XXXVI.

510 "Two or three witnesses;" a hint of the Holy Trinity.

HOMIL. and thou shalt be delivered from Charybdis and from Scylla. In these two words, in that He said unum, He delivereth thee from Arius; in that He said sumus, He delivereth thee from Sabellius. If unum, "One" (Essence), then not diverse; if sumus," are," then both Father and Son. For are He would not say of one subject, but also one He would not say of diverse. Then that He saith, My judgment is true, it is so, that thou mayest hear it briefly, because I am Son of God. But while I would have thee believe that I am Son of God, I would have thee understand that the Father is with Me: I am not in such sort Son as to have left Him; am not in such wise here, as not to be with Him; not in such wise is He there, as not to be with Me; the form of a servant I have taken upon Me, not lost the form of God; therefore, saith He, I am not alone, but I and the Father Which sent Me.

10. He had spoken of judgment; He will now speak conv. 17,18.cerning testimony. In your Law, saith He, it is written, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth witness of Me. He expounded to them the Law also, if they would not be ungrateful. For it is a great question, a my brethren, and it seems to me to be a subject that is much involved in mystery, where God said, In the mouth of Mat.18, two or three witnesses every word shall stand. Is truth

Deut.

19, 15.

16.

sought by means of two witnesses? Yes certainly; such is the custom of mankind: but yet it may be that even two shall lie. Chaste Susanna was urged by two false witnesses: because they were two, were they therefore not false wit nesses? Speak we of two or three? A whole people lied against Christ. If then a people, consisting of a great multitude of men, was found a false witness, how is it to be taken, In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand, but that in this way we are in a mystery given to understand the Trinity, in Which is perpetual stability of Truth? Wouldest thou have a good cause? Have two or three witnessess, Father and Son and Holy Ghost. And, in short, when Susanna, that chaste woman and faithful wife, was urged by two false witnesses, the Trinity bore suffrage to her in her conscience and in secret: that Trinity

Ju

ال

Christ Judge and Witness, because Omniscient.

511

VIII.

17, 18.

did from in secret raise up one witness, Daniel, and con- JOHN victed the twain. Then, because it is written in your law that the testimony of two men is true, receive Our witness, that ye may not feel Our judgment. For I, saith He, judge not any, howbeit, I bear witness of Myself: I defer the judging, not defer the witnessing.

How

11. Choose we unto us, my brethren, against the tongues of men, against the weak suspicions of mankind, choose we God to our Judge, God our witness. For He disdaineth not to be Witness, Who is Judge; neither is He promoted in being made Judge; since He Who is witness, the Same will be Judge. How is He Himself witness? Because He seeketh not another, from whom to learn what man thou art. is He Himself Judge? Because it is He that hath power of killing and making alive, and condemning and absolving, of casting into hell and lifting up to heaven, of yoking to the devil and crowning with the Angels. Then siuce He hath this power, He is Judge. But seeing that to know thee He requireth not another to be witness; seeing He Who will then judge thee, now seeth thee: there is no means whereby thou mayest deceive Him when He shall have begun to judge. For there is no taking unto thee any false witnesses, who can circumvent that Judge, when He shall have begun to judge thee. God saith this to thee: When thou despisedst, I saw it; and when thou believedst not, I did not make My sentence to be in vain; I did but put it off, not put it out of the way. Thou wouldest not hear what I enjoined; thou shalt feel what I foretold. But if thou hear what I enjoined, thou shalt not feel the evils which I foretold, but shalt receive the good things which I promised.

12. Let it not however stagger any one that He saith, My judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father Which sent Me, because He hath elsewhere said, The Father John 5, judgeth not any, but hath given all judgment to the Son 22. Already we have discoursed upon these same words of the Evangelist, and now we remind you, that this was not said in regard that the Father will not be with the Son when He judgeth, but because to good and bad in the Judgment the Son alone will appear, in that form in which He suffered, and rose again, and ascended into heaven. For as the dis

Acts 1,

11.

512 He will come to judgment in the form of man.

HOMIL. ciples beheld Him at that time ascending, the angelic voice XXXVI. sounded in their ears, He shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen Him going into heaven. That is, in the form of man in which He was judged, He shall judge, that also that prophetic word may be fulfilled, They shall look on 12. 10. Him Whom they pierced. But when, as the righteous go into eternal life, we shall see Him as He is, that will not be the judgment of the living and dead, but only the reward of the living.

Zech.

John19,

37.

13. Again, let it not stagger you, that He saith, In your law it is written, that the testimony of two men is true, and therefore one may imagine that the same was not the law of God, because it is not said, ' In the law of God:' let him know that when it is said, in your law, it is as much as to say, ' in the law which was given you,' by Whom but by God? Just as we say, Our daily bread, and yet say, Give us this day.

Then said they unto Him, Where is Thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know Me, nor My Father: if ye knew Me, it may be ye would know My Father also. These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as He taught in the temple and no man laid hands on Him; for His hour was not yet come.

1. WHAT in the Holy Gospel is briefly read, ought to be not briefly expounded, that what is read may be understood. For the words of the Lord are few, but great: not to be estimated by number, but by weight: not to be slighted because they are few, but to be sought out because they are great. Ye who were present yesterday heard, when, as we were enabled, we reasoned from that which the Lord said, Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. v.15-18, And yet if I judge, My judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father Which sent Me. It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of Myself, and the Father Which sent Me beareth witness of Me. From these words, yesterday, as I said, we paid our debt of a Sermon to your ears and minds. Now no sooner had the Lord said this, than those to whom it was said, Ye judge after the flesh, manifested the thing they were told of themselves. For they answered the Lord, when He spake concerning God as His Father, and said, Where is Thy Father? The Father of Christ, they took in a fleshly sense, because they judged after the flesh the words of Christ. But He that

514

The Word, with God, even while on earth;

HOMIL. spake was openly flesh, secretly the Word: Man seen, God XXXVII. unseen. They saw the garment, and despised Him that wore it: despised, because they knew not; knew not, because they saw not; saw not, because they were blind; were blind, because they believed not.

v. 16.

v. 19.

2. Let us see then what the Lord said in answer to this also. Where, say they, is Thy Father? For we have heard Thee say, I am not alone, but I and the Father Which sent Me: we see Thee only, Thy Father we see not with Thee: how sayest Thou that Thou art not alone, but art with Thy Father? or shew us that Thy Father is with Thee. And the Lord said, Do ye see Me, that I should shew you the Father? For this cometh next, this answer made He in His own words, of which words we have already premised the exposition. For see what He said; Ye neither know Me, nor My Father. If ye knew Me, it may be ye would also know My Father". Ye say then, Where is Thy Father? as if ye already know Me, as if the whole that I am is what ye see. Then because ye know not Me, therefore I shew you not My Father. Ye think Me man, therefore ye seek a man for My Father, because ye judge after the flesh. But because in respect of what ye see, I am one thing, and another in respect of what ye do not see; and in speaking of My Father, I unseen speak of Him unseen; it comes first that ye should know Me, then shall ye know My Father also.

3. For if ye knew Me, it may be ye would know My Father also. When He, Who knoweth all things, saith, it may be, it is not that He doubteth, but that He chideth. For see how this same forsitan,' it may be, which seemeth to be a word of doubting, may be spoken in the sense of chiding. True, it is a word of doubting when it is spoken by man, who therefore doubteth because He knoweth not: but when a word of doubting is spoken by God, since nothing is hidden from God, in that doubting ye see unbelief reproved, not Godhead guessing! For even men,

a Forsitan et Patrem meum sciretis. Vet. Lat. and Vulg. where the particle forsitan is simply meant to represent the ar (dEITE) of the original: but

as Aug. finds a kind of emphasis in the word, it was necessary to express it by a term of doubtful contingency.

b

3