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130 Pages
Page 98
XVI., on John i. 1, begins by asserting that every utterance of the gospels is grander than the rest of the lessons of the Spirit, inasmuch as, while in the latter He has spoken to us through His servants the prophets, in the gospels the Master has conversed with us face to face. "The most mighty voiced herald of the actual gospel proclamation, who uttered words loud beyond all hearing and lofty beyond all understanding, is John, the son of thunder, the prelude of whose gospel is the text." After repeating the words the preacher goes on to say that he has known many who are not within the limits of the word of truth, many of the heathen, that is, "who have prided themselves upon the wisdom of this world, who in their admiration for these words have ventured to insert them among their own writings. For the devil is a thief, and carries off our property for the use of his own prophets." [615]
"If the wisdom of the flesh has been so smitten with admiration for the force of the words, what are we to do, who are disciples of the Spirit?...Hold fast to the text, and you will suffer no harm from men of evil arts. Suppose your opponent to argue, If He was begotten, He was not,' do you retort, In the beginning He was.' But, he will go on, Before He was begotten, in what way was He?' Do not give up the words He was.' Do not abandon the words In the beginning.' The highest point of beginning is beyond comprehension; what is outside beginning is beyond discovery. Do not let any one deceive you by the fact that the phrase has more than one meaning. There are in this world many beginnings of many things, yet there is one beginning which is beyond them all. Beginning of good way,' says the Proverb. But the beginning of a way is the first movement whereby we begin the journey of which the earlier part can be discovered. And, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.' [616] To this beginning is prefixed something else, for elementary instruction is the beginning of the comprehension of arts. The fear of the Lord is then a primary element of wisdom, but there is something anterior to this beginning--the condition of the soul, before it has been taught wisdom and apprehended the fear of the Lord....The point is the beginning of the line, and the line is the beginning of the surface, and the surface is the beginning of the body, and the parts of speech are the beginnings of grammatical utterance. But the beginning in the text is like none of these....In the beginning was the Word! Marvellous utterance! How all the words are found to be combined in mutual equality of force! Was' has the same force as In the beginning.' Where is the blasphemer? Where is the tongue that fights against Christ? Where is the tongue that said, There was when He was not'? Hear the gospel: In the beginning was. ' If He was in the beginning, when was He not? Shall I bewail their impiety or execrate their want of instruction? But, it is argued, before He was begotten, He was not. Do you know when He was begotten, that you may introduce the idea of priority to the time? For the word before' is a word of time, placing one thing before another in antiquity. In what way is it reasonable that the Creator of time should have a generation subjected to terms of time? In the beginning was--' Never give up the was, and you never give any room for the vile blasphemy to slip in. Mariners laugh at the storm, when they are riding upon two anchors. So will you laugh to scorn this vile agitation which is being driven on the world by the blasts of wickedness, and tosses the faith of many to and fro, if only you will keep your soul moored safely in the security of these words."
[615] There are instances of high admiration of the passage: I have not found one of appropriation. Augustine (De Civ. Dei x. 29), says: "Quod initium Sancti Evangelii, cui nomen est secundum Johannem, quidam Platonicus, sicut a sancto sene Simpliciano, qui postea ecclesiae Mediolanensi praesedit episcopus, solebamus audire, aureis litteris conscribendum et per omnes ecclesias in locis eminentissimis proponendum esse dicebat." Eusebius (Praep. Evang. xi. 17 and 18) refers to the Statements of Plotinus and Numerius on the deuteros aitios, and (19) mentions Aurelius (on Aurelius vide Mosheim's note on Cudworth's Int. System, vol. i. cap. iv. 17), as quoting the passage in question. Vide also Theodoret, Graec. Aff. 33, and Bentley's Remarks on Freethinking, S: xlvi.
[616] Prov. i. 7.
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/basil/life-works.asp?pg=98
