These things are written, these things are read. "But now," he says, "they do not happen, and I fear that these things were written by men and did not happen." We sometimes suffer such questioners; indeed, you ought not to be such but should be able to respond to such. I know that I speak almost superfluously to believers, but let me be like one persuading unbelievers so that you may be able to be instructed against unbelievers. Some men say, indeed now few, but not none: "These things were written, but they did not happen." How then shall I prove that they happened? Certainly every miracle is either in deed or in word. Marvelous deeds are those that occur beyond the usual course and order of nature; marvelous words are those by which future things are announced. Therefore, if you do not wish to believe in the marvelous deeds which are written to be read, at least believe in the marvelous words which are shown to be true by their very effect. For here he shows his faith who narrated to you the wonders of the past, when you see the present things which he foretold would come. Or perhaps divine prophecy is not divine, from which it even got its name, to which the curiosity of men is so given that many today do not want to be Christians because they want to allow themselves to consult soothsayers, astrologers, augurs, and - what else shall I say? - magicians? But the power of Christ also extinguishes the works of this art, which led the Magi from such a distant nation to worship him.
Through the revelation of the Magi, they were taught about the sign of the star.
They came to worship the child, the Word of God. Why did they come? Because they saw an unusual star. And how did they know it was Christ's? Indeed, they could see the star, but could it speak to them and say: "I am Christ's star"? Undoubtedly, it was indicated in some other way, through some revelation. However, a king was born unusually who was to be worshiped by foreigners as well. Were kings not born before in Judea or throughout the entire earth in different nations? Why was this one to be worshiped—and worshiped by foreigners—not by a terrifying army, but hidden in the poverty of flesh with the majesty of virtue? When he was born, he was worshiped by the Israelite shepherds to whom the angels had announced him. But the Magi were not from Israel: they worshiped idols or the gods of nations, that is, demons, deceived by their deceitful power. Therefore, they saw some unusual star, they marveled: without a doubt, they inquired whose sign it could be that they saw as so new and unusual, and surely they heard. But you say: "From whom did they hear?" Surely from the angels, through some admonition of revelation. You may perhaps ask: "From good angels or bad?" Indeed, even the evil angels, that is demons, confessed Christ as the Son of God. But why would they not have heard from the good ones, since their salvation was being sought in worshiping Christ, not condemnation of iniquity? Therefore, even the angels could have said to them: "The star you have seen is Christ's, go and worship him where he is born," and at the same time indicate what kind and how great the born one is. Having heard this, they came and worshiped. They offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, according to their custom: for they were accustomed to offer such things to their gods.
The magi adore Christ, the Jews show Him born but do not believe.
Before they could act, before they found him in the city where he had been born, they came asking where the king of the Jews was born. Could they not have known this by revelation, just as they knew that this star was the king of the Jews, worthy of worship even from foreigners? Could the same star not have led them to that city, just as it later led them to the place where Christ was with his mother as an infant? It could indeed have done so, but it was not done, so that this might be asked of the Jews. Why did God want this to be asked of the Jews? So that while they pointed out him in whom they did not believe, they might be condemned by their own demonstration. Note that this happens even now. The Magi, the first fruits of the Gentiles, freed from greater impiety, give greater glory to the one who freed them. They ask: Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? Herod, hearing of the king’s name, trembles with jealousy. He calls the experts in the law and asks them according to the Scriptures to tell him where Christ was to be born. They respond: In Bethlehem of Judea. The Magi set out and worship, while the Jews who pointed the way stay behind.
"We convict the unbelievers from the books of the Jews."
O great sacrament! Today we convince unbelievers from the books of the Jews to become believers; through their books, we show pagans what they do not want to believe. For sometimes pagans put this kind of question to us: when they see the things that are written being so fulfilled that they cannot deny at all that through the name of Christ all things are presented among all nations which are recited as having been foretold in the holy books—in the faith of kings, in the destruction of idols, in the transformation of human affairs—they are sometimes so moved that they say: "You saw these things happening and wrote them as if they had been predicted." A certain poet of theirs did this: those who have read recognize these things. He narrated that someone descended to the underworld and then came into the region of the blessed, and that certain future Roman leaders were shown to him, whom the writer himself already knew had been born. Indeed, he narrated past events but wrote them as if they were prophesied future ones. "Thus you," the pagans say to us, "saw all these things happening and wrote books for yourselves in which these things are read as if predicted future ones." O glory of our king! Deservedly the Jews were conquered by the Romans but not destroyed. All nations subjected by the Romans passed into Roman laws: this nation was both conquered and remained in its law; as far as the worship of God is concerned, it preserves its ancestral customs and rites. Even with their temple destroyed and their former priesthood extinguished, as foretold by the prophets, they still keep circumcision and a certain custom by which they are distinguished from other nations. For what other reason, except for a testimony of the truth? The Jews are scattered everywhere, carrying books in which Christ is foretold—and as he is foretold, he is presented—so that even pagans may be shown. I produce the book, read the prophet, show that the prophecy is fulfilled. The pagan doubts, lest I have invented this: my enemy has this book, anciently commended to him by his ancestors. From this, I convince both: the Jew, because I have recognized that what is prophesied there is fulfilled; the pagan, because I did not invent this.
Things which were once offered to God in sacrifices had to be changed.
Therefore, let not demons seduce the unwary and those improperly curious about temporal matters by the appearance of divination, nor let them, through their haughty pride, deceive and demand honor from the impious sacrifices offered to them. The true divine prophecies belong to the one true God. True sacrifice is owed to the one true God, whose figures were previously foreshadowed in incense and victims, so that, by divine providence announcing in many ways what was to come in one way, it might show how great it would be. For this too, among other things foretold for Christian times, was prophesied—that those things previously offered to God as sacrifices were to be entirely changed. "Why then," you ask, "were they commanded if they were to be changed?" O sick one, do not give advice to the physician on how you should be cured. One man, Adam, filled the world through his offspring. The human race, as it were, one great sick man lying from east to west, needs to be healed: a great sick man, but a greater physician. Let us therefore take an analogy from the very art of human medicine. The physician comes to the sick man and says: "Take this in the morning, but in the afternoon take that." And the sick man to the physician: "Why," he says, "not this in the afternoon just as in the morning?" Would not the physician rightly respond to him: "You can be sick, but you cannot cure yourself; allow the art to counsel your recovery"? "Then," says the sick man, "the art is inconstant, ordering one thing first and another later." "Rather be quiet and heal. The art is constant; it knows what to apply in the morning, what in the afternoon. The art has not changed, but your sickness is changeable. It knows what is expedient at any time, assisting mutable maladies according to the diversity of times." Thus, for the benefit of the human race, some things were profitable in earlier times, others in later times. Do you ask why? Be a friend of the physician, and perhaps you will understand, lest even today you think we ought not to go to sacrifice to God unless with a bull, with a ram, or with incense.
Of the Old and New Testament.
"Show, someone says, that God commanded these things and predicted these changes, and I will believe, lest I think you speak these things from yourself, not from divine authority." So listen to the words of God, a few among many: "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord. The prophet speaks. If you think this is fabricated by Christians, let a Jew bring forth the codex. How then can I bring forth something my ancient enemy carries? Therefore, let the codex be brought from the library of the Jews, and we shall read from it. What shall we read? "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." "But perhaps he says this about the testament the Jews received, and it is said to be new when our fathers received it through Moses on Mount Sinai, because it was not before in human kind." You suggested well, but wait: I require patience until I recite the rest. Listen about the New Testament: "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." I am not yet saying the rest. Who is speaking? Jeremiah. When did Jeremiah prophesy? Long after Moses through whom the first testament was given. If therefore Jeremiah, who says, "Behold, the days are coming," speaks of the future, and "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah," there is no reason to say it signifies the testament given through Moses. Therefore, he speaks of another new testament. But still, listen to the rest: "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt." What could be clearer? For then the first testament was given through Moses, which is called old.
What the Magi offered to Christ were signs rather than gifts.
Behold, brothers, heed the divine words. We read what was foretold, we perceive what has been fulfilled, and still, do we doubt the divine authority of the books? Therefore, let no one say: "Behold, the Magi brought frankincense to Christ, why do we not also burn incense to Christ?" First observe that the Magi brought frankincense, they did not burn it. "But why did he accept this gift?" you ask. As if they would indeed forbid that anything created be offered to the Creator! God made frankincense—not demons—God made myrrh, God made gold. The Magi sin by giving these to demons and honoring them, using creation to injure the Creator. Nevertheless, today learn that they gave such things as they were accustomed to give to their gods. But Christ did not let them give these things in vain: rather, they were symbols than gifts. He received frankincense as God, gold as a king, myrrh as one destined to die for burial. At that time, not only frankincense was offered, but also the sacrifices of animals by both pagans and Jews, that is, by those who worshiped many false gods and by those who worshiped one true God. These, I say, were offered to God according to the Old Testament, but this changed with the New Testament. "Behold," he says, "the days are coming," says the Lord, "and I shall consummate a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day that I took their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt."
"The sacrifice cleansing sins, the body of Christ."
"But, one may say, he did not speak about sacrifices." Do you then want to hear something about sacrifices? Because God predicted that all those sacrifices would be abolished and that a single sacrifice, truly cleansing sins, the body of Christ, would be given, the faithful know. And what I am saying, I know is not understood by all, but let those who understand rejoice and live worthily of such a great sacrament. But those who do not yet understand, it is in their power to change their life, to receive the sacrament of change, and to know what is offered by the faithful and what is received. For there is what was foretold: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. For the first priesthood was according to the order of Aaron, but afterward it was said to our priest, and this by a prophet long before he came in the flesh: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Therefore, the order of Aaron was changed, and the order of Melchizedek came. According to the order of Aaron were the animal sacrifices, according to Melchizedek, the body of Christ. "You still have not said," someone says, "whether God predicted that those sacrifices would cease." Behold, I read to you, lest perhaps my memory fails me. For I, brothers, did not learn these writings from my youth, and, what is worse, I can recite other things from memory that are superfluous. But these things to which I did not apply myself from childhood, unless I look at the books, I cannot pronounce. Or perhaps it is more useful that you hear not from my mouth but from the divine book, what you should healthily know. Listen now and do not be surprised that now Christ is not approached with incense, since he established another sacrifice, of which all past things were shadows."
Through the things that have been made new, we understand the old.
Among many, the prophet Isaiah speaks, whose book I hold in my hands. What does Isaiah say? "Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old." Behold now, brothers, the abolishment of the old is clear. "But still," you say, "he has said nothing about sacrifices. Perhaps he has changed other things, but not these." Although it is general, "nor consider the things of old," and there I may understand from what later the apostolic doctrine taught me, what I should offer, what I should no longer offer—I have an expositor of this obscurity, I have a teacher telling me how to take this—however, even the prophet himself does not allow a man to guess as he pleases: for he speaks plainly what you will hear. Therefore listen: "Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. For behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" What is this: "For behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" That is: I will do new things which were not, so that you might understand what has been. Animals were killed, blood was shed, and through blood God was appeased. Indeed, God is appeased by blood, and God desires blood, and God delights in the smoke of sacrifices, or seeks the smell of incense or other aromatics who creates all, who gives all to you? Perish the thought! He is fed by your devotion, and indeed that is useful to you, not to him whom you serve. Every human servant of a human master serves his master for the benefit of his master, and in turn, the master looks after his servant for the benefit of the servant. Not so with God. Whoever serves him, serves him for his own benefit, not for his. And do I perhaps say this on my own? Hear the prophet: "I said to the Lord." What? "You are my Lord." Why? "Because you do not need my good things," he says. You have an absolute sentence, there is no doubt: God does not need your good things. Therefore do not believe that your God needs such sacrifices, but seek what they teach, what they signify. Formerly, blood was shed from victims, because the true one victim's blood to be shed was foretold, the blood of your Lord, the blood your price, the blood by which your debt's handwriting would be erased, that is, the oldness of your sin would be abolished. It has come, it has been shed, he himself is offered. Let the day breathe now, and let the shadows be removed. "Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. For behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" Now we understand why those things preceded which foretold what was to come. All things are interpreted in relation to Christ, all things have an end in Christ. "For behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" Before all these new things happened, the old things were carried out and not understood.
Augustine is not a debater, but a reader.
What follows then? I will make a way in the wilderness. In which wilderness? Certainly of the nations, where there was no worship of the true God. I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the dry land. Nowhere among the nations were the prophets read, now their Scripture is spread through all nations. Behold rivers in the dry land. The beasts of the field will bless me. What are the beasts of the field, if not understood as the nations? The beasts of the field and sirens, daughters of sparrows, will bless me. Some impious souls, daughters of demons, will bless me. How, unless by deserting the devil they turn to Christ? "But these things are still obscure and interpreted almost according to our understanding to something clearer. Say specifically where it is shown that God was displeased with sacrifices of victims." If I could not recite something clearer, I would not dare to take up this codex. Therefore, let your charity hear with patience. The beasts of the field and sirens, daughters of sparrows, will bless me. Why will they bless? Hear what follows: Because I will give water to the desert, and rivers in that place where there was no water, that I might give drink to my chosen kind. To which kind of yours? To my people whom I have acquired for myself. I did not call you Jacob, nor did I make you labor as Israel. Why do I need sheep for burnt offerings? Ah, brothers. I do not know if there is anyone who might say to me: "I do not understand. You say what you want, you interpret what you want." Now I have become not a disputant, but a reader. Refer this to that from which we started, where it says: You must not be mindful of former things nor consider the things of old. For it appears that God first commanded these things to be done for the sake of a certain sacrifice, foretelling the shedding of righteous blood and foreshadowing it through the likeness of victims. Now what does he say? Why do I need sheep for burnt offerings? For neither have you adorned me with your sacrifices, nor have you served me with your sacrifices. For I did not make you for this, that you should labor in incense. Lest perhaps someone says he forbade sacrifices, but allowed incense: For I did not make you for this, he says, that you should labor in incense, or that you should buy incense for me with silver, nor have I desired the fat of your sacrifices.
In the sacrifices of the old law there was not abolition, but testimony of sins.
Let us dare to say to the Lord our God: "And why did you establish these things beforehand?" Now here we seek understanding. This was not the abolition of these things, but a testimony to sins. What I said, I know is obscure and somewhat needs to be made clear. But I say briefly, because I have already said many things; if by chance I could explain this less due to the constraints of time, the Lord will be present so that I may be able to do so at another time. However, I say this: that people were such that they had certain wise men, holy, just, and they also had a carnal crowd, ignorant of why these commands were given, doing rather than understanding; now, however, through this prophet, he briefly shows why he commanded those things. When he said: "Neither did I desire the fat of your sacrifices," and other things like that, immediately as if it were asked why he commanded them then, he added and said: "But in your sins and iniquities you will stand before me." For all these things served as testimony to the sinners. Why this? Unless to break the pride of the neck. Why this? Unless because Christ was to come with grace, erasing the handwriting of sins, and the Jews would say: "We are just." But what does the Apostle say to them? "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." "From where, where do you prove that we have sinned?" "The sacrifices you offered for sins testify against you." This is what God says: "Neither did I desire the fat of your sacrifices, but in your sins and iniquities you will stand before me." Hence the sacrifices you offered convicted you, they did not cleanse you. Therefore now let the guilty people, broken of pride, confessing their sickness, seeking salvation, say to themselves: "What then shall I do? If my sins are not cleansed by those sacrifices, from where shall I be cleansed?"
Christ the physician and the medicine, he himself the priest and the sacrifice.
Listen to what follows: I am, I am he who blots out your iniquities, that you may be justified. I am, I am, not a bull, not a ram, not a goat, not any aromatics, not frankincense, but I am, I am he who blots out your iniquities, that you may be justified. How greatly he commended his grace! Lest anyone boast about the merits of works or the abundance of sacrifices, it was not enough to say once: I am, but by repeating this he more strongly commended it: I am, I am. He himself is the doctor, he himself the medicine. The doctor because the word, the medicine because the word was made flesh. He himself is the priest, he himself the sacrifice. I am, I am he who blots out your iniquities, that you may be justified. Lest perhaps, because he says: I blot out your iniquities, it always pleases you to sin, to this end he blots them out that you may be justified, that is, that with previous iniquities blotted out you may live rightly afterwards, so that you may receive what he has promised. Rightly also those Magi, the firstfruits of the nations, in whom as sin had abounded, so grace superabounded, being divinely warned not to return to Herod, they returned by another way. He who then changed the way of the Magi, now also changes the life of the wicked. Whose manifestation in the flesh, which is called theophany in Greek, nations justified in the Spirit today solemnly celebrate, that the solemnity may renew the memory, piety may flourish in devotion, charity may glow in the congregation, truth may shine among the envious.