Augustinus, In Joannis Evangelium tractatus XX-XXV

of the Prophets, the fulfiller of the Prophets, the sanctifier of the Prophets, but also a prophet: for it was also said to Moses, I will raise up for them a prophet like you. Like according to the flesh, not according to majesty. And that this promise of the Lord is to be understood of Christ Himself is openly set forth and read in the Acts of the Apostles (Deut. 18:18; Acts 7:37). And the Lord Himself says of Himself, A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country (John 4:44). The Lord is a prophet, and the Lord is the Word of God, and no prophet prophesies without the Word of God: the Word of God is with the Prophets, and the Word of God is a prophet. Former times were found worthy of Prophets inspired and filled with the Word of God: we have been found worthy of a prophet who is the very Word of God. Thus Christ is a prophet, the Lord of the Prophets; just as Christ is an angel, the Lord of the Angels. For He Himself was also called the Angel of great counsel (Isa. 9:6, according to the LXX). And yet what does the prophet say elsewhere? That not an envoy nor an angel, but He Himself coming will save them (Isa. 35:4): that is, to save them He will not send an envoy, He will not send an angel, but He will come Himself. Who will come? The angel Himself. Certainly not through an angel, except that He is an angel in such a way as to be also the Lord of the Angels. For angels in Latin are messengers. If Christ announced nothing, He would not be called an angel: if Christ prophesied nothing, He would not be called a prophet. He exhorted us to faith, and to laying hold of eternal life: something present He announced, something future He foretold: in that He announced something present, He was an angel; in that He foretold something future, He was a prophet: in that the Word of God was made flesh, He was the Lord both of the Angels and of the Prophets.

Tractate 25.

From where it is written, Jesus therefore, when He had learned that they had come to seize Him; as far as this, And I will raise him up on the last day. Chapter 6, verses 15-44.

1. The reading that follows yesterday's reading from the Gospel is today's, and from it today's sermon is owed. When that miracle had been done, in which Jesus fed five thousand men from five loaves, and the crowds had marvelled and were saying that He was the great Prophet who has come into the world, this follows: Jesus therefore, when He had learned that they had come to seize Him and make Him king, fled again to the mountain, Himself alone. We are therefore given to understand that the Lord, when He was sitting on the mountain with His disciples and saw the crowds coming to Him, had come down from the mountain and had fed the crowds in the lower places round about. For how can it be that He fled there again, unless He had first come down from the mountain? It signifies something, then, that the Lord came down from on high to feed the crowds. He fed them, and went up.

2. But why did He go up, when He had learned that they wanted to seize Him and make Him king? For what? Was He not a king, He who feared to be made king? He was altogether: but not such a king as would be made by men, but such a king as would give a kingdom to men. Does Jesus perhaps signify something to us here too, He whose deeds are words? So in this, that they wanted to seize Him and make Him king,

and for this reason He fled to the mountain Himself alone; is this deed of His silent, saying nothing, signifying nothing? Or perhaps this was to seize Him, to wish to anticipate the time of His kingdom? For He had come now, not to reign already, in the way in which He is going to reign in respect of what we say, Thy kingdom come (Matt. 6:10). He indeed always reigns with the Father according as He is the Son of God, the Word of God, the Word through Whom all things were made. But the Prophets foretold His kingdom also according as Christ was made man, and made His faithful ones Christians. There will therefore be a kingdom of Christians, which is now being gathered, which is now being acquired, which is now being bought with the blood of Christ: at some time His kingdom will be manifest, when the glory of His saints will be laid open after the judgement made by Him; which judgement He Himself said above that the Son of Man would make (John 5:22). Of which kingdom the Apostle also said: When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God and the Father (1 Cor. 15:24). Whence He Himself also says: Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world (Matt. 25:34). But the disciples and the crowds believing in Him thought that He had come in such a way that He might reign already: this is to wish to seize Him and make Him king, to wish to anticipate His time, which He was keeping hidden with Himself, so that He might bring it forth at the fitting time, and at the fitting time declare it at the end of the age.

3. For that you may know that they wished to make Him king, that is, to anticipate and to have already the manifest kingdom of Christ, Who first had to be judged and then to judge: when He was crucified, and those who hoped in Him had lost hope of His resurrection, rising from the dead He found two of them talking with one another in despair, and with groaning conversing about the things that had been done; and appearing to them as one unknown, since their eyes were held so that He should not be recognized by them, He joined in their talk as they discussed it: and they, telling Him what they were talking about, said that that prophet, great in deeds and words, had been killed by the chief priests; And we, they say, were hoping that He was the one who would redeem Israel (Luke 24:13–21). Rightly you were hoping, truly you were hoping: in Him is the redemption of Israel. But why do you hasten? You wish to seize. This too points out this sense to us, that when the disciples were asking Him about the end, they said to Him: If at this time Thou wilt present Thyself, and when will be the kingdom of Israel? For they were longing for it to be already, they were wanting it already; this is to wish to seize, and to make Him king. But He says to the disciples, since He was still going to ascend alone: It is not yours, He says, to know the times or moments which the Father has placed in His own power: but you will receive power from on high, the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and even to the ends

of the earth (Acts 1:6–8). You want Me to show you the kingdom now; let Me first gather what I am to show: you love the height, and you will attain the height; but follow Me by way of humility. Thus too it was foretold of Him, And the congregation of peoples shall surround Thee, and for its sake return Thou on high (Ps. 7:8); that is, so that the congregation of peoples may surround Thee, so that Thou mayest gather many, return on high. So He did; He fed, and He ascended.

4. But why was it said, He fled? For truly He would not have been held if He did not will it, He would not have been seized if He did not will it, He who, if He did not will it, would not even have been recognized. For so that you may know that this was done mystically, not out of necessity but by an arrangement that signifies something, you will see presently in what follows; for He appeared to the same crowds that were seeking Him, and speaking with them He said many things to them, He discoursed at length about the heavenly bread: was He not discoursing about bread with the very people from whom He had fled so as not to be held? Could He not, then, have acted at that time too so as not to be seized by them, just as later, when He was speaking with them? So He signified something by fleeing. What is, He fled? His height could not be understood. For whatever you have not understood, you say, It escapes me. Therefore He fled again into the mountain Himself alone. The Firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18), ascending above all the heavens, and interceding for us (Rom. 8:34).

5. Meanwhile, He being placed on high, the sole great priest (Who has entered into the inner parts of the veil, the people being stationed outside; for that priest in the old Law, who did this once a year, signified Him [Heb. 9:12]): He being placed on high, then, what were the disciples in the boat suffering? For while He was stationed in the heights, that boat prefigured the Church. If we do not first understand in the Church this which that boat was suffering, those things were not significant but simply passing events: but if we see the truth of those significations expressed in the Church, it is plain that the deeds of Christ are kinds of speech. And when it was evening, he says, His disciples went down to the sea: and when they had gone up into a boat, they came across the sea to Capernaum. He quickly told as finished what was done afterwards. They came across the sea to Capernaum. And he goes back to explain how they came, namely that they crossed over sailing through the lake. And while they were sailing to the place to which he has already said that they came, he explains by way of recapitulation what happened: Darkness had already fallen, and Jesus had not come to them. Rightly darkness, because the light had not come: Darkness had already fallen, and Jesus had not come to them. The nearer the end of the world approaches, errors increase, terrors multiply, iniquity increases, unbelief increases: in short, the light which, in John the evangelist himself, is shown clearly and openly to be charity, so that he said, He who hates his brother is in darkness (1 John 2:11), is very often extinguished: these darknesses of hatreds between brothers increase, they increase daily; and Jesus has not yet come. From what is it apparent that they increase? Because iniquity shall abound, the charity of many shall grow cold. Darkness increases, and Jesus has not yet come. As darkness increases, as charity grows cold, as iniquity abounds, these are the waves troubling the ship: the storms and winds are the clamours

of the slanderers. Thence charity grows cold, thence the waves increase, and the ship is tossed.

6. A great wind was blowing and the sea was rising. The darkness was growing, understanding was diminishing, iniquity was increasing. When therefore they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia. Meanwhile they were going on, they were making headway, and those winds and storms and waves and darkness did not bring it about either that the ship should make no headway, or that it should break up and sink: but amid all those evils it went on. For because iniquity has abounded, and the charity of many grows cold, the waves grow, the darkness increases, the wind rages: but nevertheless the ship goes on. For whoever shall have persevered unto the end, he shall be saved (Matt. 24:12–13). Nor is the very number of the stadia to be despised. For what was said could not truly signify nothing: When they had rowed twenty-five or thirty stadia, then Jesus comes to them. Twenty-five would have sufficed, thirty would have sufficed, especially since it was the word of one estimating, not affirming. Would truth be endangered in one estimating, if he said about thirty stadia, or about twenty-five stadia? But out of twenty-five he made thirty. Let us examine the number twenty-five. Of what does it consist, from what is it made? From five. That number five pertains to the Law. These are the five books of Moses, these are those five porticoes holding the sick, these the five loaves feeding five thousand men. Therefore the number twenty-five signifies the Law: since five by five, that is, five times five, make twenty-five, the square of five. But to this Law, before the Gospel came, perfection was lacking. Now perfection is comprised in the number six. Therefore in six days God perfected the world (Gen. 1), and those five are multiplied by six, so that the Law may be fulfilled through the Gospel, so that six times five may become thirty. To those therefore who fulfil the Law Jesus comes. And He comes, how? Treading on the waves; having all the swellings of the world under His feet, pressing down all the heights of the age. This is done the more time is added, and the further the age of the world advances. In this world tribulations increase, evils increase, crushings increase, all these things are heaped up: Jesus passes over, treading on the waves.

7. And yet so great are the tribulations that even those who have believed in Jesus, and who strive to persevere unto the end, are terrified lest they fail: while Christ treads on the waves and presses down the ambitions and heights of the age, the Christian is terrified. Were not these things foretold to him? Rightly too, when Jesus was walking on the waves, they feared: just as Christians, though they have hope in the age to come, when they see the height of this age pressed down, are for the most part troubled at the crushing of human affairs. They open the Gospel, they open the Scriptures; and they find there all these things foretold; for the Lord does this. He presses down the heights of the age, that He may be glorified by the humble. Of whose height it was foretold, Thou wilt destroy the most strongly fortified cities; and, The swords of the enemy have failed unto the end, and Thou hast destroyed cities (Ps. 9:7). Why then do you fear, Christians? Christ speaks: It is I, do not fear. Why at these things

are you terrified? What do you fear? I foretold these things, I do them, it is necessary that they come to pass. It is I, do not be afraid. They wished therefore to take Him into the ship, recognizing Him and rejoicing, made secure. And immediately the ship was at the land to which they were going. An end was made at the land: from the wet to the solid, from the troubled to the firm, from the journey to the end.

8. On the next day the crowd which stood across the sea, from where they had come, saw that there was no little boat there except one, and that He had not gone into the ship with His disciples, but His disciples alone had gone away; but other ships came from Tiberias, near the place where they had eaten the bread, giving thanks to the Lord. When therefore the crowds had seen that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they went up into the little boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. Yet so great a miracle was intimated to them. For they saw that the disciples alone had gone up into the ship, and that no other ship was there. But there came from there also ships near that place where they had eaten the bread, in which the crowds followed Him. He therefore had not gone up with the disciples, no other ship was there: how then did Jesus suddenly come to be across the sea, unless because He walked upon the sea, so as to show a miracle?

9. And when the crowds had found Him. See, He presents Himself to the crowds, by whom He had feared to be seized, and had fled into the mountain. He altogether confirms and intimates to us that all those things were said in a mystery, and done in a great sacrament, so that they might signify something. See, here is He Who had fled the crowds into the mountain: does He not speak with those very crowds? Now let them hold Him, now let them make Him king. And when they had found Him across the sea, they said to Him: Rabbi, when didst Thou come here?

10. He, after the sacrament of the miracle, brings in also a discourse, so that, if it can be done, those who were fed may be fed, and He may satisfy with discourses the minds of those whose bellies He satisfied with loaves; but only if they grasp it. And if they do not grasp it, let what they do not grasp be taken up, lest the fragments perish. Let Him speak, then, and let us hear. Jesus answered and said: Amen, amen I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of My loaves. You seek Me for the sake of the flesh, not for the sake of the spirit. How many do not seek Jesus except that He may do them good according to the time! One has a business matter, he seeks the intercession of the clergy; another is oppressed by someone more powerful, he flees to the church; another wants someone to intervene on his behalf with a person with whom he has little influence: this one thus, that one thus; the church is filled daily with such people. Scarcely is Jesus sought for the sake of Jesus. You seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of My loaves. Labour not for the food which perishes, but for that which endures unto eternal life. You seek Me for the sake of something else; seek Me for the sake of Me. For He intimates that He Himself is this food, which becomes clear in what follows. Which the Son of Man will give you. You were expecting, I think, to eat loaves again, to recline again,

to be fattened again. But He had said, food not that which perishes, but that which endures to eternal life: just as it had been said to that Samaritan woman, If you knew who it is that asks you for a drink, you would perhaps have asked of Him, and He would give you living water: when she said, From where [hast Thou it], since Thou hast no vessel for drawing, and the well is deep? He answered the Samaritan woman: If you knew who asks you for a drink, you would have asked of Him, and He would give you water, of which whoever drinks will thirst no more: for whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. And she rejoiced, and wished to receive it, as one who would no longer suffer bodily thirst, she who was wearied by the labour of drawing; and so, amid conversations of this kind, He came to the spiritual drink (John 4:5–26): entirely in the same way here too.

11. This food, then, not that which perishes, but that which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give you: for Him has God the Father sealed. Do not take this son of man as though He were like other sons of men, of whom it was said, But the sons of men will hope under the protection of Thy wings (Ps. 35:8). This son of man, set apart by a certain grace of the Spirit, and son of man according to the flesh, excepted from the number of men: He is the son of man. This son of man is also the Son of God, this man is also God. In another place, questioning His disciples, He says: Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am? And they: Some John, some Elijah, some Jeremiah, or one of the Prophets. And He: But whom do you say that I am? Peter answered: Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:13–16). He called Himself the Son of man, and Peter called Him the Son of the living God. Most fittingly did He call to mind what He had mercifully displayed; he called to mind that which abode in glory. The Word of God commends His humility, the man acknowledges the glory of his Lord. And truly, brethren, I think that this is just: He humbled Himself for our sake, let us glorify Him: for He is son of man not for His own sake, but for ours. So He was son of man in that manner, when the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14). For this is why God the Father sealed Him. What is it to seal, if not to put on something of one's own? For this is to seal: to put on something which is not to be confused with the rest. To seal is to put a sign on a thing. On whatever thing you put a sign, you put the sign for this reason, lest, confused with others, it could not be recognized by you. The Father, then, sealed Him. What is, He sealed? He gave Him something His own, so that He might not be compared with the rest of men. That is why it was said of Him, God, Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows (Ps. 44:8). So what is it to seal? To hold as excepted: that is, above Thy fellows. Therefore, He says, do not despise Me because I am son of man; and seek from Me the food not that which perishes, but that which endures to eternal life. For I am son of man in such a way that I am not one of you: I am son of man in such a way that God the Father sealed Me. What is, sealed? That He gave Me something My own, by which I might not be confused with the human race, but through Me the human race might be set free.

12. They said therefore to Him: What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? For He had said to them, Work for the food,

which does not perish, but which endures unto eternal life. What shall we do, they say? by observing what shall we be able to fulfil this precept? Jesus answered and said to them: This is the work of God, that you believe in Him Whom He has sent. This, then, is to eat the food, not that which perishes, but that which endures unto eternal life. Why do you make ready teeth and belly? Believe, and you have eaten. Faith is indeed distinguished from works, as the Apostle says, that a man is justified through faith without the works of the Law (Rom. 3:28); and there are works which seem good without faith in Christ; and they are not good, because they are not referred to that end from which they are good: For Christ is the end of the Law, unto justice for everyone who believes (Rom. 10:4). Therefore He did not wish to distinguish faith from work, but said that faith itself is a work. For it is that very faith which works through love (Gal. 5:6). Nor did He say, This is your work; but, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him Whom He has sent: so that he who glories may glory in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31). Since, therefore, He was inviting them to faith, they were still seeking signs by which they might believe. See whether the Jews do not ask for signs. They said therefore to Him, What sign, then, dost Thou do, that we may see and believe Thee? what dost Thou work? Was it a small thing that they had been fed from five loaves? They knew this indeed, but they preferred manna from heaven to this food. But the Lord Jesus was declaring Himself to be such that He set Himself above Moses. For Moses did not dare to say of himself that he would give food, not that which perishes, but that which endures unto eternal life. This man was promising something more than Moses. For through Moses there were promised a kingdom, and a land flowing with milk and honey, temporal peace, abundance of children, health of body, and all the rest, temporal indeed, yet spiritual in figure: because they were promised to the old man in the Old Testament. They therefore considered the things promised through Moses, and they considered the things promised through Christ. The one promised a full belly on earth, but with food which perishes; this one promised food, not that which perishes, but that which endures unto eternity. They considered Him promising more, and, as it were, did not yet see Him doing greater things. They therefore considered what sort of things Moses had done, and they still wanted some greater things to be done by Him Who was promising such great things. What, they say, dost Thou do, that we may believe Thee? And so that you may know that they were comparing those miracles with this miracle, and therefore were judging these things which Jesus was doing as lesser: Our fathers, they say, ate manna in the desert. But what is manna? Perhaps you despise it. As it is written, He gave them manna to eat. Through Moses our fathers received bread from heaven, and it was not said to them by Moses, Work for food, not that which perishes. Thou promisest food, not that which perishes, but that which endures unto eternal life, and Thou dost not work such works as Moses did. He did not give barley loaves, but he gave manna from heaven.

13. Jesus therefore said to them: Amen, amen I say to you, Moses did not give you bread from heaven, but My Father gave you bread from heaven. For the true bread is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. That bread, then, is true which gives life to the world; and it is itself the food of which I spoke a little before, Work for food, not that which

perishes, but which endures to life eternal. So that manna too signified this, and all those signs were Mine. You loved My signs; do you despise Him Who was signified? So it was not Moses who gave bread from heaven: God gives bread. But what bread? Manna, perhaps? No, but the bread which the manna signified, namely the Lord Jesus Himself. My Father gives you the true bread. For the bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. They said therefore to Him: Lord, give us this bread always. Just as that Samaritan woman, to whom it was said, Whoever drinks of this water will never thirst, at once taking it in the bodily sense, yet wishing to be free of want, said, Lord, give me of this water: so these too say, Lord, give us this bread, which may refresh us and not run out.

14. And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life: whoever comes to Me will not hunger; and whoever believes in Me will never thirst. Whoever comes to Me means the same as what He says, and whoever believes in Me; and what He said, will not hunger, is to be understood as, will never thirst. For by both is signified that eternal fullness where there is no want. You desire bread from heaven; you have it before you, and you do not eat. But I told you that you have both seen Me and have not believed. But I have not therefore lost the people. For has your unbelief made void the faithfulness of God (Rom. 3:3)? For see what follows: All that the Father gives Me will come to Me; and him who comes to Me I will not cast out. What sort of inner place is that, from which one does not go out? A great inner chamber, and a sweet secret place. O secret place without weariness, without the bitterness of evil thoughts, without the intrusion of temptations and sorrows! Is not that the secret place into which he will enter to whom the Lord will say, as to a well-deserving servant, Enter into the joy of your Lord (Matt. 25:23)?

15. And him who comes to Me I will not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me. Is it then for this reason that Thou wilt not cast out him who comes to Thee, because Thou didst come down from heaven not to do Thine own will, but the will of Him Who sent Thee? A great mystery! I beseech you, let us knock together; let something come out to us that may feed us, in accordance with what has delighted us. Great and sweet is that secret: Whoever comes to Me. Attend, attend, and weigh it: Whoever comes to Me, I will not cast out. So, whoever comes, He says, I will not cast out. Why? Because I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me. Is this then the reason why Thou dost not cast out him who comes to Thee, that Thou didst come down from heaven not to do Thine own will, but the will of Him Who sent Thee? It is. Why do we ask whether it is? It is; He Himself says so. For it is not lawful for us to suppose anything other than what He says: Whoever comes to Me, I will not cast out. And as if you were asking, Why? Because I did not come to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me. I fear that the soul went out from God for this reason, that it was proud; nay, I do not doubt it. For it is written, The beginning of all sin is pride; and, The beginning of man's pride is to apostatize from God. It is written, it is firm, it is true. Then, what of the proud

mortal is said, girded with the rags of flesh, weighed down by the burden of a corruptible body, and yet exalting himself and forgetting what skin he is clothed in: what does Scripture say to him? Why is earth and ashes proud? Why is it proud? Let it say why it is proud. Because in its life it has cast forth its inmost parts (Ecclus. 10:15, 14, 9–10). What is "has cast forth" but "has thrown far away"? This is to go out of doors. For to enter within is to seek the inmost things; to cast forth the inmost things is to go out of doors. The proud man casts forth the inmost things, the humble man seeks the inmost things. If we are cast out by pride, we return by humility.

16. The head of all diseases is pride, because the head of all sins is pride. When a physician deals with a sickness, if he cures what has come about through some cause, and does not cure the very cause by which it came about, he seems to heal for a time, but while the cause remains the disease returns. For example, to put it more plainly: a humour in the body produces scabs or ulcers; a great fever arises in the body, and no small pain; certain medicines are applied to check the scabs and to soothe that burning of the ulcer; and they are applied and they help: you see the man who was ulcerous and scabby made well; but because that humour has not been expelled, he returns again to the ulcer. The physician, knowing this, purges the humour, removes the cause, and there will be no ulcers. Whence does iniquity abound? Through pride. Cure pride, and there will be no iniquity. So, in order that the cause of all diseases, that is, pride, might be cured, the Son of God came down and was made humble. Why are you proud, man? God for your sake was made humble. You would perhaps be ashamed to imitate a humble man; at least imitate the humble God. The Son of God came in man, and was made humble: you are commanded to be humble, you are not commanded to become a beast instead of a man: He, God, was made man; you, man, recognize that you are man: your whole humility is that you know yourself. Therefore, because God teaches humility, He said, I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me. For this is a commendation of humility. Pride, indeed, does its own will; humility does the will of God. Therefore him who comes to Me I will not cast out of doors. Why? Because I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me. I came humble, I came to teach humility, I came as the master of humility: he who comes to Me is incorporated into Me; he who comes to Me becomes humble; he who cleaves to Me will be humble; because he does not do his own will, but God's; and therefore he will not be cast out of doors, because when he was proud, he was cast forth out of doors.

17. See those inner things commended in the Psalm: But the sons of men shall hope in the protection of Thy wings. See what it is to go within, see what it is to flee for refuge to His protection, see what it is even to run beneath a father's blows: for He scourges every son whom He receives. But the sons of men shall hope under the covering of Thy wings. And what is within? They shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house. When Thou hast sent [them] within, entering into the joy of their Lord; they shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house, and Thou shalt give them to drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure. For with Thee is the fountain of life. Not outside, apart from Thee, but within, with Thee, there is the fountain of life. And in Thy light we shall

see light. Stretch forth Thy mercy to those who know Thee, and Thy justice to those who are upright of heart. Those who follow the will of their Lord, not seeking their own things but the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are upright of heart; their feet are not moved. For good is the God of Israel to the upright of heart. But my feet, says he, were almost moved. Why? Because I was jealous of sinners, seeing the peace of sinners (Ps. 72:1–3). To whom, then, is God good, except to the upright of heart? For to me, with my twisted heart, God was displeasing. Why was He displeasing? Because He gave happiness to the wicked: and therefore my feet wavered, as though I had served God without cause. Therefore, then, my feet were almost moved, because I was not upright of heart. What, then, is upright of heart? Following the will of God. One man is happy, another toils: the one lives wickedly and is happy, the other lives justly and toils. Let not the one who lives justly and toils be indignant; he has within what that happy man does not have: so let him not be sad, let him not waste away, let him not fail. That happy man has gold in his chest, this one has God in his conscience. Compare now gold and God, the chest and the conscience. The former has that which perishes, and keeps it in a place from which it may be lost; the latter has God, Who cannot perish, and keeps Him in a place from which He cannot be taken away: but only if he is upright of heart; for then he enters, and does not go out. Therefore what was that man saying? For with Thee is the fountain of life: not with us. Therefore we must enter so that we may live, not as though we were sufficient for ourselves, so as to perish, not as though wishing to be satisfied from our own, so as to dry up: but we must put our mouth to the fountain itself, where the water does not fail. Because Adam wished to live by his own counsel, he fell, through him who had fallen before through pride, who handed him the cup of his own pride to drink. Since, therefore, with Thee is the fountain of life, and in Thy light we shall see light, let us drink within, let us see within. For why was there a going out from there? Hear why: Let not the foot of pride come to me. Therefore he went out to whom the foot of pride came. Show that it was for this reason that he went out. And let not the hands of sinners move me: because of the foot of pride. Why do you say this? There all who work iniquity have fallen. Where did they fall? In pride itself. They were driven out, and could not stand (Ps. 35:8–13). If, then, pride drove out those who could not stand, humility lets in those who may stand for ever. For this reason indeed he who said, The bones that have been humbled shall exult, said beforehand, To my hearing Thou shalt give exultation and gladness (Ps. 50:10). What is, to my hearing? By hearing Thee I am happy, from Thy voice I am happy; by drinking within I am happy. Therefore I do not fall, therefore the humbled bones shall exult: therefore the friend of the bridegroom stands, and hears Him (John 3:29); therefore he stands, because he hears. He drinks from the interior fountain, therefore he stands. Those who were unwilling to drink from the interior, there they fell; they were driven out, and could not stand.

18. The Teacher of humility, therefore, came not to do His own will, but the will of Him Who sent Him. Let us come to Him, let us enter into Him, let us be incorporated into Him, so that we too may not do our own will, but the will of God: and He will not cast us out, because we are His members, because He willed to be our Head by teaching humility. Finally, hear Him Himself preaching: Come to Me, you who labour and are burdened: take

my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and when you have learned this, you will find rest for your souls (Matt. 11:28–29), so that you are not cast out: for I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him Who sent me; I teach humility, and no one can come to me unless he is humble. Nothing casts out but pride: how does he go out who keeps humility and does not slip away from the truth? As much has been said about the hidden sense as could be said, brothers: for the sense lies well hidden here, and I do not know whether it has been drawn out and carved out by me in fitting words, why He does not cast out the one who comes to Him for this reason, that He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him Who sent Him.

19. But this, He says, is the will of the Father Who sent me, that of all that He has given me I should lose nothing. He who keeps humility has been given to Him; this one He receives: he who does not keep humility is far from the Master of humility. That of all that He has given me I should lose nothing. So it is not the will in the sight of your Father that one of these little ones should perish. Of the swollen some can perish; of the little ones nothing perishes: for unless you become like this little one, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:14, 4). Of all that the Father has given me I shall lose nothing; but I shall raise it up on the last day. See how here too He sketches that twofold resurrection. He who comes to me rises now, made humble in my members: but also I shall raise him up on the last day, according to the flesh. For this is the will of my Father Who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life; and I shall raise him up on the last day. Above He said, He who hears my word and believes Him Who sent me: but now, He who sees the Son and believes in Him. He did not say, Sees the Son and believes in the Father: for to believe in the Son is the same as [to believe] in the Father. Because, as the Father has life in Himself, so He has also given the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:24, 26). That everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life: by believing and passing over to life, as by that first resurrection. And because it is not the only one, and I shall raise him up, He says, on the last day.