Reflecting on the works of God (Augustine)

[Reformed Covenanter]

Is there anybody, after all, who can reflect on the works of God by which the whole of this universe is governed and administered and not be stunned and overwhelmed by the miracles? Just reflect on the force in a single grain of any seed you like; it is something tremendous, enough to set you trembling as you think about it.

Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John 1-40 (c. 406-20), trans. Edmund Hill, ed. Allan D. Fitzgerald, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, Volume 12 (Hyde Park NY: New City Press, 2009), 8.1, p. 168.

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

He makes a similar comment just below on the "miracle" of birth:

But because people have been so intent on other things that they have given up reflecting on the works of God and thereby praising the creator every day, it is as if God has kept in reserve some unusual things to do, and thus by miracles to rouse a slumbering humanity to render him due worship. Having died, he rose again; people were amazed; yet how many are born every day, and no one is amazed. If we thought about it a little more rationally, it is a more wonderful miracle for someone who did not exist just to be, than for someone who did exist to come back to life. And yet the same God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, makes all these things through his Word and governs what he created.

Augustine of Hippo, Homilies on the Gospel of John 1-40 (c. 406-20), trans. Edmund Hill, ed. Allan D. Fitzgerald, The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, Volume 12 (Hyde Park NY: New City Press, 2009), 8.1, p. 168.