SAINT AUGUSTINE
CONFESSIONS: BOOK SEVEN
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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AUGUSTINE'S THIRTY-FIRST YEAR; GRADUALLY
EXTRICATED FROM HIS ERRORS, BUT STILL WITH MATERIAL CONCEPTIONS OF GOD; MUCH
AIDED BY AN ARGUMENT OF NEBRIDIUS; SEES THAT THE CAUSE OF SIN LIES IN
FREE-WILL, REJECTS THE MANICHEAN HERESY, BUT CANNOT ALTOGETHER EMBRACE THE
DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH; RECOVERED FROM THE BELIEF IN ASTROLOGY, BUT MISERABLY
PERPLEXED ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF EVIL; IS LED TO FIND IN THE PLATONISTS THE SEEDS
OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE DIVINITY OF THE WORD, BUT NOT OF HIS HUMILIATION; HENCE
HE OBTAINS CLEARER NOTIONS OF GOD'S MAJESTY, BUT, NOT KNOWING CHRIST TO BE THE
MEDIATOR, REMAINS ESTRANGED FROM HIM; ALL HIS DOUBTS REMOVED BY THE STUDY OF
HOLY SCRIPTURE, ESPECIALLY ST. PAUL.
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 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 lo, 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.
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.
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 'it 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
be 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.
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.
5 And I strained to perceive what I now heard, that freewill 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
ingrafted 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.
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 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?
8 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 Almighty? Lastly, why would He make any
thing at all of it, and not rather by the same Almightyness 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.
9 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 so-called 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 of 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.
10 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.
11 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.
12 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.
13 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 eye-sight of my mind, by the smarting anointings of healthful
sorrows, was from day to day healed.
14 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.
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 bow, 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 unchangeably, 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.
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.
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 all 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.
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.
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 be 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 be deprived of all good, they
shall cease to be. For if they shall be, and can now no longer be 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.
18 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.
19 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.
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 be; 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.
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 no 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.
20 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.
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 fomenting 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.
21 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.
22 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.
23 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 this 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.
BOOK EIGHT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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