classes ::: The Confessions of Saint Augustine, Saint Augustine of Hippo, Christianity, chapter,
children :::
branches :::
see also :::

bookmarks: Instances - Definitions - Quotes - Chapters - Wordnet - Webgen


object:COSA - BOOK VII
book class:The Confessions of Saint Augustine
author class:Saint Augustine of Hippo
subject class:Christianity
class:chapter

BOOK VII


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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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?

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.

By 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.





questions, comments, suggestions/feedback, take-down requests, contribute, etc
contact me @ integralyogin@gmail.com or
join the integral discord server (chatrooms)
if the page you visited was empty, it may be noted and I will try to fill it out. cheers


OBJECT INSTANCES [0] - TOPICS - AUTHORS - BOOKS - CHAPTERS - CLASSES - SEE ALSO - SIMILAR TITLES

TOPICS
SEE ALSO


AUTH

BOOKS

IN CHAPTERS TITLE
COSA_-_BOOK_VII
COSA_-_BOOK_VIII

IN CHAPTERS CLASSNAME

IN CHAPTERS TEXT
COSA_-_BOOK_VII
COSA_-_BOOK_VIII

PRIMARY CLASS

chapter
SIMILAR TITLES

DEFINITIONS



QUOTES [0 / 0 - 0 / 0]


KEYS (10k)


NEW FULL DB (2.4M)


*** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***


IN CHAPTERS [0/0]









WORDNET


































IN WEBGEN [10000/0]



change font "color":
change "background-color":
change "font-family":
change "padding":
change "table font size":
last updated: 2022-02-04 09:44:03
105300 site hits