words He was speaking? . . . and the fruits of those same words
was the faith of those (who believed): but when the disciples
preached the Gospel, not some few like those, but the very nations
believed . . . (Tract. lxxii). Did not that rich man go away from His
presence sorrowful? . . . and yet afterwards, what one individual,
having heard from Him, did not, that many did when He spake by the
mouth of His disciples . . . Behold, He did greater works when spoken
of by men believing than when speaking to men hearing. But there is
yet this difficulty: that He did these 'greater works' by the
apostles: whereas He saith as meaning not only them: . . . 'He that
believeth in Me' . . . Listen! . . . 'He that believeth in Me, the
works that I do, he also shall do': first, 'I do,' then 'he also
shall do,' because I do that he may do. What works--but that from
ungodly he should be made righteous? . . . Which thing Christ worketh
in him, truly, but not without him. Yes, I may affirm this to be
altogether greater than to create" [*The words 'to create' are not in
the text of St. Augustine] "heaven and earth . . . for 'heaven and
earth shall pass away'; but the salvation and justification of the
predestinate shall remain . . . But also in the heavens . . . the
angels are the works of Christ: and does that man do greater works
than these, who co-operates with Christ in the work of his
justification? . . . let him, who can, judge whether it be greater to
create a righteous being than to justify an ungodly one. Certainly if
both are works of equal power, the latter is a work of greater mercy."

"But there is no need for us to understand all the works of Christ,
where He saith 'Greater than these shall he do.' For by 'these' He
meant, perhaps, those which He was doing at that hour: now at that
time He was speaking words of faith: . . . and certainly it is less
to preach words of righteousness, which thing He did without us, than
to justify the ungodly, which thing He so doth in us that we also do
it ourselves."

Reply Obj. 3: When some particular work is proper to some agent, then
that particular work is a sufficient proof of the whole power of that
agent: thus, since the act of reasoning is proper to man, the mere
fact that someone reasons about any particular proposition proves him
to be a man. In like manner, since it is proper to God to work
miracles by His own power, any single miracle worked by Christ by His
own power is a suff