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We must transcend all created being.

HOMIL. 12. Think of the body; it is mortal, is earthy, is frail, is corruptible: away with it. Yea, but haply the flesh is temporal. Think of other bodies; think of heavenly bodies; they are greater, better, splendid: mark even them, they roll from east to west, they stand not; they are seen with eyes, not only by man, but even by the beast: pass also even them. And how, thou wilt say, am I to pass the heavenly bodies, while I walk on earth? Not with the flesh 1 mente dost thou pass beyond them, but with the 'mind. Away with even them. Albeit they shine, they are bodies; albeit from heaven they glitter, they are bodies. Come; since haply thou thinkest thou hast not whither to go when thou considerest all these things. And beyond the heavenly bodies whither am I to go, sayest thou, and what am I with the mind to pass beyond?' Hast thou considered all these? I have,' thou sayest. Wherewith hast thou considered them? Let the being itself which considereth appear. Why, the being which considereth all these, the being which doth discriminate, distinguish and in some sort weigh them in the 2 animus balance of wisdom, is the mind (the reasonable soul). Without doubt better is the thinking mind wherewith thou hast thought all these, than are all these which thou hast thought. This mind then is spirit, not body: pass beyond it also. Compare the mind in the first place, that thou mayest see whither thou art to pass, compare it to the flesh. Nay, God forbid: deign not so to compare it. Compare it to the brightness of the sun, the moon, the stars: greater than these is the brightness of the mind. First, observe the swiftness of the mind. See if the spark of light which flashes from the mind in its thinking be not more vehement than the splendour of the sun in his shining. The sun when it is rising, thou seest with the mind: its motion, how tardy in comparison of thy mind! In an instant, thou hast been able to think what the sun is about to do. It is about to come from east to west; then to-morrow it rises on the other side. Where thy thought hath done this, the sun is yet slow, and thou hast made the whole journey! A mighty thing, then, is this same mind! But how say I, is? Pass it too. For the mind too is mutable, albeit better than all body. Now it knoweth, now knoweth not; now forgetteth, now remembereth; now

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The Word, or Utterance of God, not articulate, willeth, now willeth not; now sinneth, now is righteous. JOHN Pass therefore beyond all mutability; not only beyond all. that is seen, but also beyond all that changeth. For thou hast passed beyond the flesh which is seen; beyond the heaven, sun, moon, and stars, which are seen: pass also all that changeth. When thou hadst passed these, thou camest to thine own thinking mind, but even there thou foundest mutability of thy mind. Is God mutable? Then pass beyond thy mind also. Pour forth above thyself thy soul, that thou mayest even reach God, of Whom they say unto thee, Where is thy God?

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13. Think not thou art to do something that man cannot do. This did John the Evangelist himself. He soared beyond the flesh, soared beyond the earth which he trod, beyond the seas which he saw, beyond the air in which the fowls do fly; soared beyond the sun, beyond the moon, beyond the stars, beyond all spirits which are not seen, beyond his own mind' with the very reason of his thinking 'mentem soul. Soaring beyond all these, pouring out his soul above himself, whither came he? what saw he? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. If then thou seest not separation in the light, why seekest thou separation in work? See God; see His Word inhering in the Word speaking; for the Speaker speaketh not by syllables; but, to shine with the brightness of Wisdom, that is this to speak.' What is said concerning His Wisdom? It is the Wisd. 7, brightness of eternal Light. Mark the brightness of the sun. The sun is in heaven, and expandeth his brightness through. all lands, through all seas: and truly it is a corporeal light. If thou canst separate the brightness of the sun from the sun, then separate the Word from the Father. I speak of the sun. Why one slender flame of a lamp, which can be put out with one blast, scatters its light over all the objects which are beneath it. Thou seest the light scattered, which is generated by a little flame: its emission thou seest, separation thou seest not. Understand then, beloved brethren, that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost inseparably cohere among Themselves, that this Trinity is One God; and all the works of the One God, the same are the Father's, the same the Son's, the same the Holy Ghost's. For the

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but," the brightness of eternal Light."

HOMIL. rest which follows, which pertain to the discourse of our XX. Lord Jesus Christ Himself in the Gospel, since a discourse is due to you to-morrow also, be present that ye may hear

the same.

HOMILY XXI.

JOHN v. 20-23.

For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth Him all things that Himself doeth and He will shew Him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For, as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; so the Son also quickeneth whom He will. For the Father judgeth not any, but all judgment He hath given to the Son; that all may honour the Son even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father Which hath sent Him.

1. YESTERDAY, in so far as the Lord vouchsafed to bestow, with what ability we might we discoursed, and with what capacity we might we understood, how the works of the Father and the Son are inseparable; and not so, that some the Father doeth, others the Son, but that the Father doeth them all by the Son, as by His Word, of Which is said, All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. Let us see to-day the words which follow, and of the same Lord let us both pray and hope for His mercy, that first, if He deem it meet, we may understand what is true: but if we cannot do this, that we may not go into that which is false. For it is better not to know than to err: but to know is better than not to know. Therefore before all things we must strive that we may know: if we be able to do so, thanks be to God; but if we be not able this while to attain unto truth, let us not go to falsehood. What we are, and what the thing we treat of, this we ought to consider. We are men, bearing flesh, walking in this life: and albeit now

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We grow, as infants at the breast, by loving. HOMIL. of the seed of the Word of God born anew, yet in such sort XXI. in Christ made new that we are not yet wholly stripped of Wisdom Adam. For, what there is in us, mortal and corruptible, that weighs down the soul, appears to be of Adam, and is manifestly so: but what there is in us, spiritual, that buoys up the soul, is of God's gift and His mercy, Who sent His Only Son to partake with us our death, and to lead us to His own 1 John immortality. Him we have for our Master, that we sin not; and our Defender, if we have sinned and have confessed and have been converted; and Intercessor for us, if we desire ought good of the Lord; and the Giver thereof with the Father, because Father and Son is One God. But He spake these things, a Man to men; hidden God, manifest Man, that He might make them gods which are manifest men; and Son of God, made Son of Man, that He might make sons of men to be sons of God. By what skill of His Wisdom He doeth this, we learn in His words. For He speaketh to the little ones, Himself small: howbeit in such sort small, that He is great too; and we small, but in Him great: He speaketh then as one cherishing and nourishing them that suck the breast and grow by loving.

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v. 20.

2. He had said, The Son cannot of Himself do any thing, but what He seeth the Father doing. Now we have understood that the case is not so that the Father by Himself apart doeth something, which the Son when He shall have seen, is to do Himself also something like after inspecting the work of His Father: but in that He said, The Son cannot of Himself do any thing but what He seeth the Father doing, we understand that of the Father is the Son, whole, and His whole substance and power is from Him that begat Him. But now, having said that He doeth in like manner these things which the Father doeth, that we may not take it to mean that some things the Father doeth, others the Son, He went on and said what we have heard read to-day, For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth Him all things that Himself doeth. Once more, mortal thought is staggered. The Father sheweth to the Son what Himself doeth: consequently, saith some man, the Father doeth apart by Himself, that the Son may be able to see what He doeth. Once more, there occur to the human thought as it were two