Migne Reading Room
PL 35 · cols. 1606–1615
Augustine, In Joannis Evangelium tractatus XXVI
Tractate XXVI
TRACTATUS XXVI.
TRACTATE XXVI.
1. Cum Dominus noster Jesus Christus, sicut in Evangelio cum legeretur, audivimus, panem se esse dixisset, qui de coelo descendit, murmuraverunt Judaei, et dixerunt, Nonne hic est Jesus filius Joseph, cujus nos novimus patrem et matrem? Quomodo ergo hic dicit, Quia descendi de coelo? Isti a pane de coelo longe erant, nec eum esurire noverant. Fauces cordis languidas habebant, auribus apertis surdi erant, videbant et caeci stabant. Panis quippe iste interioris hominis quaerit esuriem: unde alio loco dicit, Beati qui esuriunt et sitiunt justitiam, quoniam ipsi saturabuntur
1. When our Lord Jesus Christ, as we heard when the Gospel was being read, had said that He was the bread which came down from heaven, the Jews murmured, and said, Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, Whose father and mother we know? How then does He say, I came down from heaven? These men were far from the bread of heaven, and did not know how to hunger for it. The mouths of their hearts were feeble; with open ears they were deaf; they saw, and stood blind. For this bread seeks the hunger of the inner man: whence He says elsewhere, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied
Editors' notes and page, col. 1606
Editors' prose
‹argument under the title TRACTATUS XXVI.› · col 1606 Ab eo quod scriptum est, Murmurabant ergo Judaei de illo, quia dixisset, Ego sum panis qui de coelo descendi; usque ad id, Qui manducat hunc panem, vivet in aeternum. Cap. VI, ℣. 41-59.
From the place where it is written, The Jews therefore murmured at Him, because He had said, I am the bread which came down from heaven; as far as, He who eats this bread will live for ever. John 6:41–59.
(printed under the title, col 1606)
(Matth. V, 6). Justitiam vero nobis esse Christum Paulus apostolus dicit (I Cor. I, 30). Ac per hoc qui esurit hunc panem, esuriat justitiam; sed justitiam quae de coelo descendit, justitiam quam dat Deus, non quam sibi facit homo. Si enim nullam sibi homo faceret justitiam, non diceret idem apostolus de Judaeis: Ignorantes enim Dei justitiam, et suam volentes constituere, justitiae Dei non sunt subjecti (Rom. X, 3). Inde erant isti qui panem de coelo descendentem non intelligebant, quia sua justitia saturati, justitiam Dei non esuriebant. Quid est hoc, justitia Dei et justitia hominis? Justitia Dei hic dicitur, non qua justus est Deus, sed quam dat homini Deus, ut justus sit homo per Deum. Quae autem erat illorum justitia? Qua de suis viribus praesumebant, et quasi impletores Legis seipsos ex sua virtute dicebant. Nemo autem implet Legem, nisi quem adjuverit gratia, id est panis qui de coelo descendit. Legis enim plenitudo, compendio ut ait Apostolus, charitas est (Id. XIII, 10): charitas non nummi, sed Dei; charitas non terrae, non coeli, sed ejus qui fecit coelum et terram. Unde ista charitas homini? Ipsum audiamus: Charitas, inquit, Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum sanctum qui datus est nobis (Id. V, 5). Daturus ergo Dominus Spiritum sanctum, dixit se panem qui de coelo descendit, hortans ut credamus in eum. Credere enim in eum, hoc est manducare panem vivum. Qui credit, manducat: invisibiliter saginatur, quia invisibiliter renascitur. Infans intus est, novus intus est: ubi novellatur, ibi satiatur.
(Matt. 5:6). But the apostle Paul says that Christ is righteousness for us (1 Cor. 1:30). And by this, he who hungers for this bread, let him hunger for righteousness; but the righteousness which came down from heaven, the righteousness which God gives, not that which a man makes for himself. For if a man made no righteousness for himself, the same apostle would not have said of the Jews: For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishing to establish their own, they are not subject to the righteousness of God (Rom. 10:3). Hence it was that these men did not understand the bread that came down from heaven, because, being satisfied with their own righteousness, they did not hunger for the righteousness of God. What is this, the righteousness of God and the righteousness of man? The righteousness of God is here called, not that by which God is righteous, but that which God gives to man, that man may be righteous through God. But what was their righteousness? That by which they presumed on their own strength, and declared themselves, as it were, fulfillers of the Law by their own power. But no one fulfils the Law, except him whom grace has helped, that is, the bread which came down from heaven. For the fulfilling of the Law, as the Apostle says in a word, is charity (Rom. 13:10): charity not of coin, but of God; charity not of earth, not of heaven, but of Him Who made heaven and earth. Whence comes this charity to man? Let us hear him himself: The charity of God, he says, is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us (Rom. 5:5). About to give the Holy Spirit, then, the Lord said He was the bread which came down from heaven, exhorting us to believe in Him. For to believe in Him is to eat the living bread. He who believes, eats: he is invisibly fattened, because he is invisibly reborn. The infant is within, the new man is within: where he is made new, there he is filled.
2. Quid ergo talibus murmurantibus respondit Jesus? Nolite murmurare ad invicem. Tanquam dicens, Scio quare non esuriatis, et istum panem non intelligatis neque quaeratis. Nolite murmurare ad invicem: nemo potest venire ad me, nisi Pater qui misit me, traxerit eum. Magna gratiae commendatio! Nemo venit nisi tractus. Quem trahat et quem non trahat, quare illum trahat et illum non trahat, noli velle judicare, si non vis errare. Semel accipe, et intellige: nondum traheris? ora ut traharis. Quid hic dicimus, fratres? Si trahimur ad Christum, ergo inviti credimus; ergo violentia adhibetur, non voluntas excitatur. Intrare quisquam ecclesiam potest nolens, accedere ad altare potest nolens, accipere Sacramentum potest nolens: credere non potest nisi volens. Si corpore crederetur, fieret in nolentibus: sed non corpore creditur. Apostolum audi: Corde creditur ad justitiam. Et quid sequitur? Ore autem confessio fit ad salutem (Id. X, 10). De radice cordis surgit ista confessio. Aliquando audis confitentem, et nescis credentem. Sed nec debes vocare confitentem, quem judicas non credentem. Hoc est enim confiteri, dicere quod habes in corde: si autem aliud in corde habes, aliud dicis; loqueris, non confiteris. Cum ergo in Christum corde credatur, quod nemo utique facit invitus, qui autem trahitur, tanquam invitus cogi videtur; quomodo istam solvimus
2. What, then, did Jesus answer to such murmurers? Murmur not among yourselves. As if He were saying, I know why you do not hunger, and neither understand nor seek this bread. Murmur not among yourselves: no one can come to me, unless the Father Who sent me shall have drawn him. A great commendation of grace! No one comes unless drawn. Whom He draws and whom He does not draw, why He draws this one and not that one, do not wish to judge, if you do not wish to go astray. Take this once, and understand: are you not yet drawn? pray that you may be drawn. What do we say here, brothers? If we are drawn to Christ, do we then believe unwillingly? is violence then applied, and not the will roused? A man can enter a church unwilling, can approach the altar unwilling, can receive the Sacrament unwilling: he cannot believe unless willing. If it were believed with the body, it could happen in the unwilling: but it is not believed with the body. Hear the Apostle: With the heart it is believed unto righteousness. And what follows? And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. 10:10). From the root of the heart this confession rises. Sometimes you hear one confessing, and do not know that he believes. But you ought not to call one a confessor whom you judge not to be a believer. For this is to confess, to say what you have in your heart: but if you have one thing in your heart and say another, you are speaking, not confessing. Since, then, it is with the heart that one believes in Christ, which certainly no one does unwillingly, but he who is drawn seems, as it were, to be compelled unwillingly; how are we to resolve
Editors' notes and page, col. 1607
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: nondum traheris› · call in col 1607
Editi, non traheris. Mss., nondum traheris.
The printed editions: "you are not drawn." The manuscripts: "you are not yet drawn."
(printed under page 152)
(2) ‹anchor: et nescis credentem› · call in col 1607
Am. Bad. et Er. addunt, vocas confitentem, et nescis credentem.
Amerbach, Badius and Erasmus add: "you call him one who confesses, and you do not know him to be one who believes."
(printed under page 152)
quaestionem, Nemo venit ad me nisi Pater qui misit me, traxerit eum?
this question, No one comes to me, unless the Father Who sent me shall have drawn him?
3. Si trahitur, ait aliquis, invitus venit. Si invitus venit, nec credit; si non credit, nec venit. Non enim ad Christum ambulando currimus, sed credendo: nec motu corporis, sed voluntate cordis accedimus. Ideo illa mulier quae fimbriam tetigit, magis tetigit quam turba quae pressit. Ideo Dominus dixit, Quis me tetigit (Luc. VIII, 44-46)? Et mirantes discipuli, dixerunt: Turbae te comprimunt, et dicis, Quis me tetigit? Et ille repetivit: Tetigit me aliquis. Illa tangit, turba premit. Quid est tetigit, nisi credidit? Unde et mulieri illi post resurrectionem dixit volenti se mittere ad pedes ejus: Noli me tangere; nondum enim ascendi ad Patrem (Joan. XX, 17). Quod vides, hoc solum me esse putas; noli me tangere. Quid est? Hoc solum me esse putas quod tibi appareo, noli sic credere: hoc est, Noli me tangere; nondum enim ascendi ad Patrem; tibi non ascendi, nam inde nunquam recessi. In terra non tangebat stantem, quomodo tangeret ad Patrem ascendentem? Sic tamen, sic se tangi voluit: sic tangitur ab eis a quibus bene tangitur, ascendens ad Patrem, manens cum Patre, aequalis Patri.
3. If he is drawn, someone says, he comes unwilling. If he comes unwilling, he does not believe; if he does not believe, he does not come. For we do not run to Christ by walking, but by believing: nor do we draw near by motion of the body, but by the will of the heart. For that reason the woman who touched the hem touched more than the crowd which pressed upon Him. For that reason the Lord said, Who touched me (Luke 8:44–46)? And the disciples, marvelling, said: The crowds press upon Thee, and dost Thou say, Who touched me? And He repeated: Someone touched me. She touches, the crowd presses. What is, touched, except believed? Whence also He said to that woman after the resurrection, when she wished to cast herself at His feet: Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father (John 20:17). What you see, this alone you think me to be; do not touch me. What does this mean? You think me to be only that which I appear to you; do not believe so: that is, Do not touch me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father; I have not ascended for you, for I never departed from there. She was not touching Him as He stood on earth; how was she to touch Him ascending to the Father? Yet in this way, in this way He willed Himself to be touched: touched thus by those by whom He is touched rightly, ascending to the Father, remaining with the Father, equal to the Father.
4. Inde et hic si advertis, Nemo venit ad me, nisi quem Pater attraxerit. Noli te cogitare invitum trahi: trahitur animus et amore. Nec timere debemus ne ab hominibus qui verba perpendunt, et a rebus maxime divinis intelligendis longe remoti sunt, in hoc Scripturarum sanctarum evangelico verbo forsitan reprehendamur, et dicatur nobis, Quomodo voluntate credo, si trahor? Ego dico: parum est voluntate, etiam voluptate traheris. Quid est trahi voluptate? Delectare in Domino, et dabit tibi petitiones cordis tui (Psal. XXXVI, 4). Est quaedam voluptas cordis, cui panis dulcis est ille coelestis. Porro si poetae dicere licuit, «Trahit sua quemque voluptas» (Virg. Eclog. 2); non necessitas, sed voluptas; non obligatio, sed delectatio: quanto fortius nos dicere debemus trahi hominem ad Christum, qui delectatur veritate, delectatur beatitudine, delectatur justitia, delectatur sempiterna vita, quod totum Christus est? An vero habent corporis sensus voluptates suas, et animus deseritur a voluptatibus suis? Si animus non habet voluptates suas, unde dicitur, Filii autem hominum sub tegmine alarum tuarum sperabunt: inebriabuntur ab ubertate domus tuae, et torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos; quoniam apud te est fons vitae, et in lumine tuo videbimus lumen (Psal. XXXV, 8-10)? Da amantem, et sentit quod dico. Da desiderantem, da esurientem, da in ista solitudine peregrinantem atque sitientem, et fontem aeternae patriae suspirantem: da talem, et scit quid dicam. Si autem frigido loquor, nescit quid loquor. Tales erant isti qui invicem murmurabant. Pater, inquit, quem traxerit, venit ad me.
4. Hence here too, if you attend, No one comes to me, unless the Father has drawn him. Do not think yourself drawn unwilling: the mind is drawn also by love. Nor ought we to fear lest by men who weigh words, and are far removed from understanding things most divine, we be perhaps reproached in this gospel word of the holy Scriptures, and it be said to us, How do I believe by will, if I am drawn? I say: it is too little [to be drawn] by will; you are drawn even by pleasure. What is it to be drawn by pleasure? Delight in the Lord, and He will give you the petitions of your heart (Ps. 36:4). There is a certain pleasure of the heart, to which that heavenly bread is sweet. Further, if it was allowed the poet to say, «His own pleasure draws each one» (Virg. Eclog. 2); not necessity, but pleasure; not obligation, but delight: how much more strongly ought we to say that a man is drawn to Christ who delights in truth, delights in beatitude, delights in justice, delights in everlasting life, all which Christ is? Or indeed have the senses of the body their pleasures, and is the mind deserted by pleasures of its own? If the mind has not pleasures of its own, whence is it said, But the sons of men shall hope under the covering of Thy wings: they shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house, and with the torrent of Thy pleasure Thou shalt give them to drink; for with Thee is the fountain of life, and in Thy light we shall see light (Ps. 35:8–10)? Give me one who loves, and he feels what I say. Give me one who desires, give one who hungers, give one wandering as a pilgrim in this wilderness and thirsting, and sighing for the fountain of the eternal fatherland: give such a one, and he knows what I would say. But if I speak to one who is cold, he knows not what I speak. Such were those who were murmuring among themselves. He whom the Father draws, He says, comes to me.
5. Quid est autem, Pater quem traxerit, cum ipse Christus trahat? Quare voluit dicere, Pater quem traxerit?
5. But what is, He whom the Father draws, when Christ Himself draws? Why did He will to say, He whom the Father draws?
Editors' notes and page, col. 1608
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: invitum trahi› · call in col 1608
Mss. plures : Nolite cogitare invitum trahi invitum.
A good many manuscripts: "Do not think that one unwilling is drawn unwilling." [the last word of the note is blurred in the scan; reading unsure]
(printed under page 152)
(2) ‹anchor: da esurientem› · call in col 1608
Plerique Mss., da ferventem. Pauloque post omnes, omisso, nescit, habent ita : Si autem frigido loquor, quid loquor ?
Most manuscripts: "give me one who is fervent." And a little further on all of them, omitting "he does not know," read thus: "But if I speak to a cold man, what am I saying?"
(printed under page 152)
Si trahendi sumus, ab illo trahamur cui dicit quaedam quae diligit, Post odorem unguentorum tuorum curremus (Cant. I, 3). Sed quid intelligi voluit, advertamus, fratres, et quantum possumus capiamus. Trahit Pater ad Filium eos qui propterea credunt in Filium, quia eum cogitant Patrem habere Deum: Deus enim Pater aequalem sibi genuit Filium: ut qui cogitat, atque in fide sua sentit et ruminat aequalem esse Patri eum in quem credidit, ipsum trahit Pater ad Filium. Arius credidit creaturam, non eum traxit Pater; quia non considerat Patrem, qui Filium non credit aequalem. Quid dicis, o Ari? quid, haeretice, loqueris? quid est Christus? Non, inquit, Deus verus; sed quem fecit Deus verus. Non te traxit Pater: non enim intellexisti Patrem, cujus Filium negas: aliud cogitas, non est ipse Filius; nec a Patre traheris, nec ad Filium traheris: aliud est enim Filius, aliud quod tu dicis. Photinus dixit: Homo solum est Christus, non est et Deus. Qui sic credit, non Pater eum traxit. Quem Pater traxit, Tu es, inquit, Christus Filius Dei vivi. Non sicut propheta, non sicut Joannes, non sicut aliquis magnus justus; sed sicut unicus, sicut aequalis, tu es Christus Filius Dei vivi. Vide quia tractus est, et a Patre tractus est. Beatus es Simon Bar-Jona, quia non tibi revelavit caro et sanguis, sed Pater meus qui in coelis est (Matth. XVI, 16, 17). Ista revelatio, ipsa est attractio. Ramum viridem ostendis ovi, et trahis illam. Nuces puero demonstrantur, et trahitur: et quo currit trahitur, amando trahitur, sine laesione corporis trahitur, cordis vinculo trahitur. Si ergo ista quae inter delicias et voluptates terrenas revelantur amantibus, trahunt; quoniam verum est, «Trahit sua quemque voluptas;» non trahit revelatus Christus a Patre? Quid enim fortius desiderat anima quam veritatem? Quo avidas fauces habere debet, unde optare ut sanum sit intus palatum vera judicandi, nisi ut manducet et bibat sapientiam, justitiam, veritatem, aeternitatem?
If we are to be drawn, let us be drawn by Him to Whom a certain [soul] that loves says, After the odour of Thine ointments we will run (Song 1:3). But let us attend, brethren, to what He willed to be understood, and let us grasp it as far as we can. The Father draws to the Son those who believe in the Son for this reason, that they think of Him as having God for Father: for God the Father begot a Son equal to Himself: so that whoever thinks, and in his faith perceives and ruminates, that He in Whom he has believed is equal to the Father, him the Father draws to the Son. Arius believed Him a creature; the Father did not draw him; for he does not consider the Father who does not believe the Son equal. What do you say, O Arius? what, heretic, do you speak? what is Christ? Not, he says, true God; but [one] Whom the true God made. The Father has not drawn you; for you have not understood the Father, Whose Son you deny: you think of something else; it is not the Son Himself; you are neither drawn by the Father nor drawn to the Son: for the Son is one thing, what you say another. Photinus said: Christ is man only, He is not also God. Whoever believes thus, the Father has not drawn him. He whom the Father drew: Thou art, he says, the Christ, the Son of the living God. Not as a prophet, not as John, not as some great just man; but as the only one, as the equal, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. See that he was drawn, and drawn by the Father. Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father Who is in heaven (Matt. 16:16, 17). This revelation is itself the drawing. You show a green branch to a sheep, and you draw it. Nuts are shown to a boy, and he is drawn: and he is drawn whither he runs, he is drawn by loving, he is drawn without hurt to the body, he is drawn by a bond of the heart. If therefore these things, which among earthly delights and pleasures are revealed to those who love them, draw; since it is true, «His own pleasure draws each one;» does not Christ, revealed by the Father, draw? For what does the soul desire more strongly than truth? For what ought it to have a greedy throat, whence to wish that the inner palate for judging true things be healthy, except that it may eat and drink wisdom, justice, truth, eternity?
6. Ubi autem hoc? Ibi melius, verius ibi, plenius ibi. Nam hic facilius possumus esurire, et hoc si bonam spem habemus, quam satiari: Beati enim, inquit, qui esuriunt et sitiunt justitiam, sed hic; quoniam saturabuntur (Id. V, 6), sed ibi. Ideo cum dixisset, Nemo venit ad me, nisi Pater qui misit me, traxerit eum, quid subjecit? Et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die. Reddo illi quod amat, reddo quod sperat: videbit quod adhuc non videndo credidit; manducabit quod esurit, saturabitur eo quod sitit. Ubi? In resurrectione mortuorum, quia ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die.
6. But where [shall] this be? There better, truer there, fuller there. For here we can more easily hunger, and that if we have good hope, than be filled: For blessed, He says, are they who hunger and thirst for justice, but here; for they shall be filled (Matt. 5:6), but there. Therefore when He had said, No one comes to me, unless the Father Who sent me has drawn him, what did He add? And I will raise him up on the last day. I render to him what he loves, I render what he hopes: he will see what, not yet seeing, he has believed; he will eat what he hungers for, he will be filled with that for which he thirsts. Where? In the resurrection of the dead, because I will raise him up on the last day.
7. Scriptum est enim in Prophetis, Et erunt omnes docibiles Dei. Quare hoc dixi, o Judaei? Pater vos non docuit; quomodo potestis me agnoscere? Omnes regni illius homines docibiles Dei erunt, non ab hominibus audient. Et si ab hominibus audiunt, tamen quod intelligunt, intus datur, intus coruscat, intus revelatur. Quid faciunt homines forinsecus annuntiantes? quid facio ego modo cum loquor? Strepitum verborum ingero auribus vestris. Nisi ergo revelet ille
7. For it is written in the Prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Why have I said this, O Jews? The Father did not teach you; how then can you recognize me? All the men of that kingdom shall be taught of God, they shall not hear from men. And even if they hear from men, yet what they understand is given within, flashes within, is revealed within. What do men do who announce from without? what do I myself do now when I speak? I pour a noise of words into your ears. Unless, therefore, He reveals it
Editors' notes and page, col. 1609
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: et quo currit› · call in col 1609
Aliquot Mss., Et quod currit.
Some manuscripts: "And in that he runs."
(printed under page 153)
qui intus est, quid dico, aut quid loquor? Exterior cultor arboris, interior est Creator. Qui plantat et qui rigat, extrinsecus operatur: hoc facimus nos. Sed neque qui plantat est aliquid, neque qui rigat; sed qui incrementum dat Deus (I Cor. III, 7): hoc est, Erunt omnes docibiles Dei. Qui, omnes? Omnis qui audivit a Patre et didicit, venit ad me. Videte quomodo trahit Pater: docendo delectat, non necessitatem imponendo. Ecce quomodo trahit. Erunt omnes docibiles Dei: trahere Dei est. Omnis qui audivit a Patre et didicit, venit ad me: trahere Dei est.
Who is within, what am I saying, or what am I speaking? The outward is the tiller of the tree, the inward is the Creator. He who plants and he who waters works from outside: this we do. But neither is he that plants anything, nor he that waters; but God Who gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:7): this is, They shall all be taught of God. Who, all? Everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned, comes to Me. See how the Father draws: He delights by teaching, not by imposing necessity. Behold how He draws. They shall all be taught of God: this is God's own drawing. Everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned, comes to Me: this is God's own drawing.
8. Quid igitur, fratres? Si omnis qui audivit a Patre et didicit, ipse venit ad Christum, Christus nihil hic docuit? Quid quod Patrem magistrum homines non viderunt, Filium viderunt? Filius dicebat, sed Pater docebat. Ego cum homo sim, quem doceo? quem, fratres, nisi eum, qui audivit verbum meum? Si ego cum homo sim, illum doceo qui audit verbum meum; illum docet et Pater, qui audit Verbum ejus: si illum docet Pater qui audit Verbum ejus; quaere quid sit Christus, et invenies Verbum ejus: In principio erat Verbum. Non, In principio fecit Deus Verbum; quomodo, In principio fecit Deus coelum et terram (Gen. I, 1): ecce quia non est creatura. Disce trahi ad Filium a Patre; doceat te Pater, audi Verbum ejus. Quod Verbum ejus, inquis, audio? In principio erat Verbum; non factum est, sed erat: Et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Quomodo homines in carne constituti audiant tale Verbum? Quia Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis (Joan. I, 1, 14).
8. What then, brothers? If everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned, himself comes to Christ, has Christ taught nothing here? What of this, that men have not seen the Father as teacher, but have seen the Son? The Son was speaking, but the Father was teaching. I, since I am a man, whom do I teach? Whom, brothers, but him who has heard my word? If I, since I am a man, teach him who hears my word, the Father also teaches him who hears His Word: if the Father teaches him who hears His Word, ask what Christ is, and you will find His Word: In the beginning was the Word. Not, In the beginning God made the Word; in the way that, In the beginning God made heaven and earth (Gen. 1:1): see that He is not a creature. Learn to be drawn to the Son by the Father; let the Father teach you, hear His Word. What Word of His, you say, do I hear? In the beginning was the Word; He was not made, but was: And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. How are men set in the flesh to hear such a Word? Because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14).
9. Exponit hoc et ipse, et ostendit nobis quid dixerit, Qui audivit a Patre et didicit, venit ad me. Continuo subjecit quod cogitare possemus: Non quia Patrem vidit quisquam, nisi is qui est a Deo, hic vidit Patrem. Quid est quod ait? Ego vidi Patrem, vos non vidistis Patrem; et tamen non venitis ad me, nisi trahamini a Patre. Quid est autem vos trahi a Patre, nisi discere a Patre? quid est discere a Patre, nisi audire a Patre? quid est audire a Patre, nisi audire Verbum Patris, id est me? Ne forte ergo cum dico vobis, Omnis qui audivit a Patre et didicit, dicatis apud vos, Sed nunquam vidimus Patrem; quomodo discere potuimus a Patre? a meipso audite: Non quia Patrem vidit quisquam, sed qui est a Deo, hic vidit Patrem. Ego novi Patrem, ab illo sum: sed quomodo verbum ab illo cujus est verbum; non quod sonat et transit, sed quod manet cum dicente, et trahit audientem.
9. He Himself also expounds this, and shows us what He meant by saying, He who has heard from the Father and has learned, comes to Me. He at once added what we might have been thinking: Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He Who is from God, He has seen the Father. What is it that He says? I have seen the Father, you have not seen the Father; and yet you do not come to Me, unless you are drawn by the Father. But what is it for you to be drawn by the Father, except to learn from the Father? What is it to learn from the Father, except to hear from the Father? What is it to hear from the Father, except to hear the Word of the Father, that is, Me? Lest, then, when I say to you, Everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned, you should say among yourselves, But we have never seen the Father; how could we have learned from the Father? hear it from Me Myself: Not that anyone has seen the Father, but He Who is from God, He has seen the Father. I know the Father, I am from Him: but as a word is from him whose word it is; not one that sounds and passes away, but one that abides with the speaker, and draws the hearer.
10. Admoneat quod sequitur: Amen, amen dico vobis, qui credit in me, habet vitam aeternam. Revelare se voluit quid esset: nam compendio dicere potuit, Qui credit in me, habet me. Ipse enim Christus verus Deus est et vita aeterna. Qui ergo credit in me, inquit, it in me; et qui it in me, habet me. Quid est autem habere me? Habere vitam aeternam. Vita
10. Let what follows admonish us: Amen, amen I say to you, he who believes in Me has eternal life. He willed to reveal what He was: for He could have said in brief, He who believes in Me has Me. For Christ Himself is true God and eternal life. He, therefore, who believes in Me, He says, goes into Me; and he who goes into Me has Me. But what is it to have Me? To have eternal life. Life
Editors' notes and page, col. 1610
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: habet me› · call in col 1610
Vindocinensis Ms., vivit in me, et qui vivit in me. At Am. Bad. et Er, carent hac sententia : Qui credit in me, inquit, it in me ; et qui it in me, habet me : quae tamen exstat in caeteris codicibus.
The Vendôme manuscript: "lives in me, and he who lives in me." But Amerbach, Badius and Erasmus lack this sentence: "He who believes in me, He says, goes into me; and he who goes into me, has me": which nevertheless stands in the other codices.
(printed under page 153)
aeterna mortem assumpsit, vita aeterna mori voluit; sed de tuo, non de suo: accepit a te, ubi moreretur pro te. Ab hominibus enim carnem assumpsit, sed non more hominum. Nam Patrem habens in coelo, matrem elegit in terra: et illic natus sine matre, et hic sine Patre. Assumpsit ergo vita mortem, ut vita occideret mortem. Nam qui in me credit, inquit, habet vitam aeternam: non quod patet, sed quod latet. Vita enim aeterna Verbum: in principio erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum et vita erat lux hominum (Ibid. 2, 4). Ipse vita aeterna, dedit et carni susceptae vitam aeternam. Mori venit, sed die tertio resurrexit. Inter Verbum suscipiens, et carnem resurgentem, mors media consumpta est.
eternal took death upon Himself, eternal life willed to die; but from what is yours, not from what is His own: He received from you that in which He might die for you. For He took flesh from men, but not after the manner of men. For, having a Father in heaven, He chose a mother on earth: both there born without a mother, and here without a Father. Life therefore took death upon itself, that life might slay death. For he who believes in Me, He says, has eternal life: not that which lies open, but that which lies hidden. For eternal life is the Word: in the beginning He was with God, and the Word was God and the life was the light of men (John 1:2, 4). He Himself, eternal life, gave eternal life also to the flesh He had taken up. He came to die, but on the third day He rose again. Between the Word taking up and the flesh rising again, death in the midst was consumed.
11. Ego sum, inquit, panis vitae. Et unde illi superbiebant? Patres vestri, inquit, manducaverunt in deserto manna, et mortui sunt. Quid est unde superbitis? Manducaverunt manna, et mortui sunt. Quare manducaverunt, et mortui sunt? Quia quod videbant, credebant: quod non videbant, non intelligebant. Ideo patres vestri, quia similes estis illorum. Nam quantum pertinet, fratres mei, ad mortem istam visibilem et corporalem, numquid nos non morimur qui manducamus panem de coelo descendentem? Sic sunt mortui et illi, quemadmodum nos sumus morituri; quantum attinet, ut dixi, ad mortem hujus corporis visibilem atque carnalem. Quantum autem pertinet ad illam mortem, de qua terret Dominus, qua mortui sunt patres istorum; manducavit manna et Moyses, manducavit manna et Aaron, manducavit manna et Phinees, manducaverunt ibi multi qui Domino placuerunt, et mortui non sunt. Quare? Quia visibilem cibum spiritualiter intellexerunt, spiritualiter esurierunt, spiritualiter gustaverunt, ut spiritualiter satiarentur. Nam et nos hodie accipimus visibilem cibum: sed aliud est Sacramentum, aliud virtus Sacramenti. Quam multi de altari accipiunt et moriuntur, et accipiendo moriuntur? Unde dicit Apostolus, Judicium sibi manducat et bibit (I Cor. XI, 29). Non enim buccella Dominica venenum fuit Judae. Et tamen accepit, et cum accepit, in eum inimicus intravit: non quia malum accepit, sed quia bonum male malus accepit. Videte ergo, fratres, panem coelestem spiritualiter manducate, innocentiam ad altare apportate. Peccata etsi sunt quotidiana, vel non sint mortifera. Antequam ad altare accedatis, attendite quid dicatis: Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris (Matth. VI, 12). Dimittis, dimittetur tibi: securus accede, panis est, non venenum. Sed vide si dimittis: nam si non dimittis, mentiris, et ei mentiris, quem non fallis. Mentiri Deo potes, Deum fallere non potes. Novit ille quid agat. Intus te videt, intus te examinat, intus inspicit, intus judicat, intus aut damnat, aut coronat. Patres autem istorum
11. I am, He says, the bread of life. And whence were they proud? Your fathers, He says, ate manna in the desert, and died. What is it of which you are proud? They ate manna, and died. Why did they eat, and die? Because what they saw, they believed: what they did not see, they did not understand. Therefore they are your fathers, because you are like them. For as far as pertains, my brethren, to this visible and bodily death, do we not die, we who eat the bread coming down from heaven? They too died in the same way as we are going to die; as far as concerns, as I said, the visible and carnal death of this body. But as far as pertains to that death with which the Lord terrifies, by which the fathers of these men died; Moses too ate manna, Aaron too ate manna, Phinehas too ate manna, many ate there who pleased the Lord, and they did not die. Why? Because they understood the visible food spiritually, hungered spiritually, tasted spiritually, that they might be filled spiritually. For we too today receive visible food: but the Sacrament is one thing, the power of the Sacrament another. How many receive from the altar and die, and die by receiving? Whence the Apostle says, He eats and drinks judgement to himself (1 Cor. 11:29). For the Lord's morsel was not poison to Judas. And yet he received it, and when he received it, the enemy entered into him: not because he received an evil thing, but because, being evil, he received a good thing evilly. See then, brethren, eat the heavenly bread spiritually, bring innocence to the altar. Sins, even if they are daily, at least let them not be deadly. Before you approach the altar, attend to what you say: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matt. 6:12). You forgive, it will be forgiven you: approach without fear, it is bread, not poison. But see whether you forgive: for if you do not forgive, you lie, and you lie to Him Whom you do not deceive. You can lie to God, you cannot deceive God. He knows what He is about. Within He sees you, within He examines you, within He inspects, within He judges, within He either condemns or crowns. But the fathers of these men
Editors' notes and page, col. 1611
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: similes estis illorum› · call in col 1611
Hic in decem Mss. additur, et infidelium filiorum infideles patres.
Here in ten manuscripts there is added: "and unbelieving fathers of unbelieving sons."
(printed under page 154)
(2) ‹anchor: venenum fuit Judae› · call in col 1611
Sic Bad. Am. et omnes Mss. At Er. et Lov., Nonne buccella Dominica venenum fuit Judae ? Vide supra, Tract. 6, n. 15.
So Badius, Amerbach and all the manuscripts. But Erasmus and the Louvain editors: "Was not the Lord's morsel poison to Judas?" See above, Tractate 6, n. 15.
(printed under page 154)
(3) ‹anchor: quid agat› · call in col 1611
Er. et Lov., agas : refragantibus editis aliis et Mss
Erasmus and the Louvain editors: "what you are doing": against the other editions and the manuscripts. [the variant word is blurred in the scan, its first letter looking like "u"; read as "agas"]
(printed under page 154)
Page
- running head: 1611 IN JOANNIS EVANGELIUM, S⟨ ⟩ (the rest of the head lies over the facing column, outside this column's images)
- marginal letters: (none)
- old-edition numerals: (none)
- other: The column begins mid-sentence and ends mid-sentence; the last word is hyphenated across the break (isto- | rum) and is set whole, the second half seen at the head of col 1612 in the edge of this column's top image. The reference "(Ibid. 2, 4)" is set as printed; the English gives it as John 1:2, 4 on the assumption that Ibid. points to John I: UNSURE, the antecedent reference is in an earlier column. "Novit ille quid agat" is set as printed (a foot note records the variant agas); foot notes 1, 2, 3 are called in this column and left for pass 2. Italics of the print are not marked.
id est, mali patres malorum, infideles patres infidelium, murmuratores patres murmuratorum. Nam de nulla re magis Dominum offendisse ille populus dictus est, quam contra Deum murmurando. Ideo et Dominus eos volens ostendere talium filios, hinc ad eos coepit: Quid murmuratis in invicem, murmuratores, filii murmuratorum? Patres vestri manna manducaverunt, et mortui sunt: non quia malum erat manna, sed quia male manducaverunt.
that is, evil fathers of evil men, unbelieving fathers of unbelievers, murmuring fathers of murmurers. For in no matter is that people said to have offended the Lord more than by murmuring against God. Therefore the Lord also, wishing to show them to be the sons of such men, began with them from this point: Why do you murmur among yourselves, you murmurers, sons of murmurers? Your fathers ate manna, and died: not because the manna was evil, but because they ate it evilly.
12. Hic est panis qui de coelo descendit. Hunc panem significavit manna, hunc panem significavit altare Dei. Sacramenta illa fuerunt: in signis diversa sunt; in re quae significatur paria sunt. Apostolum audi: Nolo enim vos, inquit, ignorare, fratres, quia patres nostri omnes sub nube fuerunt, et omnes mare transierunt, et omnes in Moysen baptizati sunt in nube et in mari, et omnes eamdem escam spiritualem manducaverunt. Spiritualem utique eamdem; nam corporalem alteram, quia illi manna, nos aliud: spiritualem vero, quam nos. Sed patres nostri, non patres illorum: quibus nos similes sumus, non quibus illi similes fuerunt. Et adjungit: Et omnes eumdem potum spiritualem biberunt. Aliud illi, aliud nos; sed specie visibili, quod tamen hoc idem significaret virtute spirituali. Quomodo enim eumdem potum? Bibebant, inquit, de spirituali sequente petra: petra autem erat Christus (I Cor. X, 1-4). Inde panis, inde potus. Petra Christus in signo, verus Christus in Verbo et in carne. Et quomodo biberunt? Percussa est petra de virga bis (Num. XX, 11): gemina percussio, duo ligna crucis significat. Hic est ergo panis de coelo descendens, ut si quis manducaverit ex ipso, non moriatur. Sed quod pertinet ad virtutem Sacramenti, non quod pertinet ad visibile Sacramentum: qui manducat intus, non foris; qui manducat in corde, non qui premit dente.
12. This is the bread which comes down from heaven. This bread the manna signified, this bread the altar of God signified. Those were sacraments: in the signs they are different; in the thing which is signified they are alike. Hear the Apostle: For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, he says, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food. The same spiritual food, assuredly; for the bodily food was another, since they ate manna, we something else: but the spiritual food was the same as ours. But our fathers, not their fathers: those to whom we are like, not those to whom they were like. And he adds: And all drank the same spiritual drink. They one thing, we another; but in visible appearance, which nevertheless would signify this same thing in spiritual power. For how the same drink? They drank, he says, of the spiritual rock that followed: and the rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:1–4). Thence the bread, thence the drink. The rock was Christ in sign, the true Christ in the Word and in the flesh. And how did they drink? The rock was struck with the rod twice (Num. 20:11): the double striking signifies the two beams of the cross. This, then, is the bread coming down from heaven, that if anyone eats of it, he may not die. But this is what pertains to the power of the Sacrament, not what pertains to the visible Sacrament: he who eats within, not without; he who eats in the heart, not he who presses with the tooth.
13. Ego sum panis vivus, qui de coelo descendi. Ideo vivus, quia de coelo descendi. De coelo descendit et manna: sed manna umbra erat, iste veritas est. Si quis manducaverit ex hoc pane, vivet in aeternum: et panis quem ego dabo, caro mea est pro mundi vita. Hoc quando caperet caro, quod dixit panem, carnem? Vocatur caro, quod non capit caro: et ideo magis non capit caro, quia vocatur caro. Hoc enim exhorruerunt, hoc ad se multum esse dixerunt, hoc non posse fieri putaverunt. Caro mea est, inquit, pro mundi vita. Norunt fideles corpus Christi, si corpus Christi esse non negligant. Fiant corpus Christi, si volunt vivere de Spiritu Christi. De spiritu Christi non vivit, nisi corpus Christi. Intelligite, fratres
13. I am the living bread, Who came down from heaven. Living for this reason, that I came down from heaven. The manna also came down from heaven: but the manna was a shadow, this is the truth. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever: and the bread which I shall give is My flesh for the life of the world. When would flesh grasp this, that He called bread flesh? That is called flesh which flesh does not grasp: and flesh the more fails to grasp it for this reason, that it is called flesh. For at this they shuddered, this they said was too much for them, this they thought could not be done. It is My flesh, He says, for the life of the world. The faithful know the body of Christ, if they do not neglect to be the body of Christ. Let them become the body of Christ, if they wish to live by the Spirit of Christ. Nothing lives by the spirit of Christ except the body of Christ. Understand, brethren
Editors' notes and page, col. 1612
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: Patres autem istorum› · call in col 1612
Er. Lugd. Ven. et Lov. pro, autem, ferunt, ergo. M.
Erasmus, the Lyons, the Venice and the Louvain editions, in place of "autem" (but), give "ergo" (therefore). M.
(printed under page 154)
(2) ‹anchor: significavit altare Dei› · call in col 1612
Mss. plerique, significat altare Dei.
Most manuscripts: "signifies the altar of God."
(printed under page 154)
(3) ‹anchor: in Moysen› · call in col 1612
Editi, per Moysen. Aliquot Mss., in Moyse. Alii plerique, in Moysen ; juxta graecum, eis tòn Môusên : id est, Chrysostomo interprete, tharrésantes tô Môuseî scilicet Moysi fidentes Israelitae, sub nube et per mare iter ingressi sunt, ipso praeeunte : ac sic nos, qui in Christum credentes baptizamur praesignarunt.
The printed editions: "through Moses." Some manuscripts: "in Moses" (ablative). Most of the others: "into Moses"; in accordance with the Greek, eis tòn Môusên: that is, as Chrysostom interprets it, tharrésantes tô Môuseî, namely, the Israelites, trusting in Moses, entered upon their way under the cloud and through the sea, he himself going before them: and so they prefigured us, who are baptized believing in Christ.
(printed under page 154)
(4) ‹anchor: virtute spirituali› · call in col 1612
Sic Er. Lugd. et Ven., sed specie visibili quidem tamen hoc idem significante virtute spirituali. M.
So Erasmus, the Lyons and the Venice editions: "but in a visible appearance indeed, yet one signifying this same thing by spiritual power." M.
(printed under page 154)
(5) ‹anchor: nisi corpus Christi› · call in col 1612
Omnes Mss., de Spiritu Christi non vivit, nisi sit corpus Christi.
All the manuscripts: "he does not live by the Spirit of Christ, unless he be the body of Christ." [the verb is blurred in the scan; "vivit" read, "vivet" possible]
(printed under page 154)
Page
- running head: ⟨IN JOANNIS E⟩VANGELIUM, S. AUGUSTINI 1612 (the first part of the head lies over the facing column)
- marginal letters: (none)
- old-edition numerals: (none)
- other: The column's first printed letters are "rum", the second half of istorum, which is set whole at the end of col 1611; this file therefore begins at "id est". Foot note 1 is called directly after that "rum" at the head of this column, so its anchor words (Patres autem istorum) stand in the file of col 1611. The last word is hyphenated across the break (fra- | tres) and is set whole, the second half seen at the head of col 1613. In "Aliud illi, aliud nos" the comma prints as a low point (damaged type); set as a comma. "De spiritu Christi" (second occurrence) has a lower-case s as printed. Foot notes 1 to 5 are called in this column and left for pass 2. Italics of the print are not marked.
mei, quid dixerim. Homo es, et spiritum habes, et corpus habes. Spiritum dico quae anima vocatur, qua constat quod homo es: constas enim ex anima et corpore. Habes itaque spiritum invisibilem, corpus visibile. Dic mihi quid ex quo vivat: spiritus tuus vivit ex corpore tuo, an corpus tuum ex spiritu tuo? Respondet omnis qui vivit: qui autem hoc non potest respondere, nescio si vivit: quid respondet omnis qui vivit? Corpus utique meum vivit de spiritu meo. Vis ergo et tu vivere de Spiritu Christi? In corpore esto Christi. Numquid enim corpus meum vivit de spiritu tuo? Meum vivit de spiritu meo, et tuum de tuo. Non potest vivere corpus Christi, nisi de Spiritu Christi. Inde est quod exponens nobis apostolus Paulus hunc panem, Unus panis, inquit, unum corpus multi sumus (I Cor. X, 17). O Sacramentum pietatis! o signum unitatis! o vinculum charitatis! Qui vult vivere, habet ubi vivat, habet unde vivat. Accedat, credat; incorporetur, ut vivificetur. Non abhoreat a compage membrorum, non sit putre membrum quod resecari mereatur, non sit distortum de quo erubescatur: sit pulchrum, sit aptum, sit sanum; haereat corpori, vivat Deo de Deo: nunc laboret in terra, ut postea regnet in coelo.
my [brethren], what I have said. You are a man, and you have a spirit, and you have a body. I call spirit that which is called the soul, by which it stands that you are a man: for you consist of soul and body. You have therefore an invisible spirit, a visible body. Tell me which lives from which: does your spirit live from your body, or your body from your spirit? Everyone who lives answers: but he who cannot answer this, I do not know whether he lives: what does everyone who lives answer? My body, assuredly, lives by my spirit. Do you too, then, wish to live by the Spirit of Christ? Be in the body of Christ. For does my body live by your spirit? Mine lives by my spirit, and yours by yours. The body of Christ cannot live except by the Spirit of Christ. Hence it is that the apostle Paul, expounding this bread to us, says, One bread, one body, we many are (1 Cor. 10:17). O Sacrament of piety! O sign of unity! O bond of charity! He who wishes to live has where he may live, has whence he may live. Let him approach, let him believe; let him be incorporated, that he may be given life. Let him not shrink from the joining of the members, let him not be a rotten member that deserves to be cut off, let him not be a distorted one of which there is shame: let him be fair, let him be fitted, let him be sound; let him cleave to the body, let him live to God from God: let him labour now on earth, that afterwards he may reign in heaven.
14. Litigabant ergo Judaei ad invicem, dicentes: Quomodo potest hic carnem suam nobis dare ad manducandum? Litigabant utique ad invicem, quoniam panem concordiae non intelligebant, nec sumere volebant: nam qui manducant talem panem, non litigant ad invicem; quoniam unus panis, unum corpus multi sumus. Et per hunc facit Deus unius modi habitare in domo (Psal. LXVII, 7).
14. The Jews therefore disputed with one another, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? They disputed with one another, assuredly, because they did not understand the bread of concord, nor wished to take it: for those who eat such bread do not dispute with one another; because one bread, one body, we many are. And through this bread God makes those of one manner to dwell in a house (Ps. 67:7).
15. Quod autem ad invicem litigantes quaerunt, quomodo possit Dominus carnem suam dare ad manducandum, non statim audiunt: sed adhuc eis dicitur, Amen, amen dico vobis, nisi manducaveritis carnem Filii hominis, et biberitis ejus sanguinem, non habebitis vitam in vobis. Quomodo quidem edatur, et quisnam modus sit manducandi istum panem, ignoratis; verumtamen nisi manducaveritis carnem Filii hominis, et biberitis ejus sanguinem, non habebitis vitam in vobis. Haec non utique cadaveribus, sed viventibus loquebatur. Unde, ne istam vitam intelligentes et de hac re litigarent, secutus adjunxit, Qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, habet vitam aeternam. Hanc ergo non habet, qui istum panem non manducat, nec istum sanguinem bibit: nam temporalem vitam sine illo habere homines possunt, aeternam vero omnino non possunt. Qui ergo non manducat ejus carnem, nec bibit ejus sanguinem, non habet in se vitam: et qui manducat ejus carnem, et bibit ejus sanguinem, habet vitam. Ad utrumque autem respondet quod dixit, aeternam. Non ita est in hac esca, quam sustentandae hujus temporalis vitae causa sumimus. Nam qui eam non sumpserit, non vivet: nec tamen qui eam sumpserit, vivet. Fieri enim potest ut senio, vel morbo, vel aliquo casu, plurimi et qui eam
15. But what they ask as they dispute with one another, how the Lord can give His flesh to eat, they do not hear at once: but it is further said to them, Amen, amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you will not have life in you. How indeed it is eaten, and what the manner is of eating this bread, you do not know; nevertheless, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you will not have life in you. These things, assuredly, He was speaking not to corpses but to the living. Whence, lest they should understand this present life and dispute about this matter also, He went on and added, He who eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, has eternal life. This, then, he does not have who does not eat this bread, nor drink this blood: for temporal life men can have without it, but eternal life they cannot have at all. He therefore who does not eat His flesh, nor drink His blood, does not have life in himself: and he who eats His flesh, and drinks His blood, has life. And to both there answers the word He spoke, eternal. It is not so with this food which we take for the sake of sustaining this temporal life. For he who has not taken it will not live: and yet he who has taken it will not [therefore] live. For it can happen that by old age, or by disease, or by some accident, very many even of those who
Editors' notes and page, col. 1613
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot image› · call in col 1613
Mss. decem, credat, vivat in Deo, de Deo ; incorporetur, etc.
Ten manuscripts: "let him believe, let him live in God, from God; let him be incorporated," etc.
(printed under page 155)
Page
- running head: 1613 TRACTATUS XXVI. CAP⟨UT VI.⟩ (the end of the head lies over the facing column; completed from col 1614's images)
- marginal letters: (none)
- old-edition numerals: (none)
- other: The column's first printed letters are "tres", the second half of fratres, which is set whole at the end of col 1612; this file therefore begins at "mei", and the English supplies [brethren] in brackets for sense. The column ends mid-sentence at "qui eam". Foot note 1 (called after "credat") is left for pass 2. Italics of the print are not marked.
sumpserint moriantur. In hoc vero cibo et potu, id est corpore et sanguine Domini, non ita est. Nam et qui eam non sumit, non habet vitam: et qui eam sumit, habet vitam, et hanc utique aeternam. Hunc itaque cibum et potum societatem vult intelligi corporis et membrorum suorum, quod est sancta Ecclesia in praedestinatis et vocatis, et justificatis, et glorificatis sanctis, et fidelibus ejus. Quorum primum jam factum est, id est, praedestinatio: secundum et tertium factum est, et fit, et fiet, id est, vocatio et justificatio: quartum vero nunc in spe est, in re autem futurum est, id est, glorificatio. Hujus rei Sacramentum, id est, unitatis corporis et sanguinis Christi alicubi quotidie, alicubi certis intervallis dierum in dominica mensa praeparatur, et de mensa dominica sumitur; quibusdam ad vitam, quibusdam ad exitium: res vero ipsa cujus sacramentum est, omni homini ad vitam, nulli ad exitium, quicumque ejus particeps fuerit.
have taken it should die. But in this food and drink, that is, in the body and blood of the Lord, it is not so. For both he who does not take it does not have life: and he who takes it has life, and this assuredly eternal. And so He wishes this food and drink to be understood as the fellowship of His body and members, which is the holy Church in His saints and faithful, predestined and called, and justified, and glorified. Of which the first has already been done, that is, predestination: the second and third have been done, and are being done, and will be done, that is, calling and justification: but the fourth is now in hope, and in reality is yet to be, that is, glorification. The Sacrament of this thing, that is, of the unity of the body and blood of Christ, is prepared on the Lord's table in some places daily, in some places at fixed intervals of days, and is taken from the Lord's table; by some unto life, by some unto destruction: but the thing itself of which it is the sacrament is unto life for every man, unto destruction for none, whoever shall have been a partaker of it.
16. Ne autem putarent sic in isto cibo et potu promitti vitam aeternam, ut qui eam sumerent, jam nec corpore morerentur; huic cogitationi dignatus est occurrere. Nam cum dixisset, Qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, habet vitam aeternam; continuo subjecit, Et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die. Ut habeat interim secundum spiritum vitam aeternam in requie, quae sanctorum spiritus suscipit: quod autem ad corpus attinet, nec ejus vita aeterna fraudetur, sed in resurrectione mortuorum novissimo die.
16. But lest they should think that eternal life was promised in this food and drink in such a way that those who took it would no longer die even in body; He deigned to meet this thought. For when He had said, He who eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, has eternal life; He immediately added, And I will raise him up on the last day. That he may have meanwhile, according to the spirit, eternal life in the rest which receives the spirits of the saints: but, as regards the body, that it too may not be defrauded of its eternal life, but [may have it] in the resurrection of the dead on the last day.
17. Caro enim mea, inquit, vere est cibus, et sanguis meus vere est potus. Cum enim cibo et potu id appetant homines, ut non esuriant, neque sitiant; hoc veraciter non praestat nisi iste cibus et potus, qui eos a quibus sumitur, immortales et incorruptibiles facit, id est societas ipsa sanctorum, ubi pax erit et unitas plena atque perfecta. Propterea quippe, sicut etiam ante nos hoc intellexerunt homines Dei, Dominus noster Jesus Christus corpus et sanguinem suum in eis rebus commendavit, quae ad unum aliquid rediguntur ex multis. Namque aliud in unum ex multis granis confit: aliud in unum ex multis acinis confluit.
17. For My flesh, He says, is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. For since by food and drink men seek this, that they may not hunger nor thirst; nothing truly affords this except this food and drink, which makes those by whom it is taken immortal and incorruptible, that is, the very fellowship of the saints, where there will be peace and unity full and perfect. For this reason indeed, as men of God also understood this before us, our Lord Jesus Christ commended His body and blood in those things which are brought to some one thing out of many. For the one is made into one out of many grains: the other flows together into one out of many grapes.
18. Denique jam exponit quomodo id fiat quod loquitur, et quid sit manducare corpus ejus, et sanguinem bibere. Qui manducat carnem meam, et bibit meum sanguinem, in me manet, et ego in illo. Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam, et illum bibere potum, in Christo manere, et illum manentem in se habere. Ac per hoc qui non manet in Christo, et in quo non manet Christus, procul dubio nec manducat [spiritualiter] carnem ejus, nec bibit ejus sanguinem, [licet carnaliter et visibiliter premat dentibus Sacramentum corporis et sanguinis Christi:] sed magis tantae rei Sacramentum ad judicium sibi manducat et bibit, quia immundus praesumpsit ad Christi accedere Sacramenta, quae aliquis non digne sumit, nisi qui mundus est; de quibus dicitur, Beati mundo corde,
18. Finally He now expounds how that of which He speaks comes about, and what it is to eat His body, and to drink His blood. He who eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him. This, then, is to eat that food, and to drink that drink: to abide in Christ, and to have Him abiding in oneself. And through this, he who does not abide in Christ, and in whom Christ does not abide, without doubt neither eats [spiritually] His flesh, nor drinks His blood, [although carnally and visibly he presses with his teeth the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ:] but rather eats and drinks the Sacrament of so great a thing unto judgement for himself, because, being unclean, he has presumed to approach the Sacraments of Christ, which no one takes worthily except he who is clean; of whom it is said, Blessed are the clean of heart,
Editors' notes and page, col. 1614
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: incorruptibiles facit› · call in col 1614
Mss., faciat.
The manuscripts: "may make" (subjunctive).
(printed under page 155)
(a) ‹anchor: acinis confluit› · call in col 1614
Ita Cyprianus ad Caecilium, epist. 63, et ad Magnum, epist. 76.
So Cyprian to Caecilius, Epistle 63, and to Magnus, Epistle 76.
(printed under page 155)
Page
- running head: ⟨TRACTA⟩TUS XXVI. CAPUT VI. 1614 (the first part of the head lies over the facing column)
- marginal letters: (none)
- old-edition numerals: (none)
- other: The column begins mid-sentence and ends mid-sentence (the quotation is finished at the head of col 1615). The square brackets in section 18 ("[spiritualiter]" and "[licet ... Christi:]") are PRINTED in the column, the editors' own marks round words wanting in the manuscripts; they are kept in source and English as printed and are not supplements of ours. In section 16 "resuscitabo eum" the e of eum prints like a c (worn type); set eum. In the English of section 16 "[may have it]" is our supplement. Foot note 1 (called after "facit") is left for pass 2; the foot note call (a) after "confluit" is omitted from the source. Italics of the print are not marked.
quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt (Matth. V, 8).
for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8).
19. Sicut, inquit, misit me vivens Pater, et ego vivo propter Patrem; et qui manducat me, et ipse vivet propter me. Non ait: Sicut manduco Patrem, et ego vivo propter Patrem; et qui manducat me, et ipse vivet propter me. Non enim Filius participatione Patris fit melior, qui est natus aequalis; sicut participatione Filii per unitatem corporis ejus et sanguinis, quod illa manducatio potatioque significat, nos efficimur meliores. Vivimus ergo nos propter ipsum, manducantes eum; id est, ipsum accipientes aeternam vitam, quam non habebamus ex nobis: vivit autem ipse propter Patrem, missus ab eo; quia semetipsum exinanivit, factus obediens usque ad mortem crucis (Philipp. II, 8). Si enim secundum id accipimus, Vivo propter Patrem, quod alibi ait, Pater major me est (Joan. XIV, 28); sicut et nos vivimus propter ipsum, qui major est nobis: hoc ex eo quod missus est, factum est. Missio quippe ejus exinanitio suimetipsius est, et formae servilis acceptio: quod recte intelligitur, servata etiam Filii cum Patre aequalitate naturae. Major enim est Pater homine filio, sed aequalem habet Deum Filium: cum idem ipse sit et Deus et homo, Dei Filius et hominis filius, unus Christus Jesus. In quam sententiam si recte accipiuntur haec verba, ita dixit, Sicut me misit vivens Pater, et ego vivo propter Patrem; et qui manducat me, et ipse vivet propter me: ac si diceret, Ut ego vivam propter Patrem, id est, ad illum tanquam majorem referam vitam meam, exinanitio mea fecit, in qua me misit; ut autem quisque vivat propter me, participatio facit qua manducat me. Ego itaque humiliatus vivo propter Patrem, ille erectus vivit propter me. Si autem ita dictum est, Vivo propter Patrem, quia ipse de illo, non ille de ipso est; sine detrimento aequalitatis dictum est. Nec tamen dicendo, et qui manducat me, et ipse vivet propter me, eamdem suam et nostram aequalitatem significavit; sed gratiam mediatoris ostendit.
19. As the living Father sent Me, He says, and I live because of the Father; so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. He does not say: As I eat the Father, and I live because of the Father; so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. For the Son, Who was born equal, is not made better by participation in the Father; as we are made better by participation in the Son through the unity of His body and blood, which that eating and drinking signifies. We therefore live because of Him, eating Him; that is, receiving Him as the eternal life which we did not have of ourselves: but He lives because of the Father, being sent by Him; because He emptied Himself, being made obedient even unto the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8). For if we take I live because of the Father according to that which He says elsewhere, The Father is greater than I (John 14:28); just as we also live because of Him Who is greater than we: this came about from the fact that He was sent. For His sending is the emptying of Himself, and the taking of the form of a servant: which is rightly understood with the equality of nature of the Son with the Father also preserved. For the Father is greater than the man-son, but He has God the Son as His equal: since the very same is both God and man, Son of God and son of man, one Christ Jesus. If these words are rightly taken in this sense, He spoke thus, As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father; so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me: as if He were saying, That I should live because of the Father, that is, should refer My life to Him as to one greater, My emptying has brought about, in which He sent Me; but that anyone should live because of Me, the participation by which he eats Me brings about. I therefore, being humbled, live because of the Father; he, being raised up, lives because of Me. But if it was said thus, I live because of the Father, because He is from the Father, not the Father from Him; it was said without detriment to equality. Nor yet, by saying, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me, did He signify that His equality and ours are the same; but He showed the grace of the mediator.
20. Hic est panis qui de coelo descendit: ut illum manducando vivamus; quia aeternam vitam ex nobis habere non possumus. Non sicut, inquit, manducaverunt patres vestri manna, et mortui sunt: qui manducat hunc panem, vivet in aeternum. Quod ergo illi mortui sunt, ita vult intelligi, ut non vivant in aeternum. Nam temporaliter et hi profecto morientur, qui Christum manducant: sed vivunt in aeternum, quia Christus est vita aeterna.
20. This is the bread which came down from heaven: that by eating it we may live; because we cannot have eternal life of ourselves. Not as your fathers ate manna, He says, and died: he who eats this bread will live for ever. That those men died, therefore, He wishes to be understood thus, that they do not live for ever. For temporally these also will assuredly die, who eat Christ: but they live for ever, because Christ is eternal life.
Editors' notes and page, col. 1615
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: Deum videbunt› · call in col 1615
Sic editi quidam ; at Mss. nostri omnes habent hoc modo : Nec manducat carnem ejus, nec bibit ejus sanguinem, etiamsi tantae rei sacramentum ad judicium sibi manducet et bibat. Sicut, inquit, misit me vivens Pater, etc., carentque verbis caeteris, quae hic ansulis concluduntur ; quae verba nullo etiam e suis Mss. contineri testantur Lovanienses : habentur ipsa in Bedae et Alcuini Commentariis super Joannem.
So certain printed editions; but all our manuscripts read in this way: "He neither eats His flesh nor drinks His blood, even though he eat and drink the sacrament of so great a thing to his own judgement. As, He says, the living Father sent Me," etc., and they lack the remaining words, which are here enclosed in brackets; the Louvain editors testify that those words are contained in none of their own manuscripts either: the words themselves are found in the Commentaries of Bede and of Alcuin on John.
(printed under page 156)
(2) ‹anchor: nos efficimur› · call in col 1615
In omnibus fere Mss., nos efficit.
In nearly all the manuscripts: "makes us."
(printed under page 156)
Page
- running head: 1615 IN JOANNIS EVANGELIUM, S⟨ ⟩ (the rest of the head lies over the facing column, outside this column's images)
- marginal letters: (none)
- old-edition numerals: (none)
- other: The column begins mid-sentence, finishing the quotation left open at the end of col 1614. The piece ends in the lower part of this column at "quia Christus est vita aeterna"; below it stand the title TRACTATUS XXVII, its italic argument and the opening of its section 1, which belong to the next piece and are not set (pointer only). In section 19, "Non ait: Sicut manduco Patrem, et ego vivo": the last letter of vivo prints like an e at the line end (worn type); set vivo, UNSURE whether a true misprint "vive". In section 20 the line-end hyphen is missing in "Chri | stus"; set Christus. Foot notes 1 (called after "videbunt") and 2 (called after "efficimur") belong to this piece and are left for pass 2. Italics of the print are not marked.