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1. You who were present yesterday, bear in mind that we were a long
while discoursing of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, where He
says, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life;" and if we wished
to go on discoursing of that light, we might Still speak a long time;
for it would be impossible for us to expound the matter in brief.
Therefore, my brethren, let us follow Christ, the light of the
world, that we may not be walking in darkness. We must fear the
darkness, not the darkness of the eyes, but that of the moral
character; and even if it be the darkness of the eyes, it is not of
the outer, but of the inner eyes, of those by which we discern, not
between white and black, but between right and wrong.
2. When our Lord Jesus Christ had spoken these things, the Jews
answered, "Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not
true." Before our Lord Jesus Christ came, He lighted and sent
many prophetic lamps before Him. Of these was also John Baptist,
to whom the great Light itself, which is the Lord Christ, gave a
testimony such as was given to no other man; for He said, "Among
them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John
the Baptist." Yet this man, than whom none was greater among those
born of women, said of the Lord Jesus Christ, "I indeed baptize
you in water; but He that is coming is mightier than I, whose shoe
I am not worthy to loose."
See how the lamps submits itself to the Day. The Lord Himself
bears witness that the same John was indeed a lamp: "He was,"
saith He, "a burning and a shining lamp; and ye were willing for a
season to rejoice in his light."
But when the Jews said to the Lord, "Tell us by what authority
thou doest these things," He, knowing that they regarded John the
Baptist as a great one, and that the same whom they regarded as a
great one had borne witness to them concerning the Lord, answered
them, "I also will ask you one thing; tell me, the baptism of
John, whence is it? from heaven, or from men?" Thrown into
confusion, they considered among themselves that, if they said,
"From men," they might be stoned by the people, who believed John
to be a prophet; if they said, "From heaven," He might answer
them, "He whom ye confess to have been a prophet from heaven bore
testimony to me, and ye have heard from him by what authority I do
these things." They saw, then, that whichever of these two answers
they made, they would fall into the snare, and they said, "We do
not know." And the Lord answered them, "Neither tell I you by
what authority I do these things." "I tell you not what I know,
because you will not confess what you know." Most justly,
certainly, were they repulsed, and they departed in confusion; and
that was fulfilled which God the Father says by the prophet in the
psalm, "I have prepared a lamp for my Christ" (the lamp was
John); "His enemies I will clothe with confusion."
3. The Lord Jesus Christ, then, had the witness of prophets sent
before Him, of the heralds that preceded the judge: He had witness
from John; but He was Himself the greater witness which He bore to
Himself. But those men with their feeble eyes sought lamps, because
they were not able to bear the day; for that same Apostle John,
whose Gospel we have in our hands, says in the beginning of his
Gospel, concerning John the Baptist: "There was a man sent from
God, whose name was John. He came for a witness, to bear witness
of the light, that all men might believe through him. He was not the
light, but was sent to bear witness of the light. That was the true
light, that lighteth every man coming into the world." If "every
man," therefore also lighteth John. Whence also the same John
says, "We all have received out of His fullness." Wherefore
discern ye these things, that your minds may profit in the faith of
Christ, that ye be not always babes seeking the breasts and shrinking
from solid food. You ought to be nourished and to be weaned by our
holy mother the Church of Christ, and to come to more solid food by
the mind, not by the belly. This discern ye then, that the light
which enlighteneth is one thing, another that which is enlightened.
For also our eyes are called lights; and every man thus swears,
touching his eyes, by these lights of his: "So may my lights
live." This is a customary oath. Let these lights, if lights they
are, be opened, and shine for thee in thy closed chamber, when the
light is not there; they certainly cannot. Therefore, as these which
we have in our face, and call lights, when they are both healthy and
open, need the help of light from without, which being removed or not
brought in, though they are sound and are open, yet they do not see,
so our mind, which is the eye of the soul, unless it be irradiated by
the light of truth, and wondrously shone upon by Him who enlightens
and is not enlightened, will not be able to come to wisdom nor to
righteousness. For to live righteously is for us the way itself. But
how can he on whom the light does not shine but stumble in the way?
And hence, in such a way, we have need of seeing, in such a way it
is a great thing to see. Now Tobias had the eyes in his face closed,
and the son gave his hand to the father; and yet the father, by his
instruction, pointed out the way to the son.
4. The Jews then answered, "Thou bearest witness of thyself; thy
witness is not true." Let us see what they hear; let us also hear,
yet not as they did: they despising, we believing; they wishing to
slay Christ, we desiring to live through Christ. Let this
difference distinguish our ears and minds from theirs, and let us hear
what the Lord answers to the Jews. "Jesus answered and said to
them, Though I bear witness of myself, my witness is true; because
I know whence I came and whither I go." The light shows both other
things and also itself. Thou lightest a lamp, for instance, to look
for thy coat, and the burning lamp affords thee light to find thy
coat; dost thou light the lamp to see itself when it burns? A burning
lamp is indeed capable at the same time of exposing to view other things
which the darkness covered, and also of showing itself to thine eyes.
So also the Lord Christ distinguished between His faithful ones and
His Jewish enemies, as between light and darkness: as between those
whom He illuminated with the ray of faith, and those on whose closed
eyes He shed His light. So, too, the sun shines on the face of the
sighted and of the blind; both alike standing and facing the sun are
shone upon in the flesh, but both are not enlightened in the eyesight.
The one sees, the other sees not: the sun is present to both, but
one is absent from the present sun. So likewise the Wisdom of God,
the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is everywhere present,
because the truth is everywhere, wisdom is everywhere. One man in the
east understands justice, another man in the west understands justice;
is justice which the one understands a different thing from that which
the other understands? In body they are far apart, and yet they have
the eyes of their minds on one object. The justice which I, placed
here, see, if justice it is, is the same which the just man,
separated from me in the flesh by ever so many days' journey, also
Sees, and is united to me in the light of that justice. Therefore
the light bears witness to itself; it opens the sound eyes and is its
own witness, that it may be known as the light. But how about the
unbelievers? Is it not present to them? It is present also to them,
but they have not eyes of the heart with which to see it. Hear the
sentence fetched from the Gospel itself concerning them: "And the
light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not."
Hence the Lord saith, and saith truly, "Though I bear witness of
myself, my witness is true; because I know whence I came and whither
I go." He meant us to understand the Father here: the Son gave
glory to the Father. Himself the equal glorifies Him by whom He was
sent. How ought man to glorify Him by whom he was created!
5. "I know whence I came and whither I go." He who speaks to
you in person has what He has not left, and yet He came; for by
coming He departed not thence, nor has He forsaken us by returning
thither. Why marvel ye? It is God: this cannot be done by man; it
cannot be done even by the sun. When it goes to the west it leaves the
east, and until it returns to the east, when about to rise, it is not
in the east; but our Lord Jesus Christ both comes and is there,
both returns and is here. Hear the evangelist himself speaking in
another place, and, if thou canst, understand it; if not, believe
it: "God," saith he, "no man hath ever seen, but the
only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath
declared Him." He said not was in the bosom of the Father, as if
by coming He had quitted the Father's bosom. Here He was
speaking, and yet He declared that He was there; and when about to
depart hence, what said He? "Lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world."
6. The witness of the light then is true, whether it be manifesting
itself or other things; for without light thou canst not see light,
and without light thou canst not see any other thing whatever that is
not light. If light is capable of showing other things which are not
lights, is it not capable of showing itself? Does not that discover
itself, without which other things cannot be made manifest? A prophet
spoke a truth; but whence had he it, unless he drew it from the
fountain of truth? John spoke a truth; but whence he spoke it, ask
himself: "We all," saith he "have received of His fullness."
Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ is worthy to bear witness to
Himself. But in any case, my brethren, let us who are in the night
of this world hear also prophecy with earnest attention for now our
Lord willed to come in humility to our weakness and the deep
night-darkness of our hearts: He came as a man to be despised and to
be honored, He came to be denied and to be confessed; to be despised
and to be denied by the Jews, to be honored and confessed by us: to
be judged and to judge; to be judged unjustly, to judge righteously.
Such then He came that He behoved to have a lamp to bear witness to
Him. For what need was there that John should, as a lamp, bear
witness to the day, if the day itself could be looked upon by our
weakness? But we could not look upon it: He became weak for the
weak; by infirmity He healed infirmity; by mortal flesh He took away
the death of the flesh; of His own body He made a salve for our
eyes. Since, therefore, the Lord is come, and since we are still
in the night of the world, it behoves us to hear also prophecies.
7. For it is from prophecy that we convince gainsaying pagans. Who
is Christ? says the pagan. To whom we reply, He whom the prophets
foretold. What prophets? asks he. We quote Isaiah, Daniel,
Jeremiah, and other holy prophets: we tell him that they came long
before Christ, by what length of time they preceded His coming. We
make this reply then: Prophets came before Him, and they foretold
His coming. One of them answers: What prophets? We quote for him
those which are daily read to us. And, said he, Who are these
prophets? We answer: Those who also foretold the things which we see
come to pass. And he urges: You have forged these for yourselves,
you have seen them come to pass, and have written them in what books
you pleased, as if their coming had been predicted. Here in
opposition to pagan enemies the witness of other enemies offers itself.
We produce books written by the Jews, and reply: Doubtless both you
and they are enemies of our faith. Hence are they scattered among the
nations, that we may convince one class of enemies by another. Let
the book of Isaiah be produced by the Jews, and let us see if it is
not there we read, "He was led as a sheep to be slaughtered, and as
a lamb before his shearer was dumb, so He opened not His mouth. In
humility His judgment was taken away; by His bruises we are healed:
all we as sheep went astray, and He was delivered up for our sins."
Behold one lamp. Let another be produced, let the psalm be opened,
and thence, too, let the foretold suffering of Christ be quoted:
"They pierced my hands and my feet, they counted all my bones: but
they considered me and gazed upon me, they parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture they cast the lot. My praise is with
Thee; in the great assembly will I confess to Thee. All the ends
of the earth shall be reminded, and be converted to the Lord: all
countries of the nations shall worship in His sight; for the kingdom
is the Lord's, and He shall have dominion over the nations." Let
one enemy blush, for it is another enemy that gives me the book. But
lo, out of the book produced by the one enemy, I have vanquished the
other: nor let that same who produced me the book be left; let him
produce that by which himself also may be vanquished. I read another
prophet, and I find the Lord speaking to the Jews: "I have no
pleasure in you, saith the Lord, nor will I accept sacrifice at your
hands: for from the rising of the sun even to his going down, a pure
sacrifice is offered to my name." Thou dost not come, O Jew, to a
pure sacrifice; I prove thee impure.
8. Behold, even lamps bear witness to the day, because of our
weakness, for we cannot bear and look at the brightness of the day.
In comparison, indeed, with unbelievers, we Christians are even now
light; as the apostle says, "For ye were once darkness, but now
light in the Lord: walk as children of light:" and he says
elsewhere, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us
therefore cast away the works of darkness, and put on us the armor of
light; let us walkhon estly as in the day." Yet that even the day in
which we now are is still night, in comparison with the light of that
to which we are to come, listen to the Apostle Peter: he says that a
voice came to the Lord Christ from the excellent glory, "Thou art
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. This voice," said he,
"which came from heaven, we heard, when we were with Him in the holy
mount." But because we were not there, and have not then heard this
voice from heaven, the same Peter says to us, "And we have a more
sure word of prophecy." You have not heard the voice come from
heaven, but you have a more sure word of prophecy. For the Lord
Jesus Christ, foreseeing that there would be certain wicked men who
would calumniate His miracles, by attributing them to magical arts,
sent prophets before Him. For, supposing He was a magician, and by
magical arts caused that He should be worshipped after His death, was
He then a magician before He was born? Hear the prophets, O man
dead, and breeding the worms of calumny, hear the prophets: I read,
hear them who came before the Lord. "We have," saith the Apostle
Peter, "a more sure word of prophecy, to which ye do well to give
heed, as to a lamp in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the
day-star arise in your hearts."
9. When, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ shall come, and, as
the Apostle Paul also says, will bring to light the hidden things of
darkness, and will make manifest the thoughts of the heart, that every
man may have praise from God; then, in presence of such a day, lamps
will not be needed: no prophet shall then be read to us, no book of an
apostle shall be opened; we shall not require the witness of John, we
shall not need the Gospel itself. Accordingly all Scriptures shall
be taken out of the way, which, in the night of this world, were as
lamps kindled for us that we might not remain in darkness, when all
these are taken away, that they may not shine as if we needed them,
and the men of God, by whom these were ministered to us, shall
themselves, together with us, behold that true and clear light.
Well, what shall we see after these aids have been removed?
Wherewith shall our mind be fed? Wherewith shall our gaze be
delighted? Whence shall arise that joy which neither eye hath seen,
nor ear heard, nor hath gone up into the heart of man?
What shall we see? I beseech you, love with me, by believing run
with me: let us long for our home above, let us pant for our home
above, let us feel that we are strangers here. What shall we see
then? Let the Gospel now tell us: "In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Thou shalt come to the fountain from which a little dew has already
besprinkled thee: thou shalt see that very light, from which a ray was
sent aslant and through many windings into thy dark heart, in its
purity, for the seeing and bearing of which thou art being purified.
John himself says, and this I cited yesterday: "Beloved, we are
the sons of God; and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be: we
know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall
see Him even as He is." I feel that your affections are being
lifted up with me to the things that are above: but the body, which is
corrupt, weighs down the soul; and, the earthly habitation depresses
the mind while meditating many things. I am about to lay aside this
book, and you too are going to depart, every man to his own house.
It has been good for us to have been in the common light, good to have
been glad therein, good to have rejoiced therein; but when we part
from one another, let us not depart from Him.
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