23. Cf. Mt 21.23-27; Mk 1 1.28-33; Lk 20.2-8. (continued)
68 ST. AUGUSTINE a lamp when the Lord said, "He was a burning and a shining lamp; and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater testimony than that of John.
9. Thus he showed that it was for the sake of men that he wanted himself to be clearly revealed to the faith of the believers by his lamp, so that his enemies might be confounded by the same lamp. For they were his enemies who tempted him and said, '"Tell us, by what authority do you do these things?'
He said, 'I also will ask you one word. Tell me, the baptism of John, from where is it? From heaven, or from men?' And they were disturbed and said among themselves, Tf we shall say from heaven, he will say to us, "Why then did you not believe him?" "' (For that man had given witness to Christ and had said, "I am not the Christ, but he is.")^^ "'But if we shall say, from men, we fear the people lest they stone us, for they held
John as a prophet. '"^^ Fearing a stoning, but fearing more an admission of the truth, they answered the truth with a lie: "and iniquity has lied to itself." For they said, ' We know not." (2) And, because they had shut themselves up against him, by asserting that they did not know what they knew, the Lord did not open up to them because they did not knock. For it has been said, "Knock and it will be opened to you."^^ But they not only had not knocked that it might be opened, but by their denial they barricaded the door itself against themselves. And the Lord said to them, "Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things." And they were confounded through John, and in them was fulfilled the prophecy, "I have prepared a lamp for my Christ; his enemies I will clothe with confusion."^^
10. "He was in the world, and the world was made through him." Do not imagine that he was in the world in such a way as the earth is in the world, the sky is in the world, the sun, the
21. Cf.Jn 5.35-36. 22. Cf. Jn 1.20 and 27. 23. Cf. Mt 21.23-27; Mk 1 1.28-33; Lk 20.2-8. 24. Cf. Ps 26.12. 25. Cf. Mt 7.7. 26. Cf. Mt 21.27; Mk 1 1.29; Lk 20.8. 27. Cf. Ps 131.17-18.