Chapter 38.—What “Lighteth” Means.

But why, after saying, “which lighteth every man,” should he add, “that cometh into the world,”118    John i. 9.—the clause which has suggested the opinion that He enlightens the minds of newly-born babes while the birth of their bodies from their mother’s womb is still a recent thing? The words, no doubt, are so placed in the Greek, that they may be understood to express that the light itself “cometh into the world.”119    ῝Ο [scil. τὸ φῶς] φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. If, nevertheless, the clause must be taken as expressing the man who cometh into this world, I suppose that it is either a simple phrase, like many others one finds in the Scriptures, which may be removed without impairing the general sense; or else, if it is to be regarded as a distinctive addition, it was perhaps inserted in order to distinguish spiritual illumination from that bodily one which enlightens the eyes of the flesh either by means of the luminaries of the sky, or by the lights of ordinary fire. So that he mentioned the inner man as coming into the world, because the outward man is of a corporeal nature, just as this world itself; as if he said, “Which lighteth every man that cometh into the body,” in accordance with that which is written: “I obtained a good spirit, and I came in a body undefiled.”120    Wisd. viii. 19, 20. Or again, the passage, “Which lighteth every one that cometh into the world,”—if it was added for the sake of expressing some distinction,—might perhaps mean: Which lighteth every inner man, because the inner man, when he becomes truly wise, is enlightened only by Him who is the true Light. Or, once more, if the intention was to designate reason herself, which causes the human soul to be called rational (and this reason, although as yet quiet and as it were asleep, for all that lies hidden in infants, innate and, so to speak, implanted), by the term illumination, as if it were the creation of an inner eye, then it cannot be denied that it is made when the soul is created; and there is no absurdity in supposing this to take place when the human being comes into the world. But yet, although his eye is now created, he himself must needs remain in darkness, if he does not believe in Him who said: “I am come a Light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.”121    John xii. 46. And that this takes place in the case of infants, through the sacrament of baptism, is not doubted by mother Church, which uses for them the heart and mouth of a mother, that they may be imbued with the sacred mysteries, seeing that they cannot as yet with their own heart “believe unto righteousness,” nor with their own mouth make “confession unto salvation.”122    Rom. x. 10. There is not indeed a man among the faithful, who would hesitate to call such infants believers merely from the circumstance that such a designation is derived from the act of believing; for although incapable of such an act themselves, yet others are sponsors for them in the sacraments.

38. Cur autem, cum dixisset, quod illuminat omnem hominem; addiderit, venientem in hunc mundum; unde haec opinio nata est, quod in exortu corporali ab utero matris recentissimo illuminet mentes nascentium parvulorum: quamvis in graeco ita sit positum , ut possit etiam intelligi lumen ipsum veniens in hunc mundum: tamen si hominem venientem in hunc mundum, necesse est accipi, aut simpliciter dictum arbitror, sicut multa in Scripturis reperiuntur, quibus etiam detractis nihil sententiae minuatur; aut si propter aliquam distinctionem additum esse credendum est, fortasse hoc dictum est, ad discernendam spiritualem illuminationem ab ista corporali, quae sive per coeli luminaria, sive quibusque ignibus illuminat oculos carnis; ut hominem interiorem dixerit venientem in hunc mundum, quia exterior corporeus est, sicut hic mundus; tanquam diceret, Illuminat omnem hominem venientem in corpus, secundum illud quod scriptum est: Sortitus sum animam bonam, et veni in corpus incoinquinatum (Sap. VIII, 19, 20). Aut ergo sic dictum est, si distinctionis alicujus gratia dictum est; Illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum; tanquam dictum esset, Illuminat omnem interiorem hominem, quia homo interior cum veraciter fit sapiens, nonnisi ab illo illuminatur qui est lumen verum: aut si rationem ipsam, qua humana anima rationalis appellatur, quae ratio adhuc velut quieta et quasi sopita, tamen insita et quodam modo inseminata in parvulis latet, illuminationem voluit appellare, tanquam interioris oculi creationem; non resistendum est, tunc eam fieri; cum anima creatur, et non absurde hoc intelligi, cum homo venit in mundum. Verumtamen etiam ipse, quamvis jam creatus oculus, necesse est in tenebris maneat, si non credat in eum qui dixit, Ego lux in 0131 saeculum veni, ut omnis qui credit in me non maneat in tenebris. Quod per sacramentum Baptismatis in parvulis fieri non dubitat mater Ecclesia, quae cor et os maternum eis praestat, ut sacris mysteriis imbuantur; quia nondum possunt corde proprio credere ad justitiam, nec ore proprio confiteri ad salutem (Rom. X, 10). Nec ideo tamen eos quisquam fidelium fideles appellare cunctatur, quod a credendo utique nomen est: quamvis hoc non ipsi, sed alii pro eis inter sacramenta responderint.