{"id":"01KJR8Q6KP0FAVT2NADX7RQQR9","cid":"bafkreih25hfz6xfvlq7m4ldacbias4b26oyp6hwu5k2ffn6cwxehewag7e","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":605830,"char_start":597832,"chunk_index":84,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":2000,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"knew to abound, and to suffer want, in Thee Who strengthenest him.\r\nFor ye Philippians also know (saith he), that in the beginning of the\r\nGospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no Church communicated with\r\nme as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in\r\nThessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Unto these good\r\nworks, he now rejoiceth that they are returned; and is gladdened that\r\nthey flourished again, as when a fruitful field resumes its green.\r\n\r\nWas it for his own necessities, because he said, Ye sent unto my\r\nnecessity? Rejoiceth he for that? Verily not for that. But how know we\r\nthis? Because himself says immediately, not because I desire a gift, but\r\nI desire fruit. I have learned of Thee, my God, to distinguish betwixt\r\na gift, and fruit. A gift, is the thing itself which he gives, that\r\nimparts these necessaries unto us; as money, meat, drink, clothing,\r\nshelter, help: but the fruit, is the good and right will of the giver.\r\nFor the Good Master said not only, He that receiveth a prophet, but\r\nadded, in the name of a prophet: nor did He only say, He that receiveth\r\na righteous man, but added, in the name of a righteous man. So verily\r\nshall the one receive the reward of a prophet, the other, the reward of\r\na righteous man: nor saith He only, He that shall give to drink a cup\r\nof cold water to one of my little ones; but added, in the name of a\r\ndisciple: and so concludeth, Verily I say unto you, he shall not lose\r\nhis reward. The gift is, to receive a prophet, to receive a righteous\r\nman, to give a cup of cold water to a disciple: but the fruit, to do\r\nthis in the name of a prophet, in the name of a righteous man, in the\r\nname of a disciple. With fruit was Elijah fed by the widow that knew\r\nshe fed a man of God, and therefore fed him: but by the raven was he fed\r\nwith a gift. Nor was the inner man of Elijah so fed, but the outer only;\r\nwhich might also for want of that food have perished.\r\n\r\nI will then speak what is true in Thy sight, O Lord, that when carnal\r\nmen and infidels (for the gaining and initiating whom, the initiatory\r\nSacraments and the mighty workings of miracles are necessary, which we\r\nsuppose to be signified by the name of fishes and whales) undertake\r\nthe bodily refreshment, or otherwise succour Thy servant with something\r\nuseful for this present life; whereas they be ignorant, why this is to\r\nbe done, and to what end; neither do they feed these, nor are these\r\nfed by them; because neither do the one do it out of an holy and right\r\nintent; nor do the other rejoice at their gifts, whose fruit they as\r\nyet behold not. For upon that is the mind fed, of which it is glad.\r\nAnd therefore do not the fishes and whales feed upon such meats, as the\r\nearth brings not forth until after it was separated and divided from the\r\nbitterness of the waves of the sea.\r\n\r\nAnd Thou, O God, sawest every thing that Thou hadst made, and, behold,\r\nit was very good. Yea we also see the same, and behold, all things are\r\nvery good. Of the several kinds of Thy works, when Thou hadst said \"let\r\nthem be,\" and they were, Thou sawest each that it was good. Seven times\r\nhave I counted it to be written, that Thou sawest that that which Thou\r\nmadest was good: and this is the eighth, that Thou sawest every thing\r\nthat Thou hadst made, and, behold, it was not only good, but also very\r\ngood, as being now altogether. For severally, they were only good; but\r\naltogether, both good, and very good. All beautiful bodies express the\r\nsame; by reason that a body consisting of members all beautiful, is\r\nfar more beautiful than the same members by themselves are, by whose\r\nwell-ordered blending the whole is perfected; notwithstanding that the\r\nmembers severally be also beautiful.\r\n\r\nAnd I looked narrowly to find, whether seven, or eight times Thou sawest\r\nthat Thy works were good, when they pleased Thee; but in Thy seeing I\r\nfound no times, whereby I might understand that Thou sawest so often,\r\nwhat Thou madest. And I said, \"Lord, is not this Thy Scripture true,\r\nsince Thou art true, and being Truth, hast set it forth? why then dost\r\nThou say unto me, 'that in Thy seeing there be no times'; whereas this\r\nThy Scripture tells me, that what Thou madest each day, Thou sawest that\r\nit was good: and when I counted them, I found how often.\" Unto this Thou\r\nanswerest me, for Thou art my God, and with a strong voice tellest Thy\r\nservant in his inner ear, breaking through my deafness and crying, \"O\r\nman, that which My Scripture saith, I say: and yet doth that speak in\r\ntime; but time has no relation to My Word; because My Word exists\r\nin equal eternity with Myself. So the things which ye see through My\r\nSpirit, I see; like as what ye speak by My Spirit, I speak. And so when\r\nye see those things in time, I see them not in time; as when ye speak in\r\ntime, I speak them not in time.\"\r\n\r\nAnd I heard, O Lord my God, and drank up a drop of sweetness out of Thy\r\ntruth, and understood, that certain men there be who mislike Thy works;\r\nand say, that many of them Thou madest, compelled by necessity; such\r\nas the fabric of the heavens, and harmony of the stars; and that Thou\r\nmadest them not of what was Thine, but that they were otherwhere and\r\nfrom other sources created, for Thee to bring together and compact and\r\ncombine, when out of Thy conquered enemies Thou raisedst up the walls of\r\nthe universe; that they, bound down by the structure, might not again\r\nbe able to rebel against Thee. For other things, they say Thou neither\r\nmadest them, nor even compactedst them, such as all flesh and all very\r\nminute creatures, and whatsoever hath its root in the earth; but that\r\na mind at enmity with Thee, and another nature not created by Thee, and\r\ncontrary unto Thee, did, in these lower stages of the world, beget and\r\nframe these things. Frenzied are they who say thus, because they see not\r\nThy works by Thy Spirit, nor recognise Thee in them.\r\n\r\nBut they who by Thy Spirit see these things, Thou seest in them.\r\nTherefore when they see that these things are good, Thou seest that they\r\nare good; and whatsoever things for Thy sake please, Thou pleasest in\r\nthem, and what through Thy Spirit please us, they please Thee in us. For\r\nwhat man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man, which is\r\nin him? even so the things of God knoweth no one, but the Spirit of God.\r\nNow we (saith he) have received, not the spirit of this world, but the\r\nSpirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely\r\ngiven to us of God. And I am admonished, \"Truly the things of God\r\nknoweth no one, but the Spirit of God: how then do we also know, what\r\nthings are given us of God?\" Answer is made me; \"because the things\r\nwhich we know by His Spirit, even these no one knoweth, but the Spirit\r\nof God. For as it is rightly said unto those that were to speak by the\r\nSpirit of God, it is not ye that speak: so is it rightly said to them\r\nthat know through the Spirit of God, 'It is not ye that know.' And no\r\nless then is it rightly said to those that see through the Spirit of\r\nGod, 'It is not ye that see'; so whatsoever through the Spirit of God\r\nthey see to be good, it is not they, but God that sees that it is good.\"\r\nIt is one thing then for a man to think that to be ill which is good,\r\nas the forenamed do; another, that that which is good, a man should see\r\nthat it is good (as Thy creatures be pleasing unto many, because they\r\nbe good, whom yet Thou pleasest not in them, when they prefer to enjoy\r\nthem, to Thee); and another, that when a man sees a thing that it is\r\ngood, God should in him see that it is good, so, namely, that He should\r\nbe loved in that which He made, Who cannot be loved, but by the Holy\r\nGhost which He hath given. Because the love of God is shed abroad in our\r\nhearts by the Holy Ghost, Which is given unto us: by Whom we see that\r\nwhatsoever in any degree is, is good. For from Him it is, who Himself Is\r\nnot in degree, but what He Is, Is.\r\n\r\nThanks to Thee, O Lord."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8RTCYNPSJXBCHA5BCRYF7","peer_label":"thessalonica","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"city","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:10.011Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SMJ2XN7FCKA20SN06GK4","peer_label":"elijah","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"biblical_figure","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:10.011Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RBE420Z52P5C5FRBHSX6","peer_label":"god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"deity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:10.011Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8ST6N65CNXQJ2V4C6R7MA","peer_label":"gift theological 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