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AUGUSTINE: CONFESSIONS INDEX

BOOK THIRTEEN

CHAPTER XXVII

42. Therefore I will speak before thee, O Lord, what is true, in order that the uninstructed[645] and the infidels, who require the mysteries of initiation and great works of miracles--which we believe are signified by the phrase, "Fishes and great whales"--may be helped in being gained [for the Church] when they endeavor to provide that thy servants are refreshed in body, or otherwise aided in this present life. For they do not really know why this should be done, and to what end. Thus the former do not feed the latter, and the latter do not feed the former; for neither do the former offer their "gifts" through a holy and right intent, nor do the others rejoice in the gifts of those who do not as yet see the "fruit." For it is on the "fruit" that the mind is fed, and by which it is gladdened. And, therefore, fishes and whales are not fed on such food as the earth alone brings forth when they have been separated and divided from the bitterness of "the waters" of the sea.

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