus both did and also did not baptize? He did in fact baptize, because it was He that cleansed; and He did not baptize, because it was not He that touched. The disciples supplied the ministry of the body; He afforded the aid of His majesty. Now, when could He cease from baptizing, so long as He ceased not from cleansing? Of Him it is said by the same John, in the person of the Baptist, who says, This is He that baptizes. Jesus, therefore, is still baptizing; and so long as we continue to be baptized, Jesus baptizes. Let a man come without fear to the minister below; for he has a Master above.

4. But it may be one says, Christ does indeed baptize, but in spirit, not in body. As if, indeed, it were by the gift of another than He that any is imbued even with the sacrament of corporal and visible baptism. Would you know that it is He that baptizes, not only with the Spirit, but also with water? Hear the apostle: Even as Christ, says he, loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, purifying it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. [Ephesians 5:25-27] Purifying it. How? With the washing of water by the Word. What is the baptism of Christ? The washing of water by the Word. Take away the water, it is no baptism; take away the Word, it is no baptism.

5. This much, then, on the preliminary circumstances, by occasion of which He came to a conversation with that woman, let us look at the matters that remain; matters full of mysteries and pregnant with sacraments. And He must needs pass through Samaria. He comes then to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's fountain was there. It was a well; but every well is a fountain, yet not every fountain a well. For where the water flows from the earth, and offers itself for use to them that draw it, it is called a fountain; but if accessible, and on the surface, it is called only a fountain: if, however, it be deep and far down, it is called a well, but in such wise as not to lose the name of fountain.

6. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well. It was about the sixth hour. Now begin the mysteries. For it is not without a purpose that Jesus is weary; not indeed without a purpose that the strength of God is weary; not without a purpose that He is weary, by whom the wearied are refreshed; not without a purpose is He weary, by whose absence we are wearied, by whose presence we are strengthened. Nevertheless Jesus is weary, and weary with His journey; and He sits down, and that, too, near a well; and it is at the sixth hour that, being wearied, He sits down. All these things hint something, are intended to intimate something, they make us eager, and encourage us to knock. May Himself open to us and to you; He who has deigned to exhort us, so as to say, Knock, and it shall be opened to you. It was for you that Jesus was wearied with His journey. We find Jesus to be strength, and we find Jesus to be weak: we find a strong and a weak Jesus: strong, because 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. Would you see how this Son of God is strong? All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made: and without labor, too, were they made. Then what can be stronger than He, by whom all things were made without labor? Would you know Him weak? The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. The strength of Christ created you, the weakness of Christ created you anew. The strength of Christ caused that to be which was not: the weakness of Christ caused that what was should not perish. He fashioned us by His strength, He sought us by His weakness.

7. As weak, then, He nourishes the weak, as a hen her chickens; for He likened Him self to a hen: How often, He says to Jerusalem, would I have gathered your children under my wings, as a hen her chickens; but you would not! [Matthew 23:37] And you see, brethren, how a hen becomes weak with her chickens. No other bird, when it is a mother, is recognized at once to be so. We see all kinds of sparrows building their nests before our eyes; we see swallows, storks, doves, every day building their nests; but we do not know them to be parents, except when we see them on their nests. But the hen is so enfeebled over her brood, that even if the chickens are not following her, if you see not the young ones, yet you know her at once to be a mother. With her wings drooping, her feathers ruffled, her note hoarse, in all her limbs she becomes so sunken and abject, that, as I have said, even though you see not her young, yet you perceive her to be a mother. In such manner was Jesus weak, wearied with His journey. His journey is the flesh assumed for us. For how can He, who is present everywhere, have a journey, He who is nowhere absent? Whither does He go, or whence, but that He could not come to us, except He had assumed the form of visible flesh? Therefore, as He deigned to come to us in such manner, that He appeared in the form of a servant by the flesh assumed, that same assumption of flesh is His journey. Thus, wearied with His journey, what else is it but wearied in the flesh? Jesus was weak in the flesh: but do not become weak; but in His weakness be strong, because what is the weakness of God is stronger than men.

8. Under this image of things, Adam, who was the figure of Him that was to be, afforded us a great indication of this mystery; rather, God afforded it in him. For he was deemed worthy to receive a wife while he slept, and that wife was made for him of his own rib: since from Christ, sleeping on the cross, was the Church to come — from His side, namely, as He slept; for it was from His side, pierced with the spear, as He hung on the cross, that the sacraments of the Church flowed forth. But why have I chosen to say this, brethren? Because it is the weakness of Christ that makes us strong. A remarkable figure of this went before in the case of Adam. God could have taken flesh from the man to make of it a woman, and it seems that this might have been the more suitable. For it was the weaker sex that was being made, and weakness ought to have been made of flesh rather than of bone; for the bones are the stronger parts in the flesh. He took not flesh to make of it a woman; but took a bone, and of the bone was the woman shaped, and flesh was filled in into the place of the bone. He could have restored bone for bone; He could have taken, not a rib, but flesh, for the making of the woman. What, then, did this signify? Woman was made, as it were, strong, from the rib; Adam was made, as it were, weak, from the flesh. It is Christ and the Church; His weakness is our strength.

9. But why at the sixth hour? Because at the sixth age of the world. In the Gospel, count up as an hour each, the first age from Adam to Noah; the second, from Noah to Abraham; the third, from Abraham to David; the fourth, from David to the removing to Babylon; the fifth, from the removing to Babylon to the baptism of John: thence is the sixth being enacted. Why do you marvel? Jesus came, and, by humbling Himself, came to a well. He came wearied, because He carried weak flesh. At the sixth hour, because in the sixth age of the world. To a well, because to the depth of this our habitation. For which reason it is said in the psalm: From the depth have I cried unto You, O Lord. He sat, as I said, because He was humbled.

10. And there came a woman. Figure of the Church not yet justified, but now about to be justified: for this is the subject of the discourse. She comes ignorant, she finds Him, and there is a dealing with her. Let us see what, and wherefore. There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water. The Samaritans did not belong to the nation of the Jews: they were foreigners, though they inhabited neighboring lands. It would take a long time to relate the origin of the Samaritans; that we may not be detained by long discourse of this, and leave necessary matters unsaid, suffice to say, then, that we regard the Samaritans as aliens. And, lest you should think that I have said this with more boldness than truth, hear the Lord Jesus Himself, what He said of that Samaritan, one of the ten lepers whom He had cleansed, who alone returned to give thanks: Were there not ten cleansed? And where are the nine? There was not another to give glory to God, save this stranger. [Luke 17:17] It is pertinent to the image of the reality, that this woman, who bore the type of the Church, comes of strangers: for the Church was to come of the Gentiles, an alien from the race of the Jews. In that woman, then, let us hear ourselves, and in her acknowledge ourselves, and in her give thanks to God for ourselves. For she was the figure, not the reality; for she both first showed forth the figure and became the reality. For she believed on Him who, of her, set the figure before us. She comes, then, to draw water. Had simply come to draw water, as people are wont to do, be they men or women.

11. Jesus says unto her, Give me to drink. For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy meat. Then says the Samaritan woman unto Him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, who am a Samaritan woman? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. You see that they were aliens: indeed, the Jews would not use their vessels. And as the woman brought with her a vessel with which to draw the water, it made her wonder that a Jew sought drink of her — a thing which the Jews were not accustomed to do. But He who was asking drink was thirsting for the faith of the woman herself.

12. At length, hear who it is that asks drink: Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me to drink, you would, it may be, have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water. He asks to drink, and promises to give drink. He longs as one about to receive; He abounds as one about to satisfy. If you knew, says He, the gift of God. The gift of God is the Holy Spirit. But as yet He speaks to the woman guardedly, and enters into her heart by degrees. It may be He is now teaching her. For what can be sweeter and kinder than that exhortation? If you knew the gift of God, etc.: thus far He keeps her in suspense. That is commonly called living water which issues from a spring: that which is collected from rain in pools and cisterns is not called living water. And it may have flowed from a spring; yet if it should stand collected in some place, not admitting to it that from which it flowed, but, with the course interrupted, separated, as it were, from the channel of the fountain, it is not called living water: but that is called living water which is taken as it flows. Such water there was in that fountain. Why, then, did He promise to give that which He was asking?

13. The woman, however, being in suspense, says to Him, Lord, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. See how she understood the living water, simply the water which was in that fountain. You would give me living water, and I carry that with which to draw, and you do not. The living water is here; how are you to give it me? Understanding another thing, and taking it carnally, she does in a manner knock, that the Master may open up that which is closed. She was knocking in ignorance, not with earnest purpose; she is still an object of pity, not yet of instruction.

14. The Lord speaks somewhat more clearly of that living water. Now the woman had said, Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, his children, and his cattle? You can not give me of the living water of this well, because you have nothing to draw with: perhaps you promise another fountain? Can you be better than our father, who dug this well, and used it himself, and his? Let the Lord, then, declare what He called living water. Jesus answered and said to her, Every one that drinks of this water shall thirst again: but he that drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall not thirst forever; but the water which I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life. The Lord has spoken more openly: It shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life. He that drinks of this water shall not thirst forever. What more evident than that it was not visible, but invisible water, that He was promising? What more evident than that He was speaking, not in a carnal, but in a spiritual sense?

15. Still, however, the woman has her mind on the flesh: she is delighted with the thought of thirsting no more, and fancies that this was promised to her by the Lord after a carnal sense; which it will be indeed, but in the resurrection of the dead. She desired this now. God had indeed granted once to His servant Elias, that during forty days he neither hungered nor thirsted. Could not He give this always, seeing He had power to give it during forty days? She, however, sighed for it, desiring to have no want, no toil. To be always coming to that fountain, to be burdened with a weight with which to supply her want, and, when that which she had drawn is spent, to be obliged to return again: this was a daily toil to her; because that want of hers was to be relieved, not extinguished. Such a gift as Jesus promised delighted her; she asks Him to give her living water.

16. Nevertheless, let us not overlook the fact that it is something spiritual that the Lord was promising. What means, Whoever shall drink of this water shall thirst again? It is true as to this water; it is true as to what the water signified. Since the water in the well is the pleasure of the world in its dark depth: from this men draw it with the vessel of lusts. Stooping forward, they let down the lust to reach the pleasure fetched from the depth of the well, and enjoy the pleasure and the preceding lust let down to fetch it. For he who has not dispatched his lust in advance cannot get to the pleasure. Consider lust, then, as the vessel; and pleasure as the water from the depth of the well: when one has got at the pleasure of this world, it is meat to him, it is drink, it is a bath, a show, an amour; can it be that he will not thirst again? Therefore, Whoever shall drink of this water, says He, will thirst again; but if he shall receive water of me, he shall never thirst. We shall be satisfied, it says, with the good things of Your house. Of what water, then, is He to give, but of that of which it is said, With You is the fountain of life? For how shall they thirst, who shall be drunk with the fatness of Your house?

17. What He was promising them was a certain feeding and abundant fullness of the Holy Spirit: but the woman did not yet understand; and not understanding, how did she answer? The woman says unto Him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Want forced her to labor, and her weakness was pleading against the toil. Would that she heard the invitation, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you! [Matthew 11:28] This is, in fact, what Jesus was saying to her, that she might no longer labor: but she did not yet understand.

18. At length, wishing her to understand, Jesus says unto her, Go, call your husband, and come hither. What means this, Call your husband? Was it through her husband that He wished to give her that water? Or, because she did not understand, did He wish to teach her through her husband? Perhaps it was as the apostle says concerning women, If they wish to learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. But this the apostle says of that where there is no Jesus present to teach. It is said, in short, to women whom the apostle was forbidding to speak in the Church. [1 Corinthians 14:34] But when the Lord Himself was at hand, and in person speaking to her, what need was there that He should speak to her by her husband? Was it through her husband that he spoke to Mary, while sitting at His feet and receiving His word; while Martha, wholly occupied with much serving, murmured at the happiness of her sister? [Luke 10:40] Wherefore, my brethren, let us hear and understand what it is that the Lord says to the woman, Call your husband. For it may be that He is saying also to our soul, Call your husband. Let us inquire also concerning the soul's husband. Why, is not Jesus Himself already the soul's real husband? Let the understanding be present, since what we are about to say can hardly be apprehended but by attentive hearers: therefore let the understanding be present to apprehend, and perhaps that same understanding will be found to be the husband of the soul.

19. Now Jesus, seeing that the woman did not understand, and willing her to understand, says to her, Call your husband. For the reason why you know not what I say is, because your understanding is not present: I am speaking after the Spirit, and you are hearing after the flesh. The things which I speak relate neither to the pleasure of the ears, nor to the eyes, nor to the smell, nor to the taste, nor to the touch; by the mind alone are they received, by the understanding alone are they drawn up: that understanding is not with you, how can you apprehend what I am saying? 'Call your husband,' bring your understanding forward. What is it for you to have a soul? It is not much, for a beast has a soul. Wherein are you better than the beast? In having understanding, which the beast has not. Then what is Call your husband? Thou dost not apprehend me, you do not understand me: I am speaking to you of the gift of God, and your thought is of the flesh; you wish not to thirst in a carnal sense, I am addressing myself to the spirit: your understanding is absent. 'Call your husband.' Be not as the horse and mule, which have no understanding. Therefore, my brethren, to have a soul, and not to have understanding, that is, not to use it, not to live according to it, is a beast's life. For we have somewhat in common with the beasts, that by which we live in the flesh, but it must be ruled by the understanding. For the motions of the soul, which moves after the flesh, and longs to run unrestrainedly loose after carnal delights, are ruled over by the understanding. Which is to be called the husband?— that which rules, or that which is ruled? Without doubt, when the life is well ordered the understanding rules the soul, for itself belongs to the soul. For the understanding is not something other than the soul, but a thing of the soul: as the eye is not something other than the flesh, but a thing of the flesh. But while the eye is a thing of the flesh, yet it alone enjoys the light; and the other fleshy members may be steeped in light, but they cannot feel the light: the eye alone is both bathed in it, and enjoys it. Thus in our soul there is a something called the understanding. This something of the soul, which is called understanding and mind, is enlightened by the higher light. Now that higher light, by which the human mind is enlightened, is God; for that was the true light which enlightens every man coming into this world. Such a light was Christ, such a light was speaking with the woman: yet she was not present with the understanding, to have it enlightened with that light; not merely to have it shed upon it, but to enjoy it. Therefore the Lord said, Call your husband, as if He were to say, I wish to enlighten, and yet there is not here whom I may enlighten: bring hither the understanding through which you may be taught, by which you may be ruled. Thus, put the soul without the understanding for the woman; and having the understanding as having the husband. But this husband does not rule the wife well, except when he is ruled by a higher. For the head of the woman is the man, but the head of the man is Christ. [1 Corinthians 11:3] The head of the man was talking with the woman, and the man was not present. And so the Lord, as if He said, Bring hither your head, that he may receive his head, says, Call your husband, and come hither; that is, Be here, be present: for you are as absent, while you understand not the voice of the Truth here present; be present here, but not alone; be here with your husband.

20. And, the husband being not yet called, still she does not understand, still she minds the flesh; for the man is absent: I have not, says she, a husband. And the Lord proceeds and utters mysteries. You may understand that woman really to have had at that time no husband; she was living with some man, not a lawful husband, rather a paramour than a husband. And the Lord said to her, You have well said, I have not a husband. How then did Thou say, Call your husband? Now hear how the Lord knew well that she had not a husband. He says to her, etc. In case the woman might suppose that the Lord had said, You have well said, I have not a husband, just because He had learned this fact of her, and not because he knew it by His own divinity, hear something which you have not said: For you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.

21. Once more He urges us to investigate the matter somewhat more exactly concerning these five husbands. Many have in fact understood, not indeed absurdly, nor so far improbably, the five husbands of this woman to mean the five books of Moses. For the Samaritans' made use of these books, and were under the same law: for it was from it they had circumcision. But since we are hemmed in by what follows, And he whom you now have is not your husband, it appears to me that we can more easily take the five senses of the body to be the five former husbands of the soul. For when one is born, before he can make use of the mind and reason, he is ruled only by the senses of the flesh. In a little child, the soul seeks for or shuns what is heard, and seen, and smells, and tastes, and is perceived by the touch. It seeks for whatever soothes, and shuns whatever offends, those five senses. At first, the soul lives according to these five senses, as five husbands; because it is ruled by them. But why are they called husbands? Because they are lawful and right: made indeed by God, and are the gifts of God to the soul. The soul is still weak while ruled by these five husbands, and living under these five husbands; but when she comes to years of exercising reason, if she is taken in hand by the noble discipline and teaching of wisdom, these five men are succeeded in their rule by no other than the true and lawful husband, and one better than they, who both rules better and rules for eternity, who cultivates and instructs her for eternity. For the five senses rule us, not for eternity, but for those temporal things that are to be sought or shunned. But when the understanding, imbued by wisdom, begins to rule the soul, it knows now not only how to avoid a pit, and to walk on even ground — a thing which the eyes show to the soul even in its weakness; nor merely to be charmed with musical voices, and to repel harsh sounds; nor to delight in agreeable scents, and to refuse offensive smells; nor to be captivated by sweetness, and displeased with bitterness; nor to be soothed with what is soft, and hurt with what is rough. For all these things are necessary to the soul in its weakness. Then what rule is made use of by that understanding? Not one to discern between black and white, but between just and unjust, between good and evil, between the profitable and the unprofitable, between chastity and impurity, that it may love the one and avoid the other; between charity and hatred, to be in the one, not to be in the other.

22. This husband had not yet succeeded to those five husbands in that woman. And where he does not succeed, error sways. For when the soul has begun to be capable of reason, it is ruled either by the wise mind or by error: but yet error does not rule but destroys. Wherefore, after these five senses was that woman still wandering, and error was tossing her to and fro. And this error was not a lawful husband, but a paramour: for that reason the Lord says to her, You have well said, I have not a husband. For you have had five husbands. The five senses of the flesh ruled you at first; you have come to the age of using reason, and yet you have not come to wisdom, but are fallen into error. Therefore, after those five husbands, this whom you now have is not your husband. And if not a husband, what was he but a paramour? And so, Call, not the paramour, but your husband, that you may receive me with the understanding, and not by error have some false notion of me. For the woman was still in error, as she was thinking of that water; while the Lord was now speaking of the Holy Ghost. Why was she erring, but because she had a paramour, not a husband? Put away, therefore, that paramour who corrupts you, and go, call your husband. Call, and come that you may understand me.

23. The woman says unto Him, Sir, I see that you are a prophet. The husband begins to come, he is not yet fully come. She accounted the Lord a prophet, and a prophet indeed He was; for it was of Himself He said, that a prophet is not without honor, save in his own country. [Luke 4:24] Again, of Him it was said to Moses, A Prophet will I raise up to them of their brethren, like you. [Deuteronomy 18:18] Like, namely, as to the form of the flesh, but not in the eminence of His majesty. Accordingly we find the Lord Jesus called a Prophet. Hence this woman is now not far wrong. I see, she says, that you are a prophet. She begins to call the husband, and to shut out the paramour; she begins to ask about a matter that is wont to disquiet her. For there was a contention between the Samaritans and the Jews, because the Jews worshipped God in the temple built by Solomon; but the Samaritans, being situated at a distance from it, did not worship there. For this reason the Jews, because they worshipped God in the temple, boasted themselves to be better than the Samaritans. For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans: because the latter said to them, How is it you boast and account yourselves to be better than we, just because you have a temple which we have not? Did our fathers, who were pleasing to God, worship in that temple? Was it not in this mountain where we are they worshipped? We then do better, say they, who pray to God in this mountain, where our fathers prayed. Both peoples contended in ignorance, because they had not the husband: they were inflated against each other, on the one side in behalf of the temple, on the other in behalf of the mountain.

24. What, however, does the Lord teach the woman now, as one whose husband has begun to be present? The woman says unto Him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus says unto her, Woman, believe me. For the Church will come, as it is said in the Song of Songs, will come, and will pass over from the beginning of faith. She will come in order to pass through; and pass through she cannot, except from the beginning of faith. Rightly she now hears, the husband being present: Woman, believe me. For there is that in you now which can believe, since your husband is present. You have begun to be present with the understanding when you called me a prophet. Woman, believe me; for if you believe not, you will not understand. Therefore, Woman, believe me, for the hour will come when you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship ye know not what: we worship what we know; for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour will come. When? And now is. Well, what hour? When the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, not in this mountain, not in the temple, but in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeks such to worship Him. Why does the Father seek such to worship Him, not on a mountain, not in the temple, but in spirit and in truth? God is Spirit. If God were body, it were right that He should be worshipped on a mountain, for a mountain is corporeal; it were right He should be worshipped in the temple, for a temple is corporeal. God is Spirit; and they that worship Him, must worship in spirit and in truth.

25. We have heard, and it is manifest; we had gone out of doors, and we are sent inward. Would I could find, you said, some high and lonely mountain! For I think that, because God is on high, He hears me the rather from a high place. Because you are on a mountain, do you imagine yourself near to God, and that He will quickly hear you, as if calling to Him from the nearest place? He dwells on high, but regards the lowly. The Lord is near. To whom? To the high, perhaps? To them who are contrite of heart. 'Tis a wonderful thing: He dwells on high, and yet is near to the lowly; He has regard to lowly things, but lofty things He knows from afar; He sees the proud afar off, and He is the less near to them the higher they appear to themselves to be. Did you seek a mountain, then? Come down, that you may come near Him. But would you ascend? Ascend, but do not seek a mountain. The ascents, it says, are in his heart, in the valley of weeping. The valley is humility. Therefore do all within. Even if perhaps you seek some lofty place, some holy place, make yourself a temple for God within time. For the temple of God is holy, which temple are you. [1 Corinthians 3:17] Would you pray in a temple? Pray in yourself. But be first a temple of God, for He in His temple hears him that prays.

26. The hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. We worship that which we know: ye worship ye know not what; for salvation is of the Jews. A great thing has He attributed to the Jews; but do not understand Him to mean those spurious Jews. Understand that wall to which another is joined, that they may be joined together, resting on the corner-stone, which is Christ. For there is one wall from the Jews, another from the Gentiles; these walls are far apart, only until they are united in the Corner. Now the aliens were strangers and foreigners from the covenants of God. [Ephesians 2:11-22] According to this, it is said, We worship what we know. It is said, indeed, in the person of the Jews, but not of all Jews, not of reprobate Jews, but of such as were the apostles, as were the prophets, as were all those saints who sold all their goods, and laid the price of their goods at the apostles' feet. For God has not rejected His people which He foreknew. [Romans 11:2]

27. The woman heard this, and proceeded. She had already called Him a prophet; she observes that He with whom she was speaking uttered such things as still more pertained to the prophet; and what answer did she make? See: The woman says unto Him, I know that Messias will come, who is called Christ: when He then has come, He will show us all things. What is this? Just now she says, The Jews are contending for the temple, and we for this mountain: when He has come, He will despise the mountain, and overthrow the temple; He will teach us all things, that we may know how to worship in spirit and in truth. She knew who could teach her, but she did not yet know Him that was now teaching her. But now she was worthy to receive the manifestation of Him. Now Messias is Anointed: Anointed, in Greek, is Christ; in Hebrew, Messias; whence also, in Punic, Messe means Anoint. For the Hebrew, Punic and Syriac are cognate and neighboring languages.

28. Then, The woman says unto Him, I know that Messias will come, who is called Christ: when He then has come, He will tell us all things. Jesus says unto her, I that speak with you am He. She called her husband; he is made the head of the woman, and Christ is made the head of the man. Now is the woman constituted in faith, and ruled, as about to live rightly. After she heard this, I that speak with you am He, what further could she say, when the Lord Jesus willed to manifest Himself to the woman, to whom He had said, Believe me?

29. And immediately came His disciples, and marvelled that He talked with the woman. That He was seeking her that was lost, He who came to seek that which was lost: they marvelled at this. They marvelled at a good thing, they were not suspecting an evil thing. Yet no man said, What seekest Thou, or why talkest Thou with her?

30. The woman then left her water-pot. Having heard, I that speak with you am He, and having received Christ the Lord into her heart, what could she do but now leave her water-pot, and run to preach the gospel? She cast out lust, and hastened to proclaim the truth. Let them who would preach the gospel learn; let them throw away their water-pot at the well. You remember what I said before of the water-pot: it was a vessel with which the water was drawn, called hydria, from its Greek name, because water is hydor in Greek; just as if it were called aquarium, from the Latin. She threw away her water-pot then, which was no longer of use, but a burden to her, such was her avidity to be satisfied with that water. Throwing her burden away, to make known Christ, she ran to the city, and says to those men, Come, and see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Step by step, lest those men should get angry and indignant, and should persecute her. Is this Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came to Him.

31. And in the meanwhile His disciples besought Him, saying, Master, eat. For they had gone to buy meat, and had returned. But He said, I have meat to eat which you know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought Him anything to eat? What wonder if that woman did not understand about the water? See; the disciples do not yet understand the meat. But He heard their thoughts, and now as a master instructs them, not in a round-about way, as He did the woman while He still sought her husband, but openly at once: My meat, says He, is to do the will of Him that sent me. Therefore, in the case of that woman, it was even His drink to do the will of Him that sent Him. That was the reason why He said, I thirst, give me to drink; namely, to work faith in her, and to drink of her faith, and to transplant her into His own body, for His body is the Church. Therefore He says, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.

32. Say ye not, that there are yet four months, and then comes harvest? He was aglow for the work, and was arranging to send forth laborers. You count four months to the harvest; I show you another harvest, white and ready. Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are already white for the harvest. Therefore He is going to send forth the reapers. For in this is the saying true, that one reaps, another sows: that both he that sows and he that reaps may rejoice together. I have sent you to reap that on which you have not labored: others have labored, and you are entered into their labor. What then? He sent reapers; sent He not the sowers? Whither the reapers? Where others labored already. For where labor had already been bestowed, surely there had been sowing; and what had been sown had now become ripe, and required the sickle and the threshing. Whither, then, were the reapers to be sent? Where the prophets had already preached before; for they were the sowers. For had they not been the sowers, whence had this come to the woman, I know that Messias will come? That woman was now ripened fruit, and the harvest fields were white, and sought the sickle. I sent you, then. Whither? To reap what you have not sown: others sowed, and you are entered into their labors. Who labored? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Read their labors; in all their labors there is a prophecy of Christ, and for that reason they were sowers. Moses, and all the other patriarchs, and all the prophets, how much they suffered in that cold season when they sowed! Therefore was the harvest now ready in Judea. Justly was the grain there said to be as it were ripe, when so many thousands of men brought the price of their goods, and, laying them at the apostles' feet, having eased their shoulders of this worldly baggage, began to follow the Lord Christ. Verily the harvest was ripe. What was made of it? Of that harvest a few grains were thrown out, and sowed the whole world; and another harvest is rising which is to be reaped in the end of the world. Of that harvest it is said, They that sow in tears shall reap with joy. But to that harvest not apostles, but angels, shall be sent forth. The reapers, says He, are the angels. [Matthew 13:39] That harvest, then, is growing among tares, and is awaiting to be purged in the end of the world. But that harvest to which the disciples were sent first, where the prophets labored, was already ripe. But yet, brethren, observe what was said: may rejoice together, both he that sows and he that reaps. They had dissimilar labors in time, but the rejoicing they shall enjoy alike equally; they shall receive for their wages together eternal life.

33. And many Samaritans of that city believed on Him, because of the saying of the woman, who testified, He told me all that ever I did. And when the Samaritans came to Him, they besought Him that He would tarry with them; and He tarried there two days. And many more believed because of His word; and said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of your words; for we have heard Him ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world. This also must be slightly noticed, for the lesson has come to an end. The woman first announced Him, and the Samaritans believed her testimony; and they besought Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days, and many more believed. And when they had believed, they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of your word; but we have come to know Him ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world: first by report, then by His presence. So it is today with them that are without, and are not yet Christians. Christ is made known to them by Christian friends; and just upon the report of that woman, that is, the Church, they come to Christ, they believe through this report. He stays with them two days, that is, gives them two precepts of charity; and many more believe, and more firmly believe, on Him, because He is in truth the Saviour of the world.

1. The Gospel Lesson of today follows that of yesterday, and this is the subject of our discourse. In this passage the meaning, indeed, is not difficult of investigation, but worthy of preaching, worthy of admiration and praise. Accordingly, in reciting this passage of the Gospel, we must commend it to your attention, rather than laboriously expound it.

Now Jesus, after His stay of two days in Samaria, departed into Galilee, where He was brought up. And the evangelist, as he goes on, says, For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. It was not because He had no honor in Samaria that Jesus departed thence after two days; for Samaria was not His own country, but Galilee. Whilst, therefore, He left Samaria so quickly, and came to Galilee, where He had been brought up, how does He testify that a prophet has no honor in his own country? Rather does it seem that He might have testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country, had He disdained to go into Galilee, and had stayed in Samaria.

2. Now mark well, beloved, while the Lord suggests and bestows what I may speak, that here is intimated to us no slight mystery. You know the question before us; seek ye out the solution of it. But, to make the solution desirable, let us repeat the theme. The point that troubles us is, why the evangelist said, For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. Urged by this, we go back to the preceding words, to discover the evangelist's intention in saying this; and we find him relating, in the preceding words of the narrative, that after two days Jesus departed from Samaria into Galilee. Was it for this, then, you said, O evangelist, that Jesus testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country, just because He left Samaria after two days, and made haste to come to Galilee? On the contrary, I should have thought it more likely, that if Jesus had no honor in His own country, He should not have hastened to it, and left Samaria. But if I am not mistaken, or rather, because it is true, and I am not mistaken; for the evangelist saw what he was saying better than I can see it, saw the truth better than I do, he who drank it in from the Lord's bosom: for the evangelist is the same John who, among all the disciples, reclined on the Lord's breast, and whom the Lord, owing love to all, yet loved above the rest. Is it he, then, that should be mistaken, and I right in my opinion? Rather, if I am piously-minded, let me obediently hear what he said, that I may be worthy of thinking as he thought.

3. Hear then, dearly beloved, what I think in this matter, without prejudice to your own judgment, if you have formed a better. For we have all one Master, and we are fellow disciples in one school. This, then, is my opinion, and see whether my opinion is not true, or near the truth. In Samaria He spent two days, and the Samaritans believed on Him; many were the days He spent in Galilee, and yet the Galileans did not believe in Him. Look back to the passage, or recall in memory the lesson and the discourse of yesterday. He came into Samaria, where at first He had been preached by that woman with whom He had spoken great mysteries at Jacob's well. After they had seen and heard Him, the Samaritans believed on Him because of the woman's word, and believed more firmly because of His own word, even many more believed: thus it is written. After passing two days there (in which number of days is mystically indicated the number of the two precepts on which hang the whole law and the prophets, as you remember we intimated to you yesterday), He goes into Galilee, and comes to the city Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there, when He turned the water into wine, as John himself writes, His disciples believed on Him; but, of course, the house was full with a crowd of guests. So great a miracle was wrought, and yet only His disciples believed on Him. He has now returned to this city of Galilee. And, behold, a certain ruler, whose son was sick, came to Him, and began to beseech Him to go down to that city or house, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Did he who besought not believe? What do you expect to hear from me? Ask the Lord what He thought of him. Having been besought, this is what He answered: Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not. He shows us a man lukewarm, or cold in faith, or of no faith at all; but eager to try by the healing of his son what manner of person Christ was, who He was, what He could do. The words of the suppliant, indeed, we have heard: we have not seen the heart of the doubter; but He who both heard the words and saw the heart has told us this. In short, the evangelist himself, by the testimony of his narrative, shows us that the man who desired the Lord to come to his house to heal his son, had not yet believed. For after he had been informed that his son was whole, and found that he had been made whole at that hour in which the Lord had said, Go your way, your son lives; then he says, And himself believed, and all his house. Now, if the reason why he believed, and all his house, was that he was told that his son was whole, and found the hour they told him agreed with the hour of Christ's foretelling it, it follows that when he was making the request he did not yet believe. The Samaritans had waited for no sign, they believed simply His word; but His own fellow citizens deserved to hear this said to them, Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not; and even there, notwithstanding so great a miracle was wrought, there did not believe but himself and his house. At His discourse alone many of the Samaritans believed; at that miracle, in the place where it was wrought, only that house believed. What is it, then, brethren, that the Lord does show us here? Galilee of Judea was then the Lord's own country, because He was brought up in it. But now that the circumstance portends something — for it is not without cause that prodigies are so called, but because they portend or presage something: for the word prodigy is so termed as if it were porrodicium, quod porro dicat, what betokens something to come, and portends something future — now all those circumstances portended something, predicted something; let us just now assume the country of our Lord Jesus Christ after the flesh (for He had no country on earth, except after the flesh which He took on earth); let us, I say, assume the Lord's own country to mean the people of the Jews. Lo, in His own country He has no honor. Observe at this moment the multitudes of the Jews; observe that nation now scattered over the whole world, and plucked up by the roots; observe the broken branches, cut off, scattered, withered, which being broken off, the wild olive has deserved to be grafted in; look at the multitude of the Jews: what do they say to us even now? He whom you worship and adore was our brother. And we reply, A prophet has no honor in his own country. In short, those Jews saw the Lord as He walked on the earth and worked miracles; they saw Him giving sight to the blind, opening the ears of the deaf, loosing the tongues of the dumb, bracing up the limbs of the paralytics, walking on the sea, commanding the winds and waves, raising the dead: they saw Him working such great signs, and after all that scarcely a few believed. I am speaking to God's people; so many of us have believed, what signs have we seen? It is thus, therefore, that what occurred at that time betokened what is now going on. The Jews were, or rather are, like the Galileans; we, like those Samaritans. We have heard the gospel, have given it our consent, have believed on Christ through the gospel; we have seen no signs, none do we demand.

4. For, though one of the chosen and holy twelve, yet he was an Israelite, of the Lord's nation, that Thomas who desired to put his fingers into the places of the wounds. The Lord censured him just as He did this ruler. To the ruler He said, Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not; and to Thomas He said, Because you have seen, you have believed. He had come to the Galileans after the Samaritans, who had believed His word, before whom He wrought no miracles, whom He without anxiety quickly left, strong in faith, because by the presence of His divinity He had not left them. Now, then, when the Lord said to Thomas, Come, reach hither your hand, and be not faithless, but believing; and he, having touched the places of the wounds, exclaimed, and said, My Lord, and my God; he is chided, and has it said to him, Because you have seen, you have believed. Why, but because a prophet has no honor in his own country? But since this Prophet has honor among strangers, what follows? Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. [John 20:29] We are the persons here foretold; and that which the Lord by anticipation praised, He has deigned to fulfill even in us. They saw Him, who crucified Him, and touched Him with their hands, and thus a few believed; we have not seen nor handled Him, we have heard and believed. May it be our lot, that the blessedness which He has promised may be made good in us: both here, because we have been preferred to His own country; and in the world to come, because we have been grafted in instead of the branches that were broken off!

5. For He showed that He would break off these branches, and ingraft this wild olive, when moved by the faith of the centurion, who said to Him, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my child shall be healed: for I also am a man put under authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it. Jesus turned to those who followed Him, and said, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith in Israel. Why not found so great faith in Israel? Because a prophet has no honor in his own country. Could not the Lord have said to that centurion, what He said to this ruler, Go, your child lives? See the distinction: this ruler desired the Lord to come down to his house; that centurion declared himself to be unworthy. To the one it was said, I will come and heal him; to the other, Go, your son lives. To the one He promised His presence; the other He healed by His word. The ruler sought His presence by force; the centurion declared himself unworthy of His presence. Here is a ceding to loftiness; there, a conceding to humility. As if He said to the ruler, Go, your son lives; do not weary me. Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not; you desire my presence in your house, I am able to command by a word; do not wish to believe in virtue of signs: the centurion, an alien, believed me able to work by a word, and believed before I did it; you, except ye see signs and wonders, believe not. Therefore, if it be so, let them be broken off as proud branches, and let the humble wild olive be grafted; nevertheless let the root remain, while those are cut off and these received in their place. Where does the root remain? In the patriarchs. For the people Israel is Christ's own country, since it is of them that He came according to the flesh; but the root of this tree is Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the holy patriarchs. And where are they? In rest with God, in great honor; so that it was into Abraham's bosom that the poor man, on being promoted, was raised after his departure from the body, and in Abraham's bosom was he seen from afar off by the proud rich man. Wherefore the root remains, the root is praised; but the proud branches deserved to be cut off, and to wither away; and by their cutting off, the humble wild olive has found a place.

6. Hear now how the natural branches are cut off, how the wild olive is grafted in, by means of the centurion himself, whom I have thought proper to mention for the sake of comparison with this ruler. Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith in Israel; therefore I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and from the west. How widely the wild olive took possession of the earth! This world was a bitter forest; but because of the humility, because of this I am not worthy — many shall come from the east and from the west. And grant that they come, what shall become of them? For if they come, they are cut off from the forest; where are they to be ingrafted, that they may not wither? And shall sit down, says He, with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. At what banquet, in case you do not invite to ever living, but to much drinking? Where, shall sit down? In the kingdom of heaven. And how will it be with them who came of the stock of Abraham? What will become of the branches with which the tree was full? What but to be cut off, that these may be grafted in? Show us that they shall be cut off: But the children of the kingdom shall go into outer darkness. [Matthew 8:5-12]

7. Therefore let the Prophet have honor among us, because He had no honor in His own country. He had no honor in His country, wherein He was formed; let Him have honor in the country which He has formed. For in that country was He, the Maker of all, made as to the form of a servant. For that city in which He was made, that Zion, that nation of the Jews He Himself made when He was with the Father as the Word of God: for all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. Of that man we have today heard it said: One Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus. [1 Timothy 2:5] The Psalms also foretold, saying, My mother is Sion, shall a man say. A certain man, the Mediator man between God and men, says, My mother Sion. Why says, My mother is Sion? Because from it He took flesh, from it was the Virgin Mary, of whose womb He took upon Him the form of a servant; in which He deigned to appear most humble. My mother is Sion, says a man; and this man, who says, My mother is Sion, was made in her, became man in her. For He was God before her, and became man in her. He who was made man in her, Himself did found her; the Most High was made man in her most low. Because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. He Himself, the Most High, founded her. Now, because He founded this country, here let Him have honor. The country in which He was born rejected Him; let that country receive Him which He regenerated.

1. It ought not to be a matter of wonder that a miracle was wrought by God; the wonder would be if man had wrought it. Rather ought we to rejoice than wonder that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was made man, than that He performed divine works among men. It is of greater importance to our salvation what He was made for men, than what He did among men: it is more important that He healed the faults of souls, than that He healed the weaknesses of mortal bodies. But as the soul knew not Him by whom it was to be healed, and had eyes in the flesh whereby to see corporeal deeds, but had not yet sound eyes in the heart with which to recognise Him as God concealed in the flesh, He wrought what the soul was able to see, in order to heal that by which it was not able to see.

He entered a place where lay a great multitude of sick folk — of blind, lame, withered; and being the physician both of souls and bodies, and having come to heal all the souls of them that should believe, of those sick folk He chose one for healing, thereby to signify unity. If in doing this we regard Him with a commonplace mind, with the mere human understanding and wit, as regards power it was not a great matter that He performed; and also as regards goodness He performed too little. There lay so many there, and yet only one was healed, while He could by a word have raised them all up. What, then, must we understand but that the power and the goodness was doing what souls might, by His deeds, understand for their everlasting salvation, than what bodies might gain for temporal health? For that which is the real health of bodies, and which is looked for from the Lord, will be at the end, in the resurrection of the dead. What shall live then shall no more die; what shall be healed shall no more be sick; what shall be satisfied shall no more hunger and thirst; what shall be made new shall not grow old. But at this time, however, the eyes of the blind, that were opened by those acts of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, were again closed in death; and limbs of the paralytics that received strength were loosened again in death; and whatever was for a time made whole in mortal limbs came to nought in the end: but the soul that believed passed to eternal life. Accordingly, to the soul that should believe, whose sins He had come to forgive, to the healing of whose ailments He had humbled Himself, He gave a significant proof by the healing of this impotent man. Of the profound mystery of this thing and this proof, so far as the Lord deigns to grant us, while you are attentive and aiding our weakness by prayer, I will speak as I shall have ability. And whatever I am not able to do, that will be supplied to you by Him by whose help I do what I can.

2. Of this pool, which was surrounded with five porches, in which lay a great multitude of sick folk, I remember that I have very often treated; and most of you will with me recollect what I am about to say, rather than gain the knowledge of it for the first time. But it is by no means unprofitable to go back upon matters already known, that both they who know not may be instructed, and they who do know may be confirmed. Therefore, as being already known, these things must be touched upon briefly, not leisurely inculcated. That pool and that water seem to me to have signified the Jewish people. For that peoples are signified under the name of waters the Apocalypse of John clearly indicates to us, where, after he had been shown many waters, and he had asked what they were, was answered that they were peoples. [Revelation 17:15] That water, then — namely, that people — was shut in by the five books of Moses, as by five porches. But those books brought forth the sick, not healed them. For the law convicted, not acquitted sinners. Accordingly the letter, without grace, made men guilty, whom on confessing grace delivered. For this is what the apostle says: For if a law had been given that could have given life, certainly righteousness should have been by the law. Why, then, was the law given? He goes on to say, But the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. [Galatians 3:21-22] What more evident? Have not these words expounded to us both the five porches, and also the multitude of sick folk? The five porches are the law. Why did not the five porches heal the sick folk? Because, if there had been a law given that could have given life, certainly righteousness should have been by the law. Why, then, did the porches contain those whom they did not heal? Because the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

3. What was done, then, that they who could not be healed in the porches might be healed in that water after being troubled? For on a sudden the water was seen troubled, and that by which it was troubled was not seen. You may believe that this was wont to be done by angelic virtue, yet not without some mystery being implied. After the water was troubled, the one who was able cast himself in, and he alone was healed: whoever went in after that one, did so in vain. What, then, is meant by this, unless it be that there came one, even Christ, to the Jewish people; and by doing great things, by teaching profitable things, troubled sinners, troubled the water by His presence, and roused it towards His own death? But He was hidden that troubled. For had they known Him, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. [1 Corinthians 2:8] Wherefore, to go down into the troubled water means to believe in the Lord's death. There only one was healed, signifying unity: whoever came thereafter was not healed, because whoever shall be outside unity cannot be healed.

4. Now let us see what He intended to signify in the case of that one whom He Himself, keeping the mystery of unity, as I said before, deigned to heal out of so many sick folk. He found in the number of this man's years the number, so to speak, of infirmity: He was thirty and eight years in infirmity. How this number refers more to weakness than to health must be somewhat more carefully expounded. I wish you to be attentive; the Lord will aid us, so that I may fitly speak, and that you may sufficiently hear. The number forty is commended to our attention as one consecrated by a kind of perfection. This, I suppose, is well known to you, beloved. The Holy Scriptures very often testify to the fact. Fasting was consecrated by this number, as you are well aware. For Moses fasted forty days, and Elias as many; and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ did Himself fulfill this number of fasting. By Moses is signified the law; by Elias, the prophets; by the Lord, the gospel. It was for this reason that these three appeared on that mountain, where He showed Himself to His disciples in the brightness of His countenance and vesture. For He appeared in the middle, between Moses and Elias, as the gospel had witness from the law and the prophets. [Romans 3:21] Whether, therefore, in the law, or in the prophets, or in the gospel, the number forty is commended to our attention in the case of fasting. Now fasting, in its large and general sense, is to abstain from the iniquities and unlawful pleasures of the world, which is perfect fasting: That, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we may live temperately, and righteously, and godly in this present world. What reward does the apostle join to this fast? He goes on to say: Looking for that blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of the blessed God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ. [Titus 2:12-13] In this world, then, we celebrate, as it were, the forty days' abstinence, when we live aright, and abstain from iniquities and from unlawful pleasures. But because this abstinence shall not be without reward, we look for that blessed hope, and the revelation of the glory of the great God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ. In that hope, when the reality of the hope shall have come to pass, we shall receive our wages, a penny (denarius). For the same is the wages given to the workers laboring in the vineyard, [Matthew 20:10] as I presume you remember; for we are not to repeat everything, as if to persons wholly ignorant and inexperienced. A denarius, then, which takes its name from the number ten, is given, and this joined with the forty makes up fifty; whence it is that before Easter we keep the Quadragesima with labor, but after Easter we keep the Quinquagesima with joy, as having received our wages. Now to this, as if to the wholesome labor of a good work, which belongs to the number forty, there is added the denarius of rest and happiness, that it may be made the number fifty.

5. The Lord Jesus Himself showed this also far more openly, when He companied on earth with His disciples during forty days after His resurrection; and having on the fortieth day ascended into heaven, did at the end of ten days send the wages, the Holy Ghost. These were done in signs, and by a kind of signs were the very realities anticipated. By significant tokens are we fed, that we may be able to come to the enduring realities. We are workmen, and are still laboring in the vineyard: when the day is ended and the work finished, the wages will be paid. But what workman can hold out to the receiving of the wages, unless he be fed while he labors? Even you yourself will not give your workman only wages; will you not also bestow on him that where with he may repair his strength in his labor? Surely you feed him to whom you are to give wages. In like manner also does the Lord, in those significant tokens of the Scriptures, feed us while we labor. For if that joy in understanding holy mysteries be withdrawn from us, we faint in labor, and there will be none to come to the reward.

6. How, then, is work perfected in the number forty? The reason, it may be, is, because the law was given in ten precepts, and was to be preached throughout the whole world: which whole world, we are to mark, is made up of four quarters, east and west, south and north, whence the number ten, multiplied by four, comes to forty. Or, it may be, because the law is fulfilled by the gospel, which has four books: for in the gospel it is said, I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. Whether, then, it be for this reason or for that, or for some other more probable, which is hid from us, but not from more learned men; certain it is, however, that in the number forty a certain perfection in good works is signified, which good works are most of all practised by a kind of abstinence from unlawful lusts of the world, that is, by fasting in the general sense.

Hear also the apostle when he says, Love is the fulfilling of the law. [Romans 10:10] Whence the love? By the grace of God, by the Holy Spirit. For we could not have it from ourselves, as if making it for ourselves. It is the gift of God, and a great gift it is: for, says he, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given to us. [Romans 5:5] Wherefore love completes the law, and most truly it is said, Love is the perfecting of the law. Let us inquire as to this love, in what manner the Lord does commend it to our consideration. Remember what I laid down: I want to explain the number thirty-eight of the years of that impotent man, why that number thirty-eight is one of weakness rather than of health. Now, as I was saying, love fulfills the law. The number forty belongs to the perfecting of the law in all works; but in love two precepts are committed to our keeping. Keep before your eyes, I beseech you, and fix in your memory, what I say; be ye not despisers of the word, that your soul may not become a trodden path, where the seed cast cannot sprout, and the fowls of the air will come and gather it up. Apprehend it, and lay it up in your hearts. The precepts of love, given to us by the Lord, are two: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. [Matthew 22:37-40] With good reason did the widow cast two mites, all her substance, into the offerings of God: with good reason did the host take two pieces of money, for the poor man that was wounded by the robbers, for his making whole: with good reason did Jesus spent two days with the Samaritans, to establish them in love. Thus, while a certain good thing is generally signified by this number two, most especially is love in its twofold character set forth to us thereby. If, therefore, the number forty possesses the perfecting of the law, and the law is fulfilled only in the twin precepts of love, why do you wonder that he was weak and sick, who was short of forty by two?

7. Therefore let us now see the sacred mystery whereby this impotent man is healed by the Lord. The Lord Himself came, the Teacher of love, full of love, shortening, as it was predicted of Him, the word upon the earth, and showed that the law and the prophets hang on two precepts of love. Upon these hung Moses with his number forty, upon these Elias with his; and the Lord brought in this number in His testimony. This impotent man is healed by the Lord in person; but before healing him, what does He say to him? Will you be made whole? The man answered that he had not a man to put him into the pool. Truly he had need of a man to his healing, but that man one who is also God. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. [1 Timothy 2:5] He came, then, the Man who was needed: why should the healing be delayed? Arise, says He; take up your bed, and walk. He said three things: Arise, Take up your bed, and Walk. But that Arise was not a command to do a work, but the operation of healing. And the man, on being made whole, received two commands: Take up your bed, and Walk. I ask you, why was it not enough to say, Walk? Or, at any rate, why was it not enough to say, Arise? For when the man had arisen whole, he would not have remained in the place. Would it not be for the purpose of going away that he would have arisen? My impression is, that He who found the man lacking two things, gave him these two precepts: for, by ordering him to do two things, it is as if He filled up that which was lacking.

8. How, then, do we find the two precepts of love indicated in these two commands of the Lord? Take up your bed, says He, and walk. What the two precepts are, my brethren, recollect with me. For they ought to be thoroughly familiar to you, and not merely to come into your mind when they are recited by us, but they ought never to be blotted out from your hearts. Let it ever be your supreme thought, that you must love God and your neighbor: God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. These must always be pondered, meditated, retained, practised, and fulfilled. The love of God comes first in the order of enjoying; but in the order of doing, the love of our neighbor comes first. For He who commanded you this love in two precepts did not charge you to love your neighbor first, and then God, but first God, afterwards your neighbor. Thou however, as you do not yet see God dost earn to see Him by loving your neighbor; by loving your neighbor you purge your eye for seeing God, as John evidently says, If you love not your brother whom you see, how can you love God, whom you do not see? [1 John 4:20] See, you are told, Love God. If you say to me, Show me Him, that I may love Him; what shall I answer, but what the same John says: No man has seen God at any time? And, that you may not suppose yourself to be wholly estranged from seeing God, he says, God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God. [1 John 4:16] Therefore love your neighbor; look at the source of your love of your neighbor; there you will see, as you may, God. Begin, then, to love your neighbor. Break your bread to the hungry, and bring into your house him that is needy without shelter; if you see the naked, clothe him; and despise not those of the household of your seed. And in doing this, what will you get in consequence? Then shall your light break forth as the morning light. [Isaiah 58:7-8] Your light is your God, a morning light to you, because He shall come to you after the night of this world: for He neither rises nor sets, because He is ever abiding. He will be a morning light to you on your return, He who had set for you on your falling away from Him. Therefore, in this Take up your bed, He seems to me to have said, Love your neighbor.

9. But why the love of our neighbor is set forth by the taking up of the bed, is still shut up, and, as I suppose, needs to be expounded: unless, perhaps, it offend us that our neighbor should be indicated by means of a bed, a stolid, senseless thing. Let not my neighbor be angry if he be set forth to us by a thing without soul and without feeling. The Lord Himself, even our Saviour Jesus Christ, is called the corner-stone, to build up two in Himself. He is called also a rock, from which water flowed forth: And that rock was Christ. [1 Corinthians 10:4] What wonder, then, if Christ is called rock, that neighbor is called wood? Yet not any kind of wood whatever; as neither that was any kind of rock soever, but one from which water flowed to the thirsty; nor any kind soever of stone, but a corner-stone, which in itself coupled two walls coming from different directions. So neither may you take your neighbor to be wood of any kind soever, but a bed. Then what is there in a bed, pray? What, but that the impotent man was borne on it; but, when made whole, he carries the bed? What does the apostle say? Bear ye one another's burdens, and so shall you fulfill the law of Christ. [Galatians 6:2] Now the law of Christ is love, and love is not fulfilled except we bear one another's burdens. Forbearing, says he, one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. [Ephesians 4:2] When you were weak your neighbor bore you: you are made whole, bear your neighbor. So will you fill up, O man, that which was lacking to you. Take up your bed, then. But when you have taken it up, stay not in the place; walk. By loving your neighbor, by caring for your neighbor, do you perform your going. Where are you going, but to the Lord God, whom we ought to love with the whole heart, and with the whole soul, and with the whole mind? For we are not yet come to the Lord, but we have our neighbor with us. Bear him, then, when you walk, that you may come to Him with whom you desire to abide. Therefore, take up your bed, and walk.

10. The man did this, and the Jews were offended. For they saw a man carrying his bed on the Sabbath day, and they did not blame the Lord for healing him on the Sabbath, that He should be able to answer them, that if any of them had a beast fallen into a well, he would surely draw it out on the Sabbath day, and save his beast; and so, now they did not object to Him that a man was made whole on the Sabbath day, but that the man was carrying his bed. But if the healing was not to be deferred, should a work also have been commanded? It is not lawful for you, say they, to do what you are doing, to take up your bed. And he, in defense, put the author of his healing before his censors, saying, He that made me whole, the same said to me, Take up your bed, and walk. Should I not take injunction from him from whom I received healing? And they said, Who is the man that said to you, Take up your bed, and walk?

11. But he that was made whole knew not who it was that had said this to him. For Jesus, when He had done this, and given him this order, turned away from him in the crowd. See how this also is fulfilled. We bear our neighbor, and walk towards God; but Him, to whom we are walking, we do not yet see: for that reason also, that man did not yet know Jesus. The mystery herein intimated to us is, that we believe in Him whom we do not yet see; and that He may not be seen, He turns aside in the crowd. It is difficult in a crowd to see Christ: a certain solitude is necessary for our mind; it is by a certain solitude of contemplation that God is seen. A crowd has noise; this seeing requires secrecy. Take up your bed — being yourself borne, bear your neighbor; and walk, that you may come to the goal. Do not seek Christ in a crowd: He is not as one of a crowd; He excels all crowd. That great fish first ascended from the sea, and He sits in heaven making intercession for us: as the great high priest He entered alone into that within the veil; the crowd stands without. Do thou walk, bearing your neighbor: if you have learned to bear, you, who were wont to be borne. In a word, even now as yet you know not Jesus, not yet see Jesus: what follows thereafter? Since that man desisted not from taking up his bed and walking, Jesus sees him afterwards in the temple. He did not see Jesus in the crowd, he saw Him in the temple. The Lord Jesus, indeed, saw him both in the crowd and in the temple; but the impotent man does not know Jesus in the crowd, but he knows Him in the temple. The man came then to the Lord: saw Him in the temple, saw Him in a consecrated, saw Him in a holy place. And what does the Lord say to him? Behold, you are made whole; sin no more, lest some worse thing befall you.

12. The man, then, after he saw Jesus, and knew Him to be the author of his healing, was not slothful in preaching Him whom he had seen: He departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus that had made him whole. He brought them word, and they were mad against him; he preached his own salvation, they sought not their own salvation.

13. The Jews persecuted the Lord Jesus because He did these things on the Sabbath day. Let us hear what answer the Lord now made to the Jews. I have told you how He is wont to answer concerning the healing of men on the Sabbath day, that they used not on the Sabbath day to slight their cattle, either in delivering or in feeding them. What does He answer concerning the carrying of the bed? A manifest corporal work was done before the eyes of the Jews; not a healing of the body, but a bodily work, which appeared not so necessary as the healing. Let the Lord, then, openly declare that the sacrament of the Sabbath, even the sign of keeping one day, was given to the Jews for a time, but that the fulfillment of the sacrament had come in Himself. My Father, says He, works hitherto, and I work. He sent a great commotion among them: the water is troubled by the coming of the Lord, but yet He that troubles is not seen. Yet one great sick one is to be healed by the troubled water, the whole world by the death of the Lord.

14. Let us see, then, the answer made by the Truth: My Father works hitherto, and I work. Is it false, then, which the Scripture has said, that God rested from all His works on the seventh day? And does the Lord Jesus speak contrary to this Scripture ministered by Moses, while He Himself says to the Jews, If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for He wrote of me? See, then, whether Moses did not mean it to be significant of something that God rested on the seventh day. For God had not become wearied in doing the work of His own creation, and needed rest as a man. How can He have been wearied, who made by a word? Yet is both that true, that God rested from His works on the seventh day; and this also is true that Jesus says, My Father works hitherto. But who can unfold it in words, man to men, weak to weak, unlearned to them that seek to learn; and if he chance to understand somewhat, unable to bring it forth and unfold it to men, who with difficulty, it may be, receive it, even if what is received can possibly be unfolded? Who, I say, my brethren, can unfold in words how God both works while at rest, and rests while working? I pray you to put this matter off while you are advancing on the way; for this seeing requires the temple of God, requires the holy place. Bear your neighbor, and walk. You shall see Him in that place where you shall not require the words of men.

15. Perhaps we can more appropriately say this, that in the saying, God rested on the seventh day, he signified by a great mystery the Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ Himself, who spoke and said, My Father works hitherto, and I work. For the Lord Jesus is, of course, God. For He is the Word of God, and you have heard that in the beginning was the Word; and not any word whatsoever, but the Word was God, and all things were made by Him. He was perhaps signified as about to rest on the seventh day from all His works. For, read the Gospel, and see what great works Jesus wrought. He wrought our salvation on the cross, that all things foretold by the prophets might be fulfilled in Him. He was crowned with thorns; He hung on the tree; said, I thirst, received vinegar on a sponge, that it might be fulfilled which was said, And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. And when all His works were completed, on the sixth day of the week, He bowed His head and gave up the ghost, and on the Sabbath day He rested in the tomb from all His works. Therefore it is as if He said to the Jews, Why do you expect that I should not work on the Sabbath? The Sabbath day was ordained for you for a sign of me. You observe the works of God: I was there when they were made, by me were they all made; I know them. 'My Father works hitherto.' The Father made the light, but He spoke that there should be light; if He spoke, it was by His Word He made it: His Word I was, I am; by me was the world made in those works, by me the world is ruled in these works. My Father worked when He made the world, and hitherto now works while He rules the world: therefore by me He made when He made, and by me He rules while He rules. This He said, but to whom? To men deaf, blind, lame, impotent, not acknowledging the physician, and as if in a frenzy they had lost their wits, wishing to slay Him.

16. Further, what said the evangelist as he went on? Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father; not in any ordinary manner, but how? Making Himself equal with God. For we all say to God, Our Father which art in heaven; we read also that the Jews said, Seeing You are our Father. [Isaiah 63:16] Therefore it was not for this they were angry, because He said that God was His Father, but because He said it in quite another way than men do. Behold, the Jews understand what the Arians do not understand. The Arians, in fact, say that the Son is not equal with the Father, and hence it is that the heresy was driven from the Church. Lo, the very blind, the very slayers of Christ, still understood the words of Christ. They did not understand Him to be Christ, nor did they understand Him to be the Son of God: but they did nevertheless understand that in these words such a Son of God was intimated to them as should be equal with God. Who He was they knew not; still they did acknowledge such a One to be declared, in that He said God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Was He not therefore equal with God? He did not make Himself equal, but the Father begot Him equal. Were He to make Himself equal, He would fall by robbery. For he who wished to make himself equal with God, while he was not so, fell, and of an angel became a devil, [Isaiah 14:14] and administered to man that cup of pride by which himself was cast down. For this fallen said to man, envying his standing, Taste, and you shall be as gods; [Genesis 3:5] that is, seize to yourselves by usurpation that which you are not made, for I also have been cast down by robbery. He did not put forth this, but this is what he persuaded to. Christ, however, was begotten equal to the Father, not made; begotten of the substance of the Father. Whence the apostle thus declares Him: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. What means thought it not robbery? He usurped not equality with God, but was in that equality in which He was begotten. And how were we to come to the equal God? He emptied Himself, taking upon Him the form of a servant. [Philippians 2:6] But He emptied Himself not by losing what He was, but by taking to Him what He was not. The Jews, despising this form of a servant, could not understand the Lord Christ equal to the Father, although they had not the least doubt that He affirmed this of Himself, and therefore were they enraged: and yet He still bore with them, and sought the healing of them, while they raged against Him.

1. John the evangelist, among his fellows and companions the other evangelists, received this special and peculiar gift from the Lord (on whose breast he reclined at the feast, hereby to signify that he was drinking deeper secrets from His inmost heart), to utter those things concerning the Son of God which may perhaps rouse the attentive minds of the little ones, but cannot fill them, as yet not capable of receiving them; while to minds, of somewhat larger growth, and coming to a certain age of inner manhood, he gives in these words something whereby they may both be exercised and fed. You have heard it when it was read, and you remember how this discourse arose. For yesterday it was read, that therefore the Jews sought to kill Jesus, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. This that displeased the Jews, pleased the Father. This, without doubt, pleases them too that honor the Son as they honor the Father; for if it does not please them, they will not be pleasing. For God will not be greater because it pleases you, but you will be less if it displeases you. Now against this calumny of theirs, coming either of ignorance or of malice, the Lord speaks not at all what they can understand, but that whereby they may be agitated and troubled, and, on being troubled, it may be, seek the Physician. And He uttered what should be written, that it might afterwards be read even by us. Now we have seen what happened in the hearts of the Jews when they heard these words; what happens in ourselves when we hear them, let us more fully consider. For heresies, and certain tenets of perversity, ensnaring souls and hurling them into the deep, have not sprung up except when good Scriptures are not rightly understood, and when that in them which is not rightly understood is rashly and boldly asserted. And so, dearly beloved, ought we very cautiously to hear those things for the understanding of which we are but little ones, and that, too, with pious heart and with trembling, as it is written, holding this rule of soundness, that we rejoice as in food in that which we have been able to understand, according to the faith with which we are imbued; and what we have not yet been able to understand, that we lay aside doubting, and defer the understanding of it for a time; that is, even if we do not yet know what it is, that still we doubt not in the least that it is good and true. And as for me, brethren, you must consider who I am that undertake to speak to you, and what I have undertaken: for I have taken upon me to treat of things divine, being a man; of spiritual things, being carnal; of things eternal, being a mortal. Also from me, dearly beloved, far be vain presumption, if my conversation would be sound in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. [1 Timothy 3:1] In proportion to my measure I take what I put before you: where it is opened, I see with you; where it is shut, I knock with you.

2. Now the Jews were moved and indignant: justly, indeed, because a man dared to make himself equal with God; but unjustly in this, because in the man they understood not the God. They saw the flesh, the God they knew not; they observed the habitation, of the inhabitant they were ignorant. That flesh was a temple, within it dwelt God. It was not the flesh that Jesus made equal to the Father, it was not the form of a servant that He compared to the Lord; not that which He became for us, but that which He was when He made us. For who Christ is (I speak to Catholics) you know, because you have rightly believed; not Word only, nor flesh only, but the Word was made flesh to dwell among us. I recite again concerning the Word what you know: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: here is equality with the Father. But the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Than this flesh the Father is greater. Thus the Father is both equal and greater; equal to the Word, greater than the flesh; equal to Him by whom He made us, greater than He who was made for us. By this sound catholic rule, which you ought particularly to know, which you who know it hold fast, from which your faith ought not in any case to slip, which is to be wrested from your heart by no arguments of men, let us measure the things we do understand; and the things which, it may be, we do not understand, let us defer, to be hereafter measured by this rule, when we shall be competent to do this. We know Him, then, as equal to the Father, the Son of God, because we know Him in the beginning as God the Word. Why, then, sought the Jews to slay Him? Because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God: seeing the flesh, not seeing the Word. Let Him therefore speak against them, the Word through the flesh; let Him, the dweller within, speak for through His dwelling-place, that whoever can, shall know who He is that dwells within.

3. What says He then to them? Then answered Jesus, and said to them, being indignant because He made Himself equal with God, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son cannot do anything of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing. What the Jews answered to these words is not written: and perhaps they said nothing. Certain, however, who wish to be esteemed Christians, are not silent, but from these words somehow conceive certain opinions in contradiction to us, which are not to be despised, both for their and for our sakes. The Arian heretics, namely, while they assert that the Son, who took upon Himself flesh, is less than the Father, not by the flesh, but before taking flesh, and not of the same substance as the Father, take a handle of misrepresentation from these words, and reply to us: You see that the Lord Jesus, observing the Jews to be moved with indignation at his making himself equal to God the Father, subjoined such words as these, to show that he was not equal with God. For the Jews, say they, were provoked against Christ, because he made him self equal with God; and Christ, wishing to cure them of this impression, and to show them that the Son is not equal to the Father, that is, to God, says this, as if he said, Why are you angry? Why are you indignant? I am not equal to God, since 'the Son cannot do anything of himself, except what he sees the Father doing.' Now, say they, he who 'cannot do anything of himself, but what he sees the Father doing,' is surely less, not equal.

4. In this distorted and depraved rule of his own heart, let the heretic hear us, not as yet chiding, but still as it were inquiring, and let him explain to us what he thinks. For, I suppose, whoever you are (for we may regard him as here present in person), you hold with us, that in the beginning was the Word. I do hold it, says he. And that the Word was with God? This too, says he, I hold. Proceed then, and hold the stronger saying that follows, that the Word was God. Even this, says he, I hold: but yet, this, God the greater; that, God the less. Now this somehow smells of the pagan: I thought I was speaking with a Christian. If there is God the greater, and God the less, then we worship two Gods, not one God. Why, says he; do not you, too, affirm two Gods, equal the one to the other? This I do not assert: for I understand this equality as implying therein also undivided love; and if undivided love, then perfect unity. For if the love that God put in men does make of many hearts of men one heart, and does make many souls of men into one soul, as it is written of them that believed and mutually loved one another, in the Acts of the Apostles, They had one soul and one heart toward God: [Acts 4:32] if, therefore, my soul and your soul become one soul, when we think the same thing and love one another, how much more must God the Father and God the Son be one God in the fountain of love!

5. But to these words, by which your heart is disturbed, bend your thought, and reflect with me on that which we were seeking out concerning the Word. We already hold that the Word was God: I join to this another thing, that, having said, This was in the beginning with God, the evangelist immediately subjoined, All things were made by Him. Now will I urge you by questioning, now will I move you against yourself, and sue you against yourself: only keep this in memory concerning the Word, that the Word was God, and all things were made by Him. Hear now the words by which you were moved to assert that the Son is less, forsooth, because He said, The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what He sees the Father doing. Just so, says he. Explain to me this a little: This is, I presume, how you think, that the Father does certain things, and the Son observes how the Father does, that He may also Himself be able to do those things which He sees the Father doing. You have set up two artisans, as it were: the Father and the Son just like master and learner, like as artisan fathers are wont to teach their sons their craft. Behold, I come down to your carnal sense: for the moment I think as you do, let us see if this our conception finds an issue in harmony with the things which we have just now alike spoken and alike hold regarding the Word, that the Word was God, and that all things were made by Him. Suppose, then, the Father, as an artisan, doing certain works, and the Son as a learner, who cannot of Himself do anything, but what He sees the Father doing: He keenly watches, in a manner, the Father's hands, that, as He sees Him fashioning anything, so He may Himself in like manner fashion something similar by His own works. But the Father here does all those things that He does, and wishes the Son to give heed to Him, and to do the like also Himself; by whom does the Father? Come! now is the time for you to stand to your former opinion, which you recited with me, and held with me; that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things were made by Him. But you, after holding with me, that all things were made by the Word, dost again, with your carnal wit and childish fancy, imagine with yourself God making something, and the Word giving heed; so that when God has made, the Word also may make the like. Now, what does God make without the Word? For if He does anything, then were not all things made by the Word; you have given up the position which you held. But if all things were made by the Word, correct what you understood amiss. The Father made, and made only by the Word: in what way does the Word give heed to see the Father making without the Word, what the Word may do in like manner? Whatever the Father has made, He made it by the Word; else is it false that all things were made by Him. But it is true that all things were made by Him. Perhaps this did not seem enough for you? Well, and without Him was nothing made.

6. Withdraw, then, from this wisdom of the flesh, and let us inquire in what manner it is said, The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what He sees the Father doing. Let us inquire, if we are worthy to apprehend. For I confess it is a great thing, and altogether difficult; to see the Father doing through the Son: not the Father and the Son doing each His particular works, but the Father doing every work whatsoever by the Son; so that not any works are done by the Father without the Son, or by the Son without the Father, because all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. These truths being most firmly established in the foundation of faith, what now is the nature of this seeing? You seek, as I suppose, to know the Son doing: seek first to know the Son seeing. For what, in fact, says He? The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what He sees the Father doing. Note what He said, but what He sees the Father doing. The seeing comes first, the doing follows: He sees in order to do. As for you, why do you seek at present to know how He does, while you understand not as yet how He sees? Why do you run to that which comes later, leaving that which comes first? He declares Himself as seeing and doing, not doing and seeing; because He cannot of Himself do anything, but what He sees the Father doing. Will you that I explain to you how He does? Explain to me how He sees. If you can not explain this, neither can I that. If you are not yet competent to understand this, neither am I to understand that. Wherefore let each of us seek, each knock, that each may merit to receive. Why do you, as if you were learned, unjustly blame me who am unlearned? I in respect of the doing, you in respect of the seeing, being both unlearned, let us inquire of the Master, not childishly wrangle in His school. We have already, however, learned together that all things were made by Him. Therefore it is manifest that it is not a different kind of works that the Father does, that, seeing them, the Son may do other works like them; but the very same does the Father by the Son, because all things were made by the Word. Now, as to how God does, who knows? How made He, I will not say the world, but your own eye, in your carnal attachment to which you compare visible things with invisible? For you conceive of God such things as you are wont to see with these eyes. But if God might be seen with these eyes, He would not have said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Accordingly, you have an eye of the body to see an artificer, but you have not yet the eye of the heart to see God: hence, what you are wont to see in an artificer, you would transfer to God. Leave earthly things on the earth; set your heart on high.

7. What then, beloved, are we going to explain that which we have asked, how the Word sees, how the Father is seen by the Word, what the seeing of the Word is? I am not so bold, so rash, as to promise to explain this, for myself or for you: however I estimate your measure, still I know my own. Therefore, if you please, not to delay it longer, let us run over the passage, and see how carnal hearts are troubled by the words of the Lord; to this end troubled, that they may not continue in that which they hold. Let this be wrested from them, as some toy is wrested from children, with which they amuse themselves to their hurt, that, as persons of larger growth, they may have more profitable things planted in them, and may be able to make progress, instead of crawling on the earth. Arise, seek, sigh, pant with desire, and knock at what is shut. But if we do not yet desire, not yet earnestly seek, not yet sigh, we shall only be throwing pearls to all indiscriminately, or finding pearls ourselves, regardless of what kind. Wherefore, beloved, I would move a longing desire in your heart. Good character leads to right understanding: the kind of life leads to another kind of life. One kind of life is earthly, another is heavenly: there is a life of beasts, another of men, and another of angels. The life of beasts is excited with earthly pleasures, seeks earthly pleasures alone, and grovels after them with immoderate desire: the life of angels is alone heavenly; the life of men is midway between that of angels and of beasts. If man lives after the flesh, he is on a level with the beasts; if he lives after the Spirit, he joins in the fellowship of angels. When you live after the Spirit, examine even in the angelic life whether you be small or well-grown. For if you are still a little one, the angels say to you, Grow: we feed on bread; you are nourished with milk, with the milk of faith that you may come to the meat of sight. But if there be still a longing for filthy pleasures, if the thoughts be still of deceit, if lies are not avoided, if perjuries be heaped on lies, shall a heart so foul dare to say, Explain to me how the Word sees; even if I be able to do so, even if I myself now see? And further, though not perhaps of this character myself, and I am nevertheless far from this vision, how must that man be weighed down with earthly desires, who is not yet rapt with this desire from above! There is a wide difference between loathing and desiring; and again, between desiring and enjoying. If you live as do the beasts, you loathe; the angels have full enjoyment. If, on the other hand, you live not as the beast, you have no longer loathing: something you desire, and dost not receive: you have, by the very desire, begun the life of the angels. May it grow in you, and be perfected in you; and may you receive this, not of me, but of Him who made both me and you!

8. Yet the Lord also has not left us to chance, since, in that He said, The Son cannot of Himself do anything, but what He sees the Father doing, He meant us to understand that the Father does, not some works which the Son may see, and the Son does other works after He has seen the Father doing; but that both the Father and Son do the very same works. For He goes on to say, For whatever things He does, these also does the Son in like manner. Not after the Father has done works, does the Son other works in like manner; but, whatever He does, these also the Son does in like manner. If these the Son does which the Father does, then it is by the Son that the Father does: if by the Son the Father does what He does, then the Father does not some, the Son others; but the works of the Father and of the Son are the same works. And how does the Son also the same? Both the same, and in like manner. In case you should think them the same, but in a different manner, the same, says He, and in like manner. And how could they be the same and not in like manner? Take an example, which I presume is not too big for you: when we write letters they are first formed by our heart, then by our hand. Certainly: why otherwise have you all agreed, but because you perceived it to be so? It is as I have said, it is manifest to us all. The letters are made first by our heart, then by our body; the hand serves, the heart commands; both the heart and the hand make the same letters. Do you think the heart does some letters, the hand some others? The same indeed does the hand, but not in like manner: our heart forms them intelligibly, but our hand visibly. See how the same things are made, but not in like manner. Hence it was not enough for the Lord to say, Whatever things the Father does, these also the Son does; He must add, and in like manner. For what if you should understand this just as you understand whatever your heart does, this also your hand does, but in a different manner? Here, however, he added, These also the Son does in like manner. If He both does these, and in like manner does, then awake; let the Jew be crushed, let the Christian believe, let the heretic be convinced: The Son is equal to the Father.

9. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that Himself does. Here is that shows. Shows, as it were, to whom? Of course, as to one that sees. We return to that which we cannot explain, how the Word sees. Behold, man was made by the Word; but man has eyes, ears, hands, various members in the body: he is able by the eyes to see, by the ears to hear, by the hands to work; the members are diverse, their offices diverse. One member cannot do the office of another; yet, by reason of the unity of the body, the eye sees both for itself and for the ear, and the ear hears for itself and for the eye. Are we to suppose that something like this holds good in the Word, seeing all things are by Him; and Scripture has said in the psalm, Understand, you brutish among the people; and you fools, at length be wise. He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? And He that formed the eye, shall He not see? Hence, if the Word is He that formed the eye, for all things are by the Word; if the Word is He that planted the ear, for all things are by the Word: we cannot say the Word does not hear, the Word does not see; lest the psalm reprove us, and say, Fools, at length be wise. Therefore, if the Word hears and sees, if the Son hears and sees, are we yet to search for eyes and ears in Him in separate places? Does He by one part hear, by another see; and cannot His ear do what His eye does; and cannot His eye do what His ear can? Or is He not all sight, all hearing? Perhaps yes; nay, not perhaps, but truly yes; while, however, that seeing of His, and that hearing of His, is in a way far other than it is with us. Both to see and to hear exist together in the Word: seeing and hearing are not diverse things in Him; but hearing is sight, and sight is hearing.

10. And we, who see in one way, and hear in another way, how know we this? We return perhaps to ourselves, if we are not the trangressors to whom it is said, Return, O trangressors, to your heart. [Isaiah 46:8] Return to your heart: why go from yourselves, and perish from yourselves? Why go the ways of solitude? You go astray by wandering: return. Where? To the Lord. 'Tis quickly done: first return to your own heart; you have wandered abroad an exile from yourself; you know not yourself, and yet you are asking by whom you were made! Return, return to your heart, lift yourself away from the body: your body is your place of abode; your heart perceives even by your body. But your body is not what your heart is; leave even your body, return to your heart. In your body you found eyes in one place, ears in another place: do you find this in your heart? Or have you not ears in your heart? Else of what did the Lord say, Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear? [Luke 8:8] Or have you not eyes in your heart? Else of what says the apostle, The eyes of your heart being enlightened? [Ephesians 1:18] Return to your heart; see there what, it may be, you can perceive of God, for in it is the image of God. In the inner man dwells Christ, in the inner man are you renewed after the image of God, in His own image recognize its Author. See how all the senses of the body bring intelligence to the heart within of what they have perceived abroad; see how many ministers the one commander within has and what it can do by itself even without these ministers. The eyes report to the heart things black and white; the ears report to the same heart pleasant and harsh sounds; to the same heart the nostrils announce sweet odors and stenches; to the same heart the taste announces things bitter and sweet; to the same heart the touch announces things smooth and rough; and the heart declares to itself things just and unjust. Your heart sees and hears and judges all other things perceived by the senses; and, what the senses do not aspire to, discerns things just and unjust, things evil and good. Show me the eyes, ears, nostrils, of your heart. Diverse are the things that are referred to your heart, yet are there not diverse members there. In your flesh, you hear in one place, see in another; in your heart, where you see, there you hear. If this be the image, how much more mightily He whose the image is! Therefore the Son both hears and sees; the Son is both the hearing itself and the seeing: to hear is to Him the same thing as to be; and to see is to Him the same thing as to be. To see is not the same thing to you as to be; for if you lose your sight, you can be; and if you lose your hearing, you can be.

11. Do we think we have knocked? Is there raised up within us something whereby we may even slightly conjecture whence light may come to us? It is my opinion, brethren, that when we speak of these things, and meditate upon them, we are exercising ourselves. And when we are exercising ourselves, and are as it were bent back again by our own weight to our customary thoughts, we are like weak-eyed persons, when they are brought forth to see the light, if perchance they had no sight at all before, and begin in some sort to recover their sight by the assiduous care of physicians. And when the physician would test the progress of recovery, he tries to show them something which they sought to see, but could not while they were blind: and while the eyesight is now somewhat recovered, they are brought forth to the light; and as they see it, are beaten back in a manner by the very glare; and they answer the physician, as he points out the object, This moment I did see, but now I cannot. What then does the physician? He brings them back to their usual ways, and applies the eye-salve to nourish the longing for seeing that which was seen only for a moment, so that by the very longing he may cure more completely; and if any stinging salves are applied for the recovery of sound ness, let the patient bear it bravely, and, inflamed with love of the light, say to himself, When will it be that with strong eyes I shall see what with sore and weak eyes I could not? He urges the physician, and begs him to heal him. Therefore, brethren, if, it may be, something like this has taken place in your hearts, if somehow you have raised your heart to see the Word, and, beaten back by its light, you have fallen back to your wonted ways; pray the Physician to apply sharp salves, the precepts of righteousness. There is that which you may see, but not that whereby you can see. You did not believe me before that there is that which you may see: you are now, as by the guidance of reason, brought to it: you have drawn near, strained your eyes to see it, throbbed, and shrunk back. You know for certain that there is what you may see, but that you are not yet meet to see it. Therefore be healed. What are the eye-salves? Do not lie, do not swear falsely, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not defraud. But you are used to these, and it is with some pain you are drawn away from old habits: this is what bites, but yet heals. For I tell you freely, by fear of myself and of you, if you give up the healing, and scorn to become meet to enjoy this light, by weakness of your eyes, you will love darkness; and by loving darkness, will remain in darkness; and by remaining in darkness, will be cast even into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. If the love of light has effected nothing in you, let the fear of pain effect something.

12. I think I have spoken long enough, and yet I have not concluded the Gospel lesson: if I go on to declare what remains, I shall burden you, and I fear lest even what has been drawn may be lost; therefore let this be enough for you now, beloved. We are debtors, not now, but always as long as we live; because we live for you. However, do you, by good living, comfort this life of ours, so weak, toilsome, and full of peril in this world; do not afflict and wear us out by your evil manners. For if, when offended with your evil life, we flee from you and separate ourselves from you, and no longer come to you, will you not complain, and say, And if we were sick, you might care for us; and if we were weak, you might have visited us? Behold, we do care for you; behold, we do visit you; but let it not be with us as you have heard from the apostle, I fear lest I have bestowed labor upon you in vain. [Galatians 4:11]

In the former discourse, so far as the subject impressed us, and so far as our poverty of understanding attained to, we have spoken by occasion of the words of the Gospel, where it is written: The Son cannot do anything of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing,— what it is for the Son — that is, the Word, for the Son is the Word — to see; and as all things were made by the Word, how it is to be understood that the Son first sees the Father doing, and then only Himself also does the things which He has seen done, seeing that the Father has done nothing except by the Son. For all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. We have not, however, delivered to you anything as fully explained, and that because we have not understood anything thus clearly set forth. For, indeed, speech sometimes fails even where the understanding makes way; how much more does speech suffer defect, where the understanding has nothing perfect! Now, therefore, as the Lord gives us, let us briefly run over the passage, and even today complete the due task. Should there perchance remain somewhat of time or of strength, we will reconsider (so far as it may be practicable for us and with you) what it is for the Word to see and to be shown to; since, in fact, all that is here spoken is such that, if understood according to man's sense, carnally, the soul full of vain fancies makes for us only certain images of the Father and the Son, just as of two men, the one showing, the other seeing; the one speaking, the other hearing — all which are idols of the heart. And if now at length idols have been cast down from their own temples, how much more ought they to be cast down from Christian hearts!

2. The Son, says He, cannot do anything of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing. This is true: hold this fast, while at the same time you do not let slip what you have gotten in the beginning of the Gospel, that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and especially that all things were made by Him. Join this that you have now heard to that hearing, and let both agree together in your hearts. Thus, The Son cannot of Himself do anything, except what He sees the Father doing, is yet in such wise that what the Father does, He does only by the Son, because the Son is His Word: and, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; also, All things were made by Him. For whatever things He does, the Son also does in like manner; not other things, but these and not in a different, but in like manner.

3. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that Himself does. To that which He said above, except what He sees the Father doing, seems to belong this also, He shows Him all things that Himself does. But if the Father does show what He does, and the Son cannot do except the Father has shown, and if the Father cannot show unless He has done, it will follow that it is not through the Son that the Father does all things; moreover, if we hold it fixed and unshaken, that the Father does all by the Son, then He shows the Son before He does. For if the Father does show to the Son after He has done, that the Son may do the things shown, which being shown were already done, then doubtless something there is that the Father does without the Son. But the Father does not anything without the Son, because the Son of God is God's Word, and all things were made by Him. It remains, then, that possibly what the Father is about to do, He shows as about to be done, that it may be done by the Son. For if the Son does those things which the Father shows as already done, surely it is not by the Son that the Father has done the things which He thus shows. For they could not be shown to the Son unless they were first done, and the Son would not be able to do them unless they were first shown; therefore were they made without the Son. But yet it is a true thing, All things were made by Him; therefore they were shown before they were made. But this we said must be put off, and returned to after briefly scanning the passage, if, as we said, some portion of time and of strength should remain to us for a reconsideration of the matters deferred.

4. Attend now to a wider and more difficult question. And greater works than these, says He, will He show Him, that you may marvel. Greater than these. Greater than which? The answer readily occurs: than the cures of bodily diseases which you have just heard: For the whole occasion of this discourse arose about the man who was thirty and eight years in infirmity, and was healed by the word of Christ; and in respect of this cure, the Lord could say, Greater works than these He will show Him, that you may marvel. For there are greater, and the Father will show them to the Son. It is not has shown, as of a thing past, but will show, of a thing future; or, is about to show. Again a difficult question arises: Why, then, is there something with the Father that has not yet been shown to the Son? Is there something with the Father that was still hid from the Son when He spoke these words? For surely, if it be will show, that is to say, is about to show, then He has not yet shown; and He is about to show to the Son at the same time as to these persons, since it follows, that you may marvel. And this is a thing hard to see, how the Eternal Father does show something, as it were in time, to the coeternal Son, who knows all things that are with the Father.

5. But what are the greater works? For perhaps this is easy to understand. For as the Father, says He, raises up the dead, and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom He will. To raise the dead, then, are greater works than to heal the sick. But as the Father raises the dead, and quickens them, so also the Son quickens whom He will. Hence, the Father some, the Son others? But all things are by Him: therefore the Son the same persons as the Father does; since the Son does not other things and in a different manner, but these and in like manner. Thus clearly it must be understood, and thus held. But keep in memory that the Son quickens whom He will. Here, too, know not only the power of the Son, but also the will. Both the Son quickens whom He will, and also the Father quickens whom He will — the Son the same persons as the Father; and hence the power of the Father and of the Son is the same, and also the will is the same. What follows then? For the Father judges not any man, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all men may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father: this He subjoined, as rendering a reason of the foregoing sentence. A great question comes before us; give it your earnest attention. The Son quickens whom He will, the Father quickens whom He will; the Son raises the dead, just as the Father raises the dead. And further, the Father judges not any man. If the dead must be raised in the judgment, how can it be said that the Father raises the dead, if He judges not any man, since He has given all judgment to the Son? But in that judgment the dead are raised; some rise to life, others to punishment. If the Son does all this, but the Father not, inasmuch as He judges not any man, but has given all judgment to the Son, it will appear contrary to what has been said, viz., As the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them, so also the Son quickens whom He will. Consequently the Father and the Son raise together; if they raise together, they quicken together: hence they judge together. How, then, is that true, For the Father judges not any man, but has given all judgment to the Son? Meanwhile let the questions now proposed engage your minds; the Lord will cause that, when solved, they will delight you. For so it is, brethren: every question, unless it stirs the mind to reflection, will not give delight when explained. May the Lord Himself then follow with us, in case He may perhaps reveal Himself somewhat in those matters which He folds up. For He folds up His light with a cloud; and it is difficult to fly like an eagle above every obscure mist with which the whole earth is covered, and to behold the most serene light in the words of the Lord. In case, then, He may perhaps dissipate our darkness with the heat of His rays, and deign to reveal Himself somewhat in the sequel, let us, deferring these questions, look at what follows.

6. Whoever honors not the Son, honors not the Father that sent Him. This is a truth, and is plain. Since, then, all judgment has He given to the Son, as He said above, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father, what if there be those who honor the Father and honor not the Son? It cannot be, says He: Whoever honors not the Son, honors not the Father that sent Him. One cannot therefore say, I honored the Father, because I knew not the Son. If you did not yet honor the Son, neither did you honor the Father. For what is honoring the Father, unless it be in that He has a Son? It is one thing when you are taught to honor God in that He is God; but another thing when you are taught to honor Him in that He is Father. When you are taught to honor Him in that He is God, it is as the Creator, as the Almighty, as the Spirit supreme, eternal, invisible, unchangeable, that you are led to think of Him; but when you are taught to honor Him in that He is Father, it is the same thing as to honor the Son; because Father cannot be said if there be not a Son, as neither can Son if there be not a Father. But lest, it may be, you honor the Father indeed as greater, but the Son as less — as you may say to me, I do honor the Father, for I know that He has a Son; nor do I err in the name Father, for I do not understand Father without Son, and yet the Son also I honor as the less,— the Son Himself sets you right, and recalls you, saying, that all may honor the Son, not in a lower degree, but as they honor the Father. Therefore, whoever honors not the Son, honors not the Father that sent Him. I, do you say, wish to give greater honor to the Father, less to the Son. Therein you take away honor from the Father, wherein you give less to the Son. For, being thus minded, it must really seem to you that the Father either would not or could not beget a Son equal to Himself: if He would not, He lacked the will; if He could not, He lacked the ability. Do you not therefore see that, being thus minded, wherein you would give greater honor to the Father, therein you are reproachful to the Father? Wherefore, so honor the Son as you honor the Father, if you would honor both the Father and the Son.

7. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whoever hears my word, and believes in Him that sent me, has eternal life, and comes not into judgment, but is passed, not is passing now, but is already passed, from death into life. And mark this, Whoever hears my word, and— He says not, believes me, but — believes Him that sent me. Let him hear the word of the Son, that he may believe the Father. Why hears Your word, and yet believes another? When we hear any one's word, is it not him that utters the word we believe? Is it not to him who speaks we lend our faith? What, then, did He mean, saying, Whoever hears my word, and believes Him that sent me, if it be not this, because His word is in me? And what is hears my word, but hears me? So, too, believes Him that sent me, because, believing Him, he believes His word; but again, believing His word, he believes me, because I am the Word of the Father. There is therefore peace in the Scriptures, and all things duly disposed, and in no way clashing. Cast away, then, contention from your heart; understand the harmony of the Scriptures. Do you think that the Truth should speak things contrary to itself?

8. Whoever hears my word, and believes Him that sent me, has eternal life, and comes not into judgment, but is passed from death unto life. You remember what we laid down above, that as the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them, so also the Son quickens whom He will. He is beginning already to reveal Himself; and behold, even now, the dead are rising. For whoever hears my word, and believes Him that sent me, has eternal life, and will not come into judgment. Prove that he has risen again. But is passed, says He from death unto life. He that is passed from death unto life, has surely without any doubt risen again. For he could not pass from death to life, unless he were first in death and not in life; but when he will have passed, he will be in life, and not in death. He was therefore dead, and is alive again; he was lost, but is found. [Luke 15:32] Hence a resurrection does take place now, and men pass from a death to a life; from the death of infidelity to the life of faith; from the death of falsehood to the life of truth; from the death of iniquity to the life of righteousness. There is, therefore, that which is a resurrection of the dead.

9. May He open the same more fully, and dawn upon us as He begins to do! Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is. We did look for a resurrection of the dead in the end, for so we have believed; yea, not we looked, but are manifestly bound to look for it: for it is not a false thing we believe, when we believe that the dead will rise in the end. When the Lord Jesus, then, was willing to make known to us a resurrection of the dead before the resurrection of the dead, it is not as that of Lazarus, [John 11:43] or of the widow's son, [Luke 6:14] or of the ruler of the synagogue's daughter, [Matthew 5:41] who were raised to die again (for in their case there was a resurrection of the dead before the resurrection of the dead); but, as He says here, has, says He, eternal life, and comes not into judgment, but is passed from death into life. To what life? To life eternal. Not, then, as the body of Lazarus: for he indeed passed from the death of the tomb to the life of men, but not to life eternal, seeing he was to die again; whereas the dead, that are to rise again at the end of the world, will pass to eternal life. When our Lord Jesus Christ, then, our heavenly Master, the Word of the Father, and the Truth, was willing to represent to us a resurrection of the dead to eternal life before the resurrection of the dead to eternal life, The hour comes, says He. Doubtless you, imbued with a faith of the resurrection of the flesh, looked for the hour of the end of the world, which, that you should not look for here, He added, and now is. Therefore He says not this, The hour comes, of that last hour, when at the command and the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet Christ in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord. [1 Thessalonians 4:15-16] That hour will come, but is not now. But consider what this hour is: The hour comes, and now is. What happens in that hour? What, but a resurrection of the dead? And what kind of resurrection? Such that they who rise live forever. This will be also in the last hour.

10. What then? How do we understand these two resurrections? Do we, it may be, understand that they who rise now will not rise then; that the resurrection of some is now, of some others then? It is not so. For we have risen in this resurrection, if we have rightly believed; and we ourselves, who have already risen, are looking for another resurrection in the end. Moreover, both now are we risen to eternal life, if we perseveringly continue in the same faith; and then, too, we shall rise to eternal life, when we shall be made equal with the angels. [Luke 20:36] But let Himself distinguish and open up what we have made bold to speak; how there happens to be a resurrection before a resurrection, not of different but of the same persons; nor like that of Lazarus, but into eternal life. He will open it clearly. Hear ye the Master, while dawning upon us, and as our Sun gliding in upon our hearts; not such as the eyes of flesh desire to look upon, but on whom the eyes of the heart fervently long to be opened. To Him, then, let us give ear: Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour comes, and now is, when the dead — you see that a resurrection is asserted — shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. Why has He added, they that hear shall live? Why, could they hear unless they lived? It would have been enough, then, to say, The hour comes, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. We should immediately understand them to be living, since they could not hear unless they lived. No, says He, not because they live they hear; but by hearing they come to life again: Shall hear, and they that hear shall live. What, then, is shall hear, but shall obey? For, as to the hearing of the ear, not all who hear shall live. Many, indeed, hear and do not believe; by hearing and not believing, they obey not; by not obeying, they live not. And so here, they that shall hear are they that shall obey. They that obey, then, shall live: let them be sure and certain of it, shall live. Christ, the Word of God, is preached to us; the Son of God, by whom all things were made, who, for the dispensation's sake, surely took flesh, was born of a virgin, was an infant in the flesh, a young man in the flesh, suffering in the flesh, dying in the flesh, rising again in the flesh, ascending in the flesh, promising a resurrection to the flesh, promising a resurrection to the mind — to the mind before the flesh, to the flesh after the mind. Whoever hears and obeys, shall live; whoever hears and obeys not, that is, hears and despises, hears and believes not, shall not live. Why shall not live? Because he hears not. What is hears not? Obeys not. Thus, then, they that hear shall live.

11. Turn your thoughts now to what we said had to be deferred, that it may now, if possible, be opened. Concerning this very resurrection He immediately subjoined, For as the Father has life in Himself, even so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. What means that, The Father has life in Himself? Not elsewhere has He life but in Himself. His living, in fact, is in Him, not from elsewhere, nor derived from another. He does not, as it were, borrow life, nor, as it were, become a partaker of life, of a life which is not what Himself is: but has life in Himself, so that the very life is to Him His very self. If I should be able yet further in some small measure to speak from this matter, by proposing examples for informing your understanding, will depend on God's help and the piety of your attention. God lives, and the soul also lives; but the life of God is unchangeable, the life of the soul is changeable. In God is neither increase nor decrease; but He is the same always in Himself, is ever as He is: not in one way now, in another way hereafter, in some other way before. But the life of the soul is exceedingly various: it lived foolish, it lives wise; it lived unrighteous, it lives righteous; now remembers, now forgets; now learns, now cannot learn; now loses what it had learned, now apprehends what it had lost. The life of the soul is changeable. And when the soul lives in unrighteousness, that is its death; when again it becomes righteous, it becomes partaker of another life, which is not what itself is, inasmuch as by rising up to God, and cleaving to God, of Him it is justified. For it is said, To him that believes in Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. [Romans 4:5] By forsaking God, it becomes unrighteous; by coming to Him, it is made righteous. Does it not seem to you as it were something cold, which, when brought near the fire, grows warm; when removed from the fire, grows cold? A something dark, which, brought near the light, grows bright; when removed from the light, grows dark? Something such is the soul: God is not any such thing. Moreover, man may say that he has light now in his eyes. Let your eyes say then, if they can, as by a voice of their own, We have light in ourselves. I answer: Not correctly do you say that you have light in yourselves: you have light, but in the heavens; you have light, but in the moon, in candles, if it happen to be night, not in yourselves: for, being shut, you lose what you perceive when open. Not in yourselves have you light; keep the light if you can when the sun is set: 'tis night, enjoy the light of night; keep the light when the candle is withdrawn; but since you remain in darkness when the candle is withdrawn, you have not light in yourselves. Consequently, to have light in oneself is not to need light from another. Behold, whoever understands wherein He shows that the Son is equal with the Father, when He says, As the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son also to have life in Himself; that there may be only this difference between the Father and the Son, that the Father has life in Himself, which none gave Him, while the Son has life in Himself which the Father gave.

12. But here also arises a cloud that must be scattered. Let us not lose heart, let us strive in earnest. Here are pastures of the mind; let us not disdain them, that we may live. Behold, do you say, yourself confessest that the Father has given life to the Son, that He may have life in Himself, even as the Father has life in Himself; that the Father not lacking, the Son may not lack; that as the Father is life, so the Son may be life; and both united one life, not two lives; because God is one, not two Gods; and this same is to be life. How, then, is the Father said to have given life to the Son? Not so as if the Son had been without life before, and received life from the Father that He might live; for if it were so, He would not have life in Himself. Behold, I was speaking of the soul. The soul exists; though it be not wise, though it be not righteous, though it be not godly, it is soul. It is one thing for it to be soul, but another thing to be wise, to be righteous, to be godly. Something there is, then, in which it is not yet wise, not yet righteous, not yet godly. Nevertheless it is not therefore nothing, it is not therefore non-life; for it shows itself to be alive by certain of its own actions, although it does not show itself to be wise, godly, or righteous. For if it were not living it would not move the body, would not command the feet to walk, the hands to work, the eyes to look, the ears to hear; would not open the mouth for speaking, nor move the tongue to distinction of speech. So, then, by these operations it shows itself to have life, and to be something which is better than the body. But does it in any wise show itself by these operations to be wise, godly, or righteous? Do not the foolish, the wicked, the unrighteous walk, work, see, hear, speak? But when the soul rises to something which itself is not, which is above itself, and from which its being is, then it gets wisdom, righteousness, holiness, which so long as it was without, it was dead, and did not have the life by which itself should live, but only that by which the body was quickened. For that in the soul by which the body is quickened is one thing, that by which the soul itself is quickened is another. Better, certainly, than the body is the soul, but better than the soul itself is God. The soul, even if it be foolish, ungodly, unrighteous, is the life of the body. But since its own life is God, just as it supplies vigor, comeliness, activity, the functions of the limbs to the body, while it exists in the body; so, in like manner, while God, its life, is in the soul, He supplies to it wisdom, godliness, righteousness, charity. Accordingly, what the soul supplies to the body, and what God supplies to the soul, are of a different kind: the soul quickens and is quickened. It quickens while dead, even if itself is not quickened. But when the word comes, and is poured into the hearers, and they not only hear, but are made obedient, the soul rises from its death to its life — that is, from unrighteousness, from folly, from ungodliness, to its God, who is to it wisdom, righteousness, light. Let it rise to Him, and be enlightened by Him. Come near, says he, to Him. And what shall we have? And be enlightened. If, therefore, by coming to you are enlightened, and by departing from ye become darkened, your light was not in yourselves, but in your God. Come to Him that you may rise again: if you depart from Him, you shall die. If by coming to Him ye live, and by departing from Him ye die, your life was not in yourselves. For the same is your life which is your light. Because with You is the fountain of life, and in Your light we shall see light.

13. Not, then, in like manner as the soul is one thing before it is enlightened, and becomes a better thing when it is enlightened, by participation of a better; not so, I say, was the Word of God, the Son of God, something else before He received life, that He should have life by participation; but He has life in Himself, and is consequently Himself the very life. What is it, then, that He says, has given to the Son to have life in Himself? I would say it briefly, He begot the Son. For it is not that He existed without life, and received life, but He is life by being begotten. The Father is life not by being begotten; the Son is life by being begotten. The Father is of no father; the Son is of God the Father. The Father in His being is of none, but in that He is Father, 'tis because of the Son. But the Son also, in that He is Son, 'tis because of the Father: in His being, He is of the Father. This He said, therefore: has given life to the Son, that He might have it in Himself. Just as if He were to say, The Father, who is life in Himself, begot the Son, who should be life in Himself. Indeed, He would have this dedit (has given) to be understood for the same thing as genuit (has begotten). It is like as if we said to a person, God has given you being. To whom? If to some one already existing, then He gave him not being, because he who could receive existed before it was given him. When, therefore, you hear it said, He gave you being, you were not in being to receive, but you received, that you should be by coming into existence. The builder gave to this house that it should be. But what did he give to it? He gave it to be a house. To what did he give? To this house. Gave it what? To be a house. How could he give to a house that it should be a house? For if the house was, to what did he give to be a house, when the house existed already? What, then, does that mean, gave it to be a house? It means, he brought to pass that it should be a house. Well, then, what gave He to the Son? Gave Him to be the Son, begot Him to be life — that is, gave Him to have life in Himself that He should be the life not needing life, that He may not be understood as having life by participation. For if He had life by par ticipation, He might, by losing, be without life. Do not take, nor think, nor believe this to be possible respecting the Son. Wherefore the Father continues the life, the Son continues the life: the Father, life in Himself, not from the Son; the Son, life in Himself, but from the Father. Begotten of the Father, that He might live in Himself; but the Father, not begotten, life in Himself. Nor did He beget the Son less than Himself to become equal by growth. For surely He by whom, being perfect, the times were created, was not assisted by time towards His own perfection. Before all time, He is co-eternal with the Father. For the Father has never been without the Son; but the Father is eternal, therefore also the Son co-eternal. Soul, what of you? You were dead, lost life; hear then the Father through the Son. Arise, take to you life, that in Him who has life in Himself you may receive the life which is not in you. He that gives you life, then, is the Father and the Son; and the first resurrection is accomplished when you rise to partake of the life which you are not yourself, and by partaking art made living. Rise from your death to your life, which is your God, and pass from death to eternal life. For the Father has eternal life in Himself; and unless He had begotten such a Son as had life in Himself, it could not be that as the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them, so also the Son should quicken whom He will.

14. But what of that resurrection of the body? For these who hear and live, whence live, except by hearing? For the friend of the Bridegroom stands and hears Him, and rejoices greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice: [John 3:29] not because of his own voice; that is to say, they hear and live by partaking, not by coming into being; and all that hear live, because all that obey live. Tell us something, O Lord, also of the resurrection of the flesh; for there have been those who denied it, asserting that this is the only resurrection which is wrought by faith. Of which resurrection the Lord has just now made mention, and inflamed our desire, because the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall live. It is not some of those who hear shall live, and others shall die; but all that hear shall live, because all that obey shall live. Behold, we see a resurrection of the mind; let us not therefore let go our faith of the resurrection of the flesh. And unless Thou, O Lord Jesus, declare to us this, whom shall we oppose to those who assert the contrary? For truly all sects that have undertaken to engraft any religion upon men have allowed this resurrection of minds; otherwise, it might be said to them, If the soul rise not, why do you speak to me? What do you mean to do in me? If you do not make of the worse a better, why do you speak? If you do not make a righteous of the unrighteous, why do you speak? But if you make righteous of the unrighteous, godly of the ungodly, wise of the foolish, you confess that my soul does rise again, if I comply with you and believe. So, then, all those that have founded any sect, even of false religion, while they wished to be believed, could not but admit this resurrection of minds: all have agreed concerning this; but many have denied the resurrection of the flesh, and affirmed that the resurrection had taken place already in faith. Such the apostle resists, saying, Of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection has taken place already, and overthrow the faith of some. [2 Timothy 2:17-18] They said that the resurrection had taken place already, but in such manner that another was not to be expected; and they blamed people who were looking for a resurrection of the flesh, just as if the resurrection which was promised were already accomplished in the act of believing, namely, in the mind. The apostle censures these. Why does he censure them? Did they not affirm what the Lord spoke just now: The hour comes, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live? But, says Jesus to you, it is of the life of minds that I am hitherto speaking: I am not yet speaking of the life of bodies; but I speak of the life of that which is the life of bodies, that is, of the life of souls, in which the life of bodies exists. For I know that there are bodies lying in the tombs; I know also that your bodies will lie in the tombs. I am not speaking of that resurrection, but I speak of this; in this, rise ye again, lest ye rise to punishment in that. But that you may know that I speak also of that, what do I add? For as the Father has life in Himself, even so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. This life which the Father is, which the Son is, to what does it pertain? To the soul or to the body? It is not surely the body that is sensible of that life of wisdom, but the rational mind. For not every soul has capacity to apprehend wisdom. A brute beast, in fact, has a soul, but the soul of the brute beast cannot apprehend wisdom. It is the human soul, then, that can perceive this life which the Father has in Himself, and has given to the Son to have in Himself; because that is the true light which enlightens, not every soul, but every man coming into this world. When, therefore, I speak to the mind itself, let it hear, that is, let it obey and live.

15. Wherefore, keep not silent, O Lord, concerning the resurrection of the flesh; lest men believe it not, and we continue reasoners, not preachers. But as the Father has life in Himself, even so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. Let them that hear, understand; let them believe that they may understand; let them obey that they may live. And that they may not suppose that the resurrection is finished here, let them hear this further: and has given Him authority to execute judgment also. Who has given? The Father. To whom has He given? To the Son; namely, to whom He gave to have life in Himself, to the same has He given authority to execute judgment. Because He is the Son of man. For this is the Christ, both Son of God and Son of man. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. Behold, how He has given Him to have life in Himself! But because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, was made man of the Virgin Mary, He is the Son of man. What, therefore, has He received as Son of man? Authority to execute judgment. What judgment? That in the end of the world. Then also there will be a resurrection, but a resurrection of bodies. So, then, God raises up souls by Christ, the Son of God; bodies He raises up by the same Christ, the Son of man. Hath given Him authority. He should not have this authority did He not receive it; and He should be a man without authority. But the same who is Son of God is also Son of man. For by adhering to the unity of person, the Son of man with the Son of God is made one person, and the Son of God is the same person which the Son of man is. But what characteristic it has, and wherefore, must be distinguished. The Son of man has soul and body. The Son of God, which is the Word of God, has man, as the soul has body. And just as soul having body does not make two persons, but one man; so the Word, having man, makes not two persons, but one Christ. What is man? A rational soul, having a body. What is Christ? The Word of God, having man. I see of what things I speak, who I the speaker am, and to whom I am speaking.

16. Now hear concerning the resurrection of bodies, not me, but the Lord about to speak, on account of those who have risen again by a resurrection from death, by cleaving to life. To what life? To a life which knows not death. Why knows not death? Because it knows not mutability. Why knows not mutability? Because it is life in itself. And has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man. What judgment, what kind of judgment? Marvel not at this which I have said — gave Him authority to execute judgment — for the hour is coming. He does not adds and now is: therefore He means to make known to us a certain hour in the end of the world. The hour is now that the dead rise, the hour will be in the end of the world that the dead rise: but that they rise now in the mind, then in the flesh; that they rise now in the mind by the Word of God, the Son of God; then in the flesh by the Word of God made flesh, the Son of man. For it will not be the Father Himself that will come to judgment, notwithstanding the Father does not withdraw Himself from the Son. How, then, is it that the Father Himself will not come? In that He will not be seen in the judgment. They shall look on Him whom they pierced. [John 19:37] That form which stood before the judge, will be Judge: that form will judge which was judged; for it was judged unjustly, it will judge justly. There will come the form of a servant, and that same will be apparent. For how could the form of God be made apparent to the just and to the unjust? If the judgment were to be only among the just, then the form of God might appear as to the just. But because the judgment is to be of the just and of the unjust, and that it is not permitted to the wicked to see God — for blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, [Matthew 5:8] — such a Judge will appear as may be seen by those whom He is about to crown, and by those whom He is about to condemn. Hence the form of a servant will be seen, the form of God will be hid. The Son of God will be hid in the servant, and the Son of man will be manifest, because to Him has He given authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man. And because He alone will appear in the form of a servant, but the Father not, since He has not taken upon Him the form of a servant; for that reason He says above: The Father judges not any man, but has given all judgment to the Son. Rightly then had it been deferred, that the propounder might Himself be the interpreter. For before it was hidden; now, as I think, it is already manifest, that He gave Him authority to execute judgment, that the Father judges not any man, but has given all judgment to the Son: because the judgment is to be by that form which the Father has not. And what kind of judgment? Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming: not that which now is, for the souls to rise; but that which is to be, for the bodies to rise.

17. Let Him declare this more distinctly, that the heretical denier of the resurrection of the body may not find a pretext for sophistical cavil, although the meaning already shines out clearly. When it was said above, The hour is coming, He added, and now is; but just now, The hour is coming, He has not added, and now is. Let Him, however, by the open truth, burst asunder all handles, all loops and pegs of sophistical attack, all the nooses of ensnaring objections. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves. What more evident? What more distinct? Bodies are in the graves; souls are not in the graves, either of just or of unjust. The soul of the just man was in the bosom of Abraham; the unjust man's soul was in hell, tormented: neither the one nor the other was in the grave. Above, when He says, The hour is coming, and now is, I beseech you give earnest heed. You know, brethren, that we get the bread of the belly with toil; with how much greater toil the bread of the mind! With labor you stand and hear, but with greater we stand and speak. If we labor for your sake, you ought to labor with us for your own sake. Above, then, when He said, The hour is coming, and added, and now is, what did He subjoin? When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. He did not say, All the dead shall hear, and they that hear shall live; for He meant the unrighteous to be understood. And is it so, that all the unrighteous obey the gospel? The apostle says openly, But not all obey the gospel. [Romans 10:16] But they that hear shall live, because all that obey the gospel shall pass to eternal life by faith: yet all do not obey; and this is now. But certainly, in the end, All that are in the graves, both the just and the unjust, shall hear His voice, and come forth. How is it He would not say, and shall live? All, indeed, will come forth, but all will not live. For in that which He said above, And they that hear shall live, He meant it to be understood that there is in that very hearing and obeying an eternal and blessed life, which not all that shall come forth from the graves will have. Here, then, both in the mention of graves, and by the expression of a coming forth from the graves, we openly understand a resurrection of bodies.

18. All shall hear His voice, and shall come forth. And where is judgment, if all shall hear and all shall come forth? It is as if all were confusion; I see no distinguishing. Certainly You have received authority to judge, because You are the Son of man: behold, You will be present in the judgment; the bodies will rise again; but tell us something of the judgment itself, that is, of the separation of the evil and the good. Hear this further, then: They that have done good into the resurrection of life; they that have done evil into the resurrection of judgment. When above He spoke of a resurrection of minds and souls, did He make any distinction? No, for all that hear shall live; because by hearing, viz. by obeying, shall they live. But certainly not all will go to eternal life by rising and coming forth from the graves — only they that have done well; and they that have done ill, to judgment. For here He has put judgment for punishment. There will also be a separation, not such as there is now. For now we are separated, not by place, but by character, affections, desires, faith, hope, charity. Now we live together with the unjust, though the life of all is not the same: in secret we are distinguished, in secret we are separated; as grain on the floor, not as grain in the granary. On the floor, grain is both separated and mixed: separated, because severed from the chaff; mixed, because not yet winnowed. Then there will be an open separation; a distinguishing of life just as of the character, a separation as there is in wisdom, so also will there be in bodies. They that have done well will go to live with the angels of God; they that have done evil, to be tormented with the devil and his angels. And the form of a servant will pass away. For to this end He had manifested Himself, that He might execute judgment. After the judgment, He shall go hence, will lead with Him the body of which He is the head, and deliver up the kingdom of God. [1 Corinthians 15:24] Then will openly be seen that form of God which could not be seen by the wicked, to whose vision the form of a servant must be shown. He says also in another place on this wise: These shall go away into everlasting burning (speaking of certain on the left), but the just into life eternal; [Matthew 25:46] of which life He says in another place: And this is eternal life, that they may know You the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. [John 17:3] Then will He be there manifested, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. [Philippians 2:6] Then He will manifest Himself, as He has promised to manifest Himself to them that love Him. For he that loves me, says He, keeps my commandments; and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. [John 14:21] He was present in person with those to whom He was speaking: but they saw the form of a servant, they did not see the form of God. They were being led on His own beast to His dwelling to be healed; but now being healed, they will see, because, says He, I will manifest myself to him. How is He shown equal to the Father? When He says to Philip, He that sees me sees my Father also. [John 14:19]

19. I cannot of myself do anything: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just. Else we might have said to Him, You will judge, and the Father will not judge, for 'all judgment has He given to the Son.' it is not, therefore, according to the Father that You will judge. Hence He added, I cannot of myself do anything: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. Undoubtedly the Son quickens whom He will. He seeks not His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. Not my own, my proper will; not mine, not the Son of man's; not mine to resist God. For men do their own will, not God's, when they do what they list, not what God commands; but when they do what they list, so as yet to follow God's will, they do not their own will, notwithstanding they do what they list to do. Do what you are bidden willingly, and thus shall you both do what you will, and also not do your own will, but His that bids.

20. What then? As I hear, I judge. The Son hears, and the Father shows to Him, and the Son sees the Father doing. But we had deferred these matters, in order to handle them, so far as might lie in our abilities, with somewhat greater plainness and fullness, should time and strength remain to us after finishing the perusal of the passage. If I say that I am able to speak yet further, you perhaps are not able to go on hearing. Again, perhaps, in your eagerness to hear, you say, We are able. Better, then, that I should confess my weakness, that, being already fatigued, I am not able to speak longer, than that, when you are already satiated, I should continue to pour into you what you cannot well digest. Then, as to this promise, which I deferred until today, should there be an opportunity, hold me, with the Lord's help, your debtor until tomorrow.