And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth, and with labour do we find the things that are before us: but the things that are in heaven who hath searched out?
Read Chapter 9
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Precisely by the name of sweat the sacred Scripture has called suffering in general, from which no one is exempt, because, whereas some suffer from difficult operations, others do so from excruciating cures. The studies of all those wishing to learn partake of these same sufferings. And what earth gives birth to thorns if not this one, which was not made burdensome by its maker when he created the first man? Now, however, according to what was written, "a corruptible body weighs down the soul, and the tent of clay burdens the mind with many thoughts. We barely grasp earthly things and laboriously discover what is at hand." Whether or not, then, the doctrines that a person studies are useful, it is necessary that he suffer, since a corruptible body weighs down the soul. For him too, this earth gives birth to thorns. Nor can one say that the rich are exempt from these thorns, especially since in the Gospel the thorns that suffocate the seeds that were sown, so they do not reach fruitfuln...
Is it not perhaps superfluous and extremely dangerous to have to inquire into what is beyond our logical capacities and exceeds our intelligence? How can what God works, mysteriously, be clear to us? Moreover, what eye of the heart can be so acute as to be able to gaze on God? And, indeed, who could understand things that are far superior to us, even if someone were to speak about and explain them? In fact, our Lord Jesus Christ once spoke to Nicodemus of spiritual rebirth, saying, "Truly, truly I say to you, if a person is not born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God," etc. But because he understood nothing, in the end Christ, revealing the coarseness of human intelligence and how far it is below the subtlety of certain concepts, says, "If you do not believe when I spoke to you of earthly things, how will you believe if I speak to you of heavenly things?" Then he adds, "Truly, truly I say to you: we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, but no one accepts our t...
