30. The Lord praised their understanding, and answered not that He was sent from, but that He was come out from, God, signifying by the words “come out from” the great fact of His birth from the incorporeal God. He had already proclaimed the birth in the same language, when He said, Ye love Me, and believe that I came out from the Father, and came from the Father into this world506    Ib. 27, 28.. He had come from the Father into this world, because He had come out from God. To shew that He signifies His birth by the coming out, He adds that He has come from the Father; and since He had come out from God, because He had come from the Father, that “coming out,” followed, as it is, by the confession of the Father’s name, is simply and solely the birth. To the Apostles, then, as understanding this mystery of His coming out, He continues, Ye believe now, Behold the hour cometh, yea is come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone: yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me507    Ib. 31, 32.. He would shew that the “coming out” is not a separation from God the Father, but a birth, which by His being born continues in Him the nature of God the Father, and therefore He adds that He is not alone, but the Father is with Him; in power, that is, and unity of nature, for the Father was abiding in Him, speaking in His words, and working in His works. Lastly to shew the reason of this whole discourse, He adds, These things I have spoken to you, that in Me ye may have peace. In this world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world508    St. John xvi. 33.. He has spoken these things unto them, that in Him they may abide in peace, not torn asunder by the passion of dissension over debates about the faith. He was left alone, but was not alone, for He had come out from God, and there abode still in Him the God, from Whom He had come out. Therefore he bade them, when they were harassed in the world, to wait for His promises, for since He had come out from God, and God was still in Him, He had conquered the world.

30. Exitionis nomine id apte significant. Exitio illa nativitatem dicit, non alienationem a Patre.---Intelligentiam 0303D autem eorum collaudans Dominus respondit, non utique quod missus esset, sed quod a Deo exisset, profectum nativitatis ex incorporali Deo sub exitionis significatione testatum (V. lib. VI, n. 30). Nam et ipse nativitatem suam sub exitionis demonstratione 0304A fuerat elocutus, dicens: Vos me amatis, et creditis quoniam a Deo exivi, et a Patre veni in hunc mundum (Ibid. 27 et 28). A Patre enim in hunc mundum venerat, quia a Deo exierat. Nam ut nativitatem suam in exitione significasse intelligeretur, subjecit se a Patre venisse. Et cum per id a Patre venerit, quia a Deo exierit; exitio ejus a Deo absoluta nativitas est, quam paterni nominis est confessio consecuta. Intelligentibus itaque Apostolis hoc exitionis sacramentum, haec locutus est: Modo creditis. Ecce venit hora, et nunc venit, ut dispergatur unusquisque in sua, et me solum relinquatis: sed non sum solus, quoniam Pater mecum est (Ibid. 32 et 33). Ut exitionem illam, non alienationem a Deo patre doceret esse, sed nativitatem naturam in se Dei 0304B patris nascendo retinentem; subjecit non se solum esse, sed Patrem secum esse, virtute utique atque unitate naturae: cum secum Pater in se manens esset, in loquente se atque operante et operans et loquens. Deinde ut causam totius hujus sui sermonis ostenderet, adjecit: Haec locutus sum vobis, ut in me pacem habeatis. In hoc autem saeculo tribulationem habebitis: sed animaequi estote, quia vici ego 281 mundum (Ibid. 33). Locutus ergo ista est, ut pacifici in eo manerent, neque dissensionum studio super fidei disceptationibus dissiderent; cum qui solus re linqueretur, non solus esset; et qui a Deo exisset, eum a quo exisset Deum in se haberet: deinde in saeculo vexati, patientes promissionum ejus essent, qui mundum a Deo exeundo et Deum secum habendo 0304C vicisset.