departed from the sight of men, that faith might be established in their hearts, whosoever
believed, believed, though 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.
3. 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 He worketh greater cures,
on account of which He disdained not then to exhibit those lesser ones. For as the soul is
better than the body, so is the saving health of the soul better than the health of the body.
The blind body doth not now open its eyes by a miracle of the Lord, but the blinded heart
openeth its eyes to the word of the Lord. The mortal corpse doth not now rise again, but
the soul doth rise again which lay dead in a living body. The deaf ears of the body are not
now opened; but how many have the ears of their heart closed, which yet fly open at the
penetrating word of God, so that they believe who did not believe, and they live well, who
did live evilly, and they obey, who did not obey; and we say, “Such a man is become a believ-
er;” and we wonder when we hear of them whom once we had known as hardened. Why
then dost thou marvel at one who now believes, who is living innocently, and serving God;
but because thou dost behold him seeing, whom thou hadst known to be blind; dost behold
him living, whom thou hadst known to be dead; dost behold him hearing, whom thou hadst
known to be deaf? For consider that there are who are dead in another than the ordinary
sense, of whom the Lord spake to a certain man who delayed to follow the Lord, because
he wished to bury his father; “Let the dead,” said He, “bury their dead.”2874 Surely these
dead buriers are not dead in body; for if this were so, they could not bury dead bodies. Yet
doth he call them dead; where, but in the soul within? For as we may often see in a household,
itself sound and well, the master of the same house lying dead; so in a sound body do many
carry a dead soul within; and these the Apostle arouses thus, “Awake, thou that sleepest,
and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”2875 It is the Same who giveth light
to the blind, that awakeneth the dead. For it is with His voice that the cry is made by the
Apostle to the dead, “Awake, thou that sleepest.” And the blind will be enlightened with
light, when he shall have risen again. And how many deaf men did the Lord see before His
eyes, when He said, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”2876 For who was standing before
Him without his bodily ears? What other ears then did He seek for, but those of the inner
man?
4. Again, what eyes did He look for when He spake to those who saw indeed, but who
saw only with the eyes of the flesh? For when Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father,
2874 Matt. viii. 22.
2875 Eph. v. 14.
2876 Matt. xi. 15.
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On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xx. 30, about the two blind men sitting…