35. So, then, seven times eleven, that is, as has been explained, the transgression of righteousness, which has regard only to the sinner himself, make up the number seventy-seven, in which it is signified, that all sins which are remitted in Baptism are contained. And hence it is that Luke ascends up through seventy-seven generations unto God, as showing that man is reconciled unto God by the abolition of all sin. Hence the Lord Himself saith to Peter, who asked Him how oft he ought to forgive a brother, "I say not unto thee [1822] seven times, but until seventy times and seven." [1823] Now, whatever else can be drawn out of these recesses and treasures of God's mysteries by those who are more diligent and more worthy than I, receive. Yet have I spoken according to my poor ability, as the Lord hath aided and given me power, and as I best could, considering also the little time I had. If any one of you be capable of anything further, let him knock at Him from whom I too receive what I am able to receive and speak. But, above all things, remember this; not to be disturbed by the Scriptures, which you do not yet understand, nor be puffed up by what you do understand; but what you do not understand, with submission [1824] wait for, and what you do understand, hold fast with charity.
[1685] 2 Cor. iv. 7.
[1686] Muneris.
[1687] Matt. x. 22.
[1688] Ipsos venatores venatus est ad salutem.
[1689] Ps. xxii. 16, 17.
[1690] 1 Cor. iv. 9.
[1691] Spiritaliter.
[1692] Venatorem.
[1693] John xvi. 33.
[1694] Sacramenti.
[1695] Prava.
[1696] Deberet.
[1697] Commendare.
[1698] Populariter agere.
[1699] Gen. xxii. 18.
[1700] Singularitate.
[1701] Periti.
[1702] 1 Cor. i. 27, 28.
[1703] Col. ii. 6, 7.
[1704] Col. ii. 3.
[1705] 2 Cor. iii. 16.
[1706] Calumnias.
[1707] Perversis moribus.
[1708] Matt. i. 1.
[1709] Matt. i. 2-6.
[1710] Matt. i. 7-18.
[1711] Matt. i. 19.
[1712] Velut.
[1713] Auderet.
[1714] Matt. i. 20.
[1715] Matt. i. 21.
[1716] Sanctitas vestra.
[1717] 1 Cor. xi. 19.
[1718] Sacramentum.
[1719] Gustatum.
[1720] Sacramentum.
[1721] Jer. xxvii.
[1722] Rom. xi. 1.
[1723] Meruerunt.
[1724] 1 Cor. xv. 6.
[1725] Acts i. 15.
[1726] Acts xiii. 46.
[1727] Jer. xxix. 7.
[1728] 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2.
[1729] Agricultura.
[1730] Ps. cxviii. 22.
[1731] Matt. i. 20.
[1732] Matt. i. 21.
[1733] Luke ii. 42.
[1734] Luke ii. 48, 49.
[1735] Luke i. 31.
[1736] Luke i. 32.
[1737] Meruerat.
[1738] Dignitatem.
[1739] Ephes. v. 23.
[1740] Gal. iv. 4.
[1741] Fidei.
[1742] 'sh femina mulier omnis ætatis et conditionis, sive nupta est, sive non est. Gesenius, Lex. Heb., vide exempla, especially Gen. xxiv. 5 and Isa. iv. 1. Vid. Serm. lii. 10.
[1743] Gen. ii. 22.
[1744] Luke ii. 49, 50, 51.
[1745] Wisd. viii. 1.
[1746] Rom. i. 3.
[1747] Commendaret.
[1748] Rom. ix. 5.
[1749] Matt. xxii. 42.
[1750] Ps. cx. 1.
[1751] Matt. xxii. 43, 44, 45.
[1752] Ps. cxxxii. 11.
[1753] Ps. cx. 1.
[1754] Phil. ii. 6.
[1755] Phil. ii. 7.
[1756] Uxorem.
[1757] 1 Cor. vii. 29.
[1758] Debitum.
[1759] 1 Thess. iv. 4.
[1760] Ephes. v. 25.
[1761] Tabulas.
[1762] Tabulæ matrimoniales.
[1763] Ut sint soceri non lenones.
[1764] Frontem.
[1765] Adulterium quasi ad alterum.
[1766] 1 Cor vii. 6.
[1767] 1 Cor. vii. 5.
[1768] Modo.
[1769] Ecclus. xiv. 18.
[1770] Phil. iii. 19.
[1771] 1 Kings xix. 6.
[1772] Meruit.
[1773] Meruit.
[1774] Sic.
[1775] Animadversum.
[1776] The Scriptures.
[1777] Gratia.
[1778] Gen. xvi. 2 and xxx.
[1779] 1 Cor. vii. 4.
[1780] Exod. ii. 10.
[1781] Rom. ii. 14.
[1782] Gen. xlviii. 5, 6.
[1783] In magno sacramento.
[1784] Gal. iv. 4, 5.
[1785] Rom. viii. 23.
[1786] Rom. ix. 3, etc.
[1787] Deut. xxv. 5; Matt. xxii. 24.
[1788] Of these two solutions, (1) that Joseph may have been the adopted son of Eli, or (2) the son of his wife who, as the next of kin, married Jacob after his decease, the latter is stated by Africanus (Eus. H. E. i. 7) to be traditional and derived from kinsmen of the Lord's. It may be the more likely, in that the name of the wife of Matthan and Malchi (Estha) is also handed down, through whom, though half-blood, Heli and Jacob became, at all events, near kinsmen. Else in the Jerus. Talm. (ap. Lightfoot ad loc.) St. Mary is called the daughter of Heli, and her genealogy might be counted as his, to whom, according to the above statement, she was nearly related. The name Heli, indeed, is no way connected (as some have thought) with Eliachim, i.q. Joachim; but this name of the father of the Blessed Virgin is said by St. Augustin to have been taken by the Manichees from apocryphal books (comp. Faust. xxiii. 9), so neither is it any hindrance. St. Augustin remarks (Quæst. Ev. ii. 5) that any one possible explanation is sufficient, and yet that it would be rash to say that there were only the two that he had named. He treats it then as "madness" to ground any charge against the evangelists thereon; inasmuch as it can be solved, faith is indifferent to the "how," since God has not explained it.
[1789] Luke ii. 48.
[1790] Matt. i. 19.
[1791] Luke i. 63.
[1792] Luke i. 31.
[1793] Matt. i. 20, 21.
[1794] Luke ii. 7. There seems to be no trace of any such reading anywhere else.
[1795] Firmius.
[1796] Luke iii. 23.
[1797] Pertinere.
[1798] St. Augustin corrects this confusion of Nathan, the son of David, with the prophet Nathan, in his Retract. B. ii. c. 16.
[1799] 2 Sam. xii. 1.
[1800] Eminet.
[1801] Certos articulos numerorum.
[1802] Gen. xv. 13; Acts vii. 6.
[1803] Deut. ix. 9; 1 Kings xix. 8; Matt. iv. 2.
[1804] Num. xxxii. 13.
[1805] Gen. vii. 4.
[1806] Veritatem.
[1807] Acts i. 3.
[1808] 2 Cor. v. 6.
[1809] 1 Cor. xi. 26.
[1810] Rom. iv. 25.
[1811] John i. 14.
[1812] Matt. iii. 16.
[1813] Septenaria.
[1814] 1 Tim. vi. 10.
[1815] Phil. ii. 21.
[1816] 1 Cor. xiii. 5.
[1817] Pertinet.
[1818] Vid. Aug. De Trin. ix. 4, 5; xiv. c. 6-16, etc.; lib. xv. 40-43. Ep. 169 (Ben.). 6. De Civ. Dei, xi. 26 and 28. Conf. xiii. 12 (11) and note in Oxf. ed.
[1819] Primordia.
[1820] Commemorat.
[1821] Amos i. 2, Sept.
[1822] Vide Sermon xxxiii. (Bened. lxxxiii.).
[1823] Matt. xviii. 22.
[1824] Honore.
Sermon II.
[LII. Ben.]
Of the words of St. Matthew's Gospel, Chap. iii. 13, "Then Jesus cometh from Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him." Concerning the Trinity.
1. The lesson of the Gospel hath set before me a subject whereof to speak to you, beloved, as though by the Lord's command, and by His command in very deed. For my heart hath waited for an order as it were from Him to speak, that I might understand thereby that it is His wish that I should speak on that which He hath also willed should be read to you. Let your zeal and devotion then give ear, and before the Lord our God Himself aid ye my labour. For we behold and see as it were in a divine spectacle exhibited to us, the notice of our God in Trinity, conveyed [1825] to us at the river Jordan. For when Jesus came and was baptized by John, the Lord by His servant (and this He did for an example of humility; for He showeth that in this same humility is righteousness fulfilled, when as John said to Him, "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?" [1826] He answered, "Suffer it to be so now, that all righteousness may be fulfilled" [1827] ), when He was baptized then, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit came down upon Him in the form of a Dove: and then a Voice from on high followed, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." [1828] Here then we have the Trinity in a certain sort distinguished. The Father in the Voice,--the Son in the Man,--the Holy Spirit in the Dove. It was only needful just to mention this, for most obvious is it to see. For the notice of the Trinity is here conveyed to us plainly and without leaving room for doubt or hesitation. For the Lord Christ Himself coming in the form of a servant to John, is doubtlessly the Son: for it cannot be said that it was the Father, or the Holy Spirit. "Jesus," it is said, "cometh;" [1829] that is, the Son of God. And who hath any doubt about the Dove? or who saith, "What is the Dove?" when the Gospel itself most plainly testifieth, "The Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove." [1830] And in like manner as to that voice there can be no doubt that it is the Father's, when He saith, "Thou art My Son." [1831] Thus then we have the Trinity distinguished.
2. And if we consider the places, I say with confidence (though in fear I say it), that the Trinity is in a manner separable. When Jesus came to the river, He came from one place to another; and the Dove descended from heaven to earth, from one place to another; and the very Voice of the Father sounded neither from the earth, nor from the water, but from heaven; these three are as it were separated in places, in offices, and in works. But one may say to me, "Show the Trinity to be inseparable rather. Remember that thou who art speaking art a Catholic, and to Catholics art thou speaking." For thus doth our faith teach, that is, the true, the right Catholic faith, gathered not by the opinion of private [1832] judgment, but by the witness of the Scriptures, [1833] not subject to the fluctuations of heretical rashness, but grounded on Apostolic truth: this we know, this we believe. This though we see it not with our eyes, nor as yet with the heart, so long as we are being purified by faith, yet by this faith we most lightly and most strenuously maintain--That the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are a Trinity inseparable; One God, not three Gods. But yet so One God, as that the Son is not the Father, and the Father is not the Son, and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. This ineffable Divinity, abiding ever in itself, making all things new, creating, creating anew, sending, recalling, judging, delivering, this Trinity, I say, we know to be at once ineffable and inseparable.
3. What am I then about? See: The Son came separately in the Man; The Holy Spirit descended separately from heaven in the form of a Dove; The Voice of the Father sounded separately out of heaven, "This is My Son." Where then is this inseparable Trinity? God hath made you attentive by my words. Pray for me, and open, as it were, the folds [1834] of your hearts, and may He grant you wherewith your hearts so opened may be filled. Share my travail with me. For you see what I have undertaken; and not only what, but who I am that have undertaken it, and of what I wish to speak, and where and what my position is, even in that "body which is corruptible, and presseth down the soul, and the earthly habitation weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things." [1835] When therefore I abstract my mind from the multiplicity of things, and gather it up into the One God, the inseparable Trinity, that so I may see something which I may say of it, think ye that in this "body which presseth down the soul," I shall be able to say (in order that I may speak to you something worthy of the subject), "O Lord, I have lifted up my soul unto Thee." [1836] May He assist me, may He lift it up with me. For I am too infirm in respect of Him, and He in respect of me is too mighty.
4. Now this is a question which is often proposed by the most earnest brethren, and often has place in the conversation of the lovers of God's word; for this much knocking is wont to be made unto God, while men say, "Doeth the Father anything which the Son doeth not? or doeth the Son anything which the Father doeth not?" Let us first speak of the Father and the Son. And when He to Whom we say, "Be Thou my helper, leave me not," [1837] shall have given good success to this essay of ours, then shall we understand how that the Holy Spirit also is in no way separated from the operation of the Father and the Son. As concerning the Father and the Son, then, brethren, give ear. Doeth the Father anything without the Son? We answer, No. Do you doubt it? For what doeth He without Him "by Whom all things were made? All things," saith the Scripture, "were made by Him." [1838] And to inculcate it fully [1839] upon the slow, and hard, and disputatious it added, And without Him was not anything made."