The Harmony of the Gospels.

 Chapter I.—On the Authority of the Gospels.

 Chapter II.—On the Order of the Evangelists, and the Principles on Which They Wrote.

 Chapter III.—Of the Fact that Matthew, Together with Mark, Had Specially in View the Kingly Character of Christ, Whereas Luke Dealt with the Priestly.

 Chapter IV.—Of the Fact that John Undertook the Exposition of Christ’s Divinity.

 Chapter V.—Concerning the Two Virtues, of Which John is Conversant with the Contemplative, the Other Evangelists with the Active.

 Chapter VI.—Of the Four Living Creatures in the Apocalypse, Which Have Been Taken by Some in One Application, and by Others in Another, as Apt Figures

 Chapter VII.—A Statement of Augustin’s Reason for Undertaking This Work on the Harmony of the Evangelists, and an Example of the Method in Which He Me

 Chapter VIII.—Of the Question Why, If Christ is Believed to Have Been the Wisest of Men on the Testimony of Common Narrative Report, He Should Not Be

 Chapter IX.—Of Certain Persons Who Pretend that Christ Wrote Books on the Arts of Magic.

 Chapter X.—Of Some Who are Mad Enough to Suppose that the Books Were Inscribed with the Names of Peter and Paul.

 Chapter XI.—In Opposition to Those Who Foolishly Imagine that Christ Converted the People to Himself by Magical Arts.

 Chapter XII.—Of the Fact that the God of the Jews, After the Subjugation of that People, Was Still Not Accepted by the Romans, Because His Commandment

 Chapter XIII.—Of the Question Why God Suffered the Jews to Be Reduced to Subjection.

 Chapter XIV.—Of the Fact that the God of the Hebrews, Although the People Were Conquered, Proved Himself to Be Unconquered, by Overthrowing the Idols,

 Chapter XV.—Of the Fact that the Pagans, When Constrained to Laud Christ, Have Launched Their Insults Against His Disciples.

 Chapter XVI.—Of the Fact That, on the Subject of the Destruction of Idols, the Apostles Taught Nothing Different from What Was Taught by Christ or by

 Chapter XVII.—In Opposition to the Romans Who Rejected the God of Israel Alone.

 Chapter XVIII.—Of the Fact that the God of the Hebrews is Not Received by the Romans, Because His Will is that He Alone Should Be Worshipped.

 Chapter XIX.—The Proof that This God is the True God.

 Chapter XX.—Of the Fact that Nothing is Discovered to Have Been Predicted by the Prophets of the Pagans in Opposition to the God of the Hebrews.

 Chapter XXI.—An Argument for the Exclusive Worship of This God, Who, While He Prohibits Other Deities from Being Worshipped, is Not Himself Interdicte

 Chapter XXII.—Of the Opinion Entertained by the Gentiles Regarding Our God.

 Chapter XXIII.—Of the Follies Which the Pagans Have Indulged in Regarding Jupiter and Saturn.

 Chapter XXIV.—Of the Fact that Those Persons Who Reject the God of Israel, in Consequence Fail to Worship All the Gods And, on the Other Hand, that T

 Chapter XXV.—Of the Fact that the False Gods Do Not Forbid Others to Be Worshipped Along with Themselves. That the God of Israel is the True God, is P

 Chapter XXVI.—Of the Fact that Idolatry Has Been Subverted by the Name of Christ, and by the Faith of Christians According to the Prophecies.

 Chapter XXVII.—An Argument Urging It Upon the Remnant of Idolaters that They Should at Length Become Servants of This True God, Who Everywhere is Subv

 Chapter XXVIII.—Of the Predicted Rejection of Idols.

 Chapter XXIX.—Of the Question Why the Heathen Should Refuse to Worship the God of Israel Even Although They Deem Him to Be Only the Presiding Divinit

 Chapter XXX.—Of the Fact That, as the Prophecies Have Been Fulfilled, the God of Israel Has Now Been Made Known Everywhere.

 Chapter XXXI.—The Fulfilment of the Prophecies Concerning Christ.

 Chapter XXXII.—A Statement in Vindication of the Doctrine of the Apostles as Opposed to Idolatry, in the Words of the Prophecies.

 Chapter XXXIII.—A Statement in Opposition to Those Who Make the Complaint that the Bliss of Human Life Has Been Impaired by the Entrance of Christian

 Chapter XXXIV.—Epilogue to the Preceding.

 Chapter XXXV.—Of the Fact that the Mystery of a Mediator Was Made Known to Those Who Lived in Ancient Times by the Agency of Prophecy, as It is Now De

 Book II.

 Chapter I.—A Statement of the Reason Why the Enumeration of the Ancestors of Christ is Carried Down to Joseph, While Christ Was Not Born of that Man’s

 Chapter II.—An Explanation of the Sense in Which Christ is the Son of David, Although He Was Not Begotten in the Way of Ordinary Generation by Joseph

 Chapter III.—A Statement of the Reason Why Matthew Enumerates One Succession of Ancestors for Christ, and Luke Another.

 Chapter IV.—Of the Reason Why Forty Generations (Not Including Christ Himself) are Found in Matthew, Although He Divides Them into Three Successions o

 Chapter V.—A Statement of the Manner in Which Luke’s Procedure is Proved to Be in Harmony with Matthew’s in Those Matters Concerning the Conception an

 Chapter VI.—On the Position Given to the Preaching of John the Baptist in All the Four Evangelists.

 Chapter VII.—Of the Two Herods.

 Chapter VIII.—An Explanation of the Statement Made by Matthew, to the Effect that Joseph Was Afraid to Go with the Infant Christ into Jerusalem on Acc

 Chapter IX.—An Explanation of the Circumstance that Matthew States that Joseph’s Reason for Going into Galilee with the Child Christ Was His Fear of A

 Chapter X.—A Statement of the Reason Why Luke Tells Us that “His Parents Went to Jerusalem Every Year at the Feast of the Passover” Along with the Boy

 Chapter XI.—An Examination of the Question as to How It Was Possible for Them to Go Up, According to Luke’s Statement, with Him to Jerusalem to the Te

 Chapter XII.—Concerning the Words Ascribed to John by All the Four Evangelists Respectively.

 Chapter XIII.—Of the Baptism of Jesus.

 Chapter XIV.—Of the Words or the Voice that Came from Heaven Upon Him When He Had Been Baptized.

 Chapter XV.—An Explanation of the Circumstance That, According to the Evangelist John, John the Baptist Says, “I Knew Him Not ” While, According to th

 Chapter XVI.—Of the Temptation of Jesus.

 Chapter XVII.—Of the Calling of the Apostles as They Were Fishing.

 Chapter XVIII.—Of the Date of His Departure into Galilee.

 Chapter XIX.—Of the Lengthened Sermon Which, According to Matthew, He Delivered on the Mount.

 Chapter XX.—An Explanation of the Circumstance that Matthew Tells Us How the Centurion Came to Jesus on Behalf of His Servant, While Luke’s Statement

 Chapter XXI.—Of the Order in Which the Narrative Concerning Peter’s Mother-In-Law is Introduced.

 Chapter XXII.—Of the Order of the Incidents Which are Recorded After This Section and of the Question Whether Matthew, Mark, and Luke are Consistent w

 Chapter XXIII.—Of the Person Who Said to the Lord, “I Will Follow Thee Whithersoever Thou Goest ” And of the Other Things Connected Therewith, and of

 Chapter XXIV.—Of the Lord’s Crossing the Lake on that Occasion on Which He Slept in the Vessel, and of the Casting Out of Those Devils Whom He Suffere

 Chapter XXV.—Of the Man Sick of the Palsy to Whom the Lord Said, “Thy Sins are Forgiven Thee,” And “Take Up Thy Bed ” And in Especial, of the Question

 Chapter XXVI.—Of the Calling of Matthew, and of the Question Whether Matthew’s Own Account is in Harmony with Those of Mark and Luke When They Speak o

 Chapter XXVII.—Of the Feast at Which It Was Objected at Once that Christ Ate with Sinners, and that His Disciples Did Not Fast Of the Circumstance th

 Chapter XXVIII.—Of the Raising of the Daughter of the Ruler of the Synagogue, and of the Woman Who Touched the Hem of His Garment Of the Question, Al

 Chapter XXIX.—Of the Two Blind Men and the Dumb Demoniac Whose Stories are Related Only by Matthew.

 Chapter XXX.—Of the Section Where It is Recorded, that Being Moved with Compassion for the Multitudes, He Sent His Disciples, Giving Them Power to Wor

 Chapter XXXI.—Of the Account Given by Matthew and Luke of the Occasion When John the Baptist Was in Prison, and Despatched His Disciples on a Mission

 Chapter XXXII.—Of the Occasion on Which He Upbraided the Cities Because They Repented Not, Which Incident is Recorded by Luke as Well as by Matthew A

 Chapter XXXIII.—Of the Occasion on Which He Calls Them to Take His Yoke and Burden Upon Them, and of the Question as to the Absence of Any Discrepancy

 Chapter XXXIV.—Of the Passage in Which It is Said that the Disciples Plucked the Ears of Corn and Ate Them And of the Question as to How Matthew, Mar

 Chapter XXXV.—Of the Man with the Withered Hand, Who Was Restored on the Sabbath-Day And of the Question as to How Matthew’s Narrative of This Incide

 Chapter XXXVI.—Of Another Question Which Demands Our Consideration, Namely, Whether, in Passing from the Account of the Man Whose Withered Hand Was Re

 Chapter XXXVII.—Of the Consistency of the Accounts Given by Matthew and Luke Regarding the Dumb and Blind Man Who Was Possessed with a Devil.

 Chapter XXXVIII.—Of the Occasion on Which It Was Said to Him that He Cast Out Devils in the Power of Beelzebub, and of the Declarations Drawn Forth fr

 Chapter XXXIX.—Of the Question as to the Manner of Matthew’s Agreement with Luke in the Accounts Which are Given of the Lord’s Reply to Certain Person

 Chapter XL.—Of the Question as to Whether There is Any Discrepancy Between Matthew on the One Hand, and Mark and Luke on the Other, in Regard to the O

 Chapter XLI.—Of the Words Which Were Spoken Out of the Ship on the Subject of the Sower, Whose Seed, as He Sowed It, Fell Partly on the Wayside, Etc.

 Chapter XLII.—Of His Coming into His Own Country, and of the Astonishment of the People at His Doctrine, as They Looked with Contempt Upon His Lineage

 Chapter XLIII.—Of the Mutual Consistency of the Accounts Which are Given by Matthew, Mark, and Luke of What Was Said by Herod on Hearing About the Won

 Chapter XLIV.—Of the Order in Which the Accounts of John’s Imprisonment and Death are Given by These Three Evangelists.

 Chapter XLV.—Of the Order and the Method in Which All the Four Evangelists Come to the Narration of the Miracle of the Five Loaves.

 Chapter XLVI.—Of the Question as to How the Four Evangelists Harmonize with Each Other on This Same Subject of the Miracle of the Five Loaves.

 Chapter XLVII.—Of His Walking Upon the Water, and of the Questions Regarding the Harmony of the Evangelists Who Have Narrated that Scene, and Regardin

 Chapter XLVIII.—Of the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Matthew and Mark on the One Hand, and John on the Other, in the Accounts Which the Three Giv

 Chapter XLIX.—Of the Woman of Canaan Who Said, “Yet the Dogs Eat of the Crumbs Which Fall from Their Masters’ Tables,” And of the Harmony Between the

 Chapter L.—Of the Occasion on Which He Fed the Multitudes with the Seven Loaves, and of the Question as to the Harmony Between Matthew and Mark in The

 Chapter LI.—Of Matthew’s Declaration That, on Leaving These Parts, He Came into the Coasts of Magedan And of the Question as to His Agreement with Ma

 Chapter LII.—Of Matthew’s Agreement with Mark in the Statement About the Leaven of the Pharisees, as Regards Both the Subject Itself and the Order of

 Chapter LIII.—Of the Occasion on Which He Asked the Disciples Whom Men Said that He Was And of the Question Whether, with Regard Either to the Subjec

 Chapter LIV.—Of the Occasion on Which He Announced His Coming Passion to the Disciples, and of the Measure of Concord Between Matthew, Mark, and Luke

 Chapter LV.—Of the Harmony Between the Three Evangelists in the Notices Which They Subjoin of the Manner in Which the Lord Charged the Man to Follow H

 Chapter LVI.—Of the Manifestation Which the Lord Made of Himself, in Company with Moses and Elias, to His Disciples on the Mountain And of the Questi

 Chapter LVII.—Of the Harmony Between Matthew and Mark in the Accounts Given of the Occasion on Which He Spoke to the Disciples Concerning the Coming o

 Chapter LVIII.—Of the Man Who Brought Before Him His Son, Whom the Disciples Were Unable to Heal And of the Question Concerning the Agreement Between

 Chapter LIX.—Of the Occasion on Which the Disciples Were Exceeding Sorry When He Spoke to Them of His Passion, as It is Related in the Same Order by t

 Chapter LX.—Of His Paying the Tribute Money Out of the Mouth of the Fish, an Incident Which Matthew Alone Mentions.

 Chapter LXI.—Of the Little Child Whom He Set Before Them for Their Imitation, and of the Offences of the World Of the Members of the Body Causing Off

 Chapter LXII.—Of the Harmony Subsisting Between Matthew and Mark in the Accounts Which They Offer of the Time When He Was Asked Whether It Was Lawful

 Chapter LXIII.—Of the Little Children on Whom He Laid His Hands Of the Rich Man to Whom He Said, “Sell All that Thou Hast ” Of the Vineyard in Which

 Chapter LXIV.—Of the Occasions on Which He Foretold His Passion in Private to His Disciples And of the Time When the Mother of Zebedee’s Children Cam

 Chapter LXV.—Of the Absence of Any Antagonism Between Matthew and Mark, or Between Matthew and Luke, in the Account Offered of the Giving of Sight to

 Chapter LXVI.—Of the Colt of the Ass Which is Mentioned by Matthew, and of the Consistency of His Account with that of the Other Evangelists, Who Spea

 Chapter LXVII.—Of the Expulsion of the Sellers and Buyers from the Temple, and of the Question as to the Harmony Between the First Three Evangelists a

 Chapter LXVIII.—Of the Withering of the Fig-Tree, and of the Question as to the Absence of Any Contradiction Between Matthew and the Other Evangelists

 Chapter LXIX.—Of the Harmony Between the First Three Evangelists in Their Accounts of the Occasion on Which the Jews Asked the Lord by What Authority

 Chapter LXX.—Of the Two Sons Who Were Commanded by Their Father to Go into His Vineyard, and of the Vineyard Which Was Let Out to Other Husbandmen Of

 Chapter LXXI.—Of the Marriage of the King’s Son, to Which the Multitudes Were Invited And of the Order in Which Matthew Introduces that Section as Co

 Chapter LXXII.—Of the Harmony Characterizing the Narratives Given by These Three Evangelists Regarding the Duty of Rendering to Cæsar the Coin Bearing

 Chapter LXXIII.—Of the Person to Whom the Two Precepts Concerning the Love of God and the Love of Our Neighbour Were Commended And of the Question as

 Chapter LXXIV.—Of the Passage in Which the Jews are Asked to Say Whose Son They Suppose Christ to Be And of the Question Whether There is Not a Discr

 Chapter LXXV.—Of the Pharisees Who Sit in the Seat of Moses, and Enjoin Things Which They Do Not, and of the Other Words Spoken by the Lord Against Th

 Chapter LXXVI.—Of the Harmony in Respect of the Order of Narration Subsisting Between Matthew and the Other Two Evangelists in the Accounts Given of t

 Chapter LXXVII.—Of the Harmony Subsisting Between the Three Evangelists in Their Narratives of the Discourse Which He Delivered on the Mount of Olives

 Chapter LXXVIII.—Of the Question Whether There is Any Contradiction Between Matthew and Mark on the One Hand, and John on the Other, in So Far as the

 Chapter LXXIX.—Of the Concord Between Matthew, Mark, and John in Their Notices of the Supper at Bethany, at Which the Woman Poured the Precious Ointme

 Chapter LXXX.—Of the Harmony Characterizing the Accounts Which are Given by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, of the Occasion on Which He Sent His Disciples to

 Book III.

 Chapter I.—Of the Method in Which the Four Evangelists are Shown to Be at One in the Accounts Given of the Lord’s Supper and the Indication of His Bet

 Chapter II.—Of the Proof of Their Freedom from Any Discrepancies in the Notices Given of the Predictions of Peter’s Denials.

 Chapter III.—Of the Manner in Which It Can Be Shown that No Discrepancies Exist Between Them in the Accounts Which They Give of the Words Which Were S

 Chapter IV.—Of What Took Place in the Piece of Ground or Garden to Which They Came on Leaving the House After the Supper And of the Method in Which,

 Chapter V.—Of the Accounts Which are Given by All the Four Evangelists in Regard to What Was Done and Said on the Occasion of His Apprehension And of

 Chapter VI.—Of the Harmony Characterizing the Accounts Which These Evangelists Give of What Happened When the Lord Was Led Away to the House of the Hi

 Chapter VII.—Of the Thorough Harmony of the Evangelists in the Different Accounts of What Took Place in the Early Morning, Previous to the Delivery of

 Chapter VIII.—Of the Absence of Any Discrepancies in the Accounts Which the Evangelists Give of What Took Place in Pilate’s Presence.

 Chapter IX.—Of the Mockery Which He Sustained at the Hands of Pilate’s Cohort, and of the Harmony Subsisting Among the Three Evangelists Who Report th

 Chapter X.—Of the Method in Which We Can Reconcile the Statement Which is Made by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, to the Effect that Another Person Was Press

 Chapter XI.—Of the Consistency of Matthew’s Version with that of Mark in the Account of the Potion Offered Him to Drink, Which is Introduced Before th

 Chapter XII.—Of the Concord Preserved Among All the Four Evangelists on the Subject of the Parting of His Raiment.

 Chapter XIII.—Of the Hour of the Lord’s Passion, and of the Question Concerning the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Mark and John in the Article of

 Chapter XIV.—Of the Harmony Preserved Among All the Evangelists on the Subject of the Two Robbers Who Were Crucified Along with Him.

 Chapter XV.—Of the Consistency of the Accounts Given by Matthew, Mark, and Luke on the Subject of the Parties Who Insulted the Lord.

 Chapter XVI.—Of the Derision Ascribed to the Robbers, and of the Question Regarding the Absence of Any Discrepancy Between Matthew and Mark on the One

 Chapter XVII.—Of the Harmony of the Four Evangelists in Their Notices of the Draught of Vinegar.

 Chapter XVIII.—Of the Lord’s Successive Utterances When He Was About to Die And of the Question Whether Matthew and Mark are in Harmony with Luke in

 Chapter XIX.—Of the Rending of the Veil of the Temple, and of the Question Whether Matthew and Mark Really Harmonize with Luke with Respect to the Ord

 Chapter XX.—Of the Question as to the Consistency of the Several Notices Given by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, on the Subject of the Astonishment Felt by

 Chapter XXI.—Of the Women Who Were Standing There, and of the Question Whether Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Who Have Stated that They Stood Afar Off, are

 Chapter XXII.—Of the Question Whether the Evangelists are All at One on the Subject of the Narrative Regarding Joseph, Who Begged the Lord’s Body from

 Chapter XXIII.—Of the Question Whether the First Three Evangelists are Quite in Harmony with John in the Accounts Given of His Burial.

 Chapter XXIV.—Of the Absence of All Discrepancies in the Narratives Constructed by the Four Evangelists on the Subject of the Events Which Took Place

 Chapter XXV.—Of Christ’s Subsequent Manifestations of Himself to the Disciples, and of the Question Whether a Thorough Harmony Can Be Established Betw

 Book IV.

 Chapter I.—Of the Question Regarding the Proof that Mark’s Gospel is in Harmony with the Rest in What is Narrated (Those Passages Which He Has in Comm

 Chapter II.—Of the Man Out of Whom the Unclean Spirit that Was Tormenting Him Was Cast, and of the Question Whether Mark’s Version is Quite Consistent

 Chapter III.—Of the Question Whether Mark’s Reports of the Repeated Occasions on Which the Name of Peter Was Brought into Prominence are Not at Varian

 Chapter IV.—Of the Words, “The More He Charged Them to Tell No One, So Much the More a Great Deal They Published It ” And of the Question Whether that

 Chapter V.—Of the Statement Which John Made Concerning the Man Who Cast Out Devils Although He Did Not Belong to the Circle of the Disciples And of t

 Chapter VI.—Of the Circumstance that Mark Has Recorded More Than Luke as Spoken by the Lord in Connection with the Case of This Man Who Was Casting Ou

 Chapter VII.—Of the Fact that from This Point on to the Lord’s Supper, with Which Act the Discussion of All the Narratives of the Four Evangelists Con

 Chapter VIII.—Of Luke’s Gospel, and Specially of the Harmony Between Its Commencement and the Beginning of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles.

 Chapter IX.—Of the Question How It Can Be Shown that the Narrative of the Haul of Fishes Which Luke Has Given Us is Not to Be Identified with the Reco

 Chapter X.—Of the Evangelist John, and the Distinction Between Him and the Other Three.

Chapter XXXV.—Of the Fact that the Mystery of a Mediator Was Made Known to Those Who Lived in Ancient Times by the Agency of Prophecy, as It is Now Declared to Us in the Gospel.

53. Wherefore, seeing that Christ Himself is that Wisdom of God by whom all things were created, and considering that no rational intelligences, whether of angels or of men, receive wisdom except by participation in this Wisdom wherewith we are united by that Holy Spirit through whom charity is shed abroad in our hearts157    Rom. v. 5. (which Trinity at the same time constitutes one God), Divine Providence, having respect to the interests of mortal men whose time-bound life was held engaged in things which rise into being and die,158    In rebus orientibus et occidentibus occupata tenebatur. decreed that this same Wisdom of God, assuming into the unity of His person the (nature of) man, in which He might be born according to the conditions of time, and live and die and rise again, should utter and perform and bear and sustain things congruous to our salvation; and thus, in exemplary fashion, show at once to men on earth the way for a return to heaven, and to those angels who are above us, the way to retain their position in heaven.159    Fieret et deorsum hominibus exemplum redeundi et eis qui sursum sunt angelis exemplum manendi. For unless, also, in the nature of the reasonable soul, and under the conditions of an existence in time, something came newly into being,—that is to say, unless that began to be which previously was not,—there could never be any passing from a life of utter corruption and folly into one of wisdom and true goodness. And thus, as truth in the contemplative lives in the enjoyment of things eternal, while faith in the believing is what is due to things which are made, man is purified through that faith which is conversant with temporal things, in order to his being made capable of receiving the truth of things eternal. For one of their noblest intellects, the philosopher Plato, in the treatise which is named the Timæus, speaks also to this effect: “As eternity is to that which is made, so truth to faith.” Those two belong to the things above,—namely, eternity and truth; these two belong to the things below,—namely, that which is made and faith. In order, therefore, that we may be called off from the lowest objects, and led up again to the highest, and in order also that what is made may attain to the eternal, we must come through faith to truth. And because all contraries are reduced to unity by some middle factor, and because also the iniquity of time alienated us from the righteousness of eternity, there was need of some mediatorial righteousness of a temporal nature; which mediatizing factor might be temporal on the side of those lowest objects, but also righteous on the side of these highest,160    Reading quæ medietas temporalis esset de imis, justa de summis. Another version gives quæ medietas temporalis esset de imis mixta et summis = which temporal mediatizing factor might be made up of the lowest and the highest objects together, or = which might be a temporal mediatizing factor made up, etc. and thus, by adapting itself to the former without cutting itself off from the latter, might bring back those lowest objects to the highest. Accordingly, Christ was named the Mediator between God and men, who stood between the immortal God and mortal man, as being Himself both God and man,161    1 Tim. ii. 5. who reconciled man to God, who continued to be what He (formerly) was, but was made also what He (formerly) was not. And the same Person is for us at once the (centre of the) said faith in things that are made, and the truth in things eternal.

54. This great and unutterable mystery, this kingdom and priesthood, was revealed by prophecy to the men of ancient time, and is now preached by the gospel to their descendants. For it behoved that, at some period or other, that should be made good among all nations which for a long time had been promised through the medium of a single nation. Accordingly, He who sent the prophets before His own descent also despatched the apostles after His ascension. Moreover, in virtue of the man162    Hominem. assumed by Him, He stands to all His disciples in the relation of the head to the members of His body. Therefore, when those disciples have written matters which He declared and spake to them, it ought not by any means to be said that He has written nothing Himself; since the truth is, that His members have accomplished only what they became acquainted with by the repeated statements of the Head. For all that He was minded to give for our perusal on the subject of His own doings and sayings, He commanded to be written by those disciples, whom He thus used as if they were His own hands. Whoever apprehends this correspondence of unity and this concordant service of the members, all in harmony in the discharge of diverse offices under the Head, will receive the account which he gets in the Gospel through the narratives constructed by the disciples, in the same kind of spirit in which he might look upon the actual hand of the Lord Himself, which He bore in that body which was made His own, were he to see it engaged in the act of writing. For this reason let us now rather proceed to examine into the real character of those passages in which these critics suppose the evangelists to have given contradictory accounts (a thing which only those who fail to understand the matter aright can fancy to be the case); so that, when these problems are solved, it may also be made apparent that the members in that body have preserved a befitting harmony in the unity of the body itself, not only by identity in sentiment, but also by constructing records consonant with that identity.

CAPUT XXXV. Mediatoris mysterium antiquis per prophetiam, nobis per Evangelium praedicatur.

53. Quapropter, cum sit ipse Christus Sapientia Dei, per quem creata sunt omnia, cumque nullae mentes rationales sive Angelorum sive hominum, nisi participatione ipsius sapientes fiant, cui per Spiritum sanctum, per quem charitas in cordibus nostris diffunditur, inhaeremus, quae Trinitas unus Deus est; consultum est divina providentia mortalibus, quorum temporalis vita in rebus orientibus et occidentibus occupata tenebatur, ut eadem ipsa Dei Sapientia ad unitatem personae suae homine assumpto, in quo temporaliter nasceretur, viveret, moreretur, resurgeret, congrua saluti nostrae dicendo et faciendo, patiendo et sustinendo, fieret et deorsum hominibus exemplum redeundi, et eis qui sursum sunt Angelis exemplum manendi. Nisi enim et in animae rationalis natura temporaliter aliquid oriretur, id est, inciperet esse quod non erat, nunquam ex vita pessima et stulta ad sapientem atque optimam perveniret. Ac per hoc, 1070 cum rebus aeternis contemplantium veritas perfruatur, rebus autem ortis fides credentium debeatur, purgatur homo per rerum temporalium fidem, ut aeternarum percipiat veritatem. Nam et quidam eorum nobilissimus philosophus Plato, in eo libro quem Timaeum vocant, sic ait: «Quantum ad id quod ortum est aeternitas valet, tantum ad fidem veritas.» Duo illa sursum sunt, aeternitas et veritas: duo ista deorsum, quod ortum est, et fides. Ut ergo ab imis ad summa revocemur, atque id quod ortum est recipiat aeternitatem, per fidem veniendum est ad veritatem. Et quia omnia quae in contrarium pergunt, per aliquid medium reducuntur, et ab aeterna justitia temporalis iniquitas nos alienabat; opus ergo erat media justitia temporali, quae medietas, temporalis esset de imis, justa de summis , atque ita se nec abrumpens a summis, et contemperans imis, ima redderet summis. Ideo Christus mediator Dei et hominum dictus est, inter Deum immortalem et hominem mortalem Deus et homo (I Tim. II, 5), reconcilians hominem Deo, manens id quod erat, factus quod non erat. Ipse est nobis fides in rebus ortis, qui est veritas in aeternis.

54. Hoc magnum et inenarrabile sacramentum, hoc regnum et sacerdotium antiquis per prophetiam revelabatur, posteris eorum per Evangelium praedicatur. Oportebat enim ut aliquando in omnibus gentibus redderetur, quod diu per unam gentem promittebatur. Proinde qui Prophetas ante descensionem suam praemisit, ipse et Apostolos post ascensionem suam misit. Omnibus autem discipulis suis per hominem quem assumpsit, tanquam membris sui corporis caput est. Itaque cum illi scripserunt quae ille ostendit et dixit, nequaquam dicendum est quod ipse non scripserit; quandoquidem membra ejus id operata sunt, quod dictante capite cognoverunt. Quidquid enim ille de suis factis et dictis nos legere voluit, hoc scribendum illis tanquam suis manibus imperavit. Hoc unitatis consortium et in diversis officiis concordium membrorum sub uno capite ministerium quisquis intellexerit, non aliter accipiet quod narrantibus discipulis Christi in Evangelio legerit, quam si ipsam manum Domini, quam in proprio corpore gestabat, scribentem conspexerit. Quamobrem illa potius jam videamus qualia sint, quae putant Evangelistas sibimet ipsis scripsisse contraria (quod parum intelligentibus videri potest); ut his quaestionibus dissolutis, ex hoc quoque appareat, illius capitis membra, non solum idem sentiendo, verum etiam convenientia scribendo, in corporis ipsius unitate germanam servasse concordiam.