|
1. In the preceding lesson of the holy Gospel, which is followed by
the one that has just been read, the Lord Jesus had said that He and
the Father would come to those who loved Them, and make Their abode
with them. But He had also already said above of the Holy Spirit,
"But ye shall know Him; for He shall dwell with you, and shall be
in you" (ver. 17): by which we understood that the divine
Trinity dwelleth together in the saints as in His own temple. But
now He saith, "These things have I spoken unto you while [still]
dwelling with you." That dwelling, therefore, which He promised in
the future, is of one kind; and this, which He declares to be
present, is of another. The one is spiritual, and is realized
inwardly by the mind; the other is corporal, and is exhibited
outwardly to the eye and the ear. The one brings eternal blessedness
to those who have been delivered, the other pays its visits in time to
those who await deliverance. As regards the one, the Lord never
withdraws from those who love Him; as regards the other, He comes
and goes. "These things, He says, "have I spoken unto you,
while [still] dwelling with you;" that is, in His bodily
presence, wherein He was visibly conversing with them.
2. "But the Comfort," He adds, " [which is] the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have
said unto you." Is it, then, that the Son speaks, and the Holy
Spirit teaches, so that we merely get hold of the words that are
uttered by the Son, and then understand them by the teaching of the
Spirit? as if the Son could speak without the Holy Spirit, or the
Holy Spirit teach without the Son: or is it not rather that the Son
also teacheth and the Spirit speaketh, and, when it is God that
speaketh and teacheth anything, that the Trinity itself is speaking
and teaching? And just because it is a Trinity, its persons required
to be introduced individually, so that we might hear it in its distinct
personality, and understand its inseparable nature. Listen to the
Father speaking in the passage where thou readest, "The Lord said
unto me, Thou art my Son:" listen to Him also teaching, in that
where thou readest, "Ever man that hath heard, and hath learned of
the Father, cometh unto me." The Son, on the other hand, thou
hast just heard speaking; for He saith of Himself, "Whatsoever I
have said unto you:" and if thou wouldst also know Him as a
Teacher, bethink thyself of the Master, when He saith, "One is
your Master, even Christ." Furthermore, of the Holy Spirit,
whom thou hast just been told of as a Teacher in the words, "He
shall teach you all things," listen to Him also speaking, where thou
readest in the Acts of the Apostles, that the Holy Spirit said to
the blessed Peter, "Go with them, for I have sent them." The
whole Trinity, therefore, both speaketh and teacheth: but were it
not also brought before us in its individual personality, it would
certainly altogether surpass the power of human weakness to comprehend
it. For as it is altogether inseparable in itself, it could never be
known as the Trinity, were it always spoken of inseparably; for when
we speak of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we
certainly do not pronounce them simultaneously, and yet in themselves
they cannot be else than simultaneous. But when He added," He will
bring to your remembrance," we ought also to understand that we are
commanded not to forget that these pre-eminently salutary admonitions
are part of that grace which the Holy Spirit brings to our
remembrance.
3. "Peace," He said, "I leave with you, my peace I give unto
you." It is here we read in the prophet, "Peace upon peace:"
peace He leaves with us when going away, His own peace He will give
us when He cometh in the end. Peace He leaveth with us in this
world, His own peace He will give us in the world to come. His own
peace He leaveth with us, and abiding therein we conquer the enemy.
His own peace He will give us when, with no more enemies to fight,
we shall reign as kings. Peace He leaveth with us, that here also we
may love one another: His own peace will He give us, where we shall
be beyond the possibility of dissension. Peace He leaveth with us,
that we may not judge one another of what is secret to each, while here
on earth: His own peace will He give us, when He "will make
manifest the counsels of the heart; and then shall every man have
praise of God." And yet in Him and from Him it is that we have
peace, whether that which He leaveth with us when going to the
Father, or that which He will give us when we ourselves are brought
by Him to the Father. And what is it He leaveth with us, when
ascending from us, save His own presence, which He never
withdraweth? For He Himself is our peace who hath made both one.
It is He, therefore, that becomes our peace, both when we believe
that He is, and when we see Him as He is. For if, so long as we
are in this corruptible body that burdens the soul, and are walking by
faith, not by sight, He forsaketh not those who are sojourning at a
distance from Himself; how much more, when we have attained to that
sight, shall He fill us with Himself?
4. But why is it that, when He said, "Peace I leave with
you," He did not add, "my;" but when He said, "I give unto
you," He there made use of it? Is "my" to be understood even
where it is not expressed, on the ground that what is expressed once
may have a reference to both? Or may it not be that here also we have
some underlying truth that has to be asked and sought for, and opened
up to those who knock thereat? For what, if by His own peace He
meant such to be understood as that which He possesses Himself?
whereas the peace, which He leaves us in this world, may more
properly be termed our peace than His. For He, who is altogether
without sin, has no elements of discord in Himself; while the peace
we possess, meanwhile, is such that in the midst of it we have still
to be saying, "Forgive us our debts." A certain kind of peace,
accordingly, we do possess, inasmuch as we delight in the law of God
after the inward man: but it is not a full peace, for we see another
law in our members warring against the law of our mind. In the same
way we have peace in our relations with one another, just because, in
mutually loving, we have a mutual confidence in one another: but no
more is such a peace as that complete, for we see not the thoughts of
one another's hearts; and we have severally better or worse opinions
in certain respects of one another than is warranted by the reality.
And so that peace, although left us by Him, is our peace: for were
it not from Him, we should not be possessing it, such as it is; but
such is not the peace He has Himself. And if we keep what we
received to the end, then such as He has shall we have, when we shall
have no elements of discord of our own, and we shall have no secrets
hid from one another in our hearts. But I am not ignorant that these
words of the Lord may be taken so as to seem only a repetition of the
same idea, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:"
so that after saying "peace," He only repeated it in saying "my
peace;" and what He had meant in saying "I leave with you," He
simply repeated in saying "I give unto you." Let each one
understand it as he pleases; but it is my delight, as I believe it is
yours also, my beloved brethren, to keep such hold of that peace
here, where our hearts are making common cause against the adversary,
that we may be ever longing for the peace which there will be no
adversary to disturb.
5. But when the Lord proceeded to say, "Not as the world giveth,
give I unto you," what else does He mean but, Not as those give
who love the world, give I unto you? For their aim in giving
themselves peace is that, exempt from the annoyance of lawsuits and
wars, they may find enjoyment, not in God, but in the friendship of
the world; and although they give the righteous peace, in ceasing to
persecute them, there can be no true peace where there is no real
harmony, because their hearts are at variance. For as one is called a
consort who unites his lot (sortem) with another, so may he be termed
concordant whose heart has entered into a similar union. Let us,
therefore, beloved, with whom Christ leaveth peace, and to whom He
giveth His own peace, not after the world's way, but in a way worthy
of Him by whom the world was made, that we should be of one heart with
Himself. having our hearts run into one, that this one heart, set on
that which is above, may escape the corruption of the earth.
|
|