say? This extremest kind of death He chose, but that he kept her to be his helper: be-
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
372 —- double? Yes, precisely the double, because the former sons still lived. Let none say, pains to get on. The being born, ye have; but also the growing, ye ought to have; because no man begins with being perfect. As for the Son of God, indeed, He could be born perfect, because He was begotten without time, coeternal with the Father, long before all things, not in age, but in eternity. He then was begotten coeternal, of which generation the Prophet said, ** His generation who shall declare?"* begotten of the Father without time, He was born of the Virgin in the fullness of times. This nativity had times going beforeit. In opportunity of time, when He would, when He knew, then was He born: for He was not born without His will. None of us is born because he will, and none of us dies when he will: He, when He would, was born; when He would, He died: how He would, He was born of a Virgin: how He would, He died; on the cross. Whatever He would, He did: because He was in such wise Man that, unseen,? He was God; God assuming, Man assumed;3 One Christ, God and Man.
Let me bear evils, and God will repay me as He repaid Job:" that it be now no longer patience but avarice. For if it was not patience which that Saint had, nor a brave enduring of all that came upon him; the testimony which the Lord gave, whence should he haveit? '* Hast thou observed,"' saith the Lord, "' my servant Job? For there is not like him any on the earth, a man without fault,° a true worshipper of God." What a testimony, my brethren, did this holy man deserve of the Lord! And yet him a bad woman sought by her persuasion to deceive, she too representing that serpent, who, like as in Paradise he deceived the man whom God first made, so likewise here by suggesting blasphemy thought to be able to deceive a man who pleased God. What things he suffered, my brethren! Who can have so much to suffer in his estate, his house, his sons, his flesh, yea in his very wife who was left to be his tempter! But even her who was left, the devil would have taken away long ago, but that he kept her to be his helper: because by Eve he had mastered the first man,
9. Of His cross what shall I speak, what say? This extremest kind of death He chose, that not any kind of death might make His Mattyrs afraid. The doctrine He shewed in His life as Man, the example of patience He demonstrated in His Cross. There, you have the work, that He was crucified; example of the work, the Cross; reward of the work, Resurrection. He shewed us in the Cross what we ought to endure, He shewed in the Resurrection what we havetohope. Just like a consummate task-master in the matches of the arena, He said, Do, and bear; do the work and receive the prize; strive inthe match and thou shalt be crowned. What is the work? Obedience, What the prize? Resurrection without death. Why did I add, 'without death?''? Because Lazarus rose, and died: Christ rose again, ** dieth no more, death will no longer have dominion over Flim therefore had he kept an Eve. What things, then, he suffered! He lost all that he had; his house fell; would that were all! it crushed his sons also. And, to see that patience had great place in him, hear what he answered;
The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so hath it been done;7 blessed be the name of the Lord."® He hath taken what He gave, is He lost Who gave? He hath taken what He gave. As if he should say, He hath taken away all, let Him take all, send me away naked, and let me keep Him, What shall I lack if I have God? or what is the good of all else to me, if I have not God? Then it came to his flesh, he was stricken with a wound from head to foot; he was one running sore, one mass of crawling worms: and showed himself immovable in his God, stood fixed. The woman wanted, devil's helper as she was not husband's comforter, to put him up to blaspheme God. '' How long," said she, '* dost thou suffer'? so and so; '' speak some word against the Lord,? and die.'"'* So then, because he had been brought low, he was to be exalted. And this the Lord did, in order to show it to men; as for His servant, He kept greater things for him inheaven. So then Job who was brought low, He exalted; the devil who was lifted up, He brought low:
10. Scripture saith, '' Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord." s When we read what great trials Job endured, it makes one shudder, it makes one shrink, it makes one quake. And what did he receive? The double of what he had lost. Let not a man therefore with an eye to temporal rewards be willing to have patience, and say to himself, *' Let me endure loss, God will give me back sons twice as many; Job received double of all, and begat as many sons as he had buried.'' Then ts this not the
6 Ouerela. 9 Lat. from LXX, 7 Lat. from DXX. i 8 Jobi, 21. 10 Job ii. 9.
T Is, lili. 8. [See R. V.] 2 Ut lateret Deus. 3 Susceptor susceptus. i 4 Rom, vi. 9. 5 James v. 11.