XXXI.

v. 35.

4.

460

Where He is, none can come as yet.

HOMIL. 10. Then said the Jeus, not to Him, but to themselves, Whither will this Man go, that we shall not find Him? Will He go to the dispersion of the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? For they knew not what they said; howbeit, because it was His will, they prophesied. For the Lord was about to go to the Gentiles, not in His bodily presence, but yet with His feet. What were His feet? The feet which Saul would fain trample upon, by persecuting, what time as the Acts 9, Head cried to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?What is this saying that he hath said, Ye shall seek Me, and shall not find Me; and where I am, ye cannot come? Of what the Lord said this, they wist not, and yet somewhat that was to be, they unwittingly foretold. The Lord, namely, said this, that the place, if however it may be called place, that is, the bosom of the Father, whence the Only-begotten Son never departeth, they knew not: neither were they competent to conceive where Christ was, whence Christ departed not; whither Christ was to return, where Christ was yet abiding. Whence should this enter the heart of man to conceive it, much more to unfold it with the tongue? This then those men in no sort understood; and yet taking occasion from this they predicted our salvation, that the Lord should go to the dispersion of the Gentiles, and fulfil that which Ps. 18, they read and understood not: A people whom I have not known hath served Me; in the hearing of the ear it hath obeyed Me. Those heard Him not, in whose eyes He was; those heard Him, in whose ears He hath sounded.

43. 44.

Luke 8,

43-48.

11. For that Church which was to come from the Gentiles was typified in the person of that woman who had an issue of blood she touched, and was not seen: she was unknown, and was made whole. For it was a figure, that the Lord asked, Who touched Me? Himself as one unknowing He healed her as one unknown: so hath He done also to the Gentiles. We have not learnt Him in the flesh, yet have I merui- we obtained mercy' to eat His flesh, and in His flesh to be members. How? Because He sent to us. Whom? His heralds, His disciples, His servants, His redeemed whom He

mus.

e Ubi erat Christus, unde non recessit Christus; quo rediturus erat Christus, ubi manebat Christus.

d Vulg. in auditu auris obedivit mihi.

Aug. in obauditu auris obaudivit mihi: so Enarr. in loc. Vid. supra, p. 295, note (a).

How Christ went to the Gentiles.

461

VII.26.

24.

9.

16.

created, yea, but whom He redeemed, His brethren too: JOHN what I have said is all too little to express all that they are: His own members, His own Self; for He sent His members to us, and made us His members. Yet in respect of the bodily form which the Jews saw and despised, Christ hath not been among us: because this too was said of Him, as also the Apostle saith: Now I say that Christ was a Minister Rom.15, of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the 8. promises made unto the fathers. To them behoved He to come, by whose fathers and to whose fathers He was promised accordingly Himself also saith thus, I am not Mat. 15, sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But what saith the Apostle in the next words? And that the Rom.15, Gentiles should, on behalf of mercy, glorify God. What also the Lord Himself? I have other sheep, which are not of Johal0, this fold. He Who had said, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, how hath He other sheep to which He was not sent, but as signifying that His bodily presence He was not sent to exhibit save to the Jews only, who saw and killed Him? And many nevertheless of them did both before and afterwards believe. The first harvest had its winnowing from the cross, that there might be seed Ho m. from which another harvest should spring up. But now, that roused by the fame of His Gospel and its goodly odour, His faithful do believe among all the Gentiles, He shall be Gen.49, the expectation of the Gentiles, waiting for the time when He shall come Who is already come; when He shall be seen of all, Who then of some was not seen, of some was seen; when He shall come to judge, Who came once to be judged; when He shall come to make discernment, Who came to be not discerned. For Christ was not discerned from the ungodly, but was judged with the ungodly: seeing it was said of Him, He Is. 53, was reputed among the wicked. A thief escaped, Christ was Mark condemned. He received pardon who was full of crimes, and 15, 15. John18, He was condemned Who hath released of their crimes all that 40. confess them. Yet the very Cross, if thou mark it well, was a judgment-throne: for, the Judge being set in the midst, Luke 23, one thief who believed was delivered, the other who insulted was condemned. Already He signified what He shall do to the quick and dead; some He will set on His right,

XV. 33

10. Lat.

& LXX.

12.

39-43.

462

Christ even on the Cross held Judgment.

HOMIL. others on His left hand: that thief, like those that shall XXXI. be on the left, the other like them that shall be on the right. Judgment He was undergoing, and judgment He menaced.

HOMILY XXXII.

JOHN vii. 37-39.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.

1. AMID the dissensions and doubtings of the Jews, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, among the rest that He said, whereby some should be confounded, others taught; on that last day (for then were these things done) of the feast which is called Scenopegia, i. e. the making of Tabernacles, concerning which feast ye remember, my beloved, that I have already discoursed, the Lord Jesus Christ calls, and this not by speaking in any common way, but by crying aloud, that whoso thirsts should come unto Him. If we thirst, let us come, and not with our feet, but with our affections, neither by change of place but by loving, let us come.1 miThough indeed in regard of the inner man, he that loves grando does change his place. And it is one thing to migrate with the body, another with the heart; he migrates with the body, who by motion of the body changes his place; he migrates with the heart, who by motion of the heart changes. his affection. If thou lovest one thing, whereas thou didst love another, thou art not where thou wast.

1

2. Well then, the Lord crieth to us: for, He stood and v. 37.

XXXII.

v. 39.

464

The inner man more prized than the outer.

HOMIL.cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth in Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. What this might mean, seeing the Evangelist hath expounded it, we need not take much time to enquire. For, of what the Lord said, If any 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 hath forthwith expounded, saying, But this spake He of the Spirit, Which they should receive that believed on Him. For the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. There is then an inner thirst, and an inner belly, because there is an inner man. And that inner man indeed is invisible, but the outer man visible: howbeit, better is the inner than the outer. And what is not seen, the same is more loved: for it is clear that the inner man is more loved than the outer. Whence is this clear? Let each prove it in himself. For however 1 addi- they who live ill, may put their minds at the bidding' of the cant body, yet to live is what they wish, and to live is but of the 2 seipsos mind, and those do more shew themselves that rule, than indicant the things which are ruled. Now the minds rule, the

bodies are ruled. Every one rejoices in pleasure, and takes pleasure by means of the body: but separate the mind, and nothing is left in the body to rejoice; albeit, by means of the body one rejoices, yet it is the mind that rejoices. If it have joy by means of its dwelling, ought it not to have joy of itself? And if the mind have that by means of which it may enjoy delight from without, is it left without delights within? It is quite clear that a man loves his soul more than his body. Yes, but in another man too, a man loves the soul more than the body. For what is it that one loves in a friend, where the love is sincerer and more chaste? What is it that one loves in a friend? the mind, or the body? If faithfulness is loved, it is the mind that is loved: if benevolence is loved, the seat of benevolence is the mind: if the thing thou lovest in another is, that he loves thee, it is the mind that thou lovest: because it is not flesh, but mind, that loveth. For thou lovest because he loves thee: ask what he loves thee withal, and see what it is thou lovest. Well then, it is loved more, yet it is not seen.

a