for the human race sustains more grievously to suffer in the sight of many something dishonorable, either in words or in deeds; or also because they had compassion on those placed in prison, and supplied food and clothing as they were able: whence they had become their companions; for the same reward and recompense which the preacher of truth, placed in prison for the name of Christ and afflicted with other torments, receives, that same is he to receive who furnishes him support, that he may not fail in tribulations, as Truth itself promises, saying: 'He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive the reward of a prophet.' And it is to be noted that he did not say simply, 'afflicted with tribulations'; but he even made an argument, saying:
'You were made a spectacle.' For when one is reproached secretly, it seems easier to bear. But that they exhibited those things which we have enumerated, he now shows more openly, when he follows: 'For you both had compassion on them that were in bands, and took with joy the spoiling of your own goods.' He wonderfully praises them in faith: because if they did not have faith that they would receive better things in place of this substance taken away, they would not have taken with joy the spoiling of it. For as long as it was permitted them, they had compassion on the others who were despoiled and placed in prison. But those despoiled took with joy the spoiling and loss inflicted on them, believing they would receive better things; whence he adds: 'Knowing that you have a better and abiding substance.' As if he said:
Seeing that spiritual riches were to be yours in place of these temporal ones, you endured with joy the spoiling of temporal goods. But all this was an apostolic work and worthy of brave souls, that they should rejoice in scourgings. As it is said in the Acts of the Apostles: 'And they indeed went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus.' And to show that this temporal substance was not always going to abide, he therefore said that they had a better and abiding substance: as though he said, a firm and substantial and perpetual one, which cannot perish, as this earthly one perishes. 'Do not therefore lose your confidence, which hath a great reward.'
That is, Do not fail in tribulations, because the reward is great. And it appears that they were in great confidence toward God; which, lest they lose it, he most urgently exhorts them. For things are more easily kept whole than recovered once lost: wherefore what is held, and has fear, must needs have fortitude. Nothing, he says, is necessary for you, except that you stand firmly in your faith, and remain in your fortitude, which has a great reward with God. 'For patience is necessary for you: that, doing the will of God, you may receive the promise.' O how great the greatness of exhortation and consolation! As if one should say this to an athlete and contestant:
one who had overcome all, and had no one left who could contend with him. For example, while he said: 'Now that I have overcome all, and there is no one who contends with me, give me the crown,' anyone could say to him: 'Wait a little while, until the arbiter comes, or even the king, who may bring you the prize for your victory.' But if that athlete bore it impatiently, not enduring the thirst of water and of scorching heat, saying: 'Either give me what I deserve, or I will depart,' it would be said to him: 'Patiently endure this little delay; it is near at hand that the emperor should come, who will render you the prize.' He is indeed grieved, but much more so if publicly and in the sight of many:
for as the human race is greatly delighted by public praise, so it is easily overcome by reproaches openly inflicted upon it. In this manner the Apostle exhorts them not to fail, but patiently to await the coming of the Lord. 'Patience,' he says, 'is necessary for you'; that is, you have a true work, namely that you persevere in the contest until you receive the crown worthy of your labor. For not he who has begun will be crowned, but he who has persevered in the contest even to the end, this one will be saved. 'In your patience' (says the Lord) 'you shall possess your souls.' 'You may receive,' he said, 'the promise,' that is, you will receive the glory of everlasting blessedness. 'For yet a little while, and he that is to come will come, and will not delay.'
There is no doubt but that he signifies Christ: he consoles them as though there were but little time until He comes; for it is no small consolation of labor to hope quickly for the judge, and the rewarder of constancy and of the contest. 'But my just man liveth by faith. But if he withdraw himself, he shall not please my soul.' The Apostle brought in this prophetic testimony for the exhortation of faith, unto the acquiring of the soul. Just as the soul is the life of the body, so faith is the life of the soul: which indeed is conceived in the heart, confessed with the mouth, adorned with work; since faith without works is dead, from which faith if anyone withdraw himself, he will not please the will of God.
For it is not to be thought that God the Father, or the Holy Spirit, or the Son even in the nature of the divinity, has a soul; but divine Scripture, speaking in a human manner, when consulting for us His will, expresses it by the word 'soul.' But it is to be considered that, just as he will displease who has hesitated, so he will please God who has believed, living in his right faith: 'You have labored,' he says, 'in the contest, await that hope, do not here seek the things you hope for: because the just man lives by faith.' 'But we are not the children of withdrawing unto perdition, but of faith to the acquiring of the soul.' 'We are not,' he says, I and you, the children of those pagans and gentiles who withdraw themselves from the life of faith and eternal light unto the perdition of their souls:
but we are the children of the patriarchs, who had been proved by faith and perfected in faith, that they might acquire their own souls unto salvation, and moreover the souls of others by their example. CHAPTER XI. 'Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.' The order of the words is: Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, namely the evidence of things not appearing. Faith is to believe the things which are not seen; and while we believe those things in truth either to have been, or to be, or to be about to be, which we have not seen, faith itself makes them subsist in our heart, as if before our bodily eyes; but in things which are seen, there can be spoken neither belief nor unbelief, but rather it is to be called recognition.
But truly faith is to be as firm in mind concerning those things which are not seen as concerning those which are already seen; and while this happens, faith makes them subsist in us by believing: for example, to use at least a few examples out of many: The general resurrection has not yet taken place; and though it does not yet exist in substance, hope makes it subsist in our soul, as though we had it before our eyes. This is what I said, that faith is the substance of those things which are hoped for, not yet of those which are seen; and if this same faith is the evidence of things which do not yet appear, what is it that they now wish to see it? Some used to say that 'to argue' means 'to show': from which comes 'argument' (evidence), as it were a showing and foreshowing of future things and of those which are not seen.
Now an 'argument' is properly a line of reasoning that produces conviction concerning a doubtful matter. It is therefore plainly clear that faith is the argument for those things which cannot appear; for the things that do appear no longer have faith, as we said above, but recognition. Therefore, since Thomas saw, since he touched, why is it said to him, 'Because you have seen me, you have believed'? But one thing he saw, another he believed. For the Godhead cannot be seen by mortal man. He believed, therefore, by seeing, who, considering the true man to be God, whom he could not see, cried out. 'For in this'—supply: faith—'testimony'—of righteousness—'the elders obtained.' By 'elders' here we ought to understand the fathers of the Old Testament:
namely the patriarchs, the prophets, and the other just men who, by the faith with which they believed God and His promises, advanced the testimony of praise and righteousness. Whence Abraham, because he believed God, it was reckoned to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. But this faith is to be understood in such a way that it is believed in the heart, confessed with the mouth, and adorned with works. For he truly believes who by his working practices what he believes; whereas concerning those who retain the faith in name only, Paul says: 'They confess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny Him.' 'By faith we understand that the ages were framed by the word of God, so that from things invisible things visible might come to be.'
Because the souls of the Hebrews were still weak, and though they had made a beginning from faith, yet through the sufferings of tribulations were becoming faint-hearted and bore less patiently the evils inflicted upon them, the Apostle exhorted them first from their own case, saying, 'Call to remembrance the former days'; then from divine Scripture which says, 'The just shall live by faith'; then indeed from reasonings, showing faith to be the substance of things that do not appear; but now he begins to speak from their forefathers, marvelously setting them forth as an example, because just as all those were saved through faith, so also we all are saved through faith:
for when the soul finds a companion in the same sufferings, it rests and takes breath, as is wont to happen in faith and in tribulations of whatever kind. For the human race is exceedingly fragile and altogether wavering in its thinking; wherefore consolation from the faith and patience of those who went before is necessary. The Apostle therefore exhorts them indeed from the fathers, but first from the common beginning, saying: 'It is manifest,' he says, 'that God made the things which are out of things not existing, but from invisible things visible things, from things not existing things existing.' By reasoning, therefore, we cannot discover how He made all things out of nothing, or visible things from invisible; because we did not exist when they were made. Whence, then, is it held for certain?
Assuredly it is manifest that this—to believe—is a matter of faith; for by faith we believe that the ages were framed, that is, made perfect, as it were made; because the things that are seen were made not from visible but from invisible things. Now by the invisible things we can understand the formless matter, of which it is said at the beginning of Genesis: 'In the beginning,' he says, 'God created heaven and earth.' But by the name of 'heaven' we are not to understand this bodily heaven which is called the firmament, but the angelic nature and the spiritual heavens. By 'earth,' however, is understood the formless matter, out of which afterward all things were made; namely all bodily things, which then were in a certain manner invisible, when 'darkness was upon the face of the deep.'
But from invisible matter visible things were made, when all things were divided and distinguished by species and forms. It can also be understood in another way what he says, 'that from invisible things visible things came to be': the world, before it was formed, existed invisibly in the wisdom of God; yet through the completion of the work it was made visible to human sight. And as to what he says, that the ages were made perfect by the word of God, by 'ages' we ought to understand all things that were made in times or ages by the word of God the Father, according to what John said: 'All things were made by Him.' But 'ages' (saecula), as Ovidius Naso says, are so called from 'following' (a sequendo), because they follow one another and revolve, Varro being witness.
But 'ages' can be so called from the point at which the variation of time began to be. 'By faith Abel offered to God a fuller sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained testimony that he was righteous, God bearing witness to his gifts; and through it, being dead, he yet speaks.' He sets first the one who suffered evils, and that from his brother, setting forth their own proper example; for they too had suffered the same things from their fellow tribesmen and brothers. For Abel offered to God a fuller—that is, a greater—sacrifice than Cain: not that that sacrifice was greater in fleshly things, but whatever better thing Abel had, he offered it to God with a benevolent mind through faith, and thence his goods were multiplied to him;
and we understand that by this he pleased God, for he did it by faith: because he who believed that the things which he offered with good will pleased God, and that he would be rewarded by God—God also bearing witness to his gifts, whether because fire came down from heaven, as is read in Theodotion: 'because the Lord kindled a flame upon Abel and upon his gifts'; or through that sentence by which he was praised by the Lord in the Gospel, was proved to be righteous. For thus says the Lord in the Gospel: 'Amen I say to you, there shall be required of you the blood of the just which has been shed upon the earth, from the blood of just Abel even to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias.' Through that same sacrifice he still speaks, though dead, and it is said:
'The blood of Abel cries to me from the earth.' Or 'he yet speaks' means this: he indeed slew him in body, but could not slay his glory along with him; for while his glory is proclaimed throughout the whole world, while his praise is on the lips of men, while all admire him, though dead he yet speaks daily. For he who by his example admonishes others to be righteous, how does he not speak? 'By faith Enoch pleased God and was translated, that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God translated him.' Enoch pleased God through faith, because he was adorned with good works, believing that through it he altogether pleased God; wherefore he was translated into the earthly paradise, from which once Adam was cast out:
namely, that he should not experience bodily death until the time appointed by God should run its course; in what condition of life, or in what state he now abides in paradise, it is not ours to inquire. Yet this is to be believed: that without any trouble, and without any pain or labor, he rests in that paradise. And just as he lives without any assault of the flesh, without any concupiscence of the flesh, so, had the first man not sinned, when the whole number of the elect was completed, he would have been translated from the earthly paradise to the heavenly. But the cause of his being translated was that he had pleased God; and the cause of his pleasing God was his faith. For unless he had believed that God would render him the reward of his labor, how would he please Him?
For before his translation he had testimony that he had pleased God, Scripture saying: 'Because Enoch walked with God,' obeying His will. 'For without faith it is impossible to please God.' For Enoch believed that if anyone should believe God to exist and should draw near to Him, he would have a reward: because, therefore, faith is the foundation of all good things, therefore without faith one cannot please God. 'For he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that seek Him.' Thus whoever draws near to God by believing must believe that God is—that is, that He always has being—according to what He Himself says to Moses: 'I am who am'; and: 'He who is has sent me to you.'
He must also believe that He is a rewarder—eternal and true—to those who seek Him through good works, according to what the Psalmist says: 'Seek the Lord and be strengthened.' 'By faith Noah, having received an answer concerning those things which were not yet seen'—that is, concerning the rains—'fearing, framed the ark for the saving of his house; through which'—faith—'he condemned the world'—by the comparison, namely, of a better faith and deed—'and of the righteousness which is by faith he was made heir.' By faith he believed God, that He would bring waters upon the earth, He saying to him: 'The end of all flesh has come before me, and I will bring waters upon them: make yourself an ark of planed wood,' and the rest that follows; and therefore he was saved with his whole house, that is, his household.
But as to the completion of the work or of the reasoning, experience profited nothing in this matter: 'Others,' he says, 'were marrying' (as the Lord says in the Gospel), and the air was clear; and no signs of the flood appeared. Nevertheless he feared, and through faith concerning the things he did not yet see, fearing, he built the ark for the saving of his household; through which faith he condemned the world by the comparison of his own faith, which the world was unwilling to have; for he showed them worthy of this punishment, who through the space of a hundred years were unwilling to be corrected by the building of that ark: through faith too, not through law, he was made heir of righteousness, since he alone held the faith of the fathers, while the rest departed from him.
But he is called heir of the kingdom of heaven, or heir of the world, because from his seed came the restoration of the world, and from this he appeared righteous, because he believed God. 'By faith he who is called Abraham obeyed to go out into a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.' As if he said: Abraham too pleased God through faith; for as soon as God said to him, 'Go out from your land and go into the land which I will show you, and I will give it to you and to your seed,' he believed God and went out into the place which He had commanded him, not knowing whither he went: for the place and dwelling of that land was unknown to him; and inasmuch as he walked, he walked by faith; or 'not knowing whither he went,' since he had no one to imitate.
'By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange land, dwelling in cottages with Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs of the same promise.' 'Cottage' (casula) is a diminutive noun from 'casa,' that is, a house. But here it is put for the tents and tabernacles in which Abraham dwelt with Isaac and Jacob, after the manner of travelers and pilgrims, teaching them the faith of God, as being co-heirs of His promise. For that promise which was made to Abraham was made to Isaac and Jacob, and all of them are thus co-heirs in the promises of Abraham; for to Abraham it was said: 'In you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, and in Isaac shall your seed be called.' But to Isaac: 'God,' he says, 'fulfilling the oath which He swore to Abraham your father:'
'I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your posterity all these regions.' To Jacob also He said: 'I am God Almighty: I will make you to grow and to multiply into nations, and I will give to you the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac.' Behold how all are co-heirs in the promises of Abraham. But it is to be noted that Abraham's faith is doubled on account of the greatness of his faith; whence he is also called the head of faith. For as by faith he went out from his land, not knowing whither he went, so by faith he remained and sojourned in his land as in a strange one: he saw his son dwelling there as a stranger; he saw his grandson; he saw himself sojourning in a strange land, and was in no way troubled; although it had been said to him:
'For to you I will give it and to your seed,' yet neither he himself, nor Isaac, nor Jacob were placed in this promise, but their succession. And because, when he obeyed God going out from his land, he was not called Abraham but Abram, therefore the Apostle said advisedly: 'By faith he who is now called Abraham'—then he was called Abram—'sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange one.' First indeed he was called Ram, then Abram, at the last Abraham. 'For he looked for a city having foundations, whose builder and maker is God.' The heavenly city is said to have a foundation on account of its stability and firmness: in which whoever has once found a place can never be disinherited nor uprooted.
'Therefore,' he says, 'those by faith sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange one.' They gave no heed to the promises made on earth, but sought a future rest. For they showed themselves worthy of greater things: therefore He did not permit them to receive these, because He wished to give greater. 'By faith Sara herself also, being barren, received strength to conceive seed, even beyond the time of her age; because she believed Him faithful who had promised.' A question arises here: Why does he say that by faith Sara received strength to conceive, when she was rebuked by the angel for laughing, by reason of unbelief? For that laughter, even if it was of joy, was not of full faith; but the laughter of Abraham was both of joy and of full faith. This is resolved thus:
Because although she first doubted, yet afterward she was strengthened in faith by the words of the angel, and the cause of doubt being removed, faith was introduced, which gave strength in the conceiving of seed, since she was already mortified in age, and barren: for the obstruction was twofold, one of time—for she was already old; the other of nature—for she was barren: but she received strength to receive and retain the seed. For women are wont to be barren chiefly for two reasons: either because they do not have in the womb the strength of heat by which they cook the man's seed, if it comes into old age when womanly functions fail; or when the womb is closed even in youth, so that the seed does not come to the places of conception.
Against these things God gave strength—that is, against barrenness and old age. For the seed reached the place of conception well enough, and after it reached there, He gave firmness of offspring to the woman, and it came to pass that by the firmness of faith the unstable parts of the womb were strengthened, and 'all things were made possible to her that believed.' 'Therefore also from one, and him as good as dead, there were born, as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore, innumerable.' 'For this reason,' he says, because each had true faith—namely Abraham and Sara—from the one body of Abraham and Sara were born innumerable peoples. By these words he wished to show that Sara not only bore, but even more than any of fruitful women.
But he says they have one body, on account of what is said in Genesis: 'Because the two shall be in one flesh.' He added moreover still: 'And of this,' saying, 'body being as good as dead they were born'—not dead in life, but in seed. For an old man can indeed pour forth seed, but nevertheless lacks the firmness of seed, so that he might beget children, unless perhaps from a young girl, as some report. 'As the stars of heaven, or the sand of the sea,' was said hyperbolically. But by the stars of heaven are to be understood the good children of Abraham by faith from both peoples. But by the sand of the sea are understood the reprobate children of Abraham by the flesh from the Jewish people, who, always seeking earthly things, are weighed down by the burden of sins.
Even if the stars of heaven, or the sand of the sea, or even those who are designated by these, are innumerable, yet to God, to whom all things are open, they are numerable. 'According to faith'—that is, with faith—'all these died, not having received the promises, but beholding them from afar, and saluting them, and confessing that they were pilgrims and guests upon the earth.' 'For they that say these things'—supply: that they are pilgrims upon the earth—'signify that they seek a country.' 'And if indeed they had been mindful of that'—supply: land—'from which they came out, they would surely have had time to return. But now'—since they are unwilling to return to that from which they went out, but sojourn in a strange land, as pilgrims—'they desire a better,' that is, a heavenly one.
Two things here are worth inquiring into. For whereas above he had said, 'Enoch was translated, and was not seen, that he should not see death,' here he says: 'That according to faith all these died.' And whereas again he had said, 'That they did not receive the promises, but beheld them from afar,' above he had said of Abel, 'That he obtained testimony that he was righteous.' And of Enoch, that he was translated. Of Noah too, that he was saved when the world was condemned. Of Abraham, no less also of Isaac and Jacob, there is no doubt that they received very many promises both concerning Christ and concerning the land of promise. These two things bear a solution of this kind: as to what he first said, 'All these died with faith,' it is to be understood thus:
All these died, except Enoch alone, whom we know was translated. But as to what he added, that they did not receive the promises, it is manifest that in certain things they did receive them, in certain things not at all, nor in fullness. Enoch indeed received that he should not see death; Noah received that he should be saved; and those many others also received. But these were certain first-fruits to them, certain first tastings of things to come, not the fullness of the promises. For God grants us not only the things that are to come, but also bestows the things that are necessary for this life, as He said to His disciples: 'First seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things'—temporal, that is—'insofar as they are expedient for you, shall be added to you.'
For in this—that in the present age they in part merited the praise of righteousness, and did not perish with the ungodly, and were rich in temporal goods, although they were pilgrims (as is read of Abraham, that he was rich in silver and gold)—they had received certain tastings of the promises. But in this—that they beheld from afar the full promise, the promises which Christ, when He came, preached, saying: 'Whosoever shall leave house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother for my sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess eternal life'—that promise those before the Lord's coming did not obtain, although they had left all their own, as also the apostles did:
or even they did not obtain the promises concerning the Lord's coming: for although it had been promised to them, yet they did not see Him present in the world. They 'saluted' these same promises also—that is, they longed for them—as the Lord says in the Gospel: 'Many kings and prophets desired to see the things that you see, and saw them not; and to hear the things you hear, and heard them not.' He said 'saluting' by a metaphor from those who sail, who, seeing from afar the cities they have desired, before they enter them greet them with a salutation, and make them familiar to themselves. But they beheld these promises in faith, saluted them with desire, confessed with speech that they were pilgrims, according to what the Psalmist says: