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1. Among the dissensions and doubtings of the Jews concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ, among other things which He said, by which some
were confounded, others taught: "On the last day of that feast"
(for it was then that these things were done) which is called the
feast of tabernacles; that is, the building of tents, of which feast
you remember, my beloved, that we have already discoursed, the Lord
Jesus Christ calls, not by speaking in any way soever, but by crying
aloud, that whoso thirsts may come to Him. If we thirst, let us
come; and not by our feet, but by our affections; let us come, not
by removing from our place, but by loving. Although, according to
the inner man, he that loves does also move from a place. But it is
one thing to move with the body, another thing to move with the heart:
he migrates with the body who changes his place by a motion of the
body; he migrates with the heart who changes his affection by a motion
of the heart. If thou lovest one thing, and didst love another thing
before, thou art not now where thou wast.
2. Accordingly, the Lord cries aloud to us: for, "He stood and
cried out, if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He
that believeth on me, as the Scripture saith., out of his belly
shall flow rivers of living water." We are not obliged to delay to
inquire what this meant, since the evangelist has explained it. For
why the Lord said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and
drink;" and, "He that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water;" the evangelist has subsequently explained,
saying: "But this spoke He of the Spirit which they that believe on
Him should receive. For the Spirit was not yet given, because
Jesus was not yet glorified." There is therefore an inner thirst and
an inner belly, because there is an inner man. And that inner man is
indeed invisible, but the outer man is visible; but yet better is the
inner than the outer. And this which is not seen is the more loved;
for it is certain that the inner man is loved more than the outer. How
is this certain? Let every man prove it in himself. For although
they who live ill may surrender their minds to the body, yet they do
wish to live, and to live is the property of the mind only; and they
who rule, manifest themselves more than those things that are ruled.
Now it is minds that rule, bodies are ruled. Every man rejoices in
pleasure, and receives pleasure by the body: but separate the mind
from it, and nothing remains in the body to rejoice; and if there is
joy of the body, it is the mind that rejoices. If it has joy of its
dwelling, ought it not to have joy of itself? And if the mind has
whereof it may have delight outside itself, does it remain without
delights within? It is quite certain that a man loves his soul more
than his body. But further, a man loves the soul even in another man
more than the body. What is it that is loved in a friend, where the
love is the purer and more sincere? What in the friend is loved the
mind, or the body? If fidelity is loved, the mind is loved; if
benevolence is loved, the mind is the seat of benevolence: if this is
what thou lovest in another, that he too loves thee, it is the mind
thou lovest, because it is not the flesh, but the mind that loves.
For therefore thou lovest, because he loves thee: ask why he loves
thee, and then see what it is thou lovest. Consequently, it is more
loved, and yet is not seen.
3. I would say something further, by which it may more clearly
appear to you, beloved, how much the mind is loved, and how it is
preferred to the body. Those wanton lovers even, who delight in
beauty of bodies, and are charmed by shapeliness of limbs, love the
more when they are loved. For when a man loves, and finds that he is
regarded with hatred, he feels more anger than liking. Why does he
feel anger rather than liking? Because the love that he bestows is not
given him in return. If, therefore, even the lovers of bodies desire
to be loved in return, and this delights them more when they are
loved, what shall we say of the lovers of minds? And if the lovers of
minds are great, what shall we say of the lovers of God who makes
minds beautiful? For as the mind gives grace to the body, so it is
God that gives grace to the mind. For it is only the mind that causes
that in the body by which it is loved; when the mind has left it, it
is a corpse at which thou hast a horror; and how much soever thou
mayest have loved its beautiful limbs, thou makest haste to bury it.
Hence, the ornament of the body is the mind; the ornament of the mind
is God.
4. The Lord, therefore, cries aloud to us to come and drink, if
we thirst within; and He says that when we have drunk, rivers of
living water shall flow from our belly. The belly of the inner man is
the conscience of the heart. Having drunk that water then, the
conscience being purged begins to live; and drinking in, it will have
a fountain, will be itself a fountain. What is the fountain, and
what the river that flows from the belly of the inner man?
Benevolence, whereby a man will consult the interest of his neighbor.
For if he imagines that what he drinks ought to be only for his own
satisfying, there is no flowing of living water from his belly; but if
he is quick to consult for the good of his neighbor, then he becomes
not dry, because there is a flowing. We will now see what it is that
they drink who believe in the Lord; because we surely are
Christians, and if we believe, we drink. And it is every man's
duty to know in himself whether or not he drinks, and whether he lives
by what he drinks; for the fountain does not forsake us if we forsake
not the fountain.
5. The evangelist explained, as I have said, whereof the Lord had
cried out, to what kind of drink He had invited, what He had
procured for them that drink, saying, "But this spoke He of the
Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the
Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."
What spirit does He speak of, if not the Holy Spirit? For every
man has in himself a spirit of his own, of which I spoke when I was
commending to you the consideration of the mind. For every man's mind
is his own spirit: of which the Apostle Paul says, "For what man
knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of the man which is in
himself?" And then he added, "So also the things of God knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God." None knows the things that are
ours but our own spirit. I indeed do not know what are thy thoughts,
nor dost thou know what are mine; for those things which we think
within are our own, peculiar to ourselves; and his own spirit is the
witness of every man's thoughts. "So also the things of God knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God." We with our spirit, God with
His: so, however, that God with His Spirit knows also what goes
on within us; but we are not able, without His own Spirit, to know
what takes place in God. God, however, knows in us even what we
know not in ourselves. For Peter did not know his own weakness, when
he heard from the Lord that he would deny Him thrice: the sick man
was ignorant of his own condition; the Physician knew him to be sick.
There are then certain things which God knows in us, while we
ourselves know them not. So far, however, as belongs to men, no man
knows a man as he does himself: another does not know what is going on
within him, but his own spirit knows it. But on receiving the Spirit
of God, we learn also what takes place in God: not the whole, for
we have not received the whole. We know many things from the pledge;
for we have received a pledge, and the fullness of this pledge shall be
given hereafter. Meanwhile, let the pledge console us in our
pilgrimage here; because he who has condescended to bind himself to us
by a pledge, is prepared to give us much. If such is the token, what
must that be of which it is the token?
6. But what is meant by this which he says, "For the Spirit was
not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified?" He is
understood to say this in a sense that is evident. For the meaning is
not that the Spirit of God, which was with God, was not in being;
but was not yet in them who had believed on Jesus. For thus the Lord
Jesus disposed not to give them the Spirit of which we speak, until
after His resurrection; and this not without a cause. And perhaps if
we inquire, He will favor us to find; and if we knock, He will open
for us to enter. Piety knocks, not the hand though the hand also
knocks, if it cease not from works of mercy. What then is the cause
why the Lord Jesus Christ determined not to give the Holy Spirit
until He should be glorified? which thing before we speak of as we may
be able, we must first inquire, lest that should trouble any one, in
what manner the Spirit was not yet in holy men, whilst we read in the
Gospel concerning the Lord Himself newly born, that Simeon by the
Holy Spirit recognized Him; that Anna the widow, a prophetess,
also recognized Him; that John, who baptized Him, recognized
Him; that Zacharias, being filled with the Holy Ghost, said many
things; that Mary herself received the Holy Ghost to conceive the
Lord. We have therefore many preceding evidences of the Holy Spirit
before the Lord was glorified by the resurrection of His flesh. Nor
was it another spirit that the prophets also had, who proclaimed
beforehand the coming of Christ. But still, there was to be a
certain manner of this giving, which had not at all appeared before.
For nowhere do we read before this, that men being gathered together
had, by receiving the Holy Ghost, spoken in the tongues of all
nations. But after His resurrection, when He first appeared to His
disciples, He said to them: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Of
this giving then it is said, "The Spirit was not given, because
Jesus was not yet glorified. And He breathed upon their faces,"
He who with His breath enlivened them first man, and raised him up
from the clay, by which breath He gave a soul to the limbs;
signifying that He was the same who breathed upon their faces, that
they might rise out of the mire and renounce their miry works. Then,
after His resurrection, which the evangelist calls His glorifying,
did the Lord first give the Holy Ghost to His disciples. Then
having tarried with them forty days, as the book of the Acts of the
Apostles shows, while they were seeing Him and companying with Him,
He ascended into heaven in their sight. There at the end of ten
days, on the flay of Pentecost, He sent the Holy Ghost from
above. Which having received, they, who had been gathered together
in one place, as I have said, being filled withal, spoke in the
tongues of all nations.
7. How then, brethren, because he that is baptized in Christ, and
believes on Him, does not speak now in the tongues of all nations,
are we not to believe that he has received the Holy Ghost? God
forbid that our heart should be tempted by this faithlessness. Certain
we are that every man receives: but only as much as the vessel of faith
that he shall bring to the fountain can contain, so much does He fill
of it. Since, therefore, the Holy Ghost is even now received by
men, some one may say, Why is it that no man speaks in the tongues of
all nations? Because the Church itself now speaks in the tongues of
all nations. Before, the Church was in one nation, where it spoke
in the tongues of all. By speaking then in the tongues of all, it
signified what was to come to pass; that by growing among the nations,
it would speak in the tongues of all. Whoso is not in this Church,
does not now receive the Holy Ghost. For, being cut off and divided
from the unity of the members, which unity speaks in the tongues of
all, let him declare for himself; he has it not. For if he has it,
let him give the sign which was given then. What do we mean by
saying, Let him give the sign which was then given? Let him speak in
all tongues. He answers me: How then, dost thou speak in all
tongues? Clearly I do; for every tongue is mine, namely, of the
body of which I am a member. The Church, spread among the nations,
speaks in all tongues; the Church is the body of Christ, in this
body thou art a member: therefore, since thou art a member of that
body which speaks with all tongues, believe that thou too speakest with
all tongues. For the unity of the members is of one mind by charity;
and that unity speaks as one man then spoke.
8. Consequently, we too receive the Holy Ghost if we love the
Church, if we are joined together by charity, if we rejoice in the
Catholic name and faith. Let us believe, brethren; as much as every
man loves the Church of Christ, so much has he the Holy Ghost.
For the Spirit is given, as the apostle saith, "to
manifestation." To what manifestation? Just as the same apostle
saith, "For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to
another the word of knowledge after the same Spirit, to another faith
in the same Spirit, to another the gift of healing in one Spirit, to
another the working of miracles in the same Spirit." For there are
many gifts given to manifestation, but thou, it may be, hast nothing
of all those I have said. If thou lovest, it is not nothing that
thou hast: if thou lovest unity, whoever has aught in that unity has
it also for thee. Take away envy, and what I have is thine too.
The envious temper puts men apart, soundness of mind unites them. In
the body, the eye alone sees; but is it for itself alone that the eye
sees? It sees both for the hand and the foot, and for all the other
members. If a blow be coming against the foot, the eye does not turn
away from it, so as not to take precaution. Again, in the body, the
hand alone works, but is it for itself alone the hand works? For the
eye also it works: for if a coming blow comes, not against the hand,
but only against the face, does the hand say, I will not move,
because it is not coming to me? So the foot by walking serves all the
members: all the other members are silent, and the tongue speaks for
all. We have therefore the Holy Spirit if we love the Church; but
we love the Church if we stand firm in its union and charity. For the
apostle himself, after he had said that diverse gifts were bestowed on
diverse men, just as the offices of the several members, saith,
"Yet I show you a still more pre-eminent way;" and begins to speak
of charity. This he put before tongues of men and angels, before
miracles of faith, before knowledge and prophecy, before even that
great work of mercy by which a man distributes to the poor all that he
possesses; and, lastly, put it before even the martyrdom of the
body: before all these so great things he put charity. Have it, and
thou shalt have all: for without it, whatever thou canst have will
profit nothing. But that thou mayest know that the charity of which we
are speaking refers to the Holy Spirit (for the question now in hand
in the Gospel is concerning the Holy Spirit), hear the apostle when
he says, "The charity of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the
Holy Spirit which is given to us."
9. Why then was it the will of the Lord, seeing that the Spirit's
benefits in us are the greatest, because by Him the love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts, to give us that Spirit after His
resurrection? Why did He signify by this? In order that in our
resurrection our love may be inflamed, and may part from the love of
the world to run wholly towards God. For here we are born and die:
let us not love this world; let us migrate hence by love; by love let
us dwell above, by that love by which we love God. In this sojourn
of our life let us meditate on nothing else, but that here we shall not
always be, and that by good living we shall prepare a place for
ourselves there, whence we shall never migrate. For our Lord Jesus
Christ, after that He is risen again, "now dieth no more;"
"death," as the apostle says, "shall no more have dominion over
Him." Behold what we must love. If we live, if we believe on Him
who is risen again, He will give us, not that which men love here who
love not God, or love the more the less they love Him, but love this
the less the more they love Him; but let us see what He has promised
us. Not earthly and temporal riches, not honors and power in this
world; for you see all these things given to wicked men, that they may
not be highly prized by the good. Not, in short, bodily health
itself, though it is He that gives that also, but that, as you see,
He gives even to the beasts. Not long life; for what, indeed, is
long that will some day have an end? It is not length of days that He
has promised to His believers, as if that were a great thing, or
decrepit old age, which all wish for before it comes, and all murmur
at when it does come. Not beauty of person, which either bodily
disease or that same old age which is desired drives away. One wishes
to be beautiful, and also to live to be old: these two desires cannot
agree together; if thou shalt be old, thou wilt not be beautiful;
when old age comes, beauty will flee away; the vigor of beauty and the
groaning of old age cannot dwell together in one body. All these
things, then, are not what He promised us when He said, "He that
believeth in me, let him come and drink, and out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water." He has promised us eternal life, where
we shall have no fear, where we shall not be troubled, whence we shall
have no migration, where we shall not die; where there is neither
bewailing a predecessor deceased, nor a hoping for a successor.
Accordingly, because such is what He has promised to us that love
Him, and glow with the charity of the Holy Spirit, therefore He
would not give us that same Spirit until He should be glorified, so
that He might show in His body the life which we have not now, but
which we hope for in the resurrection.
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