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

to signify, you may call it His beast of burden, because on that very beast of burden He lifted up the man who had been wounded by robbers (Luke 10:34); finally, as He Himself said more openly, you may call it the temple (John 2:19). This temple has already known death; it sits at the right hand of the Father; in this very temple He is to come to judge the living and the dead. What He urged on us by precept, He demonstrated by example. What He showed in His own flesh, this you ought to hope for in your flesh. This is faith: hold what you do not yet see. You need to persevere in believing what you do not see, so that when you do see it you may not be put to shame.

Sermon 120. On the same words of John, In the beginning was the Word, etc., chapter 1, verses 1-3.

1. The incomprehensible Word of God revealed in the Gospel. The beginning of the Gospel of John: In the beginning was the Word. So he began; this he saw; and passing beyond the whole of creation, the mountains, the air, the heavens, the stars, the Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, all the Angels, all the Archangels, passing beyond all things, he saw the Word in the beginning, and he drank it in. Above every creature he saw; from the breast of the Lord he drank. For he is the holy John the evangelist, whom Jesus especially loved, so much that he reclined upon His breast (John 13:23, 25). There lay this secret, that it might be drunk in from there and poured forth in the Gospel. Happy are those who hear and understand. Of the next degree of happiness are those who, even if they do not understand, believe. For how great a thing it is to see this Word of God, who could set forth in human words?

2. The Word of God whole everywhere. Lift up your hearts, my brothers; as far as you can, lift them up. Whatever comes to you through the imagining of any body whatever, reject it. If the Word of God should come to your mind in the way you think of the light of this sun, however far you spread it out, however far you extend it, setting no bounds to its light in your thought, [even so] it is nothing compared with the Word of God. Whatever of this kind the soul thinks of is less in the part than in the whole. Think of the Word as whole everywhere. Understand what I am saying: as far as I can, I squeeze myself through my narrow straits for your sake. Understand what I am saying. Look at this light from heaven, which is called by the name of sun: when it has come forth, it illuminates the lands, unfolds the day, makes shapes, and distinguishes colours. A great good, a great gift of God to all mortals: let His works magnify Him. If the sun is so beautiful, what is more beautiful than the maker of the sun? And yet see, brothers: behold, it spreads its rays over the whole earth; it penetrates what is open, what is closed resists it; it sends its light through windows, but does it also send it through a wall? To the Word of God everything lies open; from the Word of God nothing is hidden. See another difference, how far the creature, especially the bodily creature, is from the Creator. When the sun is in the east, it is not in the west. Its light, indeed, poured out from that great body, stretches as far as the west, but the sun itself is not there. When it begins to set, then it will be there. When it rises, it is in the east; when it sets, it is in the west. By these two works

of its own, it gave names to the places. Because it is in the east (oriens) when it rises (oritur) towards the east, it caused the East to be so called: because it is in the west (occidens) when it sets (occidit) towards the west, it caused the West to be so called. At night it appears nowhere. Is the Word of God like this? When It is in the east, is It not in the west; or when It is in the west, is It not in the east? Or does It at some time desert the earth, and go beneath the earth, or behind the earth? It is everywhere whole. Who could unfold this in words? Who sees this? By what proof shall I prove to you what I say? A man, I speak; to men I speak: weak, I speak; to the weaker I speak. And yet, my brothers, I dare to say that what I am telling you, whether through a mirror or in an enigma, I in some way see, I in some way understand, and [I have] in my heart a word about this matter. But it seeks to go out to you, and finds no worthy vehicle. The vehicle of a word is the sound of the voice. What I say within myself, I seek to say to you, and words fail. For I wish to speak of the Word of God. How great a Word, what kind of Word? All things were made through Him. Look at the works, and stand in awe of the Worker. All things were made through Him.

3. The excellence of the divine Word is to be understood from the property of the human word. The newly baptized in white garments. Come back with me, human weakness, come back then. Let us grasp human things themselves, if we can. We who speak are men too, and we speak to men, and we utter the sound of the voice. We carry the sound of our voice to the ears of men, and through the sound of our voice we place understanding too, in some fashion, through the ear in the heart. From this, then, let us speak out what we can, as we can, let us grasp this. But if we have not been able to grasp even this, what are we in relation to that? See, you hear me: I am making a word. If anyone goes out from here and is asked outside what is going on here, he answers: The bishop is making a word. I am making a word about the Word. But what kind of word, about what kind of Word? A mortal word, about the immortal Word; a changeable word, about the unchangeable Word; a passing word, about the eternal Word. Yet attend to my word. For I had told you, the Word of God is everywhere whole. See, I am making a word for you: what I say reaches all. That what I say might reach all, did you divide what I say? If I were feeding you, wishing to fill not your mind but your belly, and set before you loaves with which you might be satisfied, would you not divide my loaves among you? Could my loaves reach each one of you? If they reached one, the rest would have nothing. See, I speak, and all of you have it. It is too little that all of you have it: all of you have it whole as well. It reaches all whole, each one whole. O the marvels of my word! What then is the Word of God? Hear something else. I have spoken: what I said went forth to you, and did not go away from me. It reached you, and it is not separated from me. Before I spoke, I had it, and you did not have it: I spoke, and you began to have it, and I lost nothing. O the miracle of my word! What then is the Word of God? From small things infer great ones. Consider earthly things, praise heavenly ones. I am a creature, you are creatures: and such great miracles happen from my word in my heart, in my mouth, in my voice, in your ears, in your hearts. What is the Creator? O Lord, hear us. Make

us, because Thou hast made us. Make us good, because Thou hast made us enlightened men. These, clothed in white, enlightened, hear Thy word through me. For, enlightened by Thy grace, they stand before Thee. This is the day which the Lord has made. But let them labour for this, let them pray for this, that when these days have passed they may not become darkness, they who have been made a light of the miracles and benefits of God.