which follows from them, that we should know that all the miracles which
He did on the body avail to our instruction, that we may from them
perceive that which is not to pass away, nor to have any end. He
restored to the blind those eyes which death was sure some time to
close; He raised Lazarus to life who was to die again. And whatever He
did for the health of bodies, He did it not to this end that they should
be forever; whereas, at the last, He will give eternal health even to
the body itself. But because those things which were not seen were not
believed; by means of those temporal things which were seen, He built up
faith in those things which were not seen.

II. Let no one then, brethren, say that our Lord Jesus Christ doeth not
those things now, and on this account prefer the former to the present
ages of the Church. In a certain place, indeed, the same Lord prefers
those who do not see and yet believe to them who see and therefore
believe. For even at that time so irresolute was the infirmity of His
disciples that they thought that He whom they saw to have risen again
must be handled, in order that they might believe. It was not enough for
their eyes that they had seen Him, unless their hands also were applied
to His limbs, and the scars of His recent wounds were touched: that this
disciple, who was in doubt, might cry suddenly when he had touched and
recognized the scars, "My Lord and my God." The scars manifested Him who
had healed all wounds in others. Could not the Lord have risen again
without scars? Yes, but He knew the wounds which were in the hearts of
His disciples, and to heal them He had preserved the scars on His own
body. And what said the Lord to him who now confest and said, "My lord,
and my God?" "Because thou hast seen," He said, "thou hast believed;
blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed." Of whom
spake He, brethren, but of us? Not that He spoke only of us, but of
those also who shall come after us. For a little while when He had
departed from the sight of men, that faith might be established in their
hearts, whosoever believed, believed tho they saw Him not, and great has
been the merit of their faith; for the procuring of which faith they
brought only the movement of a pious heart, and not the touching of
their hands.

III. These things, then, the Lord did to invite us to the faith. This
faith reigneth now in the Church, which is spread throughout the whole
world. And now