fication of those predestinated thereto, that is no necessity requiring us to suppose that is, of those whom He foreknoweth, shall con- all of Christ's works are to be understood. tinue forever. In the former there is only For He spake, perhaps, only of these He was the working of God, but in the latter there is now doing; and the work He was doing at also His image. But there are also in the that time was uttering the words of faith, and heavens, thrones, governments, principalities, of such works specially had He spoken just powers, archangels, and angels, which are all before when He said, "The words that I of them the work of Christ; and is it, then, speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but greater works also than these that he doeth, the Father, that dwelleth in me, He doeth the who, with Christ working in him, is a co-works." His words, accordingly, were His worker in his own eternal salvation and justi- works. And it is assuredly something less fication? I dare not call for any hurried to preach the words of righteousness, which decision on such a point: let him who can, | He did apart from us, than to justify the ununderstand, and let him who can, judge godly, which He does in such a way in us whether it is a greater work to create right- that we also are doing it ourselves. It reeous beings than to make righteous the ungodly. For at least, if there is equal power employed in both, there is greater mercy in the latter. For "this is the great mystery of godliness which was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." But when He said, Greater works than these shall he do," there

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I

11 Tim. iii. 16. On account of the well-known textual controversy among Biblicists, this passage, as quoted by Augustin, is so far valuable, as it shows us how he read and understood the point in dispute, namely, whether it is "GoD was manifested" (as in our English version), or, "WHO [which] was manifested," as here by Augustin; in other words, whether the original text read eos or ös before épavepwon. The evidence is almost equally divided between the two; and the difficulty is chiefly caused by the cir

mains for us to inquire how the words are to be understood, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I will do it." Because of the many things His believing ones ask. and receive not, there is no small question claiming our attention; but as this discourse must now be concluded, we must allow at least a little delay for its consideration and discussion. cumstance, that in the earliest MSS., the Uncial, EOZ (God) is usually written in a contracted form, consisting of the first and last letters, 2, which differs from the pronoun ös (who), written OZ, merely by the little line inside the , and another line over the contraction; both of which may have been unintentionally omitted at the time of copying, or purposely inserted at an after date. To us now, the question is of less importance, as, if the true reading be ös (who), its antecedent can only be Xplorós (Christ). [The R. V., in accordance with the oldest MSS. and the best critical edition, reads: "He who (ös) was manifested.-TR.

TRACTATE LXXIII.

AGAIN ON THE SAME PASSAGE.

1. THE Lord, by His promise, gave those | Nay, more, if a man asks what would, if anwhose hopes were resting on Himself a spe-swered, only tend to his injury, there is surely cial ground of confidence, when He said, greater cause to fear, lest what God could not "For I go to the Father; and whatsoever ye withhold with kindness, He should give in shall ask in my name, I will do it." His His anger. Do we not see how the Israelites proceeding, therefore, to the Father, was not got to their own hurt what their guilty lusting. with any view of abandoning the needy, but craved? For while it was raining manna on of hearing and answering their petitions. But them from heaven, they desired to have flesh what is to be made of the words, "Whatso- to eat. They disdained what they had, and ever ye shall ask," when we behold His faith-shamelessly sought what they had not: as if it ful ones so often asking and not receiving? were not better for them to have asked not to Is it, shall we say, for no other reason but that they ask amiss? For the Apostle James made this a ground of reproach when he said, "Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." What one, therefore, wishes to receive, in order to turn to an improper use, God in His mercy rather refuses to bestow.

1 Jas. iv. 3

have their unbecoming desires gratified with the food that was wanting, but to have their own dislike removed, and be made themselves to receive aright the food that was provided. For when evil becomes our delight, and what is good the reverse, we ought to be entreating God rather to win us back to the love of the good, than to grant us the evil. Not that it

2 Num. xi. 32.

Ac

is wrong to eat flesh, for the apostle, speaking ever ye shall ask" in any way; but, “in my of this very thing, says, "Every creature of name. How, then, is He called, who promGod is good, and nothing to be refused which ised so great a blessing? Christ Jesus, of is received with thanksgiving;" but be- course: Christ means King, and Jesus means cause, as he also says, "It is evil for that Saviour! for certainly it is not any one who man who eateth with offense;" and if so, is a king that will save us, but only the Savwith offense to man, how much more so if to iour-King; and therefore, whatsoever we ask God? to whom it was no light offense, on the that is adverse to the interests of salvation, part of the Israelites, to reject what wisdom we do not ask in the name of the Saviour. was supplying, and ask for that which lust And yet He is the Saviour, not only when He was craving: although they would not actually does what we ask, but also when He refuses make the request, but murmured because it to do so; since by not doing what He sees to was wanting. But to let us know that the be contrary to our salvation, He manifests wrong lies not with any creature of God, but Himself the more fully as our Saviour. For with obstinate disobedience and inordinate the physician knows which of his patient's redesire, it was not in swine's flesh that the first quests will be favorable, and which will be man found death, but in an apple;3 and it adverse, to his safety; and therefore yields was not for a fowl, but for a dish of pottage, not to his wishes when asking what is prejuthat Esau lost his birthright." dicial, that he may effect his recovery. cordingly, when we wish Him to do whatsoever we ask, let it not be in any way, but in His name, that is, in the name of the Saviour, that we present our petition. Let us not, then, ask aught that is contrary to our own salvation; for if He do that, He does it not as the Saviour, which is the name He bears to His faithful disciples. For He who condescends to be the Saviour of the faithful, is also a Judge to condemn the ungodly. Whatsoever, therefore, any one that believeth on Him shall ask in that name which He bears to those who believe on Him, He will do it; for He will do it as the Saviour. But if one that believeth on Him asketh something through ignorance that is injurious to his salvation, he asketh it not in the name of the Saviour; for His Saviour He will no longer be if He do aught to impede his salvation. And hence, in such a case, in not doing what He is entreated to do, His way is kept the clearer for doing what His name imports. And on that account, not only as the Saviour, but also as the good Master, He taught us, in the very prayer He gave us, what we should ask, in order that, whatsoever we shall ask, He may do it; and that we, too, might thereby understand that we cannot be asking in the Master's name anything that is inconsistent with the rule of His own instructions.

2. How, then, are we to understand "Whatsoever ye shall ask, I will do it," if there are some things which the faithful ask, and which God, even purposely on their behalf, leaves undone? Or ought we to suppose that the words were addressed only to the apostles? Surely not. For what He has got the length of now saying is in the very line of what He had said before: " He that believeth in me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do;" which was the subject of our previous discourse. And that no one might attribute such power to himself, but rather to make it manifest that even these greater works were done by Himself, He proceeded to say, "For I go to the Father; and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I will do it." Was it the apostles only that believed on Him? When, therefore, He said, "He that believeth on me," He spake to those, among whom we also by His grace are included, who by no means receive everything that we ask. And if we turn our thoughts even to the most blessed apostles, we find that he who labored more than they all, yet not he, but the grace of God that was with him,5 besought the Lord thrice that the messenger of Satan might depart from him, and received not what he had asked. What shall we say, beloved? Are we to suppose that the promise here made, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I will do it," was not fulfilled by Him even to the apostles? And to whom, then, will ever His promise be fulfilled, if therein He has deceived His own apostles?

4. There are some things, indeed, which, although really asked in His name, that is, in harmony with His character as both Saviour and Master, He doeth not at the time we ask them, and yet He faileth not to do them. For when we pray that the kingdom of God 3. Wake up, then, believer, and give care- may come, it does not imply that He is not ful heed to what is stated here, in my name:" doing what we ask, because we do not begin for in these words He does not say, at once to reign with Him in the everlasting kingdom: for what we ask is delayed, but not denied. Nevertheless, let us not fail in pray

I 1 Tim. iv. 4.

2 Rom. xiv. 20.

4 Gen. xxv. 34.

5 1 Cor. xv. 10.

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whatso

3 Gen. iii. 6.

62 Cor. xii. 8.

ing, for in so doing we are as those that sow the seed; and in due season we shall reap.' And even when we are asking aright, let us ask Him at the same time not to do what we ask amiss; for there is reference to this also in the Lord's Prayer, when we say, "Lead us not into temptation. For surely the temptation is no slight one if thine own request be hostile to thy cause. But we must not listen with indifference to the statement that the Lord (to prevent any from thinking that what He promised to do to those that asked, He

1 Gal. vi. 9

992

2 Matt. vi. 9-13.

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would do without the Father, after saying, Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, I will do it ") immediately added, "That the Father may be glorified in the Son: if ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it." In no respect, therefore, does the Son act without the Father, since He so acts for the very purpose that in Him the Father may be glorified. The Father, therefore, acts in the Son, that the Son may be glorified in the Father: and the Son acts in the Father, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; for the Father and the Son are one.

TRACTATE LXXIV.

CHAPTER XIV. 15-17.

12

1. WE have heard, brethren, while the Gos- | knowledges to be consubstantial and co-eterpel was read, the Lord saying: "If ye love nal with Father and Son: He it is of whom me, keep my commandments: and I will ask the apostle says, "The love of God is shed the Father, and He shall give you another abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who Comforter [Paraclete], that He may abide is given unto_us. How, then, doth the with you for ever; [even] the Spirit of truth; Lord say, "If ye love me, keep my comwhom the world cannot receive, because it mandments: and I will ask the Father, and seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but He shall give you another Comforter; when ye shall know Him; for He shall dwell with He saith so of the Holy Spirit, without [havyou, and shall be in you." There are many ing] whom we can neither love God nor keep points which might form the subject of inquiry His commandments? How can we love so in these few words of the Lord; but it were as to receive Him, without whom we cannot too much for us either to search into all that love at all? or how shall we keep the comis here for the searching, or to find out all mandments so as to receive Him, without that we here search for. Nevertheless, as whom we have no power to keep them? Or far as the Lord is pleased to grant us the can it be that the love wherewith we love power, and in proportion to our capacity and Christ has a prior place within us, so that, by yours, attend to what we ought to say and thus loving Christ and keeping His commandyou to hear, and receive, beloved, what we ments, we become worthy of receiving the on our part are able to give, and apply to Holy Spirit, in order that the love, not of Him for that wherein we fail. It is the Spirit, Christ, which had already preceded, but of the Comforter, that Christ has promised to God the Father, may be shed abroad in our His apostles; but let us notice the way in hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given unto which He gave the promise. "If ye love us? Such a thought is altogether wrong. me," He says, keep my commandments: For he who believes that he loveth the Son, and I will ask the Father, and He shall give and loveth not the Father, certainly loveth you another Comforter, that He may abide not the Son, but some figment of his own with you for ever; [even] the Spirit of truth." We have here, at all events, the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, whom the catholic faith ac

1 Augustin has cognoscetis for the second "know," and scit for that immediately preceding. The Greek text, however, has yewak in both places, and in the present tense. He has also manebit et in vobis erit. The tense of μevel, whether present or future, depends simply on the place of the accent, μével, or μενεῖ: while, as between the two readings ἐστὶν and έσται, the preponderance of Ms. authority seems in favor of the latter; although the present yivwσkere in the principal clause would be more naturally followed by an equally proleptic present in those which follow.-TR.

imagination. And besides, this is the apos-
tolic declaration, "No one saith, Lord Jesus,3
but in the Holy Spirit: and who is it that
calleth Him Lord Jesus but he that loveth
Him, if he so call Him in the way the apos-
tle intended to be understood?
For many

2 Rom. v. 5.

3 Or, "Jesus is Lord." The weight of authority is clearly in favor of the reading followed by Augustin--Aeyet, Kupios 'Inσous, giving the direct utterance of the speaker; and not the indirect accusative, Kupiov 'Inσour, followed by our English version.--TR. 4 1 Cor. xii. 3.

4

them by Himself, and afterwards sent by Him from heaven? And so, why that same giving on His part which took place publicly, also took place twice, is another question: for it may be that this twofold bestowal of His in a public way took place because of the two commandments of love, that is, to our neighbor and to God, in order that love might be impressively intimated as pertaining to the Holy Spirit. And if any other reason is to be

call Him so with their lips, but deny Him in their hearts and works; just as He saith of such, "For they profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him." If it is by works He is denied, it is doubtless also by works that His name is truly invoked. "No one," therefore, "saith, Lord Jesus," in mind, in word, in deed, with the heart, the lips, the labor of the hands,- -no one saith, Lord Jesus, but in the Holy Spirit; and no one calls Him so but he that loveth. And sought for, we cannot at present allow our accordingly the apostles were already calling Him Lord Jesus: and if they called Him so, in no way that implied a feigned utterance, with the mouth confessing, in heart and works denying Him; if they called Him so in all truthfulness of soul, there can be no doubt they loved. And how, then, did they love, but in the Holy Spirit? And yet they are commanded to love Him and keep His commandments, previous and in order to their receiving the Holy Spirit: and yet, without having that Spirit, they certainly could not love Him and keep His commandments.

discourse to be improperly prolonged by such an inquiry: provided, however, it be admitted that, without the Holy Spirit, we can neither love Christ nor keep His commandments; while the less experience we have of His presence, the less also can we do so; and the fuller our experience, so much the greater our ability. Accordingly, the promise is no vain one, either to him who has not [the Holy Spirit], or to him who has. For it is made to him who has not, in order that he may have; and to him who has, that he may have more abundantly. For were it not that He was possessed by some in smaller measure than by others, St. Elisha would not have said to St. Elijah, "Let the spirit that is in thee be in a twofold measure in me.5

8

2. We are therefore to understand that he who loves has already the Holy Spirit, and by what he has becomes worthy of a fuller possession, that by having the more he may love the more. Already, therefore, had the 3. But when John the Baptist said, "For disciples that Holy Spirit whom the Lord God giveth not the Spirit by measure," he promised, for without Him they could not was speaking exclusively of the Son of God, call Him Lord; but they had Him not as yet who received not the Spirit by measure; for in the way promised by the Lord. Accord- in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godingly they both had, and had Him not, inas- head. And no more is it independently of much as they had Him not as yet to the same the grace of the Holy Spirit that the Mediator extent as He was afterwards to be possessed. between God and men is the man Christ They had Him, therefore, in a more limited Jesus: for with His own lips He tells us that sense: He was yet to be given them in an the prophetical utterance had been fulfilled ampler measure. They had Him in a hidden in Himself: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon way, they were yet to receive Him in a way me; because He hath anointed me, and hath that was manifest; for this present possession sent me to preach the gospel to the poor." had also a bearing on that fuller gift of the For His being the Only-begotten, the equal Holy Spirit, that they might come to a con- of the Father, is not of grace, but of nature; scious knowledge of what they had. It is in but the assumption of human nature into the speaking of this gift that the apostle says: personal unity of the Only-begotten is not of Now we have received, not the spirit of this nature, but of grace, as the Gospel acknowlworld, but the spirit which is of God, that we edges itself when it says, "And the child may know the things that are freely given to grew, and waxed strong, being filled with wisus of God." For that same manifest be- dom, and the grace of God was in Him."" stowal of the Holy Spirit the Lord made, not But to others He is given by measure,-a once, but on two separate occasions. For measure ever enlarging until each has received close on the back of His resurrection from his full complement up to the limits of his the dead He breathed on them and said, own perfection. As we are also reminded by "Receive ye the Holy Spirit."3 And because He then gave [the Spirit], did He on that account fail in afterwards sending Him according to His promise? Or was it not the very same Spirit who was both then breathed upon

46

the apostle, "Not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, but to think soberly; according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."" Nor is it the

Spirit Himself that is divided, but the gifts Him." For worldly love possesseth not bestowed by the Spirit: for there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.'

TRACTATE LXXV.

CHAPTER XIV. 18-21.