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1. We observe, beloved, that the intimation with which we yesterday
excited your attention has brought you together with more alacrity, and
in greater number than usual; but meanwhile let us, if you please,
pay our debt of a discourse on the Gospel Lesson, which comes in due
course. You shall then hear, beloved, as well what we have already
effected concerning the peace of the Church, and what we hope yet
further to accomplish. For the present, then, let the whole
attention of your hearts be given to the gospel; let none be thinking
of anything else. For if he who attends to it wholly apprehends with
difficulty, must not he who divides himself by diverse thoughts let go
what he has received? Moreover, you remember, beloved, that on the
last Lord's day, as the Lord deigned to help us, we discoursed of
spiritual regeneration. That lesson we have caused to be read to you
again, so that what was then left unspoken, we may now, by the aid of
your prayers in the name of Christ, fulfill.
2. Spiritual regeneration is one, just as the generation of the
flesh is one. And Nicodemus said the truth when he said to the Lord
that a man cannot, when he is old, return again into his mother's
womb and be born. He indeed said that a man cannot do this when he is
old, as if he could do it even were he an infant. But be he fresh
from the womb, or now in years, he cannot possibly return again into
the mother's bowels and be born. But just as for the birth of the
flesh, the bowels of woman avail to bring forth the child only once,
so for the spiritual birth the bowels of the Church avail that a man be
baptized only once. Therefore, in case one should say, "Well, but
this man was born in heresy, and this in schism:" all that was cut
away, if you remember what was debated to you about our three fathers,
of whom God willed to be called the God, not that they were thus
alone but because in them alone the figure of the future people was made
up in its completeness. For we find one born of a bond woman
disinherited, one born of a free woman made heir: again, we find one
born of a free woman disinherited, one born of a bond woman made heir.
Ishmael, born of a bond woman, disinherited; Isaac, born of a free
woman, made heir: Esau, born of a free woman, disinherited; the
sons of Jacob, born of bond women, made heirs. Thus, in these
three fathers the figure of the whole future people is seen: and not
without reason God saith, "I am the God of Abraham, and the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: this," saith He, "is my name
for ever." Rather let us remember what was promised to Abraham
himself: for this was promised to Isaac, and also to Jacob. What
do we find? "In thy seed shall all nations be blessed." At that
time the one man believed what as yet he saw not: men now see, and are
blinded. What was promised to the one man is fulfilled in the
nations; and they who will not see what is already fulfilled, are
separating themselves from the communion of the nations. But what
avails it them that they will not see? See they do, whether they will
or no; the open truth strikes against their closed eyes.
3. It was in answer to Nicodemus, who was of them that had believed
on Jesus, that it was said, And Jesus did not trust Himself to
them. To certain men, indeed, He did not trust Himself, though
they had already believed on Him. Thus it is written, "Many
believed in His name, seeing the signs which He did. But Jesus did
not trust Himself to them. For He needed not that any should testify
of man; for Himself knew what was in man." Behold, they already
believed on Jesus, and yet Jesus did not trust Himself to them.
Why? because they were not yet born again of water and of the
Spirit. From this have we exhorted and do exhort our brethren the
catechumens. For if you ask them, they have already believed in
Jesus; but because they have not yet received His flesh and blood,
Jesus has not yet trusted Himself to them. What must they do that
Jesus may trust Himself to them? They must be born again of water
and of the Spirit; the Church that is in travail with them must bring
them forth. They have been conceived; they must be brought forth to
the light: they have breasts to be nourished at; let them not fear
lest, being born, they may be smothered; let them not depart from the
mother's breasts.
4. No man can return into his mother's bowels and be born again.
But some one is born of a bond woman? Well, did they who were born
of bond women at the former time, return into the wombs of the free to
be born anew? The seed of Abraham was in Ishmael also; but that
Abraham might have a son of the bond maid, it was at the advice of his
wife. The child was of the husband's seed, not of the womb, but at
the sole pleasure of the wife. Was his birth of a bond woman the
reason why he was disinherited? Then, if he was disinherited because
he was the son of a bond woman, no sons of bond women would be admitted
to the inheritance. The sons of Jacob were admitted to the
inheritance; but Ishmael was put out of it, not because born of a
bond woman, but because he was proud to his mother, proud to his
mother's son; for his mother was Sarah rather than Hagar. The one
gave her womb, the other's will was added: Abraham would not have
done what Sarah willed not: therefore was he Sarah's son rather.
But because he was proud to his brother, proud in playing, that is,
in mocking him; what said Sarah? "Cast out the bond woman and her
son; for the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with my son
Isaac." It was not, therefore, the bowels of the bond woman that
caused his rejection, but the slave's neck. For the free-born is a
slave if he is proud, and, what is worse, the slave of a bad
mistress, of pride itself. Thus, my brethren, answer the man, that
a man cannot be born a second time; answer fearlessly, that a man
cannot be born a second time. Whatever is done a second time is
mockery, whatever is done a second time is play. It is Ishmael
playing, let him be cast out. For Sarah observed them playing,
saith the Scripture, and said to Abraham, "Cast out the bond woman
and her son." The playing of the boys displeased Sarah. She saw
something strange in their play. Do not they who have sons like to see
them playing? She saw and disapproved it. Something or other she saw
in their play; she saw mockery in it, observed the pride of the
slave; she was displeased with it, and she cast him out. The
children of bond women, when wicked, are cast out; and the child of
the free woman, when an Esau, is cast out. Let none, therefore,
presume on his birth of good parents; let none presume on his being
baptized by holy men. Let him that is baptized by holy men still
beware lest he be not a Jacob, but an Esau. This would I say
then, brethren, it is better to be baptized by men that seek their own
and love the world, which is what the name of bond woman imports, and
to be spiritually seeking the inheritance of Christ, so as to be as it
were a son of Jacob by a bond woman, than to be baptized by holy men
and to become proud, so as to be an Esau to be cast out, though born
of a free woman. Hold ye this fast, brethren. We are not coaxing
you, let none of your hope be in us; we flatter neither ourselves nor
you; every man bears his own burden. It is our duty to speak, that
we be not judged unhappily: yours to hear, and that with the heart,
lest what we give be required of you; nay, that when it is required,
it may be found a gain, not a loss.
5. The Lord says to Nicodemus, and explains to him: "Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Thou, says
He, understandest a carnal generation, when thou sayest, Can a man
return into his mother's bowels? The birth for the kingdom of God
must be of water and of the Spirit. If one is born to the temporal
inheritance of a human father, be he born of the bowels of a carnal
mother; if one is born to the everlasting inheritance of God as his
Father, be he born of the bowels of the Church. A father, as one
that will die, begets a son by his wife to succeed him; but God
begets of the Church sons, not to succeed Him, but to abide with
Himself. And He goes on: "That which is horn of the flesh is
flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." We are born
spiritually then, and m spirit we are born by the word and sacrament.
The Spirit is present that we may be born; the Spirit is invisibly
present whereof thou art born, for thou too must be invisibly born.
For He goes on to say: "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye
must be born again. The Spirit bloweth where it listeth, and thou
hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it cometh, or whither it
goeth." None sees the Spirit; and how do we hear the Spirit's
voice? There sounds a psalm, it is the Spirit's voice; the gospel
sounds, it is the Spirit's voice; the divine word sounds, it is the
Spirit's voice. "Thou hearest its voice, and knowest not whence it
cometh, and whither it goeth." But if thou art born of the Spirit,
thou too shall be so, that one who is not born of the Spirit knows
not, as for thee, whence thou comest, or whither thou goest. For
He said, as He went on, "So is also every one that is born of the
Spirit."
6. "Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things
be?" And, in fact, in the carnal sense, he knew not how. In him
occurred what the Lord had said; the Spirit's voice he heard, but
knew not whence it came, and whither it was going. "Jesus answered
and said unto him, Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not
these things?" Oh, brethren! what? do we think that the Lord
meant to taunt scornfully this master of the Jews? The Lord knew
what He was doing; He wished the man to be born of the Spirit. No
man is born of the Spirit if he be not humble, for humility itself
makes us to be born of the Spirit; "for the Lord is nigh to them
that are of broken heart." The man was puffed up with his
mastership, and it appeared of some importance to himself that he was a
teacher of the Jews. Jesus pulled down his pride, that he might be
born of the Spirit: He taunted him as an unlearned man; not that the
Lord wished to appear his superior. What comparison can there be,
God compared to man, truth to falsehood? Christ greater than
Nicodemus! Ought this to be said, can it be said, is it to be
thought? If it were said, "Christ is greater than angels," it
were ridiculous: for incomparably greater than every creature is He by
whom every creature was made. But yet He rallies the man on his
pride: "Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these
things?" As if He said, Behold, thou knowest nothing, thou art a
proud chief; be thou born of the Spirit: for if thou be born of the
Spirit, thou wilt keep the ways of God, so as to follow Christ's
humility. So, indeed, is He high above all angels, that, "being
in the forth of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but emptied Himself, taking upon Him the form of a servant,
being made into the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man:
He humbled Himself, being made: obedient unto death" (and lest any
kind of death should please thee), "even the death of the cross."
He hung on the cross, and they scoffed at Him. He could have come
down from the cross; but He deferred, that He might rise again from
the tomb. He, the Lord, bore with proud slaves; the physician with
the sick. If He did this, how ought they to act whom it behoves to
be born of the Spirit! if He did this, He who is the true Master
in heaven, not of men only, but also of angels. For if the angels
are learned, they are so by the Word of God. If they are learned by
the Word of God, ask of what they are learned; and you shall find,
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God." The neck of man is done away with, only the
hard and stiff neck, that it may be gentle to bear the yoke of
Christ, of which it is said, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is
light."
7. And He goes on, "If I have told you earthly things, and ye
believe not; how shall ye believe, if I tell you heavenly things?"
What earthly things did He tell, brethren? "Except a man be born
again;" is that an earthly thing? "The Spirit bloweth where it
listeth, and thou hearest its voice, and knowest not whence it
cometh, or whither it goeth;" is that earthly? For if He spoke it
of the wind, as some have understood it, when they were asked what
earthly thing the Lord meant, when He said, "If I told you
earthly things, and ye believe not; how shall ye believe, if I tell
you heavenly things?" when, I say, it was asked of certain men what
"earthly thing" the Lord meant, being in difficulty, they said,
What He said, "The Spirit bloweth where it listeth," and "its
voice thou hearest, and knowest not whence it cometh, or whither it
goeth," He said concerning the wind. Now what did He name
earthly? He was speaking of the spiritual birth; and going on,
saith, "So is every one that is born of the Spirit." Then,
brethren, which of us does not see, for example, the south wind going
from south to north, or another wind coming from east to west? How,
then, know we not whence it cometh and whither it goeth? What earthly
thing, then, did He tell, which men did not believe? Was it that
which He had said about raising the temple again? Surely, for He
had received His body of the earth, and that earth taken of the
earthly body He was preparing to raise up. They did not believe Him
as about to raise up earth. "If I told you earthly things," saith
He, "and ye believe not; how shall ye believe if I tell you
heavenly things?" That is, if ye believe not that I can raise up
the temple cast down by you, how shall ye believe that men can be
regenerated by the Spirit?
8. And He goes on: "And no man hath ascended into heaven, but
He that came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven."
Behold, He was here, and was also in heaven; was here in His
flesh, in heaven by His divinity; yea, everywhere by His divinity.
Born of a mother, not quitting the Father. Two nativities of
Christ are understood: one divine, the other human: one, that by
which we were to be made; the other, that by which we were to be made
anew: both marvellous; that without mother, this without father.
But because He had taken a body of Adam, for Mary was of Adam,
and was about to raise that same body again, it was an earthly thing
He had said in saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I
will raise it up." But this was a heavenly thing, when He said,
"Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he shall not
see the kingdom of God." Come then, brethren! God has willed to
be the Son of man; and willed men to be sons of God. He came down
for our sakes; let us ascend for His sake. For He alone descended
and ascended, He who saith, "No man hath ascended into heaven, but
He who came down from heaven." Are they not therefore to ascend into
heaven whom He makes sons of God? Certainly they are: this is the
promise to us, "They shall be equal to the angels of God." Then
how is it that no man ascends, but He that descended? Because one
only descended, only one ascends. What of the rest? What are we to
understand, but that they shall be His members, that one may ascend?
Therefore it follows that "no man hath ascended into heaven, but He
who came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven." Dost
thou marvel that He was both here and in heaven? Such He made His
disciples. Hear the Apostle Paul saying, "But our conversation is
in heaven." If the Apostle Paul, a man, walked in the flesh on
earth, and yet had his conversation in heaven, was the God of heaven
and earth not able to be both in heaven and on earth?
9. Therefore, if none but He descended and ascended, what hope is
there for the rest? The hope for the rest is this, that He came down
in order that in Him and with Him they might be one, who should
ascend through Him. "He saith not, And to seeds," saith the
apostle, "as in many; but as in one, And to thy seed, which is
Christ." And to believers he saith, "And ye are Christ's; and
if Christ's, then are Abraham's seed." What he said to be one,
that he said that we all are. Hence, in the Psalms, many sometimes
sing, to show that one is made of many; sometimes one sings, to show
what is made of many. Therefore was it only one that was healed in the
pool; and whoever else went down into it was not healed. Now this one
shows forth the oneness of the Church. Woe to them who hate unity,
and make to themselves parties among men! Let them hear him who wished
to make them one, in one, for one: let them hear him who says, Be
not ye making many: "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God
gave the increase. But neither he that planteth is anything, neither
he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." They were
saying, "I am of Paul, I of Apollos, I of Cephas." And he
says, "Is Christ divided?" Be ye in one, be one thing, be one
person: "No man hath ascended into heaven, but He who came down
from heaven." Lo! we wish to be thine, they said to Paul. And he
said to them, I will not that ye be Paul's, but be ye His whose is
Paul together with you.
10. For He came down and died, and by that death delivered us from
death: being slain by death, He slew death. And you know,
brethren, that this death entered into the world through the devil's
envy. "God made not death," saith the Scripture, "nor delights
He in the destruction of the living; but He created all things to
be." But what saith it here? "But by the devil's envy, death
entered into the whole world." To the death offered for our
entertainment by the devil, man would not come by constraint; for the
devil had not the power of forcing, but only cunning to persuade.
Hadst thou not consented, the devil had brought in nothing: thy own
consenting, O man, led thee to death. Of the mortal are mortals
born; from immortals we are become mortals. From Adam all men are
mortal; but Jesus the Son of God, the Word of God, by which all
things were made, the only Son equal with the Father, was made
mortal: "for the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."
11. He endured death, then; but death He hanged on the cross,
and mortal men are delivered from death. The Lord calls to mind a
great matter, which was done in a figure with them of old: "And as
Moses," saith He, "lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so
must the Son of man be lifted up; that every one who believeth on Him
may not perish, but have everlasting life." A great mystery is
here, as they who read know. Again, let them hear, as well they who
have not read as they who have forgotten what perhaps they had heard or
read. The people Israel were fallen helplessly in the wilderness by
the bite of serpents; they suffered a great calamity by many deaths:
for it was the stroke of God correcting and scourging them that He
might instruct them. In this was shown a great mystery, the figure of
a thing to come: the Lord Himself testifies in this passage, so that
no man can give another interpretation than that which the truth
indicates concerning itself. Now Moses was ordered by the Lord to
make a brazen serpent, and to raise it on a pole in the wilderness,
and to admonish the people Israel, that, when any had been bitten by
a serpent, he should look to that serpent raised up on the pole. This
was done: men were bitten; they looked and were healed. What are the
biting serpents? Sins, from the mortality of the flesh. What is the
serpent lifted up? The Lord's death on the cross. For as death
came by the serpent, it was figured by the image of a serpent. The
serpent's bite was deadly, the Lord's death is life-giving. A
serpent is gazed on that the serpent may have no power. What is this?
A death is gazed on, that death may have no power. But whose death?
The death of life: if it may be said, the death of life; ay, for it
may be said, but said wonderfully. But should it not be spoken,
seeing it was a thing to be done? Shall I hesitate to utter that
which the Lord has deigned to do for me? Is not Christ the life?
And yet Christ hung on the cross. Is not Christ life? And yet
Christ was dead. But in Christ's death, death died. Life dead
slew death; the fullness of life swallowed up death; death was
absorbed in the body of Christ. So also shall we say in the
resurrection, when now triumphant we shall sing, "Where, O death,
is thy contest? Where, O death, is thy sting?" Meanwhile
brethren, that we may be healed from sin, let us now gaze on Christ
crucified; for "as Moses," saith He, "lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever
believeth on Him may not perish, but have everlasting life." Just
as they who looked on that serpent perished not by the serpent's
bites, so they who look in faith on Christ's death are healed from
the bites of sins. But those were healed from death tO temporal
life; whilst here He saith, "that they may have everlasting life."
Now there is this difference between the figurative image and the real
thing: the figure procured temporal life; the reality, of which that
was the figure, procures eternal life.
12. "For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the
world, but that the world through Him may be saved." So far,
then, as it lies in the physician, He is come to heal the sick. He
that will not observe the orders of the physician destroys himself. He
is come a Saviour to the world: why is he called the Saviour of the
world, but that He is come to save the world, not to judge the
world? Thou wilt not be saved by Him; thou shall be judged of
thyself And why do I say, "shall be judged"? See what He says:
"He that believeth on Him is not judged, but he that believeth
not." What dost thou expect He is going to say, but "is judged"?
"Already," saith He, "has been judged." The judgment has not
yet appeared, but already it has taken place. For the Lord knoweth
them that are His: He knows who are persevering for the crown, and
who for the flame; knows the wheat on His threshing-floor, and knows
the chaff; knows the good corn, and knows the tares. He that
believeth not is already judged. Why judged? "Because he has not
believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God."
13. "And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light,because their deeds were
evil." My brethren, whose works does the Lord find to be good?
The works of none: He finds the works of all evil. How is it,
then, that some have done the truth, and are come to the light? For
this is what follows: "But he that doeth truth cometh to the light,
that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."
In what way have some done a good work to come to the light, namely,
to Christ? And how have some loved darkness? For if He finds all
men sinners, and healeth all of sin, and that serpent in which the
Lord's death was figured healed them that were bitten, and on account
of the serpent's bite the serpent was set up, namely, the Lord's
death on account of mortal men, whom He finds unrighteous; how are we
to understand that "this is the judgment, that light is come into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil"? How is this? Whose works, in fact, are good? Hast
Thou not come to justify the ungodly? "But they loved," saith
He, "darkness rather than light." There He laid the emphasis:
for many loved their sins; many confessed their sins; and he who
confesses his sins, and accuses them, doth now work with God. God
accuses thy sins: and if thou also accusest, thou art united to God.
There are, as it were, two things, man and sinner. That thou art
called man, is God's doing; that thou art called sinner, is man's
own doing. Blot out what thou hast done, that God may save what He
has done. It behoves thee to hate thine own work in thee, and to love
the work of God in thee. And when thy own deeds will begin to
displease thee, from that time thy good works begin, as thou findest
fault with thy evil works. The confession of evil works is the
beginning of good works. Thou doest the truth, and comest to the
light. How is it thou doest the truth? Thou dost not caress, nor
soothe, nor flatter thyself; nor say, "I am righteous," whilst
thou art unrighteous: thus, thou beginnest to do the truth. Thou
comest to the light, that thy works may be made manifest that they are
wrought in God; for thy sin, the very thing that has given thee
displeasure, would not have displeased thee, if God did not shine
into thee, and His truth show it thee. But he that loves his sins,
even after being admonished, hates the light admonishing him, and
flees from it, that his works which he loves may not be proved to be
evil. But he that doeth truth accuses his evil works in himself,
spares not himself, forgives not himself, that God may forgive him:
for that which he desires God to forgive, he himself acknowledges,
and he comes to the light; to which he is thankful for showing him what
he should hate in himself. He says to God, "Turn away Thy face
from my sins:" yet with what countenance says it, unless he adds,
"For I acknowledge mine iniquity, and my sin is ever before me?"
Be that before thyself which thou desirest not to be before God. But
if thou wilt put thy sin behind thee, God will thrust it back before
thine eyes; and this He will do at a time when there will be no more
fruit of repentance.
14. Run, my brethren, lest the darkness lay hold of you. Awake
to your salvation, awake while there is time; let none be kept back
from the temple of God, none kept back from the work of the Lord,
none called away from continual prayer, none be defrauded of wonted
devotion. Awake, then, while it is day: the day shines, Christ is
the day. He is ready to forgive sins, but to them that acknowledge
them; ready to punish the self-defenders, who boast that they are
righteous, and think themselves to be something when they are nothing.
But he that walks in His love and mercy, even being free from those
great and deadly sins, such crimes as murder, theft, adultery;
still, because of those which seem to be minute sins, of tongue, or
of thought, or of intemperance in things permitted, he doeth the truth
in confession, and cometh to the light in good works: since many
minute sins, if they be neglected, kill. Minute are the drops that
swell the rivers; minute are the grains of sand; but if much sand is
put together, the heap presses and crushes. Bilge-water neglected in
the hold does the same thing as a rushing wave. Gradually it leaks in
through the hold; and by long leaking in and no pumping out, it sinks
the ship. Now what is this pumping out, but by good works, by
sighing, fasting, giving, forgiving, so to effect that sins may not
overwhelm us? The path of this life, however, is troublesome, full
of temptations: in prosperity, let it not lift us up; in adversity,
let it not crush us. He who gave the happiness of this world gave it
for thy comfort, not for thy ruin. Again, He who scourgeth thee in
this life, doeth it for thy improvement, not for thy condemnation.
Bear the Father that corrects thee for thy training, lest thou feel
the judge in punishing thee. These things we tell you every day, and
they must be often said, because they are good and wholesome.
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