St. Augustine Confessions Book 7 Book 8
7.1.1
Deceased was now that my evil and abominable youth, and I was
passing into early manhood; the more defiled by vain things as I grew
in years, who could not imagine any substance, but such as is wont
to be seen with these eyes. I thought not of Thee, O God, under the
figure of a human body; since I began to hear aught of wisdom, I always
avoided this; and rejoiced to have found the same in the faith of
our spiritual mother, Thy Catholic Church. But what else to conceive
of Thee I knew not. And I, a man, and such a man, sought to conceive
of Thee the sovereign, only, true God; and I did in my inmost soul
believe that Thou wert incorruptible, and uninjurable, and unchangeable;
because though not knowing whence or how, yet I saw plainly, and was
sure, that that which may be corrupted must be inferior to that which
cannot; what could not be injured I preferred unhesitatingly to what
could receive injury; the unchangeable to things subject to change.
My heart passionately cried out against all my phantoms, and with
this one blow I sought to beat away from the eye of my mind all that
unclean troop which buzzed around it. And to, being scarce put off,
in the twinkling of an eye they gathered again thick about me, flew
against my face, and beclouded it; so that though not under the form
of the human body, yet was I constrained to conceive of Thee (that
incorruptible, uninjurable, and unchangeable, which I preferred before
the corruptible, and injurable, and changeable) as being in space,
whether infused into the world, or diffused infinitely without it.
Because whatsoever I conceived, deprived of this space, seemed to
me nothing, yea altogether nothing, not even a void, as if a body
were taken out of its place, and the place should remain empty of
any body at all, of earth and water, air and heaven, yet would it
remain a void place, as it were a spacious nothing.
7.1.2
I then being thus gross-hearted, nor clear even to myself, whatsoever
was not extended over certain spaces, nor diffused, nor condensed,
nor swelled out, or did not or could not receive some of these dimensions,
I thought to be altogether nothing. For over such forms as my eyes
are wont to range, did my heart then range: nor yet did I see that
this same notion of the mind, whereby I formed those very images,
was not of this sort, and yet it could not have formed them, had not
itself been some great thing. So also did I endeavour to conceive
of Thee, Life of my life, as vast, through infinite spaces on every
side penetrating the whole mass of the universe, and beyond it, every
way, through unmeasurable boundless spaces; so that the earth should
have Thee, the heaven have Thee, all things have Thee, and they be
bounded in Thee, and Thou bounded nowhere. For that as the body of
this air which is above the earth, hindereth not the light of the
sun from passing through it, penetrating it, not by bursting or by
cutting, but by filling it wholly: so I thought the body not of heaven,
air, and sea only, but of the earth too, pervious to Thee, so that
in all its parts, the greatest as the smallest, it should admit Thy
presence, by a secret inspiration, within and without, directing all
things which Thou hast created. So I guessed, only as unable to conceive
aught else, for it was false. For thus should a greater part of the
earth contain a greater portion of Thee, and a less, a lesser: and
all things should in such sort be full of Thee, that the body of an
elephant should contain more of Thee, than that of a sparrow, by how
much larger it is, and takes up more room; and thus shouldest Thou
make the several portions of Thyself present unto the several portions
of the world, in fragments, large to the large, petty to the petty.
But such art not Thou. But not as yet hadst Thou enlightened my darkness.
7.2.3
It was enough for me, Lord, to oppose to those deceived deceivers,
and dumb praters, since Thy word sounded not out of them; -that was
enough which long ago, while we were yet at Carthage, Nebridius used
to propound, at which all we that heard it were staggered: "That said
nation of darkness, which the Manichees are wont to set as an opposing
mass over against Thee, what could it have done unto Thee, hadst Thou
refused to fight with it? For, if they answered, 'it would have done
Thee some hurt,' then shouldest Thou be subject to injury and corruption:
but if could do Thee no hurt,' then was no reason brought for Thy
fighting with it; and fighting in such wise, as that a certain portion
or member of Thee, or offspring of Thy very Substance, should he mingled
with opposed powers, and natures not created by Thee, and be by them
so far corrupted and changed to the worse, as to be turned from happiness
into misery, and need assistance, whereby it might be extricated and
purified; and that this offspring of Thy Substance was the soul, which
being enthralled, defiled, corrupted, Thy Word, free, pure, and whole,
might relieve; that Word itself being still corruptible because it
was of one and the same Substance. So then, should they affirm Thee,
whatsoever Thou art, that is, Thy Substance whereby Thou art, to be
incorruptible, then were all these sayings false and execrable; but
if corruptible, the very statement showed it to be false and revolting."
This argument then of Nebridius sufficed against those who deserved
wholly to be vomited out of the overcharged stomach; for they had
no escape, without horrible blasphemy of heart and tongue, thus thinking
and speaking of Thee.
7.3.4
But I also as yet, although I held and was firmly persuaded that
Thou our Lord the true God, who madest not only our souls, but our
bodies, and not only our souls and bodies, but all beings, and all
things, wert undefilable and unalterable, and in no degree mutable;
yet understood I not, clearly and without difficulty, the cause of
evil. And yet whatever it were, I perceived it was in such wise to
be sought out, as should not constrain me to believe the immutable
God to be mutable, lest I should become that evil I was seeking out.
I sought it out then, thus far free from anxiety, certain of the untruth
of what these held, from whom I shrunk with my whole heart: for I
saw, that through enquiring the origin of evil, they were filled with
evil, in that they preferred to think that Thy substance did suffer
ill than their own did commit it.
7.3.5
And I strained to perceive what I now heard, that free-will was
the cause of our doing ill, and Thy just judgment of our suffering
ill. But I was not able clearly to discern it. So then endeavouring
to draw my soul's vision out of that deep pit, I was again plunged
therein, and endeavouring often, I was plunged back as often. But
this raised me a little into Thy light, that I knew as well that I
had a will, as that I lived: when then I did will or nill any thing,
I was most sure that no other than myself did will and nill: and I
all but saw that there was the cause of my sin. But what I did against
my will, I saw that I suffered rather than did, and I judged not to
be my fault, but my punishment; whereby, however, holding Thee to
be just, I speedily confessed myself to be not unjustly punished.
But again I said, Who made me? Did not my God, Who is not only good,
but goodness itself? Whence then came I to will evil and nill good,
so that I am thus justly punished? who set this in me, and ingrated
into me this plant of bitterness, seeing I was wholly formed by my
most sweet God? If the devil were the author, whence is that same
devil? And if he also by his own perverse will, of a good angel became
a devil, whence, again, came in him that evil will whereby he became
a devil, seeing the whole nature of angels was made by that most good
Creator? By these thoughts I was again sunk down and choked; yet not
brought down to that hell of error (where no man confesseth unto Thee),
to think rather that Thou dost suffer ill, than that man doth it.
7.4.6
For I was in such wise striving to find out the rest, as one
who had already found that the incorruptible must needs be better
than the corruptible: and Thee therefore, whatsoever Thou wert, I
confessed to be incorruptible. For never soul was, nor shall be, able
to conceive any thing which may be better than Thou, who art the sovereign
and the best good. But since most truly and certainly, the incorruptible
is preferable to the corruptible (as I did now prefer it), then, wert
Thou not incorruptible, I could in thought have arrived at something
better than my God. Where then I saw the incorruptible to be preferable
to the corruptible, there ought I to seek for Thee, and there observe
"wherein evil itself was"; that is, whence corruption comes, by which
Thy substance can by no means be impaired. For corruption does no
ways impair our God; by no will, by no necessity, by no unlooked-for
chance: because He is God, and what He wills is good, and Himself
is that good; but to be corrupted is not good. Nor art Thou against
Thy will constrained to any thing, since Thy will is not greater than
Thy power. But greater should it be, were Thyself greater than Thyself.
For the will and power of God is God Himself. And what can be unlooked--
for by Thee, Who knowest all things? Nor is there any nature in things,
but Thou knowest it. And what should we more say, "why that substance
which God is should not be corruptible," seeing if it were so, it
should not be God?
7.5.7
And I sought "whence is evil," and sought in an evil way; and
saw not the evil in my very search. I set now before the sight of
my spirit the whole creation, whatsoever we can see therein (as sea,
earth, air, stars, trees, mortal creatures); yea, and whatever in
it we do not see, as the firmament of heaven, all angels moreover,
and all the spiritual inhabitants thereof. But these very beings,
as though they were bodies, did my fancy dispose in place, and I made
one great mass of Thy creation, distinguished as to the kinds of bodies;
some, real bodies, some, what myself had feigned for spirits. And
this mass I made huge, not as it was (which I could not know), but
as I thought convenient, yet every way finite. But Thee, O Lord, I
imagined on every part environing and penetrating it, though every
way infinite: as if there were a sea, every where, and on every side,
through unmeasured space, one only boundless sea, and it contained
within it some sponge, huge, but bounded; that sponge must needs,
in all its parts, be filled from that unmeasurable sea: so conceived
I Thy creation, itself finite, full of Thee, the Infinite; and I said,
Behold God, and behold what God hath created; and God is good, yea,
most mightily and incomparably better than all these: but yet He,
the Good, created them good; and see how He environeth and fulfils
them. Where is evil then, and whence, and how crept it in hither?
What is its root, and what its seed? Or hath it no being? Why then
fear we and avoid what is not? Or if we fear it idly, then is that
very fear evil, whereby the soul is thus idly goaded and racked. Yea,
and so much a greater evil, as we have nothing to fear, and yet do
fear. Therefore either is that evil which we fear, or else evil is,
that we fear. Whence is it then? seeing God, the Good, hath created
all these things good. He indeed, the greater and chiefest Good, hath
created these lesser goods; still both Creator and created, all are
good. Whence is evil? Or, was there some evil matter of which He made,
and formed, and ordered it, yet left something in it which He did
not convert into good? Why so then? Had He no might to turn and change
the whole, so that no evil should remain in it, seeing He is All-mighty?
Lastly, why would He make any thing at all of it, and not rather by
the same All-mightiness cause it not to be at all? Or, could it then
be against His will? Or if it were from eternity, why suffered He
it so to be for infinite spaces of times past, and was pleased so
long after to make something out of it? Or if He were suddenly pleased
now to effect somewhat, this rather should the All-mighty have effected,
that this evil matter should not be, and He alone be, the whole, true,
sovereign, and infinite Good. Or if it was not good that He who was
good should not also frame and create something that were good, then,
that evil matter being taken away and brought to nothing, He might
form good matter, whereof to create all things. For He should not
be All-mighty, if He might not create something good without the aid
of that matter which Himself had not created. These thoughts I revolved
in my miserable heart, overcharged with most gnawing cares, lest I
should die ere I had found the truth; yet was the faith of Thy Christ,
our Lord and Saviour, professed in the Church Catholic, firmly fixed
in my heart, in many points, indeed, as yet unformed, and fluctuating
from the rule of doctrine; yet did not my mind utterly leave it, but
rather daily took in more and more of it.
7.6.8
But this time also had I rejected the lying divinations and impious
dotages of the astrologers. Let Thine own mercies, out of my very
inmost soul, confess unto Thee for this also, O my God. For Thou,
Thou altogether (for who else calls us back from the death of all
errors, save the Life which cannot die, and the Wisdom which needing
no light enlightens the minds that need it, whereby the universe is
directed, down to the whirling leaves of trees?) -Thou madest provision
for my obstinacy wherewith I struggled against Vindicianus, an acute
old man, and Nebridius, a young man of admirable talents; the first
vehemently affirming, and the latter often (though with some doubtfulness)
saying, "That there was no such art whereby to foresee things to come,
but that men's conjectures were a sort of lottery, and that out of
many things which they said should come to pass, some actually did,
unawares to them who spake it, who stumbled upon it, through their
oft speaking." Thou providedst then a friend for me, no negligent
consulter of the astrologers; nor yet well skilled in those arts,
but (as I said) a curious consulter with them, and yet knowing something,
which he said he had heard of his father, which how far it went to
overthrow the estimation of that art, he knew not. This man then,
Firminus by name, having had a liberal education, and well taught
in Rhetoric, consulted me, as one very dear to him, what, according
to his socalled constellations, I thought on certain affairs of his,
wherein his worldly hopes had risen, and I, who had herein now begun
to incline towards Nebridius' opinion, did not altogether refuse to
conjecture, and tell him what came into my unresolved mind; but added,
that I was now almost persuaded that these were but empty and ridiculous
follies. Thereupon he told me that his father had been very curious
in such books, and had a friend as earnest in them as himself, who
with joint study and conference fanned the flame of their affections
to these toys, so that they would observe the moments whereat the
very dumb animals, which bred about their houses, gave birth, and
then observed the relative position of the heavens, thereby to make
fresh experiments in this so-called art. He said then that he had
heard of his father, that what time his mother was about to give birth
to him, Firminus, a woman-servant of that friend of his father's was
also with child, which could not escape her master, who took care
with most exact diligence to know the births of his very puppies.
And so it was that (the one for his wife, and the other for his servant,
with the most careful observation, reckoning days, hours, nay, the
lesser divisions of the hours) both were delivered at the same instant;
so that both were constrained to allow the same constellations, even
to the minutest points, the one for his son, the other for his new--
born slave. For so soon as the women began to be in labour, they each
gave notice to the other what was fallen out in their houses, and
had messengers ready to send to one another so soon as they had notice
of the actual birth, of which they had easily provided, each in his
own province, to give instant intelligence. Thus then the messengers
of the respective parties met, he averred, at such an equal distance
from either house that neither of them could make out any difference
in the position of the stars, or any other minutest points; and yet
Firminus, born in a high estate in his parents' house, ran his course
through the gilded paths of life, was increased in riches, raised
to honours; whereas that slave continued to serve his masters, without
any relaxation of his yoke, as Firminus, who knew him, told me.
7.6.9
Upon hearing and believing these things, told by one of such
credibility, all that my resistance gave way; and first I endeavoured
to reclaim Firminus himself from that curiosity, by telling him that
upon inspecting his constellations, I ought if I were to predict truly,
to have seen in them parents eminent among their neighbours, a noble
family in its own city, high birth, good education, liberal learning.
But if that servant had consulted me upon the same constellations,
since they were his also, I ought again (to tell him too truly) to
see in them a lineage the most abject, a slavish condition, and every
thing else utterly at variance with the former. Whence then, if I
spake the truth, I should, from the same constellations, speak diversely,
or if I spake the same, speak falsely: thence it followed most certainly
that whatever, upon consideration of the constellations, was spoken
truly, was spoken not out of art, but chance; and whatever spoken
falsely, was not out of ignorance in the art, but the failure of the
chance.
7.6.10
An opening thus made, ruminating with myself on the like things,
that no one of those dotards (who lived by such a trade, and whom
I longed to attack, and with derision to confute) might urge against
me that Firminus had informed me falsely, or his father him; I bent
my thoughts on those that are born twins, who for the most part come
out of the womb so near one to other, that the small interval (how
much force soever in the nature of things folk may pretend it to have)
cannot be noted by human observation, or be at all expressed in those
figures which the astrologer is to inspect, that he may pronounce
truly. Yet they cannot be true: for looking into the same figures,
he must have predicted the same of Esau and Jacob, whereas the same
happened not to them. Therefore he must speak falsely; or if truly,
then, looking into the same figures, he must not give the same answer.
Not by art, then, but by chance, would he speak truly. For Thou, O
Lord, most righteous Ruler of the Universe, while consulters and consulted
know it not, dost by Thy hidden inspiration effect that the consulter
should hear what, according to the hidden deservings of souls, he
ought to hear, out of the unsearchable depth of Thy just judgment,
to Whom let no man say, What is this? Why that? Let him not so say,
for he is man.
7.7.11
Now then, O my Helper, hadst Thou loosed me from those fetters:
and I sought "whence is evil," and found no way. But Thou sufferedst
me not by any fluctuations of thought to be carried away from the
Faith whereby I believed Thee both to be, and Thy substance to be
unchangeable, and that Thou hast a care of, and wouldest judge men,
and that in Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, and the holy Scriptures, which
the authority of Thy Catholic Church pressed upon me, Thou hadst set
the way of man's salvation, to that life which is to be after this
death. These things being safe and immovably settled in my mind, I
sought anxiously "whence was evil?" What were the pangs of my teeming
heart, what groans, O my God! yet even there were Thine ears open,
and I knew it not; and when in silence I vehemently sought, those
silent contritions of my soul were strong cries unto Thy mercy. Thou
knewest what I suffered, and no man. For, what was that which was
thence through my tongue distilled into the ears of my most familiar
friends? Did the whole tumult of my soul, for which neither time nor
utterance sufficed, reach them? Yet went up the whole to Thy hearing,
all which I roared out from the groanings of my heart; and my desire
was before Thee, and the light of mine eyes was not with me: for that
was within, I without: nor was that confined to place, but I was intent
on things contained in place, but there found I no resting-place,
nor did they so receive me, that I could say, "It is enough," "it
is well": nor did they yet suffer me to turn back, where it might
be well enough with me. For to these things was I superior, but inferior
to Thee; and Thou art my true joy when subjected to Thee, and Thou
hadst subjected to me what Thou createdst below me. And this was the
true temperament, and middle region of my safety, to remain in Thy
Image, and by serving Thee, rule the body. But when I rose proudly
against Thee, and ran against the Lord with my neck, with the thick
bosses of my buckler, even these inferior things were set above me,
and pressed me down, and no where was there respite or space of breathing.
They met my sight on all sides by heaps and troops, and in thought
the images thereof presented themselves unsought, as I would return
to Thee, as if they would say unto me, "Whither goest thou, unworthy
and defiled?" And these things had grown out of my wound; for Thou
"humbledst the proud like one that is wounded," and through my own
swelling was I separated from Thee; yea, my pride-swollen face closed
up mine eyes.
7.8.12
But Thou, Lord, abidest for ever, yet not for ever art Thou angry
with us; because Thou pitiest our dust and ashes, and it was pleasing
in Thy sight to reform my deformities; and by inward goads didst Thou
rouse me, that I should be ill at ease, until Thou wert manifested
to my inward sight. Thus, by the secret hand of Thy medicining was
my swelling abated, and the troubled and bedimmed eyesight of my mind,
by the smarting anointings of healthful sorrows, was from day to day
healed.
7.9.13
And Thou, willing first to show me how Thou resistest the proud,
but givest grace unto the humble, and by how great an act of Thy mercy
Thou hadst traced out to men the way of humility, in that Thy Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among men:- Thou procuredst for me, by means
of one puffed up with most unnatural pride, certain books of the Platonists,
translated from Greek into Latin. And therein I read, not indeed in
the very words, but to the very same purpose, enforced by many and
divers reasons, that In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God: the Same was in the beginning with
God: all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made:
that which was made by Him is life, and the life was the light of
men, and the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended
it not. And that the soul of man, though it bears witness to the light,
yet itself is not that light; but the Word of God, being God, is that
true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And
that He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world
knew Him not. But, that He came unto His own, and His own received
Him not; but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become
the sons of God, as many as believed in His name; this I read not
there.
7.9.14
Again I read there, that God the Word was born not of flesh nor
of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but
of God. But that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, I read
not there. For I traced in those books that it was many and divers
ways said, that the Son was in the form of the Father, and thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, for that naturally He was the
Same Substance. But that He emptied Himself, taking the form of a
servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as
a man, humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, and that the
death of the cross: wherefore God exalted Him from the dead, and gave
Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should how, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under
the earth; and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus
Christ is in the glory of God the Father; those books have not. For
that before all times and above all times Thy Only-Begotten Son remaineth
unchangeable, co-eternal with Thee, and that of His fulness souls
receive, that they may be blessed; and that by participation of wisdom
abiding in them, they are renewed, so as to be wise, is there. But
that in due time He died for the ungodly; and that Thou sparedst not
Thine Only Son, but deliveredst Him for us all, is not there. For
Thou hiddest these things from the wise, and revealedst them to babes;
that they that labour and are heavy laden might come unto Him, and
He refresh them, because He is meek and lowly in heart; and the meek
He directeth in judgment, and the gentle He teacheth His ways, beholding
our lowliness and trouble, and forgiving all our sins. But such as
are lifted up in the lofty walk of some would-be sublimer learning,
hear not Him, saying, Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart,
and ye shall find rest to your souls. Although they knew God, yet
they glorify Him not as God, nor are thankful, but wax vain in their
thoughts; and their foolish heart is darkened; professing that they
were wise, they became fools.
7.9.15
And therefore did I read there also, that they had changed the
glory of Thy incorruptible nature into idols and divers shapes, into
the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and birds, and beasts,
and creeping things; namely, into that Egyptian food for which Esau
lost his birthright, for that Thy first-born people worshipped the
head of a four-footed beast instead of Thee; turning in heart back
towards Egypt; and bowing Thy image, their own soul, before the image
of a calf that eateth hay. These things found I here, but I fed not
on them. For it pleased Thee, O Lord, to take away the reproach of
diminution from Jacob, that the elder should serve the younger: and
Thou calledst the Gentiles into Thine inheritance. And I had come
to Thee from among the Gentiles; and I set my mind upon the gold which
Thou willedst Thy people to take from Egypt, seeing Thine it was,
wheresoever it were. And to the Athenians Thou saidst by Thy Apostle,
that in Thee we live, move, and have our being, as one of their own
poets had said. And verily these books came from thence. But I set
not my mind on the idols of Egypt, whom they served with Thy gold,
who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served
the creature more than the Creator.
7.10.16
And being thence admonished to return to myself, I entered even
into my inward self, Thou being my Guide: and able I was, for Thou
wert become my Helper. And I entered and beheld with the eye of my
soul (such as it was), above the same eye of my soul, above my mind,
the Light Unchangeable. Not this ordinary light, which all flesh may
look upon, nor as it were a greater of the same kind, as though the
brightness of this should be manifold brighter, and with its greatness
take up all space. Not such was this light, but other, yea, far other
from these. Nor was it above my soul, as oil is above water, nor yet
as heaven above earth: but above to my soul, because It made me; and
I below It, because I was made by It. He that knows the Truth, knows
what that Light is; and he that knows It, knows eternity. Love knoweth
it. O Truth Who art Eternity! and Love Who art Truth! and Eternity
Who art Love! Thou art my God, to Thee do I sigh night and day. Thee
when I first knew, Thou liftedst me up, that I might see there was
what I might see, and that I was not yet such as to see. And Thou
didst beat back the weakness of my sight, streaming forth Thy beams
of light upon me most strongly, and I trembled with love and awe:
and I perceived myself to be far off from Thee, in the region of unlikeness,
as if I heard this Thy voice from on high: "I am the food of grown
men, grow, and thou shalt feed upon Me; nor shalt thou convert Me,
like the food of thy flesh into thee, but thou shalt be converted
into Me." And I learned, that Thou for iniquity chastenest man, and
Thou madest my soul to consume away like a spider. And I said, "Is
Truth therefore nothing because it is not diffused through space finite
or infinite?" And Thou criedst to me from afar: "Yet verily, I AM
that I AM." And I heard, as the heart heareth, nor had I room to doubt,
and I should sooner doubt that I live than that Truth is not, which
is clearly seen, being understood by those things which are made.
7.11.17
And I beheld the other things below Thee, and I perceived that they
neither altogether are, nor altogether are not, for they are, since
they are from Thee, but are not, because they are not what Thou art.
For that truly is which remains unchangeably. It is good then for
me to hold fast unto God; for if I remain not in Him, I cannot in
myself; but He remaining in Himself, reneweth all things. And Thou
art the Lord my God, since Thou standest not in need of my goodness.
7.12.18
And it was manifested unto me, that those things be good which
yet are corrupted; which neither were they sovereignly good, nor unless
they were good could he corrupted: for if sovereignly good, they were
incorruptible, if not good at all, there were nothing in them to be
corrupted. For corruption injures, but unless it diminished goodness,
it could not injure. Either then corruption injures not, which cannot
be; or which is most certain, all which is corrupted is deprived of
good. But if they he deprived of all good, they shall cease to be.
For if they shall be, and can now no longer he corrupted, they shall
be better than before, because they shall abide incorruptibly. And
what more monstrous than to affirm things to become better by losing
all their good? Therefore, if they shall be deprived of all good,
they shall no longer be. So long therefore as they are, they are good:
therefore whatsoever is, is good. That evil then which I sought, whence
it is, is not any substance: for were it a substance, it should be
good. For either it should be an incorruptible substance, and so a
chief good: or a corruptible substance; which unless it were good,
could not be corrupted. I perceived therefore, and it was manifested
to me that Thou madest all things good, nor is there any substance
at all, which Thou madest not; and for that Thou madest not all things
equal, therefore are all things; because each is good, and altogether
very good, because our God made all things very good.
7.13.19
And to Thee is nothing whatsoever evil: yea, not only to Thee,
but also to Thy creation as a whole, because there is nothing without,
which may break in, and corrupt that order which Thou hast appointed
it. But in the parts thereof some things, because unharmonising with
other some, are accounted evil: whereas those very things harmonise
with others, and are good; and in themselves are good. And all these
things which harmonise not together, do yet with the inferior part,
which we call Earth, having its own cloudy and windy sky harmonising
with it. Far be it then that I should say, "These things should not
be": for should I see nought but these, I should indeed long for the
better; but still must even for these alone praise Thee; for that
Thou art to be praised, do show from the earth, dragons, and all deeps,
fire, hail, snow, ice, and stormy wind, which fulfil Thy word; mountains,
and all hills, fruitful trees, and all cedars; beasts, and all cattle,
creeping things, and flying fowls; kings of the earth, and all people,
princes, and all judges of the earth; young men and maidens, old men
and young, praise Thy Name. But when, from heaven, these praise Thee,
praise Thee, our God, in the heights all Thy angels, all Thy hosts,
sun and moon, all the stars and light, the Heaven of heavens, and
the waters that be above the heavens, praise Thy Name; I did not now
long for things better, because I conceived of all: and with a sounder
judgment I apprehended that the things above were better than these
below, but altogether better than those above by themselves.
7.14.20
There is no soundness in them, whom aught of Thy creation displeaseth:
as neither in me, when much which Thou hast made, displeased me. And
because my soul durst not be displeased at my God, it would fain not
account that Thine, which displeased it. Hence it had gone into the
opinion of two substances, and had no rest, but talked idly. And returning
thence, it had made to itself a God, through infinite measures of
all space; and thought it to be Thee, and placed it in its heart;
and had again become the temple of its own idol, to Thee abominable.
But after Thou hadst soothed my head, unknown to me, and closed mine
eyes that they should not behold vanity, I ceased somewhat of my former
self, and my frenzy was lulled to sleep; and I awoke in Thee, and
saw Thee infinite, but in another way, and this sight was not derived
from the flesh.
7.15.21
And I looked back on other things; and I saw that they owed their
being to Thee; and were all bounded in Thee: but in a different way;
not as being in space; but because Thou containest all things in Thine
hand in Thy Truth; and all things are true so far as they nor is there
any falsehood, unless when that is thought to be, which is not. And
I saw that all things did harmonise, not with their places only, but
with their seasons. And that Thou, who only art Eternal, didst not
begin to work after innumerable spaces of times spent; for that all
spaces of times, both which have passed, and which shall pass, neither
go nor come, but through Thee, working and abiding.
7.16.22
And I perceived and found it nothing strange, that bread which
is pleasant to a healthy palate is loathsome to one distempered: and
to sore eyes light is offensive, which to the sound is delightful.
And Thy righteousness displeaseth the wicked; much more the viper
and reptiles, which Thou hast created good, fitting in with the inferior
portions of Thy Creation, with which the very wicked also fit in;
and that the more, by how much they be unlike Thee; but with the superior
creatures, by how much they become more like to Thee. And I enquired
what iniquity was, and found it to be substance, but the perversion
of the will, turned aside from Thee, O God, the Supreme, towards these
lower things, and casting out its bowels, and puffed up outwardly.
7.17.23
And I wondered that I now loved Thee, and no phantasm for Thee.
And yet did I not press on to enjoy my God; but was borne up to Thee
by Thy beauty, and soon borne down from Thee by mine own weight, sinking
with sorrow into these inferior things. This weight was carnal custom.
Yet dwelt there with me a remembrance of Thee; nor did I any way doubt
that there was One to whom I might cleave, but that I was not yet
such as to cleave to Thee: for that the body which is corrupted presseth
down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that
museth upon many things. And most certain I was, that Thy invisible
works from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even Thy eternal power and Godhead. For
examining whence it was that I admired the beauty of bodies celestial
or terrestrial; and what aided me in judging soundly on things mutable,
and pronouncing, "This ought to be thus, this not"; examining, I say,
whence it was that I so judged, seeing I did so judge, I had found
the unchangeable and true Eternity of Truth above my changeable mind.
And thus by degrees I passed from bodies to the soul, which through
the bodily senses perceives; and thence to its inward faculty, to
which the bodily senses represent things external, whitherto reach
the faculties of beasts; and thence again to the reasoning faculty,
to which what is received from the senses of the body is referred
to be judged. Which finding itself also to be in me a thing variable,
raised itself up to its own understanding, and drew away my thoughts
from the power of habit, withdrawing itself from those troops of contradictory phantasms; that so it might find what that light was
whereby it was bedewed, when, without all doubting, it cried out,
"That the unchangeable was to be preferred to the changeable";
whence also it knew That Unchangeable, which, unless it had
in some way known, it had had no sure ground to prefer it to the
changeable. And thus with the flash of one trembling glance it
arrived at THAT WHICH IS. And then I saw Thy invisible things
understood by the things which are made. But I could not fix my gaze
thereon; and my infirmity being struck back, I was thrown again on
my wonted habits, carrying along with me only a loving memory thereof,
and a longing for what I had, as it were, perceived the odour of,
but was not yet able to feed on.
7.18.24
Then I sought a way of obtaining strength sufficient to enjoy
Thee; and found it not, until I embraced that Mediator betwixt God
and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who is over all, God blessed for evermore,
calling unto me, and saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life,
and mingling that food which I was unable to receive, with our flesh.
For, the Word was made flesh, that Thy wisdom, whereby Thou createdst
all things, might provide milk for our infant state. For I did not
hold to my Lord Jesus Christ, I, humbled, to the Humble; nor knew
I yet whereto His infirmity would guide us. For Thy Word, the Eternal
Truth, far above the higher parts of Thy Creation, raises up the subdued
unto Itself: but in this lower world built for Itself a lowly habitation
of our clay, whereby to abase from themselves such as would be subdued,
and bring them over to Himself; allaying their swelling, and tomenting
their love; to the end they might go on no further in self-confidence,
but rather consent to become weak, seeing before their feet the Divinity
weak by taking our coats of skin; and wearied, might cast themselves
down upon It, and It rising, might lift them up.
7.19.25
But I thought otherwise; conceiving only of my Lord Christ as
of a man of excellent wisdom, whom no one could be equalled unto;
especially, for that being wonderfully born of a Virgin, He seemed,
in conformity therewith, through the Divine care for us, to have attained
that great eminence of authority, for an ensample of despising things
temporal for the obtaining of immortality. But what mystery there
lay in "The Word was made flesh," I could not even imagine. Only I
had learnt out of what is delivered to us in writing of Him that He
did eat, and drink, sleep, walk, rejoiced in spirit, was sorrowful,
discoursed; that flesh did not cleave by itself unto Thy Word, but
with the human soul and mind. All know this who know the unchangeableness
of Thy Word, which I now knew, as far as I could, nor did I at all
doubt thereof. For, now to move the limbs of the body by will, now
not, now to be moved by some affection, now not, now to deliver wise
sayings through human signs, now to keep silence, belong to soul and
mind subject to variation. And should these things be falsely written
of Him, all the rest also would risk the charge, nor would there remain
in those books any saving faith for mankind. Since then they were
written truly, I acknowledged a perfect man to be in Christ; not the
body of a man only, nor, with the body, a sensitive soul without a
rational, but very man; whom, not only as being a form of Truth, but
for a certain great excellence of human nature and a more perfect
participation of wisdom, I judged to be preferred before others. But
Alypius imagined the Catholics to believe God to be so clothed with
flesh, that besides God and flesh, there was no soul at all in Christ,
and did not think that a human mind was ascribed to Him. And because
he was well persuaded that the actions recorded of Him could only
be performed by a vital and a rational creature, he moved the more
slowly towards the Christian Faith. But understanding afterwards that
this was the error of the Apollinarian heretics, he joyed in and was
conformed to the Catholic Faith. But somewhat later, I confess, did
I learn how in that saying, The Word was made flesh, the Catholic
truth is distinguished from the falsehood of Photinus. For the rejection
of heretics makes the tenets of Thy Church and sound doctrine to stand
out more clearly. For there must also be heresies, that the approved
may be made manifest among the weak.
7.20.26
But having then read those books of the Platonists, and thence
been taught to search for incorporeal truth, I saw Thy invisible things,
understood by those things which are made; and though cast back, I
perceived what that was which through the darkness of my mind I was
hindered from contemplating, being assured "That Thou wert, and wert
infinite, and yet not diffused in space, finite or infinite; and that
Thou truly art Who art the same ever, in no part nor motion varying;
and that all other things are from Thee, on this most sure ground
alone, that they are." Of these things I was assured, yet too unsure
to enjoy Thee. I prated as one well skilled; but had I not sought
Thy way in Christ our Saviour, I had proved to be, not skilled, but
killed. For now I had begun to wish to seem wise, being filled with
mine own punishment, yet I did not mourn, but rather scorn, puffed
up with knowledge. For where was that charity building upon the foundation
of humility, which is Christ Jesus? or when should these books teach
me it? Upon these, I believe, Thou therefore willedst that I should
fall, before I studied Thy Scriptures, that it might be imprinted
on my memory how I was affected by them; and that afterwards when
my spirits were tamed through Thy books, and my wounds touched by
Thy healing fingers, I might discern and distinguish between presumption
and confession; between those who saw whither they were to go, yet
saw not the way, and the way that leadeth not to behold only but to
dwell in the beatific country. For had I first been formed in Thy
Holy Scriptures, and hadst Thou in the familiar use of them grown
sweet unto me, and had I then fallen upon those other volumes, they
might perhaps have withdrawn me from the solid ground of piety, or,
had I continued in that healthful frame which I had thence imbibed,
I might have thought that it might have been obtained by the study
of those books alone.
7.21.27
Most eagerly then did I seize that venerable writing of Thy Spirit;
and chiefly the Apostle Paul. Whereupon those difficulties vanished
away, wherein he once seemed to me to contradict himself, and the
text of his discourse not to agree with the testimonies of the Law
and the Prophets. And the face of that pure word appeared to me one
and the same; and I learned to rejoice with trembling. So I began;
and whatsoever truth I had read in those other books, I found here
amid the praise of Thy Grace; that whoso sees, may not so glory as
if he had not received, not only what he sees, but also that he sees
(for what hath he, which he hath not received?), and that he may be
not only admonished to behold Thee, who art ever the same, but also
healed, to hold Thee; and that he who cannot see afar off, may yet
walk on the way, whereby he may arrive, and behold, and hold Thee.
For, though a man be delighted with the law of God after the inner
man, what shall he do with that other law in his members which warreth
against the law of his mind, and bringeth him into captivity to the
law of sin which is in his members? For, Thou art righteous, O Lord,
but we have sinned and committed iniquity, and have done wickedly,
and Thy hand is grown heavy upon us, and we are justly delivered over
unto that ancient sinner, the king of death; because he persuaded
our will to be like his will whereby he abode not in Thy truth. What
shall wretched man do? who shall deliver him from the body of his
death, but only Thy Grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, whom Thou
hast begotten co-eternal, and formedst in the beginning of Thy ways,
in whom the prince of this world found nothing worthy of death, yet
killed he Him; and the handwriting, which was contrary to us, was
blotted out? This those writings contain not. Those pages present
not the image of this piety, the tears of confession, Thy sacrifice,
a troubled spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, the salvation of
the people, the Bridal City, the earnest of the Holy Ghost, the Cup
of our Redemption. No man sings there, Shall not my soul be submitted
unto God? for of Him cometh my salvation. For He is my God and my
salvation, my guardian, I shall no more be moved. No one there hears
Him call, Come unto Me, all ye that labour. They scorn to learn of
Him, because He is meek and lowly in heart; for these things hast
Thou hid from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
For it is one thing, from the mountain's shaggy top to see the land
of peace, and to find no way thither; and in vain to essay through
ways unpassable, opposed and beset by fugitives and deserters, under
their captain the lion and the dragon: and another to keep on the
way that leads thither, guarded by the host of the heavenly General;
where they spoil not who have deserted the heavenly army; for they
avoid it, as very torment. These things did wonderfully sink into
my bowels, when I read that least of Thy Apostles, and had meditated
upon Thy works, and trembled exceedingly.
