21. This
Life is the Light of men, the Light which lightens the darkness.
To comfort us for that powerlessness to describe His generation of
which the prophet speaks Isai. liii. 8., the Fisherman
adds, And the darkness comprehended Him not St. John i. 4.. The language of unaided reason was
baffled and silenced; the Fisherman who lay on the bosom of the Lord
was taught to express the mystery. His language is not the
world’s language, for He deals with things that are not of the
world. Let us know what it is, if there be any teaching that you
can extract from his words, more than their plain sense conveys; if you
can translate into other terms the truth we have elicited, publish them
abroad. If there be none—indeed, because there are
none—let us accept with reverence this teaching of the fisherman,
and recognise in his words the oracles of God. Let us cling in
adoration to the true confession of Father and Son, Unbegotten and
Only-begotten ineffably, Whose majesty defies all expression and all
perception. Let us, like John, lie on the bosom of the Lord
Jesus, that we too may understand and proclaim the mystery.