PL 38 · cols. 661–670

Augustine, Sermones 113-120 (Classis I, de Scripturis)

Sermon CXVII

modo sequeris: quos persequebaris, modo pro illis persecutionem pateris. Surgit praedicator, qui prostratus est persecutor. Audivit Domini vocem. Excaecatus est, sed in corpore, ut illuminaretur in corde. Perductus ad Ananiam, de pluribus catechizatus, baptizatus, processit apostolus (Id. IX). Dic, praedica: praedica Christum, dissemina, o bone aries, jamdudum lupus. Vide illum, attende illum, qui saeviebat: Mihi autem absit gloriari, nisi in cruce Domini nostri Jesu Christi, per quem mihi mundus crucifixus est, et ego mundo (Galat. VI, 14). Funde Evangelium: quod corde concepisti, ore dissemina. Audiant gentes, credant gentes: pullulent gentes, nascatur de sanguine martyrum sponsa Domino purpurata. Et ex illa quam multi accesserunt? quam multa membra capiti cohaeserunt, et cohaerent nunc, et credunt? Et baptizati sunt isti, et baptizabuntur alii, et post nos venient alteri. Tunc, inquam, in fine saeculi accedent lapides fundamento, lapides vivi, lapides sancti, ut in fine aedificetur totum aedificium ab illa Ecclesia; imo ab ista ipsa Ecclesia, quae modo cantat canticum novum, dum domus aedificatur. Sic enim habet ipse Psalmus: Quando domus aedificabatur post captivitatem. Et quid? Cantate Domino canticum novum; cantate Domino omnis terra (Psal. XCV, 1). Quam magna domus! Sed quando cantat canticum novum? Cum aedificatur. Quando dedicatur? In fine saeculi. Fundamentum ipsius jam dedicatum est: quia ascendit in coelum, et non moritur. Quando et nos surrexerimus, ut nunquam moriamur, tunc dedicabimur.

you now follow; those whom you were persecuting, for them you now suffer persecution. The preacher rises up who was laid low as a persecutor. He heard the voice of the Lord. He was blinded, but in the body, that he might be enlightened in the heart. Led to Ananias, instructed in many things, baptized, he went forth an apostle (Acts 9). Speak, preach: preach Christ, sow abroad, O good ram, long since a wolf. See him, give heed to him who used to rage: But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal. 6:14). Pour out the Gospel: what you conceived in your heart, sow abroad with your mouth. Let the nations hear, let the nations believe: let the nations spring up, let there be born of the blood of the martyrs a bride clothed in purple for the Lord. And from her how many have come? how many members have cleaved to the Head, and cleave to it now, and believe? Both these have been baptized, and others will be baptized, and after us still others will come. Then, I say, at the end of the world stones will be added to the foundation, living stones, holy stones, so that at the end the whole building may be built up from that Church; nay rather from this very Church, which now sings a new song while the house is being built. For so the Psalm itself has it: When the house was being built after the captivity. And what then? Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth (Ps. 95:1). How great a house! But when does it sing a new song? When it is being built. When is it dedicated? At the end of the world. Its foundation has already been dedicated: for He ascended into heaven, and does not die. When we too shall have risen again, so as never to die, then we shall be dedicated.

SERMO CXVII. De verbis Evangelii Joannis, cap. I, 1-3, In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum, etc. Contra Arianos.

Sermon 117. On the words of the Gospel of John, chap. 1:1-3, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, etc. Against the Arians.

CAPUT PRIMUM. — 1. Verbum Dei ut intelligatur, quo pretio comparandum. Capitulum Evangelii quod lectum est, fratres dilectissimi, purum oculum cordis inquirit. Dominum enim nostrum Jesum Christum accepimus secundum divinitatem ad condendam universam creaturam, secundum humanitatem ad reparandam lapsam creaturam, evangelizante Joanne. In ipso autem Evangelio qualis et quantus vir Joannes fuerit, invenimus, ut ex dignitate dispensatoris intelligatur quanti pretii sit Verbum, quod per talem dici potuit: imo quam nullius pretii sit quod superat omnia.

Chapter I. — 1. That the Word of God may be understood, at what price it is to be acquired. The passage of the Gospel which has been read, dearly beloved brethren, requires a pure eye of the heart. For we have received our Lord Jesus Christ, according to His divinity, for the founding of the whole creation, and according to His humanity, for the restoring of the fallen creation, as John proclaims the Gospel. Now in the Gospel itself we find what sort of man and how great John was, so that from the dignity of the steward it may be understood of how great value the Word is that could be spoken through such a man: nay rather, how beyond any price is that which surpasses all things.

Editors' notes and page, col. 661

Footnotes

(*) ‹anchor: SERMO CXVII› · call in col 661 Emendatus ad tres bn. et quatuor cl. cum a. cb. f. fs. g. lr. m. p. rm. vd. et Am. Er. Par. Lov.

Corrected against three bn. and four cl. manuscripts, with a. cb. f. fs. g. lr. m. p. rm. vd., and Amerbach, Erasmus, the Paris edition and the Louvain editors. [The siglum read as "vd." is blurred and may be printed "vel."]

(printed under page 337)

(a) ‹anchor: SERMO CXVII› · call in col 661

Alias, de Verbis Domini 38.

Formerly, On the Words of the Lord 38.

(printed under page 337)

(b) ‹anchor: Contra Arianos› · call in col 661

Designatus videtur a Possidio in Indiculo, cap. 5, ubi inter opuscula Augustini contra Arianos tractatum recenset, « De In principio erat Verbum. » Citatur quoque a Floro ad Hebr. 1. Quanquam vero apud Lovanienses iste sermo absque Augustini nomine, quod ipsi curarunt non dubiis tantummodo sermonibus praefigendum, editus reperiatur, cum hac censura : « Videtur nonnullis sermo consarcinatus et non totus esse D. Augustini. » Nobis tamen non licebat in dubiorum sermonum classem ipsum rejicere : quippe cujus partes omnes optime cohaerere, quique Augustini doctrinam, disserendi methodum et usitatas eidem voces exhibere, si quis alius, deprehendebatur. Neque vero morari debuit stilus, hic, ut in extemporaneis concionibus esse solet, aliquanto diffusior et inaequalis. Pertinet forte ad priores annos Augustini.

It seems to be the one indicated by Possidius in the Indiculus, ch. 5, where among Augustine's works against the Arians he lists a treatise "On In the beginning was the Word." It is also cited by Florus on Hebrews 1. Now although in the Louvain edition this sermon is found printed without Augustine's name (which they took care to prefix only to the sermons not in doubt), with this judgement: "To some the sermon seems patched together and not wholly St. Augustine's," we nevertheless were not free to throw it back into the class of doubtful sermons: for all its parts were found to hang together very well, and it was found to show Augustine's teaching, his method of arguing and his customary expressions, if any sermon does. Nor ought the style to have given pause, here somewhat more diffuse and uneven, as it usually is in extemporaneous preaching. It belongs perhaps to Augustine's earlier years.

(printed under page 337)

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running head: SERMO CXVII.
marginal letters: (none)
old-edition numerals: (none)
other: the word omnia. was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 662

PL 38:662

Pretio enim aut comparatur res venalis, aut subjicitur, aut excedit eam. Quando tanto quisque comparat quanto valet, aequatur pretium rei quae comparatur: quando vilius, subjicitur ei: quando carius, superat eam. Verbo autem Dei nec aequari aliquid potest, nec ad mutationem subjici, nec superponi aliquid. Subjici enim omnia possunt Verbo Dei, quia omnia per ipsum facta sunt: non tamen subjiciuntur, quasi pretium sint Verbi, ut quisque det aliquid, ut illud accipiat. Tamen si dici potest, et admittit nomen hoc ratio aliqua vel loquendi consuetudo, pretium comparandi Verbi ipse comparator est, qui se ipsum pro se ipso dederit huic Verbo. Itaque quando aliquid emimus, quaerimus aliquid quod demus, ut habeamus rem dato pretio quam volumus emere. Et extra nos est quod damus; et si apud nos erat, fit extra nos illud quod damus, ut sit apud nos illud quod comparamus. Quidquid pretii invenerit qui emit aliquid, necesse est ut tale inveniat, ut det quod habet, et accipiat quod non habet; maneat tamen ille a quo abscedit pretium, et accedat illud pro quo dat pretium. Qui autem vult comparare Verbum hoc, qui vult habere, non quaerat extra se ipsum quod det, se ipsum det. Quod cum fecerit, non se amittit, sicut amittit pretium, quando aliquid emit.

For a price either matches the thing for sale, or falls below it, or exceeds it. When someone buys a thing for as much as it is worth, the price is equal to the thing that is bought; when more cheaply, it falls below it; when more dearly, it surpasses it. But nothing can be made equal to the Word of God, nor be placed beneath Him in exchange, nor can anything be set above Him. For all things can be placed beneath the Word of God, since all things were made through Him; yet they are not placed beneath Him as though they were the price of the Word, so that a person should give something in order to receive Him. Yet, if it can be said, and if some reasoning or habit of speech admits this term, the price of buying the Word is the buyer himself, who should give himself for himself to this Word. Thus when we buy something, we look for something to give, so that, once the price is given, we may have the thing we wish to buy. And what we give is outside us; and if it was with us, what we give comes to be outside us, so that what we buy may be with us. Whatever price someone who buys something has found, he must find it of such a kind that he gives what he has and receives what he does not have; yet the man from whom the price departs remains, and that for which he gives the price comes to him. But he who wishes to buy this Word, who wishes to have Him, let him not seek outside himself something to give: let him give himself. And when he has done this, he does not lose himself, as he loses the price when he buys something.

CAPUT II. — 2. Pretium Verbi ipse homo. Verbum ergo Dei propositum est omnibus: comparent qui possunt; possunt autem qui pie voluerint. In illo enim Verbo pax: et pax in terra hominibus bonae voluntatis (Luc. II, 14). Ergo qui vult comparare, det se ipsum. Qnasi pretium est hoc Verbi, si dici aliquo modo potest, quando nec se perdit qui dat, et acquirit Verbum pro quo se dat, et se ipsum in Verbo acquirit cui se dat. Et quid dat Verbo? Non aliquid ab ipso alienum, pro quo se dat; sed quod per ipsum Verbum factum est, hoc ei redditur ut reficiatur. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt. Si omnia, utique et homo. Si coelum, si terra, si mare, si omnia quae in ipsis sunt, si universa creatura; utique ille manifestius, qui ad imaginem Dei factus per Verbum factus est homo.

Chapter II. — 2. Man himself the price of the Word. The Word of God, then, has been set before all: let those buy who can; and those can who have piously willed it. For in that Word is peace: and peace on earth to men of good will (Luke 2:14). Therefore let him who wishes to buy give himself. This is as it were the price of the Word, if it can in some way be said, since he who gives does not lose himself, and he acquires the Word for Whom he gives himself, and he acquires himself in the Word to Whom he gives himself. And what does he give to the Word? Not something alien to Him for Whom he gives himself; but what was made through the Word Himself, this is given back to Him that it may be remade. All things were made through Him. If all things, then surely man too. If heaven, if earth, if sea, if all things that are in them, if the whole creation, then surely more manifestly man, who was made to the image of God and was made through the Word.

3. Verbum Dei forma quaedam non formata. Forma sine tempore et loco. Non modo, fratres, tractamus, quomodo possit intelligi quod dictum est. In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Ineffabiliter potest intelligi: non verbis hominis fit ut intelligatur. Verbum Dei tractamus, et dicimus quare non intelligatur. Non nunc dicimus ut intelligatur, sed dicimus quid impediat ne intelligatur. Est enim forma quaedam, forma non formata, sed forma omnium formatorum: forma incommutabilis, sine lapsu, sine defectu, sine tempore, sine loco, superans omnia, existens omnibus et fundamentum quoddam in quo sint, et fastigium sub quo sint. Si dicis quia omnia in illo sunt, non mentiris. Dictu⟨m⟩ est enim ipsum Verbum Sapientia Dei: habemus autem

3. The Word of God a certain form not formed. A form without time and place. We are not now discussing, brethren, how what was said can be understood. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It can be understood ineffably: it is not by the words of man that it comes to be understood. We are discussing the Word of God, and we are saying why it is not understood. We are not now speaking so that it may be understood, but we are saying what hinders it from being understood. For it is a certain form, a form not formed, but the form of all things formed: an unchangeable form, without lapse, without failing, without time, without place, surpassing all things, being to all things both a kind of foundation in which they are and a summit under which they are. If you say that all things are in it, you do not lie. For the Word itself has been called the Wisdom of God: but we have it

Editors' notes and page, col. 662

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: Non modo› · call in col 662

Lov., Nam modo; refragantibus caeteris libris.

The Louvain editors: "For now"; against the other books.

(printed under page 337)

(2) ‹anchor: superans omnia, existens› · call in col 662

Lov. et aliquot Mss., eminens. Alii libri, existens.

The Louvain editors and some manuscripts: "rising above." Other books: "existing."

(printed under page 337)

(3) ‹anchor: ipsum Verbum› · call in col 662

Plerique Mss., et dictum est. Ipsum est enim Verbum, etc.

Most manuscripts: "and it has been said. For the Word itself is," etc.

(printed under page 337)

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running head: SERMO CXVII. 662
marginal letters: (none)
old-edition numerals: (none)
other: misprints kept as printed: Qnasi (for Quasi), §2.
other: Q1a, English across the column breaks: the bracketed word-fragment that stood at the head of col 662's English was taken out; the English of col 661 ends in a broken word ("al-") and should end "all things." (mended in col 661 by the settle step, round 1, English only). The end of col 662's English now runs on into the first word of col 663.

PL 38:663

scriptum, Omnia in Sapientia fecisti (Psal. CIII, 24). Ergo in illo sunt omnia: et tamen quia Deus est, sub illo sunt omnia. Dicimus quam incomprehensibile sit quod lectum est: tamen lectum est, non ut comprehenderetur ab homine, sed ut doleret homo quia non comprehendit, et inveniret unde impeditur a comprehensione, et removeret ea, et inhiaret perceptioni incommutabilis Verbi, ipse ex deteriore in melius commutatus. Non enim Verbum proficit aut crescit accedente cognitore: sed integrum, si permanseris; integrum, si recesseris; integrum, cum redieris; manens in se, et innovans omnia. Ergo est forma omnium rerum, forma infabricata, sine tempore, ut diximus, et sine spatiis locorum. Quidquid enim loco capitur, circumscribitur. Forma circumscribitur finibus, habet metas unde et quousque sit. Deinde quod loco capitur et mole quadam et spatio distenditur, minus est in parte, quam in toto. Faciat Deus ut intelligatis.

written, In Wisdom Thou hast made all things (Ps. 103:24). Therefore in Him are all things; and yet, because He is God, under Him are all things. We say how incomprehensible is what has been read; yet it was read, not that it might be comprehended by man, but that man might grieve because he does not comprehend, and might find what hinders him from comprehension, and might remove those things, and might gape eagerly after the perception of the unchangeable Word, himself changed from worse into better. For the Word does not advance or grow when one who knows Him draws near; but He is whole if you remain, whole if you depart, whole when you return; abiding in Himself, and renewing all things. Therefore He is the form of all things, a form unfashioned, without time, as we have said, and without the spaces of places. For whatever is contained in a place is circumscribed. A form is circumscribed by boundaries; it has limits from where and up to where it is. Then, what is contained in a place and is extended by a certain bulk and space is less in a part than in the whole. May God grant that you understand.

CAPUT III. — 4. Non minor in parte quam in toto. Quotidie autem de corporibus, quae ante oculos nostros sunt, quae videmus, quae tangimus, inter quae sumus, possumus judicare corpus quodlibet in loco habere formam. Omne autem quod spatium loci occupat, minus est in parte quam in toto. Pars corporis humani, verbi gratia, brachium: utique minus est brachium quam totum corpus. Et si minus est brachium, breviorem locum occupat. Item caput, quia pars est corporis, in minore loco est, et minus est quam totum corpus, cui caput est. Sic omnia quae sunt in loco, minora sunt in parte quam in toto. Nihil tale de illo Verbo sentiamus, nihil tale cogitemus. Non de suggestione carnis spiritualia imaginemur. Non est ille Sermo, non est ille Deus minor in parte quam in toto.

Chapter III. — 4. Not less in a part than in the whole. Every day, moreover, concerning bodies, which are before our eyes, which we see, which we touch, among which we are, we can judge that any body whatever has a form in a place. Now everything that occupies a space of place is less in a part than in the whole. A part of the human body, for example, the arm: surely the arm is less than the whole body. And if the arm is less, it occupies a smaller place. Likewise the head, because it is a part of the body, is in a smaller place, and is less than the whole body whose head it is. Thus all things that are in a place are smaller in a part than in the whole. Let us hold no such thing concerning that Word, let us think no such thing. Let us not imagine spiritual things at the suggestion of the flesh. That Speech is not, that God is not, less in a part than in the whole.

5. In rebus divinis pia ignorantia melior quam praesumpta scientia. Oculo cordis Deus incomprehensibilis. Dei cognitione fit homo beatus. Deus ex notra cognitione non crescit. Sed non potes tale aliquid cogitare. Magis pia est talis ignorantia, quam praesumpta scientia. Loquimur enim de Deo. Dictum est, Et Deus erat Verbum. De Deo loquimur, quid mirum si non comprehendis? Si enim comprehendis, non est Deus. Sit pia confessio ignorantiae magis, quam temeraria professio scientiae. Attingere aliquantum mente Deum; magna beatitudo est: comprehendere autem, omnino impossibile. Ad mentem Deus pertinet, intelligendus est: ad oculos corpus, videndum est. Sed corpus oculo comprehendere te putas? Omnino non potes. Quidquid enim aspicis, non totum aspicis. Cujus hominis faciem vides, dorsum non vides eo tempore quo faciem vides: et quando dorsum vides, eo tempore faciem non vides. Non sic ergo vides, ut comprehendas: sed quando aspicis aliam partem, quam

5. In divine matters a pious ignorance is better than a presumed knowledge. To the eye of the heart God is incomprehensible. By the knowledge of God man becomes blessed. God does not grow from our knowledge. But you cannot think of any such thing. Such ignorance is more pious than presumed knowledge. For we are speaking of God. It was said, And the Word was God. We are speaking of God; what wonder if you do not comprehend? For if you comprehend, it is not God. Let there be a pious confession of ignorance rather than a rash profession of knowledge. To attain to God somewhat with the mind is a great blessedness; but to comprehend Him is altogether impossible. God pertains to the mind, He is to be understood; a body pertains to the eyes, it is to be seen. But do you think you comprehend a body with the eye? You cannot at all. For whatever you look at, you do not look at the whole. Of whatever man you see the face, you do not see the back at the time when you see the face; and when you see the back, at that time you do not see the face. So you do not see in such a way as to comprehend; but when you look at another part, which

Editors' notes and page, col. 663

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 663

Hic apud Lov. additur, manet; quod a caeteris libris abest.

Here in the Louvain edition "remains" is added; which is absent from the other books.

(printed under page 338)

(2) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 663

In quibusdam libris sic verba interpunguntur : circumscribitur forma, circumscribitur finibus.

In certain books the words are punctuated thus: "it is circumscribed by form, it is circumscribed by limits."

(printed under page 338)

(3) ‹anchor: minus est brachium› · call in col 663

Mss., Et si minus est, id est brevius, breviorem, etc.

The manuscripts: "And if it is less, that is, shorter, [it occupies] a shorter," etc.

(printed under page 338)

(4) ‹anchor: corpus, videndum est› · call in col 663

Nonnulli Mss., ab oculis cordis videndus est.

Some manuscripts: "he is to be seen by the eyes of the heart."

(printed under page 338)

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running head: 663 S. AUGUSTINI EPIS (cut off at image edge)
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PL 38:664

non videras, nisi memoria tecum faciat ut memineris te vidisse unde recedis, nunquam te dixeris aliquid vel in superficie comprehendisse. Tractas quod vides, versas huc atque illuc, vel ipse circuis ut totum videas. Uno ergo aspectu totum videre non potes. Et quamdiu versas ut videas, partes, vides: et contexendo quia vidisti alias partes, videris totum inspicere. Non autem hic oculorum visus, sed memoriae vivacitas intelligitur. Quid ergo de illo Verbo, fratres, dici potest? Ecce de corporibus dicimus subjacentibus oculis nostris, non illa possunt comprehendere aspectu: quis ergo oculus cordis comprehendit Deum? Sufficit ut attingat, si purus est oculus. Si autem attingit, tactu quodam attingit incorporeo et spirituali, non tamen comprehendit; et hoc, si purus est. Et homo fit beatus contingendo corde illud quod semper beatum manet: et est illud ipsa beatitudo perpetua, et unde fit homo vivus, vita perpetua; unde fit homo sapiens, sapientia perfecta; unde homo fit illuminatus, lumen sempiternum est. Et vide quemadmodum tu contingendo efficeris quod non eras, non illud quod contingis facis esse quod non erat. Hoc dico, Deus non crescit ex cognitore, sed cognitor ex cognitione Dei.

you had not seen, unless memory makes you remember that you saw the side you are moving away from, you would never say that you had grasped anything even in its surface. You handle what you see, you turn it this way and that, or you yourself walk around it so as to see the whole. Therefore you cannot see the whole in one glance. And for as long as you turn it in order to see it, you see parts: and by weaving together the fact that you have seen other parts, you seem to look upon the whole. But here it is not the sight of the eyes but the liveliness of memory that is understood. What then can be said of that Word, brothers? See, we are speaking of bodies lying before our eyes, and they cannot comprehend them by looking: what eye of the heart, then, comprehends God? It is enough that it should touch Him, if the eye is pure. But if it touches Him, it touches with a certain incorporeal and spiritual touch, yet it does not comprehend; and this only if it is pure. And a man becomes blessed by touching with the heart that which remains ever blessed: and that is blessedness itself everlasting, and that by which a man becomes living is life everlasting; that by which a man becomes wise is perfect wisdom; that by which a man becomes enlightened is light eternal. And see how you, by touching, are made what you were not; you do not make what you touch to be what it was not. This I say: God does not grow from the one who knows Him, but the knower grows from the knowledge of God.

CAPUT IV. — Ne putemus, fratres charissimi, quia beneficium praestamus Deo, quia diximus pretium nos dare quodam modo. Non enim unde augeatur, illi damus, qui et te lapso integer est, et te redeunte integer manet, paratus videri ut beatificet conversos, et aversos puniat caecitate. Vindicat enim primo in anima aversa a se, exordio poenarum, ipsa caecitate. Qui enim se avertit a lumine vero, id est, a Deo, jam caecus efficitur. Nondum sentit poenam, sed jam habet.

Chapter IV. — Let us not think, dearest brothers, that we confer a benefit on God because we said that we give a price in a certain manner. For we do not give Him anything by which He might be increased, Who is whole when you have fallen, and remains whole when you return, ready to be seen so that He may make blessed those who are turned towards Him, and punish with blindness those who are turned away. For He punishes first in the soul turned away from Him, as the beginning of its punishments, by blindness itself. For whoever turns himself away from the true light, that is, from God, is already made blind. He does not yet feel the punishment, but he already has it.

6. Verbum coaeternum Patri asseritur contra Arianos. Itaque Verbum Dei, fratres charissimi, incorporaliter, inviolabiliter, incommutabiliter, sine temporali nativitate, natum tamen intelligamus a Deo. Putamusne possumus aliquo modo persuadere quibusdam infidelibus non abhorrere a vero, quod dicitur a nobis fide catholica, quae contraria est Arianis, a quibus Ecclesia Dei saepe tentata est, cum carnales homines id facilius accipiunt quod videre consueverunt? Ausi sunt enim quidam dicere, Major est Pater Filio, et praecedit eum tempore: id est, major est Filio Pater, et minor est Patre Filius, et a Patre in tempore praeceditur. Et sic disputant: Si natus est, utique erat Pater antequam Filius illi esset natus. Attendite: adsit ipse nobis, adjuvantibus orationibus vestris, et pia intentione excipere cupientibus quod ipse donaverit, quod ipse suggesserit; adsit nobis, ut possimus quoquo modo explicare quod coepimus. Tamen, fratres, ante dico, si non potuero ego explicare, non rationem putetis, sed hominem defecisse. Itaque vos hortor et deprecor ut oretis: adsit misericordia Dei,

6. The Word is asserted to be coeternal with the Father, against the Arians. Therefore, dearest brothers, let us understand the Word of God as born of God incorporeally, inviolably, unchangeably, without temporal birth, yet born. Do we think we can in some way persuade certain unbelievers that what is said by us in the catholic faith, which is opposed to the Arians, by whom the Church of God has often been assailed, is not at odds with the truth, since carnal men more easily accept what they are accustomed to see? For certain people have dared to say: The Father is greater than the Son, and precedes Him in time: that is, the Father is greater than the Son, and the Son is less than the Father, and is preceded by the Father in time. And thus they argue: If He was born, then certainly the Father existed before the Son was born to Him. Pay attention: may He Himself be present to us, with your prayers helping, and to us who desire with devout intent to receive what He Himself may have given, what He Himself may have suggested; may He be present to us, so that we may in some way or other explain what we have begun. Yet, brothers, I say beforehand: if I am not able to explain it, do not think that the reasoning has failed, but the man. Therefore I exhort and beseech you to pray: may the mercy of God be present,

Editors' notes and page, col. 664

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: paratus videri› · call in col 664

Editi, videre. Melius Mss., videri.

The printed editions: "to see." Better the manuscripts: "to be seen."

(printed under page 338)

(2) ‹anchor: exordio poenarum› · call in col 664

Ita duo Mss. Alii cum Lov., exordium poenarum. Editiones autem Am. et Er. sententiam hanc totam praetereunt, Vindicat enim primo in anima, etc.

So two manuscripts. Others, with the Louvain editors: "the beginning of punishments" (accusative). But the editions of Amerbach and Erasmus pass over this whole sentence, "For he first takes vengeance in the soul," etc.

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et ita rem a nobis dici faciat, ut vos audire oportet, et nos dicere. Hoc ergo illi dicunt : Si Filius Dei est, natus est. Hoc fatemur. Non enim esset Filius, si natus non esset. Manifestum est, admittit fides, approbat Ecclesia catholica, verum est. Adjungunt deinde : Si natus est Patri Filius, erat Pater antequam ei Filius nasceretur. Hoc respuit fides, respuunt aures catholicae ; anathematur, extra est qui hoc sapit, non pertinet ad participationem societatemque sanctorum. Ergo, ait, rationem mihi redde, quomodo et Filius potuit nasci Patri, et coaevus esse ei a quo natus est ?

and so cause the matter to be spoken by us as it behoves you to hear it and us to speak it. This, then, is what they say: If He is the Son of God, He was born. This we confess. For He would not be the Son if He had not been born. It is plain, faith admits it, the Catholic Church approves it, it is true. Then they add: If the Son was born to the Father, the Father existed before the Son was born to Him. This faith rejects, Catholic ears reject; he is anathematized, he who holds this is outside, he has no part in the participation and fellowship of the saints. Then, he says, give me an account of how the Son could both be born to the Father and be coeval with Him from Whom He was born.

CAPUT V. — 7. Divina carnalibus insinuare difficile. Et quid facimus, fratres, quando carnalibus spiritualia insinuamus : si tamen et nos ipsi non carnales sumus, quando carnalibus ista spiritualia intimamus, homini assuefacto nativitate terrena, et videnti istius creaturae ordinem, ubi successus et decessus, gignentes et genitos aetate distinguit ? Post patrem enim nascitur filius, patri utique morituro successurus. Hoc in hominibus, hoc in aliis animantibus invenimus, parentes priores tempore, filios tempore posteriores. Hac consuetudine videndi, carnalia transferre illi ad spiritualia cupiunt, et intentione carnalium facilius seducuntur. Non enim ratio audientium sequitur talia praedicantes, sed consuetudo, quae etiam ipsos insolvit, ut talia praedicarent. Et quid facimus nos ? Silebimus ? Utinam liceret. Forsitan enim silendo aliquid dignum de re ineffabili cogitaretur. Nam quidquid potest fari, non est ineffabile. Ineffabilis est autem Deus. Si enim raptum se dicit usque in tertium coelum apostolus Paulus, et dicit se audisse ineffabilia verba (II Cor. XII, 4) ; quanto magis ipse ineffabilis, qui talia demonstravit, quae fari non possit cui demonstrata sunt ? Itaque, fratres, melius erat si possemus tacere, et dicere : Hoc habet fides, sic credimus : non potes capere, parvulus es : patienter tolerandum, donec pennas nutrias ; ne cum volare implumis volueris, non sit illa aura libertatis, sed casus temeritatis. Quid illi contra ? O si haberet quod diceret, diceret mihi ! Deficienti ista excusatio est. Victus est veris, qui respondere non vult. Ille cui hoc dicitur, si non respondeat, etsi in se ipso victus non est, vincitur tamen in titubantibus fratribus. Audiunt enim fratres infirmi, et putant revera non esse quod dicatur : et forsitan verum putant, non esse quod dicatur, non tamen non esse quod sentiatur. Homo enim nihil potest dicere, quod non etiam sentire possit : potest etiam aliquid sentire, quod dicere non possit.

Chapter V. — 7. It is difficult to convey divine things to the carnal. And what are we to do, brethren, when we convey spiritual things to the carnal (if indeed we ourselves are not carnal), when we make these spiritual things known to the carnal, to a man accustomed to earthly birth and seeing the order of this creation, where succession and departure distinguish begetters and begotten by age? For the son is born after the father, to succeed, of course, a father who is going to die. This we find among men, this among other living creatures: parents earlier in time, children later in time. By this habit of seeing, those men want to transfer carnal things to spiritual ones, and through their attention to carnal things they are the more easily led astray. For it is not the reason of the hearers that follows those who preach such things, but habit, which has entangled even the preachers themselves, so that they preached such things. And what are we to do? Shall we keep silent? Would that it were permitted. For perhaps by keeping silent something worthy of the ineffable matter might be thought. For whatever can be spoken is not ineffable. But God is ineffable. For if the apostle Paul says that he was caught up even to the third heaven, and says that he heard ineffable words (2 Cor. 12:4), how much more is He Himself ineffable Who showed such things that he to whom they were shown cannot speak them? Therefore, brethren, it would be better if we could keep silent and say: This is what faith holds, thus we believe; you cannot grasp it, you are a little one; it must be patiently endured until you grow your feathers, lest, when you wish to fly unfledged, it be not that air of freedom but a fall of rashness. What does that man say against this? O if he had something to say, he would say it to me! This excuse belongs to one who has failed. He is overcome by true things who will not answer. He to whom this is said, if he does not answer, even though he is not overcome in himself, is yet overcome in the wavering brethren. For the weak brethren hear, and think that there really is nothing to be said; and perhaps they think rightly that there is nothing to be said, yet not that there is nothing to be perceived. For a man can say nothing that he cannot also perceive; he can also perceive something that he cannot say.

8. Similitudines ad refellendos Arianos adhibendae. Tamen servata illius majestatis ineffabilitate, ne cum aliquas similitudines contra illos dederimus, putet nos aliquis per istas similitudines jam pervenisse ad id quod nec dici nec cogitari a parvulis potest (certe et si potest ab aliquibus majoribus, potest ex parte,

8. Similitudes are to be employed to refute the Arians. Yet, the ineffability of that Majesty being preserved, lest, when we have put forward some similitudes against them, anyone should think that by these similitudes we have already arrived at that which can be neither spoken nor thought by little ones (certainly, even if it can be by some greater ones, it can be in part,

Editors' notes and page, col. 665

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 665

Aliquot Mss., Hanc consuetudinem videndi carnalia.

Some manuscripts: "This habit of seeing carnal things."

(printed under page 339)

(2) ‹anchor: patienter tolerandum› · call in col 665

Lov., tolerandus. Caeteri fere libri editi et Mss., tolerandum.

The Louvain editors: "he is to be borne with." Almost all the other books, printed and manuscript: "it is to be borne."

(printed under page 339)

(3) ‹anchor: Victus est veris› · call in col 665

Sic omnes Mss. Editi autem, Victus est, nescit, qui respondere non vult.

So all the manuscripts. But the printed editions: "He is beaten, he does not know, who is unwilling to answer."

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potest in aenigmate, potest per speculum; nondum autem facie ad faciem); demus et nos aliquas similitudines adversus illos, unde illi refellantur, non unde illud capiatur. Etenim cum dicimus valde posse fieri, posse intelligi, ut et natus sit et coaeternus sit ei a quo natus est, ut hoc refellant et quasi falsum esse demonstrent, similitudines nobis dant. Unde? De creatura: et dicunt nobis, Homo utique erat antequam generaret filium, major est filio suo: et equus erat antequam generaret filium, et ovis, et caetera animalia. Similitudines adhibent de creaturis.

it can [be seen] in an enigma, it can through a mirror, but not yet face to face); let us too offer some likenesses against them, by which they may be refuted, not by which that may be grasped. For when we say that it can very well be so, that it can be understood, that He was both born and is coeternal with Him from Whom He was born, they, in order to refute this and show it to be, as it were, false, give us likenesses. From where? From the creature: and they say to us, A man certainly existed before he begot a son, he is greater than his son; and a horse existed before it begot a son, and a sheep, and the other animals. They bring in likenesses from creatures.

CAPUT VI. — 9. Similitudinibus tamen non nititur nostra fides de Verbo. Quid, nobis laborandum est, ut et nos inveniamus similitudines earum rerum quas astruimus? Quid? si non invenirem, non recte possem dicere, Nativitas Creatoris fortasse similitudinem in creatura non habet? Quanto enim superat ea quae hic sunt in eo quod ibi est, tanto superat ea quae hic nascuntur in eo quod ibi natus e⟨s⟩t. Omnia per Deum hic sunt: et quid tamen est comparandum Deo? Sic omnia quae hic nascuntur, illo efficiente nascuntur. Et sic forsitan non invenitur aliqua similitudo nativitatis ejus, quomodo non invenitur et substantiae ejus, et immutabilitatis, divinitatis, majestatis ejus. Quid enim simile hic inveniri potest? Si ergo forsitan nec nativitatis similitudo inveniatur, numquid inde oppressus sum, quia non inveni similitudines Creatori omnium, in creatura cupiens invenire quod esset simile Creatori?

Chapter VI. — 9. Our faith concerning the Word, however, does not rest on likenesses. What, must we labour so that we too may find likenesses of those things which we assert? What? If I did not find any, could I not rightly say, The birth of the Creator perhaps has no likeness in the creature? For by as much as He Who is there surpasses the things that are here, by so much does He Who was born there surpass the things that are born here. All things are here through God: and yet what is to be compared with God? So all things that are born here are born by His working. And so perhaps no likeness of His birth is found, just as none is found of His substance, and of His immutability, divinity, majesty. For what like it can be found here? If, then, perhaps no likeness of His birth either is found, am I therefore overwhelmed, because I have not found likenesses for the Creator of all things, while desiring to find in the creature what might be like the Creator?

10. Similitudines nativitatis Filii Dei imperfectae in creaturis. Coaevum et coaeternum. Et revera, fratres, non sum inventurus temporales similitudines, quas aeternitati possim comparare. Sed et tu quas invenisti, quid sunt? Quid enim invenisti? Quia pater major est tempore quam filius: et ideo vis ut Filius Dei tempore minor sit quam Pater aeternus, quia invenisti minorem filium patre temporali. Da mihi aeternum patrem hic, et invenisti similitudinem. Filium minorem invenis patre in tempore, filium temporalem minorem patre temporali. Numquid invenisti mihi filium temporalem minorem aeterno patre?

10. The likenesses of the birth of the Son of God in creatures are imperfect. The coeval and the coeternal. And indeed, brethren, I shall not find temporal likenesses which I could compare with eternity. But those which you too have found, what are they? For what have you found? That a father is greater in time than his son: and therefore you want the Son of God to be less in time than the eternal Father, because you have found a son less than his temporal father. Give me an eternal father here, and you have found a likeness. You find a son less than his father in time, a temporal son less than a temporal father. Have you found me a temporal son less than an eternal father?

CAPUT VII. — Quia ergo in aeternitate stabilitas est, in tempore autem varietas; in aeternitate omnia stant, in tempore alia accedunt, alia succedunt: potes invenire minorem filium in varietate temporis succedentem patri, quia etiam patri suo ipse successit non aeterno patri temporalis. Quid ergo possumus, fratres mei, in creatura invenire coaeternum, quando in creatura nihil invenimus aeternum? Inveni aeternum patrem in creatura, et invenio coaeternum filium. Si autem non invenis aeternum, et vincunt se in tempore; sufficit ut ad similitudinem inveniamus coaevum. Aliud est enim coaeternum, aliud coaevum. Coaevos quotidie dicimus eos qui eamdem habent mensuram temporum: non alter ab altero praeceditur tempore, ambos tamen esse coepisse, quos dicimus coaevos. Si potuerimus invenire coaevum quod nascitur ei a quo nascitur; si possunt inveniri coaeva duo generans et generatus: hic invenimus coaeva,

Chapter VII. — Since, then, in eternity there is stability, but in time variation; in eternity all things stand, in time some things come on, others follow after: you can find a lesser son succeeding his father in the variation of time, because he too, a temporal one, succeeded his own father, who was not eternal. What, then, my brethren, can we find coeternal in the creature, when in the creature we find nothing eternal? Find an eternal father in the creature, and I find a coeternal son. But if you do not find an eternal one, and they outdo one another in time, it suffices that for a likeness we find something coeval. For the coeternal is one thing, the coeval another. We daily call coeval those who have the same measure of times: one is not preceded by the other in time, yet both, whom we call coeval, began to be. If we could find something that is born coeval with him from whom it is born; if two coeval things can be found, the begetter and the begotten: here we find coeval things,

Editors' notes and page, col. 666

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ibi intelligamus coaeterna. Si hic invenero genitum ex eo esse coepisse ex quo coepit generator, intelligimus certe Filium Dei ex eo esse non coepisse, ex quo non coepit generator. Ecce fortasse, fratres, invenimus aliquid in creatura, quod de alia re nascatur, et tamen ex eo tempore esse incipiat, ex quo coepit illud unde nascitur. Hoc ex eo ex quo illud coepit, illud ex eo ex quo illud non coepit. Hoc ergo coaevum, illud coaeternum.

there we may understand things coeternal. If here I find that what is begotten began to exist from the time from which the begetter began, we understand certainly that the Son of God did not begin to exist from the time from which the Begetter did not begin. Behold, perhaps, brethren, we have found something in the creation which is born of another thing, and yet begins to exist from that very time from which that from which it is born began. This one is from the time from which that one began; that One is from the time from which that One did not begin. This, therefore, is coeval; that, coeternal.

CAPUT VIII. — 11. In coaevis similitudo quaedam Verbi coaeterni Deo. Ignis et lux coaeva. Arbitror Sanctitatem vestram jam intellexisse quod dico, non posse comparari temporalia aeternis; sed posse ex aliqua tenui et parva similitudine coaeva coaeternis. Inveniamus itaque coaeva, et de Scripturis admoneamur ad has similitudines. Legimus in Scripturis de ipsa Sapientia, Candor est enim lucis aeternae. Item legimus, Speculum sine macula Dei majestatis (Sap. VII, 26). Ipsa Sapientia dicta est candor lucis aeternae, dicta est imago Patris: hinc capiamus similitudinem, ut inveniamus coaeva, ex quibus intelligamus coaeterna. O Ariane, si invenero genitorem non praecedere tempore illud quod genuit, si genitum non esse minorem tempore illo a quo generatus est; justum est ut concedas mihi posse ista coaeterna inveniri in Creatore, quando coaeva in creatura inveniri potuerunt. Jam quidem aliquibus fratribus hoc occurrere puto. Nam praevenerunt aliqui ex quo dixi, Candor est enim lucis aeternae. Ignis enim lucem fundit, lux ab igne funditur. Quid a quo existat, si quaeramus, quotidie cum lucernam accendimus, admonemur rei cujusdam invisibilis et inenarrabilis, ut lucerna aliqua intelligentiae nostrae in ista nocte saeculi possit accendi. Attende eum qui lucernam accendit. Non accensa lucerna, nondum est ignis, nondum est et fulgor qui ab igne exit. Interrogo autem ego, et dico: Fulgor ab igne existit, an ignis a fulgore? Omnis anima mihi respondet: voluit enim Deus inseminare omni animae initia intellectus, initia sapientiae: omnis mihi anima respondet, et nemo dubitat, qnod splendor ille de igne existit, non ignis de splendore. Ponamus ergo ignem patrem illius splendoris: quia jam praelocuti sumus coaeva nos quaerere, non coaeterna. Si lucernam accendere cupio, nondum est ibi ignis, nondum et ille splendor: mox autem ut accendero, simul cum igne et splendor existit. Da hic mihi ignem sine splendore, et credo tibi Patrem fuisse sine Filio.

Chapter VIII. — 11. In things coeval, a certain likeness of the Word coeternal with God. Fire and light are coeval. I think that your Holiness has already understood what I am saying: that temporal things cannot be compared with eternal ones, but that by some slight and small likeness coeval things can be compared with coeternal ones. Let us therefore find coeval things, and let us be prompted by the Scriptures towards these likenesses. We read in the Scriptures concerning Wisdom herself, For she is the brightness of the eternal light. Likewise we read, The spotless mirror of the majesty of God (Wis. 7:26). Wisdom herself has been called the brightness of the eternal light, she has been called the image of the Father: from this let us take a likeness, so that we may find coeval things, from which we may understand coeternal ones. O Arian, if I find that the begetter does not precede in time that which he has begotten, if I find that the begotten is not less in time than him by whom it was begotten, it is just that you should grant me that these coeternal things can be found in the Creator, when coeval things could be found in the creation. Indeed I think that this is already occurring to some of the brethren. For some have run ahead from the moment I said, For she is the brightness of the eternal light. For fire pours forth light, light is poured forth from fire. If we ask which arises from which, every day when we light a lamp we are reminded of a certain invisible and unspeakable thing, so that some lamp of our understanding may be lit in this night of the world. Consider the man who lights a lamp. Before the lamp is lit, there is not yet fire, there is not yet the brilliance either that comes forth from the fire. But I ask, and I say: Does the brilliance arise from the fire, or the fire from the brilliance? Every soul answers me (for God has willed to sow in every soul the beginnings of understanding, the beginnings of wisdom): every soul answers me, and no one doubts, that that brightness arises from the fire, not the fire from the brightness. Let us therefore posit the fire as the father of that brightness, since we have already said beforehand that we are seeking coeval things, not coeternal ones. If I wish to light a lamp, there is not yet fire there, not yet that brightness either; but as soon as I have lit it, the brightness arises together with the fire. Give me here fire without brightness, and I believe you that the Father was without the Son.

CAPUT IX. — 12. Alia coaeva, imago et res unde nascitur. Attendite: dicta est ut potuit a nobis tanta res dici, Domino adjuvante intentionem orationis vestrae et praeparationem cordis vestri, excepistis quantum capere potuistis. Illa tamen ineffabilia sunt. Nihil dignum putetis dictum, vel eo ipso quo coaeva coaeternis comparantur, temporalia semper manentibus, exstinguibilia immortalibus. Sed quia dictus est Filius et imago Patris, accipiamus et hinc aliquam similitudinem in rebus longe differentibus, ut praelocuti

Chapter IX. — 12. Other coeval things: an image and the thing from which it is born. Pay attention: so great a thing has been spoken of as well as it could be spoken of by us; with the Lord assisting the earnestness of your prayer and the preparation of your heart, you have received as much as you were able to grasp. Yet those things are ineffable. Do not think that anything worthy has been said, if only by the very fact that coeval things are compared with coeternal ones, temporal things with things ever abiding, things that can be extinguished with things immortal. But since the Son has been called also the image of the Father, let us take from this too some likeness in things far different, as we said beforehand

Editors' notes and page, col. 667

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: et credo› · call in col 667

Unus e Colbertinis Mss., cedo.

One of the Colbertine manuscripts: "I yield."

(printed under page 340)

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other: Q1a, English across the column breaks: the last clause of col 667's English is now set whole (the verb split at the break is translated here); the English of col 668 opens with two words ("we are.") that translate the tail of that verb by itself and should be struck there (mended in col 668 by the settle step, round 1, English only).

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sumus. Imago existit de speculo hominis intuentis speculum. Non nobis potest suffragari ad evidentiam rei hujus, quam explicare utcumque conamur. Etenim dicitur mihi: Ille qui attendit speculum, jam utique erat, et jam natus erat. Existit imago mox ut aspector exstiterit. Nam ille qui inspicit, erat et antequam accederet ad speculum. Quid ergo inveniemus, unde possimus eruere talem similitudinem, sicut eruimus de igne et splendore? Faciamus a minimo. Facile nostis quemadmodum aqua corporum saepe reddat imagines. Hoc dicimus; quando quisque vel transit super aquam vel stat, videt ibi imaginem suam. Ponamus ergo aliquid natum super aquam, vel ut virgultum aut herbam, nonne cum imagine sua nascitur? Mox ut incipit existere, incipit cum illo existere imago ejus, non praecedit nascendo imaginem suam: non mihi ostenditur natum esse aliquid super aquam, et postea apparuisse imaginem ejus, cum illud sine imagine prius appareret; sed nascitur cum imagine sua: et tamen imago ab illo, non illud ab imagine. Nascitur ergo cum imagine sua, et simul esse incipiunt virgultum et imago ejus. Numquid non fateris imaginem esse de illo virgulto, non virgultum de imagine genitum? Ergo de illo virgulto confiteris imaginem. Itaque et generans, et quod genitum est, simul esse coeperunt. Ergo coaeva sunt. Si semper virgultum, semper et imago de virgulto. Quod autem de alio est, utique natum est. Potest ergo semper esse generans, et semper cum illo quod de illo natum est. Ibi enim aestuabamus, ibi laborabamus, quomodo intelligeretur sempiterna nativitas. Ergo filius Dei secundum hoc dicitur, quod et Pater est, quod habet de quo sit: non secundum hoc, quod prior esset Pater, et postea Filius. Semper Pater, semper Filius de Patre. Et quia quidquid de aliquo est, natum est; semper igitur Filius natus. Semper Pater, semper de illo imago; quomodo imago illa virgulti de virgulto nata est, et si semper virgultum, semper nata esset et imago de virgulto. Non potuisti invenire coaeterna genita aeternis genitoribus, et invenisti coaeva nata temporalibus gignentibus. Intelligo coaeternum Filium natum aeterno gignenti. Quod enim est temporali coaevum, hoc est aeterno coaeternum.

An image arises from a mirror when a man gazes into the mirror. That cannot help us towards making clear this matter which we are trying in some way to explain. For it is said to me: He who looks into the mirror certainly already was, and was already born. The image arises as soon as the beholder has come to stand there. For he who looks into it existed even before he approached the mirror. What then shall we find from which we may draw out such a likeness, as we drew it out from fire and brightness? Let us make a start from the least thing. You readily know how water often gives back the images of bodies. We say this: when anyone either passes over water or stands still, he sees his image there. Let us suppose, then, something born above water, such as a shrub or a plant: is it not born together with its image? As soon as it begins to exist, its image begins to exist with it; it does not precede its image in being born: it is not shown to me that something was born above the water and that afterwards its image appeared, as though it had first appeared without an image; rather it is born with its image: and yet the image is from it, not it from the image. It is born, therefore, with its image, and the shrub and its image begin to be at the same time. Do you not acknowledge that the image is from that shrub, not that the shrub is begotten of the image? Therefore you confess that the image is from that shrub. And so both the begetter and what is begotten began to be at the same time. Therefore they are coeval. If the shrub [is] always, the image from the shrub [is] always too. But what is from another is certainly born. There can therefore always be a begetter, and always with it that which is born of it. For it was here that we were in turmoil, here that we laboured: how an everlasting birth might be understood. Therefore the Son of God is so called in respect of this, that there is also a Father, that He has One from whom He is: not in respect of this, that the Father was earlier and the Son afterwards. Always the Father, always the Son from the Father. And because whatever is from something is born, the Son is therefore always born. Always the Father, always from Him the Image; just as that image of the shrub is born of the shrub, and if the shrub were always, the image too would always be born of the shrub. You could not find coeternal things begotten of eternal begetters, and you have found coeval things born of temporal begetters. I understand the coeternal Son born of the eternal Begetter. For what is coeval with a temporal thing, that is coeternal with an eternal one.

CAPUT X. — 13. In similitudinibus allatis est inaequalitas. Hic jam modicum est quod advertatis, fratres, propter blasphemias. Semper enim dicitur, Ecce dedisti similitudines: sed splendor qui funditur de igne, minus lucet quam ipse ignis; et imago virgulti minus utique habet proprietatem, quam illud virgultum unde imago est. Habent ista similitudinem, sed non habent omnimodam aequalitatem: quare non videntur esse ejusdem substantiae. Quid ergo dicemus, si dicat aliquis: Talis est ergo Filius ad Patrem, qualis ad ignem splendor, et imago ad virgultum? Ecce intellexi aeternum Patrem, intellexi coaeternum Filium tamen sicut effusum splendorem minus igne lucentem, aut sicut effusam imaginem minus quam

Chapter X. — 13. In the likenesses adduced there is inequality. Here now there is a small matter to which you should attend, brethren, on account of blasphemies. For it is constantly said: See, you have given likenesses; but the brightness which is poured forth from fire shines less than the fire itself; and the image of the shrub certainly has less of the [shrub's] proper character than that shrub from which the image comes. These things have a likeness, but they do not have an equality in every respect: wherefore they do not seem to be of the same substance. What then shall we say, if someone should say: Such then is the Son in relation to the Father as the brightness is to the fire, and the image to the shrub? See, I have understood the eternal Father, I have understood the coeternal Son, yet as brightness poured forth shining less than the fire, or as an image poured forth less than

Editors' notes and page, col. 668

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 668

Am. Er. et Mss., Faciamus hoc animo.

Amerbach, Erasmus and the manuscripts: "Let us do this in the mind."

(printed under page 340)

(2) ‹anchor: jam modicum est› · call in col 668

Am. et Er., Hinc etiam est modicum.

Amerbach and Erasmus: "From here too there is a small matter."

(printed under page 340)

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virgultum existentem dicimus? Non: sed aequalitas omnimoda est. Non credo, ait, quia non invenisti similitudinem. Sed crede Apostolo, quia potuit videre quod dixi. Ait enim: Non rapinam arbitratus est esse aequalis Deo (Philipp. II, 6). Aequalitas omni modo conjungitur. Et quid dixit? Non rapinam. Quare? Quia illud est rapina, quod alienum est.

the shrub, do we say? No: rather, the equality is complete in every respect. "I do not believe it," he says, "because you have not found a likeness." But believe the Apostle, because he was able to see what I have said. For he says: He did not think it robbery to be equal to God (Phil. 2:6). Equality is joined in every way. And what did he say? Not robbery. Why? Because that is robbery which belongs to another.

14. Filii Dei coaeternitas et aequalitas ex duobus collatis similitudinum generibus. Tamen ex duabus istis collationibus et generibus duobus, similitudinem fortassis invenimus in creatura, quomodo intelligamus Filium et coaeternum Patri et nequaquam minorem. Sed non illud possumus invenire in uno genere similitudinum: jungamus ambo genera. Quomodo ambo genera? Unum unde ipsi dant similitudines, et alterum unde nos dedimus. Dederunt enim illi similitudines ex his quae nascuntur in tempore, et praeceduntur tempore ab eis a quibus nascuntur, sicut homo de homine. Major ille tempore prior natus: sed tamen homo et homo, id est ejusdem substantiae. Homo enim hominem generat, et equus equum, et pecus pecudem. Ad eamdem substantiam generant ista; sed non ad idem tempus. Diversa sunt tempore; sed non sunt diversa natura. Quid ergo hic laudamus in ista nativitate? Certe aequalitatem naturae. Quid autem deest? Aequalitas temporis. Teneamus hic unum quod laudatur, id est, aequalitatem naturae. In illo autem genere similitudinum, quod nos dedimus de splendore ignis et de imagine virgulti, aequalitatem naturae non invenis, invenis coaevitatem. Quid hic laudamus? Coaevitatem. Quid deest? Aequalitas naturae. Conjunge quae laudas. In creaturis enim deest aliquid quod laudas, in Creatore deesse nihil potest: quia quod invenis in creatura, a Creatore artifice processit. Quid ergo in coaevis? nonne hoc Deo dandum quod ibi laudas? Quod autem deest non tribuendum majestati, in qua nullus defectus est. Ecce offero tibi gentis coaeva gignentia: laudas ibi coaevitatem, sed disparilitatem reprehendis. Quod reprehendis, noli tribuere Deo; quod laudas, tribue: et tribuis illi ex isto genere similitudinum pro coaevitate coaeternitatem, ut coaeternus sit natus cum eo a quo natus sit. De alio autem similitudinum genere, quae et ipsa creatura Dei est, et debet laudare Creatorem, quid ibi laudas? Aequalitatem naturae. Jam propter illam distinctionem dederas coaeternitatem; da propter istam, aequalitatem; et perfecta est nativitas ejusdem substantiae. Quid enim dementius, fratres mei, quam ut in aliquo laudem creaturam, quod non sit in Creatore? Laudo in homine aequalitatem naturae, et non credo in eo qui fecit hominem? Quod de homine natum est, homo est; et quod de Deo natum est, non id erit quod ille de quo natum est? Non versor in operibus quae Deus non fecit. Laudent ergo Creatorem omnia opera sua. Invenio hic coaevum, cognosco ibi coaeternum. Hic aequalitatem invenio naturae, ibi intelligo aequalitatem substantiae. Totum ergo ibi quod hic ex partibus singulis et rebus singulis invenitur.

14. The co-eternity and equality of the Son of God, from two kinds of likenesses brought together. Yet from these two comparisons and two kinds, we perhaps find a likeness in the creature, by which we may understand the Son as both co-eternal with the Father and in no way less. But we cannot find this in one kind of likeness: let us join both kinds. How both kinds? The one from which they themselves give likenesses, and the other from which we have given them. For they gave likenesses from those things which are born in time, and are preceded in time by those from whom they are born, as a man from a man. The one is greater, born earlier in time: but still man and man, that is, of the same substance. For a man begets a man, and a horse a horse, and a beast a beast. These beget to the same substance, but not to the same time. They are different in time, but they are not different in nature. What then do we praise here in this birth? Certainly the equality of nature. But what is lacking? Equality of time. Let us hold here the one thing which is praised, that is, the equality of nature. But in that other kind of likenesses, which we gave from the brightness of fire and from the image of the shoot, you do not find equality of nature, you find coevality. What do we praise here? Coevality. What is lacking? Equality of nature. Join together the things you praise. For in creatures something which you praise is lacking; in the Creator nothing can be lacking: because what you find in the creature proceeded from the Creator as craftsman. What then in things coeval? Is not what you praise there to be given to God? But what is lacking is not to be attributed to the majesty in which there is no defect. Behold, I offer you begetters coeval with the begotten: you praise the coevality there, but you find fault with the disparity. What you find fault with, do not attribute to God; what you praise, attribute to Him: and from this kind of likenesses you attribute to Him, in place of coevality, co-eternity, so that He who is born is co-eternal with Him from Whom He is born. But from the other kind of likenesses, which is itself also a creature of God and ought to praise the Creator, what do you praise there? Equality of nature. Already on account of that distinction you had granted co-eternity; grant on account of this one equality; and the birth of the same substance is complete. For what is more senseless, my brothers, than that I should praise in a creature something which is not in the Creator? Do I praise in man the equality of nature, and not believe it in Him Who made man? What is born of man is man; and what is born of God, will it not be that which He is of Whom it is born? I am not engaged with works which God did not make. Let all His works, then, praise the Creator. Here I find something coeval, there I recognize the Co-eternal. Here I find equality of nature, there I understand equality of substance. Therefore the whole is there which here is found in single parts and single things.

Editors' notes and page, col. 669

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 669

Aliquot Mss., quod dixit.

Some manuscripts: "which he said."

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Totum ergo ibi simul, et non hoc solum quod in creaturis: totum invenio ibi, sed tanquam in Creatore, tanto amplius, quod haec visibilia, illa invisibilia; haec temporalia, illa aeterna; haec commutabilia, illa incommutabilia; haec corruptibilia, illa incorruptibilia. Postremo in ipso homine ea quae invenimus homo et homo, duo homines sunt: ibi Pater et Filius unus Deus.

So the whole is there together, and not only what is in creatures: I find the whole there, but as in the Creator, so much more fully, in that these are visible, those invisible; these temporal, those eternal; these changeable, those unchangeable; these corruptible, those incorruptible. Finally, in man himself, those whom we find, a man and a man, are two men: there the Father and the Son are one God.

15. Cordis oculus mundandus ut videatur Deus. Domino Deo nostro gratias ago inenarrabiles, quod ex hoc loco scrupulosissimo et laboriosissimo infirmitatem meam liberare dignatus est, petentibus vobis. Ante omnia tamen servate hoc, quidquid de creatura potuimus colligere, aut sensu corporis, aut cogitatione animi, inenarrabiliter transcendere Creatorem. Sed vis illum mente contingere? Purga mentem, purga cor tuum. Mundum fac oculum, unde illud quidquid est, possit attingi. Mundum fac oculum cordis: Beati enim mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt (Matth. V, 8). Non autem mundato corde, quid potuit misericordius procurari aut donari ab eo, nisi ut illud Verbum, de quo tanta et tam multa diximus, et nihil dignum diximus; nisi ut illud Verbum, per quod facta sunt omnia, fieret quod nos sumus, ut attingere possimus illud quod non sumus? Non enim Deus sumus: sed possumus mente vel cordis acie interiore videre Deum. Peccatis acies nostrae obtritae, obtusae, infirmitate dejectae cupiunt videre: sed in spe sumus, in re nondum sumus. Filii Dei sumus. Hoc ait Joannes, qui ait, In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum: qui supra pectus Domini discumbebat, qui secreta ista de sinu illius cordis hauriebat: ipse ait, Dilectissimi, filii Dei sumus; et nondum apparuit quid erimus: scimus quia cum apparuerit, similes ei erimus, quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est (I Joan. III, 2). Hoc nobis promittitur.

15. The eye of the heart must be cleansed so that God may be seen. I give inexpressible thanks to the Lord our God that, at your asking, He has deigned to free my weakness from this most scrupulous and most laborious passage. Yet above all keep this: whatever we have been able to gather concerning the creature, whether by the sense of the body or by the thought of the mind, the Creator inexpressibly transcends. But do you wish to touch Him with the mind? Purify your mind, purify your heart. Make clean the eye by which that, whatever it is, may be reached. Make clean the eye of the heart: for Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8). But with the heart not cleansed, what could have been provided or granted by Him more mercifully than that that Word, of Whom we have said so much and so many things, and have said nothing worthy; than that that Word, through Whom all things were made, should become what we are, so that we might reach that which we are not? For we are not God: but we can see God with the mind, or with the inner sight of the heart. Our eyes, bruised by sins, blunted, cast down by weakness, long to see: but we are [sons] in hope, not yet in reality. We are sons of God. This John says, who says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: he who reclined on the breast of the Lord, who drew these secrets from the bosom of that heart: he says, Dearly beloved, we are sons of God; and it has not yet appeared what we shall be: we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). This is promised to us.

16. Verbum incarnatione quasi lac factum, ut a nobis caperetur. Sed ut perveniamus, si nondum possumus videre Verbum Deum, audiamus Verbum carnem: quia carnales facti sumus, audiamus Verbum carnem factum. Ideo enim venit, ideo suscepit infirmitatem nostram, ut possis firmam locutionem capere Dei portantis infirmitatem tuam. Et vere dictum est lac. Lac enim dat parvulis, ut cibum sapientiae det majoribus. Lactare patienter, ut avide pascaris. Quomodo enin fit etiam lac, quo lactantur infantes? Nonne esca erat in mensa? Sed invalidus est infans ad comedendam escam, quae in mensa est: quid facit mater? Incarnat escam, et conficit lac de ipsa. Conficit nobis quod capere possimus. Sic Verbum care factum est, ut lacte parvuli nutriremur, qui ad cibum quidem eramus infantes. Verum hoc interest, quia quando cibum mater incarnatum lac facit, cibus in lac convertitur: incommutabiliter autem manens Verbum carnem assumpsit, ut esset quodam modo

16. The Word made as it were milk by the incarnation, so that He might be taken in by us. But so that we may attain [to Him], if we cannot yet see the Word God, let us hear the Word flesh: because we have become carnal, let us hear the Word made flesh. For this He came, for this He took up our weakness, that you might take in the firm speech of God bearing your weakness. And truly it is called milk. For He gives milk to little ones, so that He may give the food of wisdom to the greater. Be suckled patiently, so that you may be fed eagerly. For how is the milk too made, with which infants are suckled? Was not the food on the table? But the infant is too weak to eat the food that is on the table: what does the mother do? She makes the food into flesh, and prepares milk from it. She prepares for us what we can take in. Thus the Word was made flesh, so that we little ones might be nourished with milk, who with regard to solid food were indeed infants. But there is this difference, that when a mother makes the food she has turned into flesh into milk, the food is changed into milk: but the Word, remaining unchangeably, assumed flesh, so that He might be in a certain way

Editors' notes and page, col. 670

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: videre Verbum Deum› · call in col 670

Juxta Er., si nondum possumus Verbum videre Domini. Juxta Lugd. Ven. Lov., si nondum possumus Verbum videre Deum. M.

According to Erasmus: "if we cannot yet see the Word of the Lord." According to the Lyons, Venice and Louvain editions: "if we cannot yet see the Word, God." M. [Migne]

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