{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/107/1070050.htm","path":"chr/ecf/107/1070050.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/107/1070050.htm","text":"1. Those of you who hear the word of our God, not only with willingness, but also with attention, doubtless remember our promise. Indeed the same gospel lesson has also been read to-day which was read last Lord\u2019s day; because, having lingered over certain closely related topics, we could not discuss all that we owed to your powers of understanding. Accordingly, what has been already said and discoursed about we do not inquire into to p. 260 day, lest by continual repetitions we should be prevented from reaching what has still to be spoken. You know now in the Lord\u2019s name who is the good Shepherd, and in what way good shepherds are His members, and therefore the Shepherd is one. You know who is the hireling we have to bear with; who the wolf, and the thieves, and the robbers we have to beware of; who are the sheep, and what is the door whereby both sheep and shepherd enter: how we are to understand the doorkeeper. You know also that every one who entereth not by the door is a thief and a robber, and cometh not but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. All these sayings have, as I think, been sufficiently handled. To-day we ought to tell you, as far as the Lord enables us (for Jesus Christ our Saviour hath Himself told us that He is both the Shepherd and the door, and that the good Shepherd entereth in by the door), how it is that He entereth in by Himself. For if no one is a good shepherd but he that entereth by the door, and He Himself is preeminently the good Shepherd, and also Himself the door, I can understand it only in this way, that He entereth in by Himself to His sheep, and calleth them to follow Him, and they, going in and out, find pasture, which is to say, eternal life.\n2. I proceed, then, without more delay. When I seek to get into you, that is, into your heart, I preach Christ: were I preaching something else, I should be trying to climb up some other way. Christ, therefore, is my gate to you: by Christ I get entrance, not to your houses, but to your hearts. It is by Christ I enter: it is Christ in me that you have been willingly hearing. And why is it you have thus willingly hearkened to Christ in me? Because you are the sheep of Christ, purchased with the blood of Christ. You acknowledge your own price, which is not paid by me, but is preached by my instrumentality. He, and only He, was the buyer, who shed precious blood\u2014the precious blood of Him who was without sin. Yet made He precious also the blood of His own, for whom He paid the price of blood: for had He not made the blood of His own precious, it would not have been said, \u201cPrecious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.\u201d 903 So also when He saith, \u201cThe good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep,\u201d He is not the only one who has done such a deed; and yet if those who have done so are His members, He only Himself was the doer of it. For He was able to do so without them, but whence had they the power apart from Him, who Himself had said, \u201cWithout me ye can do nothing\u201d? 904 But from the same source we can show what others also have done, for the apostle John himself, who preached the very gospel you have been hearing, has said in his epistle, \u201cJust as Christ laid down His life for us, so ought we also to lay down our lives for the brethren.\u201d 905 \u201cWe ought,\u201d he says: He made us debtors who first set the example. To the same effect it is written in a certain place, \u201cIf thou sittest down to sup at a ruler\u2019s table, make wise observation of what is set before thee; and put to thy hand, knowing that it will be thy duty to make similar provision in turn.\u201d 906 You know what is meant by the ruler\u2019s table: you there find the body and blood of Christ; let him who comes to such a table be ready with similar provision. And what is such similar provision? As He laid down His life for us, so ought we also, for the edification of others, and the maintenance of the faith, 907 to lay down our lives for the brethren. To the same effect He said to Peter, whom He wished to make a good shepherd, not in Peter\u2019s own person, but as a member of His body: \u201cPeter, lovest thou me? Feed my sheep.\u201d This He did once, again, and a third time, to the disciple\u2019s sorrow. And when the Lord had questioned him as often as He judged it needful, that he who had thrice denied might thrice confess Him, and had a third time given him the charge to feed His sheep, He said to him, \u201cWhen thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shall be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.\u201d And the evangelist has explained the Lord\u2019s meaning: \u201cBut this spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God.\u201d 908 \u201cFeed my sheep\u201d applies, then, to this, that thou shouldst lay down thy life for my sheep.\n3. And now when He saith, \u201cAs the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father,\u201d who can be ignorant of His meaning? For He knoweth the Father by Himself, and we by Him. That He hath knowledge by Himself, we know already: that we also have knowledge by Him, we have like p. 261 wise learned, for this also we have learned of Him. For He Himself hath said: \u201cNo one hath seen God at any time; but the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.\u201d 909 And so by Him do we also get this knowledge, to whom He hath declared Him. In another place also He saith: \u201cNo one knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any one the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.\u201d 910 As He then knoweth the Father by Himself, and we know the Father by Him; so into the sheepfold He entereth by Himself, and we by Him. We were saying that by Christ we have a door of entrance to you; and why? Because we preach Christ. We preach Christ; and therefore we enter in by the door. But Christ preacheth Christ, for He preacheth Himself; and so the Shepherd entereth in by Himself. When the light shows the other things that are seen in the light, does it need some other means of being made visible itself? The light, then, exhibits both other things and itself. Whatever we understand, we understand with the intellect: and how, save by the intellect, do we understand the intellect itself? But does one in the same way with the bodily eye see both other things and [the eye] itself? For though men see with their eyes, yet their own eyes they see not. The eye of the flesh sees other things, itself it cannot [see]: but the intellect understands itself as well other things. In the same way as the intellect seeth itself, so also doth Christ preach Himself. If He preacheth Himself, and by preaching entereth into thee, He entereth into thee by Himself. And He is the door to the Father, for there is no way of approach to the Father but by Him. \u201cFor there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.\u201d 911 Many things are expressed by a word: all that I have just said, I have said, of course, by means of words. If I were wishing to speak also of a word itself, how could I do so but by the use of the word? And thus both many things are expressed by a word, which are not the same as the word, and the word itself can only be expressed by means of the word. By the Lord\u2019s help we have been copious in illustration. Remember, then, how the Lord Jesus Christ is both the door and the Shepherd: the door, in presenting Himself to view; the Shepherd, in entering in by Himself. And indeed, brethren, because He is the Shepherd, He hath given to His members to be so likewise. For both Peter, and Paul, and the other apostles were, as all good bishops are, shepherds. But none of us calleth himself the door. This\u2014the way of entrance for the sheep\u2014He has retained as exclusively belonging to Himself. In short, Paul discharged the office of a good shepherd when he preached Christ, because he entered by the door. But when the undisciplined sheep began to create schisms, and to set up other doors before them, not of entrance to their joint assembly, but for falling away into divisions, saying, some of them, \u201cI am of Paul;\u201d others, \u201cI am of Cephas;\u201d others, \u201cI of Apollos;\u201d others, \u201cI of Christ:\u201d terrified for those who said, \u201cI am of Paul,\u201d\u2014as if calling out to the sheep, Wretched ones, whither are you going? I am not the door,\u2014he said, \u201cWas Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?\u201d 912 But those who said, \u201cI am of Christ,\u201d had found the door.\n4. But of the one sheepfold and of the one Shepherd, you are now indeed being constantly reminded; for we have commended much the one sheepfold, preaching unity, that all the sheep should enter by Christ, and none of them should follow Donatus. Nevertheless, for what particular reason this was said by the Lord, is sufficiently apparent. For He was speaking among the Jews, and had been specially sent to the Jews, not for the sake of that class who were bound up in their inhuman hatred and persistently abiding in darkness, but for the sake of some in the nation whom He calls His sheep: of whom He saith, \u201cI am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\u201d 913 He knew them even amid the crowd of His raging foes, and foresaw them in the peace of believing. What, then, does He mean by saying, \u201cI am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,\u201d but that He exhibited His bodily presence only to the people of Israel? He did not proceed Himself to the Gentiles, but sent: to the people of Israel He both sent and came in person, that those who proved despisers should receive the greater judgment, because favored also with the sight of His actual presence. The Lord Himself was there: there He chose a mother: there He wished to be conceived, to be born, to shed His blood: there are His footprints, 914 now objects of adoration where last He stood, and p. 262 whence He ascended to heaven: but to the Gentiles He only sent.\n5. But perhaps some one thinks that, as He Himself came not to us, but sent, we have not heard His own voice, but only the voice of those whom He sent. Far from it: let such a thought be banished from your hearts; for He Himself was in those whom He sent. Listen to Paul himself whom He sent; for Paul was specially sent as an apostle to the Gentiles; and it is Paul who, terrifying them not with himself but with Him saith, \u201cDo ye wish to receive a proof of Him who speaketh in me, that is, of Christ?\u201d 915 Listen also to the Lord Himself. \u201cAnd other sheep I have,\u201d that is, among the Gentiles, \u201cwhich are not of this fold,\u201d that is, of the people of Israel: \u201cthem also must I bring.\u201d Therefore, even when it is by the instrumentality of His servants, it is He and not another that bringeth them. Listen further: \u201cThey shall hear my voice.\u201d See here also, it is He Himself who speaks by His servants, and it is His voice that is heard in those whom He sends. \u201cThat there may be one fold, and one shepherd.\u201d Of these two flocks, as of two walls, is the corner-stone formed. 916 And thus is He both door and the corner-stone: all by way of comparison, none of them literally.\n6. For I have said so before, and earnestly pressed it on your notice, and those who comprehend it are wise, yea, those who are wise do comprehend it; and yet let those who are not yet intellectually enlightened, keep hold by faith of what they cannot as yet understand. Christ is many things metaphorically, which strictly speaking 917 He is not. Metaphorically Christ is both a rock, and a door, and a corner-stone, and a shepherd, and a lamb, and a lion. How numerous are such similitudes, and as many more as would take too long to enumerate! But if you select the strict significations of things as you are accustomed to see them, then He is neither a rock, for He is not hard and senseless; nor a door, for no artisan made Him; nor a corner-stone, for He was not constructed by a builder; nor a shepherd, for He is no keeper of four-footed animals; nor a lion, as it ranks among the beasts of the forest; nor a lamb, as it belongs to the flock. All such, then, are by way of comparison. But what is He properly? \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God [God was the Word].\u201d And what, as He appeared in human nature? \u201cAnd the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us [in us].\u201d 918\n7. Hear also what follows. \u201cTherefore doth my Father love me,\u201d He saith, \u201cbecause I lay down my life, that I might take it again.\u201d What is this that He says? \u201cTherefore doth my Father love me:\u201d because I die, that I may rise again. 919 For the \u201cI\u201d is uttered with special emphasis: \u201cBecause I lay down,\u201d He saith, \u201cI lay down my life,\u201d \u201cI lay down.\u201d What is that \u201cI lay down\u201d? I lay it down. Let the Jews no longer boast: they might rage, but they could have no power: let them rage as they can; if I were unwilling to lay down my life, what would all their raging effect? By one answer of His they were prostrated in the dust: when they were asked, \u201cWhom seek ye?\u201d they said, \u201cJesus;\u201d and on His saying to them, \u201cI am He, they went backward, and fell to the ground.\u201d 920 Those who thus fell to the ground at one word of Christ when about to die, what will they do at the sound of His voice when coming to judgment? \u201cI, I,\u201d I say, \u201clay down my life, that I may take it again.\u201d Let not the Jews boast, as if they had prevailed; He Himself laid down His life. \u201cI laid me down [to sleep],\u201d He says [elsewhere]. You know the psalm: \u201cI laid me down and slept; and I awaked [rose up], for the Lord sustaineth me.\u201d What of that\u2014\u201cI lay down\u201d? Because it was my pleasure, I did so. What does \u201cI lay down\u201d mean? I died. Was it not a lying down to sleep on His part, who, when He pleased, rose from the tomb as He would from a bed? But He loves to give glory to the Father, that He may stir us up to glorify our Creator. For in adding, \u201cI arose, for the Lord sustaineth me;\u201d think you there was here a kind of failing in His power, so that, while He had it in His own power to die, He had it not in His power to rise again? So, indeed, the words seem to imply when not more closely considered. \u201cI lay down to sleep;\u201d that is, I did so, because I pleased. \u201cAnd I arose:\u201d why? \u201cBecause the Lord sustaineth [will sustain] me.\u201d 921 What then? wouldst Thou not have power to rise of Thyself? If Thou hadst not the power, Thou wouldst not have said, \u201cI have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again.\u201d But, as showing that not only did the Father raise the Son, but the Son also raised Himself, p. 263 hear how, in another passage in the Gospel, He saith, \u201cDestroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.\u201d And the evangelist adds: \u201cBut this He spake of the temple of His body.\u201d 922 For only that which died was restored to life. The Word is not mortal, His soul is not mortal. If even thine dieth not, could the Lord\u2019s be subject to death?\n8. How can I know, thou wilt say, that mine dieth not? Slay it not thyself, and it cannot die. How, thou asketh, can I slay my soul? To say nothing meanwhile of other sins, \u201cThe mouth that lieth, slayeth the soul.\u201d 923 How, thou sayest, can I be sure that it dieth not? Listen to the Lord Himself giving security to His servant: \u201cBe not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.\u201d But what in the plainest terms does He say? \u201cFear Him who hath power to slay both soul and body in hell.\u201d 924 Here you have the fact that it dieth, and that it doth not die. What is its dying? What is dying to thy flesh? Dying, to thy flesh, is the losing of its life: dying to thy soul, is the losing of its life. The life of thy flesh is thy soul: the life of thy soul is thy God. As the flesh dies in losing the soul, which is its life, so the soul dieth in losing God, who is its life. Of a certainty, then, the soul is immortal. Manifestly immortal, for it liveth even when dead. For what the apostle said of the luxurious widow, may also be said of the soul if it has lost its God, \u201cshe is dead while she liveth.\u201d 925\n9. How, then, does the Lord lay down His life [soul]? 926 Let us, brethren, inquire into this a little more carefully. The time is not so pressing as is usual on the Lord\u2019s day: we have leisure, and theirs will be the profit who have assembled to-day also to wait on the Word of God. \u201cI lay down my life,\u201d He says. Who lays down? What lays He down? What is Christ? The Word and man. Not man as being flesh alone: but as man consists of flesh and soul, so, in Christ there is a complete humanity. For He would not have assumed the baser part, and left the better behind, seeing that the soul of man is certainly superior to the body. Since, then, there is entire manhood in Christ, what is Christ? The Word, I repeat, and man. What is the Word and man? The Word, soul, and flesh. Keep hold of that, for there has been no lack of heretics on this point also, expelled as they were some time ago from the catholic truth, but still persisting, like thieves and robbers who enter not by the door, to lay their snares around the fold. These heretics are termed Apollinarians, 927 and have ventured to assert dogmatically that Christ is only the word and flesh, and contend that He did not assume a human soul. And yet some of them could not deny that there was a soul in Christ. See their intolerable absurdity and madness. They would have Him to possess an irrational soul, but deny Him a rational one. They allowed Him a mere animal, they deprived Him of a human, soul. But they took away Christ\u2019s reason by losing their own. Let it be otherwise with us, who have been nourished and established in the catholic faith. Accordingly, on this occasion I would remind your Charity, that, as in former lectures, we have given you sufficient instruction against the Sabellians and Arians,\u2014the Sabellians, who say, The Father is the same as the Son\u2014the Arians, who say, The Father is one being, the Son is another, as if the Father and Son were not of the same substance\u2014and also, provided you remember as you ought, against the Photinian heretics, who have asserted that Christ was mere man, and destitute of Godhead: 928 and against the Manicheans, who maintain that He was God only without any true humanity: we may, on this occasion, in speaking about the soul, give you some instruction also in opposition to the Apollinarians, who say that our Lord Jesus Christ had no human soul, that is, a rational intelligent soul,\u2014that soul, I mean, by which, as men, we differ from the brutes.\n10. In what sense, then, did our Lord say here, \u201cI have power to lay down my soul [life]\u201d? Who lays down his soul, and takes it again? Is it as being the Word that Christ does so? Or is it the human soul He possesses that lays down and resumes its own existence? Or is it His fleshly nature that lays down its life and takes it again? Let us sift each of the three questions I have suggested, and choose that which conforms to the standard of truth. For if we say that the Word of God laid down His soul, and took it again, we should have to fear the entrance of a wicked thought, and have it said to us: Then there was a time when that soul was separated from the Word, and a time, after His assumption of that soul, when He was without a soul. I see, indeed, that the Word p. 264 was once without a human soul, but only so, when \u201cin the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.\u201d But from the time that the Word was made flesh, to dwell amongst us, 929 and manhood was assumed by the Word, that is, our whole nature, soul and flesh, what more could His passion and death do than separate the body from the soul? It separated not the soul from the Word. For if the Lord died, yea, because He died (for He did so for us on the cross), doubtless His flesh breathed out that which was its life: for a short time the soul forsook the flesh, although destined by its own return to raise the flesh again to life. But I cannot say that the soul was separated from the Word. He said to the soul of the thief, \u201cTo-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.\u201d 930 He forsook not the believing soul of the robber, and did He abandon His own? Surely not; but when the Lord took that of the other into His keeping, He certainly retained His own in indissoluble union. If, on the other hand, we say that the soul laid down and reassumed itself, we fall into the greatest absurdity; for what was not separated from the Word, was inseparable from itself.\n11. Let us turn, then, to what is true and easily understood. Take the case of any man, who does not consist of the word and soul and flesh, but only of soul and flesh; and let us inquire how any such man lays down his life. Can no ordinary man do so? Thou mayest say to me: No man has power to lay down his life [soul], and to take it again. But were not a man able to lay down his life, the Apostle John would not say, \u201cAs Christ laid down his life for us, even so ought we also to lay down our lives for the brethren.\u201d 931 Therefore may we also (if only we are filled with His courage, for without Him we can do nothing) lay down our lives for the brethren. When some holy martyr has laid down his life for the brethren, who laid it down, and what laid he down? If we understand this, we shall perceive in what sense it was said by Christ, \u201cI have power to lay down my life.\u201d Art thou prepared, O man, to die for Christ? I am prepared, he replies. Let me repeat the question in other words. Art thou prepared to lay down thy life for Christ? And to these words he makes me the same reply, I am prepared, as he had, when I said, Art thou prepared to die? To lay down one\u2019s life [soul], is, then, the same as to die. But in whose behalf is the sacrifice in this case? For all men, when they die, lay down their life; but it is not all who lay it down for Christ. And no one has power to resume what he has laid down. But Christ both laid it down for us, and did so when it pleased Him; and when it pleased Him, He took it again. To lay down one\u2019s soul then, is to die. As also the Apostle Peter said to the Lord: \u201cI will lay down my life [soul] for Thy sake;\u201d 932 that is, I will die for Thy sake. View it, then, as referable to the flesh: the flesh layeth down its life, and the flesh taketh it again; not, indeed, the flesh by its own power, but by the power of Him that inhabiteth it. The flesh, then, layeth down its life in expiring. Look at the Lord Himself on the cross: He said, \u201cI thirst:\u201d those who were present dipped a sponge in vinegar, fastened it to a reed, and applied it to His mouth; then, having received it, He said, \u201cIt is finished;\u201d meaning, All is fulfilled which had been prophesied regarding me as, prior to my death, still in the future. And because He had the power, when He pleased, to lay down His life, after He had said, \u201cIt is finished,\u201d what adds the evangelist? \u201cAnd He bowed His head, and gave up the spirit.\u201d 933 This is to lay down the soul [life]. Only let your Charity attend to this. \u201cHe bowed His head, and gave up the spirit.\u201d Who gave up what gave He up? He gave up the spirit; His flesh gave it up. What means, the flesh gave it up? The flesh sent it forth, breathed it out. For so, in becoming separated from the spirit, we are said to expire. Just as getting outside the paternal soil is to be expatriated, turning aside from the track is to deviate; so to become separated from the spirit is to expire; and that spirit is the soul [life]. Accordingly, when the soul quits the flesh, and the flesh remains without the soul, then is a man said to lay down his soul [his human life]. When did Christ lay down His life? When it pleased the Word. For sovereign authority resided in the Word; and therein lay the power to determine when the flesh should lay down its life, and when it should take it again.\n12. If, then, the flesh laid down its life, how did Christ lay down His life? For the flesh is not Christ. Certainly in this way, that Christ is both flesh, and soul, and the Word; and yet these three things are not three Christs, but one. Ask thine own human nature, and from thyself ascend to what is above thee, and which, if not yet able to be understood, can at least be believed. For in the same way that one man is soul and body, is one Christ both the Word and man. p. 265 Consider what I have said, and understand. The soul and body are two things, but one man: the Word and man are two things, but one Christ. Apply, then, the subject to any man. Where is now the Apostle Paul? If one answer, At rest with Christ, he speaks truly. And likewise, should one reply, In the sepulchre at Rome, he is equally right. The one answer I get refers to his soul, the other to his flesh. And yet we do not say that there are two Apostle Pauls, one who rests in Christ, another who was laid in the sepulchre; although we may say that the Apostle Paul liveth in Christ, and that the same apostle lieth dead in the tomb. Some one dieth, and we say, He was a good man, and faithful; he is in peace with the Lord: and then immediately, Let us attend his obsequies, and lay him in the sepulchre. Thou art about to bury one whom thou hadst just declared to be in peace with God; for the latter regards the soul which blooms eternally, and the other the body, which is laid down in corruption. But while the partnership of the flesh and soul has received the name of man, the same name is now applied to either of them, singly and by itself.\n13. Let no one, then, be perplexed, when he hears that the Lord has said, \u201cI lay down my life, and I take it again.\u201d The flesh layeth it down, but by the power of the Word: the flesh taketh it again, but by the same power. Even His own name, the Lord Christ, was applied to His flesh alone. How can you prove it? says some one. We believe of a certainty not only in God the Father, but also in Jesus Christ His Son, our only Lord: and this that I have just said contains the whole, in Jesus Christ His Son, our only Lord. Understand that the whole is here: the Word, and soul, and flesh. At all events thou confessest what is also held by the same faith, that thou believest in that Christ who was crucified and buried. Ergo, thou deniest not that Christ was buried; and yet it was the burial only of His flesh. For had the soul been there, He would not have been dead: but if it was a true death, and its resurrection real, it was previously without life in the tomb; and yet it was Christ that was buried. And so the flesh apart from the soul was also Christ, for it was only the flesh that was buried. Learn the same likewise in the words of an apostle. \u201cLet this mind,\u201d he says, \u201cbe in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.\u201d Who, save Christ Jesus, as respects His nature as the Word, is God with God? But look at what follows: \u201cBut emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant; being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man.\u201d And who is this, but the same Christ Jesus Himself? But here we have now all the parts, both the Word in that form of God which assumed the form of a servant, and the soul and the flesh in that form of a servant which was assumed by the form of God. \u201cHe humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death.\u201d 934 Now in His death, it was His flesh only that was slain by the Jews. For if He said to His disciples, \u201cFear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul,\u201d 935 how could they do more in His own case than kill the body? And yet in the slaying of His flesh, it was Christ that was slain. Accordingly, when the flesh laid down its life, Christ laid it down; and when the flesh, in order to its resurrection, assumed its life, Christ assumed it. Nevertheless this was done, not by the power of the flesh, but of Him who assumed both soul and flesh, that in them these very things might receive fulfillment.\n14. \u201cThis commandment,\u201d He says, \u201chave I received of my Father.\u201d The Word received not the commandment in word, but in the only begotten Word of the Father every commandment resides. But when the Son is said to receive of the Father what He possesses essentially in Himself, as it is said, \u201cAs the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself,\u201d 936 while the Son is Himself the life,there is no lessening of His authority, but the setting forth of His generation. For the Father added not after-gifts as to a son whose state was imperfect at birth, but on Him whom He begat in absolute perfection He bestowed all gifts in begetting. In this manner He gave Him equality with Himself, and yet begat Him not in a state of inequality. But while the Lord thus spake, for the light was shining in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not, 937 \u201cthere was a dissension again created among the Jews for these sayings, and many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad: why hear ye him?\u201d This was the thickest darkness. Others said, \u201cThese are not the words of him that hath a devil; can a devil open the eyes of the blind?\u201d The eyes of such were now begun to be opened.\nProv. 23:1, 2, according to the Septuagint, whose reading of verse 2 must have been somewhat different from that of the present Hebrew text, with which our English version pretty closely agrees: \u201cAnd thou shalt put a knife to thy throat, if thou art a man of appetite\u201d (or perhaps, \u201cif thou hast control over thy appetite,\u201d \u05d0\u05b4\u05dd\u05be\u05d1\u05b7\u05bc\u05e2\u05b7\u05dc \u05e0\u05b6\u05e4\u05b6\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4). So somewhat similarly the Vulgate, which makes the last clause, \u201cif thou hast power over thy life.\u201d\u2014Tr.\n260:907\nThis clause, \u201cfor the edification,\u201d etc., is wanting in many of the mss.\n260:908 261:909 261:910 261:911 261:912 261:913 261:914\nOf Christ\u2019s footprints on Mount Olivet, impressed on the ground, there is mention made in the works of Jerome, in the book on \u201cHebrew places,\u201d and in Bede, in the names of places in the Acts of the Apostles; as likewise in the sacred history of Sulpitius Severus, Book ii.\u2014Migne. The text is somewhat uncertain, but indicates the existence of \u201choly places\u201d in Augustin\u2019s day, and certain acts of worship performed in their honor.\u2014Tr.\n262:915 262:916 262:917 262:918 262:919\nMigne says that \u201cthere is, perhaps, in this passage something either superfluous or lacking.\u201d But there does not seem any real cause for such a supposition.\u2014Tr.\n262:920 262:921\nPs. iii. 5. It need scarcely be said that this psalm cannot bear the Messianic interpretation attached to it by Augustin, any more than Prov. 23:1, 2, similarly applied in Sec. 2 of this lecture; and frequently elsewhere. But the accommodation at the will of the writer of all Old Testament Scripture equally to such a purpose was characteristic of the age.\u2014Tr.\n263:922 263:923 263:924 263:925 263:926\nThe word anima, according to Augustin\u2019s explanation of it above, may be rendered in these sections either \u201csoul\u201d or \u201clife.\u201d The original also is \u03c8\u03cd\u03c7\u03b7.\u2014Tr.\n263:927\nFrom Apollinaris, bishop of Alexandria, who held that the body which Christ assumed had only a sensitive, and not a rational soul, and that His divine nature supplied the place of the latter. His doctrines were condemned by the Council of Alexandria, A.D. 362, and he himself was deposed by the Council of Rome, A.D. 378.\u2014Tr.\n263:928\nSine deo: which, however, is wanting in all the mss.\n264:929 264:930 264:931 264:932 264:933 265:934 265:935 265:936 265:937","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VII: Lectures or Tra...","type":"page"}