was taken, that two ships full of it were nearly sinking, that is, they were weighed down in the water, for they did not sink, although they were in danger. Why are there so many things in the Church which cause us to groan? Is it not because a vast multitude of people are entering in who threaten to overthrow discipline with their corrupt morals, which are far removed from the ways of the saints, and the number is so great that it cannot be held in check? In the second capture they cast in the net on the right, and they were not able to draw it out for the multitude of fish. What is the meaning of they were not able to draw it out? Does it not signify that those who belong to the resurrection unto life, to the right hand, who depart whilst within the Christian pale, typified by the nets, will be known only on the shore, that is, at the end of the world after the resurrection? Therefore they were not able so to draw the nets as to place the fishes which they had caught within the ship, as they had done on the former occasion when the fish broke the net and weighed down the ships. After this life is over the Church holds these members of the right hand in the sleep of peace, as if in the hollow of the ship, until the net reaches the shore whither it was dragged, were, two hundred cubits. . . . Lastly, in the first capture the number of fish is not expressed, as if it realised the fulfilment of the prophet's words, I have declared and I have spoken; they are multiplied above number. Here, on the contrary, they are not multiplied above number, but it is fixed at one hundred and fifty-three. . .

as it

It is not, therefore, for nothing that these fishes are said to be so many and so big, that is, one hundred and fifty-three great fishes. For thus it is written: Simon Peter drew the net to land full of great fishes,

one hundred and fifty-three. After the words, I am not come to destroy the law but to fulfil it, Our Lord, Who was to give the Spirit, by Whom the law might be fulfilled, adding, as it were, seven to ten,1 said a little further on in the same passage, He, therefore, that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Such a man as this, therefore, may belong to the number of the big fish. But he that is the least, who is unfaithful in his conduct to his own preaching, may be found in that Church which is typified by the first capture of fish, and which contains both good and bad men; for it too is called the kingdom of heaven, and He alludes to it in the words, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kinds of fish. Here He wishes both good and wicked men to be understood, and He speaks of them as drawn out on the shore, that is, awaiting the final separation at the end of time. And in order to show that the least are the reprobate, who teach good doctrine with their mouths and deny it by their bad lives, that they are not to be even the least in eternal life, but not there at all, after the words, He shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, He added at once, I say unto you, unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. The Scribes and Pharisees are undoubtedly they who sit in the chair of Moses, and He says of them, All things whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do; but according to their works do ye not, for they say and do not: that which they

1 Seven gifts of the Holy Ghost to the ten commandments of the Law.

teach by their words they break by their works. It follows, therefore, that he who is the least in that kingdom of heaven, which is signified by the Church on earth, shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven of the Church in glory; because, by teaching that which he does not practise, he will not be among those who do what they preach, and therefore he will not be one of the great fish; he who shall do and shall teach shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And because he is great here on earth, he shall therefore be one day in heaven, where the least shall not enter. They shall be so great in heaven that the least there is above the greatest here. But they who are great here, that is, who in that kingdom of heaven, where the net gathers together both good and evil men, do the good which they teach, shall be greater in the eternal kingdom of heaven. Thus do the fish typify those who belong to the right hand and to the resurrection unto life...

XXVI.

THE CHURCH IN ST. AUGUSTINE'S DAY A CHURCH OF MIRACLES.

(De Civ. Dei. 1. xxii. c. viii.)

MEN say, "Why do not the miracles, which you talk about as having been worked, take place now?" I might indeed reply that they were necessary before the world believed for the very purpose of making it believe. The man who still seeks for wonders in order that he may believe, is himself a great wonder for not believing what the whole world believes. But the motive of those who act thus is to deny faith even to the miracles of the first ages. How, then, is it that Christ's ascension into heaven in the flesh is everywhere celebrated with so much faith? How, in civilised times which reject everything beyond human agency, could the world without any miracles have so miraculously believed incredible things? Or are we to say that they were credible, and that the world accepted them because they were credible? Why, then, do these men not believe? Our argument is therefore brief; either setting out from something unseen and incredible, they grounded their faith on incredible things, which, however, visibly took place; or the "something" was beyond a doubt so credible as to need no testimony of miracles to convince any man, and unbelievers are thus convicted of gross infidelity. I would say this to refute the vainest doubters. For we cannot deny that

many miracles have taken place to prove that one grand and saving miracle by which Christ in His risen flesh ascended into heaven. All are recorded in the most infallible books of Scripture in which the facts themselves are related together with what those facts were intended to prove. Some were manifested in order to create faith; others through the faith which they evoked stand out in brighter light. They are read to the people that they may be believed, nor would they be read to the people unless they were believed. For even now miracles are worked in His name, or through His sacraments, or through the prayers or commemorations of His saints, but these are not so well known as to be noised abroad with the same great renown as the first miracles. The canon of Holy Scripture, which it was important to define, involves the reading of these miracles in all places, so that they are living in the memory of all the people, but as to the modern ones, wheresoever they are worked, they are hardly known to the very city or inhabitants of the place in which they occur. For it often happens that even in the place itself it is only the few who know about these things, the rest being in complete ignorance, and this is especially the case in a large city. And when they are related elsewhere to other people, they are not sufficiently supported by authority to be credited without difficulty or doubt, although they are related by Christians addressing Christians.

The miracle which was worked at Milan whilst we were there, when a blind man received his sight, may have been brought before many people for various reasons. Milan is a large city, the Emperor was there at the time, and the wonder took place in the presence of an immense crowd who were assembled