Church Fathers: Nicene Fathers Vol 01: 11.13.02 Augustine Book XIII Ch 14 - 21

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Church Fathers: Nicene Fathers Vol 01: 11.13.02 Augustine Book XIII Ch 14 - 21



TOPIC: Nicene Fathers Vol 01 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 11.13.02 Augustine Book XIII Ch 14 - 21

Other Subjects in this Topic:

Chapter XIV.-That Out of the Children of the Night and of the Darkness, Children of the Light and of the Day are Made.

15. And so say I too, O my God, where art Thou? Behold where Thou art! In Thee I breathe a little, when I pour out my soul by myself in the voice of joy and praise, the sound of him that keeps holy-day.hyperlink And yet it is "cast down," because it relapses and becomes a deep, or rather it feels that it is still a deep. Unto it doth my faith speak which Thou hast kindled to enlighten my feet in the night, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God;"hyperlink His "word is a lamp unto my feet."hyperlink Hope and endure until the night,-the mother of the wicked,-until the anger of the Lord be overpast,hyperlink whereof we also were once children who were sometimes darkness,hyperlink the remains whereof we carry about us in our body, dead on account of sin,hyperlink "until the day break and the shadows flee away."hyperlink "Hope thou in the Lord." In the morning I shall stand in Thy presence, and contemplate Thee;hyperlink I shall for ever confess unto Thee.hyperlink In the morning I shall stand in Thy presence, and shall see "the health of my countenance,"hyperlink my God, who also shall quicken our mortal bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in us,hyperlink because in mercy He was borne over our inner darksome and floating deep. Whence we have in this pilgrimage received "an earnest"hyperlink that we should now be light, whilst as yet we "are saved by hope,"hyperlink and are the children of light, and the children of the day,-not the children of the night nor of the darkness,hyperlink which yet we have been.hyperlink Betwixt whom and us, in this as yet uncertain state of human knowledge, Thou only dividest, who provest our heartshyperlink and callest the light day, and the darkness night.hyperlink For who discerneth us but Thou? But what have we that we have not received of Thee?hyperlink Out of the same lump vessels unto honour, of which others also are made to dishonour.hyperlink

Chapter XV.-Allegorical Explanation of the Firmament and Upper Works, Ver. 6.

16. Or who but Thou, our God, made for us that firmamenthyperlink of authority over us in Thy divine Scripture?hyperlink As it is said, For heaven shall be folded up like a scroll;hyperlink and now it is extended over us like a skin.hyperlink For Thy divine Scripture is of more sublime authority, since those mortals through whom Thou didst dispense it unto us underwent mortality. And Thou knowest, O Lord, Thou knowest, how Thou with skins didst clothe menhyperlink when by sin they became mortal. Whence as a skin hast Thou stretched out the firmament of Thy Book;hyperlink that is to say, Thy harmonious words, which by the ministry of mortals Thou hast spread over us. For by their very death is that solid firmament of authority in Thy discourses set forth by them more sublimely extended above all things that are under it, the which, while they were living here, was not so eminently extended.hyperlink Thou hadst not as yet spread abroad the heaven like a skin; Thou hadst not as yet noised everywhere the report of their deaths.

17. Let us look, O Lord, "upon the heavens, the work of Thy fingers;"hyperlink clear from our eyes that mist with which Thou hast covered them. There is that testimony of Thine which giveth wisdom unto the little ones.hyperlink Perfect, O my God, Thy praise out of the mouth of babes and sucklings.hyperlink Nor have we known any other books so destructive to pride, so destructive to the enemy and the defender,hyperlink who resisteth Thy reconciliation in defence of his own sins.hyperlink I know not, O Lord, I know not other such "pure"hyperlink words which so persuade me to confession, and make my neck submissive to Thy yoke, and invite me to serve Thee for nought. Let me understand these things, good Father. Grant this to me, placed under them; because Thou hast established these things for those placed under them.

18. Other "waters" there be "above" this "firmament," I believe immortal, and removed from earthly corruption. Let them praise Thy Name,-those super-celestial people, Thine angels, who have no need to look up at this firmament, or by reading to attain the knowledge of Thy Word,-let them praise Thee. For they always behold Thy face,hyperlink and therein read without any syllables in time what Thy eternal will willeth. They read, they choose, they love.hyperlink They are always reading; and that which they read never passeth away. For, by choosing and by loving, they read the very unchangeableness of Thy counsel. Their book is not closed, nor is the scroll folded up,hyperlink because Thou Thyself art this to them, yea, and art so eternally; because Thou hast appointed them above this firmament, which Thou hast made firm over the weakness of the lower people, where they might look up and learn Thy mercy, announcing in time Thee who hast made times. "For Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds."hyperlink The clouds pass away, but the heaven remaineth. The preachers of Thy Word pass away from this life into another; but Thy Scripture is spread abroad over the people, even to the end of the world. Yea, both heaven and earth shall pass away, but Thy Words shall not pass away.hyperlink Because the scroll shall be rolled together,hyperlink and the grass over which it was spread shall with its goodliness pass away; but Thy Word remaineth for ever,hyperlink which now appeareth unto us in the dark image of the clouds, and through the glass of the heavens, not as it is;hyperlink because we also, although we be the well-beloved of Thy Son, yet it hath not yet appeared what we shall be.hyperlink He looketh through the latticehyperlink of our flesh, and He is fair-speaking, and hath inflamed us, and we run after His odours.hyperlink But "when He shall appear, then shall we be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."hyperlink As He is, O Lord, shall we see Him, although the time be not yet.

Chapter XVI.-That No One But the Unchangeable Light Knows Himself.

19. For altogether as Thou art, Thou only knowest, Who art unchangeably, and knowest unchangeably, and wiliest unchangeably. And Thy Essence Knoweth and Willeth unchangeably; and Thy Knowledge Is, and Willeth unchangeably; and Thy Will Is, and Knoweth unchangeably. Nor doth it appear just to Thee, that as the Unchangeable Light knoweth Itself, so should It be known by that which is enlightened and changeable.hyperlink Therefore unto Thee is my soul as "land where no water is,"hyperlink because as it cannot of itself enlighten itself, so it cannot of itself satisfy itself. For so is the fountain of life with Thee, like as in Thy light we shall see light.hyperlink

Chapter XVII.-Allegorical Explanation of the Sea and the Fruit-Bearing Earth-Verses 9 and 11.

20. Who hath gathered the embittered together into one society? For they have all the same end, that of temporal and earthly happiness, on account of which they do all things, although they may fluctuate with an innumerable variety of cares. Who, O Lord, unless Thou, saidst, Let the waters be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear,hyperlink which "thirsteth after Thee"?hyperlink For the sea also is Thine,and Thou hast made it, and Thy hands prepared the dry land.hyperlink For neither is the bitterness of men's wills, but the gathering together of waters called sea; for Thou even curbest the wicked desires of men's souls, and fixest their bounds, how far they may be permitted to advance,hyperlink and that their waves may be broken against each other; and thus dost Thou make it a sea, by the order of Thy dominion over all things.

21. But as for the souls that thirst after Thee, and that appear before Thee (being by other bounds divided from the society of the sea), them Thou waterest by a secret and sweet spring, that the earth may bring forth her fruit,hyperlink and, Thou, O Lord God, so commanding, our soul may bud forth works of mercy according to their kind,hyperlink -loving our neighbour in the relief of his bodily necessities, having seed in itself according to its likeness, when from our infirmity we compassionate even to the relieving of the needy; helping them in a like manner as we would that help should be brought unto us if we were in a like need; not only in the things that are easy, as in "herb yielding seed," but also in the protection of our assistance, in our very strength, like the tree yielding fruit; that is, a good turn in delivering him who suffers an injury from the hand of the powerful, and in furnishing him with the shelter of protection by the mighty strength of just judgment.

Chapter XVIII.-Of the Lights and Stars of Heaven-Of Day and Night, Ver. 14.

22. Thus, O Lord, thus, I beseech Thee, let there arise, as Thou makest, as Thou givest joy and ability,-let "truth spring out of the earth, and righteousness look down from heaven," and let there be "lights in the firmament."hyperlink Let us break our bread to the hungry, and let us bring the houseless poor to our house.hyperlink Let us clothe the naked, and despise not those of our own flesh. The which fruits having sprung forth from the earth, behold, because it is good;hyperlink and let our temporary light burst forth;hyperlink and let us, from this inferior fruit of action, possessing the delights of contemplation and of the Word of Life above, let us appear as lights in the world,hyperlink clinging to the firmament of Thy Scripture. For therein Thou makest it plain unto us, that we may distinguish between things intelligible and things of sense, as if between the day and the night; or between souls, given, some to things intellectual, others to things of sense; so that now not Thou only in the secret of Thy judgment, as before the firmament was made, dividest between the light and the darkness, but Thy spiritual children also, placed and ranked in the same firmament (Thy grace being manifest throughout the world), may give light upon the earth, and divide between the day and night, and be for signs of times; because "old things have passed away," and "behold all things are become new;"hyperlink and "because our salvation is nearer than when we believed;"hyperlink and because "the night is far spent, the day is at hand;"hyperlink and because Thou wilt crown Thy year with blessing,hyperlink sending the labourers of Thy goodness into Thy harvest,hyperlink in the sowing of which others have laboured, sending also into another field, whose harvest shall be in the end.hyperlink Thus Thou grantest the prayers of him that asketh, and blessest the years of the just;hyperlink but Thou art the same, and in Thy years which fail nothyperlink Thou preparest a garner for our passing years. For by an eternal counsel Thou dost in their proper seasons bestow upon the earth heavenly blessings.

23. For, indeed, to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, as if the greater light, on account of those who are delighted with the light of manifest truth, as in the beginning of the day; but to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, as if the lesser light;hyperlink to another faith; to another the gift of healing; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another the discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues. And all these as stars. For all these worketh the one and self-same Spirit, dividing to every man his own as He willeth;hyperlink and making stars appear manifestly, to profit withal.hyperlink But the word of knowledge, wherein are contained all sacraments,hyperlink which are varied in their periods like the moon, and the other conceptions of gifts, which are successively reckoned up as stars, inasmuch as they come short of that splendour of wisdom in which the fore-entioned day rejoices, are only for the beginning of the night. For they are necessary to such as he Thy most prudent servant could not speak unto as unto spiritual, but as unto carnalhyperlink -even he who speaketh wisdom among those that are perfect.hyperlink But the natural man, as a babe in Christ,-and a drinker of milk,-until he be strengthened for solid meat,hyperlink and his eye be enabled to look upon the Sun,hyperlink let him not dwell in his own deserted night, but let him be contented with the light of the moon and the stars. Thou reasonest these things with us, our All-wise God, in Thy Book, Thy firmament, that we may discern all things in an admirable contemplation, although as yet in signs, and in times, and in days, and in years.

Chapter XIX.-All Men Should Become Lights in the Firmament of Heaven.

24. But first, "Wash you, make you clean;"hyperlink put away iniquity from your souls, and from before mine eyes, that the dry land may appear. "Learn to do well; judge the fatherless; plead for the widow,"hyperlink that the earth may bring forth the green herb for meat, and the tree bearing fruit;hyperlink and come let us reason together, saith the Lord,hyperlink that there may be lights in the firmament of heaven, and that they may shine upon the earth.hyperlink That rich man asked of the good Master what he should do to attain eternal life.hyperlink Let the good Master, whom he thought a man, and nothing more, tell him (but He is "good" because He is God)-let Him tell him, that if he would "enter into life" he must "keep the commandments;"hyperlink let him banish from himself the bitterness of malice and wickedness;hyperlink let him not kill, nor commit adultery, nor steal, nor bear false witness; that the dry land may appear, and bud forth the honouring of father and mother, and the love of our neighbour.hyperlink All these, saith he, have I kept.hyperlink Whence, then, are there so many thorns, if the earth be fruitful? Go, root up the woody thicket of avarice; sell that thou hast, and be filled with fruit by giving to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and follow the Lord "if thou wilt be perfect,"hyperlink coupled with those amongst whom He speaketh wisdom, Who knoweth what to distribute to the day and to the night, that thou also mayest know it, that for thee also there may be lights in the firmament of heaven, which will not be unless thy heart be there;hyperlink which likewise also will not be unless thy treasure be there, as thou hast heard from the good Master. But the barren earth was grieved,hyperlink and the thorns choked the word.hyperlink

25. But you, "chosen generation,hyperlink you weak things of the world," who have forsaken all things that you might "follow the Lord," go after Him, and "confound the things which are mighty;"hyperlink go after Him, ye beautiful feet,hyperlink and shine in the firmament,hyperlink that the heavens may declare His glory, dividing between the light of the perfect, though not as of the angels, and the darkness of the little, though not despised ones. Shine over all the earth, and let the day, lightened by the sun, utter unto day the word of wisdom; and let night, shining by the moon, announce unto night the word of knowledge.hyperlink The moon and the stars shine for the night, but the night obscureth them not, since they illumine it in its degree. For behold God (as it were) saying, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven." There came suddenly a sound from heaven, as it had been the rushing of a mighty wind, and there appeared cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.hyperlink And there were made lights in the firmament of heaven, having the word of life.hyperlink Run ye to and fro everywhere, ye holy fires, ye beautiful fires; for ye are the light of the world,hyperlink nor are ye put under a bushel.hyperlink He to whom ye cleave is exalted, and hath exalted you. Run ye to and fro, and be known unto all nations.

Chapter XX.-Concerning Reptiles and Flying Creatures (Ver. 20),-The Sacrament of Baptism Being Regarded.

26. Let the sea also conceive and bring forth your works, and let the waters bring forth the moving creatures that have life.hyperlink For ye, who "take forth the precious from the vile,"hyperlink have been made the mouth of God, through which He saith, "Let the waters bring forth," not the living creature which the earth bringeth forth, but the moving creature having life, and the fowls that fly above the earth. For Thy sacraments, O God, by the ministry of Thy holy ones, have made their way amid the billows of the temptations of the world, to instruct the Gentiles in Thy Name, in Thy Baptism. And amongst these things, many great works of wonder have been wrought, like as great whales; and the voices of Thy messengers flying above the earth, near to the firmament of Thy Book; that being set over them as an authority, under which they were to fly whithersoever they were to go. For "there is no speech, nor language, where their voice is not heard;" seeing their soundhyperlink "hath gone through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world," because Thou, O Lord, hast multiplied these things by blessing.hyperlink

27. Whether do I lie, or do I mingle and confound, and not distinguish between the clear knowledge of these things that are in the firmament of heaven, and the corporeal works in the undulating sea and under the firmament of heaven? For of those things whereof the knowledge is solid and defined, without increase by generation, as it were lights of wisdom and knowledge, yet of these self-same things the material operations are many and varied; and one thing in growing from another is multiplied by Thy blessing, O God, who hast refreshed the fastidiousness of mortal senses; so that in the knowledge of our mind, one thing may, through the motions of the body, be in many wayshyperlink set out and expressed. These sacraments have the waters brought forth;hyperlink but in Thy Word. The wants of the people estranged from the eternity of Thy truth have produced them, but in Thy Gospel; because the waters themselves have cast them forth, the bitter weakness of which was the cause of these things being sent forth in Thy Word.

28. Now all things are fair that Thou hast made, but behold, Thou art inexpressibly fairer who hast made all things; from whom had not Adam fallen, the saltness of the sea would never have flowed from him,-the human race so profoundly curious, and boisterously swelling, and restlessly moving; and thus there would be no need that Thy dispensers should work in many waters,hyperlink in a corporeal and sensible manner, mysterious doings and sayings. For so these creeping and flying creatures now present themselves to my mind, whereby men, instructed, initiated, and subjected by corporeal sacraments, should not further profit, unless their soul had a higher spiritual life, and unless, after the word of admission, it looked forwards to perfection.hyperlink

Chapter XXI.-Concerning the Living Soul, Birds, and Fishes (Ver. 24)-The Sacrament of the Eucharist Being Regarded.

29. And hereby, in Thy Word, not the depth of the sea, but the earth parted from the bitterness of the waters,hyperlink bringeth forth not the creeping and flying creature that hath life,hyperlink but the living soul itself.hyperlink For now hath it no longer need of baptism, as the heathen have, and as itself had when it was covered with the waters,-for no other entrance is there into the kingdom of heaven,hyperlink since Thou hast appointed that this should be the entrance,-nor does it seek great works of miracles by which to cause faith; for it is not such that, unless it shall have seen signs and wonders, it will not believe,hyperlink when now the faithful earth is separated from the waters of the sea, rendered bitter by infidelity; and "tongues are for a sign, not to those that believe, but to those that believe not."hyperlink Nor then doth the earth, which Thou hast founded above the waters,hyperlink stand in need of that flying kind which at Thy word the waters brought forth. Send Thy word forth into it by Thy messengers. For we relate their works, but it is Thou who workest in them, that in it they may work out a living soul. The earth bringeth it forth, because the earth is the cause that they work these things in the soul; as the sea has been the cause that they wrought upon the moving creatures that have life, and the fowls that fly under the firmament of heaven, of which the earth hath now no need; although it feeds on the fish which was taken out of the deep, upon that table which Thou hast prepared in the presence of those that believe.hyperlink For therefore He was raised from the deep, that He might feed the dry land; and the fowl, though bred in the sea, is yet multiplied upon the earth. For of the first preachings of the Evangelists, the infidelity of men was the prominent cause; but the faithful also are exhorted, and are manifoldly blessed by them day by day. But the living soul takes its origin from the earth, for it is not profitable, unless to those already among the faithful, to restrain themselves from the love of this world, that so their soul may live unto Thee, which was dead while living in pleasures,hyperlink -in death-bearing pleasures, O Lord, for Thou art the vital delight of the pure heart.

30. Now, therefore, let Thy ministers work upon the earth,-not as in the waters of infidelity, by announcing and speaking by miracles, and sacraments, and mystic words; in which ignorance, the mother of admiration, may be intent upon them, in fear of those hidden signs. For such is the entrance unto the faith for the sons of Adam forgetful of Thee, while they hide themselves from Thy face,hyperlink and become a darksome deep. But let Thy ministers work even as on the dry land, separated from the whirlpools of the great deep; and let them be an example unto the faithful, by living before them, and by stimulating them to imitation. For thus do men hear not with an intent to hear merely, but to act also. Seek the Lord, and your soul shall live,hyperlink that the earth may bring forth the living soul. "Be not conformed to this world."hyperlink Restrain yourselves from it; the soul lives by avoiding those things which it dies by affecting. Restrain yourselves from the unbridled wildness of pride, from the indolent voluptuousness of luxury, and from the false name of knowledge;hyperlink so that wild beasts may be tamed, the cattle subdued, and serpents harmless. For these are the motions of the mind in allegory; that is to say, the haughtiness of pride, the delight of lust, and the poison of curiosity are the motions of the dead soul; for the soul dies not so as to lose all motion, because it dies by forsaking the fountain of life,hyperlink and so is received by this transitory world, and is conformed unto it.

31. But Thy Word, O God, is the fountain of eternal life, and passeth not away; therefore this departure is kept in check by Thy word when it is said unto us, "Be not conformed unto this world,"hyperlink so that the earth may bring forth a living soul in the fountain of life,-a soul restrained in Thy Word, by Thy Evangelists, by imitating the followers of Thy Christ.hyperlink For this is after his kind; because a man is stimulated to emulation by his friend.hyperlink "Be ye," saith he, "as I am, for I am as you are."hyperlink Thus in the living soul shall there be good beasts, in gentleness of action. For Thou hast commanded, saying, Go on with thy business in meekness, and thou shalt be beloved by all men;hyperlink and good cattle, which neither if they eat, shall they over-abound, nor if they do not eat, have they any want;hyperlink and good serpents, not destructive to do hurt, but "wise"hyperlink to take heed; and exploring only so much of this temporal nature as is sufficient that eternity may be "clearly seen, being understood by the things that are."hyperlink For these animals are subservient to reason,hyperlink when, being kept in check from a deadly advance, they live, and are good.



Footnotes



74 Ibid. ver. 4.

75 Ibid. ver. 5.

76 Ps. cxix. 105.

77 Job xiv. 13.

78 Eph. ii. 3, and v. 8.

79 Rom. viii. 10.

80 Cant. ii. 17.

81 Ps. v. 3

82 Ps. xxx. 12

83 Ps. xliii. 5.

84 Rom. viii. 11.

85 2 Cor. i. 22.

86 Rom. viii. 24.

87 Though of the light, we are not yet in the light; and though, in this grey dawn of the coming day, we have a foretaste of the vision that shall be, we cannot hope, as he says in Ps. v. 4, to "see Him as He is" until the darkness of sin be overpast.

88 Eph. v. 8, and 1 Thess. v. 5.

89 Ps. vii. 9.

90 Gen. i. 5.

91 1 Cor. iv. 7.

92 Rom. ix. 21.

93 Gen. i. 6.

94 See sec. 33, below, and references there given.

95 Isa. xxxiv. 4, and Rev. vi. 14.

96 Ps. civ. 2; in the Vulg. being, "extendens caelum sicut pellem." The LXX. agrees with the Vulg. in translating hckayeIiiyeb@ei

, "as a curtain," by "as a skin."

97 Gen. iii. 21. Skins he makes the emblems of mortality, as being taken from dead animals. See p. 112, note 8, above.

98 That is, the firmament of Scripture was after man's sin stretched over him as a parchment scroll,-stretched over him for his enlightenment by the ministry of mortal men. This idea is enlarged on in Ps. viii. 4, sec. 7, etc., xviii. sec. 2, xxxii. 6, 7, and cxlvi. 8, sec. 15.

99 We have the same idea in Ps. ciii. sec. 8: "Cum enim viverent nondum erat extenta pellis, nondum erat extentum caelum, ut tegeret orbem terrarum."

100 Ps. viii. 3.

101 Ps. xix. 7. See p. 62, note 6, above.

102 Ps. viii. 2.

103 He alludes to the Manichaeans. See notes, pp. 67, 81, and 87.

104 See part 2 of note 8 on p. 76, above.

105 Ps. xix. 8.

106 Matt. xviii. 10.

107 "Legunt, eligunt, et diligunt."

108 Isa. xxxiv. 4.

109 Ps. xxxvi. 5.

110 Matt. xxiv. 35.

111 Isa. xxxiv. 4.

112 Isa. xl. 6-8. The law of storms, and that which regulates the motions of the stars or the ebbing and flowing of the tides, may change at the "end of the world." But the moral law can know no change, for while the first is arbitrary, the second is absolute. On the difference between moral and natural law, see Candlish, Reason and Revelation, "Conscience and the Bible."

113 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

114 1 John iii. 2.

115 Cant. ii. 9.

116 Cant. i. 3.

117 1 John iii. 2.

118 See Dean Mansel on this place (Bampton Lectures, lect. v. note 18), who argues that revelation is clear and devoid of mystery when viewed as intended "for our practical guidance," and not as a matter of speculation. He says: "The utmost deficiency that can be charged against human faculties amounts only to this, that we cannot say that we know God as God knows Himself,-that the truth of which our finite minds are susceptible may, for aught we know, be but the passing shadow of some higher reality, which exists only in the Infinite Intelligence." He shows also that this deficiency pertains to the human faculties as such, and that, whether they set themselves to consider the things of nature or revelation. See also p. 193, note 8, above, and notes, pp. 197, 198, below.

119 Ps. lxiii. 1.

120 Ps. xxxvi. 9.

121 Gen. i. 9. In his comment on Psalm lxiv. 6 (sec. 9), he interprets "the sea," allegorically, of the wicked world. Hence were the disciples called "fishers of men." If the fishers have taken us in the nets of faith, we are to rejoice, because the net will be dragged to the shore. On the providence of God, regulating the wickedness of men, See p. 79, note 4, above.

122 Ps. cxliii. 6, and lxiii. 1.

123 Ps. xcv. 5.

124 Ps. civ. 9, and Job xxxviii. 11, 12.

125 Gen. i. 11. As he interprets (See sec. 20, note, above) the sea as the world, so he tells us in Ps. lxvi. 6, sec. 8, that when the earth, full of thorns, thirsted for the waters of heaven, God in His mercy sent His apostles to preach the gospel, whereon the earth brought forth that fruit which fills the world; that is, the earth bringing forth fruit represents the Church.

126 Ps. lxxxv. 11.

127 Gen. i. 14.

128 Isa. lviii. 7.

129 Gen. i. 12.

130 Isa. lviii. 8.

131 Phil. ii. 15.

132 2 Cor. v. 17.

133 Rom. xiii. 11, 12.

134 Rom. xiii. 11, 12.

135 Ps. lxv. 11.

136 Matt. ix. 38.

137 Matt. xiii. 39.

138 Prov. x. 6.

139 Ps. cii. 27.

140 Compare his De Trin. xii. 22-55, where, referring to I Cor. xii. 8, he explains that "knowledge" has to do with action, or that by which we use rightly things temporal: while wisdom has to do with the contemplation of things eternal. See also in Ps. cxxxv. sec. 8.

141 1 Cor. xii. 8-11.

142 1 Cor xii 7.

143 1 Cor xiii. 2. The Authorized Version and the Vulgate render more correctly, "mysteries." From Palmer (See p. 118, note 3, above), we learn that "the Fathers gave the name of sacrament or mystery to everything which conveyed one signification or property to unassisted reason, and another to faith;" while, at the same time, they counted Baptism and the Lord's Supper as the two great sacraments. The sacraments, then, used in this sense are "varied in their periods," and Augustin, in Ps. lxxiii. 2, speaks of distinguishing between the sacraments of the Old Testament and the sacraments of the New. "Sacramenta novi Testamenti" he says, "dant salutem, sacramenta veteris Testamenti promiserunt salvatorem." So also in Ps. xlvi. he says: "Our Lord God varying, indeed, the sacraments of the words, but commending unto us one faith, hath diffused through the sacred Scriptures manifoldly and variously the faith in which we live, and by which we live. For one and the same thing is said in many ways, that it may be varied in the manner of speaking in order to prevent aversion, but may be preserved as one with a view to concord."

144 1 Cor. iii. 1.

145 1 Cor. ii. 6.

146 1 Cor. iii. 2, and Heb. v. 12. The allusion in our text is to what is called the Disciplina Arcani of the early Church. Clement of Alexandria, in his Stromata, enters at large into the matter of esoteric teaching, and traces its use amongst the Hebrews, Greeks, and Egyptians. Clement, like Chrysostom and other Fathers, supports this principle of interpretation on the authority of St. Paul in Heb. v. and vi., referred to by Augustin above. He says (as quoted by Bishop Kaye, Clement of Alexandria, ch. iv. p. 183): "Babes must be fed with milk, the perfect man with solid food; milk is catechetical instruction, the first nourishment of the soul; solid food, contemplation penetrating into all mysteries (h9 e0poptikh' qewria), the blood and flesh of the Word, the comprehension of the Divine power and essence." Augustin, therefore, when he speaks of being "contented with the light of the moon and stars," alludes to the partial knowledge imparted to the catechumen during his probationary period before baptism. It was only as competentes, and ready for baptism, that the catechumens were taught the Lord's Prayer and the Creed. We have already adverted to this matter in note 4 on p. 89, and need not now do more than refer the reader to Dr. Newman's Arians. In ch. i. sec. 3 of that work, there are some most interesting pages on this subject, in its connection with the Catechetical School of Alexandria. See also p. 118, note 8, above; Palmer, Origines Liturgicae, iv. sec. 7: and note 1, below.

147 Those ready for strong meat were called "illuminated" (See p. 118, note 4, above), as their eyes were "enabled to look upon the Sun." We have frequent traces in Augustin's writings of the Neo-Platonic doctrine that the soul has a capacity to see God, even as the eye the sun. In Serm. lxxxviii. 6 he says: "Daretne tibi unde videres solem quem fecit, et non tibi daret unde videres eum qui te fecit, cum te ad imaginem suam fecerit?" And, referring to 1 John iii. 2, he tells us in Ep. xcii. 3, that not with the bodily eye shall we see God, but with the inner, which is to be renewed day by day: "We shall, therefore, see Him according to the measure in which we shall be like Him; because now the measure in which we do not see Him is according to the measure of our unlikeness to Him." Compare also Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, c. 4: "Plato, indeed, says, that the mind's eye is of such a nature, and has been given for this end, that we may see that very Being who is the cause of all when the mind is pure itself." Some interesting remarks on this subject, and on the three degrees of divine knowledge as held by the Neo-Platonists, will be found in John Smith's Select Discourses, pp. 2 and 165 (Cambridge 1860). On growth in grace, See note 4, p. 140, above.

148 "He alludes to the sacrament of Baptism."-W. W.

149 Isa. i. 16, 19.

150 Gen. i. 11, 30.

151 Isa. i. l8.

152 Gen. i. 15.

153 Matt. xix. 16.

154 Ibid. ver. 17.

155 1Cor. v. 8.

156 Matt. xix. 16-19.

157 Ibid. ver. 20.

158 Ibid. ver. 21.

159 Matt. vi. 21.

160 Matt. xix. 22.

161 Matt. xiii. 7, 22.

162 1 Pet. ii. 9.

163 1 Cor. i. 27.

164 Isa. lii. 7.

165 Dan. xii. 3.

166 Ps. xix.

167 Acts ii. 3.

168 1 John i. 1.

169 That is, as having their light from Him who is their central Sun (See p. 76, note 2, above). For it is true of all Christians in relation to their Lord, as he says of John the Baptist (Serm. ccclxxxii. 7): "Johannes lumen illuminatum: Christus lumen illuminans." See also note 1, above.

170 Matt. v. 14.

171 Gen. i. 20.

172 Jer. xv. 19.

173 Ps. xix. 3, 4. The word "sound" in this verse (as given in the LXX. and Vulg.), is in the Hebrew sw@kaqrke

, which is rightly rendered in the Authorized Version a "line" or "rule." It may be noted, in connection with Augustin's interpretation, that the word "firmament" in the first verse of this psalm is the Ckayqkae

of Gen. i. 7: translated in both places by the LXX. steriwma The "heavens" and the "firmament" are constantly interpreted by the Fathers as referring to the apostles and their firmness in teaching the word: and this is supported by reference to St. Paul's quotation of the text in Rom. x. 18: "But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."

174 Gen. i. 4.

175 See end of note 17, p. 197, above.

176 "He alludes to Baptism in water, accompanied with the word of the gospel; of the institution whereof man's misery was the occasion."-W. W.

177 See sec. 20, note, above.

178 "He means that Baptism, which is the sacrament of initiation, was not so profitable without the Lord's Supper, which ancients called the sacrament of perfection or consummation."-W. W. Compare also sec. 24, note, and p. 140, note 3, above.

179 See sec. 20, note, and sec. 21, note, above.

180 Gen. i. 20.

181 Gen. ii. 7.

182 John iii. 5.

183 John iv. 48.

184 1 Cor. xiv. 22.

185 "Fundasti super aquas," which is the Old Ver. of Ps. cxxxvi. 6. Augustin sometimes uses a version with "firmavit terram," which corresponds to the LXX., but the Authorized Version renders the Hebrew more accurately by "stretched out." In his comment on this place he applies this text to baptism as being the entrance into the Church, and in this he is followed by many mediaeval writers.

186 Ps. xxiii. 5. Many of the Fathers interpret this text of the Lord's Supper, as Augustin does above. The fish taken out of the deep, which is fed upon, means Christ, in accordance with the well-known acrostic of IlQUS "If," he says in his De Civ. Dei, xviii. 23, "you join the initial letters of these five Greek words, Ihsou=j Xristoj qeou= Uio/j Swt'hr, which mean, `Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Saviour,


0' they will make the word ixquj,,-that is, `fish,


0' in which word Christ is mystically understood, because He was able to live, that is, to exist without sin in the abyss of this mortality as in the depth of waters." So likewise we find Tertullian saying in his De Bapt. chap. i.: "Nos pisciculi, secundum IXQUN nostrum Jesum Christum in aqua nascimur; nec aliter quam in aqua permanendo salvi sumus." See Bishop Kaye's Tertullian, pp. 43, 44; and sec. 34, below.

187 1 Tim. v. 6.

188 Gen. iii. 8.

189 Ps. lxix. 32.

190 Rom. xii. 2.

191 1Tim. vi. 20. See p. 153, note 7, above.

192 Jer. ii. 13. See p. 133, note 2, and p. 129, note 8, above.

193 Rom. xii. 2.

194 1 Cor. xi. 1.

195 See p. 71, note 3, above.

196 Gal. iv. 12.

197 Ecclus. iii. 17, etc.

198 1 Cor. viii. 8.

199 Matt. x. 16.

200 Rom. i. 20.

201 In his De Gen. con. Manich. i. 20, he interprets the dominion given to man over the beasts of his keeping in subjection the passions of the soul, so as to attain true happiness.