THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS WRITINGS - VOLUME 50
Augustine: The Confessions and Early Writings
c. AD 386 – 426

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Texts are public domain except where marked in Sources and Credits.

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INTRODUCTION TO THIS VOLUME
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HOW THIS BOOK IS ARRANGED

This is the fiftieth volume of a series that gathers the writings of the early Church in
order of date, from the generation after the apostles down to the eighth century. This
volume holds Augustine, The Confessions and Early Writings, from the period about AD 386 –
426.

Within each work the text is divided into chapters and numbered sections, so that any
passage can be found again and cited. The small bold figures in the text are the section
numbers.

THE TRANSLATIONS

The text is in English only. Wherever a modern English version has been prepared for
SermonIndex it is used here; otherwise the book prints an older public-domain translation.
In both cases the wording is the translator’s own: older translations have not been
altered beyond dividing them into sections. The sources for every work are listed at the
back of the book, together with the licence under which each text is released. All the
works in this volume are printed in older public-domain translations.

IN THIS VOLUME

Augustine was born at Thagaste in North Africa in AD 354. He taught rhetoric at Carthage,
Rome and Milan, and after years as a Manichaean he was baptised at Milan by Ambrose in AD
387. He returned to Africa, was ordained a presbyter at Hippo about AD 391, and was bishop
of Hippo from about AD 395 until his death in AD 430, while the Vandals were besieging the
city. He wrote the Confessions, The City of God and On the Trinity, and a great body of
sermons, letters and treatises against the Manichaeans, the Donatists and the Pelagians.

The Confessions were written about AD 397 to 400, ten years after Augustine’s baptism. He
addresses them to God throughout, and they are at once an account of his early life, an
act of praise and a long meditation on memory, time and creation. They are printed here in
Edward Pusey’s translation of 1838.

DATES AND AUTHORSHIP

Dates are approximate and are debated by scholars. Each work begins with a short
introduction that states what is known about its author and its date, and what is
uncertain.


THE CONFESSIONS
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THE CONFESSIONS Augustine of Hippo

AD 354–430

Augustine’s spiritual autobiography and prayer, written about AD 397–400, in the older
English of Pusey. It differs in wording from the translation in the Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers, which is also on this site.

BOOK I

1 Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, and Thy wisdom
infinite. And Thee would man praise; man, but a particle of Thy creation; man, that bears
about him his mortality, the witness of his sin, the witness that Thou resistest the
proud: yet would man praise Thee; he, but a particle of Thy creation. Thou awakest us to
delight in Thy praise; for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it
repose in Thee. Grant me, Lord, to know and understand which is first, to call on Thee or
to praise Thee? and, again, to know Thee or to call on Thee? for who can call on Thee, not
knowing Thee? for he that knoweth Thee not, may call on Thee as other than Thou art. Or,
is it rather, that we call on Thee that we may know Thee? but how shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? or how shall they believe without a preacher? and they
that seek the Lord shall praise Him: for they that seek shall find Him, and they that find
shall praise Him. I will seek Thee, Lord, by calling on Thee; and will call on Thee,
believing in Thee; for to us hast Thou been preached. My faith, Lord, shall call on Thee,
which Thou hast given me, wherewith Thou hast inspired me, through the Incarnation of Thy
Son, through the ministry of the Preacher.

2 And how shall I call upon my God, my God and Lord, since, when I call for Him, I shall
be calling Him to myself? and what room is there within me, whither my God can come into
me? whither can God come into me, God who made heaven and earth? is there, indeed, O Lord
my God, aught in me that can contain Thee? do then heaven and earth, which Thou hast made,
and wherein Thou hast made me, contain Thee? or, because nothing which exists could exist
without Thee, doth therefore whatever exists contain Thee? Since, then, I too exist, why
do I seek that Thou shouldest enter into me, who were not, wert Thou not in me? Why?
because I am not gone down in hell, and yet Thou art there also. For if I go down into
hell, Thou art there. I could not be then, O my God, could not be at all, wert Thou not in
me; or, rather, unless I were in Thee, of whom are all things, by whom are all things, in
whom are all things? Even so, Lord, even so. Whither do I call Thee, since I am in Thee?
or whence canst Thou enter into me? for whither can I go beyond heaven and earth, that
thence my God should come into me, who hath said, I fill the heaven and the earth.

3 Do the heaven and earth then contain Thee, since Thou fillest them? or dost Thou fill
them and yet overflow, since they do not contain Thee? And whither, when the heaven and
the earth are filled, pourest Thou forth the remainder of Thyself? or hast Thou no need
that aught contain Thee, who containest all things, since what Thou fillest Thou fillest
by containing it? for the vessels which Thou fillest uphold Thee not, since, though they
were broken, Thou wert not poured out. And when Thou art poured out on us, Thou art not
cast down, but Thou upliftest us; Thou art not dissipated, but Thou gatherest us. But Thou
who fillest all things, fillest Thou them with Thy whole self? or, since all things cannot
contain Thee wholly, do they contain part of Thee? and all at once the same part? or each
its own part, the greater more, the smaller less? And is, then one part of Thee greater,
another less? or, art Thou wholly every where, while nothing contains Thee wholly?

4 What art Thou then, my God? what, but the Lord God? For who is Lord but the Lord? or who
is God save our God? Most highest, most good, most potent, most omnipotent; most merciful,
yet most just; most hidden, yet most present; most beautiful, yet most strong, stable, yet
incomprehensible; unchangeable, yet all-changing; never new, never old; all-renewing, and
bringing age upon the proud, and they know it not; ever working, ever at rest; still
gathering, yet nothing lacking; supporting, filling, and overspreading; creating,
nourishing, and maturing; seeking, yet having all things. Thou lovest, without passion;
art jealous, without anxiety; repentest, yet grievest not; art angry, yet serene; changest
Thy works, Thy purpose unchanged; receivest again what Thou findest, yet didst never lose;
never in need, yet rejoicing in gains; never covetous, yet exacting usury. Thou receivest
over and above, that Thou mayest owe; and who hath aught that is not Thine? Thou payest
debts, owing nothing; remittest debts, losing nothing. And what had I now said, my God, my
life, my holy joy? or what saith any man when he speaks of Thee? Yet woe to him that
speaketh not, since mute are even the most eloquent.

5 Oh! that I might repose on Thee! Oh! that Thou wouldest enter into my heart, and
inebriate it, that I may forget my ills, and embrace Thee, my sole good! What art Thou to
me? In Thy pity, teach me to utter it. Or what am I to Thee that Thou demandest my love,
and, if I give it not, art wroth with me, and threatenest me with grievous woes? Is it
then a slight woe to love Thee not? Oh! for Thy mercies' sake, tell me, O Lord my God,
what Thou art unto me. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. So speak, that I may hear.
Behold, Lord, my heart is before Thee; open Thou the ears thereof, and say unto my soul, I
am thy salvation. After this voice let me haste, and take hold on Thee. Hide not Thy face
from me. Let me die—lest I die—only let me see Thy face.

6 Narrow is the mansion of my soul; enlarge Thou it, that Thou mayest enter in. It is
ruinous; repair Thou it. It has that within which must offend Thine eyes; I confess and
know it. But who shall cleanse it? or to whom should I cry, save Thee? Lord, cleanse me
from my secret faults, and spare Thy servant from the power of the enemy. I believe, and
therefore do I speak. Lord, Thou knowest. Have I not confessed against myself my
transgressions unto Thee, and Thou, my God, hast forgiven the iniquity of my heart? I
contend not in judgment with Thee, who art the truth; I fear to deceive myself; lest mine
iniquity lie unto itself. Therefore I contend not in judgment with Thee; for if Thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall abide it? 7 Yet suffer me to speak unto
Thy mercy, me, dust and ashes. Yet suffer me to speak, since I speak to Thy mercy, and not
to scornful man. Thou too, perhaps, despisest me, yet wilt Thou return and have compassion
upon me. For what would I say, O Lord my God, but that I know not whence I came into this
dying life (shall I call it?) or living death. Then immediately did the comforts of Thy
compassion take me up, as I heard (for I remember it not) from the parents of my flesh,
out of whose substance Thou didst sometime fashion me. Thus there received me the comforts
of woman's milk. For neither my mother nor my nurses stored their own breasts for me; but
Thou didst bestow the food of my infancy through them, according to Thine ordinance,
whereby Thou distributest Thy riches through the hidden springs of all things. Thou also
gavest me to desire no more than Thou gavest; and to my nurses willingly to give me what
Thou gavest them. For they, with a heaven-taught affection, willingly gave me what they
abounded with from Thee. For this my good from them, was good for them. Nor, indeed, from
them was it, but through them; for from Thee, O God, are all good things, and from my God
is all my health. This I since learned, Thou, through these Thy gifts, within me and
without, proclaiming Thyself unto me. For then I knew but to suck; to repose in what
pleased, and cry at what offended my flesh; nothing more.

8 Afterwards I began to smile; first in sleep, then waking: for so it was told me of
myself, and I believed it; for we see the like in other infants, though of myself I
remember it not. Thus, little by little, I became conscious where I was; and to have a
wish to express my wishes to those who could content them, and I could not; for the wishes
were within me, and they without; nor could they by any sense of theirs enter within my
spirit. So I flung about at random limbs and voice, making the few signs I could, and such
as I could, like, though in truth very little like, what I wished. And when I was not
presently obeyed (my wishes being hurtful or unintelligible), then I was indignant with my
elders for not submitting to me, with those owing me no service, for not serving me; and
avenged myself on them by tears. Such have I learnt infants to be from observing them; and
that I was myself such, they, all unconscious, have shown me better than my nurses who
knew it.

9 And, lo! my infancy died long since, and I live. But Thou, Lord, who for ever livest,
and in whom nothing dies: for before the foundation of the worlds, and before all that can
be called "before," Thou art, and art God and Lord of all which Thou hast created: in Thee
abide, fixed for ever, the first causes of all things unabiding; and of all things
changeable, the springs abide in Thee unchangeable: and in Thee live the eternal reasons
of all things unreasoning and temporal. Say, Lord, to me, Thy suppliant; say, all-pitying,
to me, Thy pitiable one; say, did my infancy succeed another age of mine that died before
it? was it that which I spent within my mother's womb? for of that I have heard somewhat,
and have myself seen women with child? and what before that life again, O God my joy, was
I any where or any body? For this have I none to tell me, neither father nor mother, nor
experience of others, nor mine own memory. Dost Thou mock me for asking this, and bid me
praise Thee and acknowledge Thee, for that I do know?

10 I acknowledge Thee, Lord of heaven and earth, and praise Thee for my first rudiments of
being, and my infancy, whereof I remember nothing; for Thou hast appointed that man should
from others guess much as to himself; and believe much on the strength of weak females.
Even then I had being and life, and (at my infancy's close) I could seek for signs whereby
to make known to others my sensations. Whence could such a being be, save from Thee, Lord?
Shall any be his own artificer? or can there elsewhere be derived any vein, which may
stream essence and life into us, save from thee, O Lord, in whom essence and life are one?
for Thou Thyself art supremely Essence and Life. For Thou art most high, and art not
changed, neither in Thee doth to-day come to a close; yet in Thee doth it come to a close;
because all such things also are in Thee. For they had no way to pass away, unless Thou
upheldest them. And since Thy years fail not, Thy years are one to-day. How many of ours
and our fathers' years have flowed away through Thy "to-day," and from it received the
measure and the mould of such being as they had; and still others shall flow away, and so
receive the mould of their degree of being. But Thou art still the same, and all things of
tomorrow, and all beyond, and all of yesterday, and all behind it, Thou hast done to-day.
What is it to me, though any comprehend not this? Let him also rejoice and say, What thing
is this? Let him rejoice even thus! and be content rather by not discovering to discover
Thee, than by discovering not to discover Thee.

11 Hear, O God. Alas, for man's sin! So saith man, and Thou pitiest him; for Thou madest
him, but sin in him Thou madest not. Who remindeth me of the sins of my infancy? for in
Thy sight none is pure from sin, not even the infant whose life is but a day upon the
earth. Who remindeth me? doth not each little infant, in whom I see what of myself I
remember not? What then was my sin? was it that I hung upon the breast and cried? for
should I now so do for food suitable to my age, justly should I be laughed at and
reproved. What I then did was worthy reproof; but since I could not understand reproof,
custom and reason forbade me to be reproved. For those habits, when grown, we root out and
cast away. Now no man, though he prunes, wittingly casts away what is good. Or was it then
good, even for a while, to cry for what, if given, would hurt? bitterly to resent, that
persons free, and its own elders, yea, the very authors of its birth, served it not? that
many besides, wiser than it, obeyed not the nod of its good pleasure? to do its best to
strike and hurt, because commands were not obeyed, which had been obeyed to its hurt? The
weakness then of infant limbs, not its will, is its innocence. Myself have seen and known
even a baby envious; it could not speak, yet it turned pale and looked bitterly on its
foster-brother.

12 Who knows not this? Mothers and nurses tell you that they allay these things by I know
not what remedies. Is that too innocence, when the fountain of milk is flowing in rich
abundance, not to endure one to share it, though in extremest need, and whose very life as
yet depends thereon? We bear gently with all this, not as being no or slight evils, but
because they will disappear as years increase; for, though tolerated now, the very same
tempers are utterly intolerable when found in riper years. 13 Thou, then, O Lord my God,
who gavest life to this my infancy, furnishing thus with senses (as we see) the frame Thou
gavest, compacting its limbs, ornamenting its proportions, and, for its general good and
safety, implanting in it all vital functions, Thou commandest me to praise Thee in these
things, to confess unto Thee, and sing unto Thy name, Thou most Highest. For Thou art God,
Almighty and Good, even hadst Thou done nought but only this, which none could do but
Thou: whose Unity is the mould of all things; who out of Thy own fairness makest all
things fair; and orderest all things by Thy law. This age then, Lord, whereof I have no
remembrance, which I take on others' word, and guess from other infants that I have
passed, true though the guess be, I am yet loth to count in this life of mine which I live
in this world. For no less than that which I spent in my mother's womb, is it hid from me
in the shadows of forgetfulness. But if I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother
conceive me, where, I beseech Thee, O my God, where, Lord, or when, was I Thy servant
guiltless? But, lo! that period I pass by; and what have I now to do with that, of which I
can recall no vestige?

14 Passing hence from infancy, I came to boyhood, or rather it came to me, displacing
infancy. Nor did that depart,—(for whither went it?)—and yet it was no more. For I was no
longer a speechless infant, but a speaking boy. This I remember; and have since observed
how I learned to speak. It was not that my elders taught me words (as, soon after, other
learning) in any set method; but I, longing by cries and broken accents and various
motions of my limbs to express my thoughts, that so I might have my will, and yet unable
to express all I willed, or to whom I willed, did myself, by the understanding which Thou,
my God, gavest me, practise the sounds in my memory. When they named any thing, and as
they spoke turned towards it, I saw and remembered that they called what they would point
out by the name they uttered. And that they meant this thing and no other was plain from
the motion of their body, the natural language, as it were, of all nations, expressed by
the countenance, glances of the eye, gestures of the limbs, and tones of the voice,
indicating the affections of the mind, as it pursues, possesses, rejects, or shuns. And
thus by constantly hearing words, as they occurred in various sentences, I collected
gradually for what they stood; and having broken in my mouth to these signs, I thereby
gave utterance to my will. Thus I exchanged with those about me these current signs of our
wills, and so launched deeper into the stormy intercourse of human life, yet depending on
parental authority and the beck of elders.

15 O God my God, what miseries and mockeries did I now experience, when obedience to my
teachers was proposed to me, as proper in a boy, in order that in this world I might
prosper, and excel in tongue-science, which should serve to the "praise of men," and to
deceitful riches. Next I was put to school to get learning, in which I (poor wretch) knew
not what use there was; and yet, if idle in learning, I was beaten. For this was judged
right by our forefathers; and many, passing the same course before us, framed for us weary
paths, through which we were fain to pass; multiplying toil and grief upon the sons of
Adam. But, Lord, we found that men called upon Thee, and we learnt from them to think of
Thee (according to our powers) as of some great One, who, though hidden from our senses,
couldest hear and help us. For so I began, as a boy, to pray to Thee, my aid and refuge;
and broke the fetters of my tongue to call on Thee, praying Thee, though small, yet with
no small earnestness, that I might not be beaten at school. And when Thou heardest me not
(not thereby giving me over to folly), my elders, yea my very parents, who yet wished me
no ill, mocked my stripes, my then great and grievous ill.

16 Is there, Lord, any of soul so great, and cleaving to Thee with so intense affection
(for a sort of stupidity will in a way do it); but is there any one who, from cleaving
devoutly to Thee, is endued with so great a spirit, that he can think as lightly of the
racks and hooks and other torments (against which, throughout all lands, men call on Thee
with extreme dread), mocking at those by whom they are feared most bitterly, as our
parents mocked the torments which we suffered in boyhood from our masters? For we feared
not our torments less; nor prayed we less to Thee to escape them. And yet we sinned, in
writing or reading or studying less than was exacted of us. For we wanted not, O Lord,
memory or capacity, whereof Thy will gave enough for our age; but our sole delight was
play; and for this we were punished by those who yet themselves were doing the like. But
elder folks' idleness is called "business"; that of boys, being really the same, is
punished by those elders; and none commiserates either boys or men. For will any of sound
discretion approve of my being beaten as a boy, because, by playing a ball, I made less
progress in studies which I was to learn, only that, as a man, I might play more
unbeseemingly? and what else did he who beat me? who, if worsted in some trifling
discussion with his fellow-tutor, was more embittered and jealous than I when beaten at
ball by a play-fellow?

17 And yet, I sinned herein, O Lord God, the Creator and Disposer of all things in nature,
of sin the Disposer only, O Lord my God, I sinned in transgressing the commands of my
parents and those of my masters. For what they, with whatever motive, would have me learn,
I might afterwards have put to good use. For I disobeyed, not from a better choice, but
from love of play, loving the pride of victory in my contests, and to have my ears tickled
with lying fables, that they might itch the more; the same curiosity flashing from my eyes
more and more, for the shows and games of my elders. Yet those who give these shows are in
such esteem, that almost all wish the same for their children, and yet are very willing
that they should be beaten, if those very games detain them from the studies, whereby they
would have them attain to be the givers of them. Look with pity, Lord, on these things,
and deliver us who call upon Thee now; deliver those too who call not on Thee yet, that
they may call on Thee, and Thou mayest deliver them.

18 As a boy, then, I had already heard of an eternal life, promised us through the
humility of the Lord our God stooping to our pride; and even from the womb of my mother,
who greatly hoped in Thee, I was sealed with the mark of His cross and salted with His
salt. Thou sawest, Lord, how while yet a boy, being seized on a time with sudden
oppression of the stomach, and like near to death—Thou sawest, my God (for Thou wert my
keeper), with what eagerness and what faith I sought, from the pious care of my mother and
Thy Church, the mother of us all, the baptism of Thy Christ, my God and Lord. Whereupon
the mother of my flesh, being much troubled (since, with a heart pure in Thy faith, she
even more lovingly travailed in birth of my salvation), would in eager haste have provided
for my consecration and cleansing by the health-giving sacraments, confessing Thee, Lord
Jesus, for the remission of sins, unless I had suddenly recovered. And so, as if I must
needs be again polluted should I live, my cleansing was deferred, because the defilements
of sin would, after that washing, bring greater and more perilous guilt. I then already
believed: and my mother, and the whole household, except my father: yet did not he prevail
over the power of my mother's piety in me, that as he did not yet believe, so neither
should I. For it was her earnest care that Thou my God, rather than he, shouldest be my
father; and in this Thou didst aid her to prevail over her husband, whom she, the better,
obeyed, therein also obeying Thee, who hast so commanded.

19 I beseech Thee, my God, I would fain know, if so Thou willest, for what purpose my
baptism was then deferred? was it for my good that the rein was laid loose, as it were,
upon me, for me to sin? or was it not laid loose? If not, why does it still echo in our
ears on all sides, "Let him alone, let him do as he will, for he is not yet baptised?" but
as to bodily health, no one says, "Let him be worse wounded, for he is not yet healed."
How much better then, had I been at once healed; and then, by my friends' and my own, my
soul's recovered health had been kept safe in Thy keeping who gavest it. Better truly. But
how many and great waves of temptation seemed to hang over me after my boyhood! These my
mother foresaw; and preferred to expose to them the clay whence I might afterwards be
moulded, than the very cast, when made.

20 In boyhood itself, however (so much less dreaded for me than youth), I loved not study,
and hated to be forced to it. Yet I was forced; and this was well done towards me, but I
did not well; for, unless forced, I had not learnt. But no one doth well against his will,
even though what he doth, be well. Yet neither did they well who forced me, but what was
well came to me from Thee, my God. For they were regardless how I should employ what they
forced me to learn, except to satiate the insatiate desires of a wealthy beggary, and a
shameful glory. But Thou, by whom the very hairs of our head are numbered, didst use for
my good the error of all who urged me to learn; and my own, who would not learn, Thou
didst use for my punishment—a fit penalty for one, so small a boy and so great a sinner.
So by those who did not well, Thou didst well for me; and by my own sin Thou didst justly
punish me. For Thou hast commanded, and so it is, that every inordinate affection should
be its own punishment.

21 But why did I so much hate the Greek, which I studied as a boy? I do not yet fully
know. For the Latin I loved; not what my first masters, but what the so-called grammarians
taught me. For those first lessons, reading, writing and arithmetic, I thought as great a
burden and penalty as any Greek. And yet whence was this too, but from the sin and vanity
of this life, because I was flesh, and a breath that passeth away and cometh not again?
For those first lessons were better certainly, because more certain; by them I obtained,
and still retain, the power of reading what I find written, and myself writing what I
will; whereas in the others, I was forced to learn the wanderings of one Æneas, forgetful
of my own, and to weep for dead Dido, because she killed herself for love; the while, with
dry eyes, I endured my miserable self dying among these things, far from Thee, O God my
life.

22 For what more miserable than a miserable being who commiserates not himself; weeping
the death of Dido for love to Æneas, but weeping not his own death for want of love to
Thee, O God. Thou light of my heart, Thou bread of my inmost soul, Thou Power who givest
vigour to my mind, who quickenest my thoughts, I loved Thee not. I committed fornication
against Thee, and all around me thus fornicating there echoed "Well done! well done!" for
the friendship of this world is fornication against Thee; and "Well done! well done!"
echoes on till one is ashamed not to be thus a man. And for all this I wept not, I who
wept for Dido slain, and "seeking by the sword a stroke and wound extreme," myself seeking
the while a worse extreme, the extremest and lowest of Thy creatures, having forsaken
Thee, earth passing into the earth. And if forbid to read all this, I was grieved that I
might not read what grieved me. Madness like this is thought a higher and a richer
learning, than that by which I learned to read and write.

23 But now, my God, cry Thou aloud in my soul; and let Thy truth tell me, "Not so, not so.
Far better was that first study." For, lo, I would readily forget the wanderings of Æneas
and all the rest, rather than how to read and write. But over the entrance of the Grammar
School is a vail drawn! true; yet is this not so much an emblem of aught recondite, as a
cloak of error. Let not those, whom I no longer fear, cry out against me, while I confess
to Thee, my God, whatever my soul will, and acquiesce in the condemnation of my evil ways,
that I may love Thy good ways. Let not either buyers or sellers of grammar-learning cry
out against me. For if I question them whether it be true that Æneas came on a time to
Carthage, as the poet tells, the less learned will reply that they know not, the more
learned that he never did. But should I ask with what letters the name "Æneas" is written,
every one who has learnt this will answer me aright, as to the signs which men have
conventionally settled. If, again, I should ask which might be forgotten with least
detriment to the concerns of life, reading and writing or these poetic fictions? who does
not foresee what all must answer who have not wholly forgotten themselves? I sinned, then,
when as a boy I preferred those empty to those more profitable studies, or rather loved
the one and hated the other. "One and one, two"; "two and two, four"; this was to me a
hateful singsong: "the wooden horse lined with armed men," and "the burning of Troy," and
"Creusa's shade and sad similitude," were the choice spectacle of my vanity.

24 Why then did I hate the Greek classics, which have the like tales? For Homer also
curiously wove the like fictions, and is most sweetly-vain, yet was he bitter to my boyish
taste. And so I suppose would Virgil be to Grecian children, when forced to learn him as I
was Homer. Difficulty, in truth, the difficulty of a foreign tongue, dashed, as it were,
with gall all the sweetness of Grecian fable. For not one word of it did I understand, and
to make me understand I was urged vehemently with cruel threats and punishments. Time was
also (as an infant) I knew no Latin; but this I learned without fear or suffering, by mere
observation, amid the caresses of my nursery and jests of friends, smiling and sportively
encouraging me. This I learned without any pressure of punishment to urge me on, for my
heart urged me to give birth to its conceptions, which I could only do by learning words
not of those who taught, but of those who talked with me; in whose ears also I gave birth
to the thoughts, whatever I conceived. No doubt, then, that a free curiosity has more
force in our learning these things, than a frightful enforcement. Only this enforcement
restrains the rovings of that freedom, through Thy laws, O my God, Thy laws, from the
master's cane to the martyr's trials, being able to temper for us a wholesome bitter,
recalling us to Thyself from that deadly pleasure which lures us from Thee.

25 Hear, Lord, my prayer; let not my soul faint under Thy discipline, nor let me faint in
confessing unto Thee all Thy mercies, whereby Thou hast drawn me out of all my most evil
ways, that Thou mightest become a delight to me above all the allurements which I once
pursued; that I may most entirely love Thee, and clasp Thy hand with all my affections,
and Thou mayest yet rescue me from every temptation, even unto the end. For lo, O Lord, my
King and my God, for Thy service be whatever useful thing my childhood learned; for Thy
service, that I speak, write, read, reckon. For Thou didst grant me Thy discipline, while
I was learning vanities; and my sin of delighting in those vanities Thou hast forgiven. In
them, indeed, I learnt many a useful word, but these may as well be learned in things not
vain; and that is the safe path for the steps of youth.

26 But woe is thee, thou torrent of human custom! Who shall stand against thee? how long
shalt thou not be dried up? how long roll the sons of Eve into that huge and hideous
ocean, which even they scarcely overpass who climb the cross? Did not I read in thee of
Jove the thunderer and the adulterer? both, doubtless, he could not be; but so the feigned
thunder might countenance and pander to real adultery. And now which of our gowned masters
lends a sober ear to one who from their own school cries out, "These were Homer's
fictions, transferring things human to the gods; would he had brought down things divine
to us!" Yet more truly had he said, "These are indeed his fictions; but attributing a
divine nature to wicked men, that crimes might be no longer crimes, and whoso commits them
might seem to imitate not abandoned men, but the celestial gods."

27 And yet, thou hellish torrent, into thee are cast the sons of men with rich rewards,
for compassing such learning; and a great solemnity is made of it, when this is going on
in the forum, within sight of laws appointing a salary beside the scholar's payments; and
thou lashest thy rocks and roarest, "Hence words are learnt; hence eloquence; most
necessary to gain your ends, or maintain opinions." As if we should have never known such
words as "golden shower," "lap," "beguile," "temples of the heavens," or others in that
passage, unless Terence had brought a lewd youth upon the stage, setting up Jupiter as his
example of seduction. "Viewing a picture, where the tale was drawn, / Of Jove's descending
in a golden shower / To Danae's lap a woman to beguile." And then mark how he excites
himself to lust as by celestial authority: "And what God? Great Jove, / Who shakes
heaven's highest temples with his thunder, / And I, poor mortal man, not do the same! / I
did it, and with all my heart I did it."

28 Not one whit more easily are the words learnt for all this vileness; but by their means
the vileness is committed with less shame. Not that I blame the words, being, as it were,
choice and precious vessels; but that wine of error which is drunk to us in them by
intoxicated teachers; and if we, too, drink not, we are beaten, and have no sober judge to
whom we may appeal. Yet, O my God (in whose presence I now without hurt may remember
this), all this unhappily I learnt willingly with great delight, and for this was
pronounced a hopeful boy. Bear with me, my God, while I say somewhat of my wit, Thy gift,
and on what dotages I wasted it. For a task was set me, troublesome enough to my soul,
upon terms of praise or shame, and fear of stripes, to speak the words of Juno, as she
raged and mourned that she could not

29 "This Trojan prince from Latinum turn." Which words I had heard that Juno never
uttered; but we were forced to go astray in the footsteps of these poetic fictions, and to
say in prose much what he expressed in verse. And his speaking was most applauded, in whom
the passions of rage and grief were most preeminent, and clothed in the most fitting
language, maintaining the dignity of the character. What is it to me, O my true life, my
God, that my declamation was applauded above so many of my own age and class? is not all
this smoke and wind? and was there nothing else whereon to exercise my wit and tongue? Thy
praises, Lord, Thy praises might have stayed the yet tender shoot of my heart by the prop
of Thy Scriptures; so had it not trailed away amid these empty trifles, a defiled prey for
the fowls of the air. For in more ways than one do men sacrifice to the rebellious angels.

30 But what marvel that I was thus carried away to vanities, and went out from Thy
presence, O my God, when men were set before me as models, who, if in relating some action
of theirs, in itself not ill, they committed some barbarism or solecism, being censured,
were abashed; but when in rich and adorned and well-ordered discourse they related their
own disordered life, being bepraised, they gloried? These things Thou seest, Lord, and
holdest Thy peace; long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. Wilt Thou hold Thy
peace for ever? and even now Thou drawest out of this horrible gulf the soul that seeketh
Thee, that thirsteth for Thy pleasures, whose heart saith unto Thee, I have sought Thy
face; Thy face, Lord, will I seek. For darkened affections is removal from Thee. For it is
not by our feet, or change of place, that men leave Thee, or return unto Thee. Or did that
Thy younger son look out for horses or chariots, or ships, fly with visible wings, or
journey by the motion of his limbs, that he might in a far country waste in riotous living
all Thou gavest at his departure? a loving Father, when Thou gavest, and more loving unto
him, when he returned empty. So then in lustful, that is, in darkened affections, is the
true distance from Thy face.

31 Behold, O Lord God, yea, behold patiently as Thou art wont how carefully the sons of
men observe the covenanted rules of letters and syllables received from those who spake
before them, neglecting the eternal covenant of everlasting salvation received from Thee.
Insomuch, that a teacher or learner of the hereditary laws of pronunciation will more
offend men by speaking without the aspirate, of a "uman being," in despite of the laws of
grammar, than if he, a "human being," hate a "human being" in despite of Thine. As if any
enemy could be more hurtful than the hatred with which he is incensed against him; or
could wound more deeply him whom he persecutes, than he wounds his own soul by his enmity.
Assuredly no science of letters can be so innate as the record of conscience, "that he is
doing to another what from another he would be loth to suffer." How deep are Thy ways, O
God, Thou only great, that sittest silent on high and by an unwearied law dispensing penal
blindness to lawless desires. In quest of the fame of eloquence, a man standing before a
human judge, surrounded by a human throng, declaiming against his enemy with fiercest
hatred, will take heed most watchfully, lest, by an error of the tongue, he murder the
word "human being"; but takes no heed, lest, through the fury of his spirit, he murder the
real human being.

32 This was the world at whose gate unhappy I lay in my boyhood; this the stage where I
had feared more to commit a barbarism, than having committed one, to envy those who had
not. These things I speak and confess to Thee, my God; for which I had praise from them,
whom I then thought it all virtue to please. For I saw not the abyss of vileness, wherein
I was cast away from Thine eyes. Before them what more foul than I was already,
displeasing even such as myself? with innumerable lies deceiving my tutor, my masters, my
parents, from love of play, eagerness to see vain shows and restlessness to imitate them!
Thefts also I committed, from my parents' cellar and table, enslaved by greediness, or
that I might have to give to boys, who sold me their play, which all the while they liked
no less than I. In this play, too, I often sought unfair conquests, conquered myself
meanwhile by vain desire of preeminence. And what could I so ill endure, or, when I
detected it, upbraided I so fiercely, as that I was doing to others? and for which if,
detected, I was upbraided, I chose rather to quarrel than to yield. And is this the
innocence of boyhood? Not so, Lord, not so; I cry Thy mercy, my God. For these very sins,
as riper years succeed, these very sins are transferred from tutors and masters, from nuts
and balls and sparrows, to magistrates and kings, to gold and manors and slaves, just as
severer punishments displace the cane. It was the low stature then of childhood which Thou
our King didst commend as an emblem of lowliness, when Thou saidst, Of such is the kingdom
of heaven.

33 Yet, Lord, to Thee, the Creator and Governor of the universe, most excellent and most
good, thanks were due to Thee our God, even hadst Thou destined for me boyhood only. For
even then I was, I lived, and felt; and had an implanted providence over my well-being—a
trace of that mysterious Unity whence I was derived; I guarded by the inward sense the
entireness of my senses, and in these minute pursuits, and in my thoughts on things
minute, I learnt to delight in truth, I hated to be deceived, had a vigorous memory, was
gifted with speech, was soothed by friendship, avoided pain, baseness, ignorance. In so
small a creature, what was not wonderful, not admirable? But all are gifts of my God: it
was not I who gave them me; and good these are, and these together are myself. Good, then,
is He that made me, and He is my good; and before Him will I exult for every good which of
a boy I had. For it was my sin, that not in Him, but in His creatures—myself and others—I
sought for pleasures, sublimities, truths, and so fell headlong into sorrows, confusions,
errors. Thanks be to Thee, my joy and my glory and my confidence, my God, thanks be to
Thee for Thy gifts; but do Thou preserve them to me. For so wilt Thou preserve me, and
those things shall be enlarged and perfected which Thou hast given me, and I myself shall
be with Thee, since even to be Thou hast given me.

BOOK II

1 I will now call to mind my past foulness, and the carnal corruptions of my soul; not
because I love them, but that I may love Thee, O my God. For love of Thy love I do it;
reviewing my most wicked ways in the very bitterness of my remembrance, that Thou mayest
grow sweet unto me (Thou sweetness never failing, Thou blissful and assured sweetness);
and gathering me again out of that my dissipation, wherein I was torn piecemeal, while
turned from Thee, the One Good, I lost myself among a multiplicity of things. For I even
burnt in my youth heretofore, to be satiated in things below; and I dared to grow wild
again, with these various and shadowy loves: my beauty consumed away, and I stank in Thine
eyes; pleasing myself, and desirous to please in the eyes of men. 2 And what was it that I
delighted in, but to love, and be loved? but I kept not the measure of love, of mind to
mind, friendship's bright boundary: but out of the muddy concupiscence of the flesh, and
the bubblings of youth, mists fumed up which beclouded and overcast my heart, that I could
not discern the clear brightness of love from the fog of lustfulness. Both did confusedly
boil in me, and hurried my unstayed youth over the precipice of unholy desires, and sunk
me in a gulf of flagitiousnesses. Thy wrath had gathered over me, and I knew it not. I was
grown deaf by the clanking of the chain of my mortality, the punishment of the pride of my
soul, and I strayed further from Thee, and Thou lettest me alone, and I was tossed about,
and wasted, and dissipated, and I boiled over in my fornications, and Thou heldest Thy
peace, O Thou my tardy joy! Thou then heldest Thy peace, and I wandered further and
further from Thee, into more and more fruitless seed-plots of sorrows, with a proud
dejectedness, and a restless weariness.

3 Oh! that some one had then attempered my disorder, and turned to account the fleeting
beauties of these, the extreme points of Thy creation! had put a bound to their
pleasureableness, that so the tides of my youth might have cast themselves upon the
marriage shore, if they could not be calmed, and kept within the object of a family, as
Thy law prescribes, O Lord: who this way formest the offspring of this our death, being
able with a gentle hand to blunt the thorns which were excluded from Thy paradise? For Thy
omnipotency is not far from us, even when we be far from Thee. Else ought I more
watchfully to have heeded the voice from the clouds: Nevertheless such shall have trouble
in the flesh, but I spare you. And it is good for a man not to touch a woman. And, he that
is unmarried thinketh of the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; but he that
is married careth for the things of this world, how he may please his wife.

4 To these words I should have listened more attentively, and being severed for the
kingdom of heaven's sake, had more happily awaited Thy embraces; but I, poor wretch,
foamed like a troubled sea, following the rushing of my own tide, forsaking Thee, and
exceeded all Thy limits; yet I escaped not Thy scourges. For what mortal can? For Thou
wert ever with me mercifully rigorous, and besprinkling with most bitter alloy all my
unlawful pleasures: that I might seek pleasures without alloy. But where to find such, I
could not discover, save in Thee, O Lord, who teachest by sorrow, and woundest us, to
heal; and killest us, lest we die from Thee. Where was I, and how far was I exiled from
the delights of Thy house, in that sixteenth year of the age of my flesh, when the madness
of lust (to which human shamelessness giveth free licence, though unlicensed by Thy laws)
took the rule over me, and I resigned myself wholly to it? My friends meanwhile took no
care by marriage to save my fall; their only care was that I should learn to speak
excellently, and be a persuasive orator.

5 For that year were my studies intermitted: whilst after my return from Madaura (a
neighbour city, whither I had journeyed to learn grammar and rhetoric), the expenses for a
further journey to Carthage were being provided for me; and that rather by the resolution
than the means of my father, who was but a poor freeman of Thagaste. To whom tell I this?
not to Thee, my God; but before Thee to mine own kind, even to that small portion of
mankind as may light upon these writings of mine. And to what purpose? that whosoever
reads this, may think out of what depths we are to cry unto Thee. For what is nearer to
Thine ears than a confessing heart, and a life of faith? Who did not extol my father, for
that beyond the ability of his means, he would furnish his son with all necessaries for a
far journey for his studies' sake? For many far abler citizens did no such thing for their
children. But yet this same father had no concern how I grew towards Thee, or how chaste I
were; so that I were but copious in speech, however barren I were to Thy culture, O God,
who art the only true and good Lord of Thy field, my heart.

6 But while in that my sixteenth year I lived with my parents, leaving all school for a
while (a season of idleness being interposed through the narrowness of my parents'
fortunes), the briers of unclean desires grew rank over my head, and there was no hand to
root them out. When that my father saw me at the baths, now growing towards manhood, and
endued with a restless youthfulness, he, as already hence anticipating his descendants,
gladly told it to my mother; rejoicing in that tumult of the senses wherein the world
forgetteth Thee its Creator, and becometh enamoured of Thy creature, instead of Thyself,
through the fumes of that invisible wine of its self-will, turning aside and bowing down
to the very basest things. But in my mother's breast Thou hadst already begun Thy temple,
and the foundation of Thy holy habitation, whereas my father was as yet but a Catechumen,
and that but recently. She then was startled with a holy fear and trembling; and though I
was not as yet baptised, feared for me those crooked ways in which they walk who turn
their back to Thee, and not their face.

7 Woe is me! and dare I say that Thou heldest Thy peace, O my God, while I wandered
further from Thee? Didst Thou then indeed hold Thy peace to me? And whose but Thine were
these words which by my mother, Thy faithful one, Thou sangest in my ears? Nothing whereof
sunk into my heart, so as to do it. For she wished, and I remember in private with great
anxiety warned me, "not to commit fornication; but especially never to defile another
man's wife." These seemed to me womanish advices, which I should blush to obey. But they
were Thine, and I knew it not: and I thought Thou wert silent and that it was she who
spake; by whom Thou wert not silent unto me; and in her wast despised by me, her son, the
son of Thy handmaid, Thy servant. But I knew it not; and ran headlong with such blindness,
that amongst my equals I was ashamed of a less shamelessness, when I heard them boast of
their flagitiousness, yea, and the more boasting, the more they were degraded: and I took
pleasure, not only in the pleasure of the deed, but in the praise. What is worthy of
dispraise but vice? But I made myself worse than I was, that I might not be dispraised;
and when in any thing I had not sinned as the abandoned ones, I would say that I had done
what I had not done, that I might not seem contemptible in proportion as I was innocent;
or of less account, the more chaste.

8 Behold with what companions I walked the streets of Babylon, and wallowed in the mire
thereof, as if in a bed of spices and precious ointments. And that I might cleave the
faster to its very centre, the invisible enemy trod me down, and seduced me, for that I
was easy to be seduced. Neither did the mother of my flesh (who had now fled out of the
centre of Babylon, yet went more slowly in the skirts thereof as she advised me to
chastity, so heed what she had heard of me from her husband, as to restrain within the
bounds of conjugal affection, if it could not be pared away to the quick) what she felt to
be pestilent at present and for the future dangerous. She heeded not this, for she feared
lest a wife should prove a clog and hindrance to my hopes. Not those hopes of the world to
come, which my mother reposed in Thee; but the hope of learning, which both my parents
were too desirous I should attain; my father, because he had next to no thought of Thee,
and of me but vain conceits; my mother, because she accounted that those usual courses of
learning would not only be no hindrance, but even some furtherance towards attaining Thee.
For thus I conjecture, recalling, as well as I may, the disposition of my parents. The
reins, meantime, were slackened to me, beyond all temper of due severity, to spend my time
in sport, yea, even unto dissoluteness in whatsoever I affected. And in all was a mist,
intercepting from me, O my God, the brightness of Thy truth; and mine iniquity burst out
as from very fatness.

9 Theft is punished by Thy law, O Lord, and the law written in the hearts of men, which
iniquity itself effaces not. For what thief will abide a thief? not even a rich thief, one
stealing through want. Yet I lusted to thieve, and did it, compelled by no hunger, nor
poverty, but through a cloyedness of well-doing, and a pamperedness of iniquity. For I
stole that, of which I had enough, and much better. Nor cared I to enjoy what I stole, but
joyed in the theft and sin itself. A pear tree there was near our vineyard, laden with
fruit, tempting neither for colour nor taste. To shake and rob this, some lewd young
fellows of us went, late one night (having according to our pestilent custom prolonged our
sports in the streets till then), and took huge loads, not for our eating, but to fling to
the very hogs, having only tasted them. And this, but to do what we liked only, because it
was misliked. Behold my heart, O God, behold my heart, which Thou hadst pity upon in the
bottom of the bottomless pit. Now, behold, let my heart tell Thee what it sought there,
that I should be gratuitously evil, having no temptation to ill, but the ill itself. It
was foul, and I loved it; I loved to perish, I loved mine own fault, not that for which I
was faulty, but my fault itself. Foul soul, falling from Thy firmament to utter
destruction; not seeking aught through the shame, but the shame itself!

10 For there is an attractiveness in beautiful bodies, in gold and silver, and all things;
and in bodily touch, sympathy hath much influence, and each other sense hath his proper
object answerably tempered. Worldy honour hath also its grace, and the power of
overcoming, and of mastery; whence springs also the thirst of revenge. But yet, to obtain
all these, we may not depart from Thee, O Lord, nor decline from Thy law. The life also
which here we live hath its own enchantment, through a certain proportion of its own, and
a correspondence with all things beautiful here below. Human friendship also is endeared
with a sweet tie, by reason of the unity formed of many souls. Upon occasion of all these,
and the like, is sin committed, while through an immoderate inclination towards these
goods of the lowest order, the better and higher are forsaken,—Thou, our Lord God, Thy
truth, and Thy law. For these lower things have their delights, but not like my God, who
made all things; for in Him doth the righteous delight, and He is the joy of the upright
in heart.

11 When, then, we ask why a crime was done, we believe it not, unless it appear that there
might have been some desire of obtaining some of those which we called lower goods, or a
fear of losing them. For they are beautiful and comely; although compared with those
higher and beatific goods, they be abject and low. A man hath murdered another; why? he
loved his wife or his estate; or would rob for his own livelihood; or feared to lose some
such things by him; or, wronged, was on fire to be revenged. Would any commit murder upon
no cause, delighted simply in murdering? who would believe it? for as for that furious and
savage man, of whom it is said that he was gratuitously evil and cruel, yet is the cause
assigned; "lest" (saith he) "through idleness hand or heart should grow inactive." And to
what end? that, through that practice of guilt, he might, having taken the city, attain to
honours, empire, riches, and be freed from fear of the laws, and his embarrassments from
domestic needs, and consciousness of villainies. So then, not even Catiline himself loved
his own villainies, but something else, for whose sake he did them.

12 What then did wretched I so love in thee, thou theft of mine, thou deed of darkness, in
that sixteenth year of my age? Lovely thou wert not, because thou wert theft. But art thou
any thing, that thus I speak to thee? Fair were the pears we stole, because they were Thy
creation, Thou fairest of all, Creator of all, Thou good God; God, the sovereign good and
my true good. Fair were those pears, but not them did my wretched soul desire; for I had
store of better, and those I gathered, only that I might steal. For, when gathered, I
flung them away, my only feast therein being my own sin, which I was pleased to enjoy. For
if aught of those pears came within my mouth, what sweetened it was the sin. And now, O
Lord my God, I enquire what in that theft delighted me; and behold it hath no loveliness;
I mean not such loveliness as in justice and wisdom; nor such as is in the mind and
memory, and senses, and animal life of man; nor yet as the stars are glorious and
beautiful in their orbs; or the earth, or sea, full of embryo-life, replacing by its birth
that which decayeth; nay, nor even that false and shadowy beauty which belongeth to
deceiving vices.

13 For so doth pride imitate exaltedness; whereas Thou alone art God exalted over all.
Ambition, what seeks it, but honours and glory? whereas Thou alone art to be honoured
above all, and glorious for evermore. The cruelty of the great would fain be feared; but
who is to be feared but God alone, out of whose power what can be wrested or withdrawn?
when, or where, or whither, or by whom? The tendernesses of the wanton would fain be
counted love: yet is nothing more tender than Thy charity; nor is aught loved more
healthfully than that Thy truth, bright and beautiful above all. Curiosity makes semblance
of a desire of knowledge; whereas Thou supremely knowest all. Yea, ignorance and
foolishness itself is cloaked under the name of simplicity and uninjuriousness; because
nothing is found more single than Thee: and what less injurious, since they are his own
works which injure the sinner? Yea, sloth would fain be at rest; but what stable rest
besides the Lord? Luxury affects to be called plenty and abundance; but Thou art the
fulness and never-failing plenteousness of incorruptible pleasures. Prodigality presents a
shadow of liberality: but Thou art the most overflowing Giver of all good. Covetousness
would possess many things; and Thou possessest all things. Envy disputes for excellency:
what more excellent than Thou? Anger seeks revenge: who revenges more justly than Thou?
Fear startles at things unwonted and sudden, which endangers things beloved, and takes
forethought for their safety; but to Thee what unwonted or sudden, or who separateth from
Thee what Thou lovest? Or where but with Thee is unshaken safety? Grief pines away for
things lost, the delight of its desires; because it would have nothing taken from it, as
nothing can from Thee.

14 Thus doth the soul commit fornication, when she turns from Thee, seeking without Thee,
what she findeth not pure and untainted, till she returns to Thee. Thus all pervertedly
imitate Thee, who remove far from Thee, and lift themselves up against Thee. But even by
thus imitating Thee, they imply Thee to be the Creator of all nature; whence there is no
place whither altogether to retire from Thee. What then did I love in that theft? and
wherein did I even corruptly and pervertedly imitate my Lord? Did I wish even by stealth
to do contrary to Thy law, because by power I could not, so that being a prisoner, I might
mimic a maimed liberty by doing with impunity things unpermitted me, a darkened likeness
of Thy Omnipotency? Behold, Thy servant, fleeing from his Lord, and obtaining a shadow. O
rottenness, O monstrousness of life, and depth of death! could I like what I might not,
only because I might not?

15 What shall I render unto the Lord, that, whilst my memory recalls these things, my soul
is not affrighted at them? I will love Thee, O Lord, and thank Thee, and confess unto Thy
name; because Thou hast forgiven me these so great and heinous deeds of mine. To Thy grace
I ascribe it, and to Thy mercy, that Thou hast melted away my sins as it were ice. To Thy
grace I ascribe also whatsoever I have not done of evil; for what might I not have done,
who even loved a sin for its own sake? Yea, all I confess to have been forgiven me; both
what evils I committed by my own wilfulness, and what by Thy guidance I committed not.
What man is he, who, weighing his own infirmity, dares to ascribe his purity and innocency
to his own strength; that so he should love Thee the less, as if he had less needed Thy
mercy, whereby Thou remittest sins to those that turn to Thee? For whosoever, called by
Thee, followed Thy voice, and avoided those things which he reads me recalling and
confessing of myself, let him not scorn me, who being sick, was cured by that Physician,
through whose aid it was that he was not, or rather was less, sick: and for this let him
love Thee as much, yea and more; since by whom he sees me to have been recovered from such
deep consumption of sin, by Him he sees himself to have been from the like consumption of
sin preserved.

16 What fruit had I then (wretched man!) in those things, of the remembrance whereof I am
now ashamed? Especially, in that theft which I loved for the theft's sake; and it too was
nothing, and therefore the more miserable I, who loved it. Yet alone I had not done it:
such was I then, I remember, alone I had never done it. I loved then in it also the
company of the accomplices, with whom I did it? I did not then love nothing else but the
theft, yea rather I did love nothing else; for that circumstance of the company was also
nothing. What is, in truth? who can teach me, save He that enlighteneth my heart, and
discovereth its dark corners? What is it which hath come into my mind to enquire, and
discuss, and consider? For had I then loved the pears I stole, and wished to enjoy them, I
might have done it alone, had the bare commission of the theft sufficed to attain my
pleasure; nor needed I have inflamed the itching of my desires by the excitement of
accomplices. But since my pleasure was not in those pears, it was in the offence itself,
which the company of fellow-sinners occasioned.

17 What then was this feeling? For of a truth it was too foul: and woe was me, who had it.
But yet what was it? Who can understand his errors? It was the sport, which as it were
tickled our hearts, that we beguiled those who little thought what we were doing, and much
disliked it. Why then was my delight of such sort that I did it not alone? Because none
doth ordinarily laugh alone? ordinarily no one; yet laughter sometimes masters men alone
and singly when no one whatever is with them, if anything very ludicrous presents itself
to their senses or mind. Yet I had not done this alone; alone I had never done it. Behold
my God, before Thee, the vivid remembrance of my soul; alone, I had never committed that
theft wherein what I stole pleased me not, but that I stole; nor had it alone liked me to
do it, nor had I done it. O friendship too unfriendly! thou incomprehensible inveigler of
the soul, thou greediness to do mischief out of mirth and wantonness, thou thirst of
others' loss, without lust of my own gain or revenge: but when it is said, "Let's go,
let's do it," we are ashamed not to be shameless.

18 Who can disentangle that twisted and intricate knottiness? Foul is it: I hate to think
on it, to look on it. But Thee I long for, O Righteousness and Innocency, beautiful and
comely to all pure eyes, and of a satisfaction unsating. With Thee is rest entire, and
life imperturbable. Whoso enters into Thee, enters into the joy of his Lord: and shall not
fear, and shall do excellently in the All-Excellent. I sank away from Thee, and I
wandered, O my God, too much astray from Thee my stay, in these days of my youth, and I
became to myself a barren land.


THE CONFESSIONS
===============

THE CONFESSIONS continued

BOOK III

1 To Carthage I came, where there sang all around me in my ears a cauldron of unholy
loves. I loved not yet, yet I loved to love, and out of a deep-seated want, I hated myself
for wanting not. I sought what I might love, in love with loving, and safety I hated, and
a way without snares. For within me was a famine of that inward food, Thyself, my God;
yet, through that famine I was not hungered; but was without all longing for incorruptible
sustenance, not because filled therewith, but the more empty, the more I loathed it. For
this cause my soul was sickly and full of sores, it miserably cast itself forth, desiring
to be scraped by the touch of objects of sense. Yet if these had not a soul, they would
not be objects of love. To love then, and to be beloved, was sweet to me; but more, when I
obtained to enjoy the person I loved, I defiled, therefore, the spring of friendship with
the filth of concupiscence, and I beclouded its brightness with the hell of lustfulness;
and thus foul and unseemly, I would fain, through exceeding vanity, be fine and courtly. I
fell headlong then into the love wherein I longed to be ensnared. My God, my Mercy, with
how much gall didst Thou out of Thy great goodness besprinkle for me that sweetness? For I
was both beloved, and secretly arrived at the bond of enjoying; and was with joy fettered
with sorrow-bringing bonds, that I might be scourged with the iron burning rods of
jealousy, and suspicions, and fears, and angers, and quarrels.

2 Stage-plays also carried me away, full of images of my miseries, and of fuel to my fire.
Why is it, that man desires to be made sad, beholding doleful and tragical things, which
yet himself would no means suffer? yet he desires as a spectator to feel sorrow at them,
and this very sorrow is his pleasure. What is this but a miserable madness? for a man is
the more affected with these actions, the less free he is from such affections. Howsoever,
when he suffers in his own person, it uses to be styled misery: when he compassionates
others, then it is mercy. But what sort of compassion is this for feigned and scenical
passions? for the auditor is not called on to relieve, but only to grieve: and he applauds
the actor of these fictions the more, the more he grieves. And if the calamities of those
persons (whether of old times, or mere fiction) be so acted, that the spectator is not
moved to tears, he goes away disgusted and criticising; but if he be moved to passion, he
stays intent, and weeps for joy.

3 Are griefs then too loved? Verily all desire joy. Or whereas no man likes to be
miserable, is he yet pleased to be merciful? which because it cannot be without passion,
for this reason alone are passions loved? This also springs from that vein of friendship.
But whither goes that vein? whither flows it? wherefore runs it into that torrent of pitch
bubbling forth those monstrous tides of foul lustfulness, into which it is wilfully
changed and transformed, being of its own will precipitated and corrupted from its
heavenly clearness? Shall compassion then be put away? by no means. Be griefs then
sometimes loved. But beware of uncleanness, O my soul, under the guardianship of my God,
the God of our fathers, who is to be praised and exalted above all for ever, beware of
uncleanness. For I have not now ceased to pity; but then in the theatres I rejoiced with
lovers when they wickedly enjoyed one another, although this was imaginary only in the
play. And when they lost one another, as if very compassionate, I sorrowed with them, yet
had my delight in both. But now I much more pity him that rejoiceth in his wickedness,
than him who is thought to suffer hardship, by missing some pernicious pleasure, and the
loss of some miserable felicity. This certainly is the truer mercy, but in it grief
delights not. For though he that grieves for the miserable, be commended for his office of
charity;

4 yet had he, who is genuinely compassionate, rather there were nothing for him to grieve
for. For if good will be ill willed (which can never be), then may he, who truly and
sincerely commiserates, wish there might be some miserable, that he might commiserate.
Some sorrow may then be allowed, none loved. For thus dost Thou, O Lord God, who lovest
souls far more purely than we, and hast more incorruptibly pity on them, yet are wounded
with no sorrowfulness. And who is sufficient for these things? 5 But I, miserable, then
loved to grieve, and sought out what to grieve at, when in another's and that feigned and
personated misery, that acting best pleased me, and attracted me the most vehemently,
which drew tears from me. What marvel that an unhappy sheep, straying from Thy flock, and
impatient of Thy keeping, I became infected with a foul disease? And hence the love of
griefs; not such as should sink deep into me; for I loved not to suffer, what I loved to
look on; but such as upon hearing their fictions should lightly scratch the surface; upon
which, as on envenomed nails, followed inflamed swelling, impostumes, and a putrefied
sore. My life being such, was it life, O my God? And Thy faithful mercy hovered over me
afar. Upon how grievous iniquities consumed I myself, pursuing a sacrilegious curiosity,
that having forsaken Thee, it might bring me to the treacherous abyss, and the beguiling
service of devils, to whom I sacrificed my evil actions, and in all these things Thou
didst scourge me! I dared even, while Thy solemnities were celebrated within the walls of
Thy Church, to desire, and to compass a business deserving death for its fruits, for which
Thou scourgedst me with grievous punishments, though nothing to my fault, O Thou my
exceeding mercy, my God, my refuge from those terrible destroyers, among whom I wandered
with a stiff neck, withdrawing further from Thee, loving mine own ways, and not Thine;
loving a vagrant liberty.

6 Those studies also, which were accounted commendable, had a view to excelling in the
courts of litigation; the more bepraised, the craftier. Such is men's blindness, glorying
even in their blindness. And now I was chief in the rhetoric school, whereat I joyed
proudly, and I swelled with arrogancy, though (Lord, Thou knowest) far quieter and
altogether removed from the subvertings of those "Subverters" (for this ill-omened and
devilish name was the very badge of gallantry) among whom I lived, with a shameless shame
that I was not even as they. With them I lived, and was sometimes delighted with their
friendship, whose doings I ever did abhor—i.e., their "subvertings," wherewith they
wantonly persecuted the modesty of strangers, which they disturbed by a gratuitous
jeering, feeding thereon their malicious birth. Nothing can be liker the very actions of
devils than these. What then could they be more truly called than "Subverters"? themselves
subverted and altogether perverted first, the deceiving spirits secretly deriding and
seducing them, wherein themselves delight to jeer at and deceive others.

7 Among such as these, in that unsettled age of mine, learned I books of eloquence,
wherein I desired to be eminent, out of a damnable and vainglorious end, a joy in human
vanity. In the ordinary course of study, I fell upon a certain book of Cicero, whose
speech almost all admire, not so his heart. This book of his contains an exhortation to
philosophy, and is called "Hortensius." But this book altered my affections, and turned my
prayers to Thyself O Lord; and made me have other purposes and desires. Every vain hope at
once became worthless to me; and I longed with an incredibly burning desire for an
immortality of wisdom, and began now to arise, that I might return to Thee. For not to
sharpen my tongue (which thing I seemed to be purchasing with my mother's allowances, in
that my nineteenth year, my father being dead two years before), not to sharpen my tongue
did I employ that book; nor did it infuse into me its style, but its matter.

8 How did I burn then, my God, how did I burn to re-mount from earthly things to Thee, nor
knew I what Thou wouldest do with me? For with Thee is wisdom. But the love of wisdom is
in Greek called "philosophy," with which that book inflamed me. Some there be that seduce
through philosophy, under a great, and smooth, and honourable name colouring and
disguising their own errors: and almost all who in that and former ages were such, are in
that book censured and set forth: there also is made plain that wholesome advice of Thy
Spirit, by Thy good and devout servant: Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And since at that
time (Thou, O light of my heart, knowest) Apostolic Scripture was not known to me, I was
delighted with that exhortation, so far only, that I was thereby strongly roused, and
kindled, and inflamed to love, and seek, and obtain, and hold, and embrace not this or
that sect, but wisdom itself whatever it were; and this alone checked me thus unkindled,
that the name of Christ was not in it. For this name, according to Thy mercy, O Lord, this
name of my Saviour Thy Son, had my tender heart, even with my mother's milk, devoutly
drunk in and deeply treasured; and whatsoever was without that name, though never so
learned, polished, or true, took not entire hold of me.

9 I resolved then to bend my mind to the holy Scriptures, that I might see what they were.
But behold, I see a thing not understood by the proud, nor laid open to children, lowly in
access, in its recesses lofty, and veiled with mysteries; and I was not such as could
enter into it, or stoop my neck to follow its steps. For not as I now speak, did I feel
when I turned to those Scriptures; but they seemed to me unworthy to be compared to the
stateliness of Tully: for my swelling pride shrunk from their lowliness, nor could my
sharp wit pierce the interior thereof. Yet were they such as would grow up in a little
one. But I disdained to be a little one; and, swollen with pride, took myself to be a
great one. 10 Therefore I fell among men proudly doting, exceeding carnal and prating, in
whose mouths were the snares of the Devil, limed with the mixture of the syllables of Thy
name, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, our Comforter.
These names departed not out of their mouth, but so far forth as the sound only and the
noise of the tongue, for the heart was void of truth. Yet they cried out "Truth, Truth,"
and spake much thereof to me, yet it was not in them: but they spake falsehood, not of
Thee only (who truly art Truth), but even of those elements of this world, Thy creatures.
And I indeed ought to have passed by even philosophers who spake truth concerning them,
for love of Thee, my Father, supremely good, Beauty of all things beautiful. O Truth,
Truth, how inwardly did even then the marrow of my soul pant after Thee, when they often
and diversely, and in many and huge books, echoed of Thee to me, though it was but an
echo? And these were the dishes wherein to me, hungering after Thee, they, instead of
Thee, served up the Sun and Moon, beautiful works of Thine, but yet Thy works, not
Thyself, no nor Thy first works. For Thy spiritual works are before these corporeal works,
celestial though they be, and shining. But I hungered and thirsted not even after those
first works of Thine, but after Thee Thyself, the Truth, in whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning:

11 yet they still set before me in those dishes, glittering fantasies, than which better
were it to love this very sun (which is real to our sight at least), than those fantasies
which by our eyes deceive our mind. Yet because I thought them to be Thee, I fed thereon;
not eagerly, for Thou didst not in them taste to me as Thou art; for Thou wast not these
emptinesses, nor was I nourished by them, but exhausted rather. Food in sleep shows very
like our food awake; yet are not those asleep nourished by it, for they are asleep. But
those were not even any way like to Thee, as Thou hast now spoken to me; for those were
corporeal fantasies, false bodies, than which these true bodies, celestial or terrestrial,
which with our fleshly sight we behold, are far more certain: these things the beasts and
birds discern as well as we, and they are more certain than when we fancy them. And again,
we do with more certainty fancy them, than by them conjecture other vaster and infinite
bodies which have no being. Such empty husks was I then fed on; and was not fed. But Thou,
my soul's Love, in looking for whom I fail, that I may become strong, art neither those
bodies which we see, though in heaven; nor those which we see not there; for Thou hast
created them, nor dost Thou account them among the chiefest of Thy works.

12 How far then art Thou from those fantasies of mine, fantasies of bodies which
altogether are not, than which the images of those bodies, which are, are far more
certain, and more certain still the bodies themselves, which yet Thou art not; no, nor yet
the soul, which is the life of the bodies. So then, better and more certain is the life of
the bodies than the bodies. But Thou art the life of souls, the life of lives, having life
in Thyself; and changest not, life of my soul. 13 Where then wert Thou then to me, and how
far from me? Far verily was I straying from Thee, barred from the very husks of the swine,
whom with husks I fed. For how much better are the fables of poets and grammarians than
these snares? For verses, and poems, and "Medea flying," are more profitable truly than
these men's five elements, variously disguised, answering to five dens of darkness, which
have no being, yet slay the believer. For verses and poems I can turn to true food, and
"Medea flying," though I did sing, I maintained not; though I heard it sung, I believed
not: but those things I did believe. Woe, woe, by what steps was I brought down to the
depths of hell! toiling and turmoiling through want of Truth, since I sought after Thee,
my God (to Thee I confess it, who hadst mercy on me, not as yet confessing), not according
to the understanding of the mind, wherein Thou willedst that I should excel the beasts,
but according to the sense of the flesh. But Thou wert more inward to me than my most
inward part; and higher than my highest. I lighted upon that bold woman, simple and
knoweth nothing, shadowed out in Solomon, sitting at the door, and saying, Eat ye bread of
secrecies willingly, and drink ye stolen waters which are sweet: she seduced me, because
she found my soul dwelling abroad in the eye of my flesh, and ruminating on such food as
through it I had devoured.

14 For other than this, that which really is I knew not; and was, as it were through
sharpness of wit, persuaded to assent to foolish deceivers, when they asked me, "whence is
evil?" "is God bounded by a bodily shape, and has hairs and nails?" "are they to be
esteemed righteous who had many wives at once, and did kill men, and sacrifice living
creatures?" At which I, in my ignorance, was much troubled, and departing from the truth,
seemed to myself to be making towards it; because as yet I knew not that evil was nothing
but a privation of good, until at last a thing ceases altogether to be; which how should I
see, the sight of whose eyes reached only to bodies, and of my mind to a phantasm? And I
knew not God to be a Spirit, not one who hath parts extended in length and breadth, or
whose being was bulk; for every bulk is less in a part than in the whole: and if it be
infinite, it must be less in such part as is defined by a certain space, than in its
infinitude; and so is not wholly every where, as Spirit, as God. And what that should be
in us, by which we were like to God, and might be rightly said to be after the image of
God, I was altogether ignorant.

15 Nor knew I that true inward righteousness which judgeth not according to custom, but
out of the most rightful law of God Almighty, whereby the ways of places and times were
disposed according to those times and places; itself meantime being the same always and
every where, not one thing in one place, and another in another; according to which
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and David, were righteous, and all those
commended by the mouth of God; but were judged unrighteous by silly men, judging out of
man's judgment, and measuring by their own petty habits, the moral habits of the whole
human race. As if in an armory, one ignorant what were adapted to each part should cover
his head with greaves, or seek to be shod with a helmet, and complain that they fitted
not: or as if on a day when business is publicly stopped in the afternoon, one were
angered at not being allowed to keep open shop, because he had been in the forenoon; or
when in one house he observeth some servant take a thing in his hand, which the butler is
not suffered to meddle with; or something permitted out of doors, which is forbidden in
the dining-room; and should be angry, that in one house, and one family, the same thing is
not allotted every where, and to all. Even such are they who are fretted to hear something
to have been lawful for righteous men formerly, which now is not;

16 or that God, for certain temporal respects, commanded them one thing, and these
another, obeying both the same righteousness: whereas they see, in one man, and one day,
and one house, different things to be fit for different members, and a thing formerly
lawful, after a certain time not so; in one corner permitted or commanded, but in another
rightly forbidden and punished. Is justice therefore various or mutable? No, but the
times, over which it presides, flow not evenly, because they are times. But men whose days
are few upon the earth, for that by their senses they cannot harmonise the causes of
things in former ages and other nations, which they had not experience of, with these
which they have experience of, whereas in one and the same body, day, or family, they
easily see what is fitting for each member, and season, part, and person; to the one they
take exceptions, to the other they submit.

17 These things I then knew not, nor observed; they struck my sight on all sides, and I
saw them not. I indited verses, in which I might not place every foot every where, but
differently in different metres; nor even in any one metre the self-same foot in all
places. Yet the art itself, by which I indited, had not different principles for these
different cases, but comprised all in one. Still I saw not how that righteousness, which
good and holy men obeyed, did far more excellently and sublimely contain in one all those
things which God commanded, and in no part varied; although in varying times it prescribed
not every thing at once, but apportioned and enjoined what was fit for each. And I in my
blindness, censured the holy Fathers, not only wherein they made use of things present as
God commanded and inspired them, but also wherein they were foretelling things to come, as
God was revealing in them.

18 Can it at any time or place be unjust to love God with all his heart, with all his
soul, and with all his mind; and his neighbour as himself? Therefore are those foul
offences which be against nature, to be every where and at all times detested and
punished; such as were those of the men of Sodom: which should all nations commit, they
should all stand guilty of the same crime, by the law of God, which hath not so made men
that they should so abuse one another. For even that intercourse which should be between
God and us is violated, when that same nature, of which He is Author, is polluted by
perversity of lust. But those actions which are offences against the customs of men, are
to be avoided according to the customs severally prevailing; so that a thing agreed upon,
and confirmed, by custom or law of any city or nation, may not be violated at the lawless
pleasure of any, whether native or foreigner. For any part which harmoniseth not with its
whole, is offensive. But when God commands a thing to be done, against the customs or
compact of any people, though it were never by them done heretofore, it is to be done; and
if intermitted, it is to be restored; and if never ordained, is now to be ordained.

19 For lawful if it be for a king, in the state which he reigns over, to command that
which no one before him, nor he himself heretofore, had commanded, and to obey him cannot
be against the common weal of the state (nay, it were against it if he were not obeyed,
for to obey princes is a general compact of human society); how much more unhesitatingly
ought we to obey God, in all which He commands, the Ruler of all His creatures! For as
among the powers in man's society, the greater authority is obeyed in preference to the
lesser, so must God above all. 20 So in acts of violence, where there is a wish to hurt,
whether by reproach or injury; and these either for revenge, as one enemy against another;
or for some profit belonging to another, as the robber to the traveller; or to avoid some
evil, as towards one who is feared; or through envy, as one less fortunate to one more so,
or one well thriven in any thing, to him whose being on a par with himself he fears, or
grieves at, or for the mere pleasure at another's pain, as spectators of gladiators, or
deriders and mockers of others. These be the heads of iniquity which spring from the lust
of the flesh, of the eye, or of rule, either singly, or two combined, or all together; and
so do men live ill against the three, and seven, that psaltery of ten strings, Thy Ten
Commandments, O God, most high, and most sweet. But what foul offences can there be
against Thee, who canst not be defiled? or what acts of violence against Thee, who canst
not be harmed? But Thou avengest what men commit against themselves, seeing also when they
sin against Thee, they do wickedly against their own souls, and iniquity gives itself the
lie, by corrupting and perverting their nature, which Thou hast created and ordained, or
by an immoderate use of things allowed, or in burning in things unallowed, to that use
which is against nature; or are found guilty, raging with heart and tongue against Thee,
kicking against the pricks;

21 or when, bursting the pale of human society, they boldly joy in self-willed
combinations or divisions, according as they have any object to gain or subject of
offence. And these things are done when Thou art forsaken, O Fountain of Life, who art the
only and true Creator and Governor of the Universe, and by a self-willed pride, any one
false thing is selected therefrom and loved. So then by a humble devoutness we return to
Thee; and Thou cleansest us from our evil habits, and art merciful to their sins who
confess, and hearest the groaning of the prisoner, and loosest us from the chains which we
made for ourselves, if we lift not up against Thee the horns of an unreal liberty,
suffering the loss of all, through covetousness of more, by loving more our own private
good than Thee, the Good of all. 22 Amidst these offences of foulness and violence, and so
many iniquities, are sins of men, who are on the whole making proficiency; which by those
that judge rightly, are, after the rule of perfection, discommended, yet the persons
commended, upon hope of future fruit, as in the green blade of growing corn. And there are
some, resembling offences of foulness or violence, which yet are no sins; because they
offend neither Thee, our Lord God, nor human society; when, namely, things fitting for a
given period are obtained for the service of life, and we know not whether out of a lust
of having; or when things are, for the sake of correction, by constituted authority
punished, and we know not whether out of a lust of hurting. Many an action then which in
men's sight is disapproved, is by Thy testimony approved; and many, by men praised, are
(Thou being witness) condemned: because the show of the action, and the mind of the doer,
and the unknown exigency of the period, severally vary. But when Thou on a sudden
commandest an unwonted and unthought of thing, yea, although Thou hast sometime forbidden
it, and still for the time hidest the reason of Thy command, and it be against the
ordinance of some society of men, who doubts but it is to be done, seeing that society of
men is just which serves Thee? But blessed are they who know Thy commands! For all things
were done by Thy servants; either to show forth something needful for the present, or to
foreshow things to come.

23 These things I being ignorant of, scoffed at those Thy holy servants and prophets. And
what gained I by scoffing at them, but to be scoffed at by Thee, being insensibly and step
by step drawn on to those follies, as to believe that a fig-tree wept when it was plucked,
and the tree, its mother, shed milky tears? Which fig notwithstanding (plucked by some
other's, not his own, guilt) had some Manichaean saint eaten, and mingled with his bowels,
he should breathe out of it angels, yea, there shall burst forth particles of divinity, at
every moan or groan in his prayer, which particles of the most high and true God had
remained bound in that fig, unless they had been set at liberty by the teeth or belly of
some "Elect" saint! And I, miserable, believed that more mercy was to be shown to the
fruits of the earth than men, for whom they were created. For if any one an hungered, not
a Manichaean, should ask for any, that morsel would seem as it were condemned to capital
punishment, which should be given him.

24 And Thou sentest Thine hand from above, and drewest my soul out of that profound
darkness, my mother, Thy faithful one, weeping to Thee for me, more than mothers weep the
bodily deaths of their children. For she, by that faith and spirit which she had from
Thee, discerned the death wherein I lay, and Thou heardest her, O Lord; Thou heardest her,
and despisedst not her tears, when streaming down, they watered the ground under her eyes
in every place where she prayed; yea Thou heardest her. For whence was that dream whereby
Thou comfortedst her; so that she allowed me to live with her, and to eat at the same
table in the house, which she had begun to shrink from, abhorring and detesting the
blasphemies of my error? For she saw herself standing on a certain wooden rule, and a
shining youth coming towards her, cheerful and smiling upon her, herself grieving, and
overwhelmed with grief. But he having (in order to instruct, as is their wont not to be
instructed) enquired of her the causes of her grief and daily tears, and she answering
that she was bewailing my perdition, he bade her rest contented, and told her to look and
observe, "That where she was, there was I also." And when she looked, she saw me standing
by her in the same rule. Whence was this, but that Thine ears were towards her heart? O
Thou Good omnipotent, who so carest for every one of us, as if Thou caredst for him only;
and so for all, as if they were but one!

25 Whence was this also, that when she had told me this vision, and I would fain bend it
to mean, "That she rather should not despair of being one day what I was"; she presently,
without any hesitation, replies: "No; for it was not told me that, 'where he, there thou
also'; but 'where thou, there he also'?" I confess to Thee, O Lord, that to the best of my
remembrance (and I have oft spoken of this), that Thy answer, through my waking
mother,—that she was not perplexed by the plausibility of my false interpretation, and so
quickly saw what was to be seen, and which I certainly had not perceived before she
spake,—even then moved me more than the dream itself, by which a joy to the holy woman, to
be fulfilled so long after, was, for the consolation of her present anguish, so long
before foresignified. For almost nine years passed, in which I wallowed in the mire of
that deep pit, and the darkness of falsehood, often assaying to rise, but dashed down the
more grievously. All which time that chaste, godly, and sober widow (such as Thou lovest),
now more cheered with hope, yet no whit relaxing in her weeping and mourning, ceased not
at all hours of her devotions to bewail my case unto Thee. And her prayers entered into
Thy presence; and yet Thou sufferedst me to be yet involved and reinvolved in that
darkness.

26 Thou gavest her meantime another answer, which I call to mind; for much I pass by,
hasting to those things which more press me to confess unto Thee, and much I do not
remember. Thou gavest her then another answer, by a Priest of Thine, a certain Bishop
brought up in Thy Church, and well studied in Thy books. Whom when this woman had
entreated to vouchsafe to converse with me, refute my errors, unteach me ill things, and
teach me good things (for this he was wont to do, when he found persons fitted to receive
it), he refused, wisely, as I afterwards perceived. For he answered, that I was yet
unteachable, being puffed up with the novelty of that heresy, and had already perplexed
divers unskilful persons with captious questions, as she had told him: "but let him alone
a while" (saith he), "only pray God for him, he will of himself by reading find what that
error is, and how great its impiety." At the same time he told her, how himself, when a
little one, had by his seduced mother been consigned over to the Manichees, and had not
only read, but frequently copied out almost all, their books, and had (without any
argument or proof from any one) seen how much that sect was to be avoided; and had avoided
it. Which when he had said, and she would not be satisfied, but urged him more, with
entreaties and many tears, that he would see me and discourse with me; he, a little
displeased at her importunity, saith, "Go thy ways and God bless thee, for it is not
possible that the son of these tears should perish." Which answer she took (as she often
mentioned in her conversations with me) as if it had sounded from heaven.

BOOK IV

1 For this space of nine years (from my nineteenth year to my eight-and-twentieth) we
lived seduced and seducing, deceived and deceiving, in divers lusts; openly, by sciences
which they call liberal; secretly, with a false-named religion; here proud, there
superstitious, every where vain. Here, hunting after the emptiness of popular praise, down
even to theatrical applauses, and poetic prizes, and strifes for grassy garlands, and the
follies of shows, and the intemperance of desires. There, desiring to be cleansed from
these defilements, by carrying food to those who were called "elect" and "holy," out of
which, in the workhouse of their stomachs, they should forge for us Angels and Gods, by
whom we might be cleansed. These things did I follow, and practise with my friends,
deceived by me, and with me. Let the arrogant mock me, and such as have not been, to their
soul's health, stricken and cast down by Thee, O my God; but I would still confess to Thee
mine own shame in Thy praise. Suffer me, I beseech Thee, and give me grace to go over in
my present remembrance the wanderings of my forepassed time, and to offer unto Thee the
sacrifice of thanksgiving. For what am I to myself without Thee, but a guide to mine own
downfall? or what am I even at the best, but an infant sucking the milk Thou givest, and
feeding upon Thee, the food that perisheth not? But what sort of man is any man, seeing he
is but a man? Let now the strong and the mighty laugh at us, but let us poor and needy
confess unto Thee.

2 In those years I taught rhetoric, and, overcome by cupidity, made sale of a loquacity to
overcome by. Yet I preferred (Lord, Thou knowest) honest scholars (as they are accounted),
and these I, without artifice, taught artifices, not to be practised against the life of
the guiltless, though sometimes for the life of the guilty. And Thou, O God, from afar
perceivedst me stumbling in that slippery course, and amid much smoke sending out some
sparks of faithfulness, which I showed in that my guidance of such as loved vanity, and
sought after leasing, myself their companion. In those years I had one,—not in that which
is called lawful marriage, but whom I had found out in a wayward passion, void of
understanding; yet but one, remaining faithful even to her; in whom I in my own case
experienced what difference there is betwixt the self-restraint of the marriage-covenant,
for the sake of issue, and the bargain of a lustful love, where children are born against
their parents' will, although, once born, they constrain love.

3 I remember also, that when I had settled to enter the lists for a theatrical prize, some
wizard asked me what I would give him to win; but I, detesting and abhorring such foul
mysteries, answered, "Though the garland were of imperishable gold, I would not suffer a
fly to be killed to gain me it." For he was to kill some living creatures in his
sacrifices, and by those honours to invite the devils to favour me. But this ill also I
rejected, not out of a pure love for Thee, O God of my heart; for I knew not how to love
Thee, who knew not how to conceive aught beyond a material brightness. And doth not a
soul, sighing after such fictions, commit fornication against Thee, trust in things
unreal, and feed the wind? Still I would not forsooth have sacrifices offered to devils
for me, to whom I was sacrificing myself by that superstition. For what else is it to feed
the wind, but to feed them, that is by going astray to become their pleasure and derision?

4 Those impostors then, whom they style Mathematicians, I consulted without scruple;
because they seemed to use no sacrifice, nor to pray to any spirit for their divinations:
which art, however, Christian and true piety consistently rejects and condemns. For, it is
a good thing to confess unto Thee, and to say, Have mercy upon me, heal my soul, for I
have sinned against Thee; and not to abuse Thy mercy for a licence to sin, but to remember
the Lord's words, Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto
thee. All which wholesome advice they labour to destroy, saying, "The cause of thy sin is
inevitably determined in heaven"; and "This did Venus, or Saturn, or Mars": that man,
forsooth, flesh and blood, and proud corruption, might be blameless; while the Creator and
Ordainer of heaven and the stars is to bear the blame. And who is He but our God? the very
sweetness and well-spring of righteousness, who renderest to every man according to his
works: and a broken and contrite heart wilt Thou not despise.

5 There was in those days a wise man, very skilful in physic, and renowned therein, who
had with his own proconsular hand put the Agonistic garland upon my distempered head, but
not as a physician: for this disease Thou only curest, who resistest the proud, and givest
grace to the humble. But didst Thou fail me even by that old man, or forbear to heal my
soul? For having become more acquainted with him, and hanging assiduously and fixedly on
his speech (for though in simple terms, it was vivid, lively, and earnest), when he had
gathered by my discourse that I was given to the books of nativity-casters, he kindly and
fatherly advised me to cast them away, and not fruitlessly bestow a care and diligence,
necessary for useful things, upon these vanities; saying, that he had in his earliest
years studied that art, so as to make it the profession whereby he should live, and that,
understanding Hippocrates, he could soon have understood such a study as this; and yet he
had given it over, and taken to physic, for no other reason but that he found it utterly
false; and he, a grave man, would not get his living by deluding people. "But thou," saith
he, "hast rhetoric to maintain thyself by, so that thou followest this of free choice, not
of necessity: the more then oughtest thou to give me credit herein, who laboured to
acquire it so perfectly as to get my living by it alone.

6 Of whom when I had demanded, how then could many true things be foretold by it, he
answered me (as he could) "that the force of chance, diffused throughout the whole order
of things, brought this about. For if when a man by haphazard opens the pages of some
poet, who sang and thought of something wholly different, a verse oftentimes fell out,
wondrously agreeable to the present business: it were not to be wondered at, if out of the
soul of man, unconscious what takes place in it, by some higher instinct an answer should
be given, by hap, not by art, corresponding to the business and actions of the demander."
7 And thus much, either from or through him, Thou conveyedst to me, and tracedst in my
memory, what I might hereafter examine for myself. But at that time neither he, nor my
dearest Nebridius, a youth singularly good and of a holy fear, who derided the whole body
of divination, could persuade me to cast it aside, the authority of the authors swaying me
yet more, and as yet I had found no certain proof (such as I sought) whereby it might
without all doubt appear, that what had been truly foretold by those consulted was the
result of haphazard, not of the art of the star-gazers.

8 In those years when I first began to teach rhetoric in my native town, I had made one my
friend, but too dear to me, from a community of pursuits, of mine own age, and, as myself,
in the first opening flower of youth. He had grown up of a child with me, and we had been
both school-fellows and play-fellows. But he was not yet my friend as afterwards, nor even
then, as true friendship is; for true it cannot be, unless in such as Thou cementest
together, cleaving unto Thee, by that love which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost, which is given unto us. Yet was it but too sweet, ripened by the warmth of kindred
studies: for, from the true faith (which he as a youth had not soundly and thoroughly
imbibed), I had warped him also to those superstitious and pernicious fables, for which my
mother bewailed me. With me he now erred in mind, nor could my soul be without him. But
behold Thou wert close on the steps of Thy fugitives, at once God of vengeance, and
Fountain of mercies, turning us to Thyself by wonderful means; Thou tookest that man out
of this life, when he had scarce filled up one whole year of my friendship, sweet to me
above all sweetness of that my life.

9 Who can recount all Thy praises, which he hath felt in his one self? What diddest Thou
then, my God, and how unsearchable is the abyss of Thy judgments? For long, sore sick of a
fever, he lay senseless in a death-sweat; and his recovery being despaired of, he was
baptised, unknowing; myself meanwhile little regarding, and presuming that his soul would
retain rather what it had received of me, not what was wrought on his unconscious body.
But it proved far otherwise: for he was refreshed, and restored. Forthwith, as soon as I
could speak with him (and I could, so soon as he was able, for I never left him, and we
hung but too much upon each other), I essayed to jest with him, as though he would jest
with me at that baptism which he had received, when utterly absent in mind and feeling,
but had now understood that he had received. But he so shrunk from me, as from an enemy;
and with a wonderful and sudden freedom bade me, as I would continue his friend, forbear
such language to him. I, all astonished and amazed, suppressed all my emotions till he
should grow well, and his health were strong enough for me to deal with him as I would.
But he was taken away from my frenzy, that with Thee he might be preserved for my comfort;
a few days after in my absence, he was attacked again by the fever, and so departed.

10 At this grief my heart was utterly darkened; and whatever I beheld was death. My native
country was a torment to me, and my father's house a strange unhappiness; and whatever I
had shared with him, wanting him, became a distracting torture. Mine eyes sought him every
where, but he was not granted them; and I hated all places, for that they had not him; nor
could they now tell me, "he is coming," as when he was alive and absent. I became a great
riddle to myself, and I asked my soul, why she was so sad, and why she disquieted me
sorely: but she knew not what to answer me. And if I said, Trust in God, she very rightly
obeyed me not; because that most dear friend, whom she had lost, was, being man, both
truer and better than that phantasm she was bid to trust in. Only tears were sweet to me,
for they succeeded my friend, in the dearest of my affections.

11 And now, Lord, these things are passed by, and time hath assuaged my wound. May I learn
from Thee, who art Truth, and approach the ear of my heart unto Thy mouth, that Thou
mayest tell me why weeping is sweet to the miserable? Hast Thou, although present every
where, cast away our misery far from Thee? And Thou abidest in Thyself, but we are tossed
about in divers trials. And yet unless we mourned in Thine ears, we should have no hope
left. Whence then is sweet fruit gathered from the bitterness of life, from groaning,
tears, sighs, and complaints? Doth this sweeten it, that we hope Thou hearest? This is
true of prayer, for therein is a longing to approach unto Thee. But is it also in grief
for a thing lost, and the sorrow wherewith I was then overwhelmed? For I neither hoped he
should return to life nor did I desire this with my tears; but I wept only and grieved.
For I was miserable, and had lost my joy. Or is weeping indeed a bitter thing, and for
very loathing of the things which we before enjoyed, does it then, when we shrink from
them, please us?

12 But what speak I of these things? for now is no time to question, but to confess unto
Thee. Wretched I was; and wretched is every soul bound by the friendship of perishable
things; he is torn asunder when he loses them, and then he feels the wretchedness which he
had ere yet he lost them. So was it then with me; I wept most bitterly, and found my
repose in bitterness. Thus was I wretched, and that wretched life I held dearer than my
friend. For though I would willingly have changed it, yet was I more unwilling to part
with it than with him; yea, I know not whether I would have parted with it even for him,
as is related (if not feigned) of Pylades and Orestes, that they would gladly have died
for each other or together, not to live together being to them worse than death. But in me
there had arisen some unexplained feeling, too contrary to this, for at once I loathed
exceedingly to live and feared to die. I suppose, the more I loved him, the more did I
hate, and fear (as a most cruel enemy) death, which had bereaved me of him: and I imagined
it would speedily make an end of all men, since it had power over him. Thus was it with
me, I remember. Behold my heart, O my God, behold and see into me;

13 for well I remember it, O my Hope, who cleansest me from the impurity of such
affections, directing mine eyes towards Thee, and plucking my feet out of the snare. For I
wondered that others, subject to death, did live, since he whom I loved, as if he should
never die, was dead; and I wondered yet more that myself, who was to him a second self,
could live, he being dead. Well said one of his friend, "Thou half of my soul"; for I felt
that my soul and his soul were "one soul in two bodies": and therefore was my life a
horror to me, because I would not live halved. And therefore perchance I feared to die,
lest he whom I had much loved should die wholly. 14 O madness, which knowest not how to
love men, like men! O foolish man that I then was, enduring impatiently the lot of man! I
fretted then, sighed, wept, was distracted; had neither rest nor counsel. For I bore about
a shattered and bleeding soul, impatient of being borne by me, yet where to repose it, I
found not. Not in calm groves, not in games and music, nor in fragrant spots, nor in
curious banquetings, nor in the pleasures of the bed and the couch; nor (finally) in books
or poesy, found it repose. All things looked ghastly, yea, the very light; whatsoever was
not what he was, was revolting and hateful, except groaning and tears. For in those alone
found I a little refreshment. But when my soul was withdrawn from them a huge load of
misery weighed me down. To Thee, O Lord, it ought to have been raised, for Thee to
lighten; I knew it; but neither could nor would; the more, since, when I thought of Thee,
Thou wert not to me any solid or substantial thing. For Thou wert not Thyself, but a mere
phantom, and my error was my God. If I offered to discharge my load thereon, that it might
rest, it glided through the void, and came rushing down again on me; and I had remained to
myself a hapless spot, where I could neither be, nor be from thence. For whither should my
heart flee from my heart? Whither should I flee from myself? Whither not follow myself?
And yet I fled out of my country; for so should mine eyes less look for him, where they
were not wont to see him. And thus from Thagaste, I came to Carthage.

15 Times lose no time; nor do they roll idly by; through our senses they work strange
operations on the mind. Behold, they went and came day by day, and by coming and going,
introduced into my mind other imaginations and other remembrances; and little by little
patched me up again with my old kind of delights, unto which that my sorrow gave way. And
yet there succeeded, not indeed other griefs, yet the causes of other griefs. For whence
had that former grief so easily reached my very inmost soul, but that I had poured out my
soul upon the dust, in loving one that must die, as if he would never die? For what
restored and refreshed me chiefly was the solaces of other friends, with whom I did love,
what instead of Thee I loved; and this was a great fable, and protracted lie, by whose
adulterous stimulus, our soul, which lay itching in our ears, was being defiled. But that
fable would not die to me, so oft as any of my friends died. There were other things which
in them did more take my mind; to talk and jest together, to do kind offices by turns; to
read together honied books; to play the fool or be earnest together; to dissent at times
without discontent, as a man might with his own self; and even with the seldomness of
these dissentings, to season our more frequent consentings; sometimes to teach, and
sometimes learn; long for the absent with impatience; and welcome the coming with joy.
These and the like expressions, proceeding out of the hearts of those that loved and were
loved again, by the countenance, the tongue, the eyes, and a thousand pleasing gestures,
were so much fuel to melt our souls together, and out of many make but one.

16 This is it that is loved in friends; and so loved, that a man's conscience condemns
itself, if he love not him that loves him again, or love not again him that loves him,
looking for nothing from his person but indications of his love. Hence that mourning, if
one die, and darkenings of sorrows, that steeping of the heart in tears, all sweetness
turned to bitterness; and upon the loss of life of the dying, the death of the living.
Blessed whoso loveth Thee, and his friend in Thee, and his enemy for Thee. For he alone
loses none dear to him, to whom all are dear in Him who cannot be lost. And who is this
but our God, the God that made heaven and earth, and filleth them, because by filling them
He created them? Thee none loseth, but who leaveth. And who leaveth Thee, whither goeth or
whither fleeth he, but from Thee well-pleased, to Thee displeased? For where doth he not
find Thy law in his own punishment? And Thy law is truth, and truth Thou.

17 Turn us, O God of Hosts, show us Thy countenance, and we shall be whole. For
whithersoever the soul of man turns itself, unless toward Thee, it is riveted upon
sorrows, yea though it is riveted on things beautiful. And yet they, out of Thee, and out
of the soul, were not, unless they were from Thee. They rise, and set; and by rising, they
begin as it were to be; they grow, that they may be perfected; and perfected, they wax old
and wither; and all grow not old, but all wither. So then when they rise and tend to be,
the more quickly they grow that they may be, so much the more they haste not to be. This
is the law of them. Thus much has Thou allotted them, because they are portions of things,
which exist not all at once, but by passing away and succeeding, they together complete
that universe, whereof they are portions. And even thus is our speech completed by signs
giving forth a sound: but this again is not perfected unless one word pass away when it
hath sounded its part, that another may succeed. Out of all these things let my soul
praise Thee, O God, Creator of all; yet let not my soul be riveted unto these things with
the glue of love, through the senses of the body. For they go whither they were to go,
that they might not be;

18 and they rend her with pestilent longings, because she longs to be, yet loves to repose
in what she loves. But in these things is no place of repose; they abide not, they flee;
and who can follow them with the senses of the flesh? yea, who can grasp them, when they
are hard by? For the sense of the flesh is slow, because it is the sense of the flesh; and
thereby is it bounded. It sufficeth for that it was made for; but it sufficeth not to stay
things running their course from their appointed starting-place to the end appointed. For
in Thy Word, by which they are created, they hear their decree, "hence and hitherto." 19
Be not foolish, O my soul, nor become deaf in the ear of thine heart with the tumult of
thy folly. Hearken thou too. The Word itself calleth thee to return: and there is the
place of rest imperturbable, where love is not forsaken, if itself forsaketh not. Behold,
these things pass away, that others may replace them, and so this lower universe be
completed by all his parts. But do I depart any whither? saith the Word of God. There fix
thy dwelling, trust there whatsoever thou hast thence, O my soul, at least now thou art
tired out with vanities. Entrust Truth, whatsoever thou hast from the Truth, and thou
shalt lose nothing; and thy decay shall bloom again, and all thy diseases be healed, and
thy mortal parts be reformed and renewed, and bound around thee: nor shall they lay thee
whither themselves descend; but they shall stand fast with thee, and abide for ever before
God, Who abideth and standeth fast for ever.

20 Why then be perverted and follow thy flesh? Be it converted and follow thee. Whatever
by her thou hast sense of, is in part; and the whole, whereof these are parts, thou
knowest not; and yet they delight thee. But had the sense of thy flesh a capacity for
comprehending the whole, and not itself also, for thy punishment, been justly restricted
to a part of the whole, thou wouldest, that whatsoever existeth at this present, should
pass away, that so the whole might better please thee. For what we speak also, by the same
sense of the flesh thou hearest; yet wouldest not thou have the syllables stay, but fly
away, that others may come, and thou hear the whole. And so ever, when any one thing is
made up of many, all of which do not exist together, all collectively would please more
than they do severally, could all be perceived collectively. But far better than these is
He who made all; and He is our God, nor doth He pass away, for neither doth aught succeed
Him.

21 If bodies please thee, praise God on occasion of them, and turn back thy love upon
their Maker; lest in these things which please thee, thou displease. If souls please thee,
be they loved in God: for they too are mutable, but in Him are they firmly stablished;
else would they pass, and pass away. In Him then be they beloved; and carry unto Him along
with thee what souls thou canst, and say to them, "Him let us love, Him let us love: He
made these, nor is He far off. For He did not make them, and so depart, but they are of
Him, and in Him. See there He is, where truth is loved. He is within the very heart, yet
hath the heart strayed from Him. Go back into your heart, ye transgressors, and cleave
fast to Him that made you. Stand with Him, and ye shall stand fast. Rest in Him, and ye
shall be at rest. Whither go ye in rough ways? Whither go ye? The good that you love is
from Him; but it is good and pleasant through reference to Him, and justly shall it be
embittered, because unjustly is any thing loved which is from Him, if He be forsaken for
it. To what end then would ye still and still walk these difficult and toilsome ways?
There is no rest, where ye seek it. Seek what ye seek; but it is not there where ye seek.
Ye seek a blessed life in the land of death; it is not there. For how should there be a
blessed life where life itself is not?

22 "But our true Life came down hither, and bore our death, and slew him, out of the
abundance of His own life: and He thundered, calling aloud to us to return hence to Him
into that secret place, whence He came forth to us, first into the Virgin's womb, wherein
He espoused the human creation, our mortal flesh, that it might not be for ever mortal,
and thence like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, rejoicing as a giant to run his
course. For He lingered not, but ran, calling aloud by words, deeds, death, life, descent,
ascension; crying aloud to us to return unto Him. And He departed from our eyes, that we
might return into our heart, and there find Him. For He departed, and lo, He is here. He
would not be long with us, yet left us not; for He departed thither, whence He never
parted, because the world was made by Him. And in this world He was, and into this world
He came to save sinners, unto whom my soul confesseth, and He healeth it, for it hath
sinned against Him. O ye sons of men, how long so slow of heart? Even now, after the
descent of Life to you, will ye not ascend and live? But whither ascend ye, when ye are on
high, and set your mouth against the heavens? Descend, that ye may ascend, and ascend to
God. For ye have fallen, by ascending against Him." Tell them this, that they may weep in
the valley of tears, and so carry them up with thee unto God; because out of His spirit
thou speakest thus unto them, if thou speakest, burning with the fire of charity.

23 These things I then knew not, and I loved these lower beauties, and I was sinking to
the very depths, and to my friends I said, "Do we love any thing but the beautiful? What
then is the beautiful? and what is beauty? What is it that attracts and wins us to the
things we love? for unless there were in them a grace and beauty, they could by no means
draw us unto them." And I marked and perceived that in bodies themselves, there was a
beauty, from their forming a sort of whole, and again, another from apt and mutual
correspondence, as of a part of the body with its whole, or a shoe with a foot, and the
like. And this consideration sprang up in my mind, out of my inmost heart, and I wrote "on
the fair and fit," I think, two or three books. Thou knowest, O Lord, for it is gone from
me; for I have them not, but they are strayed from me, I know not how.

24 But what moved me, O Lord my God, to dedicate these books unto Hierius, an orator of
Rome, whom I knew not by face, but loved for the fame of his learning which was eminent in
him, and some words of his I had heard, which pleased me? But more did he please me, for
that he pleased others, who highly extolled him, amazed that out of a Syrian, first
instructed in Greek eloquence, should afterwards be formed a wonderful Latin orator, and
one most learned in things pertaining unto philosophy. One is commended, and, unseen, he
is loved: doth this love enter the heart of the hearer from the mouth of the commender?
Not so. But by one who loveth is another kindled. For hence he is loved who is commended,
when the commender is believed to extol him with an unfeigned heart; that is, when one
that loves him, praises him.

25 For so did I then love men, upon the judgment of men, not Thine, O my God, in Whom no
man is deceived. But yet why not for qualities, like those of a famous charioteer, or
fighter with beasts in the theatre, known far and wide by a vulgar popularity, but far
otherwise, and earnestly, and so as I would be myself commended? For I would not be
commended or loved, as actors are (though I myself did commend and love them), but had
rather be unknown, than so known; and even hated, than so loved. Where now are the
impulses to such various and divers kinds of loves laid up in one soul? Why, since we are
equally men, do I love in another what, if I did not hate, I should not spurn and cast
from myself? For it holds not, that as a good horse is loved by him, who would not, though
he might, be that horse, therefore the same may be said of an actor, who shares our
nature. Do I then love in a man, what I hate to be, who am a man? Man himself is a great
deep, whose very hairs Thou numberest, O Lord, and they fall not to the ground without
Thee. And yet are the hairs of his head easier to be numbered than his feelings, and the
beatings of his heart.

26 But that orator was of that sort whom I loved, as wishing to be myself such; and I
erred through a swelling pride, and was tossed about with every wind, but yet was steered
by Thee, though very secretly. And whence do I know, and whence do I confidently confess
unto Thee, that I had loved him more for the love of his commenders, than for the very
things for which he was commended? Because, had he been unpraised, and these self-same men
had dispraised him, and with dispraise and contempt told the very same things of him, I
had never been so kindled and excited to love him. And yet the things had not been other,
nor he himself other; but only the feelings of the relators. See where the impotent soul
lies along, that is not yet stayed up by the solidity of truth! Just as the gales of
tongues blow from the breast of the opinionative, so is it carried this way and that,
driven forward and backward, and the light is overclouded to it, and the truth unseen. And
lo, it is before us. And it was to me a great matter, that my discourse and labours should
be known to that man: which should he approve, I were the more kindled; but if he
disapproved, my empty heart, void of Thy solidity, had been wounded. And yet the "fair and
fit," whereon I wrote to him, I dwelt on with pleasure, and surveyed it, and admired it,
though none joined therein.

27 But I saw not yet, whereon this weighty matter turned in Thy wisdom, O Thou Omnipotent,
who only doest wonders; and my mind ranged through corporeal forms; and "fair," I defined
and distinguished what is so in itself, and "fit," whose beauty is in correspondence to
some other thing: and this I supported by corporeal examples. And I turned to the nature
of the mind, but the false notion which I had of spiritual things, let me not see the
truth. Yet the force of truth did of itself flash into mine eyes, and I turned away my
panting soul from incorporeal substance to lineaments, and colours, and bulky magnitudes.
And not being able to see these in the mind, I thought I could not see my mind. And
whereas in virtue I loved peace, and in viciousness I abhorred discord; in the first I
observed a unity, but in the other, a sort of division. And in that unity I conceived the
rational soul, and the nature of truth and of the chief good to consist; but in this
division I miserably imagined there to be some unknown substance of irrational life, and
the nature of the chief evil, which should not only be a substance, but real life also,
and yet not derived from Thee, O my God, of whom are all things. And yet that first I
called a Monad, as it had been a soul without sex; but the latter a Duad;—anger, in deeds
of violence, and in flagitiousness, lust; not knowing whereof I spake. For I had not known
or learned that neither was evil a substance, nor our soul that chief and unchangeable
good.

28 For as deeds of violence arise, if that emotion of the soul be corrupted, whence
vehement action springs, stirring itself insolently and unrulily; and lusts, when that
affection of the soul is ungoverned, whereby carnal pleasures are drunk in, so do errors
and false opinions defile the conversation, if the reasonable soul itself be corrupted; as
it was then in me, who knew not that it must be enlightened by another light, that it may
be partaker of truth, seeing itself is not that nature of truth. For Thou shalt light my
candle, O Lord my God, Thou shalt enlighten my darkness: and of Thy fulness have we all
received, for Thou art the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world;
for in Thee there is no variableness, neither shadow of change. 29 But I pressed towards
Thee, and was thrust from Thee, that I might taste of death: for thou resistest the proud.
But what prouder, than for me with a strange madness to maintain myself to be that by
nature which Thou art? For whereas I was subject to change (so much being manifest to me,
my very desire to become wise, being the wish, of worse to become better), yet chose I
rather to imagine Thee subject to change, and myself not to be that which Thou art.
Therefore I was repelled by Thee, and Thou resistedst my vain stiffneckedness, and I
imagined corporeal forms, and, myself flesh, I accused flesh; and, a wind that passeth
away, I returned not to Thee, but I passed on and on to things which have no being,
neither in Thee, nor in me, nor in the body. Neither were they created for me by Thy
truth, but by my vanity devised out of things corporeal. And I was wont to ask Thy
faithful little ones, my fellow-citizens (from whom, unknown to myself, I stood exiled), I
was wont, prating and foolishly, to ask them, "Why then doth the soul err which God
created?" But I would not be asked, "Why then doth God err?" And I maintained that Thy
unchangeable substance did err upon constraint, rather than confess that my changeable
substance had gone astray voluntarily, and now, in punishment, lay in error.

30 I was then some six or seven and twenty years old when I wrote those volumes; revolving
within me corporeal fictions, buzzing in the ears of my heart, which I turned, O sweet
truth, to thy inward melody, meditating on the "fair and fit," and longing to stand and
hearken to Thee, and to rejoice greatly at the Bridegroom's voice, but could not; for by
the voices of mine own errors, I was hurried abroad, and through the weight of my own
pride, I was sinking into the lowest pit. For Thou didst not make me to hear joy and
gladness, nor did the bones exult which were not yet humbled. And what did it profit me,
that scarce twenty years old, a book of Aristotle, which they call the ten Predicaments,
falling into my hands (on whose very name I hung, as on something great and divine, so
often as my rhetoric master of Carthage, and others, accounted learned, mouthed it with
cheeks bursting with pride), I read and understood it unaided? And on my conferring with
others, who said that they scarcely understood it with very able tutors, not only orally
explaining it, but drawing many things in sand, they could tell me no more of it than I
had learned, reading it by myself. And the book appeared to me to speak very clearly of
substances, such as "man," and of their qualities, as the figure of a man, of what sort it
is; and stature, how many feet high; and his relationship, whose brother he is; or where
placed; or when born; or whether he stands or sits; or be shod or armed; or does, or
suffers anything; and all the innumerable things which might be ranged under these nine
Predicaments, of which I have given some specimens, or under that chief Predicament of
Substance.

31 What did all this further me, seeing it even hindered me? when, imagining whatever was,
was comprehended under those ten Predicaments, I essayed in such wise to understand, O my
God, Thy wonderful and unchangeable Unity also, as if Thou also hadst been subjected to
Thine own greatness or beauty; so that (as in bodies) they should exist in Thee, as their
subject: whereas Thou Thyself art Thy greatness and beauty; but a body is not great or
fair in that it is a body, seeing that, though it were less great or fair, it should
notwithstanding be a body. But it was falsehood which of Thee I conceived, not truth,
fictions of my misery, not the realities of Thy blessedness. For Thou hadst commanded, and
it was done in me, that the earth should bring forth briars and thorns to me, and that in
the sweat of my brows I should eat my bread.

32 And what did it profit me, that all the books I could procure of the so-called liberal
arts, I, the vile slave of vile affections, read by myself, and understood? And I
delighted in them, but knew not whence came all, that therein was true or certain. For I
had my back to the light, and my face to the things enlightened; whence my face, with
which I discerned the things enlightened, itself was not enlightened. Whatever was
written, either on rhetoric, or logic, geometry, music, and arithmetic, by myself without
much difficulty or any instructor, I understood, Thou knowest, O Lord my God; because both
quickness of understanding, and acuteness in discerning, is Thy gift: yet did I not thence
sacrifice to Thee. So then it served not to my use, but rather to my perdition, since I
went about to get so good a portion of my substance into my own keeping; and I kept not my
strength for Thee, but wandered from Thee into a far country, to spend it upon harlotries.
For what profited me good abilities, not employed to good uses? For I felt not that those
arts were attained with great difficulty, even by the studious and talented, until I
attempted to explain them to such; when he most excelled in them who followed me not
altogether slowly.

33 But what did this further me, imagining that Thou, O Lord God, the Truth, wert a vast
and bright body, and I a fragment of that body? Perverseness too great! But such was I.
Nor do I blush, O my God, to confess to Thee Thy mercies towards me, and to call upon
Thee, who blushed not then to profess to men my blasphemies, and to bark against Thee.
What profited me then my nimble wit in those sciences and all those most knotty volumes,
unravelled by me, without aid from human instruction; seeing I erred so foully, and with
such sacrilegious shamefulness, in the doctrine of piety? Or what hindrance was a far
slower wit to Thy little ones, since they departed not far from Thee, that in the nest of
Thy Church they might securely be fledged, and nourish the wings of charity, by the food
of a sound faith. O Lord our God, under the shadow of Thy wings let us hope; protect us,
and carry us. Thou wilt carry us both when little, and even to hoar hairs wilt Thou carry
us; for our firmness, when it is Thou, then is it firmness; but when our own, it is
infirmity. Our good ever lives with Thee; from which when we turn away, we are turned
aside. Let us now, O Lord, return, that we may not be overturned, because with Thee our
good lives without any decay, which good art Thou; nor need we fear, lest there be no
place whither to return, because we fell from it: for through our absence, our mansion
fell not—Thy eternity.


THE CONFESSIONS
===============

THE CONFESSIONS continued

BOOK V

1 Accept the sacrifice of my confessions from the ministry of my tongue, which Thou hast
formed and stirred up to confess unto Thy name. Heal Thou all my bones, and let them say,
O Lord, who is like unto Thee? For he who confesses to Thee doth not teach Thee what takes
place within him; seeing a closed heart closes not out Thy eye, nor can man's hard-
heartedness thrust back Thy hand: for Thou dissolvest it at Thy will in pity or in
vengeance, and nothing can hide itself from Thy heat. But let my soul praise Thee, that it
may love Thee; and let it confess Thy own mercies to Thee, that it may praise Thee. Thy
whole creation ceaseth not, nor is silent in Thy praises; neither the spirit of man with
voice directed unto Thee, nor creation animate or inanimate, by the voice of those who
meditate thereon: that so our souls may from their weariness arise towards Thee, leaning
on those things which Thou hast created, and passing on to Thyself, who madest them
wonderfully; and there is refreshment and true strength.

2 Let the restless, the godless, depart and flee from Thee; yet Thou seest them, and
dividest the darkness. And behold, the universe with them is fair, though they are foul.
And how have they injured Thee? or how have they disgraced Thy government, which, from the
heaven to this lowest earth, is just and perfect? For whither fled they, when they fled
from Thy presence? or where dost not Thou find them? But they fled, that they might not
see Thee seeing them, and, blinded, might stumble against Thee (because Thou forsakest
nothing Thou hast made); that the unjust, I say, might stumble upon Thee, and justly be
hurt; withdrawing themselves from thy gentleness, and stumbling at Thy uprightness, and
falling upon their own ruggedness. Ignorant, in truth, that Thou art every where, Whom no
place encompasseth! and Thou alone art near, even to those that remove far from Thee. Let
them then be turned, and seek Thee; because not as they have forsaken their Creator, hast
Thou forsaken Thy creation. Let them be turned and seek Thee; and behold, Thou art there
in their heart, in the heart of those that confess to Thee, and cast themselves upon Thee,
and weep in Thy bosom, after all their rugged ways. Then dost Thou gently wipe away their
tears, and they weep the more, and joy in weeping; even for that Thou, Lord,—not man of
flesh and blood, but—Thou, Lord, who madest them, re-makest and comfortest them. But where
was I, when I was seeking Thee? And Thou wert before me, but I had gone away from Thee;
nor did I find myself, how much less Thee!

3 I would lay open before my God that nine-and-twentieth year of mine age. There had then
come to Carthage a certain Bishop of the Manichees, Faustus by name, a great snare of the
Devil, and many were entangled by him through that lure of his smooth language: which
though I did commend, yet could I separate from the truth of the things which I was
earnest to learn: nor did I so much regard the service of oratory as the science which
this Faustus, so praised among them, set before me to feed upon. Fame had before bespoken
him most knowing in all valuable learning, and exquisitely skilled in the liberal
sciences. And since I had read and well remembered much of the philosophers, I compared
some things of theirs with those long fables of the Manichees, and found the former the
more probable; even although they could only prevail so far as to make judgment of this
lower world, the Lord of it they could by no means find out. For Thou art great, O Lord,
and hast respect unto the humble, but the proud Thou beholdest afar off. Nor dost Thou
draw near, but to the contrite in heart, nor art found by the proud, no, not though by
curious skill they could number the stars and the sand, and measure the starry heavens,
and track the courses of the planets.

4 For with their understanding and wit, which Thou bestowedst on them, they search out
these things; and much have they found out; and foretold, many years before, eclipses of
those luminaries, the sun and moon,—what day and hour, and how many digits,—nor did their
calculation fail; and it came to pass as they foretold; and they wrote down the rules they
had found out, and these are read at this day, and out of them do others foretell in what
year and month of the year, and what day of the month, and what hour of the day, and what
part of its light, moon or sun is to be eclipsed, and so it shall be, as it is foreshowed.
At these things men, that know not this art, marvel and are astonished, and they that know
it, exult, and are puffed up; and by an ungodly pride departing from Thee, and failing of
Thy light, they foresee a failure of the sun's light, which shall be, so long before, but
see not their own, which is. For they search not religiously whence they have the wit,
wherewith they search out this. And finding that Thou madest them, they give not
themselves up to Thee, to preserve what Thou madest, nor sacrifice to Thee what they have
made themselves; nor slay their own soaring imaginations, as fowls of the air, nor their
own diving curiosities (wherewith, like the fishes of the sea, they wander over the
unknown paths of the abyss), nor their own luxuriousness, as beasts of the field, that
Thou, Lord, a consuming fire, mayest burn up those dead cares of theirs, and re-create
themselves immortally.

5 But they knew not the way, Thy Word, by Whom Thou madest these things which they number,
and themselves who number, and the sense whereby they perceive what they number, and the
understanding, out of which they number; or that of Thy wisdom there is no number. But the
Only Begotten is Himself made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
was numbered among us, and paid tribute unto Caesar. They knew not this way whereby to
descend to Him from themselves, and by Him ascend unto Him. They knew not this way, and
deemed themselves exalted amongst the stars and shining; and behold, they fell upon the
earth, and their foolish heart was darkened. They discourse many things truly concerning
the creature; but Truth, Artificer of the creature, they seek not piously, and therefore
find Him not; or if they find Him, knowing Him to be God, they glorify Him not as God,
neither are thankful, but become vain in their imaginations, and profess themselves to be
wise, attributing to themselves what is Thine; and thereby with most perverse blindness,
study to impute to Thee what is their own, forging lies of Thee who art the Truth, and
changing the glory of uncorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and to
birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things, changing Thy truth into a lie, and
worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator.

6 Yet many truths concerning the creature retained I from these men, and saw the reason
thereof from calculations, the succession of times, and the visible testimonies of the
stars; and compared them with the saying of Manichaeus, which in his frenzy he had written
most largely on these subjects; but discovered not any account of the solstices, or
equinoxes, or the eclipses of the greater lights, nor whatever of this sort I had learned
in the books of secular philosophy. But I was commanded to believe; and yet it
corresponded not with what had been established by calculations and my own sight, but was
quite contrary. Doth then, O Lord God of truth, whoso knoweth these things, therefore
please Thee? Surely unhappy is he who knoweth all these, and knoweth not Thee: but happy
whoso knoweth Thee, though he know not these. And whoso knoweth both Thee and them is not
the happier for them, but for Thee only, if, knowing Thee, he glorifies Thee as God, and
is thankful, and becomes not vain in his imaginations. For as he is better off who knows
how to possess a tree, and return thanks to Thee for the use thereof, although he know not
how many cubits high it is, or how wide it spreads, than he that can measure it, and count
all its boughs, and neither owns it, nor knows or loves its Creator: so a believer, whose
all this world of wealth is, and who having nothing, yet possesseth all things, by
cleaving unto Thee, whom all things serve, though he know not even the circles of the
Great Bear, yet is it folly to doubt but he is in a better state than one who can measure
the heavens, and number the stars, and poise the elements, yet neglecteth Thee who hast
made all things in number, weight, and measure.

7 But yet who bade that Manichaeus write on these things also, skill in which was no
element of piety? For Thou hast said to man, Behold piety and wisdom; of which he might be
ignorant, though he had perfect knowledge of these things; but these things, since,
knowing not, he most impudently dared to teach, he plainly could have no knowledge of
piety. For it is vanity to make profession of these worldly things even when known; but
confession to Thee is piety. Wherefore this wanderer to this end spake much of these
things, that convicted by those who had truly learned them, it might be manifest what
understanding he had in the other abstruser things. For he would not have himself meanly
thought of, but went about to persuade men, "That the Holy Ghost, the Comforter and
Enricher of Thy faithful ones, was with plenary authority personally within him." When
then he was found out to have taught falsely of the heaven and stars, and of the motions
of the sun and moon (although these things pertain not to the doctrine of religion), yet
his sacrilegious presumption would become evident enough, seeing he delivered things which
not only he knew not, but which were falsified, with so mad a vanity of pride, that he
sought to ascribe them to himself, as to a divine person.

8 For when I hear any Christian brother ignorant of these things, and mistaken on them, I
can patiently behold such a man holding his opinion; nor do I see that any ignorance as to
the position or character of the corporeal creation can injure him, so long as he doth not
believe any thing unworthy of Thee, O Lord, the Creator of all. But it doth injure him, if
he imagine it to pertain to the form of the doctrine of piety, and will yet affirm that
too stiffly whereof he is ignorant. And yet is even such an infirmity, in the infancy of
faith, borne by our mother Charity, till the new-born may grow up unto a perfect man, so
as not to be carried about with every wind of doctrine. But in him who in such wise
presumed to be the teacher, source, guide, chief of all whom he could so persuade, that
whoso followed him thought that he followed, not a mere man, but Thy Holy Spirit; who
would not judge that so great madness, when once convicted of having taught any thing
false, were to be detested and utterly rejected? But I had not as yet clearly ascertained
whether the vicissitudes of longer and shorter days and nights, and of day and night
itself, with the eclipses of the greater lights, and whatever else of the kind I had read
of in other books, might be explained consistently with his sayings; so that, if they by
any means might, it should still remain a question to me whether it were so or no; but I
might, on account of his reputed sanctity, rest my credence upon his authority.

9 And for almost all those nine years, wherein with unsettled mind I had been their
disciple, I had longed but too intensely for the coming of this Faustus. For the rest of
the sect, whom by chance I had lighted upon, when unable to solve my objections about
these things, still held out to me the coming of this Faustus, by conference with whom
these and greater difficulties, if I had them, were to be most readily and abundantly
cleared. When then he came, I found him a man of pleasing discourse, and who could speak
fluently and in better terms, yet still but the self-same things which they were wont to
say. But what availed the utmost neatness of the cup-bearer to my thirst for a more
precious draught? Mine ears were already cloyed with the like, nor did they seem to me
therefore better, because better said; nor therefore true, because eloquent; nor the soul
therefore wise, because the face was comely, and the language graceful. But they who held
him out to me were no good judges of things; and therefore to them he appeared
understanding and wise, because in words pleasing. I felt however that another sort of
people were suspicious even of truth, and refused to assent to it, if delivered in a
smooth and copious discourse.

10 But Thou, O my God, hadst already taught me by wonderful and secret ways, and therefore
I believe that Thou taughtest me, because it is truth, nor is there besides Thee any
teacher of truth, where or whencesoever it may shine upon us. Of Thyself therefore had I
now learned, that neither ought any thing to seem to be spoken truly, because eloquently;
nor therefore falsely, because the utterance of the lips is inharmonious; nor, again,
therefore true, because rudely delivered; nor therefore false, because the language is
rich; but that wisdom and folly are as wholesome and unwholesome food; and adorned or
unadorned phrases as courtly or country vessels; either kind of meats may be served up in
either kind of dishes. 11 That greediness then, wherewith I had of so long time expected
that man, was delighted verily with his action and feeling when disputing, and his choice
and readiness of words to clothe his ideas. I was then delighted, and, with many others
and more than they, did I praise and extol him. It troubled me, however, that in the
assembly of his auditors, I was not allowed to put in and communicate those questions that
troubled me, in familiar converse with him. Which when I might, and with my friends began
to engage his ears at such times as it was not unbecoming for him to discuss with me, and
had brought forward such things as moved me; I found him first utterly ignorant of liberal
sciences, save grammar, and that but in an ordinary way. But because he had read some of
Tully's Orations, a very few books of Seneca, some things of the poets, and such few
volumes of his own sect as were written in Latin and neatly, and was daily practised in
speaking, he acquired a certain eloquence, which proved the more pleasing and seductive
because under the guidance of a good wit, and with a kind of natural gracefulness. Is it
not thus, as I recall it, O Lord my God, Thou judge of my conscience? before Thee is my
heart, and my remembrance, Who didst at that time direct me by the hidden mystery of Thy
providence, and didst set those shameful errors of mine before my face, that I might see
and hate them.

12 For after it was clear that he was ignorant of those arts in which I thought he
excelled, I began to despair of his opening and solving the difficulties which perplexed
me (of which indeed however ignorant, he might have held the truths of piety, had he not
been a Manichee). For their books are fraught with prolix fables, of the heaven, and
stars, sun, and moon, and I now no longer thought him able satisfactorily to decide what I
much desired, whether, on comparison of these things with the calculations I had elsewhere
read, the account given in the books of Manichaeus were preferable, or at least as good.
Which when I proposed to be considered and discussed, he, so far modestly, shrunk from the
burthen. For he knew that he knew not these things, and was not ashamed to confess it. For
he was not one of those talking persons, many of whom I had endured, who undertook to
teach me these things, and said nothing. But this man had a heart, though not right
towards Thee, yet neither altogether treacherous to himself. For he was not altogether
ignorant of his own ignorance, nor would he rashly be entangled in a dispute, whence he
could neither retreat nor extricate himself fairly. Even for this I liked him the better.
For fairer is the modesty of a candid mind, than the knowledge of those things which I
desired; and such I found him, in all the more difficult and subtile questions.

13 My zeal for the writings of Manichaeus being thus blunted, and despairing yet more of
their other teachers, seeing that in divers things which perplexed me, he, so renowned
among them, had so turned out; I began to engage with him in the study of that literature,
on which he also was much set (and which as rhetoric-reader I was at that time teaching
young students at Carthage), and to read with him, either what himself desired to hear, or
such as I judged fit for his genius. But all my efforts whereby I had purposed to advance
in that sect, upon knowledge of that man, came utterly to an end; not that I detached
myself from them altogether, but as one finding nothing better, I had settled to be
content meanwhile with what I had in whatever way fallen upon, unless by chance something
more eligible should dawn upon me. Thus, that Faustus, to so many a snare of death, had
now neither willing nor witting it, begun to loosen that wherein I was taken. For Thy
hands, O my God, in the secret purpose of Thy providence, did not forsake my soul; and out
of my mother's heart's blood, through her tears night and day poured out, was a sacrifice
offered for me unto Thee; and Thou didst deal with me by wondrous ways. Thou didst it, O
my God: for the steps of a man are ordered by the Lord, and He shall dispose his way. Or
how shall we obtain salvation, but from Thy hand, re-making what it made?

14 Thou didst deal with me, that I should be persuaded to go to Rome, and to teach there
rather, what I was teaching at Carthage. And how I was persuaded to this, I will not
neglect to confess to Thee; because herein also the deepest recesses of Thy wisdom, and
Thy most present mercy to us, must be considered and confessed. I did not wish therefore
to go to Rome, because higher gains and higher dignities were warranted me by my friends
who persuaded me to this (though even these things had at that time an influence over my
mind), but my chief and almost only reason was, that I heard that young men studied there
more peacefully, and were kept quiet under a restraint of more regular discipline; so that
they did not, at their pleasures, petulantly rush into the school of one whose pupils they
were not, nor were even admitted without his permission. Whereas at Carthage there reigns
among the scholars a most disgraceful and unruly licence. They burst in audaciously, and
with gestures almost frantic, disturb all order which any one hath established for the
good of his scholars. Divers outrages they commit, with a wonderful stolidity, punishable
by law, did not custom uphold them; that custom evincing them to be the more miserable, in
that they now do as lawful what by Thy eternal law shall never be lawful;

15 and they think they do it unpunished, whereas they are punished with the very blindness
whereby they do it, and suffer incomparably worse than what they do. The manners then
which, when a student, I would not make my own, I was fain as a teacher to endure in
others: and so I was well pleased to go where, all that knew it, assured me that the like
was not done. But Thou, my refuge and my portion in the land of the living; that I might
change my earthly dwelling for the salvation of my soul, at Carthage didst goad me, that I
might thereby be torn from it; and at Rome didst proffer me allurements, whereby I might
be drawn thither, by men in love with a dying life, the one doing frantic, the other
promising vain, things; and, to correct my steps, didst secretly use their and my own
perverseness. For both they who disturbed my quiet were blinded with a disgraceful frenzy,
and they who invited me elsewhere savoured of earth. And I, who here detested real misery,
was there seeking unreal happiness.

16 But why I went hence, and went thither, Thou knewest, O God, yet showedst it neither to
me, nor to my mother, who grievously bewailed my journey, and followed me as far as the
sea. But I deceived her, holding me by force, that either she might keep me back or go
with me, and I feigned that I had a friend whom I could not leave, till he had a fair wind
to sail. And I lied to my mother, and such a mother, and escaped: for this also hast Thou
mercifully forgiven me, preserving me, thus full of execrable defilements, from the waters
of the sea, for the water of Thy Grace; whereby when I was cleansed, the streams of my
mother's eyes should be dried, with which for me she daily watered the ground under her
face. And yet refusing to return without me, I scarcely persuaded her to stay that night
in a place hard by our ship, where was an Oratory in memory of the blessed Cyprian. That
night I privily departed, but she was not behind in weeping and prayer. And what, O Lord,
was she with so many tears asking of Thee, but that Thou wouldest not suffer me to sail?
But Thou, in the depth of Thy counsels and hearing the main point of her desire, regardest
not what she then asked, that Thou mightest make me what she ever asked. The wind blew and
swelled our sails, and withdrew the shore from our sight;

17 and she on the morrow was there, frantic with sorrow, and with complaints and groans
filled Thine ears, Who didst then disregard them; whilst through my desires, Thou wert
hurrying me to end all desire, and the earthly part of her affection to me was chastened
by the allotted scourge of sorrows. For she loved my being with her, as mothers do, but
much more than many; and she knew not how great joy Thou wert about to work for her out of
my absence. She knew not; therefore did she weep and wail, and by this agony there
appeared in her the inheritance of Eve, with sorrow seeking what in sorrow she had brought
forth. And yet, after accusing my treachery and hardheartedness, she betook herself again
to intercede to Thee for me, went to her wonted place, and I to Rome. 18 And lo, there was
I received by the scourge of bodily sickness, and I was going down to hell, carrying all
the sins which I had committed, both against Thee, and myself, and others, many and
grievous, over and above that bond of original sin, whereby we all die in Adam. For Thou
hadst not forgiven me any of these things in Christ, nor had He abolished by His Cross the
enmity which by my sins I had incurred with Thee. For how should He, by the crucifixion of
a phantasm, which I believed Him to be? So true, then, was the death of my soul, as that
of His flesh seemed to me false; and how true the death of His body, so false was the life
of my soul, which did not believe it. And now the fever heightening, I was parting and
departing for ever. For had I then parted hence, whither had I departed, but into fire and
torments, such as my misdeeds deserved in the truth of Thy appointment? And this she knew
not, yet in absence prayed for me. But Thou, everywhere present, heardest her where she
was, and, where I was, hadst compassion upon me; that I should recover the health of my
body, though frenzied as yet in my sacrilegious heart. For I did not in all that danger
desire Thy baptism; and I was better as a boy, when I begged it of my mother's piety, as I
have before recited and confessed.

19 But I had grown up to my own shame, and I madly scoffed at the prescripts of Thy
medicine, who wouldest not suffer me, being such, to die a double death. With which wound
had my mother's heart been pierced, it could never be healed. For I cannot express the
affection she bore to me, and with how much more vehement anguish she was now in labour of
me in the spirit, than at her childbearing in the flesh. 20 I see not then how she should
have been healed, had such a death of mine stricken through the bowels of her love. And
where would have been those her so strong and unceasing prayers, unintermitting to Thee
alone? But wouldest Thou, God of mercies, despise the contrite and humbled heart of that
chaste and sober widow, so frequent in almsdeeds, so full of duty and service to Thy
saints, no day intermitting the oblation at Thine altar, twice a day, morning and evening,
without any intermission, coming to Thy church, not for idle tattlings and old wives'
fables; but that she might hear Thee in Thy discourses, and Thou her in her prayers.
Couldest Thou despise and reject from Thy aid the tears of such an one, wherewith she
begged of Thee not gold or silver, nor any mutable or passing good, but the salvation of
her son's soul? Thou, by whose gift she was such? Never, Lord. Yea, Thou wert at hand, and
wert hearing and doing, in that order wherein Thou hadst determined before that it should
be done. Far be it that Thou shouldest deceive her in Thy visions and answers, some
whereof I have, some I have not mentioned, which she laid up in her faithful heart, and
ever praying, urged upon Thee, as Thine own handwriting. For Thou, because Thy mercy
endureth for ever, vouchsafest to those to whom Thou forgivest all of their debts, to
become also a debtor by Thy promises.

21 Thou recoveredst me then of that sickness, and healedst the son of Thy handmaid, for
the time in body, that he might live, for Thee to bestow upon him a better and more
abiding health. And even then, at Rome, I joined myself to those deceiving and deceived
"holy ones"; not with their disciples only (of which number was he, in whose house I had
fallen sick and recovered); but also with those whom they call "The Elect." For I still
thought "that it was not we that sin, but that I know not what other nature sinned in us";
and it delighted my pride, to be free from blame; and when I had done any evil, not to
confess I had done any, that Thou mightest heal my soul because it had sinned against
Thee: but I loved to excuse it, and to accuse I know not what other thing, which was with
me, but which I was not. But in truth it was wholly I, and mine impiety had divided me
against myself: and that sin was the more incurable, whereby I did not judge myself a
sinner; and execrable iniquity it was, that I had rather have Thee, Thee, O God Almighty,
to be overcome in me to my destruction, than myself of Thee to salvation. Not as yet then
hadst Thou set a watch before my mouth, and a door of safe keeping around my lips, that my
heart might not turn aside to wicked speeches, to make excuses of sins, with men that work
iniquity; and, therefore, was I still united with their Elect.

22 But now despairing to make proficiency in that false doctrine, even those things (with
which if I should find no better, I had resolved to rest contented) I now held more laxly
and carelessly. For there half arose a thought in me that those philosophers, whom they
call Academics, were wiser than the rest, for that they held men ought to doubt
everything, and laid down that no truth can be comprehended by man: for so, not then
understanding even their meaning, I also was clearly convinced that they thought, as they
are commonly reported. Yet did I freely and openly discourage that host of mine from that
over-confidence which I perceived him to have in those fables, which the books of
Manichaeus are full of. Yet I lived in more familiar friendship with them, than with
others who were not of this heresy. Nor did I maintain it with my ancient eagerness; still
my intimacy with that sect (Rome secretly harbouring many of them) made me slower to seek
any other way: especially since I despaired of finding the truth, from which they had
turned me aside, in Thy Church, O Lord of heaven and earth, Creator of all things visible
and invisible: and it seemed to me very unseemly to believe Thee to have the shape of
human flesh, and to be bounded by the bodily lineaments of our members. And because, when
I wished to think on my God, I knew not what to think of, but a mass of bodies (for what
was not such did not seem to me to be anything), this was the greatest, and almost only
cause of my inevitable error.

23 For hence I believed Evil also to be some such kind of substance, and to have its own
foul and hideous bulk; whether gross, which they called earth, or thin and subtile (like
the body of the air), which they imagine to be some malignant mind, creeping through that
earth. And because a piety, such as it was, constrained me to believe that the good God
never created any evil nature, I conceived two masses, contrary to one another, both
unbounded, but the evil narrower, the good more expansive. And from this pestilent
beginning, the other sacrilegious conceits followed on me. For when my mind endeavoured to
recur to the Catholic faith, I was driven back, since that was not the Catholic faith
which I thought to be so. And I seemed to myself more reverential, if I believed of Thee,
my God (to whom Thy mercies confess out of my mouth), as unbounded, at least on other
sides, although on that one where the mass of evil was opposed to Thee, I was constrained
to confess Thee bounded; than if on all sides I should imagine Thee to be bounded by the
form of a human body. And it seemed to me better to believe Thee to have created no evil
(which to me ignorant seemed not some only, but a bodily substance, because I could not
conceive of mind unless as a subtile body, and that diffused in definite spaces), than to
believe the nature of evil, such as I conceived it, could come from Thee.

24 Yea, and our Saviour Himself, Thy Only Begotten, I believed to have been reached forth
(as it were) for our salvation, out of the mass of Thy most lucid substance, so as to
believe nothing of Him, but what I could imagine in my vanity. His Nature then, being
such, I thought could not be born of the Virgin Mary, without being mingled with the
flesh: and how that which I had so figured to myself could be mingled, and not defiled, I
saw not. I feared therefore to believe Him born in the flesh, lest I should be forced to
believe Him defiled by the flesh. Now will Thy spiritual ones mildly and lovingly smile
upon me, if they shall read these my confessions. Yet such was I. 25 Furthermore, what the
Manichees had criticised in Thy Scriptures, I thought could not be defended; yet at times
verily I had a wish to confer upon these several points with some one very well skilled in
those books, and to make trial what he thought thereon; for the words of one Helpidius, as
he spoke and disputed face to face against the said Manichees, had begun to stir me even
at Carthage: in that he had produced things out of the Scriptures, not easily withstood,
the Manichees' answer whereto seemed to me weak. And this answer they liked not to give
publicly, but only to us in private. It was, that the Scriptures of the New Testament had
been corrupted by I know not whom, who wished to engraff the law of the Jews upon the
Christian faith: yet themselves produced not any uncorrupted copies. But I, conceiving of
things corporeal only, was mainly held down, vehemently oppressed and in a manner
suffocated by those "masses"; panting under which after the breath of Thy truth, I could
not breathe it pure and untainted.

26 I began then diligently to practise that for which I came to Rome, to teach rhetoric;
and first, to gather some to my house, to whom, and through whom, I had begun to be known;
when lo, I found other offences committed in Rome, to which I was not exposed in Africa.
True, those "subvertings" by profligate young men were not here practised, as was told me:
but on a sudden, said they, to avoid paying their master's stipend, a number of youths
plot together, and remove to another;—breakers of faith, who for love of money hold
justice cheap. These also my heart hated, though not with a perfect hatred: for perchance
I hated them more because I was to suffer by them, than because they did things utterly
unlawful. Of a truth such are base persons, and they go a whoring from Thee, loving these
fleeting mockeries of things temporal, and filthy lucre, which fouls the hand that grasps
it; hugging the fleeting world, and despising Thee, Who abidest, and recallest, and
forgivest the adulteress soul of man, when she returns to Thee. And now I hate such
depraved and crooked persons, though I love them if corrigible, so as to prefer to money
the learning which they acquire, and to learning, Thee, O God, the truth and fulness of
assured good, and most pure peace. But then I rather for my own sake misliked them evil,
than liked and wished them good for Thine.

27 When therefore they of Milan had sent to Rome to the prefect of the city, to furnish
them with a rhetoric reader for their city, and sent him at the public expense, I made
application (through those very persons, intoxicated with Manichaean vanities, to be freed
wherefrom I was to go, neither of us however knowing it) that Symmachus, then prefect of
the city, would try me by setting me some subject, and so send me. To Milan I came, to
Ambrose the Bishop, known to the whole world as among the best of men, Thy devout servant;
whose eloquent discourse did then plentifully dispense unto Thy people the flour of Thy
wheat, the gladness of Thy oil, and the sober inebriation of Thy wine. To him was I
unknowing led by Thee, that by him I might knowingly be led to Thee. That man of God
received me as a father, and showed me an Episcopal kindness on my coming. Thenceforth I
began to love him, at first indeed not as a teacher of the truth (which I utterly
despaired of in Thy Church), but as a person kind towards myself. And I listened
diligently to him preaching to the people, not with that intent I ought, but, as it were,
trying his eloquence, whether it answered the fame thereof, or flowed fuller or lower than
was reported; and I hung on his words attentively; but of the matter I was as a careless
and scornful looker-on; and I was delighted with the sweetness of his discourse, more
recondite, yet in manner less winning and harmonious, than that of Faustus. Of the matter,
however, there was no comparison; for the one was wandering amid Manichaean delusions, the
other teaching salvation most soundly. But salvation is far from sinners, such as I then
stood before him; and yet was I drawing nearer by little and little, and unconsciously.

28 For though I took no pains to learn what he spake, but only to hear how he spake (for
that empty care alone was left me, despairing of a way, open for man, to Thee), yet
together with the words which I would choose, came also into my mind the things which I
would refuse; for I could not separate them. And while I opened my heart to admit "how
eloquently he spake," there also entered "how truly he spake"; but this by degrees. For
first, these things also had now begun to appear to me capable of defence; and the
Catholic faith, for which I had thought nothing could be said against the Manichees'
objections, I now thought might be maintained without shamelessness; especially after I
had heard one or two places of the Old Testament resolved, and ofttimes "in a figure,"
which when I understood literally, I was slain spiritually. Very many places then of those
books having been explained, I now blamed my despair, in believing that no answer could be
given to such as hated and scoffed at the Law and the Prophets. Yet did I not therefore
then see that the Catholic way was to be held, because it also could find learned
maintainers, who could at large and with some show of reason answer objections; nor that
what I held was therefore to be condemned, because both sides could be maintained. For the
Catholic cause seemed to me in such sort not vanquished, as still not as yet to be
victorious.

29 Hereupon I earnestly bent my mind, to see if in any way I could by any certain proof
convict the Manichees of falsehood. Could I once have conceived a spiritual substance, all
their strongholds had been beaten down, and cast utterly out of my mind; but I could not.
Notwithstanding, concerning the frame of this world, and the whole of nature, which the
senses of the flesh can reach to, as I more and more considered and compared things, I
judged the tenets of most of the philosophers to have been much more probable. So then
after the manner of the Academics (as they are supposed) doubting of every thing, and
wavering between all, I settled so far, that the Manichees were to be abandoned; judging
that, even while doubting, I might not continue in that sect, to which I already preferred
some of the philosophers; to which philosophers notwithstanding, for that they were
without the saving Name of Christ, I utterly refused to commit the cure of my sick soul. I
determined therefore so long to be a Catechumen in the Catholic Church, to which I had
been commended by my parents, till something certain should dawn upon me, whither I might
steer my course.

BOOK VI

1 O Thou, my hope from my youth, where wert Thou to me, and whither wert Thou gone? Hadst
not Thou created me, and separated me from the beasts of the field, and fowls of the air?
Thou hadst made me wiser, yet did I walk in darkness, and in slippery places, and sought
Thee abroad out of myself, and found not the God of my heart; and had come into the depths
of the sea, and distrusted and despaired of ever finding truth. My mother had now come to
me, resolute through piety, following me over sea and land, in all perils confiding in
Thee. For in perils of the sea, she comforted the very mariners (by whom passengers
unacquainted with the deep, use rather to be comforted when troubled), assuring them of a
safe arrival, because Thou hadst by a vision assured her thereof. She found me in grievous
peril, through despair of ever finding truth. But when I had discovered to her that I was
now no longer a Manichee, though not yet a Catholic Christian, she was not overjoyed, as
at something unexpected; although she was now assured concerning that part of my misery,
for which she bewailed me as one dead, though to be reawakened by Thee, carrying me forth
upon the bier of her thoughts, that Thou mightest say to the son of the widow, Young man,
I say unto thee, Arise; and he should revive, and begin to speak, and Thou shouldest
deliver him to his mother.

2 Her heart then was shaken with no tumultuous exultation, when she heard that what she
daily with tears desired of Thee was already in so great part realised; in that, though I
had not yet attained the truth, I was rescued from falsehood; but, as being assured, that
Thou, Who hadst promised the whole, wouldest one day give the rest, most calmly, and with
a heart full of confidence, she replied to me, "She believed in Christ, that before she
departed this life, she should see me a Catholic believer. Thus much to me. But to Thee,
Fountain of mercies, poured she forth more copious prayers and tears, that Thou wouldest
hasten Thy help, and enlighten my darkness; and she hastened the more eagerly to the
Church, and hung upon the lips of Ambrose, praying for the fountain of that water, which
springeth up unto life everlasting. But that man she loved as an angel of God, because she
knew that by him I had been brought for the present to that doubtful state of faith I now
was in, through which she anticipated most confidently that I should pass from sickness
unto health, after the access, as it were, of a sharper fit, which physicians call "the
crisis."

3 When then my mother had once, as she was wont in Afric, brought to the Churches built in
memory of the Saints, certain cakes, and bread and wine, and was forbidden by the door-
keeper; so soon as she knew that the Bishop had forbidden this, she so piously and
obediently embraced his wishes, that I myself wondered how readily she censured her own
practice, rather than discuss his prohibition. For wine-bibbing did not lay siege to her
spirit, nor did love of wine provoke her to hatred of the truth, as it doth too many (both
men and women), who revolt at a lesson of sobriety, as men well-drunk at a draught mingled
with water. But she, when she had brought her basket with the accustomed festival-food, to
be but tasted by herself, and then given away, never joined therewith more than one small
cup of wine, diluted according to her own abstemious habits, which for courtesy she would
taste. And if there were many churches of the departed saints that were to be honoured in
that manner, she still carried round that same one cup, to be used every where; and this,
though not only made very watery, but unpleasantly heated with carrying about, she would
distribute to those about her by small sips; for she sought there devotion, not pleasure.

4 So soon, then, as she found this custom to be forbidden by that famous preacher and most
pious prelate, even to those that would use it soberly, lest so an occasion of excess
might be given to the drunken; and for these, as it were, anniversary funeral solemnities
did much resemble the superstition of the Gentiles, she most willingly forbare it: and for
a basket filled with fruits of the earth, she had learned to bring to the Churches of the
martyrs a breast filled with more purified petitions, and to give what she could to the
poor; that so the communication of the Lord's Body might be there rightly celebrated,
where, after the example of His Passion, the martyrs had been sacrificed and crowned. But
yet it seems to me, O Lord my God, and thus thinks my heart of it in Thy sight, that
perhaps she would not so readily have yielded to the cutting off of this custom, had it
been forbidden by another, whom she loved not as Ambrose, whom, for my salvation, she
loved most entirely; and he her again, for her most religious conversation, whereby in
good works, so fervent in spirit, she was constant at church; so that, when he saw me, he
often burst forth into her praises; congratulating me that I had such a mother; not
knowing what a son she had in me, who doubted of all these things, and imagined the way to
life could not be found out.

5 Nor did I yet groan in my prayers, that Thou wouldest help me; but my spirit was wholly
intent on learning, and restless to dispute. And Ambrose himself, as the world counts
happy, I esteemed a happy man, whom personages so great held in such honour; only his
celibacy seemed to me a painful course. But what hope he bore within him, what struggles
he had against the temptations which beset his very excellencies, or what comfort in
adversities, and what sweet joys Thy Bread had for the hidden mouth of his spirit, when
chewing the cud thereof, I neither could conjecture, nor had experienced. Nor did he know
the tides of my feelings, or the abyss of my danger. For I could not ask of him, what I
would as I would, being shut out both from his ear and speech by multitudes of busy
people, whose weaknesses he served. With whom when he was not taken up (which was but a
little time), he was either refreshing his body with the sustenance absolutely necessary,
or his mind with reading. But when he was reading, his eye glided over the pages, and his
heart searched out the sense, but his voice and tongue were at rest. Ofttimes when we had
come (for no man was forbidden to enter, nor was it his wont that any who came should be
announced to him), we saw him thus reading to himself, and never otherwise; and having
long sat silent (for who durst intrude on one so intent?

6 we were fain to depart, conjecturing that in the small interval which he obtained, free
from the din of others' business, for the recruiting of his mind, he was loth to be taken
off; and perchance he dreaded lest if the author he read should deliver any thing
obscurely, some attentive or perplexed hearer should desire him to expound it, or to
discuss some of the harder questions; so that his time being thus spent, he could not turn
over so many volumes as he desired; although the preserving of his voice (which a very
little speaking would weaken) might be the truer reason for his reading to himself. But
with what intent soever he did it, certainly in such a man it was good. 7 I however
certainly had no opportunity of enquiring what I wished of that so holy oracle of Thine,
his breast, unless the thing might be answered briefly. But those tides in me, to be
poured out to him, required his full leisure, and never found it. I heard him indeed every
Lord's day, rightly expounding the Word of truth among the people; and I was more and more
convinced that all the knots of those crafty calumnies, which those our deceivers had knit
against the Divine Books, could be unravelled. But when I understood withal, that "man
created by Thee, after Thine own image," was not so understood by Thy spiritual sons, whom
of the Catholic Mother Thou hast born again through grace, as though they believed and
conceived of Thee as bounded by human shape (although what a spiritual substance should be
I had not even a faint or shadowy notion); yet, with joy I blushed at having so many years
barked not against the Catholic faith, but against the fictions of carnal imaginations.
For so rash and impious had I been, that what I ought by enquiring to have learned, I had
pronounced on, condemning. For Thou, Most High, and most near; most secret, and most
present; Who hast not limbs some larger, some smaller, but art wholly every where, and no
where in space, art not of such corporeal shape, yet hast Thou made man after Thine own
image; and behold, from head to foot is he contained in space.

8 Ignorant then how this Thy image should subsist, I should have knocked and proposed the
doubt, how it was to be believed, not insultingly opposed it, as if believed. Doubt, then,
what to hold for certain, the more sharply gnawed my heart, the more ashamed I was, that
so long deluded and deceived by the promise of certainties, I had with childish error and
vehemence, prated of so many uncertainties. For that they were falsehoods became clear to
me later. However I was certain that they were uncertain, and that I had formerly
accounted them certain, when with a blind contentiousness, I accused Thy Catholic Church,
whom I now discovered, not indeed as yet to teach truly, but at least not to teach that
for which I had grievously censured her. So I was confounded, and converted: and I joyed,
O my God, that the One Only Church, the body of Thine Only Son (wherein the name of Christ
had been put upon me as an infant), had no taste for infantine conceits; nor in her sound
doctrine maintained any tenet which should confine Thee, the Creator of all, in space,
however great and large, yet bounded every where by the limits of a human form.

9 I joyed also that the old Scriptures of the law and the Prophets were laid before me,
not now to be perused with that eye to which before they seemed absurd, when I reviled Thy
holy ones for so thinking, whereas indeed they thought not so: and with joy I heard
Ambrose in his sermons to the people, oftentimes most diligently recommend this text for a
rule, The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life; whilst he drew aside the mystic
veil, laying open spiritually what, according to the letter, seemed to teach something
unsound; teaching herein nothing that offended me, though he taught what I knew not as
yet, whether it were true. For I kept my heart from assenting to any thing, fearing to
fall headlong; but by hanging in suspense I was the worse killed. For I wished to be as
assured of the things I saw not, as I was that seven and three are ten. For I was not so
mad as to think that even this could not be comprehended; but I desired to have other
things as clear as this, whether things corporeal, which were not present to my senses, or
spiritual, whereof I knew not how to conceive, except corporeally. And by believing might
I have been cured, that so the eyesight of my soul being cleared, might in some way be
directed to Thy truth, which abideth always, and in no part faileth. But as it happens
that one who has tried a bad physician, fears to trust himself with a good one, so was it
with the health of my soul, which could not be healed but by believing, and lest it should
believe falsehoods, refused to be cured; resisting Thy hands, Who hast prepared the
medicines of faith, and hast applied them to the diseases of the whole world, and given
unto them so great authority.

10 Being led, however, from this to prefer the Catholic doctrine, I felt that her
proceeding was more unassuming and honest, in that she required to be believed things not
demonstrated (whether it was that they could in themselves be demonstrated but not to
certain persons, or could not at all be), whereas among the Manichees our credulity was
mocked by a promise of certain knowledge, and then so many most fabulous and absurd things
were imposed to be believed, because they could not be demonstrated. Then Thou, O Lord,
little by little with most tender and most merciful hand, touching and composing my heart,
didst persuade me—considering what innumerable things I believed, which I saw not, nor was
present while they were done, as so many things in secular history, so many reports of
places and of cities, which I had not seen; so many of friends, so many of physicians, so
many continually of other men, which unless we should believe, we should do nothing at all
in this life; lastly, with how unshaken an assurance I believed of what parents I was
born, which I could not know, had I not believed upon hearsay—considering all this, Thou
didst persuade me, that not they who believed Thy Books (which Thou hast established in so
great authority among almost all nations), but they who believed them not, were to be
blamed; and that they were not to be heard, who should say to me, "How knowest thou those
Scriptures to have been imparted unto mankind by the Spirit of the one true and most true
God?" For this very thing was of all most to be believed, since no contentiousness of
blasphemous questionings, of all that multitude which I had read in the self-contradicting
philosophers, could wring this belief from me, "That Thou art" whatsoever Thou wert (what
I knew not), and "That the government of human things belongs to Thee."

11 This I believed, sometimes more strongly, more weakly otherwhiles; yet I ever believed
both that Thou wert, and hadst a care of us; though I was ignorant, both what was to be
thought of Thy substance, and what way led or led back to Thee. Since then we were too
weak by abstract reasonings to find out truth: and for this very cause needed the
authority of Holy Writ; I had now begun to believe that Thou wouldest never have given
such excellency of authority to that Writ in all lands, hadst Thou not willed thereby to
be believed in, thereby sought. For now what things, sounding strangely in the Scripture,
were wont to offend me, having heard divers of them expounded satisfactorily, I referred
to the depth of the mysteries, and its authority appeared to me the more venerable, and
more worthy of religious credence, in that, while it lay open to all to read, it reserved
the majesty of its mysteries within its profounder meaning, stooping to all in the great
plainness of its words and lowliness of its style, yet calling forth the intensest
application of such as are not light of heart; that so it might receive all in its open
bosom, and through narrow passages waft over towards Thee some few, yet many more than if
it stood not aloft on such a height of authority, nor drew multitudes within its bosom by
its holy lowliness. These things I thought on, and Thou wert with me; I sighed, and Thou
heardest me; I wavered, and Thou didst guide me; I wandered through the broad way of the
world, and Thou didst not forsake me.

12 I panted after honours, gains, marriage; and thou deridedst me. In these desires I
underwent most bitter crosses, Thou being the more gracious, the less Thou sufferedst
aught to grow sweet to me, which was not Thou. Behold my heart, O Lord, who wouldest I
should remember all this, and confess to Thee. Let my soul cleave unto Thee, now that Thou
hast freed it from that fast-holding birdlime of death. How wretched was it! and Thou
didst irritate the feeling of its wound, that forsaking all else, it might be converted
unto Thee, who art above all, and without whom all things would be nothing; be converted,
and be healed. How miserable was I then, and how didst Thou deal with me, to make me feel
my misery on that day, when I was preparing to recite a panegyric of the Emperor, wherein
I was to utter many a lie, and lying, was to be applauded by those who knew I lied, and my
heart was panting with these anxieties, and boiling with the feverishness of consuming
thoughts. For, passing through one of the streets of Milan, I observed a poor beggar,
then, I suppose, with a full belly, joking and joyous: and I sighed, and spoke to the
friends around me, of the many sorrows of our frenzies;

13 for that by all such efforts of ours, as those wherein I then toiled dragging along,
under the goading of desire, the burthen of my own wretchedness, and, by dragging,
augmenting it, we yet looked to arrive only at that very joyousness whither that beggar-
man had arrived before us, who should never perchance attain it. For what he had obtained
by means of a few begged pence, the same was I plotting for by many a toilsome turning and
winding; the joy of a temporary felicity. For he verily had not the true joy; but yet I
with those my ambitious designs was seeking one much less true. And certainly he was
joyous, I anxious; he void of care, I full of fears. But should any ask me, had I rather
be merry or fearful? I would answer merry. Again, if he asked had I rather be such as he
was, or what I then was? I should choose to be myself, though worn with cares and fears;
but out of wrong judgment; for, was it the truth? For I ought not to prefer myself to him,
because more learned than he, seeing I had no joy therein, but sought to please men by it;
and that not to instruct, but simply to please. Wherefore also Thou didst break my bones
with the staff of Thy correction.

14 Away with those then from my soul who say to her, "It makes a difference whence a man's
joy is. That beggar-man joyed in drunkenness; Thou desiredst to joy in glory." What glory,
Lord? That which is not in Thee. For even as his was no true joy, so was that no true
glory: and it overthrew my soul more. He that very night should digest his drunkenness;
but I had slept and risen again with mine, and was to sleep again, and again to rise with
it, how many days, Thou, God, knowest. But "it doth make a difference whence a man's joy
is." I know it, and the joy of a faithful hope lieth incomparably beyond such vanity. Yea,
and so was he then beyond me: for he verily was the happier; not only for that he was
thoroughly drenched in mirth, I disembowelled with cares: but he, by fair wishes, had
gotten wine; I, by lying, was seeking for empty, swelling praise. Much to this purpose
said I then to my friends: and I often marked in them how it fared with me; and I found it
went ill with me, and grieved, and doubled that very ill; and if any prosperity smiled on
me, I was loth to catch at it, for almost before I could grasp it, it flew away.

15 These things we, who were living as friends together, bemoaned together, but chiefly
and most familiarly did I speak thereof with Alypius and Nebridius, of whom Alypius was
born in the same town with me, of persons of chief rank there, but younger than I. For he
had studied under me, both when I first lectured in our town, and afterwards at Carthage,
and he loved me much, because I seemed to him kind, and learned; and I him, for his great
towardliness to virtue, which was eminent enough in one of no greater years. Yet the
whirlpool of Carthaginian habits (amongst whom those idle spectacles are hotly followed)
had drawn him into the madness of the Circus. But while he was miserably tossed therein,
and I, professing rhetoric there, had a public school, as yet he used not my teaching, by
reason of some unkindness risen betwixt his father and me. I had found then how deadly he
doted upon the Circus, and was deeply grieved that he seemed likely, nay, or had thrown
away so great promise: yet had I no means of advising or with a sort of constraint
reclaiming him, either by the kindness of a friend, or the authority of a master. For I
supposed that he thought of me as did his father; but he was not such; laying aside then
his father's mind in that matter, he began to greet me, come sometimes into my lecture
room, hear a little, and be gone.

16 I however had forgotten to deal with him, that he should not, through a blind and
headlong desire of vain pastimes, undo so good a wit. But Thou, O Lord, who guidest the
course of all Thou hast created, hadst not forgotten him, who was one day to be among Thy
children, Priest and Dispenser of Thy Sacrament; and that his amendment might plainly be
attributed to Thyself, Thou effectedst it through me, unknowingly. For as one day I sat in
my accustomed place, with my scholars before me, he entered, greeted me, sat down, and
applied his mind to what I then handled. I had by chance a passage in hand, which while I
was explaining, a likeness from the Circensian races occurred to me, as likely to make
what I would convey pleasanter and plainer, seasoned with biting mockery of those whom
that madness had enthralled; God, Thou knowest that I then thought not of curing Alypius
of that infection. But he took it wholly to himself, and thought that I said it simply for
his sake. And whence another would have taken occasion of offence with me, that right-
minded youth took as a ground of being offended at himself, and loving me more fervently.
For Thou hadst said it long ago, and put it into Thy book, Rebuke a wise man and he will
love Thee.

17 But I had not rebuked him, but Thou, who employest all, knowing or not knowing, in that
order which Thyself knowest (and that order is just), didst of my heart and tongue make
burning coals, by which to set on fire the hopeful mind, thus languishing, and so cure it.
Let him be silent in Thy praises, who considers not Thy mercies, which confess unto Thee
out of my inmost soul. For he upon that speech burst out of that pit so deep, wherein he
was wilfully plunged, and was blinded with its wretched pastimes; and he shook his mind
with a strong self-command; whereupon all the filths of the Circensian pastimes flew off
from him, nor came he again thither. Upon this, he prevailed with his unwilling father
that he might be my scholar. He gave way, and gave in. And Alypius beginning to be my
hearer again, was involved in the same superstition with me, loving in the Manichees that
show of continency which he supposed true and unfeigned. Whereas it was a senseless and
seducing continency, ensnaring precious souls, unable as yet to reach the depth of virtue,
yet readily beguiled with the surface of what was but a shadowy and counterfeit virtue.

18 He, not forsaking that secular course which his parents had charmed him to pursue, had
gone before me to Rome, to study law, and there he was carried away incredibly with an
incredible eagerness after the shows of gladiators. For being utterly averse to and
detesting spectacles, he was one day by chance met by divers of his acquaintance and
fellow-students coming from dinner, and they with a familiar violence haled him,
vehemently refusing and resisting, into the Amphitheatre, during these cruel and deadly
shows, he thus protesting: "Though you hale my body to that place, and there set me, can
you force me also to turn my mind or my eyes to those shows? I shall then be absent while
present, and so shall overcome both you and them. They, hearing this, led him on
nevertheless, desirous perchance to try that very thing, whether he could do as he said.
When they were come thither, and had taken their places as they could, the whole place
kindled with that savage pastime. But he, closing the passage of his eyes, forbade his
mind to range abroad after such evil; and would he had stopped his ears also! For in the
fight, when one fell, a mighty cry of the whole people striking him strongly, overcome by
curiosity, and as if prepared to despise and be superior to it whatsoever it were, even
when seen, he opened his eyes, and was stricken with a deeper wound in his soul than the
other, whom he desired to behold, was in his body;

19 and he fell more miserably than he upon whose fall that mighty noise was raised, which
entered through his ears, and unlocked his eyes, to make way for the striking and beating
down of a soul, bold rather than resolute, and the weaker, in that it had presumed on
itself, which ought to have relied on Thee. For so soon as he saw that blood, he therewith
drunk down savageness; nor turned away, but fixed his eye, drinking in frenzy, unawares,
and was delighted with that guilty fight, and intoxicated with the bloody pastime. Nor was
he now the man he came, but one of the throng he came unto, yea, a true associate of
theirs that brought him thither. Why say more? He beheld, shouted, kindled, carried thence
with him the madness which should goad him to return not only with them who first drew him
thither, but also before them, yea and to draw in others. Yet thence didst Thou with a
most strong and most merciful hand pluck him, and taughtest him to have confidence not in
himself, but in Thee. But this was after.

20 But this was already being laid up in his memory to be a medicine hereafter. So was
that also, that when he was yet studying under me at Carthage, and was thinking over at
mid-day in the market-place what he was to say by heart (as scholars use to practise),
Thou sufferedst him to be apprehended by the officers of the market-place for a thief. For
no other cause, I deem, didst Thou, our God, suffer it, but that he who was hereafter to
prove so great a man, should already begin to learn that in judging of causes, man was not
readily to be condemned by man out of a rash credulity. For as he was walking up and down
by himself before the judgment-seat, with his note-book and pen, lo, a young man, a
lawyer, the real thief, privily bringing a hatchet, got in, unperceived by Alypius, as far
as the leaden gratings which fence in the silversmiths' shops, and began to cut away the
lead. But the noise of the hatchet being heard, the silversmiths beneath began to make a
stir, and sent to apprehend whomever they should find. But he, hearing their voices, ran
away, leaving his hatchet, fearing to be taken with it. Alypius now, who had not seen him
enter, was aware of his going, and saw with what speed he made away. And being desirous to
know the matter, entered the place; where finding the hatchet, he was standing, wondering
and considering it, when behold, those that had been sent, find him alone with the hatchet
in his hand, the noise whereof had startled and brought them thither. They seize him, hale
him away, and gathering the dwellers in the market-place together, boast of having taken a
notorious thief, and so he was being led away to be taken before the judge.

21 But thus far was Alypius to be instructed. For forthwith, O Lord, Thou succouredst his
innocency, whereof Thou alone wert witness. For as he was being led either to prison or to
punishment, a certain architect met them, who had the chief charge of the public
buildings. Glad they were to meet him especially, by whom they were wont to be suspected
of stealing the goods lost out of the market-place, as though to show him at last by whom
these thefts were committed. He, however, had divers times seen Alypius at a certain
senator's house, to whom he often went to pay his respects; and recognising him
immediately, took him aside by the hand, and enquiring the occasion of so great a
calamity, heard the whole matter, and bade all present, amid much uproar and threats, to
go with him. So they came to the house of the young man who had done the deed. There,
before the door, was a boy so young as to be likely, not apprehending any harm to his
master, to disclose the whole. For he had attended his master to the market-place. Whom so
soon as Alypius remembered, he told the architect: and he showing the hatchet to the boy,
asked him "Whose that was?" "Ours," quoth he presently: and being further questioned, he
discovered every thing. Thus the crime being transferred to that house, and the multitude
ashamed, which had begun to insult over Alypius, he who was to be a dispenser of Thy Word,
and an examiner of many causes in Thy Church, went away better experienced and instructed.

22 Him then I had found at Rome, and he clave to me by a most strong tie, and went with me
to Milan, both that he might not leave me, and might practise something of the law he had
studied, more to please his parents than himself. There he had thrice sat as Assessor,
with an uncorruptness much wondered at by others, he wondering at others rather who could
prefer gold to honesty. His character was tried besides, not only with the bait of
covetousness, but with the goad of fear. At Rome he was Assessor to the count of the
Italian Treasury. There was at that time a very powerful senator, to whose favours many
stood indebted, many much feared. He would needs, by his usual power, have a thing allowed
him which by the laws was unallowed. Alypius resisted it: a bribe was promised; with all
his heart he scorned it: threats were held out; he trampled upon them: all wondering at so
unwonted a spirit, which neither desired the friendship, nor feared the enmity of one so
great and so mightily renowned for innumerable means of doing good or evil. And the very
judge, whose councillor Alypius was, although also unwilling it should be, yet did not
openly refuse, but put the matter off upon Alypius, alleging that he would not allow him
to do it: for in truth had the judge done it, Alypius would have decided otherwise.

23 With this one thing in the way of learning was he well-nigh seduced, that he might have
books copied for him at Praetorian prices, but consulting justice, he altered his
deliberation for the better; esteeming equity whereby he was hindered more gainful than
the power whereby he were allowed. These are slight things, but he that is faithful in
little, is faithful also in much. Nor can that any how be void, which proceeded out of the
mouth of Thy Truth: If ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon, who will
commit to your trust true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is
another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? He being such, did at that time
cleave to me, and with me wavered in purpose, what course of life was to be taken. 24
Nebridius also, who having left his native country near Carthage, yea and Carthage itself,
where he had much lived, leaving his excellent family-estate and house, and a mother
behind, who was not to follow him, had come to Milan, for no other reason but that with me
he might live in a most ardent search after truth and wisdom. Like me he sighed, like me
he wavered, an ardent searcher after true life, and a most acute examiner of the most
difficult questions. Thus were there the mouths of three indigent persons, sighing out
their wants one to another, and waiting upon Thee that Thou mightest give them their meat
in due season. And in all the bitterness which by Thy mercy followed our worldly affairs,
as we looked towards the end, why we should suffer all this, darkness met us; and we
turned away groaning, and saying, How long shall these things be? This too we often said;
and so saying forsook them not, for as yet there dawned nothing certain, which these
forsaken, we might embrace.

25 And I, viewing and reviewing things, most wondered at the length of time from that my
nineteenth year, wherein I had begun to kindle with the desire of wisdom, settling when I
had found her, to abandon all the empty hopes and lying frenzies of vain desires. And lo,
I was now in my thirtieth year, sticking in the same mire, greedy of enjoying things
present, which passed away and wasted my soul; while I said to myself, "Tomorrow I shall
find it; it will appear manifestly and I shall grasp it; lo, Faustus the Manichee will
come, and clear every thing! O you great men, ye Academicians, it is true then, that no
certainty can be attained for the ordering of life! Nay, let us search the more
diligently, and despair not. Lo, things in the ecclesiastical books are not absurd to us
now, which sometimes seemed absurd, and may be otherwise taken, and in a good sense. I
will take my stand, where, as a child, my parents placed me, until the clear truth be
found out. But where shall it be sought or when? Ambrose has no leisure; we have no
leisure to read; where shall we find even the books? Whence, or when procure them? from
whom borrow them? Let set times be appointed, and certain hours be ordered for the health
of our soul. Great hope has dawned; the Catholic Faith teaches not what we thought, and
vainly accused it of; her instructed members hold it profane to believe God to be bounded
by the figure of a human body: and do we doubt to 'knock,' that the rest 'may be opened'?
The forenoons our scholars take up; what do we during the rest? Why not this? But when
then pay we court to our great friends, whose favour we need? When compose what we may
sell to scholars? When refresh ourselves, unbending our minds from this intenseness of
care?

26 "Perish every thing, dismiss we these empty vanities, and betake ourselves to the one
search for truth! Life is vain, death uncertain; if it steals upon us on a sudden, in what
state shall we depart hence? and where shall we learn what here we have neglected? and
shall we not rather suffer the punishment of this negligence? What, if death itself cut
off and end all care and feeling? Then must this be ascertained. But God forbid this! It
is no vain and empty thing, that the excellent dignity of the authority of the Christian
Faith hath overspread the whole world. Never would such and so great things be by God
wrought for us, if with the death of the body the life of the soul came to an end.
Wherefore delay then to abandon worldly hopes, and give ourselves wholly to seek after God
and the blessed life? But wait! Even those things are pleasant; they have some, and no
small sweetness. We must not lightly abandon them, for it were a shame to return again to
them. See, it is no great matter now to obtain some station, and then what should we more
wish for? We have store of powerful friends; if nothing else offer, and we be in much
haste, at least a presidentship may be given us: and a wife with some money, that she
increase not our charges: and this shall be the bound of desire. Many great men, and most
worthy of imitation, have given themselves to the study of wisdom in the state of
marriage."

27 While I went over these things, and these winds shifted and drove my heart this way and
that, time passed on, but I delayed to turn to the Lord; and from day to day deferred to
live in Thee, and deferred not daily to die in myself. Loving a happy life, I feared it in
its own abode, and sought it, by fleeing from it. I thought I should be too miserable,
unless folded in female arms; and of the medicine of Thy mercy to cure that infirmity I
thought not, not having tried it. As for continency, I supposed it to be in our own power
(though in myself I did not find that power), being so foolish as not to know what is
written, None can be continent unless Thou give it; and that Thou wouldest give it, if
with inward groanings I did knock at Thine ears, and with a settled faith did cast my care
on Thee.

28 Alypius indeed kept me from marrying; alleging that so could we by no means with
undistracted leisure live together in the love of wisdom, as we had long desired. For
himself was even then most pure in this point, so that it was wonderful; and that the
more, since in the outset of his youth he had entered into that course, but had not stuck
fast therein; rather had he felt remorse and revolting at it, living thenceforth until now
most continently. But I opposed him with the examples of those who as married men had
cherished wisdom, and served God acceptably, and retained their friends, and loved them
faithfully. Of whose greatness of spirit I was far short; and bound with the disease of
the flesh, and its deadly sweetness, drew along my chain, dreading to be loosed, and as if
my wound had been fretted, put back his good persuasions, as it were the hand of one that
would unchain me. Moreover, by me did the serpent speak unto Alypius himself, by my tongue
weaving and laying in his path pleasurable snares, wherein his virtuous and free feet
might be entangled.

29 For when he wondered that I, whom he esteemed not slightly, should stick so fast in the
birdlime of that pleasure, as to protest (so oft as we discussed it) that I could never
lead a single life; and urged in my defence when I saw him wonder, that there was great
difference between his momentary and scarce-remembered knowledge of that life, which so he
might easily despise, and my continued acquaintance whereto if the honourable name of
marriage were added, he ought not to wonder why I could not contemn that course; he began
also to desire to be married; not as overcome with desire of such pleasure, but out of
curiosity. For he would fain know, he said, what that should be, without which my life, to
him so pleasing, would to me seem not life but a punishment. For his mind, free from that
chain, was amazed at my thraldom; and through that amazement was going on to a desire of
trying it, thence to the trial itself, and thence perhaps to sink into that bondage
whereat he wondered, seeing he was willing to make a covenant with death; and he that
loves danger, shall fall into it. For whatever honour there be in the office of well-
ordering a married life, and a family, moved us but slightly. But me for the most part the
habit of satisfying an insatiable appetite tormented, while it held me captive; him, an
admiring wonder was leading captive. So were we, until Thou, O Most High, not forsaking
our dust, commiserating us miserable, didst come to our help, by wondrous and secret ways.

30 Continual effort was made to have me married. I wooed, I was promised, chiefly through
my mother's pains, that so once married, the health-giving baptism might cleanse me,
towards which she rejoiced that I was being daily fitted, and observed that her prayers,
and Thy promises, were being fulfilled in my faith. At which time verily, both at my
request and her own longing, with strong cries of heart she daily begged of Thee, that
Thou wouldest by a vision discover unto her something concerning my future marriage; Thou
never wouldest. She saw indeed certain vain and fantastic things, such as the energy of
the human spirit, busied thereon, brought together; and these she told me of, not with
that confidence she was wont, when Thou showedst her any thing, but slighting them. For
she could, she said, through a certain feeling, which in words she could not express,
discern betwixt Thy revelations, and the dreams of her own soul. Yet the matter was
pressed on, and a maiden asked in marriage, two years under the fit age; and, as pleasing,
was waited for.

31 And many of us friends conferring about, and detesting the turbulent turmoils of human
life, had debated and now almost resolved on living apart from business and the bustle of
men; and this was to be thus obtained; we were to bring whatever we might severally
procure, and make one household of all; so that through the truth of our friendship
nothing should belong especially to any; but the whole thus derived from all, should as a
whole belong to each, and all to all. We thought there might be some often persons in this
society; some of whom were very rich, especially Romanianus our townsman, from childhood a
very familiar friend of mine, whom the grievous perplexities of his affairs had brought up
to court; who was the most earnest for this project; and therein was his voice of great
weight, because his ample estate far exceeded any of the rest. We had settled also that
two annual officers, as it were, should provide all things necessary, the rest being
undisturbed. But when we began to consider whether the wives, which some of us already
had, others hoped to have, would allow this, all that plan, which was being so well
moulded, fell to pieces in our hands, was utterly dashed and cast aside. Thence we betook
us to sighs, and groans, and our steps to follow the broad and beaten ways of the world;
for many thoughts were in our heart, but Thy counsel standeth for ever. Out of which
counsel Thou didst deride ours, and preparedst Thine own; purposing to give us meat in due
season, and to fill our souls with blessing.

32 Meanwhile my sins were being multiplied, and my concubine being torn from my side as a
hindrance to my marriage, my heart which clave unto her was torn and wounded and bleeding.
And she returned to Afric, vowing unto Thee never to know any other man, leaving with me
my son by her. But unhappy I, who could not imitate a very woman, impatient of delay,
inasmuch as not till after two years was I to obtain her I sought not being so much a
lover of marriage as a slave to lust, procured another, though no wife, that so by the
servitude of an enduring custom, the disease of my soul might be kept up and carried on in
its vigour, or even augmented, into the dominion of marriage. Nor was that my wound cured,
which had been made by the cutting away of the former, but after inflammation and most
acute pain, it mortified, and my pains became less acute, but more desperate.

33 To Thee be praise, glory to Thee, Fountain of mercies. I was becoming more miserable,
and Thou nearer. Thy right hand was continually ready to pluck me out of the mire, and to
wash me thoroughly, and I knew it not; nor did anything call me back from a yet deeper
gulf of carnal pleasures, but the fear of death, and of Thy judgment to come; which amid
all my changes, never departed from my breast. And in my disputes with my friends Alypius
and Nebridius of the nature of good and evil, I held that Epicurus had in my mind won the
palm, had I not believed that after death there remained a life for the soul, and places
of requital according to men's deserts, which Epicurus would not believe. And I asked,
"were we immortal, and to live in perpetual bodily pleasure, without fear of losing it,
why should we not be happy, or what else should we seek?" not knowing that great misery
was involved in this very thing, that, being thus sunk and blinded, I could not discern
that light of excellence and beauty, to be embraced for its own sake, which the eye of
flesh cannot see, and is seen by the inner man. Nor did I, unhappy, consider from what
source it sprung, that even on these things, foul as they were, I with pleasure discoursed
with my friends, nor could I, even according to the notions I then had of happiness, be
happy without friends, amid what abundance soever of carnal pleasures. And yet these
friends I loved for themselves only, and I felt that I was beloved of them again for
myself only.

34 O crooked paths! Woe to the audacious soul, which hoped, by forsaking Thee, to gain
some better thing! Turned it hath, and turned again, upon back, sides, and belly, yet all
was painful; and Thou alone rest. And behold, Thou art at hand, and deliverest us from our
wretched wanderings, and placest us in Thy way, and dost comfort us, and say, "Run; I will
carry you; yea I will bring you through; there also will I carry you."


THE CONFESSIONS
===============

THE CONFESSIONS continued

BOOK VII

1 Deceased was now that my evil and abominable youth, and I was passing into early
manhood; the more defiled by vain things as I grew in years, who could not imagine any
substance, but such as is wont to be seen with these eyes. I thought not of Thee, O God,
under the figure of a human body; since I began to hear aught of wisdom, I always avoided
this; and rejoiced to have found the same in the faith of our spiritual mother, Thy
Catholic Church. But what else to conceive of Thee I knew not. And I, a man, and such a
man, sought to conceive of Thee the sovereign, only, true God; and I did in my inmost soul
believe that Thou wert incorruptible, and uninjurable, and unchangeable; because though
not knowing whence or how, yet I saw plainly, and was sure, that that which may be
corrupted must be inferior to that which cannot; what could not be injured I preferred
unhesitatingly to what could receive injury; the unchangeable to things subject to change.
My heart passionately cried out against all my phantoms, and with this one blow I sought
to beat away from the eye of my mind all that unclean troop which buzzed around it. And
lo, being scarce put off, in the twinkling of an eye they gathered again thick about me,
flew against my face, and beclouded it;

2 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. 3
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.

4 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. 5 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.

6 But I also as yet, although I held and was firmly persuaded that Thou our Lord the true
God, who madest not only our souls, but our bodies, and not only our souls and bodies, but
all beings, and all things, wert undefilable and unalterable, and in no degree mutable;
yet understood I not, clearly and without difficulty, the cause of evil. And yet whatever
it were, I perceived it was in such wise to be sought out, as should not constrain me to
believe the immutable God to be mutable, lest I should become that evil I was seeking out.
I sought it out then, thus far free from anxiety, certain of the untruth of what these
held, from whom I shrunk with my whole heart: for I saw, that through enquiring the origin
of evil, they were filled with evil, in that they preferred to think that Thy substance
did suffer ill than their own did commit it.

7 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.

8 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?

9 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?

10 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?

11 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.

12 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.

13 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;

14 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.

15 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.

16 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.

17 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:

18 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.

19 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. 20 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.

21 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;

22 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.

23 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.

24 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:

25 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. 26 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.

27 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.

28 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.

29 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.

30 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.

31 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;

32 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.

33 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.

34 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;

35 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.

36 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;

37 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. 38 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;

39 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:

40 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.


THE CONFESSIONS
===============

THE CONFESSIONS continued

BOOK VIII

1 O my God, let me, with thanksgiving, remember, and confess unto Thee Thy mercies on me.
Let my bones be bedewed with Thy love, and let them say unto Thee, Who is like unto Thee,
O Lord? Thou hast broken my bonds in sunder, I will offer unto Thee the sacrifice of
thanksgiving. And how Thou hast broken them, I will declare; and all who worship Thee,
when they hear this, shall say, "Blessed be the Lord, in heaven and in earth, great and
wonderful is his name." Thy words had stuck fast in my heart, and I was hedged round about
on all sides by Thee. Of Thy eternal life I was now certain, though I saw it in a figure
and as through a glass. Yet I had ceased to doubt that there was an incorruptible
substance, whence was all other substance; nor did I now desire to be more certain of
Thee, but more steadfast in Thee. But for my temporal life, all was wavering, and my heart
had to be purged from the old leaven. The Way, the Saviour Himself, well pleased me, but
as yet I shrunk from going through its straitness. And Thou didst put into my mind, and it
seemed good in my eyes, to go to Simplicianus, who seemed to me a good servant of Thine;
and Thy grace shone in him. I had heard also that from his very youth he had lived most
devoted unto Thee. Now he was grown into years; and by reason of so great age spent in
such zealous following of Thy ways, he seemed to me likely to have learned much
experience; and so he had. Out of which store I wished that he would tell me (setting
before him my anxieties) which were the fittest way for one in my case to walk in Thy
paths.

2 For, I saw the church full; and one went this way, and another that way. But I was
displeased that I led a secular life; yea now that my desires no longer inflamed me, as of
old, with hopes of honour and profit, a very grievous burden it was to undergo so heavy a
bondage. For, in comparison of Thy sweetness, and the beauty of Thy house which I loved,
those things delighted me no longer. But still I was enthralled with the love of woman;
nor did the Apostle forbid me to marry, although he advised me to something better,
chiefly wishing that all men were as himself was. But I being weak, chose the more
indulgent place; and because of this alone, was tossed up and down in all beside, faint
and wasted with withering cares, because in other matters I was constrained against my
will to conform myself to a married life, to which I was given up and enthralled. I had
heard from the mouth of the Truth, that there were some eunuchs which had made themselves
eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake: but, saith He, let him who can receive it,
receive it. Surely vain are all men who are ignorant of God, and could not out of the good
things which are seen, find out Him who is good. But I was no longer in that vanity; I had
surmounted it;

3 and by the common witness of all Thy creatures had found Thee our Creator, and Thy Word,
God with Thee, and together with Thee one God, by whom Thou createdst all things. There is
yet another kind of ungodly, who knowing God, glorified Him not as God, neither were
thankful. Into this also had I fallen, but Thy right hand upheld me, and took me thence,
and Thou placedst me where I might recover. For Thou hast said unto man, Behold, the fear
of the Lord is wisdom, and, Desire not to seem wise; because they who affirmed themselves
to be wise, became fools. But I had now found the goodly pearl, which, selling all that I
had, I ought to have bought, and I hesitated. 4 To Simplicianus then I went, the father of
Ambrose (a Bishop now) in receiving Thy grace, and whom Ambrose truly loved as a father.
To him I related the mazes of my wanderings. But when I mentioned that I had read certain
books of the Platonists, which Victorinus, sometime Rhetoric Professor of Rome (who had
died a Christian, as I had heard), had translated into Latin, he testified his joy that I
had not fallen upon the writings of other philosophers, full of fallacies and deceits,
after the rudiments of this world, whereas the Platonists many ways led to the belief in
God and His Word. Then to exhort me to the humility of Christ, hidden from the wise, and
revealed to little ones, he spoke of Victorinus himself, whom while at Rome he had most
intimately known: and of him he related what I will not conceal. For it contains great
praise of Thy grace, to be confessed unto Thee, how that aged man, most learned and
skilled in the liberal sciences, and who had read, and weighed so many works of the
philosophers; the instructor of so many noble Senators, who also, as a monument of his
excellent discharge of his office, had (which men of this world esteem a high honour) both
deserved and obtained a statue in the Roman Forum; he, to that age a worshipper of idols,
and a partaker of the sacrilegious rites, to which almost all the nobility of Rome were
given up, and had inspired the people with the love of

5 Anubis, barking Deity, and all / The monster Gods of every kind, who fought / 'Gainst
Neptune, Venus, and Minerva: whom Rome once conquered, now adored, all which the aged
Victorinus had with thundering eloquence so many years defended;—he now blushed not to be
the child of Thy Christ, and the new-born babe of Thy fountain; submitting his neck to the
yoke of humility, and subduing his forehead to the reproach of the Cross. 6 O Lord, Lord,
Which hast bowed the heavens and come down, touched the mountains and they did smoke, by
what means didst Thou convey Thyself into that breast? He used to read (as Simplicianus
said) the holy Scripture, most studiously sought and searched into all the Christian
writings, and said to Simplicianus (not openly, but privately and as a friend),
"Understand that I am already a Christian. Whereto he answered, "I will not believe it,
nor will I rank you among Christians, unless I see you in the Church of Christ. The other,
in banter, replied, "Do walls then make Christians? And this he often said, that he was
already a Christian; and Simplicianus as often made the same answer, and the conceit of
the "walls" was by the other as often renewed. For he feared to offend his friends, proud
daemon-worshippers, from the height of whose Babylonian dignity, as from cedars of
Libanus, which the Lord had not yet broken down, he supposed the weight of enmity would
fall upon him.

7 But after that by reading and earnest thought he had gathered firmness, and feared to be
denied by Christ before the holy angels, should he now be afraid to confess Him before
men, and appeared to himself guilty of a heavy offence, in being ashamed of the Sacraments
of the humility of Thy Word, and not being ashamed of the sacrilegious rites of those
proud daemons, whose pride he had imitated and their rites adopted, he became bold-faced
against vanity, and shame-faced towards the truth, and suddenly and unexpectedly said to
Simplicianus (as himself told me), "Go we to the Church; I wish to be made a Christian.
But he, not containing himself for joy, went with him. And having been admitted to the
first Sacrament and become a Catechumen, not long after he further gave in his name, that
he might be regenerated by baptism, Rome wondering, the Church rejoicing. The proud saw,
and were wroth; they gnashed with their teeth, and melted away. But the Lord God was the
hope of Thy servant, and he regarded not vanities and lying madness.

8 To conclude, when the hour was come for making profession of his faith (which at Rome
they, who are about to approach to Thy grace, deliver, from an elevated place, in the
sight of all the faithful, in a set form of words committed to memory), the presbyters, he
said, offered Victorinus (as was done to such as seemed likely through bashfulness to be
alarmed) to make his profession more privately: but he chose rather to profess his
salvation in the presence of the holy multitude. "For it was not salvation that he taught
in rhetoric, and yet that he had publicly professed: how much less then ought he, when
pronouncing Thy word, to dread Thy meek flock, who, when delivering his own words, had not
feared a mad multitude!" When, then, he went up to make his profession, all, as they knew
him, whispered his name one to another with the voice of congratulation. And who there
knew him not? and there ran a low murmur through all the mouths of the rejoicing
multitude, Victorinus! Victorinus! Sudden was the burst of rapture, that they saw him;
suddenly were they hushed that they might hear him. He pronounced the true faith with an
excellent boldness, and all wished to draw him into their very heart; yea by their love
and joy they drew him thither, such were the hands wherewith they drew him.

9 Good God! what takes place in man, that he should more rejoice at the salvation of a
soul despaired of, and freed from greater peril, than if there had always been hope of
him, or the danger had been less? For so Thou also, merciful Father, dost more rejoice
over one penitent than over ninety-nine just persons that need no repentance. And with
much joyfulness do we hear, so often as we hear with what joy the sheep which had strayed
is brought back upon the shepherd's shoulder, and the groat is restored to Thy treasury,
the neighbours rejoicing with the woman who found it; and the joy of the solemn service of
Thy house forceth to tears, when in Thy house it is read of Thy younger son, that he was
dead, and liveth again; had been lost, and is found. For Thou rejoicest in us, and in Thy
holy angels, holy through holy charity. For Thou art ever the same; for all things which
abide not the same nor for ever, Thou for ever knowest in the same way.

10 What then takes place in the soul, when it is more delighted at finding or recovering
the things it loves, than if it had ever had them? yea, and other things witness hereunto;
and all things are full of witnesses, crying out, "So is it." The conquering commander
triumpheth; yet had he not conquered unless he had fought; and the more peril there was in
the battle, so much the more joy is there in the triumph. The storm tosses the sailors,
threatens shipwreck; all wax pale at approaching death; sky and sea are calmed, and they
are exceeding joyed, as having been exceeding afraid. A friend is sick, and his pulse
threatens danger; all who long for his recovery are sick in mind with him. He is restored,
though as yet he walks not with his former strength; yet there is such joy, as was not,
when before he walked sound and strong. Yea, the very pleasures of human life men acquire
by difficulties, not those only which fall upon us unlooked for, and against our wills,
but even by self-chosen, and pleasure-seeking trouble. Eating and drinking have no
pleasure, unless there precede the pinching of hunger and thirst. Men, given to drink, eat
certain salt meats, to procure a troublesome heat, which the drink allaying, causes
pleasure. It is also ordered that the affianced bride should not at once be given, lest as
a husband he should hold cheap whom, as betrothed, he sighed not after.

11 This law holds in foul and accursed joy; this in permitted and lawful joy; this in the
very purest perfection of friendship; this, in him who was dead, and lived again; had been
lost and was found. Every where the greater joy is ushered in by the greater pain. What
means this, O Lord my God, whereas Thou art everlastingly joy to Thyself, and some things
around Thee evermore rejoice in Thee? What means this, that this portion of things thus
ebbs and flows alternately displeased and reconciled? Is this their allotted measure? Is
this all Thou hast assigned to them, whereas from the highest heavens to the lowest earth,
from the beginning of the world to the end of ages, from the angel to the worm, from the
first motion to the last, Thou settest each in its place, and realisest each in their
season, every thing good after its kind? Woe is me! how high art Thou in the highest, and
how deep in the deepest! and Thou never departest, and we scarcely return to Thee.

12 Up, Lord, and do; stir us up, and recall us; kindle and draw us; inflame, grow sweet
unto us, let us now love, let us run. Do not many, out of a deeper hell of blindness than
Victorinus, return to Thee, approach, and are enlightened, receiving that Light, which
they who receive, receive power from Thee to become Thy sons? But if they be less known to
the nations, even they that know them, joy less for them. For when many joy together, each
also has more exuberant joy for that they are kindled and inflamed one by the other.
Again, because those known to many, influence the more towards salvation, and lead the way
with many to follow. And therefore do they also who preceded them much rejoice in them,
because they rejoice not in them alone. For far be it, that in Thy tabernacle the persons
of the rich should be accepted before the poor, or the noble before the ignoble; seeing
rather Thou hast chosen the weak things of the world to confound the strong; and the base
things of this world, and the things despised hast Thou chosen, and those things which are
not, that Thou mightest bring to nought things that are. And yet even that least of Thy
apostles, by whose tongue Thou soundedst forth these words, when through his warfare,
Paulus the Proconsul, his pride conquered, was made to pass under the easy yoke of Thy
Christ, and became a provincial of the great King;

13 he also for his former name Saul, was pleased to be called Paul, in testimony of so
great a victory. For the enemy is more overcome in one, of whom he hath more hold; by whom
he hath hold of more. But the proud he hath more hold of, through their nobility; and by
them, of more through their authority. By how much the more welcome then the heart of
Victorinus was esteemed, which the devil had held as an impregnable possession, the tongue
of Victorinus, with which mighty and keen weapon he had slain many; so much the more
abundantly ought Thy sons to rejoice, for that our King hath bound the strong man, and
they saw his vessels taken from him and cleansed, and made meet for Thy honour; and become
serviceable for the Lord, unto every good work. 14 But when that man of Thine,
Simplicianus, related to me this of Victorinus, I was on fire to imitate him; for for this
very end had he related it. But when he had subjoined also, how in the days of the Emperor
Julian a law was made, whereby Christians were forbidden to teach the liberal sciences or
oratory; and how he, obeying this law, chose rather to give over the wordy school than Thy
Word, by which Thou makest eloquent the tongues of the dumb; he seemed to me not more
resolute than blessed, in having thus found opportunity to wait on Thee only. Which thing
I was sighing for, bound as I was, not with another's irons, but by my own iron will. My
will the enemy held, and thence had made a chain for me, and bound me. For of a forward
will, was a lust made; and a lust served, became custom; and custom not resisted, became
necessity. By which links, as it were, joined together (whence I called it a chain) a hard
bondage held me enthralled. But that new will which had begun to be in me, freely to serve
Thee, and to wish to enjoy Thee, O God, the only assured pleasantness, was not yet able to
overcome my former wilfulness, strengthened by age. Thus did my two wills, one new, and
the other old, one carnal, the other spiritual, struggle within me; and by their discord,
undid my soul.

15 Thus, I understood, by my own experience, what I had read, how the flesh lusteth
against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. Myself verily either way; yet more
myself, in that which I approved in myself, than in that which in myself I disapproved.
For in this last, it was now for the more part not myself, because in much I rather
endured against my will, than acted willingly. And yet it was through me that custom had
obtained this power of warring against me, because I had come willingly, whither I willed
not. And who has any right to speak against it, if just punishment follow the sinner? Nor
had I now any longer my former plea, that I therefore as yet hesitated to be above the
world and serve Thee, for that the truth was not altogether ascertained to me; for now it
too was. But I still under service to the earth, refused to fight under Thy banner, and
feared as much to be freed of all incumbrances, as we should fear to be encumbered with
it. Thus with the baggage of this present world was I held down pleasantly, as in sleep:
and the thoughts wherein I meditated on Thee were like the efforts of such as would awake,
who yet overcome with a heavy drowsiness, are again drenched therein.

16 And as no one would sleep for ever, and in all men's sober judgment waking is better,
yet a man for the most part, feeling a heavy lethargy in all his limbs, defers to shake
off sleep, and though half displeased, yet, even after it is time to rise, with pleasure
yields to it, so was I assured that much better were it for me to give myself up to Thy
charity, than to give myself over to mine own cupidity; but though the former course
satisfied me and gained the mastery, the latter pleased me and held me mastered. Nor had I
any thing to answer Thee calling to me, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light. And when Thou didst on all sides show me that what
Thou saidst was true, I, convicted by the truth, had nothing at all to answer, but only
those dull and drowsy words, "Anon, anon," "presently," "leave me but a little. But
"presently, presently," had no present, and my "little while" went on for a long while; in
vain I delighted in Thy law according to the inner man, when another law in my members
rebelled against the law of my mind, and led me captive under the law of sin which was in
my members. For the law of sin is the violence of custom, whereby the mind is drawn and
holden, even against its will; but deservedly, for that it willingly fell into it.

17 Who then should deliver me thus wretched from the body of this death, but Thy grace
only, through Jesus Christ our Lord? 18 And how Thou didst deliver me out of the bonds of
desire, wherewith I was bound most straitly to carnal concupiscence, and out of the
drudgery of worldly things, I will now declare, and confess unto Thy name, O Lord, my
helper and my redeemer. Amid increasing anxiety, I was doing my wonted business, and daily
sighing unto Thee. I attended Thy Church, whenever free from the business under the burden
of which I groaned. Alypius was with me, now after the third sitting released from his law
business, and awaiting to whom to sell his counsel, as I sold the skill of speaking, if
indeed teaching can impart it. Nebridius had now, in consideration of our friendship,
consented to teach under Verecundus, a citizen and a grammarian of Milan, and a very
intimate friend of us all; who urgently desired, and by the right of friendship challenged
from our company, such faithful aid as he greatly needed. Nebridius then was not drawn to
this by any desire of advantage (for he might have made much more of his learning had he
so willed), but as a most kind and gentle friend, he would not be wanting to a good
office, and slight our request. But he acted herein very discreetly, shunning to become
known to personages great according to this world, avoiding the distraction of mind thence
ensuing, and desiring to have it free and at leisure, as many hours as might be, to seek,
or read, or hear something concerning wisdom.

19 Upon a day then, Nebridius being absent (I recollect not why), lo, there came to see me
and Alypius, one Pontitianus, our countryman so far as being an African, in high office in
the Emperor's court. What he would with us, I know not, but we sat down to converse, and
it happened that upon a table for some game, before us, he observed a book, took, opened
it, and contrary to his expectation, found it the Apostle Paul; for he thought it some of
those books which I was wearing myself in teaching. Whereat smiling, and looking at me, he
expressed his joy and wonder that he had on a sudden found this book, and this only before
my eyes. For he was a Christian, and baptised, and often bowed himself before Thee our God
in the Church, in frequent and continued prayers. When then I had told him that I bestowed
very great pains upon those Scriptures, a conversation arose (suggested by his account) on
Antony the Egyptian monk: whose name was in high reputation among Thy servants, though to
that hour unknown to us. Which when he discovered, he dwelt the more upon that subject,
informing and wondering at our ignorance of one so eminent. But we stood amazed, hearing
Thy wonderful works most fully attested, in times so recent, and almost in our own,
wrought in the true Faith and Church Catholic. We all wondered; we, that they were so
great, and he, that they had not reached us.

20 Thence his discourse turned to the flocks in the monasteries, and their holy ways, a
sweet-smelling savour unto Thee, and the fruitful deserts of the wilderness, whereof we
knew nothing. And there was a monastery at Milan, full of good brethren, without the city
walls, under the fostering care of Ambrose, and we knew it not. He went on with his
discourse, and we listened in intent silence. He told us then how one afternoon at Triers,
when the Emperor was taken up with the Circensian games, he and three others, his
companions, went out to walk in gardens near the city walls, and there as they happened to
walk in pairs, one went apart with him, and the other two wandered by themselves; and
these, in their wanderings, lighted upon a certain cottage, inhabited by certain of Thy
servants, poor in spirit, of whom is the kingdom of heaven, and there they found a little
book containing the life of Antony. This one of them began to read, admire, and kindle at
it; and as he read, to meditate on taking up such a life, and giving over his secular
service to serve Thee. And these two were of those whom they style agents for the public
affairs. Then suddenly, filled with a holy love, and a sober shame, in anger with himself
cast his eyes upon his friend, saying, "Tell me, I pray thee, what would we attain by all
these labours of ours? what aim we at? what serve we for?

21 Can our hopes in court rise higher than to be the Emperor's favourites? and in this,
what is there not brittle, and full of perils? and by how many perils arrive we at a
greater peril? and when arrive we thither? But a friend of God, if I wish it, I become now
at once. So spake he. And in pain with the travail of a new life, he turned his eyes again
upon the book, and read on, and was changed inwardly, where Thou sawest, and his mind was
stripped of the world, as soon appeared. For as he read, and rolled up and down the waves
of his heart, he stormed at himself a while, then discerned, and determined on a better
course; and now being Thine, said to his friend, "Now have I broken loose from those our
hopes, and am resolved to serve God; and this, from this hour, in this place, I begin
upon. If thou likest not to imitate me, oppose not. The other answered, he would cleave to
him, to partake so glorious a reward, so glorious a service. Thus both being now Thine,
were building the tower at the necessary cost, the forsaking all that they had, and
following Thee. Then Pontitianus and the other with him, that had walked in other parts of
the garden, came in search of them to the same place; and finding them, reminded them to
return, for the day was now far spent.

22 But they relating their resolution and purpose, and how that will was begun and settled
in them, begged them, if they would not join, not to molest them. But the others, though
nothing altered from their former selves, did yet bewail themselves (as he affirmed), and
piously congratulated them, recommending themselves to their prayers; and so, with hearts
lingering on the earth, went away to the palace. But the other two, fixing their heart on
heaven, remained in the cottage. And both had affianced brides, who when they heard
hereof, also dedicated their virginity unto God. 23 Such was the story of Pontitianus; but
Thou, O Lord, while he was speaking, didst turn me round towards myself, taking me from
behind my back where I had placed me, unwilling to observe myself; and setting me before
my face, that I might see how foul I was, how crooked and defiled, bespotted and ulcerous.
And I beheld and stood aghast; and whither to flee from myself I found not. And if I
sought to turn mine eye from off myself, he went on with his relation, and Thou again
didst set me over against myself, and thrustedst me before my eyes, that I might find out
mine iniquity, and hate it. I had known it, but made as though I saw it not, winked at it,
and forgot it.

24 But now, the more ardently I loved those whose healthful affections I heard of, that
they had resigned themselves wholly to Thee to be cured, the more did I abhor myself, when
compared with them. For many of my years (some twelve) had now run out with me since my
nineteenth, when, upon the reading of Cicero's Hortensius, I was stirred to an earnest
love of wisdom; and still I was deferring to reject mere earthly felicity, and give myself
to search out that, whereof not the finding only, but the very search, was to be preferred
to the treasures and kingdoms of the world, though already found, and to the pleasures of
the body, though spread around me at my will. But I wretched, most wretched, in the very
commencement of my early youth, had begged chastity of Thee, and said, "Give me chastity
and continency, only not yet." For I feared lest Thou shouldest hear me soon, and soon
cure me of the disease of concupiscence, which I wished to have satisfied, rather than
extinguished. And I had wandered through crooked ways in a sacrilegious superstition, not
indeed assured thereof, but as preferring it to the others which I did not seek
religiously, but opposed maliciously.

25 And I had thought that I therefore deferred from day to day to reject the hopes of this
world, and follow Thee only, because there did not appear aught certain, whither to direct
my course. And now was the day come wherein I was to be laid bare to myself, and my
conscience was to upbraid me. "Where art thou now, my tongue? Thou saidst that for an
uncertain truth thou likedst not to cast off the baggage of vanity; now, it is certain,
and yet that burden still oppresseth thee, while they who neither have so worn themselves
out with seeking it, nor for often years and more have been thinking thereon, have had
their shoulders lightened, and received wings to fly away." Thus was I gnawed within, and
exceedingly confounded with a horrible shame, while Pontitianus was so speaking. And he
having brought to a close his tale and the business he came for, went his way; and I into
myself. What said I not against myself? with what scourges of condemnation lashed I not my
soul, that it might follow me, striving to go after Thee! Yet it drew back; refused, but
excused not itself. All arguments were spent and confuted; there remained a mute
shrinking; and she feared, as she would death, to be restrained from the flux of that
custom, whereby she was wasting to death.

26 Then in this great contention of my inward dwelling, which I had strongly raised
against my soul, in the chamber of my heart, troubled in mind and countenance, I turned
upon Alypius. "What ails us? I exclaim: "what is it? what heardest thou? The unlearned
start up and take heaven by force, and we with our learning, and without heart, lo, where
we wallow in flesh and blood! Are we ashamed to follow, because others are gone before,
and not ashamed not even to follow? Some such words I uttered, and my fever of mind tore
me away from him, while he, gazing on me in astonishment, kept silence. For it was not my
wonted tone; and my forehead, cheeks, eyes, colour, tone of voice, spake my mind more than
the words I uttered. A little garden there was to our lodging, which we had the use of, as
of the whole house; for the master of the house, our host, was not living there. Thither
had the tumult of my breast hurried me, where no man might hinder the hot contention
wherein I had engaged with myself, until it should end as Thou knewest, I knew not. Only I
was healthfully distracted and dying, to live; knowing what evil thing I was, and not
knowing what good thing I was shortly to become. I retired then into the garden, and
Alypius, on my steps. For his presence did not lessen my privacy; or how could he forsake
me so disturbed?

27 We sate down as far removed as might be from the house. I was troubled in spirit, most
vehemently indignant that I entered not into Thy will and covenant, O my God, which all my
bones cried out unto me to enter, and praised it to the skies. And therein we enter not by
ships, or chariots, or feet, no, move not so far as I had come from the house to that
place where we were sitting. For, not to go only, but to go in thither was nothing else
but to will to go, but to will resolutely and thoroughly; not to turn and toss, this way
and that, a maimed and half-divided will, struggling, with one part sinking as another
rose. 28 Lastly, in the very fever of my irresoluteness, I made with my body many such
motions as men sometimes would, but cannot, if either they have not the limbs, or these be
bound with bands, weakened with infirmity, or any other way hindered. Thus, if I tore my
hair, beat my forehead, if locking my fingers I clasped my knee; I willed, I did it. But I
might have willed, and not done it; if the power of motion in my limbs had not obeyed. So
many things then I did, when "to will" was not in itself "to be able"; and I did not what
both I longed incomparably more to do, and which soon after, when I should will, I should
be able to do; because soon after, when I should will, I should will thoroughly. For in
these things the ability was one with the will, and to will was to do; and yet was it not
done: and more easily did my body obey the weakest willing of my soul, in moving its limbs
at its nod, than the soul obeyed itself to accomplish in the will alone this its momentous
will.

29 Whence is this monstrousness? and to what end? Let Thy mercy gleam that I may ask, if
so be the secret penalties of men, and those darkest pangs of the sons of Adam, may
perhaps answer me. Whence is this monstrousness? and to what end? The mind commands the
body, and it obeys instantly; the mind commands itself, and is resisted. The mind commands
the hand to be moved; and such readiness is there, that command is scarce distinct from
obedience. Yet the mind is mind, the hand is body. The mind commands the mind, its own
self, to will, and yet it doth not. Whence this monstrousness? and to what end? It
commands itself, I say, to will, and would not command, unless it willed, and what it
commands is not done. But it willeth not entirely: therefore doth it not command entirely.
For so far forth it commandeth, as it willeth: and, so far forth is the thing commanded,
not done, as it willeth not. For the will commandeth that there be a will; not another,
but itself. But it doth not command entirely, therefore what it commandeth, is not. For
were the will entire, it would not even command it to be, because it would already be. It
is therefore no monstrousness partly to will, partly to nill, but a disease of the mind,
that it doth not wholly rise, by truth upborne, borne down by custom. And therefore are
there two wills, for that one of them is not entire: and what the one lacketh, the other
hath.

30 Let them perish from Thy presence, O God, as perish vain talkers and seducers of the
soul: who observing that in deliberating there were two wills, affirm that there are two
minds in us of two kinds, one good, the other evil. Themselves are truly evil, when they
hold these evil things; and themselves shall become good when they hold the truth and
assent unto the truth, that Thy Apostle may say to them, Ye were sometimes darkness, but
now light in the Lord. But they, wishing to be light, not in the Lord, but in themselves,
imagining the nature of the soul to be that which God is, are made more gross darkness
through a dreadful arrogancy; for that they went back farther from Thee, the true Light
that enlightened every man that cometh into the world. Take heed what you say, and blush
for shame: draw near unto Him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed.
Myself when I was deliberating upon serving the Lord my God now, as I had long purposed,
it was I who willed, I who nilled, I, I myself. I neither willed entirely, nor nilled
entirely. Therefore was I at strife with myself, and rent asunder by myself. And this rent
befell me against my will, and yet indicated, not the presence of another mind, but the
punishment of my own. Therefore it was no more I that wrought it, but sin that dwelt in
me; the punishment of a sin more freely committed, in that I was a son of Adam.

31 For if there be so many contrary natures as there be conflicting wills, there shall now
be not two only, but many. If a man deliberate whether he should go to their conventicle
or to the theatre, these Manichees cry out, Behold, here are two natures: one good, draws
this way; another bad, draws back that way. For whence else is this hesitation between
conflicting wills? But I say that both be bad: that which draws to them, as that which
draws back to the theatre. But they believe not that will to be other than good, which
draws to them. What then if one of us should deliberate, and amid the strife of his two
wills be in a strait, whether he should go to the theatre or to our church? would not
these Manichees also be in a strait what to answer? For either they must confess (which
they fain would not) that the will which leads to our church is good, as well as theirs,
who have received and are held by the mysteries of theirs: or they must suppose two evil
natures, and two evil souls conflicting in one man, and it will not be true, which they
say, that there is one good and another bad; or they must be converted to the truth, and
no more deny that where one deliberates, one soul fluctuates between contrary wills.

32 Let them no more say then, when they perceive two conflicting wills in one man, that
the conflict is between two contrary souls, of two contrary substances, from two contrary
principles, one good, and the other bad. For Thou, O true God, dost disprove, check, and
convict them; as when, both wills being bad, one deliberates whether he should kill a man
by poison or by the sword; whether he should seize this or that estate of another's, when
he cannot both; whether he should purchase pleasure by luxury, or keep his money by
covetousness; whether he go to the circus or the theatre, if both be open on one day; or
thirdly, to rob another's house, if he have the opportunity; or, fourthly, to commit
adultery, if at the same time he have the means thereof also; all these meeting together
in the same juncture of time, and all being equally desired, which cannot at one time be
acted: for they rend the mind amid four, or even (amid the vast variety of things desired)
more, conflicting wills, nor do they yet allege that there are so many divers substances.
So also in wills which are good. For I ask them, is it good to take pleasure in reading
the Apostle? or good to take pleasure in a sober Psalm? or good to discourse on the
Gospel? They will answer to each, "it is good. What then if all give equal pleasure, and
all at once?

33 Do not divers wills distract the mind, while he deliberates which he should rather
choose? yet are they all good, and are at variance till one be chosen, whither the one
entire will may be borne, which before was divided into many. Thus also, when, above,
eternity delights us, and the pleasure of temporal good holds us down below, it is the
same soul which willeth not this or that with an entire will; and therefore is rent
asunder with grievous perplexities, while out of truth it sets this first, but out of
habit sets not that aside. 34 Thus soul-sick was I, and tormented, accusing myself much
more severely than my wont, rolling and turning me in my chain, till that were wholly
broken, whereby I now was but just, but still was, held. And Thou, O Lord, pressedst upon
me in my inward parts by a severe mercy, redoubling the lashes of fear and shame, lest I
should again give way, and not bursting that same slight remaining tie, it should recover
strength, and bind me the faster. For I said with myself, "Be it done now, be it done
now." And as I spake, I all but enacted it: I all but did it, and did it not: yet sunk not
back to my former state, but kept my stand hard by, and took breath. And I essayed again,
and wanted somewhat less of it, and somewhat less, and all but touched, and laid hold of
it; and yet came not at it, nor touched nor laid hold of it; hesitating to die to death
and to live to life: and the worse whereto I was inured, prevailed more with me than the
better whereto I was unused: and the very moment wherein I was to become other than I was,
the nearer it approached me, the greater horror did it strike into me; yet did it not
strike me back, nor turned me away, but held me in suspense.

35 The very toys of toys, and vanities of vanities, my ancient mistresses, still held me;
they plucked my fleshy garment, and whispered softly, "Dost thou cast us off? and from
that moment shall we no more be with thee for ever? and from that moment shall not this or
that be lawful for thee for ever?" And what was it which they suggested in that I said,
"this or that," what did they suggest, O my God? Let Thy mercy turn it away from the soul
of Thy servant. What defilements did they suggest! what shame! And now I much less than
half heard them, and not openly showing themselves and contradicting me, but muttering as
it were behind my back, and privily plucking me, as I was departing, but to look back on
them. Yet they did retard me, so that I hesitated to burst and shake myself free from
them, and to spring over whither I was called; a violent habit saying to me, "Thinkest
thou, thou canst live without them?"

36 But now it spake very faintly. For on that side whither I had set my face, and whither
I trembled to go, there appeared unto me the chaste dignity of Continency, serene, yet not
relaxedly, gay, honestly alluring me to come and doubt not; and stretching forth to
receive and embrace me, her holy hands full of multitudes of good examples: there were so
many young men and maidens here, a multitude of youth and every age, grave widows and aged
virgins; and Continence herself in all, not barren, but a fruitful mother of children of
joys, by Thee her Husband, O Lord. And she smiled on me with a persuasive mockery, as
would she say, "Canst not thou what these youths, what these maidens can? or can they
either in themselves, and not rather in the Lord their God? The Lord their God gave me
unto them. Why standest thou in thyself, and so standest not? cast thyself upon Him, fear
not He will not withdraw Himself that thou shouldest fall; cast thyself fearlessly upon
Him, He will receive, and will heal thee." And I blushed exceedingly, for that I yet heard
the muttering of those toys, and hung in suspense. And she again seemed to say, "Stop
thine ears against those thy unclean members on the earth, that they may be mortified.
They tell thee of delights, but not as doth the law of the Lord thy God." This controversy
in my heart was self against self only. But Alypius sitting close by my side, in silence
waited the issue of my unwonted emotion.

37 But when a deep consideration had from the secret bottom of my soul drawn together and
heaped up all my misery in the sight of my heart; there arose a mighty storm, bringing a
mighty shower of tears. Which that I might pour forth wholly, in its natural expressions,
I rose from Alypius: solitude was suggested to me as fitter for the business of weeping;
so I retired so far that even his presence could not be a burden to me. Thus was it then
with me, and he perceived something of it; for something I suppose I had spoken, wherein
the tones of my voice appeared choked with weeping, and so had risen up. He then remained
where we were sitting, most extremely astonished. I cast myself down I know not how, under
a certain fig-tree, giving full vent to my tears; and the floods of mine eyes gushed out
an acceptable sacrifice to Thee. And, not indeed in these words, yet to this purpose,
spake I much unto Thee: and Thou, O Lord, how long? how long, Lord, wilt Thou be angry for
ever? Remember not our former iniquities, for I felt that I was held by them. I sent up
these sorrowful words: How long, how long, "tomorrow, and tomorrow?" Why not now? why not
is there this hour an end to my uncleanness?

38 So was I speaking and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when, lo! I
heard from a neighbouring house a voice, as of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and oft
repeating, "Take up and read; Take up and read." Instantly, my countenance altered, I
began to think most intently whether children were wont in any kind of play to sing such
words: nor could I remember ever to have heard the like. So checking the torrent of my
tears, I arose; interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the book,
and read the first chapter I should find. For I had heard of Antony, that coming in during
the reading of the Gospel, he received the admonition, as if what was being read was
spoken to him: Go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven, and come and follow me: and by such oracle he was forthwith converted
unto Thee. Eagerly then I returned to the place where Alypius was sitting; for there had I
laid the volume of the Apostle when I arose thence. I seized, opened, and in silence read
that section on which my eyes first fell: Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in
chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make not provision for the flesh, in concupiscence. No further would I read; nor
needed I: for instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity
infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away.

39 Then putting my finger between, or some other mark, I shut the volume, and with a
calmed countenance made it known to Alypius. And what was wrought in him, which I knew
not, he thus showed me. He asked to see what I had read: I showed him; and he looked even
further than I had read, and I knew not what followed. This followed, him that is weak in
the faith, receive; which he applied to himself, and disclosed to me. And by this
admonition was he strengthened; and by a good resolution and purpose, and most
corresponding to his character, wherein he did always very far differ from me, for the
better, without any turbulent delay he joined me. Thence we go in to my mother; we tell
her; she rejoiceth: we relate in order how it took place; she leaps for joy, and
triumpheth, and blesseth Thee, Who are able to do above that which we ask or think; for
she perceived that Thou hadst given her more for me, than she was wont to beg by her
pitiful and most sorrowful groanings. For thou convertedst me unto Thyself, so that I
sought neither wife, nor any hope of this world, standing in that rule of faith, where
Thou hadst showed me unto her in a vision, so many years before. And Thou didst convert
her mourning into joy, much more plentiful than she had desired, and in a much more
precious and purer way than she erst required, by having grandchildren of my body.


THE CONFESSIONS
===============

THE CONFESSIONS continued

BOOK IX

1 O Lord, I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and the son of Thy handmaid: Thou hast
broken my bonds in sunder. I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of praise. Let my heart and
my tongue praise Thee; yea, let all my bones say, O Lord, who is like unto Thee? Let them
say, and answer Thou me, and say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Who am I, and what am
I? What evil have not been either my deeds, or if not my deeds, my words, or if not my
words, my will? But Thou, O Lord, are good and merciful, and Thy right hand had respect
unto the depth of my death, and from the bottom of my heart emptied that abyss of
corruption. And this Thy whole gift was, to nill what I willed, and to will what Thou
willedst. But where through all those years, and out of what low and deep recess was my
free-will called forth in a moment, whereby to submit my neck to Thy easy yoke, and my
shoulders unto Thy light burden, O Christ Jesus, my Helper and my Redeemer? How sweet did
it at once become to me, to want the sweetnesses of those toys! and what I feared to be
parted from, was now a joy to part with. For Thou didst cast them forth from me, Thou true
and highest sweetness. Thou castest them forth, and for them enteredst in Thyself, sweeter
than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood; brighter than all light, but more hidden
than all depths, higher than all honour, but not to the high in their own conceits. Now
was my soul free from the biting cares of canvassing and getting, and weltering in filth,
and scratching off the itch of lust. And my infant tongue spake freely to Thee, my
brightness, and my riches, and my health, the Lord my God.

2 And I resolved in Thy sight, not tumultuously to tear, but gently to withdraw, the
service of my tongue from the marts of lip-labour: that the young, no students in Thy law,
nor in Thy peace, but in lying dotages and law-skirmishes, should no longer buy at my
mouth arms for their madness. And very seasonably, it now wanted but very few days unto
the Vacation of the Vintage, and I resolved to endure them, then in a regular way to take
my leave, and having been purchased by Thee, no more to return for sale. Our purpose then
was known to Thee; but to men, other than our own friends, was it not known. For we had
agreed among ourselves not to let it out abroad to any: although to us, now ascending from
the valley of tears, and singing that song of degrees, Thou hadst given sharp arrows, and
destroying coals against the subtle tongue, which as though advising for us, would thwart,
and would out of love devour us, as it doth its meat.

3 Thou hadst pierced our hearts with Thy charity, and we carried Thy words as it were
fixed in our entrails: and the examples of Thy servants, whom for black Thou hadst made
bright, and for dead, alive, being piled together in the receptacle of our thoughts,
kindled and burned up that our heavy torpor, that we should not sink down to the abyss;
and they fired us so vehemently, that all the blasts of subtle tongues from gainsayers
might only inflame us the more fiercely, not extinguish us. Nevertheless, because for Thy
Name's sake which Thou hast hallowed throughout the earth, this our vow and purpose might
also find some to commend it, it seemed like ostentation not to wait for the vacation now
so near, but to quit beforehand a public profession, which was before the eyes of all; so
that all looking on this act of mine, and observing how near was the time of vintage which
I wished to anticipate, would talk much of me, as if I had desired to appear some great
one. And what end had it served me, that people should repute and dispute upon my purpose,
and that our good should be evil spoken of.

4 Moreover, it had at first troubled me that in this very summer my lungs began to give
way, amid too great literary labour, and to breathe deeply with difficulty, and by the
pain in my chest to show that they were injured, and to refuse any full or lengthened
speaking; this had troubled me, for it almost constrained me of necessity to lay down that
burden of teaching, or, if I could be cured and recover, at least to intermit it. But when
the full wish for leisure, that I might see how that Thou art the Lord, arose, and was
fixed, in me; my God, Thou knowest, I began even to rejoice that I had this secondary, and
that no feigned, excuse, which might something moderate the offence taken by those who,
for their sons' sake, wished me never to have the freedom of Thy sons. Full then of such
joy, I endured till that interval of time were run; it may have been some twenty days, yet
they were endured manfully; endured, for the covetousness which aforetime bore a part of
this heavy business, had left me, and I remained alone, and had been overwhelmed, had not
patience taken its place. Perchance, some of Thy servants, my brethren, may say that I
sinned in this, that with a heart fully set on Thy service, I suffered myself to sit even
one hour in the chair of lies. Nor would I be contentious. But hast not Thou, O most
merciful Lord, pardoned and remitted this sin also, with my other most horrible and deadly
sins, in the holy water?

5 Verecundus was worn down with care about this our blessedness, for that being held back
by bonds, whereby he was most straitly bound, he saw that he should be severed from us.
For himself was not yet a Christian, his wife one of the faithful; and yet hereby, more
rigidly than by any other chain, was he let and hindered from the journey which we had now
essayed. For he would not, he said, be a Christian on any other terms than on those he
could not. However, he offered us courteously to remain at his country-house so long as we
should stay there. Thou, O Lord, shalt reward him in the resurrection of the just, seeing
Thou hast already given him the lot of the righteous. For although, in our absence, being
now at Rome, he was seized with bodily sickness, and therein being made a Christian, and
one of the faithful, he departed this life; yet hadst Thou mercy not on him only, but on
us also: lest remembering the exceeding kindness of our friend towards us, yet unable to
number him among Thy flock, we should be agonised with intolerable sorrow. Thanks unto
Thee, our God, we are Thine: Thy suggestions and consolations tell us, Faithful in
promises, Thou now requitest Verecundus for his country-house of Cassiacum, where from the
fever of the world we reposed in Thee, with the eternal freshness of Thy Paradise: for
that Thou hast forgiven him his sins upon earth, in that rich mountain, that mountain
which yieldeth milk, Thine own mountain.

6 He then had at that time sorrow, but Nebridius joy. For although he also, not being yet
a Christian, had fallen into the pit of that most pernicious error, believing the flesh of
Thy Son to be a phantom: yet emerging thence, he believed as we did; not as yet endued
with any Sacraments of Thy Church, but a most ardent searcher out of truth. Whom, not long
after our conversion and regeneration by Thy Baptism, being also a faithful member of the
Church Catholic, and serving Thee in perfect chastity and continence amongst his people in
Africa, his whole house having through him first been made Christian, didst Thou release
from the flesh; and now he lives in Abraham's bosom. Whatever that be, which is signified
by that bosom, there lives my Nebridius, my sweet friend, and Thy child, O Lord, adopted
of a freed man: there he liveth. For what other place is there for such a soul? There he
liveth, whereof he asked much of me, a poor inexperienced man. Now lays he not his ear to
my mouth, but his spiritual mouth unto Thy fountain, and drinketh as much as he can
receive, wisdom in proportion to his thirst, endlessly happy. Nor do I think that he is so
inebriated therewith, as to forget me; seeing Thou, Lord, Whom he drinketh, art mindful of
us. So were we then, comforting Verecundus, who sorrowed, as far as friendship permitted,
that our conversion was of such sort; and exhorting him to become faithful, according to
his measure, namely, of a married estate; and awaiting Nebridius to follow us, which,
being so near, he was all but doing: and so, lo! those days rolled by at length; for long
and many they seemed, for the love I bare to the easeful liberty, that I might sing to
Thee, from my inmost marrow, My heart hath said unto Thee, I have sought Thy face: Thy
face, Lord, will I seek.

7 Now was the day come wherein I was in deed to be freed of my Rhetoric Professorship,
whereof in thought I was already freed. And it was done. Thou didst rescue my tongue,
whence Thou hadst before rescued my heart. And I blessed Thee, rejoicing; retiring with
all mine to the villa. What I there did in writing, which was now enlisted in Thy service,
though still, in this breathing-time as it were, panting from the school of pride, my
books may witness, as well what I debated with others, as what with myself alone, before
Thee: what with Nebridius, who was absent, my Epistles bear witness. And when shall I have
time to rehearse all Thy great benefits towards us at that time, especially when hasting
on to yet greater mercies? For my remembrance recalls me, and pleasant is it to me, O
Lord, to confess to Thee, by what inward goads Thou tamedst me; and how Thou hast evened
me, lowering the mountains and hills of my high imaginations, straightening my
crookedness, and smoothing my rough ways; and how Thou also subduedst the brother of my
heart, Alypius, unto the name of Thy Only Begotten, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
which he would not at first vouchsafe to have inserted in our writings. For rather would
he have them savour of the lofty cedars of the Schools, which the Lord hath now broken
down, than of the wholesome herbs of the Church, the antidote against serpents.

8 Oh, in what accents spake I unto Thee, my God, when I read the Psalms of David, those
faithful songs, and sounds of devotion, which allow of no swelling spirit, as yet a
Catechumen, and a novice in Thy real love, resting in that villa, with Alypius a
Catechumen, my mother cleaving to us, in female garb with masculine faith, with the
tranquillity of age, motherly love, Christian piety! Oh, what accents did I utter unto
Thee in those Psalms, and how was I by them kindled towards Thee, and on fire to rehearse
them, if possible, through the whole world, against the pride of mankind! And yet they are
sung through the whole world, nor can any hide himself from Thy heat. With what vehement
and bitter sorrow was I angered at the Manichees! and again I pitied them, for they knew
not those Sacraments, those medicines, and were mad against the antidote which might have
recovered them of their madness. How I would they had then been somewhere near me, and
without my knowing that they were there, could have beheld my countenance, and heard my
words, when I read the fourth Psalm in that time of my rest, and how that Psalm wrought
upon me: When I called, the God of my righteousness heard me; in tribulation Thou
enlargedst me. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, and hear my prayer. Would that what I uttered
on these words, they could hear, without my knowing whether they heard, lest they should
think I spake it for their sakes! Because in truth neither should I speak the same things,
nor in the same way, if I perceived that they heard and saw me; nor if I spake them would
they so receive them, as when I spake by and for myself before Thee, out of the natural
feelings of my soul.

9 I trembled for fear, and again kindled with hope, and with rejoicing in Thy mercy, O
Father; and all issued forth both by mine eyes and voice, when Thy good Spirit turning
unto us, said, O ye sons of men, how long slow of heart? why do ye love vanity, and seek
after leasing? For I had loved vanity, and sought after leasing. And Thou, O Lord, hadst
already magnified Thy Holy One, raising Him from the dead, and setting Him at Thy right
hand, whence from on high He should send His promise, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth.
And He had already sent Him, but I knew it not; He had sent Him, because He was now
magnified, rising again from the dead, and ascending into heaven. For till then, the
Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. And the prophet cries out,
How long, slow of heart? why do ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Know this, that
the Lord hath magnified His Holy One. He cries out, How long? He cries out, Know this: and
I so long, not knowing, loved vanity, and sought after leasing: and therefore I heard and
trembled, because it was spoken unto such as I remembered myself to have been. For in
those phantoms which I had held for truths, was there vanity and leasing; and I spake
aloud many things earnestly and forcibly, in the bitterness of my remembrance. Which would
they had heard, who yet love vanity and seek after leasing! They would perchance have been
troubled, and have vomited it up; and Thou wouldest hear them when they cried unto Thee;
for by a true death in the flesh did He die for us, who now intercedeth unto Thee for us.

10 I further read, Be angry, and sin not. And how was I moved, O my God, who had now
learned to be angry at myself for things past, that I might not sin in time to come! Yea,
to be justly angry; for that it was not another nature of a people of darkness which
sinned for me, as they say who are not angry at themselves, and treasure up wrath against
the day of wrath, and of the revelation of Thy just judgment. Nor were my good things now
without, nor sought with the eyes of flesh in that earthly sun; for they that would have
joy from without soon become vain, and waste themselves on the things seen and temporal,
and in their famished thoughts do lick their very shadows. Oh that they were wearied out
with their famine, and said, Who will show us good things? And we would say, and they
hear, The light of Thy countenance is sealed upon us. For we are not that light which
enlighteneth every man, but we are enlightened by Thee; that having been sometimes
darkness, we may be light in Thee. Oh that they could see the eternal Internal, which
having tasted, I was grieved that I could not show It them, so long as they brought me
their heart in their eyes roving abroad from Thee, while they said, Who will show us good
things? For there, where I was angry within myself in my chamber, where I was inwardly
pricked, where I had sacrificed, slaying my old man and commencing the purpose of a new
life, putting my trust in Thee,—there hadst Thou begun to grow sweet unto me, and hadst
put gladness in my heart. And I cried out, as I read this outwardly, finding it inwardly.
Nor would I be multiplied with worldly goods; wasting away time, and wasted by time;
whereas I had in Thy eternal Simple Essence other corn, and wine, and oil.

11 And with a loud cry of my heart I cried out in the next verse, O in peace, O for The
Self-same! O what said he, I will lay me down and sleep, for who shall hinder us, when
cometh to pass that saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory? And Thou
surpassingly art the Self-same, Who art not changed; and in Thee is rest which forgetteth
all toil, for there is none other with Thee, nor are we to seek those many other things,
which are not what Thou art: but Thou, Lord, alone hast made me dwell in hope. I read, and
kindled; nor found I what to do to those deaf and dead, of whom myself had been, a
pestilent person, a bitter and a blind bawler against those writings, which are honied
with the honey of heaven, and lightsome with Thine own light: and I was consumed with zeal
at the enemies of this Scripture.

12 When shall I recall all which passed in those holy-days? Yet neither have I forgotten,
nor will I pass over the severity of Thy scourge, and the wonderful swiftness of Thy
mercy. Thou didst then torment me with pain in my teeth; which when it had come to such
height that I could not speak, it came into my heart to desire all my friends present to
pray for me to Thee, the God of all manner of health. And this I wrote on wax, and gave it
them to read. Presently so soon as with humble devotion we had bowed our knees, that pain
went away. But what pain? or how went it away? I was affrighted, O my Lord, my God; for
from infancy I had never experienced the like. And the power of Thy Nod was deeply
conveyed to me, and rejoicing in faith, I praised Thy Name. And that faith suffered me not
to be at ease about my past sins, which were not yet forgiven me by Thy baptism.

13 The vintage-vacation ended, I gave notice to the Milanese to provide their scholars
with another master to sell words to them; for that I had both made choice to serve Thee,
and through my difficulty of breathing and pain in my chest was not equal to the
Professorship. And by letters I signified to Thy Prelate, the holy man Ambrose, my former
errors and present desires, begging his advice what of Thy Scriptures I had best read, to
become readier and fitter for receiving so great grace. He recommended Isaiah the Prophet:
I believe, because he above the rest is a more clear foreshower of the Gospel and of the
calling of the Gentiles. But I, not understanding the first lesson in him, and imagining
the whole to be like it, laid it by, to be resumed when better practised in our Lord's own
words. 14 Thence, when the time was come wherein I was to give in my name, we left the
country and returned to Milan. It pleased Alypius also to be with me born again in Thee,
being already clothed with the humility befitting Thy Sacraments; and a most valiant tamer
of the body, so as, with unwonted venture, to wear the frozen ground of Italy with his
bare feet. We joined with us the boy Adeodatus, born after the flesh, of my sin.
Excellently hadst Thou made him. He was not quite fifteen, and in wit surpassed many grave
and learned men. I confess unto Thee Thy gifts, O Lord my God, Creator of all, and
abundantly able to reform our deformities: for I had no part in that boy, but the sin. For
that we brought him up in Thy discipline, it was Thou, none else, had inspired us with it.
I confess unto Thee Thy gifts. There is a book of ours entitled The Master; it is a
dialogue between him and me. Thou knowest that all there ascribed to the person conversing
with me were his ideas, in his sixteenth year. Much besides, and yet more admirable, I
found in him. That talent struck awe into me. And who but Thou could be the workmaster of
such wonders? Soon didst Thou take his life from the earth: and I now remember him without
anxiety, fearing nothing for his childhood or youth, or his whole self.

15 Him we joined with us, our contemporary in grace, to be brought up in Thy discipline:
and we were baptised, and anxiety for our past life vanished from us. Nor was I sated in
those days with the wondrous sweetness of considering the depth of Thy counsels concerning
the salvation of mankind. How did I weep, in Thy Hymns and Canticles, touched to the quick
by the voices of Thy sweet-attuned Church! The voices flowed into mine ears, and the Truth
distilled into my heart, whence the affections of my devotion overflowed, and tears ran
down, and happy was I therein. 16 Not long had the Church of Milan begun to use this kind
of consolation and exhortation, the brethren zealously joining with harmony of voice and
hearts. For it was a year, or not much more, that Justina, mother to the Emperor
Valentinian, a child, persecuted Thy servant Ambrose, in favour of her heresy, to which
she was seduced by the Arians. The devout people kept watch in the Church, ready to die
with their Bishop Thy servant. There my mother Thy handmaid, bearing a chief part of those
anxieties and watchings, lived for prayer. We, yet unwarmed by the heat of Thy Spirit,
still were stirred up by the sight of the amazed and disquieted city. Then it was first
instituted that after the manner of the Eastern Churches, Hymns and Psalms should be sung,
lest the people should wax faint through the tediousness of sorrow: and from that day to
this the custom is retained, divers (yea, almost all) Thy congregations, throughout other
parts of the world following herein.

17 Then didst Thou by a vision discover to Thy forenamed Bishop where the bodies of
Gervasius and Protasius the martyrs lay hid (whom Thou hadst in Thy secret treasury stored
uncorrupted so many years), whence Thou mightest seasonably produce them to repress the
fury of a woman, but an Empress. For when they were discovered and dug up, and with due
honour translated to the Ambrosian Basilica, not only they who were vexed with unclean
spirits (the devils confessing themselves) were cured, but a certain man who had for many
years been blind, a citizen, and well known to the city, asking and hearing the reason of
the people's confused joy, sprang forth desiring his guide to lead him thither. Led
thither, he begged to be allowed to touch with his handkerchief the bier of Thy saints,
whose death is precious in Thy sight. Which when he had done, and put to his eyes, they
were forthwith opened. Thence did the fame spread, thence Thy praises glowed, shone;
thence the mind of that enemy, though not turned to the soundness of believing, was yet
turned back from her fury of persecuting. Thanks to Thee, O my God. Whence and whither
hast Thou thus led my remembrance, that I should confess these things also unto Thee?
which great though they be, I had passed by in forgetfulness. And yet then, when the odour
of Thy ointments was so fragrant, did we not run after Thee. Therefore did I more weep
among the singing of Thy Hymns, formerly sighing after Thee, and at length breathing in
Thee, as far as the breath may enter into this our house of grass.

18 Thou that makest men to dwell of one mind in one house, didst join with us Euodius
also, a young man of our own city. Who being an officer of Court, was before us converted
to Thee and baptised: and quitting his secular warfare, girded himself to Thine. We were
together, about to dwell together in our devout purpose. We sought where we might serve
Thee most usefully, and were together returning to Africa: whitherward being as far as
Ostia, my mother departed this life. Much I omit, as hastening much. Receive my
confessions and thanksgivings, O my God, for innumerable things whereof I am silent. But I
will not omit whatsoever my soul would bring forth concerning that Thy handmaid, who
brought me forth, both in the flesh, that I might be born to this temporal light, and in
heart, that I might be born to Light eternal. Not her gifts, but Thine in her, would I
speak of; for neither did she make nor educate herself. Thou createdst her; nor did her
father and mother know what a one should come from them. And the sceptre of Thy Christ,
the discipline of Thine only Son, in a Christian house, a good member of Thy Church,
educated her in Thy fear. Yet for her good discipline was she wont to commend not so much
her mother's diligence, as that of a certain decrepit maid-servant, who had carried her
father when a child, as little ones used to be carried at the backs of elder girls.

19 For which reason, and for her great age, and excellent conversation, was she, in that
Christian family, well respected by its heads. Whence also the charge of her master's
daughters was entrusted to her, to which she gave diligent heed, restraining them
earnestly, when necessary, with a holy severity, and teaching them with a grave
discretion. For, except at those hours wherein they were most temporately fed at their
parents' table, she would not suffer them, though parched with thirst, to drink even
water; preventing an evil custom, and adding this wholesome advice: "Ye drink water now,
because you have not wine in your power; but when you come to be married, and be made
mistresses of cellars and cupboards, you will scorn water, but the custom of drinking will
abide. By this method of instruction, and the authority she had, she refrained the
greediness of childhood, and moulded their very thirst to such an excellent moderation
that what they should not, that they would not.

20 And yet (as Thy handmaid told me her son) there had crept upon her a love of wine. For
when (as the manner was) she, as though a sober maiden, was bidden by her parents to draw
wine out of the hogshed, holding the vessel under the opening, before she poured the wine
into the flagon, she sipped a little with the tip of her lips; for more her instinctive
feelings refused. For this she did, not out of any desire of drink, but out of the
exuberance of youth, whereby it boils over in mirthful freaks, which in youthful spirits
are wont to be kept under by the gravity of their elders. And thus by adding to that
little, daily littles (for whoso despiseth little things shall fall by little and little),
she had fallen into such a habit as greedily to drink off her little cup brim-full almost
of wine. Where was then that discreet old woman, and that her earnest countermanding?
Would aught avail against a secret disease, if Thy healing hand, O Lord, watched not over
us? Father, mother, and governors absent, Thou present, who createdst, who callest, who
also by those set over us, workest something towards the salvation of our souls, what
didst Thou then, O my God? how didst Thou cure her? how heal her? didst Thou not out of
another soul bring forth a hard and a sharp taunt, like a lancet out of Thy secret store,
and with one touch remove all that foul stuff?

21 For a maid-servant with whom she used to go to the cellar, falling to words (as it
happens) with her little mistress, when alone with her, taunted her with this fault, with
most bitter insult, calling her wine-bibber. With which taunt she, stung to the quick, saw
the foulness of her fault, and instantly condemned and forsook it. As flattering friends
pervert, so reproachful enemies mostly correct. Yet not what by them Thou doest, but what
themselves purposed, dost Thou repay them. For she in her anger sought to vex her young
mistress, not to amend her; and did it in private, either for that the time and place of
the quarrel so found them; or lest herself also should have anger, for discovering it thus
late. But Thou, Lord, Governor of all in heaven and earth, who turnest to Thy purposes the
deepest currents, and the ruled turbulence of the tide of times, didst by the very
unhealthiness of one soul heal another; lest any, when he observes this, should ascribe it
to his own power, even when another, whom he wished to be reformed, is reformed through
words of his.

22 Brought up thus modestly and soberly, and made subject rather by Thee to her parents,
than by her parents to Thee, so soon as she was of marriageable age, being bestowed upon a
husband, she served him as her lord; and did her diligence to win him unto Thee, preaching
Thee unto him by her conversation; by which Thou ornamentedst her, making her reverently
amiable, and admirable unto her husband. And she so endured the wronging of her bed as
never to have any quarrel with her husband thereon. For she looked for Thy mercy upon him,
that believing in Thee, he might be made chaste. But besides this, he was fervid, as in
his affections, so in anger: but she had learnt not to resist an angry husband, not in
deed only, but not even in word. Only when he was smoothed and tranquil, and in a temper
to receive it, she would give an account of her actions, if haply he had overhastily taken
offence. In a word, while many matrons, who had milder husbands, yet bore even in their
faces marks of shame, would in familiar talk blame their husbands' lives, she would blame
their tongues, giving them, as in jest, earnest advice: "That from the time they heard the
marriage writings read to them, they should account them as indentures, whereby they were
made servants; and so, remembering their condition, ought not to set themselves up against
their lords." And when they, knowing what a choleric husband she endured, marvelled that
it had never been heard, nor by any token perceived, that Patricius had beaten his wife,
or that there had been any domestic difference between them, even for one day, and
confidentially asking the reason, she taught them her practice above mentioned. Those
wives who observed it found the good, and returned thanks; those who observed it not,
found no relief, and suffered.

23 Her mother-in-law also, at first by whisperings of evil servants incensed against her,
she so overcame by observance and persevering endurance and meekness, that she of her own
accord discovered to her son the meddling tongues whereby the domestic peace betwixt her
and her daughter-in-law had been disturbed, asking him to correct them. Then, when in
compliance with his mother, and for the well-ordering of the family, he had with stripes
corrected those discovered, at her will who had discovered them, she promised the like
reward to any who, to please her, should speak ill of her daughter-in-law to her: and none
now venturing, they lived together with a remarkable sweetness of mutual kindness. This
great gift also thou bestowedst, O my God, my mercy, upon that good handmaid of Thine, in
whose womb Thou createdst me, that between any disagreeing and discordant parties where
she was able, she showed herself such a peacemaker, that hearing on both sides most bitter
things, such as swelling and indigested choler uses to break out into, when the crudities
of enmities are breathed out in sour discourses to a present friend against an absent
enemy, she never would disclose aught of the one unto the other, but what might tend to
their reconcilement. A small good this might appear to me, did I not to my grief know
numberless persons, who through some horrible and wide-spreading contagion of sin, not
only disclose to persons mutually angered things said in anger, but add withal things
never spoken, whereas to humane humanity, it ought to seem a light thing not to foment or
increase ill will by ill words, unless one study withal by good words to quench it. Such
was she, Thyself, her most inward Instructor, teaching her in the school of the heart.

24 Finally, her own husband, towards the very end of his earthly life, did she gain unto
Thee; nor had she to complain of that in him as a believer, which before he was a believer
she had borne from him. She was also the servant of Thy servants; whosoever of them knew
her, did in her much praise and honour and love Thee; for that through the witness of the
fruits of a holy conversation they perceived Thy presence in her heart. For she had been
the wife of one man, had requited her parents, had governed her house piously, was well
reported of for good works, had brought up children, so often travailing in birth of them,
as she saw them swerving from Thee. Lastly, of all of us Thy servants, O Lord (whom on
occasion of Thy own gift Thou sufferest to speak), us, who before her sleeping in Thee
lived united together, having received the grace of Thy baptism, did she so take care of,
as though she had been mother of us all; so served us, as though she had been child to us
all.

25 The day now approaching whereon she was to depart this life (which day Thou well
knewest, we knew not), it came to pass, Thyself, as I believe, by Thy secret ways so
ordering it, that she and I stood alone, leaning in a certain window, which looked into
the garden of the house where we now lay, at Ostia; where removed from the din of men, we
were recruiting from the fatigues of a long journey, for the voyage. We were discoursing
then together, alone, very sweetly; and forgetting those things which are behind, and
reaching forth unto those things which are before, we were enquiring between ourselves in
the presence of the Truth, which Thou art, of what sort the eternal life of the saints was
to be, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man.
But yet we gasped with the mouth of our heart, after those heavenly streams of Thy
fountain, the fountain of life, which is with Thee; that being bedewed thence according to
our capacity, we might in some sort meditate upon so high a mystery.

26 And when our discourse was brought to that point, that the very highest delight of the
earthly senses, in the very purest material light, was, in respect of the sweetness of
that life, not only not worthy of comparison, but not even of mention; we raising up
ourselves with a more glowing affection towards the "Self-same," did by degrees pass
through all things bodily, even the very heaven whence sun and moon and stars shine upon
the earth; yea, we were soaring higher yet, by inward musing, and discourse, and admiring
of Thy works; and we came to our own minds, and went beyond them, that we might arrive at
that region of never-failing plenty, where Thou feedest Israel for ever with the food of
truth, and where life is the Wisdom by whom all these things are made, and what have been,
and what shall be, and she is not made, but is, as she hath been, and so shall she be
ever; yea rather, to "have been," and "hereafter to be," are not in her, but only "to be,"
seeing she is eternal. For to "have been," and to "be hereafter," are not eternal. And
while we were discoursing and panting after her, we slightly touched on her with the whole
effort of our heart; and we sighed, and there we leave bound the first fruits of the
Spirit; and returned to vocal expressions of our mouth, where the word spoken has
beginning and end. And what is like unto Thy Word, our Lord, who endureth in Himself
without becoming old, and maketh all things new?

27 We were saying then: If to any the tumult of the flesh were hushed, hushed the images
of earth, and waters, and air, hushed also the pole of heaven, yea the very soul be hushed
to herself, and by not thinking on self surmount self, hushed all dreams and imaginary
revelations, every tongue and every sign, and whatsoever exists only in transition, since
if any could hear, all these say, We made not ourselves, but He made us that abideth for
ever—If then having uttered this, they too should be hushed, having roused only our ears
to Him who made them, and He alone speak, not by them but by Himself, that we may hear His
Word, not through any tongue of flesh, nor Angel's voice, nor sound of thunder, nor in the
dark riddle of a similitude, but might hear Whom in these things we love, might hear His
Very Self without these (as we two now strained ourselves, and in swift thought touched on
that Eternal Wisdom which abideth over all);—could this be continued on, and other visions
of kind far unlike be withdrawn, and this one ravish, and absorb, and wrap up its beholder
amid these inward joys, so that life might be for ever like that one moment of
understanding which now we sighed after; were not this, Enter into thy Master's joy? And
when shall that be? When we shall all rise again, though we shall not all be changed?

28 Such things was I speaking, and even if not in this very manner, and these same words,
yet, Lord, Thou knowest that in that day when we were speaking of these things, and this
world with all its delights became, as we spake, contemptible to us, my mother said, "Son,
for mine own part I have no further delight in any thing in this life. What I do here any
longer, and to what I am here, I know not, now that my hopes in this world are
accomplished. One thing there was for which I desired to linger for a while in this life,
that I might see thee a Catholic Christian before I died. My God hath done this for me
more abundantly, that I should now see thee withal, despising earthly happiness, become
His servant: what do I here?" 29 What answer I made her unto these things, I remember not.
For scarce five days after, or not much more, she fell sick of a fever; and in that
sickness one day she fell into a swoon, and was for a while withdrawn from these visible
things. We hastened round her; but she was soon brought back to her senses; and looking on
me and my brother standing by her, said to us enquiringly, "Where was I?" And then looking
fixedly on us, with grief amazed: "Here," saith she, "shall you bury your mother." I held
my peace and refrained weeping; but my brother spake something, wishing for her, as the
happier lot, that she might die, not in a strange place, but in her own land. Whereat, she
with anxious look, checking him with her eyes, for that he still savoured such things, and
then looking upon me: "Behold," saith she, "what he saith": and soon after to us both,
"Lay," she saith, "this body any where; let not the care for that any way disquiet you:
this only I request, that you would remember me at the Lord's altar, wherever you be." And
having delivered this sentiment in what words she could, she held her peace, being
exercised by her growing sickness.

30 But I, considering Thy gifts, Thou unseen God, which Thou instillest into the hearts of
Thy faithful ones, whence wondrous fruits do spring, did rejoice and give thanks to Thee,
recalling what I before knew, how careful and anxious she had ever been as to her place of
burial, which she had provided and prepared for herself by the body of her husband. For
because they had lived in great harmony together, she also wished (so little can the human
mind embrace things divine) to have this addition to that happiness, and to have it
remembered among men, that after her pilgrimage beyond the seas, what was earthly of this
united pair had been permitted to be united beneath the same earth. But when this
emptiness had through the fulness of Thy goodness begun to cease in her heart, I knew not,
and rejoiced admiring what she had so disclosed to me; though indeed in that our discourse
also in the window, when she said, "What do I here any longer?" there appeared no desire
of dying in her own country. I heard afterwards also, that when we were now at Ostia, she
with a mother's confidence, when I was absent, one day discoursed with certain of my
friends about the contempt of this life, and the blessing of death: and when they were
amazed at such courage which Thou hadst given to a woman, and asked, "Whether she were not
afraid to leave her body so far from her own city?" she replied, "Nothing is far to God;
nor was it to be feared lest at the end of the world, He should not recognise whence He
were to raise me up." On the ninth day then of her sickness, and the fifty-sixth year of
her age, and the three-and-thirtieth of mine, was that religious and holy soul freed from
the body.

31 I closed her eyes; and there flowed withal a mighty sorrow into my heart, which was
overflowing into tears; mine eyes at the same time, by the violent command of my mind,
drank up their fountain wholly dry; and woe was me in such a strife! But when she breathed
her last, the boy Adeodatus burst out into a loud lament; then, checked by us all, held
his peace. In like manner also a childish feeling in me, which was, through my heart's
youthful voice, finding its vent in weeping, was checked and silenced. For we thought it
not fitting to solemnise that funeral with tearful lament, and groanings; for thereby do
they for the most part express grief for the departed, as though unhappy, or altogether
dead; whereas she was neither unhappy in her death, nor altogether dead. Of this we were
assured on good grounds, the testimony of her good conversation and her faith unfeigned.

32 What then was it which did grievously pain me within, but a fresh wound wrought through
the sudden wrench of that most sweet and dear custom of living together? I joyed indeed in
her testimony, when, in that her last sickness, mingling her endearments with my acts of
duty, she called me "dutiful," and mentioned, with great affection of love, that she never
had heard any harsh or reproachful sound uttered by my mouth against her. But yet, O my
God, Who madest us, what comparison is there betwixt that honour that I paid to her, and
her slavery for me? Being then forsaken of so great comfort in her, my soul was wounded,
and that life rent asunder as it were, which, of hers and mine together, had been made but
one. 33 The boy then being stilled from weeping, Euodius took up the Psalter, and began to
sing, our whole house answering him, the Psalm, I will sing of mercy and judgments to
Thee, O Lord. But hearing what we were doing, many brethren and religious women came
together; and whilst they (whose office it was) made ready for the burial, as the manner
is, I, in a part of the house, where I might properly, together with those who thought not
fit to leave me, discoursed upon something fitting the time; and by this balm of truth
assuaged that torment, known to Thee, they unknowing and listening intently, and
conceiving me to be without all sense of sorrow. But in Thy ears, where none of them
heard, I blamed the weakness of my feelings, and refrained my flood of grief, which gave
way a little unto me; but again came, as with a tide, yet not so as to burst out into
tears, nor to change of countenance; still I knew what I was keeping down in my heart. And
being very much displeased that these human things had such power over me, which in the
due order and appointment of our natural condition must needs come to pass, with a new
grief I grieved for my grief, and was thus worn by a double sorrow.

34 And behold, the corpse was carried to the burial; we went and returned without tears.
For neither in those prayers which we poured forth unto Thee, when the Sacrifice of our
ransom was offered for her, when now the corpse was by the grave's side, as the manner
there is, previous to its being laid therein, did I weep even during those prayers; yet
was I the whole day in secret heavily sad, and with troubled mind prayed Thee, as I could,
to heal my sorrow, yet Thou didst not; impressing, I believe, upon my memory by this one
instance, how strong is the bond of all habit, even upon a soul, which now feeds upon no
deceiving Word. It seemed also good to me to go and bathe, having heard that the bath had
its name (balneum) from the Greek Balaneion for that it drives sadness from the mind. And
this also I confess unto Thy mercy, Father of the fatherless, that I bathed, and was the
same as before I bathed. For the bitterness of sorrow could not exude out of my heart.
Then I slept, and woke up again, and found my grief not a little softened; and as I was
alone in my bed, I remembered those true verses of Thy Ambrose. For Thou art the

35 "Maker of all, the Lord, / And Ruler of the height, / Who, robing day in light, hast
poured / Soft slumbers o'er the night, / That to our limbs the power / Of toil may be
renew'd, / And hearts be rais'd that sink and cower, / And sorrows be subdu'd." And then
by little and little I recovered my former thoughts of Thy handmaid, her holy conversation
towards Thee, her holy tenderness and observance towards us, whereof I was suddenly
deprived: and I was minded to weep in Thy sight, for her and for myself, in her behalf and
in my own. And I gave way to the tears which I before restrained, to overflow as much as
they desired; reposing my heart upon them; and it found rest in them, for it was in Thy
ears, not in those of man, who would have scornfully interpreted my weeping. And now,
Lord, in writing I confess it unto Thee. Read it, who will, and interpret it, how he will:
and if he finds sin therein, that I wept my mother for a small portion of an hour (the
mother who for the time was dead to mine eyes, who had for many years wept for me that I
might live in Thine eyes), let him not deride me; but rather, if he be one of large
charity, let him weep himself for my sins unto Thee, the Father of all the brethren of Thy
Christ.

36 But now, with a heart cured of that wound, wherein it might seem blameworthy for an
earthly feeling, I pour out unto Thee, our God, in behalf of that Thy handmaid, a far
different kind of tears, flowing from a spirit shaken by the thoughts of the dangers of
every soul that dieth in Adam. And although she having been quickened in Christ, even
before her release from the flesh, had lived to the praise of Thy name for her faith and
conversation; yet dare I not say that from what time Thou regeneratedst her by baptism, no
word issued from her mouth against Thy Commandment. Thy Son, the Truth, hath said,
Whosoever shall say unto his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. And woe
be even unto the commendable life of men, if, laying aside mercy, Thou shouldest examine
it. But because Thou art not extreme in enquiring after sins, we confidently hope to find
some place with Thee. But whosoever reckons up his real merits to Thee, what reckons he up
to Thee but Thine own gifts? O that men would know themselves to be men; and that he that
glorieth would glory in the Lord.

37 I therefore, O my Praise and my Life, God of my heart, laying aside for a while her
good deeds, for which I give thanks to Thee with joy, do now beseech Thee for the sins of
my mother. Hearken unto me, I entreat Thee, by the Medicine of our wounds, Who hung upon
the tree, and now sitting at Thy right hand maketh intercession to Thee for us. I know
that she dealt mercifully, and from her heart forgave her debtors their debts; do Thou
also forgive her debts, whatever she may have contracted in so many years, since the water
of salvation. Forgive her, Lord, forgive, I beseech Thee; enter not into judgment with
her. Let Thy mercy be exalted above Thy justice, since Thy words are true, and Thou hast
promised mercy unto the merciful; which Thou gavest them to be, who wilt have mercy on
whom Thou wilt have mercy; and wilt have compassion on whom Thou hast had compassion.

38 And, I believe, Thou hast already done what I ask; but accept, O Lord, the free-will
offerings of my mouth. For she, the day of her dissolution now at hand, took no thought to
have her body sumptuously wound up, or embalmed with spices; nor desired she a choice
monument, or to be buried in her own land. These things she enjoined us not; but desired
only to have her name commemorated at Thy Altar, which she had served without intermission
of one day: whence she knew the holy Sacrifice to be dispensed, by which the hand-writing
that was against us is blotted out; through which the enemy was triumphed over, who
summing up our offences, and seeking what to lay to our charge, found nothing in Him, in
Whom we conquer. Who shall restore to Him the innocent blood? Who repay Him the price
wherewith He bought us, and so take us from Him? Unto the Sacrament of which our ransom,
Thy handmaid bound her soul by the bond of faith. Let none sever her from Thy protection:
let neither the lion nor the dragon interpose himself by force or fraud. For she will not
answer that she owes nothing, lest she be convicted and seized by the crafty accuser: but
she will answer that her sins are forgiven her by Him, to Whom none can repay that price
which He, Who owed nothing, paid for us.

39 May she rest then in peace with the husband before and after whom she had never any;
whom she obeyed, with patience bringing forth fruit unto Thee, that she might win him also
unto Thee. And inspire, O Lord my God, inspire Thy servants my brethren, Thy sons my
masters, whom with voice, and heart, and pen I serve, that so many as shall read these
Confessions, may at Thy Altar remember Monnica Thy handmaid, with Patricius, her sometimes
husband, by whose bodies Thou broughtest me into this life, how I know not. May they with
devout affection remember my parents in this transitory light, my brethren under Thee our
Father in our Catholic Mother, and my fellow-citizens in that eternal Jerusalem which Thy
pilgrim people sigheth after from their Exodus, even unto their return thither. That so my
mother's last request of me, may through my confessions, more than through my prayers, be,
through the prayers of many, more abundantly fulfilled to her.


THE CONFESSIONS
===============

THE CONFESSIONS continued

BOOK X

1 Let me know Thee, O Lord, who knowest me: let me know Thee, as I am known. Power of my
soul, enter into it, and fit it for Thee, that Thou mayest have and hold it without spot
or wrinkle. This is my hope, therefore do I speak; and in this hope do I rejoice, when I
rejoice healthfully. Other things of this life are the less to be sorrowed for, the more
they are sorrowed for; and the more to be sorrowed for, the less men sorrow for them. For
behold, Thou lovest the truth, and he that doth it, cometh to the light. This would I do
in my heart before Thee in confession: and in my writing, before many witnesses. 2 And
from Thee, O Lord, unto whose eyes the abyss of man's conscience is naked, what could be
hidden in me though I would not confess it? For I should hide Thee from me, not me from
Thee. But now, for that my groaning is witness, that I am displeased with myself, Thou
shinest out, and art pleasing, and beloved, and longed for; that I may be ashamed of
myself, and renounce myself, and choose Thee, and neither please Thee nor myself, but in
Thee. To Thee therefore, O Lord, am I open, whatever I am; and with what fruit I confess
unto Thee, I have said. Nor do I it with words and sounds of the flesh, but with the words
of my soul, and the cry of the thought which Thy ear knoweth. For when I am evil, then to
confess to Thee is nothing else than to be displeased with myself; but when holy, nothing
else than not to ascribe it to myself: because Thou, O Lord, blessest the godly, but first
Thou justifieth him when ungodly. My confession then, O my God, in Thy sight, is made
silently, and not silently. For in sound, it is silent; in affection, it cries aloud. For
neither do I utter any thing right unto men, which Thou hast not before heard from me; nor
dost Thou hear any such thing from me, which Thou hast not first said unto me.

3 What then have I to do with men, that they should hear my confessions—as if they could
heal all my infirmities—a race, curious to know the lives of others, slothful to amend
their own? Why seek they to hear from me what I am; who will not hear from Thee what
themselves are? And how know they, when from myself they hear of myself, whether I say
true; seeing no man knows what is in man, but the spirit of man which is in him? But if
they hear from Thee of themselves, they cannot say, "The Lord lieth." For what is it to
hear from Thee of themselves, but to know themselves? and who knoweth and saith, "It is
false," unless himself lieth? But because charity believeth all things (that is, among
those whom knitting unto itself it maketh one), I also, O Lord, will in such wise confess
unto Thee, that men may hear, to whom I cannot demonstrate whether I confess truly; yet
they believe me, whose ears charity openeth unto me.

4 But do Thou, my inmost Physician, make plain unto me what fruit I may reap by doing it.
For the confessions of my past sins, which Thou hast forgiven and covered, that Thou
mightest bless me in Thee, changing my soul by Faith and Thy Sacrament, when read and
heard, stir up the heart, that it sleep not in despair and say "I cannot," but awake in
the love of Thy mercy and the sweetness of Thy grace, whereby whoso is weak, is strong,
when by it he became conscious of his own weakness. And the good delight to hear of the
past evils of such as are now freed from them, not because they are evils, but because
they have been and are not. With what fruit then, O Lord my God, to Whom my conscience
daily confesseth, trusting more in the hope of Thy mercy than in her own innocency, with
what fruit, I pray, do I by this book confess to men also in Thy presence what I now am,
not what I have been? For that other fruit I have seen and spoken of. But what I now am,
at the very time of making these confessions, divers desire to know, who have or have not
known me, who have heard from me or of me; but their ear is not at my heart where I am,
whatever I am. They wish then to hear me confess what I am within; whither neither their
eye, nor ear, nor understanding can reach; they wish it, as ready to believe—but will they
know? For charity, whereby they are good, telleth them that in my confessions I lie not;
and she in them, believeth me.

5 But for what fruit would they hear this? Do they desire to joy with me, when they hear
how near, by Thy gift, I approach unto Thee? and to pray for me, when they shall hear how
much I am held back by my own weight? To such will I discover myself. For it is no mean
fruit, O Lord my God, that by many thanks should be given to Thee on our behalf, and Thou
be by many entreated for us. Let the brotherly mind love in me what Thou teachest is to be
loved, and lament in me what Thou teachest is to be lamented. Let a brotherly, not a
stranger, mind, not that of the strange children, whose mouth talketh of vanity, and their
right hand is a right hand of iniquity, but that brotherly mind which when it approveth,
rejoiceth for me, and when it disapproveth me, is sorry for me; because whether it
approveth or disapproveth, it loveth me. To such will I discover myself: they will breathe
freely at my good deeds, sigh for my ill. My good deeds are Thine appointments, and Thy
gifts; my evil ones are my offences, and Thy judgments. Let them breathe freely at the
one, sigh at the other; and let hymns and weeping go up into Thy sight, out of the hearts
of my brethren, Thy censers. And do Thou, O Lord, be pleased with the incense of Thy holy
temple, have mercy upon me according to Thy great mercy for Thine own name's sake; and no
ways forsaking what Thou hast begun, perfect my imperfections.

6 This is the fruit of my confessions of what I am, not of what I have been, to confess
this, not before Thee only, in a secret exultation with trembling, and a secret sorrow
with hope; but in the ears also of the believing sons of men, sharers of my joy, and
partners in my mortality, my fellow-citizens, and fellow-pilgrims, who are gone before, or
are to follow on, companions of my way. These are Thy servants, my brethren, whom Thou
willest to be Thy sons; my masters, whom Thou commandest me to serve, if I would live with
Thee, of Thee. But this Thy Word were little did it only command by speaking, and not go
before in performing. This then I do in deed and word, this I do under Thy wings; in over
great peril, were not my soul subdued unto Thee under Thy wings, and my infirmity known
unto Thee. I am a little one, but my Father ever liveth, and my Guardian is sufficient for
me. For He is the same who begat me, and defends me: and Thou Thyself art all my good;
Thou, Almighty, Who are with me, yea, before I am with Thee. To such then whom Thou
commandest me to serve will I discover, not what I have been, but what I now am and what I
yet am. But neither do I judge myself. Thus therefore I would be heard.

7 For Thou, Lord, dost judge me: because, although no man knoweth the things of a man, but
the spirit of a man which is in him, yet is there something of man, which neither the
spirit of man that is in him, itself knoweth. But Thou, Lord, knowest all of him, Who hast
made him. Yet I, though in Thy sight I despise myself, and account myself dust and ashes;
yet know I something of Thee, which I know not of myself. And truly, now we see through a
glass darkly, not face to face as yet. So long therefore as I be absent from Thee, I am
more present with myself than with Thee; and yet know I Thee that Thou art in no ways
passible; but I, what temptations I can resist, what I cannot, I know not. And there is
hope, because Thou art faithful, Who wilt not suffer us to be tempted above that we are
able; but wilt with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear
it. I will confess then what I know of myself, I will confess also what I know not of
myself. And that because what I do know of myself, I know by Thy shining upon me; and what
I know not of myself, so long know I not it, until my darkness be made as the noon-day in
Thy countenance.

8 Not with doubting, but with assured consciousness, do I love Thee, Lord. Thou hast
stricken my heart with Thy word, and I loved Thee. Yea also heaven, and earth, and all
that therein is, behold, on every side they bid me love Thee; nor cease to say so unto
all, that they may be without excuse. But more deeply wilt Thou have mercy on whom Thou
wilt have mercy, and wilt have compassion on whom Thou hast had compassion: else in deaf
ears do the heaven and the earth speak Thy praises. But what do I love, when I love Thee?
not beauty of bodies, nor the fair harmony of time, nor the brightness of the light, so
gladsome to our eyes, nor sweet melodies of varied songs, nor the fragrant smell of
flowers, and ointments, and spices, not manna and honey, not limbs acceptable to
embracements of flesh. None of these I love, when I love my God; and yet I love a kind of
light, and melody, and fragrance, and meat, and embracement when I love my God, the light,
melody, fragrance, meat, embracement of my inner man: where there shineth unto my soul
what space cannot contain, and there soundeth what time beareth not away, and there
smelleth what breathing disperseth not, and there tasteth what eating diminisheth not, and
there clingeth what satiety divorceth not. This is it which I love when I love my God.

9 And what is this? I asked the earth, and it answered me, "I am not He"; and whatsoever
are in it confessed the same. I asked the sea and the deeps, and the living creeping
things, and they answered, "We are not thy God, seek above us." I asked the moving air;
and the whole air with his inhabitants answered, "Anaximenes was deceived, I am not God."
I asked the heavens, sun, moon, stars, "Nor (say they) are we the God whom thou seekest."
And I replied unto all the things which encompass the door of my flesh: "Ye have told me
of my God, that ye are not He; tell me something of Him." And they cried out with a loud
voice, "He made us." My questioning them, was my thoughts on them: and their form of
beauty gave the answer. And I turned myself unto myself, and said to myself, "Who art
thou?" And I answered, "A man." And behold, in me there present themselves to me soul, and
body, one without, the other within. By which of these ought I to seek my God? I had
sought Him in the body from earth to heaven, so far as I could send messengers, the beams
of mine eyes. But the better is the inner, for to it as presiding and judging, all the
bodily messengers reported the answers of heaven and earth, and all things therein, who
said, "We are not God, but He made us." These things did my inner man know by the ministry
of the outer: I the inner knew them; I, the mind, through the senses of my body. I asked
the whole frame of the world about my God; and it answered me, "I am not He, but He made
me."

10 Is not this corporeal figure apparent to all whose senses are perfect? why then speaks
it not the same to all? Animals small and great see it, but they cannot ask it: because no
reason is set over their senses to judge on what they report. But men can ask, so that the
invisible things of God are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made;
but by love of them, they are made subject unto them: and subjects cannot judge. Nor yet
do the creatures answer such as ask, unless they can judge; nor yet do they change their
voice (i.e., their appearance), if one man only sees, another seeing asks, so as to appear
one way to this man, another way to that, but appearing the same way to both, it is dumb
to this, speaks to that; yea rather it speaks to all; but they only understand, who
compare its voice received from without, with the truth within. For truth saith unto me,
"Neither heaven, nor earth, nor any other body is thy God." This, their very nature saith
to him that seeth them: "They are a mass; a mass is less in a part thereof than in the
whole." Now to thee I speak, O my soul, thou art my better part: for thou quickenest the
mass of my body, giving it life, which no body can give to a body: but thy God is even
unto thee the Life of thy life.

11 What then do I love, when I love my God? who is He above the head of my soul? By my
very soul will I ascend to Him. I will pass beyond that power whereby I am united to my
body, and fill its whole frame with life. Nor can I by that power find my God; for so
horse and mule that have no understanding might find Him; seeing it is the same power,
whereby even their bodies live. But another power there is, not that only whereby I
animate, but that too whereby I imbue with sense my flesh, which the Lord hath framed for
me: commanding the eye not to hear, and the ear not to see; but the eye, that through it I
should see, and the ear, that through it I should hear; and to the other senses severally,
what is to each their own peculiar seats and offices; which, being divers, I the one mind,
do through them enact. I will pass beyond this power of mine also; for this also have the
horse, and mule, for they also perceive through the body.

12 I will pass then beyond this power of my nature also, rising by degrees unto Him Who
made me. And I come to the fields and spacious palaces of my memory, where are the
treasures of innumerable images, brought into it from things of all sorts perceived by the
senses. There is stored up, whatsoever besides we think, either by enlarging or
diminishing, or any other way varying those things which the sense hath come to; and
whatever else hath been committed and laid up, which forgetfulness hath not yet swallowed
up and buried. When I enter there, I require what I will to be brought forth, and
something instantly comes; others must be longer sought after, which are fetched, as it
were, out of some inner receptacle; others rush out in troops, and while one thing is
desired and required, they start forth, as who should say, "Is it perchance I?" These I
drive away with the hand of my heart, from the face of my remembrance; until what I wish
for be unveiled, and appear in sight, out of its secret place. Other things come up
readily, in unbroken order, as they are called for; those in front making way for the
following; and as they make way, they are hidden from sight, ready to come when I will.
All which takes place when I repeat a thing by heart.

13 There are all things preserved distinctly and under general heads, each having entered
by its own avenue: as light, and all colours and forms of bodies by the eyes; by the ears
all sorts of sounds; all smells by the avenue of the nostrils; all tastes by the mouth;
and by the sensation of the whole body, what is hard or soft; hot or cold; or rugged;
heavy or light; either outwardly or inwardly to the body. All these doth that great
harbour of the memory receive in her numberless secret and inexpressible windings, to be
forthcoming, and brought out at need; each entering in by his own gate, and there laid up.
Nor yet do the things themselves enter in; only the images of the things perceived are
there in readiness, for thought to recall. Which images, how they are formed, who can
tell, though it doth plainly appear by which sense each hath been brought in and stored
up? For even while I dwell in darkness and silence, in my memory I can produce colours, if
I will, and discern betwixt black and white, and what others I will: nor yet do sounds
break in and disturb the image drawn in by my eyes, which I am reviewing, though they also
are there, lying dormant, and laid up, as it were, apart. For these too I call for, and
forthwith they appear. And though my tongue be still, and my throat mute, so can I sing as
much as I will; nor do those images of colours, which notwithstanding be there, intrude
themselves and interrupt, when another store is called for, which flowed in by the ears.
So the other things, piled in and up by the other senses, I recall at my pleasure. Yea, I
discern the breath of lilies from violets, though smelling nothing; and I prefer honey to
sweet wine, smooth before rugged, at the time neither tasting nor handling, but
remembering only.

14 These things do I within, in that vast court of my memory. For there are present with
me, heaven, earth, sea, and whatever I could think on therein, besides what I have
forgotten. There also meet I with myself, and recall myself, and when, where, and what I
have done, and under what feelings. There be all which I remember, either on my own
experience, or other's credit. Out of the same store do I myself with the past continually
combine fresh and fresh likenesses of things which I have experienced, or, from what I
have experienced, have believed: and thence again infer future actions, events and hopes,
and all these again I reflect on, as present. "I will do this or that," say I to myself,
in that great receptacle of my mind, stored with the images of things so many and so
great, "and this or that will follow." "O that this or that might be!" "God avert this or
that!" So speak I to myself: and when I speak, the images of all I speak of are present,
out of the same treasury of memory; nor would I speak of any thereof, were the images
wanting.

15 Great is this force of memory, excessive great, O my God; a large and boundless
chamber! who ever sounded the bottom thereof? yet is this a power of mine, and belongs
unto my nature; nor do I myself comprehend all that I am. Therefore is the mind too strait
to contain itself. And where should that be, which it containeth not of itself? Is it
without it, and not within? how then doth it not comprehend itself? A wonderful admiration
surprises me, amazement seizes me upon this. And men go abroad to admire the heights of
mountains, the mighty billows of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the
ocean, and the circuits of the stars, and pass themselves by; nor wonder that when I spake
of all these things, I did not see them with mine eyes, yet could not have spoken of them,
unless I then actually saw the mountains, billows, rivers, stars which I had seen, and
that ocean which I believe to be, inwardly in my memory, and that, with the same vast
spaces between, as if I saw them abroad. Yet did not I by seeing draw them into myself,
when with mine eyes I beheld them; nor are they themselves with me, but their images only.
And I know by what sense of the body each was impressed upon me.

16 Yet not these alone does the unmeasurable capacity of my memory retain. Here also is
all, learnt of the liberal sciences and as yet unforgotten; removed as it were to some
inner place, which is yet no place: nor are they the images thereof, but the things
themselves. For, what is literature, what the art of disputing, how many kinds of
questions there be, whatsoever of these I know, in such manner exists in my memory, as
that I have not taken in the image, and left out the thing, or that it should have sounded
and passed away like a voice fixed on the ear by that impress, whereby it might be
recalled, as if it sounded, when it no longer sounded; or as a smell while it passes and
evaporates into air affects the sense of smell, whence it conveys into the memory an image
of itself, which remembering, we renew, or as meat, which verily in the belly hath now no
taste, and yet in the memory still in a manner tasteth; or as any thing which the body by
touch perceiveth, and which when removed from us, the memory still conceives. For those
things are not transmitted into the memory, but their images only are with an admirable
swiftness caught up, and stored as it were in wondrous cabinets, and thence wonderfully by
the act of remembering, brought forth.

17 But now when I hear that there be three kinds of questions, "Whether the thing be? what
it is? of what kind it is?" I do indeed hold the images of the sounds of which those words
be composed, and that those sounds, with a noise passed through the air, and now are not.
But the things themselves which are signified by those sounds, I never reached with any
sense of my body, nor ever discerned them otherwise than in my mind; yet in my memory have
I laid up not their images, but themselves. Which how they entered into me, let them say
if they can; for I have gone over all the avenues of my flesh, but cannot find by which
they entered. For the eyes say, "If those images were coloured, we reported of them." The
ears say, "If they sound, we gave knowledge of them." The nostrils say, "If they smell,
they passed by us." The taste says, "Unless they have a savour, ask me not." The touch
says, "If it have not size, I handled it not; if I handled it not, I gave no notice of
it." Whence and how entered these things into my memory? I know not how. For when I
learned them, I gave not credit to another man's mind, but recognised them in mine; and
approving them for true, I commended them to it, laying them up as it were, whence I might
bring them forth when I willed. In my heart then they were, even before I learned them,
but in my memory they were not. Where then? or wherefore, when they were spoken, did I
acknowledge them, and said, "So is it, it is true," unless that they were already in the
memory, but so thrown back and buried as it were in deeper recesses, that had not the
suggestion of another drawn them forth I had perchance been unable to conceive of them?

18 Wherefore we find, that to learn these things whereof we imbibe not the images by our
senses, but perceive within by themselves, without images, as they are, is nothing else,
but by conception, to receive, and by marking to take heed that those things which the
memory did before contain at random and unarranged, be laid up at hand as it were in that
same memory where before they lay unknown, scattered and neglected, and so readily occur
to the mind familiarised to them. And how many things of this kind does my memory bear
which have been already found out, and as I said, placed as it were at hand, which we are
said to have learned and come to know which were I for some short space of time to cease
to call to mind, they are again so buried, and glide back, as it were, into the deeper
recesses, that they must again, as if new, be thought out thence, for other abode they
have none: but they must be drawn together again, that they may be known; that is to say,
they must as it were be collected together from their dispersion: whence the word
"cogitation" is derived. For cogo (collect) and cogito (re-collect) have the same relation
to each other as ago and agito, facio and factito. But the mind hath appropriated to
itself this word (cogitation), so that, not what is "collected" any how, but what is
"recollected," i.e., brought together, in the mind, is properly said to be cogitated, or
thought upon.

19 The memory containeth also reasons and laws innumerable of numbers and dimensions, none
of which hath any bodily sense impressed; seeing they have neither colour, nor sound, nor
taste, nor smell, nor touch. I have heard the sound of the words whereby when discussed
they are denoted: but the sounds are other than the things. For the sounds are other in
Greek than in Latin; but the things are neither Greek, nor Latin, nor any other language.
I have seen the lines of architects, the very finest, like a spider's thread; but those
are still different, they are not the images of those lines which the eye of flesh showed
me: he knoweth them, whosoever without any conception whatsoever of a body, recognises
them within himself. I have perceived also the numbers of the things with which we number
all the senses of my body; but those numbers wherewith we number are different, nor are
they the images of these, and therefore they indeed are. Let him who seeth them not,
deride me for saying these things, and I will pity him, while he derides me.

20 All these things I remember, and how I learnt them I remember. Many things also most
falsely objected against them have I heard, and remember; which though they be false, yet
is it not false that I remember them; and I remember also that I have discerned betwixt
those truths and these falsehoods objected to them. And I perceive that the present
discerning of these things is different from remembering that I oftentimes discerned them,
when I often thought upon them. I both remember then to have often understood these
things; and what I now discern and understand, I lay up in my memory, that hereafter I may
remember that I understand it now. So then I remember also to have remembered; as if
hereafter I shall call to remembrance, that I have now been able to remember these things,
by the force of memory shall I call it to remembrance.

21 The same memory contains also the affections of my mind, not in the same manner that my
mind itself contains them, when it feels them; but far otherwise, according to a power of
its own. For without rejoicing I remember myself to have joyed; and without sorrow do I
recollect my past sorrow. And that I once feared, I review without fear; and without
desire call to mind a past desire. Sometimes, on the contrary, with joy do I remember my
fore-past sorrow, and with sorrow, joy. Which is not wonderful, as to the body; for mind
is one thing, body another. If I therefore with joy remember some past pain of body, it is
not so wonderful. But now seeing this very memory itself is mind (for when we give a thing
in charge, to be kept in memory, we say, "See that you keep it in mind"; and when we
forget, we say, "It did not come to my mind," and, "It slipped out of my mind," calling
the memory itself the mind); this being so, how is it that when with joy I remember my
past sorrow, the mind hath joy, the memory hath sorrow; the mind upon the joyfulness which
is in it, is joyful, yet the memory upon the sadness which is in it, is not sad? Does the
memory perchance not belong to the mind? Who will say so? The memory then is, as it were,
the belly of the mind, and joy and sadness, like sweet and bitter food; which, when
committed to the memory, are as it were passed into the belly, where they may be stowed,
but cannot taste. Ridiculous it is to imagine these to be alike; and yet are they not
utterly unlike.

22 But, behold, out of my memory I bring it, when I say there be four perturbations of the
mind, desire, joy, fear, sorrow; and whatsoever I can dispute thereon, by dividing each
into its subordinate species, and by defining it, in my memory find I what to say, and
thence do I bring it: yet am I not disturbed by any of these perturbations, when by
calling them to mind, I remember them; yea, and before I recalled and brought them back,
they were there; and therefore could they, by recollection, thence be brought. Perchance,
then, as meat is by chewing the cud brought up out of the belly, so by recollection these
out of the memory. Why then does not the disputer, thus recollecting, taste in the mouth
of his musing the sweetness of joy, or the bitterness of sorrow? Is the comparison unlike
in this, because not in all respects like? For who would willingly speak thereof, if so
oft as we name grief or fear, we should be compelled to be sad or fearful? And yet could
we not speak of them, did we not find in our memory, not only the sounds of the names
according to the images impressed by the senses of the body, but notions of the very
things themselves which we never received by any avenue of the body, but which the mind
itself perceiving by the experience of its own passions, committed to the memory, or the
memory of itself retained, without being committed unto it.

23 But whether by images or no, who can readily say? Thus, I name a stone, I name the sun,
the things themselves not being present to my senses, but their images to my memory. I
name a bodily pain, yet it is not present with me, when nothing aches: yet unless its
image were present to my memory, I should not know what to say thereof, nor in discoursing
discern pain from pleasure. I name bodily health; being sound in body, the thing itself is
present with me; yet, unless its image also were present in my memory, I could by no means
recall what the sound of this name should signify. Nor would the sick, when health were
named, recognise what were spoken, unless the same image were by the force of memory
retained, although the thing itself were absent from the body. I name numbers whereby we
number; and not their images, but themselves are present in my memory. I name the image of
the sun, and that image is present in my memory. For I recall not the image of its image,
but the image itself is present to me, calling it to mind. I name memory, and I recognise
what I name. And where do I recognise it, but in the memory itself? Is it also present to
itself by its image, and not by itself?

24 What, when I name forgetfulness, and withal recognise what I name? whence should I
recognise it, did I not remember it? I speak not of the sound of the name, but of the
thing which it signifies: which if I had forgotten, I could not recognise what that sound
signifies. When then I remember memory, memory itself is, through itself, present with
itself: but when I remember forgetfulness, there are present both memory and
forgetfulness; memory whereby I remember, forgetfulness which I remember. But what is
forgetfulness, but the privation of memory? How then is it present that I remember it,
since when present I cannot remember? But if what we remember we hold it in memory, yet,
unless we did remember forgetfulness, we could never at the hearing of the name recognise
the thing thereby signified, then forgetfulness is retained by memory. Present then it is,
that we forget not, and being so, we forget. It is to be understood from this that
forgetfulness when we remember it, is not present to the memory by itself but by its
image: because if it were present by itself, it would not cause us to remember, but to
forget. Who now shall search out this? who shall comprehend how it is?

25 Lord, I, truly, toil therein, yea and toil in myself; I am become a heavy soil
requiring over much sweat of the brow. For we are not now searching out the regions of
heaven, or measuring the distances of the stars, or enquiring the balancings of the earth.
It is I myself who remember, I the mind. It is not so wonderful, if what I myself am not,
be far from me. But what is nearer to me than myself? And lo, the force of mine own memory
is not understood by me; though I cannot so much as name myself without it. For what shall
I say, when it is clear to me that I remember forgetfulness? Shall I say that that is not
in my memory, which I remember? or shall I say that forgetfulness is for this purpose in
my memory, that I might not forget? Both were most absurd. What third way is there? How
can I say that the image of forgetfulness is retained by my memory, not forgetfulness
itself, when I remember it? How could I say this either, seeing that when the image of any
thing is impressed on the memory, the thing itself must needs be first present, whence
that image may be impressed? For thus do I remember Carthage, thus all places where I have
been, thus men's faces whom I have seen, and things reported by the other senses; thus the
health or sickness of the body.

26 For when these things were present, my memory received from them images, which being
present with me, I might look on and bring back in my mind, when I remembered them in
their absence. If then this forgetfulness is retained in the memory through its image, not
through itself, then plainly itself was once present, that its image might be taken. But
when it was present, how did it write its image in the memory, seeing that forgetfulness
by its presence effaces even what it finds already noted? And yet, in whatever way,
although that way be past conceiving and explaining, yet certain am I that I remember
forgetfulness itself also, whereby what we remember is effaced. 27 Great is the power of
memory, a fearful thing, O my God, a deep and boundless manifoldness; and this thing is
the mind, and this am I myself. What am I then, O my God? What nature am I? A life various
and manifold, and exceeding immense. Behold in the plains, and caves, and caverns of my
memory, innumerable and innumerably full of innumerable kinds of things, either through
images, as all bodies; or by actual presence, as the arts; or by certain notions or
impressions, as the affections of the mind, which, even when the mind doth not feel, the
memory retaineth, while yet whatsoever is in the memory is also in the mind—over all these
do I run, I fly; I dive on this side and on that, as far as I can, and there is no end. So
great is the force of memory, so great the force of life, even in the mortal life of man.
What shall I do then, O Thou my true life, my God? I will pass even beyond this power of
mine which is called memory: yea, I will pass beyond it, that I may approach unto Thee, O
sweet Light. What sayest Thou to me? See, I am mounting up through my mind towards Thee
who abidest above me. Yea, I now will pass beyond this power of mine which is called
memory, desirous to arrive at Thee, whence Thou mayest be arrived at; and to cleave unto
Thee, whence one may cleave unto Thee.

28 For even beasts and birds have memory; else could they not return to their dens and
nests, nor many other things they are used unto: nor indeed could they be used to any
thing, but by memory. I will pass then beyond memory also, that I may arrive at Him who
hath separated me from the four-footed beasts and made me wiser than the fowls of the air,
I will pass beyond memory also, and where shall I find Thee, Thou truly good and certain
sweetness? And where shall I find Thee? If I find Thee without my memory, then do I not
retain Thee in my memory. And how shall I find Thee, if I remember Thee not? 29 For the
woman that had lost her groat, and sought it with a light; unless she had remembered it,
she had never found it. For when it was found, whence should she know whether it were the
same, unless she remembered it? I remember to have sought and found many a thing; and this
I thereby know, that when I was seeking any of them, and was asked, "Is this it?" "Is that
it?" so long said I "No," until that were offered me which I sought. Which had I not
remembered (whatever it were) though it were offered me, yet should I not find it, because
I could not recognise it. And so it ever is, when we seek and find any lost thing.
Notwithstanding, when any thing is by chance lost from the sight, not from the memory (as
any visible body), yet its image is still retained within, and it is sought until it be
restored to sight; and when it is found, it is recognised by the image which is within:
nor do we say that we have found what was lost, unless we recognise it; nor can we
recognise it, unless we remember it. But this was lost to the eyes, but retained in the
memory.

30 But what when the memory itself loses any thing, as falls out when we forget and seek
that we may recollect? Where in the end do we search, but in the memory itself? and there,
if one thing be perchance offered instead of another, we reject it, until what we seek
meets us; and when it doth, we say, "This is it"; which we should not unless we recognised
it, nor recognise it unless we remembered it. Certainly then we had forgotten it. Or, had
not the whole escaped us, but by the part whereof we had hold, was the lost part sought
for; in that the memory felt that it did not carry on together all which it was wont, and
maimed, as it were, by the curtailment of its ancient habit, demanded the restoration of
what it missed? For instance, if we see or think of some one known to us, and having
forgotten his name, try to recover it; whatever else occurs, connects itself not
therewith; because it was not wont to be thought upon together with him, and therefore is
rejected, until that present itself, whereon the knowledge reposes equably as its wonted
object. And whence does that present itself, but out of the memory itself? for even when
we recognise it, on being reminded by another, it is thence it comes. For we do not
believe it as something new, but, upon recollection, allow what was named to be right. But
were it utterly blotted out of the mind, we should not remember it, even when reminded.
For we have not as yet utterly forgotten that, which we remember ourselves to have
forgotten. What then we have utterly forgotten, though lost, we cannot even seek after.

31 How then do I seek Thee, O Lord? For when I seek Thee, my God, I seek a happy life. I
will seek Thee, that my soul may live. For my body liveth by my soul; and my soul by Thee.
How then do I seek a happy life, seeing I have it not, until I can say, where I ought to
say it, "It is enough"? How seek I it? By remembrance, as though I had forgotten it,
remembering that I had forgotten it? Or, desiring to learn it as a thing unknown, either
never having known, or so forgotten it, as not even to remember that I had forgotten it?
is not a happy life what all will, and no one altogether wills it not? where have they
known it, that they so will it? where seen it, that they so love it? Truly we have it,
how, I know not. Yea, there is another way, wherein when one hath it, then is he happy;
and there are, who are blessed, in hope. These have it in a lower kind, than they who have
it in very deed; yet are they better off than such as are happy neither in deed nor in
hope. Yet even these, had they it not in some sort, would not so will to be happy, which
that they do will, is most certain.

32 They have known it then, I know not how, and so have it by some sort of knowledge,
what, I know not, and am perplexed whether it be in the memory, which if it be, then we
have been happy once; whether all severally, or in that man who first sinned, in whom also
we all died, and from whom we are all born with misery, I now enquire not; but only,
whether the happy life be in the memory? For neither should we love it, did we not know
it. We hear the name, and we all confess that we desire the thing; for we are not
delighted with the mere sound. For when a Greek hears it in Latin, he is not delighted,
not knowing what is spoken; but we Latins are delighted, as would he too, if he heard it
in Greek; because the thing itself is neither Greek nor Latin, which Greeks and Latins,
and men of all other tongues, long for so earnestly. Known therefore it is to all, for
they with one voice be asked, "would they be happy? they would answer without doubt, "they
would. And this could not be, unless the thing itself whereof it is the name were retained
in their memory.

33 But is it so, as one remembers Carthage who hath seen it? No. For a happy life is not
seen with the eye, because it is not a body. As we remember numbers then? No. For these,
he that hath in his knowledge, seeks not further to attain unto; but a happy life we have
in our knowledge, and therefore love it, and yet still desire to attain it, that we may be
happy. As we remember eloquence then? No. For although upon hearing this name also, some
call to mind the thing, who still are not yet eloquent, and many who desire to be so,
whence it appears that it is in their knowledge; yet these have by their bodily senses
observed others to be eloquent, and been delighted, and desire to be the like (though
indeed they would not be delighted but for some inward knowledge thereof, nor wish to be
the like, unless they were thus delighted); whereas a happy life, we do by no bodily sense
experience in others. As then we remember joy? Perchance; for my joy I remember, even when
sad, as a happy life, when unhappy; nor did I ever with bodily sense see, hear, smell,
taste, or touch my joy; but I experienced it in my mind, when I rejoiced; and the
knowledge of it clave to my memory, so that I can recall it with disgust sometimes, at
others with longing, according to the nature of the things, wherein I remember myself to
have joyed. For even from foul things have I been immersed in a sort of joy; which now
recalling, I detest and execrate; otherwhiles in good and honest things, which I recall
with longing, although perchance no longer present; and therefore with sadness I recall
former joy.

34 Where then and when did I experience my happy life, that I should remember, and love,
and long for it? Nor is it I alone, or some few besides, but we all would fain be happy;
which, unless by some certain knowledge we knew, we should not with so certain a will
desire. But how is this, that if two men be asked whether they would go to the wars, one,
perchance, would answer that he would, the other, that he would not; but if they were
asked whether they would be happy, both would instantly without any doubting say they
would; and for no other reason would the one go to the wars, and the other not, but to be
happy. Is it perchance that as one looks for his joy in this thing, another in that, all
agree in their desire of being happy, as they would (if they were asked) that they wished
to have joy, and this joy they call a happy life? Although then one obtains this joy by
one means, another by another, all have one end, which they strive to attain, namely, joy.
Which being a thing which all must say they have experienced, it is therefore found in the
memory, and recognised whenever the name of a happy life is mentioned.

35 Far be it, Lord, far be it from the heart of Thy servant who here confesseth unto Thee,
far be it, that, be the joy what it may, I should therefore think myself happy. For there
is a joy which is not given to the ungodly, but to those who love Thee for Thine own sake,
whose joy Thou Thyself art. And this is the happy life, to rejoice to Thee, of Thee, for
Thee; this is it, and there is no other. For they who think there is another, pursue some
other and not the true joy. Yet is not their will turned away from some semblance of joy.
36 It is not certain then that all wish to be happy, inasmuch as they who wish not to joy
in Thee, which is the only happy life, do not truly desire the happy life. Or do all men
desire this, but because the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh, that they cannot do what they would, they fall upon that which they can, and are
content therewith; because, what they are not able to do, they do not will so strongly as
would suffice to make them able? For I ask any one, had he rather joy in truth, or in
falsehood? They will as little hesitate to say "in the truth," as to say "that they desire
to be happy," for a happy life is joy in the truth: for this is a joying in Thee, Who art
the Truth, O God my light, health of my countenance, my God. This is the happy life which
all desire; this life which alone is happy, all desire; to joy in the truth all desire. I
have met with many that would deceive; who would be deceived, no one. Where then did they
know this happy life, save where they know the truth also? For they love it also, since
they would not be deceived. And when they love a happy life, which is no other than joying
in the truth, then also do they love the truth; which yet they would not love, were there
not some notice of it in their memory. Why then joy they not in it? why are they not
happy? because they are more strongly taken up with other things which have more power to
make them miserable, than that which they so faintly remember to make them happy. For
there is yet a little light in men; let them walk, let them walk, that the darkness
overtake them not.

37 But why doth "truth generate hatred," and the man of Thine, preaching the truth, become
an enemy to them? whereas a happy life is loved, which is nothing else but joying in the
truth; unless that truth is in that kind loved, that they who love anything else would
gladly have that which they love to be the truth: and because they would not be deceived,
would not be convinced that they are so? Therefore do they hate the truth for that thing's
sake which they loved instead of the truth. They love truth when she enlightens, they hate
her when she reproves. For since they would not be deceived, and would deceive, they love
her when she discovers herself unto them, and hate her when she discovers them. Whence she
shall so repay them, that they who would not be made manifest by her, she both against
their will makes manifest, and herself becometh not manifest unto them. Thus, thus, yea
thus doth the mind of man, thus blind and sick, foul and ill-favoured, wish to be hidden,
but that aught should be hidden from it, it wills not. But the contrary is requited it,
that itself should not be hidden from the Truth; but the Truth is hid from it. Yet even
thus miserable, it had rather joy in truths than in falsehoods. Happy then will it be,
when, no distraction interposing, it shall joy in that only Truth, by Whom all things are
true.

38 See what a space I have gone over in my memory seeking Thee, O Lord; and I have not
found Thee, without it. Nor have I found any thing concerning Thee, but what I have kept
in memory, ever since I learnt Thee. For since I learnt Thee, I have not forgotten Thee.
For where I found Truth, there found I my God, the Truth itself; which since I learnt, I
have not forgotten. Since then I learnt Thee, Thou residest in my memory; and there do I
find Thee, when I call Thee to remembrance, and delight in Thee. These be my holy
delights, which Thou hast given me in Thy mercy, having regard to my poverty. 39 But where
in my memory residest Thou, O Lord, where residest Thou there? what manner of lodging hast
Thou framed for Thee? what manner of sanctuary hast Thou builded for Thee? Thou hast given
this honour to my memory, to reside in it; but in what quarter of it Thou residest, that
am I considering. For in thinking on Thee, I passed beyond such parts of it as the beasts
also have, for I found Thee not there among the images of corporeal things: and I came to
those parts to which I committed the affections of my mind, nor found Thee there. And I
entered into the very seat of my mind (which it hath in my memory, inasmuch as the mind
remembers itself also), neither wert Thou there: for as Thou art not a corporeal image,
nor the affection of a living being (as when we rejoice, condole, desire, fear, remember,
forget, or the like); so neither art Thou the mind itself; because Thou art the Lord God
of the mind; and all these are changed, but Thou remainest unchangeable over all, and yet
hast vouchsafed to dwell in my memory, since I learnt Thee. And why seek I now in what
place thereof Thou dwellest, as if there were places therein? Sure I am, that in it Thou
dwellest, since I have remembered Thee ever since I learnt Thee, and there I find Thee,
when I call Thee to remembrance.

40 Where then did I find Thee, that I might learn Thee? For in my memory Thou wert not,
before I learned Thee. Where then did I find Thee, that I might learn Thee, but in Thee
above me? Place there is none; we go backward and forward, and there is no place. Every
where, O Truth, dost Thou give audience to all who ask counsel of Thee, and at once
answerest all, though on manifold matters they ask Thy counsel. Clearly dost Thou answer,
though all do not clearly hear. All consult Thee on what they will, though they hear not
always what they will. He is Thy best servant who looks not so much to hear that from Thee
which himself willeth, as rather to will that, which from Thee he heareth. Too late loved
I Thee, O Thou Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new! too late I loved Thee! And behold,
Thou wert within, and I abroad, and there I searched for Thee; deformed I, plunging amid
those fair forms which Thou hadst made. Thou wert with me, but I was not with Thee. Things
held me far from Thee, which, unless they were in Thee, were not at all. Thou calledst,
and shoutedst, and burstest my deafness. Thou flashedst, shonest, and scatteredst my
blindness. Thou breathedst odours, and I drew in breath and panted for Thee. I tasted, and
hunger and thirst. Thou touchedst me, and I burned for Thy peace.

41 When I shall with my whole self cleave to Thee, I shall no where have sorrow or labour;
and my life shall wholly live, as wholly full of Thee. But now since whom Thou fillest,
Thou liftest up, because I am not full of Thee I am a burden to myself. Lamentable joys
strive with joyous sorrows: and on which side is the victory, I know not. Woe is me! Lord,
have pity on me. My evil sorrows strive with my good joys; and on which side is the
victory, I know not. Woe is me! Lord, have pity on me. Woe is me! lo! I hide not my
wounds; Thou art the Physician, I the sick; Thou merciful, I miserable. Is not the life of
man upon earth all trial? Who wishes for troubles and difficulties? Thou commandest them
to be endured, not to be loved. No man loves what he endures, though he love to endure.
For though he rejoices that he endures, he had rather there were nothing for him to
endure. In adversity I long for prosperity, in prosperity I fear adversity. What middle
place is there betwixt these two, where the life of man is not all trial? Woe to the
prosperities of the world, once and again, through fear of adversity, and corruption of
joy! Woe to the adversities of the world, once and again, and the third time, from the
longing for prosperity, and because adversity itself is a hard thing, and lest it shatter
endurance. Is not the life of man upon earth all trial: without any interval?

42 And all my hope is no where but in Thy exceeding great mercy. Give what Thou enjoinest,
and enjoin what Thou wilt. Thou enjoinest us continency; and when I knew, saith one, that
no man can be continent, unless God give it, this also was a part of wisdom to know whose
gift she is. By continency verily are we bound up and brought back into One, whence we
were dissipated into many. For too little doth he love Thee, who loves any thing with
Thee, which he loveth not for Thee. O love, who ever burnest and never consumest! O
charity, my God, kindle me. Thou enjoinest continency: give me what Thou enjoinest, and
enjoin what Thou wilt. 43 Verily Thou enjoinest me continency from the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of the world. Thou enjoinest continency from
concubinage; and for wedlock itself, Thou hast counselled something better than what Thou
hast permitted. And since Thou gavest it, it was done, even before I became a dispenser of
Thy Sacrament. But there yet live in my memory (whereof I have much spoken) the images of
such things as my ill custom there fixed; which haunt me, strengthless when I am awake:
but in sleep, not only so as to give pleasure, but even to obtain assent, and what is very
like reality. Yea, so far prevails the illusion of the image, in my soul and in my flesh,
that, when asleep, false visions persuade to that which when waking, the true cannot. Am I
not then myself, O Lord my God? And yet there is so much difference betwixt myself and
myself, within that moment wherein I pass from waking to sleeping, or return from sleeping
to waking! Where is reason then, which, awake, resisteth such suggestions? And should the
things themselves be urged on it, it remaineth unshaken. Is it clasped up with the eyes?
is it lulled asleep with the senses of the body? And whence is it that often even in sleep
we resist, and mindful of our purpose, and abiding most chastely in it, yield no assent to
such enticements? And yet so much difference there is, that when it happeneth otherwise,
upon waking we return to peace of conscience: and by this very difference discover that we
did not, what yet we be sorry that in some way it was done in us.

44 Art Thou not mighty, God Almighty, so as to heal all the diseases of my soul, and by
Thy more abundant grace to quench even the impure motions of my sleep! Thou wilt increase,
Lord, Thy gifts more and more in me, that my soul may follow me to Thee, disentangled from
the birdlime of concupiscence; that it rebel not against itself, and even in dreams not
only not, through images of sense, commit those debasing corruptions, even to pollution of
the flesh, but not even to consent unto them. For that nothing of this sort should have,
over the pure affections even of a sleeper, the very least influence, not even such as a
thought would restrain,—to work this, not only during life, but even at my present age, is
not hard for the Almighty, Who art able to do above all that we ask or think. But what I
yet am in this kind of my evil, have I confessed unto my good Lord; rejoicing with
trembling, in that which Thou hast given me, and bemoaning that wherein I am still
imperfect; hoping that Thou wilt perfect Thy mercies in me, even to perfect peace, which
my outward and inward man shall have with Thee, when death shall be swallowed up in
victory.

45 There is another evil of the day, which I would were sufficient for it. For by eating
and drinking we repair the daily decays of our body, until Thou destroy both belly and
meat, when Thou shalt slay my emptiness with a wonderful fulness, and clothe this
incorruptible with an eternal incorruption. But now the necessity is sweet unto me,
against which sweetness I fight, that I be not taken captive; and carry on a daily war by
fastings; often bringing my body into subjection; and my pains are removed by pleasure.
For hunger and thirst are in a manner pains; they burn and kill like a fever, unless the
medicine of nourishments come to our aid. Which since it is at hand through the
consolations of Thy gifts, with which land, and water, and air serve our weakness, our
calamity is termed gratification. 46 This hast Thou taught me, that I should set myself to
take food as physic. But while I am passing from the discomfort of emptiness to the
content of replenishing, in the very passage the snare of concupiscence besets me. For
that passing, is pleasure, nor is there any other way to pass thither, whither we needs
must pass. And health being the cause of eating and drinking, there joineth itself as an
attendant a dangerous pleasure, which mostly endeavours to go before it, so that I may for
her sake do what I say I do, or wish to do, for health's sake. Nor have each the same
measure; for what is enough for health, is too little for pleasure. And oft it is
uncertain, whether it be the necessary care of the body which is yet asking for
sustenance, or whether a voluptuous deceivableness of greediness is proffering its
services. In this uncertainty the unhappy soul rejoiceth, and therein prepares an excuse
to shield itself, glad that it appeareth not what sufficeth for the moderation of health,
that under the cloak of health, it may disguise the matter of gratification. These
temptations I daily endeavour to resist, and I call on Thy right hand, and to Thee do I
refer my perplexities; because I have as yet no settled counsel herein.

47 I hear the voice of my God commanding, Let not your hearts be overcharged with
surfeiting and drunkenness. Drunkenness is far from me; Thou wilt have mercy, that it come
not near me. But full feeding sometimes creepeth upon Thy servant; Thou wilt have mercy,
that it may be far from me. For no one can be continent unless Thou give it. Many things
Thou givest us, praying for them; and what good soever we have received before we prayed,
from Thee we received it; yea to the end we might afterwards know this, did we before
receive it. Drunkard was I never, but drunkards have I known made sober by Thee. From Thee
then it was, that they who never were such, should not so be, as from Thee it was, that
they who have been, should not ever so be; and from Thee it was, that both might know from
Whom it was. I heard another voice of Thine, Go not after thy lusts, and from thy pleasure
turn away. Yea by Thy favour have I heard that which I have much loved; neither if we eat,
shall we abound; neither if we eat not, shall we lack; which is to say, neither shall the
one make me plenteous, nor the other miserable. I heard also another, for I have learned
in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content; I know how to abound, and how to suffer
need. I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me.

48 Behold a soldier of the heavenly camp, not the dust which we are. But remember, Lord,
that we are dust, and that of dust Thou hast made man; and he was lost and is found. Nor
could he of himself do this, because he whom I so loved, saying this through the in-
breathing of Thy inspiration, was of the same dust. I can do all things (saith he) through
Him that strengtheneth me. Strengthen me, that I can. Give what Thou enjoinest, and enjoin
what Thou wilt. He confesses to have received, and when he glorieth, in the Lord he
glorieth. Another have I heard begging that he might receive. Take from me (saith he) the
desires of the belly; whence it appeareth, O my holy God, that Thou givest, when that is
done which Thou commandest to be done. 49 Thou hast taught me, good Father, that to the
pure, all things are pure; but that it is evil unto the man that eateth with offence; and,
that every creature of Thine is good, and nothing to be refused, which is received with
thanksgiving; and that meat commendeth us not to God; and, that no man should judge us in
meat or drink; and, that he which eateth, let him not despise him that eateth not; and let
not him that eateth not, judge him that eateth. These things have I learned, thanks be to
Thee, praise to Thee, my God, my Master, knocking at my ears, enlightening my heart;
deliver me out of all temptation. I fear not uncleanness of meat, but the uncleanness of
lusting. I know; that Noah was permitted to eat all kind of flesh that was good for food;
that Elijah was fed with flesh; that endued with an admirable abstinence, was not polluted
by feeding on living creatures, locusts. I know also that Esau was deceived by lusting for
lentiles; and that David blamed himself for desiring a draught of water; and that our King
was tempted, not concerning flesh, but bread. And therefore the people in the wilderness
also deserved to be reproved, not for desiring flesh, but because, in the desire of food,
they murmured against the Lord.

50 Placed then amid these temptations, I strive daily against concupiscence in eating and
drinking. For it is not of such nature that I can settle on cutting it off once for all,
and never touching it afterward, as I could of concubinage. The bridle of the throat then
is to be held attempered between slackness and stiffness. And who is he, O Lord, who is
not some whit transported beyond the limits of necessity? whoever he is, he is a great
one; let him make Thy Name great. But I am not such, for I am a sinful man. Yet do I too
magnify Thy name; and He maketh intercession to Thee for my sins who hath overcome the
world; numbering me among the weak members of His body; because Thine eyes have seen that
of Him which is imperfect, and in Thy book shall all be written. With the allurements of
smells, I am not much concerned. When absent, I do not miss them; when present, I do not
refuse them; yet ever ready to be without them. So I seem to myself; perchance I am
deceived. For that also is a mournful darkness whereby my abilities within me are hidden
from me; so that my mind making enquiry into herself of her own powers, ventures not
readily to believe herself; because even what is in it is mostly hidden, unless experience
reveal it. And no one ought to be secure in that life, the whole whereof is called a
trial, that he who hath been capable of worse to be made better, may not likewise of
better be made worse. Our only hope, only confidence, only assured promise is Thy mercy.

51 The delights of the ear had more firmly entangled and subdued me; but Thou didst loosen
and free me. Now, in those melodies which Thy words breathe soul into, when sung with a
sweet and attuned voice, I do a little repose; yet not so as to be held thereby, but that
I can disengage myself when I will. But with the words which are their life and whereby
they find admission into me, themselves seek in my affections a place of some estimation,
and I can scarcely assign them one suitable. For at one time I seem to myself to give them
more honour than is seemly, feeling our minds to be more holily and fervently raised unto
a flame of devotion, by the holy words themselves when thus sung, than when not; and that
the several affections of our spirit, by a sweet variety, have their own proper measures
in the voice and singing, by some hidden correspondence wherewith they are stirred up. But
this contentment of the flesh, to which the soul must not be given over to be enervated,
doth oft beguile me, the sense not so waiting upon reason as patiently to follow her; but
having been admitted merely for her sake, it strives even to run before her, and lead her.
Thus in these things I unawares sin, but afterwards am aware of it.

52 At other times, shunning over-anxiously this very deception, I err in too great
strictness; and sometimes to that degree, as to wish the whole melody of sweet music which
is used to David's Psalter, banished from my ears, and the Church's too; and that mode
seems to me safer, which I remember to have been often told me of Athanasius, Bishop of
Alexandria, who made the reader of the psalm utter it with so slight inflection of voice,
that it was nearer speaking than singing. Yet again, when I remember the tears I shed at
the Psalmody of Thy Church, in the beginning of my recovered faith; and how at this time I
am moved, not with the singing, but with the things sung, when they are sung with a clear
voice and modulation most suitable, I acknowledge the great use of this institution. Thus
I fluctuate between peril of pleasure and approved wholesomeness; inclined the rather
(though not as pronouncing an irrevocable opinion) to approve of the usage of singing in
the church; that so by the delight of the ears the weaker minds may rise to the feeling of
devotion. Yet when it befalls me to be more moved with the voice than the words sung, I
confess to have sinned penally, and then had rather not hear music. See now my state; weep
with me, and weep for me, ye, whoso regulate your feelings within, as that good action
ensues. For you who do not act, these things touch not you. But Thou, O Lord my God,
hearken; behold, and see, and have mercy and heal me, Thou, in whose presence I have
become a problem to myself; and that is my infirmity.

53 There remains the pleasure of these eyes of my flesh, on which to make my confessions
in the hearing of the ears of Thy temple, those brotherly and devout ears; and so to
conclude the temptations of the lust of the flesh, which yet assail me, groaning
earnestly, and desiring to be clothed upon with my house from heaven. The eyes love fair
and varied forms, and bright and soft colours. Let not these occupy my soul; let God
rather occupy it, who made these things, very good indeed, yet is He my good, not they.
And these affect me, waking, the whole day, nor is any rest given me from them, as there
is from musical, sometimes in silence, from all voices. For this queen of colours, the
light, bathing all which we behold, wherever I am through the day, gliding by me in varied
forms, soothes me when engaged on other things, and not observing it. And so strongly doth
it entwine itself, that if it be suddenly withdrawn, it is with longing sought for, and if
absent long, saddeneth the mind.

54 O Thou Light, which Tobias saw, when, these eyes closed, he taught his son the way of
life; and himself went before with the feet of charity, never swerving. Or which Isaac
saw, when his fleshly eyes being heavy and closed by old age, it was vouchsafed him, not
knowingly, to bless his sons, but by blessing to know them. Or which Jacob saw, when he
also, blind through great age, with illumined heart, in the persons of his sons shed light
on the different races of the future people, in them foresignified; and laid his hands,
mystically crossed, upon his grandchildren by Joseph, not as their father by his outward
eye corrected them, but as himself inwardly discerned. This is the light, it is one, and
all are one, who see and love it. But that corporeal light whereof I spake, it seasoneth
the life of this world for her blind lovers, with an enticing and dangerous sweetness. But
they who know how to praise Thee for it, "O all-creating Lord," take it up in Thy hymns,
and are not taken up with it in their sleep. Such would I be. These seductions of the eyes
I resist, lest my feet wherewith I walk upon Thy way be ensnared; and I lift up mine
invisible eyes to Thee, that Thou wouldest pluck my feet out of the snare. Thou dost ever
and anon pluck them out, for they are ensnared. Thou ceasest not to pluck them out, while
I often entangle myself in the snares on all sides laid; because Thou that keepest Israel
shalt neither slumber nor sleep.

55 What innumerable toys, made by divers arts and manufactures, in our apparel, shoes,
utensils and all sorts of works, in pictures also and divers images, and these far
exceeding all necessary and moderate use and all pious meaning, have men added to tempt
their own eyes withal; outwardly following what themselves make, inwardly forsaking Him by
whom themselves were made, and destroying that which themselves have been made! But I, my
God and my Glory, do hence also sing a hymn to Thee, and do consecrate praise to Him who
consecrateth me, because those beautiful patterns which through men's souls are conveyed
into their cunning hands, come from that Beauty, which is above our souls, which my soul
day and night sigheth after. But the framers and followers of the outward beauties derive
thence the rule of judging of them, but not of using them. And He is there, though they
perceive Him not, that so they might not wander, but keep their strength for Thee, and not
scatter it abroad upon pleasurable weariness. And I, though I speak and see this, entangle
my steps with these outward beauties; but Thou pluckest me out, O Lord, Thou pluckest me
out; because Thy loving-kindness is before my eyes. For I am taken miserably, and Thou
pluckest me out mercifully; sometimes not perceiving it, when I had but lightly lighted
upon them; otherwhiles with pain, because I had stuck fast in them.

56 To this is added another form of temptation more manifoldly dangerous. For besides that
concupiscence of the flesh which consisteth in the delight of all senses and pleasures,
wherein its slaves, who go far from Thee, waste and perish, the soul hath, through the
same senses of the body, a certain vain and curious desire, veiled under the title of
knowledge and learning, not of delighting in the flesh, but of making experiments through
the flesh. The seat whereof being in the appetite of knowledge, and sight being the sense
chiefly used for attaining knowledge, it is in Divine language called The lust of the
eyes. For, to see, belongeth properly to the eyes; yet we use this word of the other
senses also, when we employ them in seeking knowledge. For we do not say, hark how it
flashes, or smell how it glows, or taste how it shines, or feel how it gleams; for all
these are said to be seen. And yet we say not only, see how it shineth, which the eyes
alone can perceive; but also, see how it soundeth, see how it smelleth, see how it
tasteth, see how hard it is. And so the general experience of the senses, as was said, is
called The lust of the eyes, because the office of seeing, wherein the eyes hold the
prerogative, the other senses by way of similitude take to themselves, when they make
search after any knowledge.

57 But by this may more evidently be discerned, wherein pleasure and wherein curiosity is
the object of the senses; for pleasure seeketh objects beautiful, melodious, fragrant,
savoury, soft; but curiosity, for trial's sake, the contrary as well, not for the sake of
suffering annoyance, but out of the lust of making trial and knowing them. For what
pleasure hath it, to see in a mangled carcase what will make you shudder? and yet if it be
lying near, they flock thither, to be made sad, and to turn pale. Even in sleep they are
afraid to see it. As if when awake, any one forced them to see it, or any report of its
beauty drew them thither! Thus also in the other senses, which it were long to go through.
From this disease of curiosity are all those strange sights exhibited in the theatre.
Hence men go on to search out the hidden powers of nature (which is besides our end),
which to know profits not, and wherein men desire nothing but to know. Hence also, if with
that same end of perverted knowledge magical arts be enquired by. Hence also in religion
itself, is God tempted, when signs and wonders are demanded of Him, not desired for any
good end, but merely to make trial of.

58 In this so vast wilderness, full of snares and dangers, behold many of them I have cut
off, and thrust out of my heart, as Thou hast given me, O God of my salvation. And yet
when dare I say, since so many things of this kind buzz on all sides about our daily
life—when dare I say that nothing of this sort engages my attention, or causes in me an
idle interest? True, the theatres do not now carry me away, nor care I to know the courses
of the stars, nor did my soul ever consult ghosts departed; all sacrilegious mysteries I
detest. From Thee, O Lord my God, to whom I owe humble and single-hearted service, by what
artifices and suggestions doth the enemy deal with me to desire some sign! But I beseech
Thee by our King, and by our pure and holy country, Jerusalem, that as any consenting
thereto is far from me, so may it ever be further and further. But when I pray Thee for
the salvation of any, my end and intention is far different. Thou givest and wilt give me
to follow Thee willingly, doing what Thou wilt.

59 Notwithstanding, in how many most petty and contemptible things is our curiosity daily
tempted, and how often we give way, who can recount? How often do we begin as if we were
tolerating people telling vain stories, lest we offend the weak; then by degrees we take
interest therein! I go not now to the circus to see a dog coursing a hare; but in the
field, if passing, that coursing peradventure will distract me even from some weighty
thought, and draw me after it: not that I turn aside the body of my beast, yet still
incline my mind thither. And unless Thou, having made me see my infirmity didst speedily
admonish me either through the sight itself by some contemplation to rise towards Thee, or
altogether to despise and pass it by, I dully stand fixed therein. What, when sitting at
home, a lizard catching flies, or a spider entangling them rushing into her nets, oft-
times takes my attention? Is the thing different, because they are but small creatures? I
go on from them to praise Thee the wonderful Creator and Orderer of all, but this does not
first draw my attention. It is one thing to rise quickly, another not to fall. And of such
things is my life full; and my one hope is Thy wonderful great mercy. For when our heart
becomes the receptacle of such things, and is overcharged with throngs of this abundant
vanity, then are our prayers also thereby often interrupted and distracted, and whilst in
Thy presence we direct the voice of our heart to Thine ears, this so great concern is
broken off by the rushing in of I know not what idle thoughts. Shall we then account this
also among things of slight concernment, or shall aught bring us back to hope, save Thy
complete mercy, since Thou hast begun to change us?

60 And Thou knowest how far Thou hast already changed me, who first healedst me of the
lust of vindicating myself, that so Thou mightest forgive all the rest of my iniquities,
and heal all my infirmities, and redeem life from corruption, and crown me with mercy and
pity, and satisfy my desire with good things: who didst curb my pride with Thy fear, and
tame my neck to Thy yoke. And now I bear it and it is light unto me, because so hast Thou
promised, and hast made it; and verily so it was, and I knew it not, when I feared to take
it. 61 But, O Lord, Thou alone Lord without pride, because Thou art the only true Lord,
who hast no lord; hath this third kind of temptation also ceased from me, or can it cease
through this whole life? To wish, namely, to be feared and loved of men, for no other end,
but that we may have a joy therein which is no joy? A miserable life this and a foul
boastfulness! Hence especially it comes that men do neither purely love nor fear Thee. And
therefore dost Thou resist the proud, and givest grace to the humble: yea, Thou thunderest
down upon the ambitions of the world, and the foundations of the mountains tremble.
Because now certain offices of human society make it necessary to be loved and feared of
men, the adversary of our true blessedness layeth hard at us, every where spreading his
snares of "well-done, well-done"; that greedily catching at them, we may be taken
unawares, and sever our joy from Thy truth, and set it in the deceivingness of men; and be
pleased at being loved and feared, not for Thy sake, but in Thy stead: and thus having
been made like him, he may have them for his own, not in the bands of charity, but in the
bonds of punishment: who purposed to set his throne in the north, that dark and chilled
they might serve him, pervertedly and crookedly imitating Thee. But we, O Lord, behold we
are Thy little flock;

62 possess us as Thine, stretch Thy wings over us, and let us fly under them. Be Thou our
glory; let us be loved for Thee, and Thy word feared in us. Who would be praised of men
when Thou blamest, will not be defended of men when Thou judgest; nor delivered when Thou
condemnest. But when—not the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul, nor he blessed
who doth ungodlily, but—a man is praised for some gift which Thou hast given him, and he
rejoices more at the praise for himself than that he hath the gift for which he is
praised, he also is praised, while Thou dispraisest; better is he who praised than he who
is praised. For the one took pleasure in the gift of God in man; the other was better
pleased with the gift of man, than of God. 63 By these temptations we are assailed daily,
O Lord; without ceasing are we assailed. Our daily furnace is the tongue of men. And in
this way also Thou commandest us continence. Give what Thou enjoinest, and enjoin what
Thou wilt. Thou knowest on this matter the groans of my heart, and the floods of mine
eyes. For I cannot learn how far I am more cleansed from this plague, and I much fear my
secret sins, which Thine eyes know, mine do not. For in other kinds of temptations I have
some sort of means of examining myself; in this, scarce any. For, in refraining my mind
from the pleasures of the flesh and idle curiosity, I see how much I have attained to,
when I do without them; foregoing, or not having them. For then I ask myself how much more
or less troublesome it is to me not to have them? Then, riches, which are desired, that
they may serve to some one or two or all of the three concupiscences, if the soul cannot
discern whether, when it hath them, it despiseth them, they may be cast aside, that so it
may prove itself. But to be without praise, and therein essay our powers, must we live
ill, yea so abandonedly and atrociously, that no one should know without detesting us?
What greater madness can be said or thought of? But if praise useth and ought to accompany
a good life and good works, we ought as little to forego its company, as good life itself.
Yet I know not whether I can well or ill be without anything, unless it be absent.

64 What then do I confess unto Thee in this kind of temptation, O Lord? What, but that I
am delighted with praise, but with truth itself, more than with praise? For were it
proposed to me, whether I would, being frenzied in error on all things, be praised by all
men, or being consistent and most settled in the truth be blamed by all, I see which I
should choose. Yet fain would I that the approbation of another should not even increase
my joy for any good in me. Yet I own, it doth increase it, and not so only, but dispraise
doth diminish it. And when I am troubled at this my misery, an excuse occurs to me, which
of what value it is, Thou God knowest, for it leaves me uncertain. For since Thou hast
commanded us not continency alone, that is, from what things to refrain our love, but
righteousness also, that is, whereon to bestow it, and hast willed us to love not Thee
only, but our neighbour also; often, when pleased with intelligent praise, I seem to
myself to be pleased with the proficiency or towardliness of my neighbour, or to be
grieved for evil in him, when I hear him dispraise either what he understands not, or is
good. For sometimes I am grieved at my own praise, either when those things be praised in
me, in which I mislike myself, or even lesser and slight goods are more esteemed than they
ought.

65 But again how know I whether I am therefore thus affected, because I would not have him
who praiseth me differ from me about myself; not as being influenced by concern for him,
but because those same good things which please me in myself, please me more when they
please another also? For some how I am not praised when my judgment of myself is not
praised; forasmuch as either those things are praised, which displease me; or those more,
which please me less. Am I then doubtful of myself in this matter? 66 Behold, in Thee, O
Truth, I see that I ought not to be moved at my own praises, for my own sake, but for the
good of my neighbour. And whether it be so with me, I know not. For herein I know less of
myself than of Thee. I beseech now, O my God, discover to me myself also, that I may
confess unto my brethren, who are to pray for me, wherein I find myself maimed. Let me
examine myself again more diligently. If in my praise I am moved with the good of my
neighbour, why am I less moved if another be unjustly dispraised than if it be myself? Why
am I more stung by reproach cast upon myself, than at that cast upon another, with the
same injustice, before me? Know I not this also? or is it at last that I deceive myself,
and do not the truth before Thee in my heart and tongue? This madness put far from me, O
Lord, lest mine own mouth be to me the sinner's oil to make fat my head. I am poor and
needy; yet best, while in hidden groanings I displease myself, and seek Thy mercy, until
what is lacking in my defective state be renewed and perfected, on to that peace which the
eye of the proud knoweth not.

67 Yet the word which cometh out of the mouth, and deeds known to men, bring with them a
most dangerous temptation through the love of praise: which, to establish a certain
excellency of our own, solicits and collects men's suffrages. It tempts, even when it is
reproved by myself in myself, on the very ground that it is reproved; and often glories
more vainly of the very contempt of vain-glory; and so it is no longer contempt of vain-
glory, whereof it glories; for it doth not contemn when it glorieth. Within also, within
is another evil, arising out of a like temptation; whereby men become vain, pleasing
themselves in themselves, though they please not, or displease or care not to please
others. But pleasing themselves, they much displease Thee, not only taking pleasure in
things not good, as if good, but in Thy good things, as though their own; or even if as
Thine, yet as though for their own merits; or even if as though from Thy grace, yet not
with brotherly rejoicing, but envying that grace to others. In all these and the like
perils and travails, Thou seest the trembling of my heart; and I rather feel my wounds to
be cured by Thee, than not inflicted by me.

68 Where hast Thou not walked with me, O Truth, teaching me what to beware, and what to
desire; when I referred to Thee what I could discover here below, and consulted Thee? With
my outward senses, as I might, I surveyed the world, and observed the life, which my body
hath from me, and these my senses. Thence entered I the recesses of my memory, those
manifold and spacious chambers, wonderfully furnished with innumerable stores; and I
considered, and stood aghast; being able to discern nothing of these things without Thee,
and finding none of them to be Thee. Nor was I myself, who found out these things, who
went over them all, and laboured to distinguish and to value every thing according to its
dignity, taking some things upon the report of my senses, questioning about others which I
felt to be mingled with myself, numbering and distinguishing the reporters themselves, and
in the large treasure-house of my memory revolving some things, storing up others, drawing
out others. Nor yet was I myself when I did this, i.e., that my power whereby I did it,
neither was it Thou, for Thou art the abiding light, which I consulted concerning all
these, whether they were, what they were, and how to be valued; and I heard Thee directing
and commanding me; and this I often do, this delights me, and as far as I may be freed
from necessary duties, unto this pleasure have I recourse.

69 Nor in all these which I run over consulting Thee can I find any safe place for my
soul, but in Thee; whither my scattered members may be gathered, and nothing of me depart
from Thee. And sometimes Thou admittest me to an affection, very unusual, in my inmost
soul; rising to a strange sweetness, which if it were perfected in me, I know not what in
it would not belong to the life to come. But through my miserable encumbrances I sink down
again into these lower things, and am swept back by former custom, and am held, and
greatly weep, but am greatly held. So much doth the burden of a bad custom weigh us down.
Here I can stay, but would not; there I would, but cannot; both ways, miserable. 70 Thus
then have I considered the sicknesses of my sins in that threefold concupiscence, and have
called Thy right hand to my help. For with a wounded heart have I beheld Thy brightness,
and stricken back I said, "Who can attain thither? I am cast away from the sight of Thine
eyes." Thou art the Truth who presidest over all, but I through my covetousness would not
indeed forego Thee, but would with Thee possess a lie; as no man would in such wise speak
falsely, as himself to be ignorant of the truth. So then I lost Thee, because Thou
vouchsafest not to be possessed with a lie.

71 Whom could I find to reconcile me to Thee? was I to have recourse to Angels? by what
prayers? by what sacraments? Many endeavouring to return unto Thee, and of themselves
unable, have, as I hear, tried this, and fallen into the desire of curious visions, and
been accounted worthy to be deluded. For they, being high minded, sought Thee by the pride
of learning, swelling out rather than smiting upon their breasts, and so by the agreement
of their heart, drew unto themselves the princes of the air, the fellow-conspirators of
their pride, by whom, through magical influences, they were deceived, seeking a mediator,
by whom they might be purged, and there was none. For the devil it was, transforming
himself into an Angel of light. And it much enticed proud flesh, that he had no body of
flesh. For they were mortal, and sinners; but thou, Lord, to whom they proudly sought to
be reconciled, art immortal, and without sin. But a mediator between God and man must have
something like to God, something like to men; lest being in both like to man, he should be
far from God: or if in both like God, too unlike man: and so not be a mediator. That
deceitful mediator then, by whom in Thy secret judgments pride deserved to be deluded,
hath one thing in common with man, that is sin; another he would seem to have in common
with God; and not being clothed with the mortality of flesh, would vaunt himself to be
immortal. But since the wages of sin is death, this hath he in common with men, that with
them he should be condemned to death.

72 But the true Mediator, Whom in Thy secret mercy Thou hast showed to the humble, and
sentest, that by His example also they might learn that same humility, that Mediator
between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, appeared betwixt mortal sinners and the
immortal just One; mortal with men, just with God: that because the wages of righteousness
is life and peace, He might by a righteousness conjoined with God make void that death of
sinners, now made righteous, which He willed to have in common with them. Hence He was
showed forth to holy men of old; that so they, through faith in His Passion to come, as we
through faith of it passed, might be saved. For as Man, He was a Mediator; but as the
Word, not in the middle between God and man, because equal to God, and God with God, and
together one God.

73 How hast Thou loved us, good Father, who sparedst not Thine only Son, but deliveredst
Him up for us ungodly! How hast Thou loved us, for whom He that thought it no robbery to
be equal with Thee, was made subject even to the death of the cross, He alone, free among
the dead, having power to lay down His life, and power to take it again: for us to Thee
both Victor and Victim, and therefore Victor, because the Victim; for us to Thee Priest
and Sacrifice, and therefore Priest because the Sacrifice; making us to Thee, of servants,
sons by being born of Thee, and serving us. Well then is my hope strong in Him, that Thou
wilt heal all my infirmities, by Him Who sitteth at Thy right hand and maketh intercession
for us; else should I despair. For many and great are my infirmities, many they are, and
great; but Thy medicine is mightier. We might imagine that Thy Word was far from any union
with man, and despair of ourselves, unless He had been made flesh and dwelt among us.

74 Affrighted with my sins and the burden of my misery, I had cast in my heart, and had
purposed to flee to the wilderness: but Thou forbadest me, and strengthenedst me, saying,
Therefore Christ died for all, that they which live may now no longer live unto
themselves, but unto Him that died for them. See, Lord, I cast my care upon Thee, that I
may live, and consider wondrous things out of Thy law. Thou knowest my unskilfulness, and
my infirmities; teach me, and heal me. He, Thine only Son, in Whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge, hath redeemed me with His blood. Let not the proud
speak evil of me; because I meditate on my ransom, and eat and drink, and communicate it;
and poor, desired to be satisfied from Him, amongst those that eat and are satisfied, and
they shall praise the Lord who seek Him.


THE CONFESSIONS
===============

THE CONFESSIONS continued

BOOK XI

1 Lord, since eternity is Thine, art Thou ignorant of what I say to Thee? or dost Thou see
in time, what passeth in time? Why then do I lay in order before Thee so many relations?
Not, of a truth, that Thou mightest learn them through me, but to stir up mine own and my
readers' devotions towards Thee, that we may all say, Great is the Lord, and greatly to be
praised. I have said already; and again will say, for love of Thy love do I this. For we
pray also, and yet Truth hath said, Your Father knoweth what you have need of, before you
ask. It is then our affections which we lay open unto Thee, confessing our own miseries,
and Thy mercies upon us, that Thou mayest free us wholly, since Thou hast begun, that we
may cease to be wretched in ourselves, and be blessed in Thee; seeing Thou hast called us,
to become poor in spirit, and meek, and mourners, and hungering and athirst after
righteousness, and merciful, and pure in heart, and peace-makers. See, I have told Thee
many things, as I could and as I would, because Thou first wouldest that I should confess
unto Thee, my Lord God. For Thou art good, for Thy mercy endureth for ever.

2 But how shall I suffice with the tongue of my pen to utter all Thy exhortations, and all
Thy terrors, and comforts, and guidances, whereby Thou broughtest me to preach Thy Word,
and dispense Thy Sacrament to Thy people? And if I suffice to utter them in order, the
drops of time are precious with me; and long have I burned to meditate in Thy law, and
therein to confess to Thee my skill and unskilfulness, the day-break of Thy enlightening,
and the remnants of my darkness, until infirmity be swallowed up by strength. And I would
not have aught besides steal away those hours which I find free from the necessities of
refreshing my body and the powers of my mind, and of the service which we owe to men, or
which though we owe not, we yet pay. 3 O Lord my God, give ear unto my prayer, and let Thy
mercy hearken unto my desire: because it is anxious not for myself alone, but would serve
brotherly charity; and Thou seest my heart, that so it is. I would sacrifice to Thee the
service of my thought and tongue; do Thou give me, what I may offer Thee. For I am poor
and needy, Thou rich to all that call upon Thee; Who, inaccessible to care, carest for us.
Circumcise from all rashness and all lying both my inward and outward lips: let Thy
Scriptures be my pure delights: let me not be deceived in them, nor deceive out of them.
Lord, hearken and pity, O Lord my God, Light of the blind, and Strength of the weak; yea
also Light of those that see, and Strength of the strong; hearken unto my soul, and hear
it crying out of the depths. For if Thine ears be not with us in the depths also, whither
shall we go? whither cry? The day is Thine, and the night is Thine; at Thy beck the
moments flee by. Grant thereof a space for our meditations in the hidden things of Thy
law, and close it not against us who knock. For not in vain wouldest Thou have the
darksome secrets of so many pages written; nor are those forests without their harts which
retire therein and range and walk; feed, lie down, and ruminate. Perfect me, O Lord, and
reveal them unto me. Behold, Thy voice is my joy;

4 Thy voice exceedeth the abundance of pleasures. Give what I love: for I do love; and
this hast Thou given: forsake not Thy own gifts, nor despise Thy green herb that
thirsteth. Let me confess unto Thee whatsoever I shall find in Thy books, and hear the
voice of praise, and drink in Thee, and meditate on the wonderful things out of Thy law;
even from the beginning, wherein Thou madest the heaven and the earth, unto the
everlasting reigning of Thy holy city with Thee. 5 Lord, have mercy on me, and hear my
desire. For it is not, I deem, of the earth, not of gold and silver, and precious stones,
or gorgeous apparel, or honours and offices, or the pleasures of the flesh, or necessaries
for the body and for this life of our pilgrimage: all which shall be added unto those that
seek Thy kingdom and Thy righteousness. Behold, O Lord my God, wherein is my desire. The
wicked have told me of delights, but not such as Thy law, O Lord. Behold, wherein is my
desire. Behold, Father, behold, and see and approve; and be it pleasing in the sight of
Thy mercy, that I may find grace before Thee, that the inward parts of Thy words be opened
to me knocking. I beseech by our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, the Man of Thy right hand, the
Son of man, whom Thou hast established for Thyself, as Thy Mediator and ours, through Whom
Thou soughtest us, not seeking Thee, but soughtest us, that we might seek Thee,—Thy Word,
through Whom Thou madest all things, and among them, me also;—Thy Only-Begotten, through
Whom Thou calledst to adoption the believing people, and therein me also;—I beseech Thee
by Him, who sitteth at Thy right hand, and intercedeth with Thee for us, in Whom are
hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. These do I seek in Thy books. Of Him did
Moses write; this saith Himself; this saith the Truth.

6 I would hear and understand, how "In the Beginning Thou madest the heaven and earth."
Moses wrote this, wrote and departed, passed hence from Thee to Thee; nor is he now before
me. For if he were, I would hold him and ask him, and beseech him by Thee to open these
things unto me, and would lay the ears of my body to the sounds bursting out of his mouth.
And should he speak Hebrew, in vain will it strike on my senses, nor would aught of it
touch my mind; but if Latin, I should know what he said. But whence should I know, whether
he spake truth? Yea, and if I knew this also, should I know it from him? Truly within me,
within, in the chamber of my thoughts, Truth, neither Hebrew, nor Greek, nor Latin, nor
barbarian, without organs of voice or tongue, or sound of syllables, would say, "It is
truth," and I forthwith should say confidently to that man of Thine, "thou sayest truly."
Whereas then I cannot enquire of him, Thee, Thee I beseech, O Truth, full of Whom he spake
truth, Thee, my God, I beseech, forgive my sins; and Thou, who gavest him Thy servant to
speak these things, give to me also to understand them.

7 Behold, the heavens and the earth are; they proclaim that they were created; for they
change and vary. Whereas whatsoever hath not been made, and yet is, hath nothing in it,
which before it had not; and this it is, to change and vary. They proclaim also, that they
made not themselves; "therefore we are, because we have been made; we were not therefore,
before we were, so as to make ourselves." Now the evidence of the thing, is the voice of
the speakers. Thou therefore, Lord, madest them; who art beautiful, for they are
beautiful; who art good, for they are good; who art, for they are; yet are they not
beautiful nor good, nor are they, as Thou their Creator art; compared with Whom, they are
neither beautiful, nor good, nor are. This we know, thanks be to Thee. And our knowledge,
compared with Thy knowledge, is ignorance.

8 But how didst Thou make the heaven and the earth? and what the engine of Thy so mighty
fabric? For it was not as a human artificer, forming one body from another, according to
the discretion of his mind, which can in some way invest with such a form, as it seeth in
itself by its inward eye. And whence should he be able to do this, unless Thou hadst made
that mind? and he invests with a form what already existeth, and hath a being, as clay, or
stone, or wood, or gold, or the like. And whence should they be, hadst not Thou appointed
them? Thou madest the artificer his body, Thou the mind commanding the limbs, Thou the
matter whereof he makes any thing; Thou the apprehension whereby to take in his art, and
see within what he doth without; Thou the sense of his body, whereby, as by an
interpreter, he may from mind to matter, convey that which he doth, and report to his mind
what is done; that it within may consult the truth, which presideth over itself, whether
it be well done or no. All these praise Thee, the Creator of all. But how dost Thou make
them? how, O God, didst Thou make heaven and earth? Verily, neither in the heaven, nor in
the earth, didst Thou make heaven and earth; nor in the air, or waters, seeing these also
belong to the heaven and the earth; nor in the whole world didst Thou make the whole
world; because there was no place where to make it, before it was made, that it might be.
Nor didst Thou hold any thing in Thy hand, whereof to make heaven and earth. For whence
shouldest Thou have this, which Thou hadst not made, thereof to make any thing? For what
is, but because Thou art? Therefore Thou spokest, and they were made, and in Thy Word Thou
madest them.

9 But how didst Thou speak? In the way that the voice came out of the cloud, saying, This
is my beloved Son? For that voice passed by and passed away, began and ended; the
syllables sounded and passed away, the second after the first, the third after the second,
and so forth in order, until the last after the rest, and silence after the last. Whence
it is abundantly clear and plain that the motion of a creature expressed it, itself
temporal, serving Thy eternal will. And these Thy words, created for a time, the outward
ear reported to the intelligent soul, whose inward ear lay listening to Thy Eternal Word.
But she compared these words sounding in time, with that Thy Eternal Word in silence, and
said "It is different, far different. These words are far beneath me, nor are they,
because they flee and pass away; but the Word of my Lord abideth above me for ever." If
then in sounding and passing words Thou saidst that heaven and earth should be made, and
so madest heaven and earth, there was a corporeal creature before heaven and earth, by
whose motions in time that voice might take his course in time. But there was nought
corporeal before heaven and earth; or if there were, surely Thou hadst, without such a
passing voice, created that, whereof to make this passing voice, by which to say, Let the
heaven and the earth be made. For whatsoever that were, whereof such a voice were made,
unless by Thee it were made, it could not be at all. By what Word then didst Thou speak,
that a body might be made, whereby these words again might be made?

10 Thou callest us then to understand the Word, God, with Thee God, Which is spoken
eternally, and by It are all things spoken eternally. For what was spoken was not spoken
successively, one thing concluded that the next might be spoken, but all things together
and eternally. Else have we time and change; and not a true eternity nor true immortality.
This I know, O my God, and give thanks. I know, I confess to Thee, O Lord, and with me
there knows and blesses Thee, whoso is not unthankful to assure Truth. We know, Lord, we
know; since inasmuch as anything is not which was, and is, which was not, so far forth it
dieth and ariseth. Nothing then of Thy Word doth give place or replace, because It is
truly immortal and eternal. And therefore unto the Word coeternal with Thee Thou dost at
once and eternally say all that Thou dost say; and whatever Thou sayest shall be made is
made; nor dost Thou make, otherwise than by saying; and yet are not all things made
together, or everlasting, which Thou makest by saying.

11 Why, I beseech Thee, O Lord my God? I see it in a way; but how to express it, I know
not, unless it be, that whatsoever begins to be, and leaves off to be, begins then, and
leaves off then, when in Thy eternal Reason it is known, that it ought to begin or leave
off; in which Reason nothing beginneth or leaveth off. This is Thy Word, which is also
"the Beginning, because also It speaketh unto us." Thus in the Gospel He speaketh through
the flesh; and this sounded outwardly in the ears of men; that it might be believed and
sought inwardly, and found in the eternal Verity; where the good and only Master teacheth
all His disciples. There, Lord, hear I Thy voice speaking unto me; because He speaketh us,
who teacheth us; but He that teacheth us not, though He speaketh, to us He speaketh not.
Who now teacheth us, but the unchangeable Truth? for even when we are admonished through a
changeable creature; we are but led to the unchangeable Truth; where we learn truly, while
we stand and hear Him, and rejoice greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice, restoring us
to Him, from Whom we are. And therefore the Beginning, because unless It abided, there
should not, when we went astray, be whither to return. But when we return from error, it
is through knowing; and that we may know, He teacheth us, because He is the Beginning, and
speaking unto us.

12 In this Beginning, O God, hast Thou made heaven and earth, in Thy Word, in Thy Son, in
Thy Power, in Thy Wisdom, in Thy Truth; wondrously speaking, and wondrously making. Who
shall comprehend? Who declare it? What is that which gleams through me, and strikes my
heart without hurting it; and I shudder and kindle? I shudder, inasmuch as I am unlike it;
I kindle, inasmuch as I am like it. It is Wisdom, Wisdom's self which gleameth through me;
severing my cloudiness which yet again mantles over me, fainting from it, through the
darkness which for my punishment gathers upon me. For my strength is brought down in need,
so that I cannot support my blessings, till Thou, Lord, Who hast been gracious to all mine
iniquities, shalt heal all my infirmities. For Thou shalt also redeem my life from
corruption, and crown me with loving kindness and tender mercies, and shalt satisfy my
desire with good things, because my youth shall be renewed like an eagle's. For in hope we
are saved, wherefore we through patience wait for Thy promises. Let him that is able, hear
Thee inwardly discoursing out of Thy oracle: I will boldly cry out, How wonderful are Thy
works, O Lord, in Wisdom hast Thou made them all; and this Wisdom is the Beginning, and in
that Beginning didst Thou make heaven and earth.

13 Lo, are they not full of their old leaven, who say to us, "What was God doing before He
made heaven and earth? For if (say they) He were unemployed and wrought not, why does He
not also henceforth, and for ever, as He did heretofore? For did any new motion arise in
God, and a new will to make a creature, which He had never before made, how then would
that be a true eternity, where there ariseth a will, which was not? For the will of God is
not a creature, but before the creature; seeing nothing could be created, unless the will
of the Creator had preceded. The will of God then belongeth to His very Substance. And if
aught have arisen in God's Substance, which before was not, that Substance cannot be truly
called eternal. But if the will of God has been from eternity that the creature should be,
why was not the creature also from eternity?"

14 Who speak thus, do not yet understand Thee, O Wisdom of God, Light of souls, understand
not yet how the things be made, which by Thee, and in Thee are made: yet they strive to
comprehend things eternal, whilst their heart fluttereth between the motions of things
past and to come, and is still unstable. Who shall hold it, and fix it, that it be settled
awhile, and awhile catch the glory of that ever-fixed Eternity, and compare it with the
times which are never fixed, and see that it cannot be compared; and that a long time
cannot become long, but out of many motions passing by, which cannot be prolonged
altogether; but that in the Eternal nothing passeth, but the whole is present; whereas no
time is all at once present: and that all time past, is driven on by time to come, and all
to come followeth upon the past; and all past and to come, is created, and flows out of
that which is ever present? Who shall hold the heart of man, that it may stand still, and
see how eternity ever still-standing, neither past nor to come, uttereth the times past
and to come? Can my hand do this, or the hand of my mouth by speech bring about a thing so
great?

15 See, I answer him that asketh, "What did God before He made heaven and earth?" I answer
not as one is said to have done merrily (eluding the pressure of the question), "He was
preparing hell (saith he) for pryers into mysteries." It is one thing to answer enquiries,
another to make sport of enquirers. So I answer not; for rather had I answer, "I know
not," what I know not, than so as to raise a laugh at him who asketh deep things and gain
praise for one who answereth false things. But I say that Thou, our God, art the Creator
of every creature: and if by the name "heaven and earth," every creature be understood; I
boldly say, "that before God made heaven and earth, He did not make any thing." For if He
made, what did He make but a creature? And would I knew whatsoever I desire to know to my
profit, as I know, that no creature was made, before there was made any creature.

16 But if any excursive brain rove over the images of forepassed times, and wonder that
Thou the God Almighty and All-creating and All-supporting, Maker of heaven and earth,
didst for innumerable ages forbear from so great a work, before Thou wouldest make it; let
him awake and consider, that he wonders at false conceits. For whence could innumerable
ages pass by, which Thou madest not, Thou the Author and Creator of all ages? or what
times should there be, which were not made by Thee? or how should they pass by, if they
never were? Seeing then Thou art the Creator of all times, if any time was before Thou
madest heaven and earth, why say they that Thou didst forego working? For that very time
didst Thou make, nor could times pass by, before Thou madest those times. But if before
heaven and earth there was no time, why is it demanded, what Thou then didst? For there
was no "then," when there was no time.

17 Nor dost Thou by time, precede time: else shouldest Thou not precede all times. But
Thou precedest all things past, by the sublimity of an ever-present eternity; and
surpassest all future because they are future, and when they come, they shall be past; but
Thou art the Same, and Thy years fail not. Thy years neither come nor go; whereas ours
both come and go, that they all may come. Thy years stand together, because they do stand;
nor are departing thrust out by coming years, for they pass not away; but ours shall all
be, when they shall no more be. Thy years are one day; and Thy day is not daily, but To-
day, seeing Thy To-day gives not place unto tomorrow, for neither doth it replace
yesterday. Thy To-day, is Eternity; therefore didst Thou beget The Coeternal, to whom Thou
saidst, This day have I begotten Thee. Thou hast made all things; and before all times
Thou art: neither in any time was time not.

18 At no time then hadst Thou not made any thing, because time itself Thou madest. And no
times are coeternal with Thee, because Thou abidest; but if they abode, they should not be
times. For what is time? Who can readily and briefly explain this? Who can even in thought
comprehend it, so as to utter a word about it? But what in discourse do we mention more
familiarly and knowingly, than time? And, we understand, when we speak of it; we
understand also, when we hear it spoken of by another. What then is time? If no one asks
me, I know: if I wish to explain it to one that asketh, I know not: yet I say boldly that
I know, that if nothing passed away, time past were not; and if nothing were coming, a
time to come were not; and if nothing were, time present were not. Those two times then,
past and to come, how are they, seeing the past now is not, and that to come is not yet?
But the present, should it always be present, and never pass into time past, verily it
should not be time, but eternity. If time present (if it is to be time) only cometh into
existence, because it passeth into time past, how can we say that either this is, whose
cause of being is, that it shall not be; so, namely, that we cannot truly say that time
is, but because it is tending not to be?

19 And yet we say, "a long time" and "a short time"; still, only of time past or to come.
A long time past (for example) we call an hundred years since; and a long time to come, an
hundred years hence. But a short time past, we call (suppose) often days since; and a
short time to come, often days hence. But in what sense is that long or short, which is
not? For the past, is not now; and the future, is not yet. Let us not then say, "it is
long"; but of the past, "it hath been long"; and of the future, "it will be long." O my
Lord, my Light, shall not here also Thy Truth mock at man? For that past time which was
long, was it long when it was now past, or when it was yet present? For then might it be
long, when there was, what could be long; but when past, it was no longer; wherefore
neither could that be long, which was not at all. Let us not then say, "time past hath
been long": for we shall not find, what hath been long, seeing that since it was past, it
is no more, but let us say, "that present time was long"; because, when it was present, it
was long. For it had not yet passed away, so as not to be; and therefore there was, what
could be long; but after it was past, that ceased also to be long, which ceased to be.

20 Let us see then, thou soul of man, whether present time can be long: for to thee it is
given to feel and to measure length of time. What wilt thou answer me? Are an hundred
years, when present, a long time? See first, whether an hundred years can be present. For
if the first of these years be now current, it is present, but the other ninety and nine
are to come, and therefore are not yet, but if the second year be current, one is now
past, another present, the rest to come. And so if we assume any middle year of this
hundred to be present, all before it, are past; all after it, to come; wherefore an
hundred years cannot be present. But see at least whether that one which is now current,
itself is present; for if the current month be its first, the rest are to come; if the
second, the first is already past, and the rest are not yet. Therefore, neither is the
year now current present; and if not present as a whole, then is not the year present. For
twelve months are a year; of which whatever by the current month is present; the rest
past, or to come. Although neither is that current month present; but one day only; the
rest being to come, if it be the first; past, if the last; if any of the middle, then amid
past and to come.

21 See how the present time, which alone we found could be called long, is abridged to the
length scarce of one day. But let us examine that also; because neither is one day present
as a whole. For it is made up of four and twenty hours of night and day: of which, the
first hath the rest to come; the last hath them past; and any of the middle hath those
before it past, those behind it to come. Yea, that one hour passeth away in flying
particles. Whatsoever of it hath flown away, is past; whatsoever remaineth, is to come. If
an instant of time be conceived, which cannot be divided into the smallest particles of
moments, that alone is it, which may be called present. Which yet flies with such speed
from future to past, as not to be lengthened out with the least stay. For if it be, it is
divided into past and future. The present hath no space. Where then is the time, which we
may call long? Is it to come? Of it we do not say, "it is long"; because it is not yet, so
as to be long; but we say, "it will be long." When therefore will it be? For if even then,
when it is yet to come, it shall not be long (because what can be long, as yet is not),
and so it shall then be long, when from future which as yet is not, it shall begin now to
be, and have become present, that so there should exist what may be long; then does time
present cry out in the words above, that it cannot be long.

22 And yet, Lord, we perceive intervals of times, and compare them, and say, some are
shorter, and others longer. We measure also, how much longer or shorter this time is than
that; and we answer, "This is double, or treble; and that, but once, or only just so much
as that." But we measure times as they are passing, by perceiving them; but past, which
now are not, or the future, which are not yet, who can measure? unless a man shall presume
to say, that can be measured, which is not. When then time is passing, it may be perceived
and measured; but when it is past, it cannot, because it is not. I ask, Father, I affirm
not: O my God, rule and guide me. "Who will tell me that there are not three times (as we
learned when boys, and taught boys), past, present, and future; but present only, because
those two are not? Or are they also; and when from future it becometh present, doth it
come out of some secret place; and so, when retiring, from present it becometh past? For
where did they, who foretold things to come, see them, if as yet they be not? For that
which is not, cannot be seen. And they who relate things past, could not relate them, if
in mind they did not discern them, and if they were not, they could no way be discerned.
Things then past and to come, are."

23 Permit me, Lord, to seek further. O my hope, let not my purpose be confounded. For if
times past and to come be, I would know where they be. Which yet if I cannot, yet I know,
wherever they be, they are not there as future, or past, but present. For if there also
they be future, they are not yet there; if there also they be past, they are no longer
there. Wheresoever then is whatsoever is, it is only as present. Although when past facts
are related, there are drawn out of the memory, not the things themselves which are past,
but words which, conceived by the images of the things, they, in passing, have through the
senses left as traces in the mind. Thus my childhood, which now is not, is in time past,
which now is not: but now when I recall its image, and tell of it, I behold it in the
present, because it is still in my memory. Whether there be a like cause of foretelling
things to come also; that of things which as yet are not, the images may be perceived
before, already existing, I confess, O my God, I know not. This indeed I know, that we
generally think before on our future actions, and that that forethinking is present, but
the action whereof we forethink is not yet, because it is to come. Which, when we have set
upon, and have begun to do what we were forethinking, then shall that action be; because
then it is no longer future, but present.

24 Which way soever then this secret fore-perceiving of things to come be; that only can
be seen, which is. But what now is, is not future, but present. When then things to come
are said to be seen, it is not themselves which as yet are not (that is, which are to be),
but their causes perchance or signs are seen, which already are. Therefore they are not
future but present to those who now see that, from which the future, being foreconceived
in the mind, is foretold. Which fore-conceptions again now are; and those who foretell
those things, do behold the conceptions present before them. Let now the numerous variety
of things furnish me some example. I behold the day-break, I foreshow, that the sun, is
about to rise. What I behold, is present; what I foresignify, to come; not the sun, which
already is; but the sun-rising, which is not yet. And yet did I not in my mind imagine the
sun-rising itself (as now while I speak of it), I could not foretell it. But neither is
that day-break which I discern in the sky, the sun-rising, although it goes before it; nor
that imagination of my mind; which two are seen now present, that the other which is to be
may be foretold. Future things then are not yet: and if they be not yet, they are not: and
if they are not, they cannot be seen; yet foretold they may be from things present, which
are already, and are seen.

25 Thou then, Ruler of Thy creation, by what way dost Thou teach souls things to come? For
Thou didst teach Thy Prophets. By what way dost Thou, to whom nothing is to come, teach
things to come; or rather of the future, dost teach things present? For, what is not,
neither can it be taught. Too far is this way of my ken: it is too mighty for me, I cannot
attain unto it; but from Thee I can, when Thou shalt vouchsafe it, O sweet light of my
hidden eyes. What now is clear and plain is, that neither things to come nor past are. Nor
is it properly said, "there be three times, past, present, and to come": yet perchance it
might be properly said, "there be three times; a present of things past, a present of
things present, and a present of things future." For these three do exist in some sort, in
the soul, but otherwhere do I not see them; present of things past, memory; present of
things present, sight; present of things future, expectation. If thus we be permitted to
speak, I see three times, and I confess there are three. Let it be said too, "there be
three times, past, present, and to come": in our incorrect way. See, I object not, nor
gainsay, nor find fault, if what is so said be but understood, that neither what is to be,
now is, nor what is past. For but few things are there, which we speak properly, most
things improperly; still the things intended are understood.

26 I said then even now, we measure times as they pass, in order to be able to say, this
time is twice so much as that one; or, this is just so much as that; and so of any other
parts of time, which be measurable. Wherefore, as I said, we measure times as they pass.
And if any should ask me, "How knowest thou?" I might answer, "I know, that we do measure,
nor can we measure things that are not; and things past and to come, are not." But time
present how do we measure, seeing it hath no space? It is measured while passing, but when
it shall have passed, it is not measured; for there will be nothing to be measured. But
whence, by what way, and whither passes it while it is a measuring? whence, but from the
future? Which way, but through the present? whither, but into the past? From that
therefore, which is not yet, through that, which hath no space, into that, which now is
not. Yet what do we measure, if not time in some space? For we do not say, single, and
double, and triple, and equal, or any other like way that we speak of time, except of
spaces of times. In what space then do we measure time passing? In the future, whence it
passeth through? But what is not yet, we measure not. Or in the present, by which it
passes? but no space, we do not measure: or in the past, to which it passes? But neither
do we measure that, which now is not.

27 My soul is on fire to know this most intricate enigma. Shut it not up, O Lord my God,
good Father; through Christ I beseech Thee, do not shut up these usual, yet hidden things,
from my desire, that it be hindered from piercing into them; but let them dawn through Thy
enlightening mercy, O Lord. Whom shall I enquire of concerning these things? and to whom
shall I more fruitfully confess my ignorance, than to Thee, to Whom these my studies, so
vehemently kindled toward Thy Scriptures, are not troublesome? Give what I love; for I do
love, and this hast Thou given me. Give, Father, Who truly knowest to give good gifts unto
Thy children. Give, because I have taken upon me to know, and trouble is before me until
Thou openest it. By Christ I beseech Thee, in His Name, Holy of holies, let no man disturb
me. For I believed, and therefore do I speak. This is my hope, for this do I live, that I
may contemplate the delights of the Lord. Behold, Thou hast made my days old, and they
pass away, and how, I know not. And we talk of time, and time, and times, and times, "How
long time is it since he said this"; "how long time since he did this"; and "how long time
since I saw that"; and "this syllable hath double time to that single short syllable."
These words we speak, and these we hear, and are understood, and understand. Most manifest
and ordinary they are, and the self-same things again are but too deeply hidden, and the
discovery of them were new.

28 I heard once from a learned man, that the motions of the sun, moon, and stars,
constituted time, and I assented not. For why should not the motions of all bodies rather
be times? Or, if the lights of heaven should cease, and a potter's wheel run round, should
there be no time by which we might measure those whirlings, and say, that either it moved
with equal pauses, or if it turned sometimes slower, otherwhiles quicker, that some rounds
were longer, other shorter? Or, while we were saying this, should we not also be speaking
in time? Or, should there in our words be some syllables short, others long, but because
those sounded in a shorter time, these in a longer? God, grant to men to see in a small
thing notices common to things great and small. The stars and lights of heaven, are also
for signs, and for seasons, and for years, and for days; they are; yet neither should I
say, that the going round of that wooden wheel was a day, nor yet he, that it was
therefore no time.

29 I desire to know the force and nature of time, by which we measure the motions of
bodies, and say (for example) this motion is twice as long as that. For I ask, Seeing
"day" denotes not the stay only of the sun upon the earth (according to which day is one
thing, night another); but also its whole circuit from east to east again; according to
which we say, "there passed so many days," the night being included when we say, "so many
days," and the nights not reckoned apart;—seeing then a day is completed by the motion of
the sun and by his circuit from east to east again, I ask, does the motion alone make the
day, or the stay in which that motion is completed, or both? For if the first be the day;
then should we have a day, although the sun should finish that course in so small a space
of time, as one hour comes to. If the second, then should not that make a day, if between
one sun-rise and another there were but so short a stay, as one hour comes to; but the sun
must go four and twenty times about, to complete one day. If both, then neither could that
be called a day; if the sun should run his whole round in the space of one hour; nor that,
if, while the sun stood still, so much time should overpass, as the sun usually makes his
whole course in, from morning to morning.

30 I will not therefore now ask, what that is which is called day; but, what time is,
whereby we, measuring the circuit of the sun, should say that it was finished in half the
time it was wont, if so be it was finished in so small a space as twelve hours; and
comparing both times, should call this a single time, that a double time; even supposing
the sun to run his round from east to east, sometimes in that single, sometimes in that
double time. Let no man then tell me, that the motions of the heavenly bodies constitute
times, because, when at the prayer of one, the sun had stood still, till he could achieve
his victorious battle, the sun stood still, but time went on. For in its own allotted
space of time was that battle waged and ended. I perceive time then to be a certain
extension. But do I perceive it, or seem to perceive it? Thou, Light and Truth, wilt show
me.

31 Dost Thou bid me assent, if any define time to be "motion of a body?" Thou dost not bid
me. For that no body is moved, but in time, I hear; this Thou sayest; but that the motion
of a body is time, I hear not; Thou sayest it not. For when a body is moved, I by time
measure, how long it moveth, from the time it began to move until it left off? And if I
did not see whence it began; and it continue to move so that I see not when it ends, I
cannot measure, save perchance from the time I began, until I cease to see. And if I look
long, I can only pronounce it to be a long time, but not how long; because when we say
"how long," we do it by comparison; as, "this is as long as that," or "twice so long as
that," or the like. But when we can mark the distances of the places, whence and whither
goeth the body moved, or his parts, if it moved as in a lathe, then can we say precisely,
in how much time the motion of that body or his part, from this place unto that, was
finished. Seeing therefore the motion of a body is one thing, that by which we measure how
long it is, another; who sees not, which of the two is rather to be called time? For and
if a body be sometimes moved, sometimes stands still, then we measure, not his motion
only, but his standing still too by time; and we say, "it stood still, as much as it
moved"; or "it stood still twice or thrice so long as it moved"; or any other space which
our measuring hath either ascertained, or guessed; more or less, as we use to say. Time
then is not the motion of a body.

32 And I confess to Thee, O Lord, that I yet know not what time is, and again I confess
unto Thee, O Lord, that I know that I speak this in time, and that having long spoken of
time, that very "long" is not long, but by the pause of time. How then know I this, seeing
I know not what time is? or is it perchance that I know not how to express what I know?
Woe is me, that do not even know, what I know not. Behold, O my God, before Thee I lie
not; but as I speak, so is my heart. Thou shalt light my candle; Thou, O Lord my God, wilt
enlighten my darkness. 33 Does not my soul most truly confess unto Thee, that I do measure
times? Do I then measure, O my God, and know not what I measure? I measure the motion of a
body in time; and the time itself do I not measure? Or could I indeed measure the motion
of a body how long it were, and in how long space it could come from this place to that,
without measuring the time in which it is moved? This same time then, how do I measure? do
we by a shorter time measure a longer, as by the space of a cubit, the space of a rood?
for so indeed we seem by the space of a short syllable, to measure the space of a long
syllable, and to say that this is double the other. Thus measure we the spaces of stanzas,
by the spaces of the verses, and the spaces of the verses, by the spaces of the feet, and
the spaces of the feet, by the spaces of the syllables, and the spaces of long, by the
space of short syllables; not measuring by pages (for then we measure spaces, not times);
but when we utter the words and they pass by, and we say "it is a long stanza, because
composed of so many verses; long verses, because consisting of so many feet; long feet,
because prolonged by so many syllables; a long syllable because double to a short one. But
neither do we this way obtain any certain measure of time;

34 because it may be, that a shorter verse, pronounced more fully, may take up more time
than a longer, pronounced hurriedly. And so for a verse, a foot, a syllable. Whence it
seemed to me, that time is nothing else than protraction; but of what, I know not; and I
marvel, if it be not of the mind itself? For what, I beseech Thee, O my God, do I measure,
when I say, either indefinitely "this is a longer time than that," or definitely "this is
double that"? That I measure time, I know; and yet I measure not time to come, for it is
not yet; nor present, because it is not protracted by any space; nor past, because it now
is not. What then do I measure? Times passing, not past? for so I said. 35 Courage, my
mind, and press on mightily. God is our helper, He made us, and not we ourselves. Press on
where truth begins to dawn. Suppose, now, the voice of a body begins to sound, and does
sound, and sounds on, and list, it ceases; it is silence now, and that voice is past, and
is no more a voice. Before it sounded, it was to come, and could not be measured, because
as yet it was not, and now it cannot, because it is no longer. Then therefore while it
sounded, it might; because there then was what might be measured. But yet even then it was
not at a stay; for it was passing on, and passing away. Could it be measured the rather,
for that? For while passing, it was being extended into some space of time, so that it
might be measured, since the present hath no space. If therefore then it might, then, lo,
suppose another voice hath begun to sound, and still soundeth in one continued tenor
without any interruption; let us measure it while it sounds; seeing when it hath left
sounding, it will then be past, and nothing left to be measured; let us measure it verily,
and tell how much it is. But it sounds still, nor can it be measured but from the instant
it began in, unto the end it left in. For the very space between is the thing we measure,
namely, from some beginning unto some end.

36 Wherefore, a voice that is not yet ended, cannot be measured, so that it may be said
how long, or short it is; nor can it be called equal to another, or double to a single, or
the like. But when ended, it no longer is. How may it then be measured? And yet we measure
times; but yet neither those which are not yet, nor those which no longer are, nor those
which are not lengthened out by some pause, nor those which have no bounds. We measure
neither times to come, nor past, nor present, nor passing; and yet we do measure times. 37
"Deus Creator omnium," this verse of eight syllables alternates between short and long
syllables. The four short then, the first, third, fifth, and seventh, are but single, in
respect of the four long, the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth. Every one of these to
every one of those, hath a double time: I pronounce them, report on them, and find it so,
as one's plain sense perceives. By plain sense then, I measure a long syllable by a short,
and I sensibly find it to have twice so much; but when one sounds after the other, if the
former be short, the latter long, how shall I detain the short one, and how, measuring,
shall I apply it to the long, that I may find this to have twice so much; seeing the long
does not begin to sound, unless the short leaves sounding? And that very long one do I
measure as present, seeing I measure it not till it be ended? Now his ending is his
passing away. What then is it I measure? where is the short syllable by which I measure?
where the long which I measure? Both have sounded, have flown, passed away, are no more;
and yet I measure, and confidently answer (so far as is presumed on a practised sense)
that as to space of time this syllable is but single, that double. And yet I could not do
this, unless they were already past and ended. It is not then themselves, which now are
not, that I measure, but something in my memory, which there remains fixed.

38 It is in thee, my mind, that I measure times. Interrupt me not, that is, interrupt not
thyself with the tumults of thy impressions. In thee I measure times; the impression,
which things as they pass by cause in thee, remains even when they are gone; this it is
which still present, I measure, not the things which pass by to make this impression. This
I measure, when I measure times. Either then this is time, or I do not measure times. What
when we measure silence, and say that this silence hath held as long time as did that
voice? do we not stretch out our thought to the measure of a voice, as if it sounded, that
so we may be able to report of the intervals of silence in a given space of time? For
though both voice and tongue be still, yet in thought we go over poems, and verses, and
any other discourse, or dimensions of motions, and report as to the spaces of times, how
much this is in respect of that, no otherwise than if vocally we did pronounce them. If a
man would utter a lengthened sound, and had settled in thought how long it should be, he
hath in silence already gone through a space of time, and committing it to memory, begins
to utter that speech, which sounds on, until it be brought unto the end proposed. Yea it
hath sounded, and will sound; for so much of it as is finished, hath sounded already, and
the rest will sound. And thus passeth it on, until the present intent conveys over the
future into the past; the past increasing by the diminution of the future, until by the
consumption of the future, all is past.

39 But how is that future diminished or consumed, which as yet is not? or how that past
increased, which is now no longer, save that in the mind which enacteth this, there be
three things done? For it expects, it considers, it remembers; that so that which it
expecteth, through that which it considereth, passeth into that which it remembereth. Who
therefore denieth, that things to come are not as yet? and yet, there is in the mind an
expectation of things to come. And who denies past things to be now no longer? and yet is
there still in the mind a memory of things past. And who denieth the present time hath no
space, because it passeth away in a moment? and yet our consideration continueth, through
which that which shall be present proceedeth to become absent. It is not then future time,
that is long, for as yet it is not: but a long future, is "a long expectation of the
future," nor is it time past, which now is not, that is long; but a long past, is "a long
memory of the past."

40 I am about to repeat a Psalm that I know. Before I begin, my expectation is extended
over the whole; but when I have begun, how much soever of it I shall separate off into the
past, is extended along my memory; thus the life of this action of mine is divided between
my memory as to what I have repeated, and expectation as to what I am about to repeat; but
"consideration" is present with me, that through it what was future, may be conveyed over,
so as to become past. Which the more it is done again and again, so much the more the
expectation being shortened, is the memory enlarged: till the whole expectation be at
length exhausted, when that whole action being ended, shall have passed into memory. And
this which takes place in the whole Psalm, the same takes place in each several portion of
it, and each several syllable; the same holds in that longer action, whereof this Psalm
may be part; the same holds in the whole life of man, whereof all the actions of man are
parts; the same holds through the whole age of the sons of men, whereof all the lives of
men are parts.

41 But because Thy loving-kindness is better than all lives, behold, my life is but a
distraction, and Thy right hand upheld me, in my Lord the Son of man, the Mediator betwixt
Thee, The One, and us many, many also through our manifold distractions amid many things,
that by Him I may apprehend in Whom I have been apprehended, and may be re-collected from
my old conversation, to follow The One, forgetting what is behind, and not distended but
extended, not to things which shall be and shall pass away, but to those things which are
before, not distractedly but intently, I follow on for the prize of my heavenly calling,
where I may hear the voice of Thy praise, and contemplate Thy delights, neither to come,
nor to pass away. But now are my years spent in mourning. And Thou, O Lord, art my
comfort, my Father everlasting, but I have been severed amid times, whose order I know
not; and my thoughts, even the inmost bowels of my soul, are rent and mangled with
tumultuous varieties, until I flow together into Thee, purified and molten by the fire of
Thy love.

42 And now will I stand, and become firm in Thee, in my mould, Thy truth; nor will I
endure the questions of men, who by a penal disease thirst for more than they can contain,
and say, "what did God before He made heaven and earth?" Or, "How came it into His mind to
make any thing, having never before made any thing?" Give them, O Lord, well to bethink
themselves what they say, and to find, that "never" cannot be predicated, when "time" is
not. This then that He is said "never to have made"; what else is it to say, than "in 'no
time' to have made?" Let them see therefore, that time cannot be without created being,
and cease to speak that vanity. May they also be extended towards those things which are
before; and understand Thee before all times, the eternal Creator of all times, and that
no times be coeternal with Thee, nor any creature, even if there be any creature before
all times.

43 O Lord my God, what a depth is that recess of Thy mysteries, and how far from it have
the consequences of my transgressions cast me! Heal mine eyes, that I may share the joy of
Thy light. Certainly, if there be mind gifted with such vast knowledge and foreknowledge,
as to know all things past and to come, as I know one well-known Psalm, truly that mind is
passing wonderful, and fearfully amazing; in that nothing past, nothing to come in after-
ages, is any more hidden from him, than when I sung that Psalm, was hidden from me what,
and how much of it had passed away from the beginning, what, and how much there remained
unto the end. But far be it that Thou the Creator of the Universe, the Creator of souls
and bodies, far be it, that Thou shouldest in such wise know all things past and to come.
Far, far more wonderfully, and far more mysteriously, dost Thou know them. For not, as the
feelings of one who singeth what he knoweth, or heareth some well-known song, are through
expectation of the words to come, and the remembering of those that are past, varied, and
his senses divided,—not so doth any thing happen unto Thee, unchangeably eternal, that is,
the eternal Creator of minds. Like then as Thou in the Beginning knewest the heaven and
the earth, without any variety of Thy knowledge, so madest Thou in the Beginning heaven
and earth, without any distraction of Thy action. Whoso understandeth, let him confess
unto Thee; and whoso understandeth not, let him confess unto Thee. Oh how high art Thou,
and yet the humble in heart are Thy dwelling-place; for Thou raisest up those that are
bowed down, and they fall not, whose elevation Thou art.


THE CONFESSIONS
===============

THE CONFESSIONS continued

BOOK XII

1 My heart, O Lord, touched with the words of Thy Holy Scripture, is much busied, amid
this poverty of my life. And therefore most times, is the poverty of human understanding
copious in words, because enquiring hath more to say than discovering, and demanding is
longer than obtaining, and our hand that knocks, hath more work to do, than our hand that
receives. We hold the promise, who shall make it null? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him
that knocketh, shall it be opened. These be Thine own promises: and who need fear to be
deceived, when the Truth promiseth? The lowliness of my tongue confesseth unto Thy
Highness, that Thou madest heaven and earth; this heaven which I see, and this earth that
I tread upon, whence is this earth that I bear about me; Thou madest it. But where is that
heaven of heavens, O Lord, which we hear of in the words of the Psalm. The heaven of
heavens are the Lord's; but the earth hath He given to the children of men? Where is that
heaven which we see not, to which all this which we see is earth? For this corporeal
whole, not being wholly every where, hath in such wise received its portion of beauty in
these lower parts, whereof the lowest is this our earth; but to that heaven of heavens,
even the heaven of our earth, is but earth: yea both these great bodies, may not absurdly
be called earth, to that unknown heaven, which is the Lord's, not the sons' of men.

2 And now this earth was invisible and without form, and there was I know not what depth
of abyss, upon which there was no light, because it had no shape. Therefore didst Thou
command it to be written, that darkness was upon the face of the deep; what else than the
absence of light? For had there been light, where should it have been but by being over
all, aloft, and enlightening? Where then light was not, what was the presence of darkness,
but the absence of light? Darkness therefore was upon it, because light was not upon it;
as where sound is not, there is silence. And what is it to have silence there, but to have
no sound there? Hast not Thou, O Lord, taught his soul, which confesseth unto Thee? Hast
not Thou taught me, Lord, that before Thou formedst and diversifiedst this formless
matter, there was nothing, neither colour, nor figure, nor body, nor spirit? and yet not
altogether nothing; for there was a certain formlessness, without any beauty.

3 How then should it be called, that it might be in some measure conveyed to those of
duller mind, but by some ordinary word? And what, among all parts of the world can be
found nearer to an absolute formlessness, than earth and deep? For, occupying the lowest
stage, they are less beautiful than the other higher parts are, transparent all and
shining. Wherefore then may I not conceive the formlessness of matter (which Thou hadst
created without beauty, whereof to make this beautiful world) to be suitably intimated
unto men, by the name of earth invisible and without form. So that when thought seeketh
what the sense may conceive under this, and saith to itself, "It is no intellectual form,
as life, or justice; because it is the matter of bodies; nor object of sense, because
being invisible, and without form, there was in it no object of sight or sense";—while
man's thought thus saith to itself, it may endeavour either to know it, by being ignorant
of it; or to be ignorant, by knowing it.

4 But I, Lord, if I would, by my tongue and my pen, confess unto Thee the whole, whatever
Thyself hath taught me of that matter,—the name whereof hearing before, and not
understanding, when they who understood it not, told me of it, so I conceived of it as
having innumerable forms and diverse, and therefore did not conceive it at all, my mind
tossed up and down foul and horrible "forms" out of all order, but yet "forms" and I
called it without form not that it wanted all form, but because it had such as my mind
would, if presented to it, turn from, as unwonted and jarring, and human frailness would
be troubled at. And still that which I conceived, was without form, not as being deprived
of all form, but in comparison of more beautiful forms; and true reason did persuade me,
that I must utterly uncase it of all remnants of form whatsoever, if I would conceive
matter absolutely without form; and I could not; for sooner could I imagine that not to be
at all, which should be deprived of all form, than conceive a thing betwixt form and
nothing, neither formed, nor nothing, a formless almost nothing. So my mind gave over to
question thereupon with my spirit, it being filled with the images of formed bodies, and
changing and varying them, as it willed;

5 and I bent myself to the bodies themselves, and looked more deeply into their
changeableness, by which they cease to be what they have been, and begin to be what they
were not; and this same shifting from form to form, I suspected to be through a certain
formless state, not through a mere nothing; yet this I longed to know, not to suspect
only.-If then my voice and pen would confess unto Thee the whole, whatsoever knots Thou
didst open for me in this question, what reader would hold out to take in the whole? Nor
shall my heart for all this cease to give Thee honour, and a song of praise, for those
things which it is not able to express. For the changeableness of changeable things, is
itself capable of all those forms, into which these changeable things are changed. And
this changeableness, what is it? Is it soul? Is it body? Is it that which constituteth
soul or body? Might one say, "a nothing something", an "is, is not," I would say, this
were it: and yet in some way was it even then, as being capable of receiving these visible
and compound figures.

6 But whence had it this degree of being, but from Thee, from Whom are all things, so far
forth as they are? But so much the further from Thee, as the unliker Thee; for it is not
farness of place. Thou therefore, Lord, Who art not one in one place, and otherwise in
another, but the Self-same, and the Self-same, and the Self-same, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God Almighty, didst in the Beginning, which is of Thee, in Thy Wisdom, which was born of
Thine own Substance, create something, and that out of nothing. For Thou createdst heaven
and earth; not out of Thyself, for so should they have been equal to Thine Only Begotten
Son, and thereby to Thee also; whereas no way were it right that aught should be equal to
Thee, which was not of Thee. And aught else besides Thee was there not, whereof Thou
mightest create them, O God, One Trinity, and Trine Unity; and therefore out of nothing
didst Thou create heaven and earth; a great thing, and a small thing; for Thou art
Almighty and Good, to make all things good, even the great heaven, and the petty earth.
Thou wert, and nothing was there besides, out of which Thou createdst heaven and earth;
things of two sorts; one near Thee, the other near to nothing; one to which Thou alone
shouldest be superior; the other, to which nothing should be inferior.

7 But that heaven of heavens was for Thyself, O Lord; but the earth which Thou gavest to
the sons of men, to be seen and felt, was not such as we now see and feel. For it was
invisible, without form, and there was a deep, upon which there was no light; or, darkness
was above the deep, that is, more than in the deep. Because this deep of waters, visible
now, hath even in his depths, a light proper for its nature; perceivable in whatever
degree unto the fishes, and creeping things in the bottom of it. But that whole deep was
almost nothing, because hitherto it was altogether without form; yet there was already
that which could be formed. For Thou, Lord, madest the world of a matter without form,
which out of nothing, Thou madest next to nothing, thereof to make those great things,
which we sons of men wonder at. For very wonderful is this corporeal heaven; of which
firmament between water and water, the second day, after the creation of light, Thou
saidst, Let it be made, and it was made. Which firmament Thou calledst heaven; the heaven,
that is, to this earth and sea, which Thou madest the third day, by giving a visible
figure to the formless matter, which Thou madest before all days. For already hadst Thou
made both an heaven, before all days; but that was the heaven of this heaven; because In
the beginning Thou hadst made heaven and earth.

8 But this same earth which Thou madest was formless matter, because it was invisible and
without form, and darkness was upon the deep, of which invisible earth and without form,
of which formlessness, of which almost nothing, Thou mightest make all these things of
which this changeable world consists, but subsists not; whose very changeableness appears
therein, that times can be observed and numbered in it. For times are made by the
alterations of things, while the figures, the matter whereof is the invisible earth
aforesaid, are varied and turned. 9 And therefore the Spirit, the Teacher of Thy servant,
when It recounts Thee to have In the Beginning created heaven and earth, speaks nothing of
times, nothing of days. For verily that heaven of heavens which Thou createdst in the
Beginning, is some intellectual creature, which, although no ways coeternal unto Thee, the
Trinity, yet partaketh of Thy eternity, and doth through the sweetness of that most happy
contemplation of Thyself, strongly restrain its own changeableness; and without any fall
since its first creation, cleaving close unto Thee, is placed beyond all the rolling
vicissitude of times. Yea, neither is this very formlessness of the earth, invisible, and
without form, numbered among the days. For where no figure nor order is, there does
nothing come, or go; and where this is not, there plainly are no days, nor any vicissitude
of spaces of times. O let the Light, the Truth, the Light of my heart, not mine own
darkness, speak unto me. I fell off into that, and became darkened; but even thence, even
thence I loved Thee. I went astray, and remembered Thee. I heard Thy voice behind me,
calling to me to return, and scarcely heard it, through the tumultuousness of the enemies
of peace. And now, behold, I return in distress and panting after Thy fountain. Let no man
forbid me! of this will I drink, and so live. Let me not be mine own life; from myself I
lived ill, death was I to myself; and I revive in Thee. Do Thou speak unto me, do Thou
discourse unto me. I have believed Thy Books, and their words be most full of mystery.

10 Already Thou hast told me with a strong voice, O Lord, in my inner ear, that Thou art
eternal, Who only hast immortality; since Thou canst not be changed as to figure or
motion, nor is Thy will altered by times: seeing no will which varies is immortal. This is
in Thy sight clear to me, and let it be more and more cleared to me, I beseech Thee; and
in the manifestation thereof, let me with sobriety abide under Thy wings. Thou hast told
me also with a strong voice, O Lord, in my inner ear, that Thou hast made all natures and
substances, which are not what Thyself is, and yet are; and that only is not from Thee,
which is not, and the motion of the will from Thee who art, unto that which in a less
degree is, because such motion is transgression and sin; and that no man's sin doth either
hurt Thee, or disturb the order of Thy government, first or last. This is in Thy sight
clear unto me, and let it be more and more cleared to me, I beseech Thee: and in the
manifestation thereof, let me with sobriety abide under Thy wings.

11 Thou hast told me also with a strong voice, in my inner ear, that neither is that
creature coeternal unto Thyself, whose happiness Thou only art, and which with a most
persevering purity, drawing its nourishment from Thee, doth in no place and at no time put
forth its natural mutability; and, Thyself being ever present with it, unto Whom with its
whole affection it keeps itself, having neither future to expect, nor conveying into the
past what it remembereth, is neither altered by any change, nor distracted into any times.
O blessed creature, if such there be, for cleaving unto Thy Blessedness; blest in Thee,
its eternal Inhabitant and its Enlightener! Nor do I find by what name I may the rather
call the heaven of heavens which is the Lord's, than Thine house, which contemplateth Thy
delights without any defection of going forth to another; one pure mind, most harmoniously
one, by that settled estate of peace of holy spirits, the citizens of Thy city in heavenly
places; far above those heavenly places that we see.

12 By this may the soul, whose pilgrimage is made long and far away, by this may she
understand, if she now thirsts for Thee, if her tears be now become her bread, while they
daily say unto her, Where is Thy God? if she now seeks of Thee one thing, and desireth it,
that she may dwell in Thy house all the days of her life (and what is her life, but Thou?
and what Thy days, but Thy eternity, as Thy years which fail not, because Thou art ever
the same?); by this then may the soul that is able, understand how far Thou art, above all
times, eternal; seeing Thy house which at no time went into a far country, although it be
not coeternal with Thee, yet by continually and unfailingly cleaving unto Thee, suffers no
changeableness of times. This is in Thy sight clear unto me, and let it be more and more
cleared unto me, I beseech Thee, and in the manifestation thereof, let me with sobriety
abide under Thy wings.

13 There is, behold, I know not what formlessness in those changes of these last and
lowest creatures; and who shall tell me (unless such a one as through the emptiness of his
own heart, wonders and tosses himself up and down amid his own fancies?), who but such a
one would tell me, that if all figure be so wasted and consumed away, that there should
only remain that formlessness, through which the thing was changed and turned from one
figure to another, that that could exhibit the vicissitudes of times? For plainly it could
not, because, without the variety of motions, there are no times: and no variety, where
there is no figure. 14 These things considered, as much as Thou givest, O my God, as much
as Thou stirrest me up to knock, and as much as Thou openest to me knocking, two things I
find that Thou hast made, not within the compass of time, neither of which is coeternal
with Thee. One, which is so formed, that without any ceasing of contemplation, without any
interval of change, though changeable, yet not changed, it may thoroughly enjoy Thy
eternity and unchangeableness; the other which was so formless, that it had not that,
which could be changed from one form into another, whether of motion, or of repose, so as
to become subject unto time. But this Thou didst not leave thus formless, because before
all days, Thou in the Beginning didst create Heaven and Earth; the two things that I spake
of. But the Earth was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep. In which
words, is the formlessness conveyed unto us (that such capacities may hereby be drawn on
by degrees, as are not able to conceive an utter privation of all form, without yet coming
to nothing), out of which another Heaven might be created, together with a visible and
well-formed earth: and the waters diversly ordered, and whatsoever further is in the
formation of the world, recorded to have been, not without days, created; and that, as
being of such nature, that the successive changes of times may take place in them, as
being subject to appointed alterations of motions and of forms.

15 This then is what I conceive, O my God, when I hear Thy Scripture saying, In the
beginning God made Heaven and Earth: and the Earth was invisible and without form, and
darkness was upon the deep, and not mentioning what day Thou createdst them; this is what
I conceive, that because of the Heaven of heavens,—that intellectual Heaven, whose
Intelligences know all at once, not in part, not darkly, not through a glass, but as a
whole, in manifestation, face to face; not, this thing now, and that thing anon; but (as I
said) know all at once, without any succession of times;—and because of the earth
invisible and without form, without any succession of times, which succession presents
"this thing now, that thing anon"; because where is no form, there is no distinction of
things:—it is, then, on account of these two, a primitive formed, and a primitive
formless; the one, heaven but the Heaven of heaven, the other earth but the earth
invisible and without form; because of these two do I conceive, did Thy Scripture say
without mention of days, In the Beginning God created Heaven and Earth. For forthwith it
subjoined what earth it spake of; and also, in that the Firmament is recorded to be
created the second day, and called Heaven, it conveys to us of which Heaven He before
spake, without mention of days.

16 Wondrous depth of Thy words! whose surface, behold! is before us, inviting to little
ones; yet are they a wondrous depth. O my God, a wondrous depth! It is awful to look
therein; an awfulness of honour, and a trembling of love. The enemies thereof I hate
vehemently; oh that Thou wouldest slay them with Thy two-edged sword, that they might no
longer be enemies unto it: for so do I love to have them slain unto themselves, that they
may live unto Thee. But behold others not faultfinders, but extollers of the book of
Genesis; "The Spirit of God," say they, "Who by His servant Moses wrote these things,
would not have those words thus understood; He would not have it understood, as thou
sayest, but otherwise, as we say." Unto Whom Thyself, O Thou God all, being judge, do I
thus answer. 17 "Will you affirm that to be false, which with a strong voice Truth tells
me in my inner ear, concerning the Eternity of the Creator, that His substance is no ways
changed by time, nor His will separate from His substance? Wherefore He willeth not one
thing now, another anon, but once, and at once, and always, He willeth all things that He
willeth; not again and again, nor now this, now that; nor willeth afterwards, what before
He willed not, nor willeth not, what before He willed; because such a will is and no
mutable thing is eternal: but our God is eternal. Again, what He tells me in my inner ear,
the expectation of things to come becomes sight, when they are come, and this same sight
becomes memory, when they be past. Now all thought which thus varies is mutable; and no
mutable thing is eternal: but our God is eternal. These things I infer, and put together,
and find that my God, the eternal God, hath not upon any new will made any creature, nor
doth His knowledge admit of any thing transitory. "What will ye say then, O ye gainsayers?
Are these things false? "No," they say; "What then? Is it false, that every nature already
formed, or matter capable of form, is not, but from Him Who is supremely good, because He
is supremely? "Neither do we deny this," say they. "What then?

18 do you deny this, that there is a certain sublime creature, with so chaste a love
cleaving unto the true and truly eternal God, that although not coeternal with Him, yet is
it not detached from Him, nor dissolved into the variety and vicissitude of times, but
reposeth in the most true contemplation of Him only? Because Thou, O God, unto him that
loveth Thee so much as Thou commandest, dost show Thyself, and sufficest him; and
therefore doth he not decline from Thee, nor toward himself. This is the house of God, not
of earthly mould, nor of celestial bulk corporeal but spiritual, and partaker of Thy
eternity, because without defection for ever. For Thou hast made it fast for ever and
ever, Thou hast given it a law which it shall not pass. Nor yet is it coeternal with Thee,
O God, because not without beginning; for it was made.

19 For although we find no time before it, for wisdom was created before all things; not
that Wisdom which is altogether equal and coeternal unto Thee, our God, His Father, and by
Whom all things were created, and in Whom, as the Beginning, Thou createdst heaven and
earth; but that wisdom which is created, that is, the intellectual nature, which by
contemplating the light, is light. For this, though created, is also called wisdom. But
what difference there is betwixt the Light which enlighteneth, and which is enlightened,
so much is there betwixt the Wisdom that createth, and that created; as betwixt the
Righteousness which justifieth, and the righteousness which is made by justification. For
we also are called Thy righteousness; for so saith a certain servant of Thine, That we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Therefore since a certain created wisdom
was created before all things, the rational and intellectual mind of that chaste city of
Thine, our mother which is above, and is free and eternal in the heavens (in what heavens,
if not in those that praise Thee, the Heaven of heavens? Because this is also the Heaven
of heavens for the Lord);—though we find no time before it (because that which hath been
created before all things, precedeth also the creature of time), yet is the Eternity of
the Creator Himself before it, from Whom, being created, it took the beginning, not indeed
of time (for time itself was not yet), but of its creation.

20 Hence it is so of Thee, our God, as to be altogether other than Thou, and not the Self-
same: because though we find time neither before it, nor even in it (it being meet ever to
behold Thy face, nor is ever drawn away from it, wherefore it is not varied by any
change), yet is there in it a liability to change, whence it would wax dark, and chill,
but that by a strong affection cleaving unto Thee, like perpetual noon, it shineth and
gloweth from Thee. O house most lightsome and delightsome! I have loved thy beauty, and
the place of the habitation of the glory of my Lord, thy builder and possessor. Let my
wayfaring sigh after thee, and I say to Him that made thee, let Him take possession of me
also in thee, seeing He hath made me likewise. I have gone astray like a lost sheep: yet
upon the shoulders of my Shepherd, thy builder, hope I to be brought back to thee.

21 "What say ye to me, O ye gainsayers that I was speaking unto, who yet believe Moses to
have been the holy servant of God, and his books the oracles of the Holy Ghost? Is not
this house of God, not coeternal indeed with God, yet after its measure, eternal in the
heavens, when you seek for changes of times in vain, because you will not find them? For
that, to which it is ever good to cleave fast to God, surpasses all extension, and all
revolving periods of time." "It is," say they. "What then of all that which my heart
loudly uttered unto my God, when inwardly it heard the voice of His praise, what part
thereof do you affirm to be false? Is it that the matter was without form, in which
because there was no form, there was no order? But where no order was, there could be no
vicissitude of times: and yet this 'almost nothing,' inasmuch as it was not altogether
nothing, was from Him certainly, from Whom is whatsoever is, in what degree soever it is."
"This also," say they, "do we not deny."

22 With these I now parley a little in Thy presence, O my God, who grant all these things
to be true, which Thy Truth whispers unto my soul. For those who deny these things, let
them bark and deafen themselves as much as they please; I will essay to persuade them to
quiet, and to open in them a way for Thy word. But if they refuse, and repel me; I
beseech, O my God, be not Thou silent to me. Speak Thou truly in my heart; for only Thou
so speakest: and I will let them alone blowing upon the dust without, and raising it up
into their own eyes: and myself will enter my chamber, and sing there a song of loves unto
Thee; groaning with groanings unutterable, in my wayfaring, and remembering Jerusalem,
with heart lifted up towards it, Jerusalem my country, Jerusalem my mother, and Thyself
that rulest over it, the Enlightener, Father, Guardian, Husband, the pure and strong
delight, and solid joy, and all good things unspeakable, yea all at once, because the One
Sovereign and true Good. Nor will I be turned away, until Thou gather all that I am, from
this dispersed and disordered estate, into the peace of that our most dear mother, where
the first-fruits of my spirit be already (whence I am ascertained of these things), and
Thou conform and confirm it for ever, O my God, my Mercy. But those who do not affirm all
these truths to be false, who honour Thy holy Scripture, set forth by holy Moses, placing
it, as we, on the summit of authority to be followed, and do yet contradict me in some
thing, I answer thus; By Thyself judge, O our God, between my Confessions and these men's
contradictions.

23 For they say, "Though these things be true, yet did not Moses intend those two, when,
by revelation of the Spirit, he said, In the beginning God created heaven and earth. He
did not under the name of heaven, signify that spiritual or intellectual creature which
always beholds the face of God; nor under the name of earth, that formless matter." "What
then?" "That man of God," say they, "meant as we say, this declared he by those words."
"What?" "By the name of heaven and earth would he first signify," say they, "universally
and compendiously, all this visible world; so as afterwards by the enumeration of the
several days, to arrange in detail, and, as it were, piece by piece, all those things,
which it pleased the Holy Ghost thus to enounce. For such were that rude and carnal people
to which he spake, that he thought them fit to be entrusted with the knowledge of such
works of God only as were visible." They agree, however, that under the words earth
invisible and without form, and that darksome deep (out of which it is subsequently shown,
that all these visible things which we all know, were made and arranged during those
"days") may, not incongruously, be understood of this formless first matter.

24 What now if another should say that "this same formlessness and confusedness of matter,
was for this reason first conveyed under the name of heaven and earth, because out of it
was this visible world with all those natures which most manifestly appear in it, which is
ofttimes called by the name of heaven and earth, created and perfected?" What again if
another say that "invisible and visible nature is not indeed inappropriately called heaven
and earth; and so, that the universal creation, which God made in His Wisdom, that is, in
the Beginning, was comprehended under those two words? Notwithstanding, since all things
be made not of the substance of God, but out of nothing (because they are not the same
that God is, and there is a mutable nature in them all, whether they abide, as doth the
eternal house of God, or be changed, as the soul and body of man are): therefore the
common matter of all things visible and invisible (as yet unformed though capable of
form), out of which was to be created both heaven and earth (i.e., the invisible and
visible creature when formed), was entitled by the same names given to the earth invisible
and without form and the darkness upon the deep, but with this distinction, that by the
earth invisible and without form is understood corporeal matter, antecedent to its being
qualified by any form; and by the darkness upon the deep, spiritual matter, before it
underwent any restraint of its unlimited fluidness, or received any light from Wisdom?"

25 It yet remains for a man to say, if he will, that "the already perfected and formed
natures, visible and invisible, are not signified under the name of heaven and earth, when
we read, In the beginning God made heaven and earth, but that the yet unformed
commencement of things, the stuff apt to receive form and making, was called by these
names, because therein were confusedly contained, not as yet distinguished by their
qualities and forms, all those things which being now digested into order, are called
Heaven and Earth, the one being the spiritual, the other the corporeal, creation." 26 All
which things being heard and well considered, I will not strive about words: for that is
profitable to nothing, but the subversion of the hearers. But the law is good to edify, if
a man use it lawfully: for that the end of it is charity, out of a pure heart and good
conscience, and faith unfeigned. And well did our Master know, upon which two commandments
He hung all the Law and the Prophets. And what doth it prejudice me, O my God, Thou light
of my eyes in secret, zealously confessing these things, since divers things may be
understood under these words which yet are all true,—what, I say, doth it prejudice me, if
I think otherwise than another thinketh the writer thought? All we readers verily strive
to trace out and to understand his meaning whom we read; and seeing we believe him to
speak truly, we dare not imagine him to have said any thing, which ourselves either know
or think to be false. While every man endeavours then to understand in the Holy
Scriptures, the same as the writer understood, what hurt is it, if a man understand what
Thou, the light of all true-speaking minds, dost show him to be true, although he whom he
reads, understood not this, seeing he also understood a Truth, though not this truth?

27 For true it is, O Lord, that Thou madest heaven and earth; and it is true too, that the
Beginning is Thy Wisdom, in Which Thou createst all: and true again, that this visible
world hath for its greater part the heaven and the earth, which briefly comprise all made
and created natures. And true too, that whatsoever is mutable, gives us to understand a
certain want of form, whereby it receiveth a form, or is changed, or turned. It is true,
that that is subject to no times, which so cleaveth to the unchangeable Form, as though
subject to change, never to be changed. It is true, that that formlessness which is almost
nothing, cannot be subject to the alteration of times. It is true, that that whereof a
thing is made, may by a certain mode of speech, be called by the name of the thing made of
it; whence that formlessness, whereof heaven and earth were made, might be called heaven
and earth. It is true, that of things having form, there is not any nearer to having no
form, than the earth and the deep. It is true, that not only every created and formed
thing, but whatsoever is capable of being created and formed, Thou madest, of Whom are all
things. It is true, that whatsoever is formed out of that which had no form, was unformed
before it was formed.

28 Out of these truths, of which they doubt not whose inward eye Thou hast enabled to see
such things, and who unshakenly believe Thy servant Moses to have spoken in the Spirit of
truth;—of all these then, he taketh one, who saith, In the Beginning God made the heaven
and the earth; that is, "in His Word coeternal with Himself, God made the intelligible and
the sensible, or the spiritual and the corporeal creature." He another, that saith, In the
Beginning God made heaven and earth; that is, "in His Word coeternal with Himself, did God
make the universal bulk of this corporeal world, together with all those apparent and
known creatures, which it containeth." He another, that saith, In the Beginning God made
heaven and earth; that is, "in His Word coeternal with Himself, did God make the formless
matter of creatures spiritual and corporeal." He another, that saith, In the Beginning God
created heaven and earth; that is, "in His Word coeternal with Himself, did God create the
formless matter of the creature corporeal, wherein heaven and earth lay as yet confused,
which, being now distinguished and formed, we at this day see in the bulk of this world."
He another, who saith, In the Beginning God made heaven and earth; that is, "in the very
beginning of creating and working, did God make that formless matter, confusedly
containing in itself both heaven and earth; out of which, being formed, do they now stand
out, and are apparent, with all that is in them."

29 And with regard to the understanding of the words following, out of all those truths,
he chooses one to himself, who saith, But the earth was invisible, and without form, and
darkness was upon the deep; that is, "that corporeal thing that God made, was as yet a
formless matter of corporeal things, without order, without light. Another he who says,
The earth was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep; that is, "this
all, which is called heaven and earth, was still a formless and darksome matter, of which
the corporeal heaven and the corporeal earth were to be made, with all things in them,
which are known to our corporeal senses. Another he who says, The earth was invisible and
without form, and darkness was upon the deep; that is, "this all, which is called heaven
and earth, was still a formless and a darksome matter; out of which was to be made, both
that intelligible heaven, otherwhere called the Heaven of heavens, and the earth, that is,
the whole corporeal nature, under which name is comprised this corporeal heaven also; in a
word, out of which every visible and invisible creature was to be created. Another he who
says, The earth was invisible and without form, and darkness was upon the deep, "the
Scripture did not call that formlessness by the name of heaven and earth; but that
formlessness, saith he, already was, which he called the earth invisible without form, and
darkness upon the deep;

30 of which he had before said, that God had made heaven and earth, namely, the spiritual
and corporeal creature. Another he who says, The earth was invisible and without form, and
darkness was upon the deep; that is, "there already was a certain formless matter, of
which the Scripture said before, that God made heaven and earth; namely, the whole
corporeal bulk of the world, divided into two great parts, upper and lower, with all the
common and known creatures in them." 31 For should any attempt to dispute against these
two last opinions, thus, "If you will not allow, that this formlessness of matter seems to
be called by the name of heaven and earth; Ergo, there was something which God had not
made, out of which to make heaven and earth; for neither hath Scripture told us, that God
made this matter, unless we understand it to be signified by the name of heaven and earth,
or of earth alone, when it is said, In the Beginning God made the heaven and earth; that
so in what follows, and the earth was invisible and without form (although it pleased Him
so to call the formless matter), we are to understand no other matter, but that which God
made, whereof is written above, God made heaven and earth. The maintainers of either of
those two latter opinions will, upon hearing this, return for answer, "we do not deny this
formless matter to be indeed created by God, that God of Whom are all things, very good;
for as we affirm that to be a greater good, which is created and formed, so we confess
that to be a lesser good which is made capable of creation and form, yet still good. We
say however that Scripture hath not set down, that God made this formlessness, as also it
hath not many others; as the Cherubim, and Seraphim, and those which the Apostle
distinctly speaks of, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers. All which that God made,
is most apparent.

32 Or if in that which is said, He made heaven and earth, all things be comprehended, what
shall we say of the waters, upon which the Spirit of God moved? For if they be comprised
in this word earth; how then can formless matter be meant in that name of earth, when we
see the waters so beautiful? Or if it be so taken; why then is it written, that out of the
same formlessness, the firmament was made, and called heaven; and that the waters were
made, is not written? For the waters remain not formless and invisible, seeing we behold
them flowing in so comely a manner. But if they then received that beauty, when God said,
Let the waters under the firmament be gathered together, that so the gathering together be
itself the forming of them; what will be said as to those waters above the firmament?
Seeing neither if formless would they have been worthy of so honourable a seat, nor is it
written, by what word they were formed. If then Genesis is silent as to God's making of
any thing, which yet that God did make neither sound faith nor well-grounded understanding
doubteth, nor again will any sober teaching dare to affirm these waters to be coeternal
with God, on the ground that we find them to be mentioned in the hook of Genesis, but when
they were created, we do not find;

33 why (seeing truth teaches us) should we not understand that formless matter (which this
Scripture calls the earth invisible and without form, and darksome deep) to have been
created of God out of nothing, and therefore not to be coeternal to Him; notwithstanding
this history hath omitted to show when it was created?" 34 These things then being heard
and perceived, according to the weakness of my capacity (which I confess unto Thee, O
Lord, that knowest it), two sorts of disagreements I see may arise, when a thing is in
words related by true reporters; one, concerning the truth of the things, the other,
concerning the meaning of the relater. For we enquire one way about the making of the
creature, what is true; another way, what Moses, that excellent minister of Thy Faith,
would have his reader and hearer understand by those words. For the first sort, away with
all those who imagine themselves to know as a truth, what is false; and for this other,
away with all them too, which imagine Moses to have written things that be false. But let
me be united in Thee, O Lord, with those and delight myself in Thee, with them that feed
on Thy truth, in the largeness of charity, and let us approach together unto the words of
Thy book, and seek in them for Thy meaning, through the meaning of Thy servant, by whose
pen Thou hast dispensed them.

35 But which of us shall, among those so many truths, which occur to enquirers in those
words, as they are differently understood, so discover that one meaning, as to affirm,
"this Moses thought," and "this would he have understood in that history"; with the same
confidence as he would, "this is true," whether Moses thought this or that? For behold, O
my God, I Thy servant, who have in this book vowed a sacrifice of confession unto Thee,
and pray, that by Thy mercy I may pay my vows unto Thee, can I, with the same confidence
wherewith I affirm, that in Thy incommutable world Thou createdst all things visible and
invisible, affirm also, that Moses meant no other than this, when he wrote, In the
Beginning God made heaven and earth? No. Because I see not in his mind, that he thought of
this when he wrote these things, as I do see it in Thy truth to be certain. For he might
have his thoughts upon God's commencement of creating, when he said In the beginning; and
by heaven and earth, in this place he might intend no formed and perfected nature whether
spiritual or corporeal, but both of them inchoate and as yet formless. For I perceive,
that whichsoever of the two had been said, it might have been truly said; but which of the
two he thought of in these words, I do not so perceive. Although, whether it were either
of these, or any sense beside (that I have not here mentioned), which this so great man
saw in his mind, when he uttered these words, I doubt not but that he saw it truly, and
expressed it aptly.

36 Let no man harass me then, by saying, Moses thought not as you say, but as I say: for
if he should ask me, "How know you that Moses thought that which you infer out of his
words? I ought to take it in good part, and would answer perchance as I have above, or
something more at large, if he were unyielding. But when he saith, "Moses meant not what
you say, but what I say," yet denieth not that what each of us say, may both be true, O my
God, life of the poor, in Whose bosom is no contradiction, pour down a softening dew into
my heart, that I may patiently bear with such as say this to me, not because they have a
divine Spirit, and have seen in the heart of Thy servant what they speak, but because they
be proud; not knowing Moses' opinion, but loving their own, not because it is truth, but
because it is theirs. Otherwise they would equally love another true opinion, as I love
what they say, when they say true: not because it is theirs, but because it is true; and
on that very ground not theirs because it is true. But if they therefore love it, because
it is true, then is it both theirs, and mine; as being in common to all lovers of truth.
But whereas they contend that Moses did not mean what I say, but what they say, this I
like not, love not:

37 for though it were so, yet that their rashness belongs not to knowledge, but to
overboldness, and not insight but vanity was its parent. And therefore, O Lord, are Thy
judgements terrible; seeing Thy truth is neither mine, nor his, nor another's; but
belonging to us all, whom Thou callest publicly to partake of it, warning us terribly, not
to account it private to ourselves, lest we be deprived of it. For whosoever challenges
that as proper to himself, which Thou propoundest to all to enjoy, and would have that his
own which belongs to all, is driven from what is in common to his own; that is, from
truth, to a lie. For he that speaketh a lie, speaketh it of his own. 38 Hearken, O God,
Thou best judge; Truth Itself, hearken to what I shall say to this gainsayer, hearken, for
before Thee do I speak, and before my brethren, who employ Thy law lawfully, to the end of
charity: hearken and behold, if it please Thee, what I shall say to him. For this
brotherly and peaceful word do I return unto Him: "If we both see that to be true that
Thou sayest, and both see that to be true that I say, where, I pray Thee, do we see it?
Neither I in thee, nor thou in me; but both in the unchangeable Truth itself, which is
above our souls." Seeing then we strive not about the very light of the Lord God, why
strive we about the thoughts of our neighbour which we cannot so see, as the unchangeable
Truth is seen: for that, if Moses himself had appeared to us and said, "This I meant";
neither so should we see it, but should believe it. Let us not then be puffed up for one
against another, above that which is written: let us love the Lord our God with all our
heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind: and our neighbour as ourself. With a view
to which two precepts of charity, unless we believe that Moses meant, whatsoever in those
books he did mean, we shall make God a liar, imagining otherwise of our fellow servant's
mind, than he hath taught us. Behold now, how foolish it is, in such abundance of most
true meanings, as may be extracted out of those words, rashly to affirm, which of them
Moses principally meant; and with pernicious contentions to offend charity itself, for
whose sake he spake every thing, whose words we go about to expound.

39 And yet I, O my God, Thou lifter up of my humility, and rest of my labour, Who hearest
my confessions, and forgivest my sins: seeing Thou commandest me to love my neighbour as
myself, I cannot believe that Thou gavest a less gift unto Moses Thy faithful servant,
than I would wish or desire Thee to have given me, had I been born in the time he was, and
hadst Thou set me in that office, that by the service of my heart and tongue those books
might be dispensed, which for so long after were to profit all nations, and through the
whole world from such an eminence of authority, were to surmount all sayings of false and
proud teachings. I should have desired verily, had I then been Moses (for we all come from
the same lump, and what is man, saving that Thou art mindful of him?), I would then, had I
been then what he was, and been enjoined by Thee to write the book of Genesis, have
desired such a power of expression and such a style to be given me, that neither they who
cannot yet understand how God created, might reject the sayings, as beyond their capacity;
and they who had attained thereto, might find what true opinion soever they had by thought
arrived at, not passed over in those few words of that Thy servant: and should another man
by the light of truth have discovered another, neither should that fail of being
discoverable in those same words.

40 For as a fountain within a narrow compass, is more plentiful, and supplies a tide for
more streams over larger spaces, than any one of those streams, which, after a wide
interval, is derived from the same fountain; so the relation of that dispenser of Thine,
which was to benefit many who were to discourse thereon, does out of a narrow scantling of
language, overflow into streams of clearest truth, whence every man may draw out for
himself such truth as he can upon these subjects, one, one truth, another, another, by
larger circumlocutions of discourse. For some, when they read, or hear these words,
conceive that God like a man or some mass endued with unbounded power, by some new and
sudden resolution, did, exterior to itself, as it were at a certain distance, create
heaven and earth, two great bodies above and below, wherein all things were to be
contained. And when they hear, God said, Let it be made, and it was made; they conceive of
words begun and ended, sounding in time, and passing away; after whose departure, that
came into being, which was commanded so to do; and whatever of the like sort, men's
acquaintance with the material world would suggest. In whom, being yet little ones and
carnal, while their weakness is by this humble kind of speech, carried on, as in a
mother's bosom, their faith is wholesomely built up, whereby they hold assured, that God
made all natures, which in admirable variety their eye beholdeth around. Which words, if
any despising, as too simple, with a proud weakness, shall stretch himself beyond the
guardian nest; he will, alas, fall miserably. Have pity, O Lord God, lest they who go by
the way trample on the unfledged bird, and send Thine angel to replace it into the nest,
that it may live, till it can fly.

41 But others, unto whom these words are no longer a nest, but deep shady fruit-bowers,
see the fruits concealed therein, fly joyously around, and with cheerful notes seek out,
and pluck them. For reading or hearing these words, they see that all times past and to
come, are surpassed by Thy eternal and stable abiding; and yet that there is no creature
formed in time, not of Thy making. Whose will, because it is the same that Thou art, Thou
madest all things, not by any change of will, nor by a will, which before was not, and
that these things were not out of Thyself, in Thine own likeness, which is the form of all
things; but out of nothing, a formless unlikeness, which should be formed by Thy likeness
(recurring to Thy Unity, according to their appointed capacity, so far as is given to each
thing in his kind), and might all be made very good; whether they abide around Thee, or
being in gradation removed in time and place, made or undergo the beautiful variations of
the Universe. These things they see, and rejoice, in the little degree they here may, in
the light of Thy truth.

42 Another bends his mind on that which is said, In the Beginning God made heaven and
earth; and beholdeth therein Wisdom, the Beginning because It also speaketh unto us.
Another likewise bends his mind on the same words, and by Beginning understands the
commencement of things created; In the beginning He made, as if it were said, He at first
made. And among them that understand In the Beginning to mean, "In Thy Wisdom Thou
createdst heaven and earth," one believes the matter out of which the heaven and earth
were to be created, to be there called heaven and earth; another, natures already formed
and distinguished; another, one formed nature, and that a spiritual, under the name
Heaven, the other formless, a corporeal matter, under the name Earth. They again who by
the names heaven and earth, understand matter as yet formless, out of which heaven and
earth were to be formed, neither do they understand it in one way; but the one, that
matter out of which both the intelligible and the sensible creature were to be perfected;
another, that only, out of which this sensible corporeal mass was to be made, containing
in its vast bosom these visible and ordinary natures. Neither do they, who believe the
creatures already ordered and arranged, to be in this place called heaven and earth,
understand the same; but the one, both the invisible and visible, the other, the visible
only, in which we behold this lightsome heaven, and darksome earth, with the things in
them contained.

43 But he that no otherwise understands In the Beginning He made, than if it were said, At
first He made, can only truly understand heaven and earth of the matter of heaven and
earth, that is, of the universal intelligible and corporeal creation. For if he would
understand thereby the universe, as already formed, it may be rightly demanded of him, "If
God made this first, what made He afterwards? and after the universe, he will find
nothing; whereupon must he against his will hear another question; "How did God make this
first, if nothing after? But when he says, God made matter first formless, then formed,
there is no absurdity, if he be but qualified to discern, what precedes by eternity, what
by time, what by choice, and what in original. By eternity, as God is before all things;
by time, as the flower before the fruit; by choice, as the fruit before the flower; by
original, as the sound before the tune. Of these four, the first and last mentioned, are
with extreme difficulty understood, the two middle, easily. For a rare and too lofty a
vision is it, to behold Thy Eternity, O Lord, unchangeably making things changeable; and
thereby before them. And who, again, is of so sharp-sighted understanding, as to be able
without great pains to discern, how the sound is therefore before the tune; because a tune
is a formed sound; and a thing not formed, may exist; whereas that which existeth not,
cannot be formed. Thus is the matter before the thing made;

44 not because it maketh it, seeing itself is rather made; nor is it before by interval of
time; for we do not first in time utter formless sounds without singing, and subsequently
adapt or fashion them into the form of a chant, as wood or silver, whereof a chest or
vessel is fashioned. For such materials do by time also precede the forms of the things
made of them, but in singing it is not so; for when it is sung, its sound is heard; for
there is not first a formless sound, which is afterwards formed into a chant. For each
sound, so soon as made, passeth away, nor canst thou find ought to recall and by art to
compose. So then the chant is concentrated in its sound, which sound of his is his matter.
And this indeed is formed, that it may be a tune; and therefore (as I said) the matter of
the sound is before the form of the tune; not before, through any power it hath to make it
a tune; for a sound is no way the workmaster of the tune; but is something corporeal,
subjected to the soul which singeth, whereof to make a tune. Nor is it first in time; for
it is given forth together with the tune; nor first in choice, for a sound is not better
than a tune, a tune being not only a sound, but a beautiful sound.

45 But it is first in original, because a tune receives not form to become a sound, but a
sound receives a form to become a tune. By this example, let him that is able, understand
how the matter of things was first made, and called heaven and earth, because heaven and
earth were made out of it. Yet was it not made first in time; because the forms of things
give rise to time; but that was without form, but now is, in time, an object of sense
together with its form. And yet nothing can be related of that matter, but as though prior
in time, whereas in value it is last (because things formed are superior to things without
form) and is preceded by the Eternity of the Creator: that so there might be out of
nothing, whereof somewhat might be created. 46 In this diversity of the true opinions, let
Truth herself produce concord. And our God have mercy upon us, that we may use the law
lawfully, the end of the commandment, pure charity. By this if man demands of me, "which
of these was the meaning of Thy servant Moses"; this were not the language of my
Confessions, should I not confess unto Thee, "I know not"; and yet I know that those
senses are true, those carnal ones excepted, of which I have spoken what seemed necessary.
And even those hopeful little ones who so think, have this benefit, that the words of Thy
Book affright them not, delivering high things lowlily, and with few words a copious
meaning. And all we who, I confess, see and express the truth delivered in those words,
let us love one another, and jointly love Thee our God, the fountain of truth, if we are
athirst for it, and not for vanities; yea, let us so honour this Thy servant, the
dispenser of this Scripture, full of Thy Spirit, as to believe that, when by Thy
revelation he wrote these things, he intended that, which among them chiefly excels both
for light of truth, and fruitfulness of profit.

47 So when one says, "Moses meant as I do"; and another, "Nay, but as I do," I suppose
that I speak more reverently, "Why not rather as both, if both be true?" And if there be a
third, or a fourth, yea if any other seeth any other truth in those words, why may not he
be believed to have seen all these, through whom the One God hath tempered the holy
Scriptures to the senses of many, who should see therein things true but divers? For I
certainly (and fearlessly I speak it from my heart), that were I to indite any thing to
have supreme authority, I should prefer so to write, that whatever truth any could
apprehend on those matters, might be conveyed in my words, rather than set down my own
meaning so clearly as to exclude the rest, which not being false, could not offend me. I
will not therefore, O my God, be so rash, as not to believe, that Thou vouchsafedst as
much to that great man. He without doubt, when he wrote those words, perceived and thought
on what truth soever we have been able to find, yea and whatsoever we have not been able,
nor yet are, but which may be found in them.

48 Lastly, O Lord, who art God and not flesh and blood, if man did see less, could any
thing be concealed from Thy good Spirit (who shall lead me into the land of uprightness),
which Thou Thyself by those words wert about to reveal to readers in times to come, though
he through whom they were spoken, perhaps among many true meanings, thought on some one?
which if so it be, let that which he thought on be of all the highest. But to us, O Lord,
do Thou, either reveal that same, or any other true one which Thou pleasest; that so,
whether Thou discoverest the same to us, as to that Thy servant, or some other by occasion
of those words, yet Thou mayest feed us, not error deceive us. Behold, O Lord my God, how
much we have written upon a few words, how much I beseech Thee! What strength of ours, yea
what ages would suffice for all Thy books in this manner? Permit me then in these more
briefly to confess unto Thee, and to choose some one true, certain, and good sense that
Thou shalt inspire me, although many should occur, where many may occur; this being the
law my confession, that if I should say that which Thy minister intended, that is right
and best; for this should I endeavour, which if I should not attain, yet I should say
that, which Thy Truth willed by his words to tell me, which revealed also unto him, what
It willed.


THE CONFESSIONS
===============

THE CONFESSIONS continued

BOOK XIII

1 I call upon Thee, O my God, my mercy, Who createdst me, and forgottest not me,
forgetting Thee. I call Thee into my soul which, by the longing Thyself inspirest into
her, Thou preparest for Thee. Forsake me not now calling upon Thee, whom Thou preventedst
before I called, and urgedst me with much variety of repeated calls, that I would hear
Thee from afar, and be converted, and call upon Thee, that calledst after me; for Thou,
Lord, blottedst out all my evil deservings, so as not to repay into my hands, wherewith I
fell from Thee; and Thou hast prevented all my well deservings, so as to repay the work of
Thy hands wherewith Thou madest me; because before I was, Thou wert; nor was I any thing,
to which Thou mightest grant to be; and yet behold, I am, out of Thy goodness, preventing
all this which Thou hast made me, and whereof Thou hast made me. For neither hadst Thou
need of me, nor am I any such good, as to be helpful unto Thee, my Lord and God; not in
serving Thee, as though Thou wouldest tire in working; or lest Thy power might be less, if
lacking my service: nor cultivating Thy service, as a land, that must remain uncultivated,
unless I cultivated Thee: but serving and worshipping Thee, that I might receive a well-
being from Thee, from whom it comes, that I have a being capable of well-being.

2 For of the fulness of Thy goodness, doth Thy creature subsist, that so a good, which
could no ways profit Thee, nor was of Thee (lest so it should be equal to Thee), might yet
be since it could be made of Thee. For what did heaven and earth, which Thou madest in the
Beginning, deserve of Thee? Let those spiritual and corporeal natures which Thou madest in
Thy Wisdom, say wherein they deserved of Thee, to depend thereon (even in that their
several inchoate and formless state, whether spiritual or corporeal, ready to fall away
into an immoderate liberty and far-distant unlikeliness unto Thee;—the spiritual, though
without form, superior to the corporeal though formed, and the corporeal though without
form, better than were it altogether nothing), and so to depend upon Thy Word, as
formless, unless by the same Word they were brought back to Thy Unity, indued with form
and from Thee the One Sovereign Good were made all very good. How did they deserve of
Thee, to be even without form, since they had not been even this, but from Thee?

3 How did corporeal matter deserve of Thee, to be even invisible and without form? seeing
it were not even this, but that Thou madest it, and therefore because it was not, could
not deserve of Thee to be made. Or how could the inchoate spiritual creature deserve of
Thee, even to ebb and flow darksomely like the deep,—unlike Thee, unless it had been by
the same Word turned to that, by Whom it was created, and by Him so enlightened, become
light; though not equally, yet conformably to that Form which is equal unto Thee? For as
in a body, to be, is not one with being beautiful, else could it not be deformed; so
likewise to a created spirit to live, is not one with living wisely; else should it be
wise unchangeably. But good it is for it always to hold fast to Thee; lest what light it
hath obtained by turning to Thee, it lose by turning from Thee, and relapse into life
resembling the darksome deep. For we ourselves also, who as to the soul are a spiritual
creature, turned away from Thee our light, were in that life sometimes darkness; and still
labour amidst the relics of our darkness, until in Thy Only One we become Thy
righteousness, like the mountains of God. For we have been Thy judgments, which are like
the great deep.

4 That which Thou saidst in the beginning of the creation, Let there be light, and there
was light; I do, not unsuitably, understand of the spiritual creature: because there was
already a sort of life, which Thou mightest illuminate. But as it had no claim on Thee for
a life, which could be enlightened, so neither now that it was, had it any, to be
enlightened. For neither could its formless estate be pleasing unto Thee, unless it became
light, and that not by existing simply, but by beholding the illuminating light, and
cleaving to it; so that, that it lived, and lived happily, it owes to nothing but Thy
grace, being turned by a better change unto That which cannot be changed into worse or
better; which Thou alone art, because Thou alone simply art; unto Thee it being not one
thing to live, another to live blessedly, seeing Thyself art Thine own Blessedness.

5 What then could be wanting unto Thy good, which Thou Thyself art, although these things
had either never been, or remained without form; which thou madest, not out of any want,
but out of the fulness of Thy goodness, restraining them and converting them to form, not
as though Thy joy were fulfilled by them? For to Thee being perfect, is their imperfection
displeasing, and hence were they perfected by Thee, and please Thee; not as wert Thou
imperfect, and by their perfecting wert also to be perfected. For Thy good Spirit indeed
was borne over the waters, not borne up by them, as if He rested upon them. For those, on
whom Thy good Spirit is said to rest, He causes to rest in Himself. But Thy incorruptible
and unchangeable will, in itself all-sufficient for itself, was borne upon that life which
Thou hadst created; to which, living is not one with happy living, seeing it liveth also,
ebbing and flowing in its own darkness: for which it remaineth to be converted unto Him,
by Whom it was made, and to live more and more by the fountain of life, and in His light
to see light, and to be perfected, and enlightened, and beautified.

6 Lo, now the Trinity appears unto me in a glass darkly, which is Thou my God, because
Thou, O Father, in Him Who is the Beginning of our wisdom, Which is Thy Wisdom, born of
Thyself, equal unto Thee and coeternal, that is, in Thy Son, createdst heaven and earth.
Much now have we said of the Heaven of heavens, and of the earth invisible and without
form, and of the darksome deep, in reference to the wandering instability of its spiritual
deformity, unless it had been converted unto Him, from Whom it had its then degree of
life, and by His enlightening became a beauteous life, and the heaven of that heaven,
which was afterwards set between water and water. And under the name of God, I now held
the Father, who made these things, and under the name of Beginning, the Son, in whom He
made these things; and believing, as I did, my God as the Trinity, I searched further in
His holy words, and lo, Thy Spirit moved upon the waters. Behold the Trinity, my God,
Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, Creator of all creation.

7 But what was the cause, O true-speaking Light?—unto Thee lift I up my heart, let it not
teach me vanities, dispel its darkness; and tell me, I beseech Thee, by our mother
charity, tell me the reason, I beseech Thee, why after the mention of heaven, and of the
earth invisible and without form, and darkness upon the deep, Thy Scripture should then at
length mention Thy Spirit? Was it because it was meet that the knowledge of Him should be
conveyed, as being "borne above"; and this could not be said, unless that were first
mentioned, over which Thy Spirit may be understood to have been borne. For neither was He
borne above the Father, nor the Son, nor could He rightly be said to be borne above, if He
were borne over nothing. First then was that to be spoken of, over which He might be
borne; and then He, whom it was meet not otherwise to be spoken of than as being borne.
But wherefore was it not meet that the knowledge of Him should be conveyed otherwise, than
as being borne above?

8 Hence let him that is able, follow with his understanding Thy Apostle, where he thus
speaks, Because Thy love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us: and where concerning spiritual gifts, he teacheth and showeth unto us a more
excellent way of charity; and where he bows his knee unto Thee for us, that we may know
the supereminent knowledge of the love of Christ. And therefore from the beginning, was He
borne supereminent above the waters. To whom shall I speak this? how speak of the weight
of evil desires, downwards to the steep abyss; and how charity raises up again by Thy
Spirit which was borne above the waters? to whom shall I speak it? how speak it? For it is
not in space that we are merged and emerge. What can be more, and yet what less like? They
be affections, they be loves; the uncleanness of our spirit flowing away downwards with
the love of cares, and the holiness of Thine raising us upward by love of unanxious
repose; that we may lift our hearts unto Thee, where Thy Spirit is borne above the waters;
and come to that supereminent repose, when our soul shall have passed through the waters
which yield no support.

9 Angels fell away, man's soul fell away, and thereby pointed the abyss in that dark
depth, ready for the whole spiritual creation, hadst not Thou said from the beginning, Let
there be light, and there had been light, and every obedient intelligence of Thy heavenly
City had cleaved to Thee, and rested in Thy Spirit, Which is borne unchangeably over every
thing changeable. Otherwise, had even the heaven of heavens been in itself a darksome
deep; but now it is light in the Lord. For even in that miserable restlessness of the
spirits, who fell away and discovered their own darkness, when bared of the clothing of
Thy light, dost Thou sufficiently reveal how noble Thou madest the reasonable creature; to
which nothing will suffice to yield a happy rest, less than Thee; and so not even herself.
For Thou, O our God, shalt lighten our darkness: from Thee riseth our garment of light;
and then shall our darkness be as the noon day. Give Thyself unto me, O my God, restore
Thyself unto me: behold I love, and if it be too little, I would love more strongly. I
cannot measure so as to know, how much love there yet lacketh to me, ere my life may run
into Thy embracements, nor turn away, until it be hidden in the hidden place of Thy
Presence. This only I know, that woe is me except in Thee: not only without but within
myself also; and all abundance, which is not my God, is emptiness to me.

10 But was not either the Father, or the Son, borne above the waters? if this means, in
space, like a body, then neither was the Holy Spirit; but if the unchangeable
supereminence of Divinity above all things changeable, then were both Father, and Son, and
Holy Ghost borne upon the waters. Why then is this said of Thy Spirit only, why is it said
only of Him? As if He had been in place, Who is not in place, of Whom only it is written,
that He is Thy gift? In Thy Gift we rest; there we enjoy Thee. Our rest is our place. Love
lifts us up thither, and Thy good Spirit lifts up our lowliness from the gates of death.
In Thy good pleasure is our peace. The body by its own weight strives towards its own
place. Weight makes not downward only, but to his own place. Fire tends upward, a stone
downward. They are urged by their own weight, they seek their own places. Oil poured below
water, is raised above the water; water poured upon oil, sinks below the oil. They are
urged by their own weights to seek their own places. When out of their order, they are
restless; restored to order, they are at rest. My weight, is my love; thereby am I borne,
whithersoever I am borne. We are inflamed, by Thy Gift we are kindled; and are carried
upwards; we glow inwardly, and go forwards. We ascend Thy ways that be in our heart, and
sing a song of degrees; we glow inwardly with Thy fire, with Thy good fire, and we go;
because we go upwards to the peace of Jerusalem: for gladdened was I in those who said
unto me, We will go up to the house of the Lord. There hath Thy good pleasure placed us,
that we may desire nothing else, but to abide there for ever.

11 Blessed creature, which being itself other than Thou, has known no other condition,
than that, so soon as it was made, it was, without any interval, by Thy Gift, Which is
borne above every thing changeable, borne aloft by that calling whereby Thou saidst, Let
there be light, and there was light. Whereas in us this took place at different times, in
that we were darkness, and are made light: but of that is only said, what it would have
been, had it not been enlightened. And, this is so spoken, as if it had been unsettled and
darksome before; that so the cause whereby it was made otherwise, might appear, namely,
that being turned to the Light unfailing it became light. Whoso can, let him understand
this; let him ask of Thee. Why should he trouble me, as if I could enlighten any man that
cometh into this world?

12 Which of us comprehendeth the Almighty Trinity? and yet which speaks not of It, if
indeed it be It? Rare is the soul, which while it speaks of It, knows what it speaks of.
And they contend and strive, yet, without peace, no man sees that vision. I would that men
would consider these three, that are in themselves. These three be indeed far other than
the Trinity: I do but tell, where they may practise themselves, and there prove and feel
how far they be. Now the three I spake of are, To Be, to Know, and to Will. For I Am, and
Know, and Will: I Am Knowing and Willing: and I Know myself to Be, and to Will: and I Will
to Be, and to Know. In these three then, let him discern that can, how inseparable a life
there is, yea one life, mind, and one essence, yea lastly how inseparable a distinction
there is, and yet a distinction. Surely a man hath it before him; let him look into
himself, and see, and tell me. But when he discovers and can say any thing of these, let
him not therefore think that he has found that which is above these Unchangeable, which Is
unchangeably, and Knows unchangeably, and Wills unchangeably; and whether because of these
three, there is in God also a Trinity, or whether all three be in Each, so that the three
belong to Each; or whether both ways at once, wondrously, simply and yet manifoldly,
Itself a bound unto Itself within Itself, yet unbounded; whereby It is, and is Known unto
Itself and sufficeth to itself, unchangeably the Self-same, by the abundant greatness of
its Unity,—who can readily conceive this? who could any ways express it? who would, any
way, pronounce thereon rashly?

13 Proceed in thy confession, say to the Lord thy God, O my faith, Holy, Holy, Holy, O
Lord my God, in Thy Name have we been baptised, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; in Thy Name
do we baptise, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, because among us also, in His Christ did God
make heaven and earth, namely, the spiritual and carnal people of His Church. Yea and our
earth, before it received the form of doctrine, was invisible and without form; and we
were covered with the darkness of ignorance. For Thou chastenedst man for iniquity, and
Thy judgments were like the great deep unto him. But because Thy Spirit was borne above
the waters, Thy mercy forsook not our misery, and Thou saidst, Let there be light, Repent
ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent ye, let there be light. And because our
soul was troubled within us, we remembered Thee, O Lord, from the land of Jordan, and that
mountain equal unto Thyself, but little for our sakes: and our darkness displeased us, we
turned unto Thee and there was light. And, behold, we were sometimes darkness, but now
light in the Lord.

14 But as yet by faith and not by sight, for by hope we are saved; but hope that is seen,
is not hope. As yet doth deep call unto deep, but now in the voice of Thy water-spouts. As
yet doth he that saith, I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal,
even he as yet, doth not think himself to have apprehended, and forgetteth those things
which are behind, and reacheth forth to those which are before, and groaneth being
burthened, and his soul thirsteth after the Living God, as the hart after the water-
brooks, and saith, When shall I come? desiring to be clothed upon with his house which is
from heaven, and calleth upon this lower deep, saying, Be not conformed to this world, but
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. And, be not children in understanding, but
in malice, be ye children, that in understanding ye may be perfect; and O foolish
Galatians, who hath bewitched you? But now no longer in his own voice; but in Thine who
sentest Thy Spirit from above; through Him who ascended up on high, and set open the
flood-gates of His gifts, that the force of His streams might make glad the city of God.
Him doth this friend of the Bridegroom sigh after, having now the first-fruits of the
Spirit laid up with Him, yet still groaning within himself, waiting for the adoption, to
wit, the redemption of his body; to Him he sighs, a member of the Bride;

15 for Him he is jealous, as being a friend of the Bridegroom; for Him he is jealous, not
for himself; because in the voice of Thy water-spouts, not in his own voice, doth he call
to that other depth, over whom being jealous he feareth, lest as the serpent beguiled Eve
through his subtilty, so their minds should be corrupted from the purity that is in our
Bridegroom Thy only Son. O what a light of beauty will that be, when we shall see Him as
He is, and those tears be passed away, which have been my meat day and night, whilst they
daily say unto me, Where is now Thy God? 16 Behold, I too say, O my God, Where art Thou?
see, where Thou art! in Thee I breathe a little, when I pour out my soul by myself in the
voice of joy and praise, the sound of him that keeps holy-day. And yet again it is sad,
because it relapseth, and becomes a deep, or rather perceives itself still to be a deep.
Unto it speaks my faith which Thou hast kindled to enlighten my feet in the night, Why art
thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou trouble me? Hope in the Lord; His word is a
lanthorn unto thy feet: hope and endure, until the night, the mother of the wicked, until
the wrath of the Lord, be overpast, whereof we also were once children, who were sometimes
darkness, relics whereof we bear about us in our body, dead because of sin; until the day
break, and the shadows fly away. Hope thou in the Lord; in the morning I shall stand in
Thy presence, and contemplate Thee: I shall for ever confess unto Thee. In the morning I
shall stand in Thy presence, and shall see the health of my countenance, my God, who also
shall quicken our mortal bodies, by the Spirit that dwelleth in us, because He hath in
mercy been borne over our inner darksome and floating deep: from Whom we have in this
pilgrimage received an earnest, that we should now be light:

17 whilst we are saved by hope, and are the children of light, and the children of the
day, not the children of the night, nor of the darkness, which yet sometimes we were.
Betwixt whom and us, in this uncertainty of human knowledge, Thou only dividest; Thou, who
provest our hearts, and callest the light, day, and the darkness, night. For who
discerneth us, but Thou? And what have we, that we have not received of Thee? out of the
same lump vessels are made unto honour, whereof others also are made unto dishonour. 18 Or
who, except Thou, our God, made for us that firmament of authority over us in Thy Divine
Scripture? as it is said, For heaven shall be folded up like a scroll; and now is it
stretched over us like a skin. For Thy Divine Scripture is of more eminent authority,
since those mortals by whom Thou dispensest it unto us, underwent mortality. And Thou
knowest, Lord, Thou knowest, how Thou with skins didst clothe men, when they by sin became
mortal. Whence Thou hast like a skin stretched out the firmament of Thy book, that is, Thy
harmonizing words, which by the ministry of mortal men Thou spreadest over us. For by
their very death was that solid firmament of authority, in Thy discourses set forth by
them, more eminently extended over all that be under it; which whilst they lived here, was
not so eminently extended. Thou hadst not as yet spread abroad the heaven like a skin;
Thou hadst not as yet enlarged in all directions the glory of their deaths.

19 Let us look, O Lord, upon the heavens, the work of Thy fingers; clear from our eyes
that cloud, which Thou hast spread under them. There is Thy testimony, which giveth wisdom
unto the little ones: perfect, O my God, Thy praise out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings. For we know no other books, which so destroy pride, which so destroy the enemy
and the defender, who resisteth Thy reconciliation by defending his own sins. I know not,
Lord, I know not any other such pure words, which so persuade me to confess, and make my
neck pliant to Thy yoke, and invite me to serve Thee for nought. Let me understand them,
good Father: grant this to me, who am placed under them: because for those placed under
them, hast Thou established them. 20 Other waters there be above this firmament, I believe
immortal, and separated from earthly corruption. Let them praise Thy Name, let them praise
Thee, the supercelestial people, Thine angels, who have no need to gaze up at this
firmament, or by reading to know of Thy Word. For they always behold Thy face, and there
read without any syllables in time, what willeth Thy eternal will; they read, they choose,
they love. They are ever reading; and that never passes away which they read; for by
choosing, and by loving, they read the very unchangeableness of Thy counsel. Their book is
never closed, nor their scroll folded up; seeing Thou Thyself art this to them, and art
eternally; because Thou hast ordained them above this firmament, which Thou hast firmly
settled over the infirmity of the lower people, where they might gaze up and learn Thy
mercy, announcing in time Thee Who madest times. For Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens,
and Thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. The clouds pass away, but the heaven abideth. The
preachers of Thy word pass out of this life into another; but Thy Scripture is spread
abroad over the people, even unto the end of the world. Yet heaven and earth also shall
pass away, but Thy words shall not pass away. Because the scroll shall be rolled together:
and the grass over which it was spread, shall with the goodliness of it pass away;

21 but Thy Word remaineth for ever, which now appeareth unto us under the dark image of
the clouds, and through the glass of the heavens, not as it is: because we also, though
the well-beloved of Thy Son, yet it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. He looketh
through the lattice of our flesh, and He spake us tenderly, and kindled us, and we ran
after His odours. But when He shall appear, then shall we be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is. As He is, Lord, will our sight be. 22 For altogether, as Thou art, Thou only
knowest; Who art unchangeably, and knowest unchangeably, and willest unchangeably. And Thy
Essence Knoweth, and Willeth unchangeably; and Thy Knowledge Is, and Willeth unchangeably;
and Thy Will Is, and Knoweth unchangeably. Nor seemeth it right in Thine eyes, that as the
Unchangeable Light knoweth Itself, so should it be known by the thing enlightened, and
changeable. Therefore is my soul like a land where no water is, because as it cannot of
itself enlighten itself, so can it not of itself satisfy itself. For so is the fountain of
life with Thee, like as in Thy light we shall see light. Who gathered the embittered
together into one society? For they have all one end, a temporal and earthly felicity, for
attaining whereof they do all things, though they waver up and down with an innumerable
variety of cares. Who, Lord, but Thou, saidst, Let the waters be gathered together into
one place, and let the dry land appear, which thirsteth after Thee? For the sea also is
Thine, and Thou hast made it, and Thy hands prepared the dry land. Nor is the bitterness
of men's wills, but the gathering together of the waters, called sea; for Thou restrainest
the wicked desires of men's souls, and settest them their bounds, how far they may be
allowed to pass, that their waves may break one against another: and thus makest Thou it a
sea, by the order of Thy dominion over all things.

23 But the souls that thirst after Thee, and that appear before Thee (being by other
bounds divided from the society of the sea), Thou waterest by a sweet spring, that the
earth may bring forth her fruit, and Thou, Lord God, so commanding, our soul may bud forth
works of mercy according to their kind, loving our neighbour in the relief of his bodily
necessities, having seed in itself according to its likeness, when from feeling of our
infirmity, we compassionate so as to relieve the needy; helping them, as we would be
helped; if we were in like need; not only in things easy, as in herb yielding seed, but
also in the protection of our assistance, with our best strength, like the tree yielding
fruit: that is, well-doing in rescuing him that suffers wrong, from the hand of the
powerful, and giving him the shelter of protection, by the mighty strength of just
judgment.

24 So, Lord, so, I beseech Thee, let there spring up, as Thou doest, as Thou givest
cheerfulness and ability, let truth spring out of the earth, and righteousness look down
from heaven, and let there be lights in the firmament. Let us break our bread to the
hungry, and bring the houseless poor to our house. Let us clothe the naked, and despise
not those of our own flesh. Which fruits having sprung out of the earth, see it is good:
and let our temporary light break forth; and ourselves, from this lower fruitfulness of
action, arriving at the delightfulness of contemplation, obtaining the Word of Life above,
appear like lights in the world, cleaving to the firmament of Thy Scripture. For there
Thou instructest us, to divide between the things intellectual, and things of sense, as
betwixt the day and the night; or between souls, given either to things intellectual, or
things of sense, so that now not Thou only in the secret of Thy judgment, as before the
firmament was made, dividest between the light and the darkness, but Thy spiritual
children also set and ranked in the same firmament (now that Thy grace is laid open
throughout the world), may give light upon the earth, and divide betwixt the day and the
night, and be for signs of times, that old things are passed away, and, behold, all things
are become new; and that our salvation is nearer than when we believed: and that the night
is far spent, and the day is at hand:

25 and that Thou wilt crown Thy year with blessing, sending the labourers of Thy goodness
into Thy harvest, in sowing whereof, others have laboured, sending also into another
field, whose harvest shall be in the end. Thus grantest Thou the prayers of him that
asketh, and blessest the years of the just; but Thou art the same, and in Thy years which
fail not, Thou preparest a garner for our passing years. For Thou by an eternal counsel
dost in their proper seasons bestow heavenly blessings upon the earth. For to one is given
by the Spirit the word of wisdom, as it were the lesser light: to another faith; to
another the gift with the light of perspicuous truth, as it were for the rule of the day.
To another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, as it were the lesser light: to
another faith; to another the gift of healing; to another the working of miracles; to
another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues.
And all these as it were stars. For all these worketh the one and self-same spirit,
dividing to every man his own as He will; and causing stars to appear manifestly, to
profit withal.

26 But the word of knowledge, wherein are contained all Sacraments, which are varied in
their seasons as it were the moon, and those other notices of gifts, which are reckoned up
in order, as it were stars, inasmuch as they come short of that brightness of wisdom,
which gladdens the forementioned day, are only for the rule of the night. For they are
necessary to such, as that Thy most prudent servant could not speak unto as unto
spiritual, but as unto carnal; even he, who speaketh wisdom among those that are perfect.
But the natural man, as it were a babe in Christ and fed on milk, until he be strengthened
for solid meat and his eye be enabled to behold the Sun, let him not dwell in a night
forsaken of all light, but be content with the light of the moon and the stars. So dost
Thou speak to us, our All-wise God, in Thy Book, Thy firmament; that we may discern all
things, in an admirable contemplation; though as yet in signs and in times, and in days,
and in years.

27 But first, wash you, be clean; put away evil from your souls, and from before mine
eyes, that the dry land may appear. Learn to do good, judge the fatherless, plead for the
widow, that the earth may bring forth the green herb for meat, and the tree bearing fruit;
and come, let us reason together, saith the Lord, that there may be lights in the
firmament of the heaven, and they may shine upon the earth. That rich man asked of the
good Master, what he should do to attain eternal life. Let the good Master tell him (whom
he thought no more than man; but He is good because He is God), let Him tell him, if he
would enter into life, he must keep the commandments: let him put away from him the
bitterness of malice and wickedness; not kill, not commit adultery, not steal, not bear
false witness; that the dry land may appear, and bring forth the honouring of father and
mother, and the love of our neighbour. All these (saith he) have I kept. Whence then so
many thorns, if the earth be fruitful? Go, root up the spreading thickets of covetousness;
sell that thou hast, and be filled with fruit, by giving to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven; and follow the Lord if thou wilt be perfect, associated with them,
among whom He speaketh wisdom, Who knoweth what to distribute to the day, and to the
night, that thou also mayest know it, and for thee there may be lights in the firmament of
heaven; which will not be, unless thy heart be there: nor will that either be, unless
there thy treasure be; as thou hast heard of the good Master. But that barren earth was
grieved; and the thorns choked the word.

28 But you, chosen generation, you weak things of the world, who have forsaken all, that
ye may follow the Lord; go after Him, and confound the mighty; go after Him, ye beautiful
feet, and shine ye in the firmament, that the heavens may declare His glory, dividing
between the light of the perfect, though not as the angels, and the darkness of the little
ones, though not despised. Shine over the earth; and let the day, lightened by the sun,
utter unto day, speech of wisdom; and night, shining with the moon, show unto night, the
word of knowledge. The moon and stars shine for the night; yet doth not the night obscure
them, seeing they give it light in its degree. For behold God saying, as it were, Let
there be lights in the firmament of heaven; there came suddenly a sound from heaven, as it
had been the rushing of a mighty wind, and there appeared cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them. And there were made lights in the firmament of heaven,
having the word of life. Run ye to and fro every where, ye holy fires, ye beauteous fires;
for ye are the light of the world, nor are ye put under a bushel; He whom you cleave unto,
is exalted, and hath exalted you. Run ye to and fro, and be known unto all nations.

29 Let the sea also conceive and bring forth your works; and let the waters bring forth
the moving creature that hath life. For ye, separating the precious from the vile, are
made the mouth of God, by whom He saith, Let the waters bring forth, not the living
creature which the earth brings forth, but the moving creature having life, and the fowls
that fly above the earth. For Thy Sacraments, O God, by the ministry of Thy holy ones,
have moved amid the waves of temptations of the world, to hallow the Gentiles in Thy Name,
in Thy Baptism. And amid these things, many great wonders were wrought, as it were great
whales: and the voices of Thy messengers flying above the earth, in the open firmament of
Thy Book; that being set over them, as their authority under which they were to fly,
whithersoever they went. For there is no speech nor language, where their voice is not
heard: seeing their sound is gone through all the earth, and their words to the end of the
world, because Thou, Lord, multipliedst them by blessing.

30 Speak I untruly, or do I mingle and confound, and not distinguish between the lucid
knowledge of these things in the firmament of heaven, and the material works in the wavy
sea, and under the firmament of heaven? For of those things whereof the knowledge is
substantial and defined, without any increase by generation, as it were lights of wisdom
and knowledge, yet even of them, the material operations are many and divers; and one
thing growing out of another, they are multiplied by Thy blessing, O God, who hast
refreshed the fastidiousness of mortal senses; that so one thing in the understanding of
our mind, may, by the motions of the body, be many ways set out, and expressed. These
Sacraments have the waters brought forth; but in Thy word. The necessities of the people
estranged from the eternity of Thy truth, have brought them forth, but in Thy Gospel;
because the waters themselves cast them forth, the diseased bitterness whereof was the
cause, why they were sent forth in Thy Word.

31 Now are all things fair that Thou hast made; but behold, Thyself art unutterably
fairer, that madest all; from whom had not Adam fallen, the brackishness of the sea had
never flowed out of him, that is, the human race so profoundly curious, and tempestuously
swelling, and restlessly tumbling up and down; and then had there been no need of Thy
dispensers to work in many waters, after a corporeal and sensible manner, mysterious
doings and sayings. For such those moving and flying creatures now seem to me to mean,
whereby people being initiated and consecrated by corporeal Sacraments, should not further
profit, unless their soul had a spiritual life, and unless after the word of admission, it
looked forwards to perfection. 32 And hereby, in Thy Word, not the deepness of the sea,
but the earth separated from the bitterness of the waters, brings forth, not the moving
creature that hath life, but the living soul. For now hath it no more need of baptism, as
the heathen have, and as itself had, when it was covered with the waters; (for no other
entrance is there into the kingdom of heaven, since Thou hast appointed that this should
be the entrance): nor does it seek after wonderfulness of miracles to work belief; for it
is not such, that unless it sees signs and wonders, it will not believe, now that the
faithful earth is separated from the waters that were bitter with infidelity; and tongues
are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. Neither then does
that earth which Thou hast founded upon the waters, need that flying kind, which at Thy
word the waters brought forth. Send Thou Thy word into it by Thy messengers: for we speak
of their working, yet it is Thou that workest in them that they may work out a living soul
in it. The earth brings it forth, because the earth is the cause that they work this in
the soul; as the sea was the cause that they wrought upon the moving creatures that have
life, and the fowls that fly under the firmament of heaven, of whom the earth hath no
need;

33 although it feeds upon that fish which was taken out of the deep, upon that table which
Thou hast prepared in the presence of them that believe. For therefore was He taken out of
the deep, that He might feed the dry land; and the fowl, though bred in the sea, is yet
multiplied upon the earth. For of the first preachings of the Evangelists, man's
infidelity was the cause; yet are the faithful also exhorted and blessed by them
manifoldly, from day to day. But the living soul takes his beginning from the earth: for
it profits only those already among the Faithful, to contain themselves from the love of
this world, that so their soul may live unto Thee, which was dead while it lived in
pleasures; in death-bringing pleasures, Lord, for Thou, Lord, art the life-giving delight
of the pure heart. 34 Now then let Thy ministers work upon the earth,—not as upon the
waters of infidelity, by preaching and speaking by miracles, and Sacraments, and mystic
words; wherein ignorance, the mother of admiration, might be intent upon them, out of a
reverence towards those secret signs. For such is the entrance unto the Faith for the sons
of Adam forgetful of Thee, while they hide themselves from Thy face, and become a darksome
deep. But—let Thy ministers work now as on the dry land, separated from the whirlpools of
the great deep: and let them be a pattern unto the Faithful, by living before them, and
stirring them up to imitation. For thus do men hear, so as not to hear only, but to do
also. Seek the Lord, and your soul shall live, that the earth may bring forth the living
soul. Be not conformed to the world. Contain yourselves from it: the soul lives by
avoiding what it dies by affecting. Contain yourselves from the ungoverned wildness of
pride, the sluggish voluptuousness of luxury, and the false name of knowledge: that so the
wild beasts may be tamed, the cattle broken to the yoke, the serpents, harmless. For these
be the motions of our mind under an allegory; that is to say, the haughtiness of pride,
the delight of lust, and the poison of curiosity, are the motions of a dead soul; for the
soul dies not so as to lose all motion; because it dies by forsaking the fountain of life,
and so is taken up by this transitory world, and is conformed unto it.

35 But Thy word, O God, is the fountain of life eternal; and passeth not away: wherefore
this departure of the soul is restrained by Thy word, when it is said unto us, Be not
conformed unto this world; that so the earth may in the fountain of life bring forth a
living soul; that is, a soul made continent in Thy Word, by Thy Evangelists, by following
the followers of Thy Christ. For this is after his kind; because a man is wont to imitate
his friend. Be ye (saith he) as I am, for I also am as you are. Thus in this living soul
shall there be good beasts, in meekness of action (for Thou hast commanded, Go on with thy
business in meekness, so shalt thou be beloved by all men); and good cattle, which neither
if they eat, shall they over-abound, nor, if they eat not, have any lack; and good
serpents, not dangerous, to do hurt, but wise to take heed; and only making so much search
into this temporal nature, as may suffice that eternity be clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made. For these creatures are obedient unto reason, when being
restrained from deadly prevailing upon us, they live, and are good.

36 For behold, O Lord, our God, our Creator, when our affections have been restrained from
the love of the world, by which we died through evil-living; and begun to be a living
soul, through good living; and Thy word which Thou spokest by Thy apostle, is made good in
us, Be not conformed to this world: there follows that also, which Thou presently
subjoinedst, saying, But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind; not now after
your kind, as though following your neighbour who went before you, nor as living after the
example of some better man (for Thou saidst not, "Let man be made after his kind," but,
Let us make man after our own image and similitude), that we might prove what Thy will is.
For to this purpose said that dispenser of Thine (who begat children by the Gospel), that
he might not for ever have them babes, whom he must be fain to feed with milk, and cherish
as a nurse; be ye transformed (saith he) by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Wherefore Thou sayest not, "Let
man be made," but Let us make man. Nor saidst Thou, "according to his kind"; but, after
our image and likeness. For man being renewed in his mind, and beholding and understanding
Thy truth, needs not man as his director, so as to follow after his kind;

37 but by Thy direction proveth what is that good, that acceptable, and perfect will of
Thine: yea, Thou teachest him, now made capable, to discern the Trinity of the Unity, and
the Unity of the Trinity. Wherefore to that said in the plural, Let us make man, is yet
subjoined in the singular, And God made man: and to that said in the plural, After our
likeness, is subjoined in the singular, After the image of God. Thus is man renewed in the
knowledge of God, after the image of Him that created him: and being made spiritual, he
judgeth all things (all things which are to be judged), yet himself is judged of no man.
38 But that he judgeth all things, this answers to his having dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over all cattle and wild beasts, and over all
the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For this he doth by
the understanding of his mind, whereby he perceiveth the things of the Spirit of God;
whereas otherwise, man being placed in honour, had no understanding, and is compared unto
the brute beasts, and is become like unto them. In Thy Church therefore, O our God,
according to Thy grace which Thou hast bestowed upon it (for we are Thy workmanship
created unto good works), not those only who are spiritually set over, but they also who
spiritually are subject to those that are set over them,—for in this way didst Thou make
man male and female, in Thy grace spiritual, where, according to the sex of body, there is
neither male nor female, because neither Jew nor Grecian, neither bond nor free.—Spiritual
persons (whether such as are set over, or such as obey); do judge spiritually; not of that
spiritual knowledge which shines in the firmament (for they ought not to judge as to so
supreme authority), nor may they judge of Thy Book itself, even though something there
shineth not clearly; for we submit our understanding unto it, and hold for certain, that
even what is closed to our sight, is yet rightly and truly spoken.

39 For so man, though now spiritual and renewed in the knowledge of God after His image
that created him, ought to be a doer of the law, not a judge. Neither doth he judge of
that distinction of spiritual and carnal men, who are known unto Thine eyes, O our God,
and have not as yet discovered themselves unto us by works, that by their fruits we might
know them: but Thou, Lord, dost even now know them, and hast divided and called them in
secret, or ever the firmament was made. Nor doth he, though spiritual, judge the unquiet
people of this world; for what hath he to do, to judge them that are without, knowing not
which of them shall hereafter come into the sweetness of Thy grace; and which continue in
the perpetual bitterness of ungodliness? 40 Man therefore, whom Thou hast made after Thine
own image, received not dominion over the lights of heaven, nor over that hidden heaven
itself, nor over the day and the night, which Thou calledst before the foundation of the
heaven, nor over the gathering together of the waters, which is the sea; but He received
dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and over all cattle, and
over all the earth, and over all creeping things which creep upon the earth. For He
judgeth and approveth what He findeth right, and He disalloweth what He findeth amiss,
whether in the celebration of those Sacraments by which such are initiated, as Thy mercy
searches out in many waters: or in that, in which that Fish is set forth, which, taken out
of the deep, the devout earth feedeth upon: or in the expressions and signs of words,
subject to the authority of Thy Book,—such signs, as proceed out of the mouth, and sound
forth, flying as it were under the firmament, by interpreting, expounding, discoursing
disputing, consecrating, or praying unto Thee, so that the people may answer, Amen. The
vocal pronouncing of all which words, is occasioned by the deep of this world, and the
blindness of the flesh, which cannot see thoughts; So that there is need to speak aloud
into the ears; so that, although flying fowls be multiplied upon the earth, yet they
derive their beginning from the waters. The spiritual man judgeth also by allowing of what
is right, and disallowing what he finds amiss, in the works and lives of the faithful;
their alms, as it were the earth bringing forth fruit, and of the living soul, living by
the taming of the affections, in chastity, in fasting, in holy meditations; and of those
things, which are perceived by the senses of the body. Upon all these is he now said to
judge, wherein he hath also power of correction.

41 But what is this, and what kind of mystery? Behold, Thou blessest mankind, O Lord, that
they may increase and multiply, and replenish the earth; dost Thou not thereby give us a
hint to understand something? why didst Thou not as well bless the light, which Thou
calledst day; nor the firmament of heaven, nor the lights, nor the stars, nor the earth,
nor the sea? I might say that Thou, O God, who created us after Thine Image, I might say,
that it had been Thy good pleasure to bestow this blessing peculiarly upon man; hadst Thou
not in like manner blessed the fishes and the whales, that they should increase and
multiply, and replenish the waters of the sea, and that the fowls should be multiplied
upon the earth. I might say likewise, that this blessing pertained properly unto such
creatures, as are bred of their own kind, had I found it given to the fruit-trees, and
plants, and beasts of the earth. But now neither unto the herbs, nor the trees, nor the
beasts, nor serpents is it said, Increase and multiply; notwithstanding all these as well
as the fishes, fowls, or men, do by generation increase and continue their kind.

42 What then shall I say, O Truth my Light? "that it was idly said, and without meaning?"
Not so, O Father of piety, far be it from a minister of Thy word to say so. And if I
understand not what Thou meanest by that phrase, let my betters, that is, those of more
understanding than myself, make better use of it, according as Thou, my God, hast given to
each man to understand. But let my confession also be pleasing in Thine eyes, wherein I
confess unto Thee, that I believe, O Lord, that Thou spokest not so in vain; nor will I
suppress, what this lesson suggests to me. For it is true, nor do I see what should hinder
me from thus understanding the figurative sayings of Thy Bible. For I know a thing to be
manifoldly signified by corporeal expressions, which is understood one way by the mind;
and that understood many ways in the mind, which is signified one way by corporeal
expression. Behold, the single love of God and our neighbour, by what manifold sacraments,
and innumerable languages, and in each several language, in how innumerable modes of
speaking, it is corporeally expressed. Thus do the offspring of the waters increase and
multiply. Observe again, whosoever readest this; behold, what Scripture delivers, and the
voice pronounces one only way, In the Beginning God created heaven and earth; is it not
understood manifoldly, not through any deceit of error, but by various kinds of true
senses? Thus do man's offspring increase and multiply.

43 If therefore we conceive of the natures of the things themselves, not allegorically,
but properly, then does the phrase increase and multiply, agree unto all things, that come
of seed. But if we treat of the words as figuratively spoken (which I rather suppose to be
the purpose of the Scripture, which doth not, surely, superfluously ascribe this
benediction to the offspring of aquatic animals and man only); then do we find "multitude"
to belong to creatures spiritual as well as corporeal, as in heaven and earth, and to
righteous and unrighteous, as in light and darkness; and to holy authors who have been the
ministers of the Law unto us, as in the firmament which is settled betwixt the waters and
the waters; and to the society of people yet in the bitterness of infidelity, as in the
sea; and to the zeal of holy souls, as in the dry land; and to works of mercy belonging to
this present life, as in the herbs bearing seed, and in trees bearing fruit; and to
spiritual gifts set forth for edification, as in the lights of heaven; and to affections
formed unto temperance, as in the living soul. In all these instances we meet with
multitudes, abundance, and increase; but what shall in such wise increase and multiply
that one thing may be expressed many ways, and one expression understood many ways; we
find not, except in signs corporeally expressed, and in things mentally conceived.

44 By signs corporeally pronounced we understand the generations of the waters,
necessarily occasioned by the depth of the flesh; by things mentally conceived, human
generations, on account of the fruitfulness of reason. And for this end do we believe
Thee, Lord, to have said to these kinds, Increase and multiply. For in this blessing, I
conceive Thee to have granted us a power and a faculty, both to express several ways what
we understand but one; and to understand several ways, what we read to be obscurely
delivered but in one. Thus are the waters of the sea replenished, which are not moved but
by several significations: thus with human increase is the earth also replenished, whose
dryness appeareth in its longing, and reason ruleth over it. 45 I would also say, O Lord
my God, what the following Scripture minds me of; yea, I will say, and not fear. For I
will say the truth, Thyself inspiring me with what Thou willedst me to deliver out of
those words. But by no other inspiration than Thine, do I believe myself to speak truth,
seeing Thou art the Truth, and every man a liar. He therefore that speaketh a lie,
speaketh of his own; that therefore I may speak truth, I will speak of Thine. Behold, Thou
hast given unto us for food every herb bearing seed which is upon all the earth; and every
tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed. And not to us alone, but also to all
the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth, and to all creeping things; but unto
the fishes and to the great whales, hast Thou not given them. Now we said that by these
fruits of the earth were signified, and figured in an allegory, the works of mercy which
are provided for the necessities of this life out of the fruitful earth. Such an earth was
the devout Onesiphorus, unto whose house Thou gavest mercy, because he often refreshed Thy
Paul, and was not ashamed of his chain. Thus did also the brethren, and such fruit did
they bear, who out of Macedonia supplied what was lacking to him.

46 But how grieved he for some trees, which did not afford him the fruit due unto him,
where he saith, At my first answer no man stood by me, but all men forsook me. I pray God
that it may not be laid to their charge. For these fruits are due to such as minister the
spiritual doctrine unto us out of their understanding of the divine mysteries; and they
are due to them, as men; yea and due to them also, as the living soul, which giveth itself
as an example, in all continency; and due unto them also, as flying creatures, for their
blessings which are multiplied upon the earth, because their sound went out into all
lands. 47 But they are fed by these fruits, that are delighted with them; nor are they
delighted with them, whose God is their belly. For neither in them that yield them, are
the things yielded the fruit, but with what mind they yield them. He therefore that served
God, and not his own belly, I plainly see why he rejoiced; I see it, and I rejoice with
him. For he had received from the Philippians, what they had sent by Epaphroditus unto
him: and yet I perceive why he rejoiced. For whereat he rejoiced upon that he fed; for,
speaking in truth, I rejoiced (saith he) greatly in the Lord, that now at the last your
care of me hath flourished again, wherein ye were also careful, but it had become
wearisome unto you. These Philippians then had now dried up, with a long weariness, and
withered as it were as to bearing this fruit of a good work; and he rejoiceth for them,
that they flourished again, not for himself, that they supplied his wants. Therefore
subjoins he, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I
am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; every
where and in all things I am instructed both to be full, and to be hungry; both to abound,
and to suffer need. I can do all things through Him which strengtheneth me.

48 Whereat then rejoicest thou, O great Paul? whereat rejoicest thou? whereon feedest
thou, O man, renewed in the knowledge of God, after the image of Him that created thee,
thou living soul, of so much continency, thou tongue like flying fowls, speaking
mysteries? (for to such creatures, is this food due;) what is it that feeds thee? joy.
Hear we what follows: notwithstanding, ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my
affliction. Hereat he rejoiceth, hereon feedeth; because they had well done, not because
his strait was eased, who saith unto Thee, Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress;
for that he knew to abound, and to suffer want, in Thee Who strengthenest him. For ye
Philippians also know (saith he), that in the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed
from Macedonia, no Church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye
only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Unto these good
works, he now rejoiceth that they are returned; and is gladdened that they flourished
again, as when a fruitful field resumes its green.

49 Was it for his own necessities, because he said, Ye sent unto my necessity? Rejoiceth
he for that? Verily not for that. But how know we this? Because himself says immediately,
not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit. I have learned of Thee, my God, to
distinguish betwixt a gift, and fruit. A gift, is the thing itself which he gives, that
imparts these necessaries unto us; as money, meat, drink, clothing, shelter, help: but the
fruit, is the good and right will of the giver. For the Good Master said not only, He that
receiveth a prophet, but added, in the name of a prophet: nor did He only say, He that
receiveth a righteous man, but added, in the name of a righteous man. So verily shall the
one receive the reward of a prophet, the other, the reward of a righteous man: nor saith
He only, He that shall give to drink a cup of cold water to one of my little ones; but
added, in the name of a disciple: and so concludeth, Verily I say unto you, he shall not
lose his reward. The gift is, to receive a prophet, to receive a righteous man, to give a
cup of cold water to a disciple: but the fruit, to do this in the name of a prophet, in
the name of a righteous man, in the name of a disciple. With fruit was Elijah fed by the
widow that knew she fed a man of God, and therefore fed him: but by the raven was he fed
with a gift. Nor was the inner man of Elijah so fed, but the outer only; which might also
for want of that food have perished.

50 I will then speak what is true in Thy sight, O Lord, that when carnal men and infidels
(for the gaining and initiating whom, the initiatory Sacraments and the mighty workings of
miracles are necessary, which we suppose to be signified by the name of fishes and whales)
undertake the bodily refreshment, or otherwise succour Thy servant with something useful
for this present life; whereas they be ignorant, why this is to be done, and to what end;
neither do they feed these, nor are these fed by them; because neither do the one do it
out of an holy and right intent; nor do the other rejoice at their gifts, whose fruit they
as yet behold not. For upon that is the mind fed, of which it is glad. And therefore do
not the fishes and whales feed upon such meats, as the earth brings not forth until after
it was separated and divided from the bitterness of the waves of the sea.

51 And Thou, O God, sawest every thing that Thou hadst made, and, behold, it was very
good. Yea we also see the same, and behold, all things are very good. Of the several kinds
of Thy works, when Thou hadst said "let them be," and they were, Thou sawest each that it
was good. Seven times have I counted it to be written, that Thou sawest that that which
Thou madest was good: and this is the eighth, that Thou sawest every thing that Thou hadst
made, and, behold, it was not only good, but also very good, as being now altogether. For
severally, they were only good; but altogether, both good, and very good. All beautiful
bodies express the same; by reason that a body consisting of members all beautiful, is far
more beautiful than the same members by themselves are, by whose well-ordered blending the
whole is perfected; notwithstanding that the members severally be also beautiful.

52 And I looked narrowly to find, whether seven, or eight times Thou sawest that Thy works
were good, when they pleased Thee; but in Thy seeing I found no times, whereby I might
understand that Thou sawest so often, what Thou madest. And I said, "Lord, is not this Thy
Scripture true, since Thou art true, and being Truth, hast set it forth? why then dost
Thou say unto me, 'that in Thy seeing there be no times'; whereas this Thy Scripture tells
me, that what Thou madest each day, Thou sawest that it was good: and when I counted them,
I found how often." Unto this Thou answerest me, for Thou art my God, and with a strong
voice tellest Thy servant in his inner ear, breaking through my deafness and crying, "O
man, that which My Scripture saith, I say: and yet doth that speak in time; but time has
no relation to My Word; because My Word exists in equal eternity with Myself. So the
things which ye see through My Spirit, I see; like as what ye speak by My Spirit, I speak.
And so when ye see those things in time, I see them not in time; as when ye speak in time,
I speak them not in time."

53 And I heard, O Lord my God, and drank up a drop of sweetness out of Thy truth, and
understood, that certain men there be who mislike Thy works; and say, that many of them
Thou madest, compelled by necessity; such as the fabric of the heavens, and harmony of the
stars; and that Thou madest them not of what was Thine, but that they were otherwhere and
from other sources created, for Thee to bring together and compact and combine, when out
of Thy conquered enemies Thou raisedst up the walls of the universe; that they, bound down
by the structure, might not again be able to rebel against Thee. For other things, they
say Thou neither madest them, nor even compactedst them, such as all flesh and all very
minute creatures, and whatsoever hath its root in the earth; but that a mind at enmity
with Thee, and another nature not created by Thee, and contrary unto Thee, did, in these
lower stages of the world, beget and frame these things. Frenzied are they who say thus,
because they see not Thy works by Thy Spirit, nor recognise Thee in them.

54 But they who by Thy Spirit see these things, Thou seest in them. Therefore when they
see that these things are good, Thou seest that they are good; and whatsoever things for
Thy sake please, Thou pleasest in them, and what through Thy Spirit please us, they please
Thee in us. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man, which is
in him? even so the things of God knoweth no one, but the Spirit of God. Now we (saith he)
have received, not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God. And I am admonished, "Truly the things
of God knoweth no one, but the Spirit of God: how then do we also know, what things are
given us of God? Answer is made me; "because the things which we know by His Spirit, even
these no one knoweth, but the Spirit of God. For as it is rightly said unto those that
were to speak by the Spirit of God, it is not ye that speak: so is it rightly said to them
that know through the Spirit of God, 'It is not ye that know.' And no less then is it
rightly said to those that see through the Spirit of God, 'It is not ye that see'; so
whatsoever through the Spirit of God they see to be good, it is not they, but God that
sees that it is good.

55 It is one thing then for a man to think that to be ill which is good, as the forenamed
do; another, that that which is good, a man should see that it is good (as Thy creatures
be pleasing unto many, because they be good, whom yet Thou pleasest not in them, when they
prefer to enjoy them, to Thee); and another, that when a man sees a thing that it is good,
God should in him see that it is good, so, namely, that He should be loved in that which
He made, Who cannot be loved, but by the Holy Ghost which He hath given. Because the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, Which is given unto us: by Whom we
see that whatsoever in any degree is, is good. For from Him it is, who Himself Is not in
degree, but what He Is, Is.

56 Thanks to Thee, O Lord. We behold the heaven and earth, whether the corporeal part,
superior and inferior, or the spiritual and corporeal creature; and in the adorning of
these parts, whereof the universal pile of the world, or rather the universal creation,
doth consist, we see light made, and divided from the darkness. We see the firmament of
heaven, whether that primary body of the world, between the spiritual upper waters and the
inferior corporeal waters, or (since this also is called heaven) this space of air through
which wander the fowls of heaven, betwixt those waters which are in vapours borne above
them, and in clear nights distill down in dew; and those heavier waters which flow along
the earth. We behold a face of waters gathered together in the fields of the sea; and the
dry land both void, and formed so as to be visible and harmonized, yea and the matter of
herbs and trees. We behold the lights shining from above, the sun to suffice for the day,
the moon and the stars to cheer the night; and that by all these, times should be marked
and signified. We behold on all sides a moist element, replenished with fishes, beasts,
and birds; because the grossness of the air, which bears up the flights of birds,
thickeneth itself by the exhalation of the waters.

57 We behold the face of the earth decked out with earthly creatures, and man, created
after Thy image and likeness, even through that Thy very image and likeness (that is the
power of reason and understanding), set over all irrational creatures. And as in his soul
there is one power which has dominion by directing, another made subject, that it might
obey; so was there for the man, corporeally also, made a woman, who in the mind of her
reasonable understanding should have a parity of nature, but in the sex of her body,
should be in like manner subject to the sex of her husband, as the appetite of doing is
fain to conceive the skill of right-doing from the reason of the mind. These things we
behold, and they are severally good, and altogether very good. 58 Let Thy works praise
Thee, that we may love Thee; and let us love Thee, that Thy works may praise Thee, which
from time have beginning and ending, rising and setting, growth and decay, form and
privation. They have then their succession of morning and evening, part secretly, part
apparently; for they were made of nothing, by Thee, not of Thee; not of any matter not
Thine, or that was before, but of matter concreated (that is, at the same time created by
Thee), because to its state without form, Thou without any interval of time didst give
form. For seeing the matter of heaven and earth is one thing, and the form another, Thou
madest the matter of merely nothing, but the form of the world out of the matter without
form: yet both together, so that the form should follow the matter, without any interval
of delay.

59 We have also examined what Thou willedst to be shadowed forth, whether by the creation,
or the relation of things in such an order. And we have seen, that things singly are good,
and together very good, in Thy Word, in Thy Only-Begotten, both heaven and earth, the Head
and the body of the Church, in Thy predestination before all times, without morning and
evening. But when Thou begannest to execute in time the things predestinated, to the end
Thou mightest reveal hidden things, and rectify our disorders; for our sins hung over us,
and we had sunk into the dark deep; and Thy good Spirit was borne over us, to help us in
due season; and Thou didst justify the ungodly, and dividest them from the wicked; and
Thou madest the firmament of authority of Thy Book between those placed above, who were to
be docile unto Thee, and those under, who were to be subject to them: and Thou gatheredst
together the society of unbelievers into one conspiracy, that the zeal of the faithful
might appear, and they might bring forth works of mercy, even distributing to the poor
their earthly riches, to obtain heavenly. And after this didst Thou kindle certain lights
in the firmament, Thy Holy ones, having the word of life; and shining with an eminent
authority set on high through spiritual gifts;

60 after that again, for the initiation of the unbelieving Gentiles, didst Thou out of
corporeal matter produce the Sacraments, and visible miracles, and forms of words
according to the firmament of Thy Book, by which the faithful should be blessed and
multiplied. Next didst Thou form the living soul of the faithful, through affections well
ordered by the vigour of continency: and after that, the mind subjected to Thee alone and
needing to imitate no human authority, hast Thou renewed after Thy image and likeness; and
didst subject its rational actions to the excellency of the understanding, as the woman to
the man; and to all Offices of Thy Ministry, necessary for the perfecting of the faithful
in this life, Thou willedst, that for their temporal uses, good things, fruitful to
themselves in time to come, be given by the same faithful. All these we see, and they are
very good, because Thou seest them in us, Who hast given unto us Thy Spirit, by which we
might see them, and in them love Thee.

61 O Lord God, give peace unto us: (for Thou hast given us all things;) the peace of rest,
the peace of the Sabbath, which hath no evening. For all this most goodly array of things
very good, having finished their courses, is to pass away, for in them there was morning
and evening. But the seventh day hath no evening, nor hath it setting; because Thou hast
sanctified it to an everlasting continuance; that that which Thou didst after Thy works
which were very good, resting the seventh day, although Thou madest them in unbroken rest,
that may the voice of Thy Book announce beforehand unto us, that we also after our works
(therefore very good, because Thou hast given them us), shall rest in Thee also in the
Sabbath of eternal life. For then shalt Thou rest in us, as now Thou workest in us; and so
shall that be Thy rest through us, as these are Thy works through us. But Thou, Lord, ever
workest, and art ever at rest. Nor dost Thou see in time, nor art moved in time, nor
restest in a time; and yet Thou makest things seen in time, yea the times themselves, and
the rest which results from time.

62 We therefore see these things which Thou madest, because they are: but they are,
because Thou seest them. And we see without, that they are, and within, that they are
good, but Thou sawest them there, when made, where Thou sawest them, yet to be made. And
we were at a later time moved to do well, after our hearts had conceived of Thy Spirit;
but in the former time we were moved to do evil, forsaking Thee; but Thou, the One, the
Good God, didst never cease doing good. And we also have some good works, of Thy gift, but
not eternal; after them we trust to rest in Thy great hallowing. But Thou, being the Good
which needeth no good, art ever at rest, because Thy rest is Thou Thyself. And what man
can teach man to understand this? or what Angel, an Angel? or what Angel, a man? Let it be
asked of Thee, sought in Thee, knocked for at Thee; so, so shall it be received, so shall
it be found, so shall it be opened. Amen.


SOLILOQUIES
===========

SOLILOQUIES Augustine of Hippo

AD 354–430

Bishop of Hippo, the most influential Latin father.

BOOK 1

As I had been long revolving with myself matters many and various, and had been for many
days sedulously inquiring both concerning myself and my chief good, or what of evil there
was to be avoided by me: suddenly some one addresses me, whether I myself, or some other
one, within me or without, I know not. For this very thing is what I chiefly toil to know.
There says then to me, let us call it Reason,-Behold, assuming that you had discovered
somewhat, to whose charge would you commit it, that you might go on with other things? A.
To the memory, no doubt. R. But is the force of memory so great as to keep safely
everything that may have been wrought out in thought? A. It hardly could, nay indeed it
certainly could not. R. Therefore you must write. But what are you to do, seeing that your
health recoils from the labor of writing? nor will these things bear to be dictated,
seeing they consent not but with utter solitude. A. True. Therefore I am wholly at a loss
what to say. R. Entreat of God health and help, that you may the better compass your
desires, and commit to writing this very petition, that you may be the more courageous in
the offspring of your brain. Then, what you discover sum up in a few brief conclusions.
Nor care just now to invite a crowd of readers; it will suffice if these things find
audience among the few of thine own city.

2. O God, Framer of the universe, grant me first rightly to invoke Thee; then to show
myself worthy to be heard by Thee; lastly, deign to set me free. God, through whom all
things, which of themselves were not, tend to be. God, who withholdest from perishing even
that which seems to be mutually destructive. God, who, out of nothing, hast created this
world, which the eyes of all perceive to be most beautiful. God, who dost not cause evil,
but causest that it be not most evil. God, who to the few that flee for refuge to that
which truly is, showest evil to be nothing. God, through whom the universe, even taking in
its sinister side, is perfect. God, from whom things most widely at variance with Thee
effect no dissonance, since worser things are included in one plan with better. God, who
art loved, wittingly or unwittingly, by everything that is capable of loving. God, in whom
are all things, to whom nevertheless neither the vileness of any creature is vile, nor its
wickedness harmful, nor its error erroneous. God, who hast not willed that any but the
pure should know the truth. God, the Father of truth, the Father of wisdom, the Father of
the true and crowning life, the Father of blessedness, the Father of that which is good
and fair, the Father of intelligible light, the Father of our awakening and illumination,
the Father of the pledge by which we are admonished to return to Thee.

3. Thee I invoke, O God, the Truth, in whom and from whom and through whom all things are
true which anywhere are true. God, the Wisdom, in whom and from whom and through whom all
things are wise which anywhere are wise. God, the true and crowning Life, in whom and from
whom and through whom all things live, which truly and supremely live. God, the
Blessedness, in whom and from whom and through whom all things are blessed, which anywhere
are blessed. God, the Good and Fair, in whom and from whom and through whom all things are
good and fair, which anywhere are good and fair. God, the intelligible Light, in whom and
from whom and through whom all things intelligibly shine, which anywhere intelligibly
shine. God, whose kingdom is that whole world of which sense has no ken. God, from whose
kingdom a law is even derived down upon these lower realms. God, from whom to be turned
away, is to fall: to whom to be turned back, is to rise again: in whom to abide, is to
stand firm. God, from whom to go forth, is to die: to whom to return, is to revive: in
whom to have our dwelling, is to live. God, whom no one loses, unless deceived: whom no
one seeks, unless stirred up: whom no one finds, unless made pure. God, whom to forsake,
is one thing with perishing; towards whom to tend, is one thing with living: whom to see
is one thing with having.

God, towards whom faith rouses us, hope lifts us up, with whom love joins us. God, through
whom we overcome the enemy, Thee I entreat. God, through whose gift it is, that we do not
perish utterly. God, by whom we are warned to watch. God, by whom we distinguish good from
ill. God, by whom we flee evil, and follow good. God, through whom we yield not to
calamities. God, through whom we faithfully serve and benignantly govern. God, through
whom we learn those things to be another's which aforetime we accounted ours, and those
things to be ours which we used to account as belonging to another. God, through whom the
baits and enticements of evil things have no power to hold us. God, through whom it is
that diminished possessions leave ourselves complete. God, through whom our better good is
not subject to a worse. God, through whom death is swallowed up in victory. God, who dost
turn us to Thyself. God, who dost strip us of that which is not, and arrayest us in that
which is. God, who dost make us worthy to be heard. God, who dost fortify us. God, who
leadest us into all truth. God, who speakest to us only good, who neither terrifiest into
madness nor sufferest another so to do. God, who callest us back into the way. God, who
leadest us to the door of life. God, who causest it to be opened to them that knock. God,
who givest us the bread of life.

God, through whom we thirst for the draught, which being drunk we never thirst. God, who
dost convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. God, through whom it is
that we are not commoved by those who refuse to believe. God, through whom we disapprove
the error of those, who think that there are no merits of souls before Thee. God, through
whom it comes that we are not in bondage to the weak and beggarly elements. God, who
cleansest us, and preparest us for Divine rewards, to me propitious come Thou. 4. Whatever
has been said by me, Thou the only God, do Thou come to my help, the one true and eternal
substance, where is no discord, no confusion, no shifting, no indigence, no death. Where
is supreme concord, supreme evidence, supreme steadfastness, supreme fullness, and life
supreme. Where nothing is lacking, nothing redundant. Where Begetter and Begotten are one.
God, whom all things serve, that serve, to whom is compliant every virtuous soul. By whose
laws the poles revolve, the stars fulfill their courses, the sun vivifies the day, the
moon tempers the night: and all the framework of things, day after day by vicissitude of
light and gloom, month after month by waxings and wanings of the moon, year after year by
orderly successions of spring and summer and fall and winter, cycle after cycle by
accomplished concurrences of the solar course, and through the mighty orbs of time,
folding and refolding upon themselves, as the stars still recur to their first
conjunctions, maintains, so far as this merely visible matter allows, the mighty constancy
of things. God, by whose ever-during laws the stable motion of shifting things is suffered
to feel no perturbation, the thronging course of circling ages is ever recalled anew to
the image of immovable quiet: by whose laws the choice of the soul is free, and to the
good rewards and to the evil pains are distributed by necessities settled throughout the
nature of everything. God, from whom distil even to us all benefits, by whom all evils are
withheld from us.

God, above whom is nothing, beyond whom is nothing, without whom is nothing. God, under
whom is the whole, in whom is the whole, with whom is the whole. Who hast made man after
Thine image and likeness, which he discovers, who has come to know himself. Hear me, hear
me, graciously hear me, my God, my Lord, my King, my Father, my Cause, my Hope, my Wealth,
my Honor, my House, my Country, my Health, my Light, my Life. Hear, hear, hear me
graciously, in that way, all Thine own, which though known to few is to those few known so
well. 5. Henceforth Thee alone do I love, Thee alone I follow, Thee alone I seek, Thee
alone am I prepared to serve, for Thou alone art Lord by a just title, of Thy dominion do
I desire to be. Direct, I pray, and command whatever Thou wilt, but heal and open my ears,
that I may hear Thine utterances. Heal and open my eyes, that I may behold Thy
significations of command. Drive delusion from me, that I may recognize Thee. Tell me
whither I must tend, to behold Thee, and I hope that I shall do all things Thou mayest
enjoin. O Lord, most merciful Father receive, I pray, Thy fugitive; enough already,
surely, have I been punished, long enough have I served Thine enemies, whom Thou hast
under Thy feet, long enough have I been a sport of fallacies. Receive me fleeing from
these, Thy house-born servant, for did not these receive me, though another Master's, when
I was fleeing from Thee? To Thee I feel I must return: I knock; may Thy door be opened to
me; teach me the way to Thee. Nothing else have I than the will: nothing else do I know
than that fleeting and falling things are to be spurned, fixed and everlasting things to
be sought. This I do, Father, because this alone I know, but from what quarter to approach
Thee I do not know. Do Thou instruct me, show me, give me my provision for the way. If it
is by faith that those find Thee, who take refuge with Thee then grant faith: if by
virtue, virtue: if by knowledge, knowledge. Augment in me, faith, hope, and charity. O
goodness of Thine, singular and most to be admired!

7. A. Behold I have prayed to God. R. What then wouldst thou know? A. All these things
which I have prayed for. R. Sum them up in brief. A. God and the soul, that is what I
desire to know. R. Nothing more? A. Nothing whatever. R. Therefore begin to inquire. But
first explain how, if God should be set forth to thee, thou wouldst be able to say, It is
enough. A. I know not how He is to be so set forth to me as that I shall say, It is
enough: for I believe not that I know anything in such wise as I desire to know God. R.
What then are we to do? Dost thou not judge that first thou oughtest to know, what it is
to know God sufficiently, so that arriving at that point, thou mayst seek no farther? A.
So I judge, indeed: but how that is to be brought about, I see not. For what have I ever
understood like to God, so that I could say, As I understand this, so would I fain
understand God? R. Not having yet made acquaintance with God, whence hast thou come to
know that thou knowest nothing like to God? A. Because if I knew anything like God, I
should doubtless love it: but now I love nothing else than God and the soul, neither of
which I know. R. Do you then not love your friends? A. Loving them, how can I otherwise
than love the soul? R.

Do you then love gnats and bugs similarly? A. The animating soul I said I loved, not
animals. R. Men are then either not your friends, or you do not love them. For every man
is an animal, and you say that you do not love animals. A. Men are my friends, and I love
them, not in that they are animals, but in that they are men, that is, in that they are
animated by rational souls, which I love even in highwaymen. For I may with good right in
any man love reason, even though I rightly hate him, who uses ill that which I love.
Therefore I love my friends the more, the more worthily they use their rational soul, or
certainly the more earnestly they desire to use it worthily. 8. R. I allow so much: but
yet if any one should say to thee, I will give thee to know God as well as thou dost know
Alypius, wouldst thou not give thanks, and say, It is enough? A. I should give thanks
indeed: but I should not say, It is enough. R. Why, I pray? A. Because I do not even know
God so well as I know Alypius, and yet I do not know Alypius well enough. R. Beware then
lest shamelessly thou wouldest fain be satisfied in the knowledge of God, who hast not
even such a knowledge of Alypius as satisfies. A. Non sequitur. For, comparing it with the
stars, what is of lower account than my supper? and yet what I shall sup on to-morrow I
know not: but in what sign the moon will be, I need take no shame to profess that I know.
R. Is it then enough for thee to know God as well as thou dost know in what sign the moon
will hold her course to-morrow? A. It is not enough, for this I test by the senses. But I
do not know whether or not either God, or some hidden cause of nature may suddenly change
the moon's ordinary course, which if it came to pass, would render false all that I had
presumed. R. And believest thou that this may happen? A. I do not believe. But I at least
am seeking what I may know, not what I may believe.

Now everything that we know, we may with reason perhaps be said to believe, but not to
know everything which we believe. A. In this matter therefore you reject all testimony of
the senses? A. I utterly reject it. R. That friend of yours then, whom you say you do not
yet know, is it by sense that you wish to know him or by intellectual perception? A.
Whatever in him I know by sense, if indeed anything is known by sense, is both mean and
sufficiently known. But that part which bears affection to me, that is, the mind itself. I
desire to know intellectually. R. Can it, indeed, be known otherwise? A. By no means. R.
Do you venture then to call your friend, your inmost friend, unknown to you? A. Why not
venture? For I account most equitable that law of friendship, by which it is prescribed,
that as one is to bear no less, so he is to bear no more affection to his friend than to
himself. Since then I know not myself, what injury does he suffer, whom I declare to be
unknown to me, above all since (as I believe) he does not even know himself? R.

If then these things which thou wouldst fain know, are of such a sort as are to be
intellectually attained, when I said it was shameless in thee to crave to know God, when
thou knowest not even Alypius, thou oughtest not to have urged to me the similitude of thy
supper and the moon, if these things, as thou hast said, appertain to sense. 9. But let
that go, and now answer to this: if those things which Plato and Plotinus have said
concerning God are true, is it enough for thee to know God as they knew him? A. Even
allowing that those things which they have said are true, does it follow at once that they
knew them? For many copiously utter what they do not know, as I myself have said that I
desired to know all those things for which I prayed, which I should not desire if I knew
them already: yet I was none the less able to enumerate them all. For I have enumerated
not what I intellectually comprehended, but things which I have gathered from all sides
and entrusted to my memory, and to which I yield as ample a faith as I am able: but to
know is another thing. R. Tell me, I pray, do you at least know in geometry what a line
is? A. So much I certainly know. R. Nor in professing so do you stand in awe of the
Academicians? R. In no wise. For they, as wise men, would not run the risk of erring: but
I am not wise. Therefore as yet I do not shrink from professing the knowledge of those
things which I have come to know. But if, as I desire, I should ever have attained to
wisdom, I will do what I may find her to suggest. R. I except not thereto:

but, I had begun to inquire, as you know a line, do you also know a ball, or, as they say,
a sphere? A. I do. R. Both alike, or one more, one less? A. Just alike. I am altogether
certain of both. R. Have you grasped these by the senses or the intellect? A. Nay, I have
essayed the senses in this matter as a ship. For after they had carried me to the place I
was aiming for, and I had dismissed them, and was now, as it were, left on dry ground,
where I began to turn these things over in thought, the oscillations of the senses long
continued to swim in my brain. Wherefore it seems to me that it would be easier to sail on
dry land, than to learn geometry by the senses, although young beginners seem to derive
some help from them. R. Then you do not hesitate to call whatever acquaintance you have
with such things, Knowledge? A. Not if the Stoics permit, who attribute knowledge only to
the Wise Man. Certainly I maintain myself to have the perception of these things, which
they concede even to folly: but neither am I at all in any great fear of the stoics:
unquestionably I hold those things which thou hast questioned me of in knowledge: proceed
now till I see to what end thou questionest me of them. R. Be not too eager, we are not
pressed for time. But give strict heed, lest you should make some rash concession.

I would fain give thee the joy of things wherein thou fearest not to slip, and dost thou
enjoin haste, as in a matter of no moment? A. God grant the event as thou forecastest it.
Therefore question at thy will, and rebuke me more sharply if I err so again. 10. R. It is
then plain to you that a line cannot possibly be longitudinally divided into two? A.
Plainly so. R. What of a cross-section? A. This, of course, is possible to infinity. R.
But is it equally apparent that if, beginning with the centre, you make any sections you
please of a sphere, no two resulting circles will be equal? A. It is equally apparent. R.
What are a line and a sphere? Do they seem to you to be identical, or somewhat different?
A. Who does not see that they differ very much? R. If then you know this and that equally
well, while yet, as you acknowledge, they differ widely from each other, there must be an
indifferent knowledge of different things. A. Who ever disputed it? R. You, a little while
ago. For when I asked thee what way of knowing God was in thy desire, such that thou
couldst say, It is enough, thou didst answer that thou couldst not explain this, because
thou hadst no perception held in such a way as that in which thou didst desire to perceive
God, for that thou didst know nothing like God. What then? Are a line and sphere alike? A.
Absurd. R. But I had asked, not what you knew such as God, but what you knew so as you
desire to know God. For you know a line in such wise as you know a sphere, although the
properties of a line are not those of a sphere. Wherefore answer whether it would suffice
you to know God in such wise as you know that geometrical ball; that is, to be equally
without doubt concerning God as concerning that.

11. A. Pardon me, however vehemently thou urge and argue, yet I dare not say that I wish
so to know God as I know these things. For not only the objects of the knowledge, but the
knowledge itself appears to be unlike. First, because the line and the ball are not so
unlike, but that one science includes the knowledge of them both: but no geometrician has
ever professed to teach God. Then, if the knowledge of God and of these things were
equivalent, I should rejoice as much to know them as I am persuaded that I should rejoice
if God were known by me. But now I hold these things in the deepest disdain in comparison
with Him, so that sometimes it seems to me that if I understood Him, and that in that
manner in which He can be seen, all these things would perish out of my knowledge: since
even now by reason of the love of Him they scarce come into my mind. R. Allow that thou
wouldst rejoice more and much more in knowing God than in knowing these things, yet not by
a different perception of the things; unless we are to say that thou beholdest with a
different vision the earth and the serenity of the skies, although the aspect of this
latter soothes and delights thee far more than of the former. But unless your eyes are
deceived, I believe that, if asked whether you are as well assured that you see earth as
heaven, you ought to answer yes, although you are not as much delighted by the earth and
her beauty as by the beauty and magnificence of heaven. A. I am moved, I confess, by this
similitude, and am brought to allow that by how much earth differs in her kind from
heaven, so much do those demonstrations of the sciences, true and certain as they are,
differ from the intelligible majesty of God.

12. R. Thou art moved to good effect. For the Reason which is talking with thee promises
so to demonstrate God to thy mind, as the sun demonstrates himself to the eyes. For the
senses of the soul are as it were the eyes of the mind; but all the certainties of the
sciences are like those things which are brought to light by the sun, that they may be
seen, the earth, for instance, and the things upon it: while God is Himself the
Illuminator. Now I, Reason, am that in the mind, which the act of looking is in the eyes.
For to have eyes is not the same as to look; nor again to look the same as to see.
Therefore the soul has need of three distinct things: to have eyes, such as it can use to
good advantage, to look, and to see. Sound eyes, that means the mind pure from all stain
of the body, that is, now remote and purged from the lusts of mortal things: which, in the
first condition, nothing else accomplishes for her than Faith. For what cannot yet be
shown forth to her stained and languishing with sins, because, unless sound, she cannot
see, if she does not believe that otherwise she will not see, she gives no heed to her
health. But what if she believes that the case stands as I say, and that, if she is to see
at all, she can only see on these terms, but despairs of being healed;

does she not utterly contemn herself and cast herself away, refusing to comply with the
prescriptions of the physician? A. Beyond doubt, above all because by sickness remedies
must needs be felt as severe. R. Then Hope must be added to Faith. A. So I believe. R.
Moreover, if she both believes that the case stands so, and hopes that she could be
healed, yet loves not, desires not the promised light itself, and thinks that she ought
meanwhile to be content with her darkness, which now, by use, has become pleasant to her;
does she not none the less reject the physician? A. Beyond doubt. R. Therefore Charity
must needs make a third. A. Nothing so needful. R. Without these three things therefore no
mind is healed, so that it can see, that is, understand its God. 13. When therefore the
mind has come to have sound eyes, what next? A. That she look. R. The mind's act of
looking is Reason; but because it does not follow that every one who looks sees, a right
and perfect act of looking, that is, one followed by vision, is called Virtue; for Virtue
is either right or perfect Reason. But even the power of vision, though the eyes be now
healed, has not force to turn them to the light, unless these three things abide. Faith,
whereby the soul believes that thing, to which she is asked to turn her gaze, is of such
sort, that being seen it will give blessedness; Hope, whereby the mind judges that if she
looks attentively, she will see; Charity, whereby she desires to see and to be filled with
the enjoyment of the sight. The attentive view is now followed by the very vision of God,
which is the end of looking; not because the power of beholding ceases, but because it has
nothing further to which it can turn itself: and this is the truly perfect virtue, Virtue
arriving at its end, which is followed by the life of blessedness. Now this vision itself
is that apprehension which is in the soul, compounded of the apprehending subject and of
that which is apprehended: as in like manner seeing with the eyes results from the
conjunction of the sense and the object of sense, either of which being withdrawn, seeing
becomes impossible.

14. Therefore when the soul has obtained to see, that is, to apprehend God, let us see
whether those three things are still necessary to her. Why should Faith be necessary to
the soul, when she now sees? Or Hope, when she already grasps? But from Charity not only
is nothing diminished, but rather it receives large increase. For when the soul has once
seen that unique and unfalsified Beauty, she will love it the more, and unless she shall
with great love have fastened her gaze thereon, nor any way declined from the view, she
will not be able to abide in that most blessed vision. But while the soul is in this body,
even though she most fully sees, that is, apprehends God; yet, because the bodily senses
still have their proper effect, if they have no prevalency to mislead, yet they are not
without a certain power to call in doubt, therefore that may be called Faith whereby these
dispositions are resisted, and the opposing truth affirmed. Moreover, in this life,
although the soul is already blessed in the apprehension of God; yet, because she endures
many irksome pains of the body, she has occasion of hope that after death all these
incommodities will have ceased to be. Therefore neither does Hope, so long as she is in
this life, desert the soul. But when after this life she shall have wholly collected
herself in God, Charity remains whereby she is retained there. For neither can she be said
to have Faith that those things are true, when she is solicited by no interruption of
falsities; nor does anything remain for her to hope, whereas she securely possesses the
whole. Three things therefore pertain to the soul, that she be sane, that she behold, that
she see. And other three, Faith, Hope, Charity, for the first and second of those three
conditions are always necessary: for the third in this life all; after this life, Charity
alone.

15. Now listen, so far as the present time requires, while from that similitude of
sensible things I now teach also something concerning God. Namely, God is intelligible,
not sensible, intelligible also are those demonstrations of the schools; nevertheless they
differ very widely. For as the earth is visible, so is light; but the earth, unless
illumined by light, cannot be seen. Therefore those things also which are taught in the
schools, which no one who understands them doubts in the least to be absolutely true, we
must believe to be incapable of being understood, unless they are illuminated by somewhat
else, as it were a sun of their own. Therefore as in this visible sun we may observe three
things: that he is, that he shines, that he illuminates: so in that God most far withdrawn
whom thou wouldst fain apprehend, there are these three things: that He is, that He is
apprehended, and that He makes other things to be apprehended. These two, God and thyself,
I dare promise that I can teach thee to understand. But give answer how thou receivest
these things, as probable, or as true? A. As probable certainly; and, as I must own, I
have been hoping more: for excepting those two illustrations of the line and the globe,
nothing has been said by thee which I should dare to say that I know. R. It is not to be
wondered at: for nothing has been yet so set forth, as that it exacts of thee perception.

16. But why do we delay? Let us set out: but first let us see (for this comes first)
whether we are in a sound state. A. Do thou see to it, if either in thyself or in me that
hast any discernment of what is to be found; I will answer, being inquired of, to my best
knowledge. R. Do you love anything besides the knowledge of God and yourself? A. I might
answer, that I love nothing besides, having regard to my present feelings; but I should be
safer to say that I do not know. For it hath often chanced to me, that when I believed I
was open to nothing else, something nevertheless would come into the mind which stung me
otherwise than I had presumed. So often, when something, conceived in thought, disturbed
me little, yet when it came in fact it disquieted me more than I supposed: but now I do
not see myself sensible to perturbation except by three things; by the fear of losing
those whom I love, by the fear of pain, by the fear of death. R. You love, therefore, both
a life associated with those dearest to you, and your own good health, and your bodily
life itself: or you would not fear the loss of these. A. It is so, I acknowledge. R. Now
therefore, the fact that all your friends are not with you, and that your health is not
very firm, occasions you some uneasiness of mind. For that I see to be implied. A.

Thou seest rightly; I am not able to deny it. R. How if you should suddenly feel and find
yourself sound in health, and should see all whom you love and who love each other,
enjoying in your company liberal ease? would you not think it right to give way in
reasonable measure even to transports of joy? A. In a measure, undoubtedly. Nay, if these
things, as thou sayest, bechanced me suddenly, how could I contain myself? how could I
possibly even dissemble joy of such a sort? R. As yet, therefore, you are tossed about by
all the diseases and perturbations of the mind. What shamelessness, then, that with such
eyes you should wish to see such a Sun A. Thy conclusion then is, that I am utterly
ignorant how far I am advanced in health, how far disease has receded, or how far it
remains. Suppose me to grant this.

17. R. Do you not see that these eyes of the body, even when sound, are often so smitten
by the light of this visible sun, as to be compelled to turn away and to take refuge in
their own obscurity? Now you are proposing to yourself what you are moved to seek, but are
not proposing to yourself what you desire to see: and yet I would discuss this very thing
with you, what advance you think we have made. Are you without desire of riches? A. This
at least no longer chiefly. For, being now three and thirty years of age, for almost these
fourteen years last past I have ceased to desire them, nor have I sought anything from
them, if by chance they should be offered, beyond the necessities of life and such a use
of them as agrees with the state of a freeman. A single book of Cicero has thoroughly
persuaded me, that riches are in no wise to be craved, but that if they come in our way,
they are to be with the utmost wisdom and caution administered. R. What of honors? A. I
confess that it is only lately, and as it were yesterday, that I have ceased to desire
these. R. What of a wife?

Are you not sometimes charmed by the image of a beautiful, modest, complying maiden, well
lettered, or of pans that can easily be trained by you, bringing you too (being a despiser
of riches) just so large a dowry as will relieve your leisure of all burden on her
account? It is implied, moreover, that you have good hope of coming to no grief through
her. A. However much thou please to portray her and adorn her with all manner of gifts, I
have determined that nothing is so much to be avoided by me as such a bedfellow: I
perceive that nothing more saps the citadel of manly strength, whether of mind or body,
than female blandishments and familiarities. Therefore, if (which I have not yet
discovered) it appertains to the office of a wise man to desire offspring, whoever for
this reason only comes into this connection, may appear to me worthy of admiration, but in
no wise a model for imitation: for there is more peril in the essay, than felicity in the
accomplishment. Wherefore, I believe, I am contradicting neither justice nor utility in
providing for the liberty of my mind by neither desiring, nor seeking, nor taking a wife.
R. I inquire not now what thou hast determined, but whether thou dost yet struggle, or
hast indeed already overcome desire itself. For we are considering the soundness of thine
eyes. A. Nothing of the kind do I any way seek, nothing do I desire;

it is even with horror and loathing that I recall such things to mind. What more wouldst
thou? And day by day does this benefit grow upon me: for the more I grow in the hope of
beholding that supernal Beauty with the desire of which I glow, the more my love and
delight is wholly converted thereto. R. What of pleasant viands? How much do you care for
them? A. Those things which I have determined not to eat, tempt me not. As to those which
I have not cut off, I allow that I take pleasure in their present use, yet so that without
any disturbance of mind, either the sight or the taste of them may be withdrawn. And when
they are entirely absent, no craving of them dares intrude itself to the disturbance of my
thoughts. But no need to inquire concerning food or drink, or baths: so much of these do I
seek to have, as is profitable for the confirmation of health.

18. R. Thou hast made great progress: yet those things which remain in order to the seeing
of that light, very greatly impede. But I am aiming at something which appears to me very
easy to be shown; that either nothing remains to us to be subdued, or that we have made no
advance at all, and that the taint of all those things which we believed cut away remains.
For I ask of thee, if thou weft persuaded that thou couldst live with the throng of those
dearest to thee in the study and pursuit of wisdom on no other terms than as possessed of
an estate ample enough to meet all your joint necessities; would you not desire and seek
for wealth? A. I should. R. How, if it should also be clear, that you would be to many a
master of wisdom, if your authority in teaching were supported by civil honor, and that
even these your familiars would not be able to put a bridle on their cravings except as
they too were in honor, and that this could only accrue to them through your honors and
dignity? would not honor then be a worthy object of desire, and of strenuous pursuit? A.
It is as thou sayest. R. I do not consider the question of a wife; for perhaps no such
necessity could arise of marrying one: although if it were certain that by her ample
patrimony all those could be sustained whom thou wouldst fain have live at ease with thee
in one place, and that moreover with her cordial consent, especially if she were of a
family of such nobility as that through her those honors which you have just granted, in
our hypothesis, to be necessary, could easily be attained, I do not know that it would be
any part of your duty to contemn these advantages, thus obtained.A. But how could I hope
for such things?

19. R. You speak as if I were now inquiring what you hope. I am not inquiring what,
denied, delights not, but what delights, obtained. For an extinguished plague is one
thing, a dormant plague another. And, as some wise men say, all pools are so unsound, that
they always smell of every foul thing, although you do not always perceive this, but only
when you stir them up. And there is a wide difference whether a craving is suppressed by
hopelessness of compassing it, or is expelled by saneness of soul. A. Although I am not
able to answer thee, never wilt thou, for all this, persuade me that in this affection of
mind in which I now perceive myself to be, I have advantaged nothing. R. This, doubtless,
appears so to thee, because although thou mightest desire these things, yet they would not
seem to thee objects of desire, on their own account, but for ulterior ends. A. That is
what I was endeavoring to say: for when I desired riches, I desired them for this reason,
that I might be rich. And those honors, the lust of which I have declared myself to have
but even now thoroughly overcome, I craved by a mere delight in some intrinsic splendor I
imputed to them; and nothing else did I expect in a wife, when I expected, than the
reputable enjoyment of voluptuousness. Then there was in me a veritable craving for those
things; now I utterly contemn them all: but if I cannot except through these find a
passage to those things which in effect I desire, I do not pursue them as things to be
embraced, but accept them as things to be allowed. R. A thoroughly excellent distinction:
for neither do I impute unworthiness to the desire of any lower things that are sought on
account of something else.

20. But I ask of thee, why thou dost desire, either that the persons whom thou affectest
should live, or that they should live with thee. A. That together and concordantly we
might inquire out God and our souls. For so, whichever first discovers aught, easily
introduces his companions into it. R. What if these will not inquire? A. I would persuade
them into the love of it, R. What if you could not, be it that they suppose themselves to
have already found, or think that such things are beyond discovery, or that they are
entangled in cares and cravings of other things? A. We will use our best endeavors, I with
them, and they with me. R. What if even their presence impedes you in your inquiries would
you not choose and endeavor that they should not be with you, rather than be with you on
such terms? A. I own it is as thou sayest. R. It is not therefore on its own account that
you crave either their life or presence, but as an auxiliary in the discovery of wisdom?
A. I thoroughly agree to that. R. Further: if you were certain that your own life were an
impediment to your comprehension of wisdom, should you desire its continuance? A. I should
utterly eschew it. R. Furthermore:

if thou wert taught, that either in this body or after leaving it thou couldst equally
well attain unto wisdom, wouldst thou care whether it was in this or another life that
thou didst enjoy that which thou supremely affectest? A. If I ascertained that I was to
experience nothing worse, which would lead me back from the point to which I had made
progress, I should not care. R. Then thy present dread of death rests on the fear of being
involved in some worse evil, whereby the Divine cognition may be borne away from thee. A.
Not solely such a possible loss do I dread, if I have any right understanding of the fact,
but also lest access should be barred me into those things which I am now eager to
explore; although what I already possess, I believe will remain with me. R. Therefore not
for the sake of this life in itself, but for the sake of wisdom thou dost desire the
continuance of this life. A. It is the truth.

21. R. We have pain of body left, which perhaps moves thee of its proper force. A. Nor
indeed do I grievously dread even that for any other reason than that it impedes me in my
research. For although of late I have been grievously tormented with attacks of toothache,
so that I was not suffered to revolve aught in my mind except such things as I have been
engaged in learning; while, as the whole intensity of my mind was requisite for new
advances, I was entirely restrained from making these: yet it seemed to me, that if the
essential refulgence of Truth would disclose itself to me, I should either not have felt
that pain, or certainly would have made no account of it. But although I have never had
anything severer to bear, yet, often reflecting how much severer the pains are which I
might have to bear, I am sometimes forced to agree with Cornelius Celsus, who says that
the supreme good is wisdom, and the supreme evil bodily pain. For since, says he, we are
composed of two parts, namely, mind and body, of which the former part, the mind, is the
better, the body the worse; the highest good is the best of the better part, and the
chiefest evil the worst of the inferior; now the best thing in the mind is wisdom, and the
worst thing in the body is pain. It is concluded, therefore, and as I fancy, most justly,
that the chief good of man is to be wise, and his chief evil, to suffer pain. R. We will
consider this later. For perchance Wisdom herself, towards which we strive, will bring us
to be of another mind. But if she should show this to be true, we will then not hesitate
to adhere to this your present judgment concerning the highest good and the deepest ill.

22. Now let us inquire concerning this, what sort of lover of wisdom thou art, whom thou
desirest to behold with most chaste view and embrace, and to grasp her unveiled charms in
such wise as she affords herself to no one, except to her few and choicest rotaries. For
assuredly a beautiful woman, who had kindled thee to ardent love, would never surrender
herself to thee, if she had discovered that thou hadst in thy heart another object of
affection; and shall that most chaste beauty, of Wisdom exhibit itself to thee, unless
thou art kindled for it alone? A. Why then am I still made to hang in wretchedness, and
put off with miserable pining? Assuredly I have already made it plain that I love nothing
else, since what is not loved for itself is not loved. Now I at least love Wisdom for
herself alone, while as to other things, it is for her sake that I desire their presence
or absence, such as life, ease, friends. But what measure can the love of that beauty have
in which I not only do not envy others, but even long for as many as possible to seek it,
gaze upon it, grasp it and enjoy it with me; knowing that our friendship will be the
closer, the more thoroughly conjoined we are in the object of our love?

23. R. Such lovers assuredly it is, whom Wisdom ought to have. Such lovers does she seek,
the love of whom has in it nothing but what is pure. But there are various ways of
approach to her. For it is according to our soundness and strength that each one
comprehends that unique and truest good. It is a certain ineffable and incomprehensible
light of minds. Let this light of the common day teach us, as well as it can, concerning
the higher light. For there are eyes so sound and keen, that, as soon as they are first
opened, they turn themselves unshrinkingly upon the sun himself. To these, as it were, the
light itself is health, nor do they need a teacher, but only, perchance, a warning. For
these to believe, to hope, to love is enough. But others are smitten by that very
effulgence which they vehemently desire to see, and when the sight of it is withdrawn
often return into darkness with delight. To whom, although such as that they may
reasonably be called sound, it is nevertheless dangerous to insist on showing what as yet
they have not the power to behold. These therefore should be first put in training, and
their love for their good is to be nourished by delay. For first certain things are to be
shown to them which are not luminous of themselves, but may be seen by the light, such as
a garment, a wall, or the like.

Then something which, though still not shining of itself, yet in the light flames out more
gloriously, such as gold or silver, yet not so brilliantly as to injure the eyes. Then
perchance this familiar fire of earth is to be cautiously shown, then the stars, then the
moon, then the brightening dawn, and the brilliance of the luminous sky. Among which
things, whether sooner or later, whether through the whole succession, or with some steps
passed over, each one accustoming himself according to his strength, will at last without
shrinking and with great delight behold the sun. In some such way do the best masters deal
with those who are heartily devoted to Wisdom, and who, though seeing but dimly, yet have
already eyes that see. For it is the office of a wise training to bring one near to her in
a certain graduated approach, but to arrive in her presence without these intermediary
steps is a scarcely credible felicity. But to-day, I think we have written enough; regard
must be had to health.

24. And, another day having come, A. Give now, I pray, if thou canst, that order. Lead by
what way thou wilt, through what things thou wilt, how thou wilt. Lay on me things ever so
hard, ever so strenuous, and, if only they are within my power, I doubt not that I shall
perform them if only I may thereby arrive whither I long to be. R. There is only one thing
which I can teach thee; I know nothing more. These things of sense are to be utterly
eschewed, and the utmost caution is to be used, lest while we bear about this body, our
pinions should be impeded by the viscous distilments of earth, seeing we need them whole
and perfect, if we would fly from this darkness into that supernal Light: which deigns not
even to show itself to those shut up in this cage of the body, unless they have been such
that whether it were broken down or worn out it would be their native airs into which they
escaped. Therefore, whenever thou shall have become such that nothing at all of earthly
things delights thee, at that very moment, believe me, at that very point of time thou
wilt see what thou desirest. A. When shall that be, I entreat thee? For I think not that I
am able to attain to this supreme contempt, unless I shall have seen that in comparison
with which these things are worthless.

25. R. In this way too the bodily eye might say: I shall not love the darkness, when I
shall have seen the sun. For this too seems, as it were, to pertain to the right order
though t is far otherwise. For it loves darkness, for the reason that it is not sound; but
the sun, unless sound, it is not able to see. And in this the mind is often at fault, that
it thinks itself and boasts itself sound; and complains, as if with good ight, because it
does not yet see. But that supernal Beauty knows when she should show herself. For she
herself discharges the office of physician, and better understands who are sound than the
very ones who are rendered sound. But we, as far as we have emerged, seem to ourselves to
see; but how far we were plunged in darkness, or how far we had made progress, we are not
permitted either to think or feel, and in comparison with the deeper malady we believe
ourselves to be in health. See you not how securely yesterday we had pronounced, that we
were no longer detained by any evil thing, and loved nothing except Wisdom; and sought or
wished other things only for her sake? To thee how low, how foul, how execrable those
female embraces seemed, when we discoursed concerning the desire of a wife! Certainly in
the watches of this very night, when we had again been discoursing together of the same
things, thou didst feel how differently from what thou hadst presumed those imaginary
blandishments and that bitter sweetness tickled thee; far, far less indeed, than is the
wont, but also far otherwise than thou hadst thought: so that that most confidential
physician of thine set forth to thee each thing, both how far thou hast come on under his
care, and what remains to be cured.

26. A. Peace, I pray thee, peace. Why tormentest thou me? Why diggest thou so
remorselessly and descendest so deep? Now I weep intolerably, henceforth I promise
nothing, I presume nothing; question me not concerning these things. Most true is what
thou sayest, that He whom I burn to see Himself knows when I am in health; let Him do what
pleaseth Him: when it pleaseth Him let Him show Himself; I now commit myself wholly to His
clemency and care. Once for all do I believe that those so affected towards Him He faileth
not to lift up. I will pronounce nothing concerning my health, except when I shall have
seen that Beauty. R. Do nothing else, indeed. But now refrain from tears, and gird up thy
mind. Thou hast wept. most sore, and to the great aggravation of that trouble of thy
breast. A. Wouldest thou set a measure to my tears, when I see no measure of my misery? or
dost thou bid me consider the disease of my body, when I in my inmost self am wasted away
with pining consumption? But, I pray thee, if thou availest aught over me, essay to lead
me through some shorter ways, so that, at least by some neighbor nearness of that Light,
such as, if I have made any advance whatever, I shall be able to endure, I may be made
ashamed of withdrawing my eyes into that darkness which I have left; if indeed I can be
said to have left a darkness which yet dares to daily with my blindness.

27. R. Let us conclude, if you will, this first volume, that in a second we may attempt
some such way as may commodiously offer itself. For this disposition of yours must not
fail to be cherished by reasonable exercise. A. I will in no wise suffer this volume to be
ended, unless thou open to me at least a gleam from the nearness of that Light whither I
am bound. R. Thy Divine Physician yields so far to thy wish. For a certain radiance seizes
me, inviting me to conduct thee to it. Therefore be intent to receive it. A. Lead, I
entreat thee, and snatch me away whither thou wilt. R. Thou art sure that thou art minded
to know the soul, and God? A. That is all my desire. R. Nothing more? A. Nothing at all.
R. What, do you not wish to comprehend Truth? A. As if I could know these things except
through her. R. Therefore she first is to be known, through whom these things can be
known. A. I refuse not. R. First then let us see this, whether, as Truth and True are two
words, you hold that by these two words two things are signified, or one thing. A. Two
things, I hold. For, as Chastity is one thing, and that which is chaste, another, and many
things in this manner; so I believe that Truth is one thing, and that which, being
declared, is true, is another. R. Which of these two do you esteem most excellent? A.
Truth, as I believe. For it is not from that which is chaste that Chastity arises, but
that which is chaste from Chastity. So also, if anything is true, it is assuredly from
Truth that it is true.

28. R. What? When a chaste person dies, do you judge that Chastity dies also? A. By no
means. R. Then, when anything perishes that is true, Truth perishes not. A. But how should
anything true perish? For I see not. R. I marvel that you ask that question: do we not see
thousands of things perish before our eyes? Unless perchance you think this tree, either
to be a tree, but not a true one, or if so to be unable to perish. For even if you believe
not your senses, and are capable of answering, that you are wholly ignorant whether it is
a tree; yet this, I believe, you will not deny, that it is a true tree, if it is a tree:
for this judgment is not of the senses, but of the intelligence. For if it is a false
tree, it is not a tree; but if it is a tree, it cannot but be a true one. A. This I allow.
R. Then as to the other proposition; do you not concede that a tree is of such a sort of
things, as that it originates and perishes? A. I cannot deny it. R. It is concluded
therefore, that something which is true perishes. A. I do not dispute it. R. What follows?
Does it not seem to thee that when true things perish Truth does not perish, as Chastity
dies not when a chaste person dies? A. I now grant this too, and eagerly wait to see what
thou art laboring to show. R. Therefore attend. A. I am all attention.

29. R. Does this proposition seem to you to be true: Whatever is, is compelled to be
somewhere? A. Nothing so entirely wins my consent. R. And you confess that Truth is? A. I
confess it. R. Then we must needs inquire where it is; for it is not in a place, unless
perchance you think there is something else in a place than a body, or think that Truth is
a body. A. I think neither of these things. R. Where then do you believe her to be? For
she is not nowhere, whom we have granted to be. A. If I knew where she was, perchance I
should seek nothing more. R. At least you are able to know where she is not? A. If thou
pass in review the places, perchance I shall be. R. It is not, assuredly, in mortal
things. For whatever is, cannot abide in anything, if that does not abide in which it is:
and that Truth abides, even though true things perish, has just been conceded. Truth,
therefore, is not in mortal things. But Truth is, and is not nowhere. There are therefore
things immortal. And nothing is true in which Truth is not. It results therefore that
nothing is true, except those things which are immortal. And every false tree is not a
tree, and false wood is not wood, and false silver is not silver, and everything whatever
which is false, is not. Now everything which is not true, is false. Nothing therefore is
rightly said to be, except things immortal. Do you diligently consider this little
argument, lest there should be in it any point which you think impossible to concede. For
if it is sound, we have almost accomplished our whole business, which in the other book
will perchance appear more plainly.

30. A. I thank thee much, and will diligently and cautiously review these things in my own
mind, and moreover with thee, when we are in quiet, if no darkness interfere, and, which I
vehemently dread, inspire in me delight in itself. R. Steadfastly believe in God, and
commit thyself wholly to Him as much as thou canst. Be not willing to be as it were thine
own and in thine own control; but profess thyself to be the bondman of that most clement
and most profitable Lord. For so will He not desist from lifting thee to Himself, and will
suffer nothing to occur to thee, except what shall profit thee, even though thou know it
not. A. I hear, I believe, and as much as I can I yield compliance; and most intently do I
offer a prayer for this very thing, that I may have the utmost power, unless perchance
thou desirest something more of me. R. It is well meanwhile, thou wilt do afterwards what
He Himself, being now seen, shall require of thee.


SOLILOQUIES
===========

SOLILOQUIES continued

BOOK 2

1. A. Long enough has our work been intermitted, and impatient is Love, nor have tears a
measure, unless to Love is given what is loved: wherefore, let us enter upon the Second
Book. R. Let us enter upon it. A. Let us believe that God will be present. R. Let us
believe indeed, if even this is in our power. A. Our power He Himself is. R. Therefore
pray most briefly and perfectly, as much as thou canst. A. God, always the same, let me
know myself, let me know Thee. I have prayed. R. Thou who wilt know thyself, knowest thou
that thou art? A. I know. R. Whence knowest thou? A. I know not. R. Feelest thou thyself
to be simple, or manifold? A. I know not. R. Knowest thou thyself tO be moved? A. I know
not. R. Knowest thou thyself to think? A. I know. R. Therefore it is true that thou
thinkest. A. True. R. Knowest thou thyself to be immortal? A. I know not. R. Of all these
things which thou hast said that thou knowest not: which dost thou most desire to know? A.
Whether I am immortal. R. Therefore thou lovest to live? A. I confess it. R. How will the
matter stand when thou shalt have learned thyself to be immortal? Will it be enough? A.
That will indeed be a great thing, but that to me will be but slight. R. Yet in this which
is but slight how much wilt thou rejoice? A. Very greatly. R.

For nothing then wilt thou weep? A. For nothing at all. R. What if this very life should
be found such, that in it it is permitted thee to know nothing more than thou knowest?
Wilt thou refrain from tears? A. Nay verily, I will weep so much that life should cease to
be. R. Thou dost not then love to live for the mere sake of living, but for the sake of
knowing. A. I grant the inference. R. What if this very knowledge of things should itself
make thee wretched? A. I do not believe that that is in any way possible. But if it is so,
no one can be blessed; for I am not now wretched from any other source than from ignorance
of things. And therefore if the knowledge of things is wretchedness, wretchedness is
everlasting. R. Now I see all which you desire. For since you believe no one to be
wretched by knowledge, from which it is probable that intelligence renders blessed; but no
one is blessed unless living, and no one lives who is not: thou wishest to be, to live and
to have intelligence; but to be that thou mayest live, to live that thou mayest have
intelligence. Therefore thou knowest that thou art, thou knowest that thou livest, thou
knowest that thou dost exercise intelligence.

But whether these things are to be always, or none of these things is to be, or something
abides always, and something falls away, or whether these things can be diminished and
increased, all things abiding, thou desirest to know. A. So it is. R. If therefore we
shall have proved that we are always to live, it will follow also that we are always to
be. A. It will follow. R. It will then remain to inquire concerning intellection. 2. A. I
see a very plain and compendious order. R. Let this then be the order, that you answer my
questions cautiously and firmly. A. I attend. R. If this world shall always abide, it is
true that this world is always to abide? A. Who doubts that? R. What if it shall not
abide? is it not then true that the world is not to abide? A. I dispute it not. R. How,
when it shall have perished, if it is to perish, will it not then be true, that the world
has perished? For as long as it is not true that the world has come to an end, it has not
come to an end: it is therefore self-contradictory, that the world is ended and that it is
not true that the world is ended. A. This too I grant. R. Furthermore, does it seem to you
that anything can be true, and not be Truth? A. In no wise. R. There will therefore be
Truth, even though the frame of things should pass away. A. I cannot deny it. R. What if
Truth herself should perish? will it not be true that Truth has perished? A. And even that
who can deny? R. But that which is true cannot be, if Truth is not. A. I have just
conceded this. R. In no wise therefore can Truth fail. A. Proceed as thou hast begun, for
than this deduction nothing is truer.

3. R. Now I will have you answer me, does the soul seem to you to feel and perceive, or
the body? A. The soul. R. And does the intellect appear to you to appertain to the soul?
A. Assuredly. R. To the soul alone, or to something else? A. I see nothing else besides
the soul, except God, in which I believe intellect to exist. R. Let us now consider that.
If any one should tell you that wall was not a wall, but a tree, what would you think? A.
Either that his senses or mine were astray, or that he called a wall by the name of a
tree. R. What if he received in sense the image of a tree, and thou of a wall may not both
be true? A. By no means; because one and the same thing cannot be both a tree and a wall.
For however individual things might appear different to us as individuals, it could not be
but that one of us suffered a false imagination. R. What if it is neither tree nor wall,
and you are both in error? A. That, indeed, is possible. R. This one thing therefore you
had past by above. A. I confess it. R. What if you should acknowledge that anything seemed
to you other than it is, are you then in error? A. No. R. Therefore that may be false
which seems, and he not be in error to whom it seems. A. It may be so. R.

It is to be allowed then that he is not in error who sees falsities, but he who assents to
falsities. A. It is assuredly to be allowed. R. And this falsity, wherefore is it false?
A. Because it is otherwise than it seems. R. If therefore there are none to whom it may
seem, nothing is false. A. The inference is sound. R. i Therefore the falsity is not in
the things, but in the sense; but he is not beguiled who assents not to false things. It
results that we are one thing, the sense another; since, when it is misled, we are able
not to be misled. A. I have nothing to oppose to this. R. But when the soul is misled, do
you venture to say that you are not false? A. How should I venture? R. But there is no
sense without soul, no falsity without sense. Either therefore the soul operates, or
cooperates with the falsity. A. Our preceding reasonings imply assent to this.

4. R. Give answer now to this, whether it appears to you possible that at some time
hereafter falsity should not be. A. How can that seem possible to me, when the difficulty
of discovering truth is so great that it is absurder to say that falsity than that Truth
cannot be. R. Do you then think that he who does not live, can perceive and feel? A. It
cannot be. R. It results then, that the soul lives ever. A. Thou urgest me too fast into
joys: more slowly, I pray. R. But, if former inferences are just, I see no ground of doubt
concerning this thing. A. Too fast, I say. Therefore I am easier to persuade that I have
made some rash concession, than to become already secure concerning the immortality of the
soul. Nevertheless evolve this conclusion, and show how it has resulted. R. You have said
that falsity cannot be without sense, and that falsity cannot but be: therefore there is
always sense. But no sense without soul: therefore the soul is everlasting. Nor has it
power to exercise sense, unless it lives. Therefore the soul always lives.

5. A. O leaden dagger! For thou mightest conclude that man is immortal if I had granted
thee that this universe can never be without man, and that this universe is eternal R. You
keep a keen look-out. But yet it is no small thing which we have established, namely, that
the frame of things cannot be without the soul, unless perchance in the frame of things at
some time hereafter there shall be no falsity. A. This consequence indeed I allow to be
involved. But now I am of opinion that we ought to consider farther whether former
inferences do not bend under pressure. For I see no small step to have been made towards
the immortality of the Soul. R. Have you sufficiently considered whether you may not have
conceded something rashly? A. Sufficiently indeed, but I see no point at which I can
accuse myself of rashness. R. It is therefore concluded that the frame of things cannot be
without a living soul. A. So far as this, that in turn some souls may be born, and others
die. R. What if from the frame of things falsity be taken away? will it not come to pass
that all things are true? A. I admit the inference. R. Tell me whence this wall seems to
thee to be true. A. Because I am not misled by its aspect. R. That is, because it is as it
seems. A. Yes. R.

If therefore anything is thereby false because it seems otherwise than it is, and thereby
true because it is as it seems; take away him to whom it seems, and there is neither
anything false, nor true. But if there is no falsity in the frame of things, all things
are true. Nor can anything seem except to a living soul. There remains therefore soul in
the frame of things, if falsity cannot be taken away; there remains, if it can. A. I see
our former conclusions somewhat strengthened, indeed; but we have made no progress by this
amplification. For none the less does that fact remain which chiefly shakes me that souls
are born and pass away, and that it comes about that they are not lacking to the world,
not through their immortality, but by their succession. 6. R. Do any corporeal, that is,
sensible things, appear to you to be capable of comprehension in the intellect? A. They do
not. R. What then does God appear to use senses for the cognition of things? A. I dare
affirm nothing unadvisedly concerning this matter; but as far as there is room for
conjecture, God in no wise makes use of senses. R. We conclude therefore that the only
possible subject of sense is the soul. A. Conclude provisionally as far as probability
permits. R. Well then; do you allow that this wall, if it is not a true wall, is not a
wall? A. I could grant nothing more willingly. R. And that nothing, if it be not a true
body, is a body? A. This likewise. R. Therefore if nothing is true, unless it be so as it
seems; and if nothing corporeal can appear, except to the senses; and if the only subject
of sense is the soul; and if no body can be, unless it be a true body: it follows that
there cannot be a body, unless there has first been a soul. A. Thou dost urge me too
strongly, and means of resistance fail me.

7. R. Give now still greater heed. A. Behold me ready. R. Certainly this is a stone; and
it is true on this condition, if it is not otherwise than it seems; and it is not a stone,
if it is not true; and it cannot seem except to the senses. A. Yes. R. There are not
therefore stones in the most secluded bosom of the earth, nor anywhere at all where there
are not those who have the sense of them; nor would this be a stone, unless we saw it; nor
will it be a stone when we shall have departed, and no one else shall be present to see
it. Nor, if you lock your coffers well, however much you may have shut up in them, will
they have anything. Nor indeed is wood itself wood interiorly. For that escapes all
perceptions of sense which is in the depth of an absolutely opaque body, and so is in no
wise compelled to be. For if it were, it would be true; nor is anything true, unless
because it is so as it appears: but that does not appear; it is not therefore true: unless
you have something to object to this. A. I see that this results from my previous
concessions; but it is so absurd, that I would more readily deny any one of these, than
concede that this is true. R. As you please. Consider then which you prefer to say: that
corporeal things can appear otherwise than to the senses, or that there can be another
subject of sense than the soul, or that there is a stone or something else but that it is
not true, or that Truth itself is to be otherwise defined. A. Let us, I pray thee,
consider this last position.

8. R. Define therefore the True. A. That is true which is so as it appears to the knower,
if he will and can know. R. That therefore will not be true which no one can know? Then,
if that is false which seems otherwise than it is; how if to one this stone should seem a
stone, to another wood will the same thing be both false and true? A. That former position
disturbs me more, how, if anything cannot be known, it results from that that it is not
true. For as to this, that one thing is both true and false, I do not much care. For I see
one thing, compared with diverse things, to be both greater and smaller. From which it
results, that nothing is more or less of itself. For these are terms of comparison. R. But
if you say that nothing is true of itself, do you not fear the inference, that nothing is
of itself? For whereby this is wood, thereby is it also true wood. Nor can it be, that of
itself, that is, without a knower, it should be wood, and should not be true wood. A.
Therefore thus I say and so I define, nor do I fear lest my definition be disapproved on
the ground of excessive brevity: for to me that seems to be true which is. R. Nothing then
will be false, because whatever is, is true. A. Thou hast driven me into close straits,
and I am wholly unprovided of an answer. So it comes to pass that whereas I am unwilling
to be taught except by these questionings, I fear now to be questioned.

9. R. God, to whom we have commended ourselves, without doubt will render help, and set us
free from these straits, if only we believe, and entreat Him most devoutly. A. Nothing,
assuredly, would I do more gladly in this place; for never have I been involved in so
great a darkness. God, Our Father, who exhortest us to pray, who also bringest this about,
that supplication is made to Thee; since when we make supplication to Thee, we live
better, and are better: hear me groping in these glooms, and stretch forth Thy right hand
to me. Shed over me Thy light, revoke me from my wanderings; bring Thyself into me that I
may likewise return into Thee. Amen. R. Be with me now, as far as thou mayest, in most
diligent attention. A. Utter, I pray, whatever has been suggested to thee, that we perish
not. R. Give heed. A. Behold, I have neither eyes nor ears but for thee.

10. R. First let us again and yet again ventilate this question, What is falsity? A. I
wonder if there will turn out to be anything, except what is not so as it seems. R. Give
heed rather, and let us first question the senses themselves. For certainly what the eyes
see, is not called false, unless it have some similitude of the true. For instance, a man
whom we see in sleep, is not indeed a true man, but false, by this very fact that he has
the similitude of a true one. For who, seeing a dog, would have a right to say that he had
dreamed of a man? Therefore too that is thereby a false dog, that it is like a true one.
A. It is as thou sayest. R. And moreover, if any one waking should see a horse and think
he saw a man, is he not hereby misled, that there appears to him some similitude of a man?
For if nothing should appear to him except the form of a horse, he cannot think that he
sees a man. A. I fully concede this. R. We call that also a false tree which we see in a
picture, and a false face which is reflected from a mirror, and a false motion of
buildings to men that are sailing from them, and a false break in the oar when dipped, for
no other reason than the verisimilitude in all these things. A. True. R. So we make
mistakes between twins, so between eggs, so between seals stamped by one ring, and other
such things. A. I follow and agree to all. R. Therefore that similitude of things which
pertains to the eyes, is the mother of falsity. A. I cannot deny it.

11. R. But all this forest of facts, unless I am mistaken, may be divided into two kinds.
For it lies partly in equal, partly in inferior things. They are equal, when we say that
this is as like to that as that to this, as is said of twins, or impressions of a ring.
Inferior, when we say that the worse is like the better. For who, looking in a mirror,
would dream of saying that he is like that image, and not rather that like him? And this
class consists partly in what the soul undergoes, and partly in those things which are
seen. And that again which the soul undergoes, it either undergoes in the sense, as the
unreal motion of a building; or in itself from that which it has received from the senses,
such as are the dreams of dreamers, and perhaps also of madmen. Furthermore, those things
which appear in the things themselves which we see, are some of them from nature, and some
expressed and framed by living creatures. Nature either by procreation or reflection
effects inferior similitudes. By procreation, when to parents children like them are born;
by reflection, as from mirrors of various kinds. For although it is men that make the most
of the mirrors, yet it is not they that frame the images given back. On the other hand,
the works of living creatures are seen in pictures, and creations of the like kind: in
which may also be included (conceding their occurrence) those things which demons produce.

But the shadows of bodies, because with but a slight stretch of language they may be
described as like their bodies and a sort of false bodies, nor can be disputed to be
submitted to the judgment of the eyes, may reasonably be placed in that class, which are
brought about by nature through reflection. For every body exposed to the light reflects,
and casts a shadow in the opposite direction. Or do you see any objection to be made? A.
None. I am only awaiting anxiously the issue of these illustrations. 12. R. We must,
however, wait patiently, until the remaining senses also make report to us that falsity
dwells in the similitude of the true. For in the sense of hearing likewise there are
almost as many sorts of similitudes: as when, hearing the voice of a speaker, whom we do
not see, we think it some one else, whom in voice be resembles; and in inferior
similitudes Echo is a witness, or that well-known roaring of the ears themselves, or in
timepieces a certain imitation of thrush or crow, or such things as dreamers or lunatics
imagine themselves to hear. And it is incredible how much false tones, as they are called
by musicians, bear witness to the truth, which will appear hereinafter: yet they too which
will suffice just now) are not remote tom a resemblance to those which men call true. Do
you follow this? A. And most delightedly. For here I have no trouble to understand. R.
Then, to press on, do you think it is easy, by the smell, to distinguish lily from lily,
or by the taste honey from honey, gathered alike from thyme, though brought from different
hives, or by the touch to note the difference between the softness of the plumage of the
goose and of the swan? A. It does not seem easy. R. And how is it when we dream that we
either smell or taste, or touch such things? Are we not then deceived by a similitude of
effects and images, inferior in proportion to its emptiness? A. Thou speakest truly. R.
Therefore it appears that we, in all our senses, whether by equality or inferiority of
likeness, are either misled by cozening similitude, or even if we are not misled, as
suspending our consent, or discovering the difference, yet that we name those things false
which we apprehend as like the true. A. I cannot doubt it.

13. R. Now give heed, while we run over the same things once more, that what we are
endeavoring to show may come more plainly to view. A. Lo, here I am, speak what thou wilt.
For I have once for all resolved to endure this circuitous course, nor will I be wearied
out in it, hoping so ardently to arrive at length whither I perceive that we are tending.
R. You do well. But take note whether it seems to you, when we see a resemblance in eggs,
that we can justly say that any one of them is false. A. Far from it. For if all are eggs,
they are true eggs. R. And when we see an image reflected from a mirror, by what signs do
we apprehend it to be false? A. By the fact that it cannot be grasped, gives forth no
sound, does not move independently, does not live, and by innumerable other properties,
which it were tedious to detail. R. I see you are averse to delay, and regard must be
borne to your haste. Then, not to recall every particular, if those men also whom we see
in dreams, were able to live, speak, be grasped by waking men, and there were no
difference between them and those whom when awake and sane we address and see, should we
then have any reason to call them false? A. What possible right could we have to do so? R.
Therefore if they were true, in exact proportion as they were likest the truth, and as no
difference existed between them and the true and false so far as they were, by those or
other differences, convicted of being dissimilar; must it not be confessed that similitude
is the mother of truth, and dissimilitude of falsehood? A. I have no answer to make, and I
am ashamed of my former so hasty assent.

14. R. It is ridiculous if you are ashamed, as if it were not for this very reason that we
have chosen this mode of discourse: which, since we are talking with ourselves alone, I
wish to be called and inscribed Soliloquies; a new name, it is true, and perhaps a grating
one, but not ill suited for setting forth the fact. For since Truth can not be better
sought than by asking and answering, and scarcely any one can be found who does not take
shame to be worsted in debate, and so it almost always happens that when a matter is well
brought into shape for discussion, it is exploded by some unreasonable clamor and
petulance, and angry feeling, commonly dissembled, indeed, but sometimes plainly
expressed; it has been, as I think, most advantageous, and most answerable to peace, that
the resolution was made by thee to seek truth in the way of question by me and answer by
thee: wherefore there is no reason why you should fear, if at any point you have
unadvisedly tied yourself up, to return and undo the knots; for otherwise there is no
escape from hence.

15. A. Thou speakest rightly; but what I have granted amiss I altogether fail to see:
unless perchance that that is rightly called false which has some similitude of the true,
since assuredly nothing else occurs to me worthy of the name of false; and yet again I am
compelled to confess that those things which are called false are so called by the fact
that they differ from the true. From which it resuits that that very dissimilitude is the
cause of the falsity. Therefore I am disquieted; for I cannot easily call to mind anything
that is engendered by contrary causes. R. What if this is the one and only kind in the
universe of things which is so? Or are you ignorant, that in running over the innumerable
species of animals, the crocodile alone is found to move its upper jaw in eating;
especially as scarcely anything can be discovered so like to another thing, that it is not
also in some point unlike it? A. I see that indeed; but when I consider that that which we
call false has both something like and something unlike the true, I am not able to make
out on which side it chiefly merits the name of false. For if I say: on the side on which
it is unlike; there will be nothing which cannot be called false: for there is nothing
which is not dissimilar to some thing, which we concede to be true.

And again, if I shall say, that it is to be called false on that side on which it is
similar; not only will those eggs cry out against us which are true on the very ground of
their excessive similarity, but even so I shall not escape from his grasp who may compel
me to confess that all things are false because I cannot deny that all things are on some
side or other similar to each other. But suppose me not afraid to give this answer, that
likeness and unlikeness alike give a right to call anything false; what way of escape wilt
thou give me? For none the Its: will the fatal necessity hang over me of proclaiming all
things false; since, as has been said above, all things are found to be both similar, on
some side, and dissimilar, on some side, to each other. My only remaining resource would
be to declare nothing else false, except what was other than it seemed, unless I shrank
from again encountering all those monsters, which I flattered myself that I had long since
sailed away from. For a whirlpool again seizes me at unawares, and brings me round to own
that to be true which is as it seems. From which it results that without a knower nothing
can be true: where I have to fear a shipwreck on deeply hidden rocks, which are true,
although unknown.

Or, if I shall say that that is true which is, it follows, let who will oppose, that there
is nothing false anywhere. And so I see the same breakers before me again, and see that
all my patience of thy delays has helped me forward nothing at all. 16. R. Attend rather;
for never can I be persuaded, that we have implored the Divine aid in vain. For I see
that, having tried all things as far as we could, we found nothing to remain, which could
rightly be called false, except what either feigns itself to be what it is not, or, to
include all, tends to be and is not. But that former kind of falsity is either fallacious
or mendacious. For that is rightly called fallacious which has a certain appetite of
deceiving; which cannot be understood as without a soul: but this results in part from
reason, in part from nature; from reason, in rational creatures, as in men; from nature,
in beasts, as in the fox. But what I call mendacious, proceeds from those who utter
falsehood. Who in this point differ from the fallacious, that all the fallacious seek to
mislead; but not every one who utters falsehood, wishes to mislead; for both mimes and
comedies and many poems are full of falsehoods, rather with the purpose of delighting than
of misleading, and almost all those who jest utter falsehood. But he is rightly called
fallacious, whose purpose is, that somebody should be deceived. But those who do not aim
to deceive, but nevertheless feign somewhat, are mendacious only, or if not even this, no
one at least doubts that they are to be called pleasant falsifiers: unless you have
something to object.

17. A. Proceed, I pray; for now perchance thou hast begun to teach concerning falsities
not falsely: but now I am considering of what sort that class of falsities may be, of
which thou hast said, It tends to be, and is not. R. Why should you not consider? They are
the same things, which already we have largely passed review. Does not thy image in the
mirror appear to will to be thou thyself, but to be therefore false, because it is not? A.
This does, in very deed, seem so. R. And as to pictures, and all such expressed
resemblances, every such thing wrought by the artist? Do they not press to be that, after
whose similitude they have been made? A. I must certainly own this to be true. R. And you
will allow, I believe, that the deceits under which dreamers, or madmen suffer, are to be
included in this kind. A. None more: for none tend more to be such things as the waking
and the sane discern; and yet they are hereby false, because that which they tend to be
they cannot be. R. Why need I now say more concerning the gliding towers, or the dipped
oar, or the shadows of bodies? It is plain, as I think. that they are to be measured by
this rule. A. Most evidently they are. R. I say nothing concerning the remaining senses;
for no one by consideration will fail to find this, that in the various things which are
subject to our sense, that is called false which tends to be anything and is not.

18. A. Thou speakest rightly; but I wonder why thou wouldst separate from this class those
poems and jests, and other imitative trifles. R. Because forsooth it is one thing to will
to be false, and another not to be able to be true. Therefore these works of men
themselves, such as comedies or tragedies, or mimes, and other such things, we may include
with the works of painters and sculptors. For a painted man cannot be so true, however
much he may tend into the form of man, as those things which are written in the books of
the comic poets. For neither do they will to be false, nor are they false by any appetite
of their own; but by a certain necessity, so far as they have been able to follow the mind
of the author. But on the stage Roscius in will was a false Hecuba, in nature a true man;
but by that will also a true tragedian, in that he was fulfilling the thing proposed: but
a false Priam, in that he made himself like Priam, but was not he. From which now arises a
certain marvellous thing, which nevertheless no one doubts to be so. A. What, pray, is it?
R. What think you, unless that all these things are in certain aspects true, by this very
thing that they are in certain aspects false, and that for their quality of truth this
alone avails them, that they are false in another regard?

Whence to that which they either will or ought to be, they in no wise attain, if they
avoid being false. For how could he whom I have mentioned have been a true tragedian, had
he been unwilling to be a false Hector, a false Andromache, a false Hercules, and
innumerable other things? or how would a picture, for instance, be a true picture, unless
it were a false horse? or how could there be in a mirror a true image of a man, if it were
not a false man? Wherefore, if it avails some things that they be somewhat false in order
that they may be somewhat true; why do we so greatly dread falsity, and seek truth as the
greatest good? A. I know not, and I greatly marvel, unless because in these examples I see
nothing worthy of imitation. For not as actors, or specular reflections, or Myron's brazen
cows, ought we, in order that we may be true in some character of our own, to be outlined
and accommodated to the personation of another; but to seek that truth, which is not, as
if laid out on a bifronted and self-repugnant plan, false on one side that it may be true
on the other. R. High and Divine are the things which thou requirest.

Yet if we shall have found them, shall we not confess that of these things is Truth itself
made up, and as it were brought into being from their fusion-Truth, from which every thing
derives its name which in any way is called true? A. I yield no unwilling assent. 19. R.
What then think you? Is the science of debate true, or false? A. True, beyond controversy.
But Grammar too is true. R. In the same sense as the former? A. I do not see what is truer
than the true. R. That assuredly which has nothing of false: in view of which a little
while ago thou didst take umbrage at those things which, be it in this way or that, unless
they were false, could not be true. Or do you not know, that all those fabulous and openly
false things appertain to Grammar? A. I am not ignorant of that indeed; but, as I judge,
it is not through Grammar that they are false, but through it, that, whatever they may be,
they are interpreted. Since a drama is a falsehood composed for utility or delight. But
Grammar is a science which is the guardian and moderatrix of articulate speech: whose
profession involves the necessity of collecting even all the figments of the human tongue,
which have been committed to memory and letters, not making them false, but teaching and
enforcing concerning these certain principles of true interpretation. R. Very just: I care
not now, whether or not these things have been well defined and distinguished by thee; but
this I ask, whether it is Grammar itself, or that science of debate which shows this to be
so. A. I do not deny that the force and skill of definition, whereby I have now endeavored
to separate these things, is to be attributed to the art of disputation.

20. R. How as to Grammar itself? if it is true, is it not so far true as it is a
discipline? For the name of Discipline signifies something to be learnt: but no one who
has learned and who retains what he learns, can be said not to know; and no one knows
falsities. Therefore every discipline and science is true. A. I see not what rashness
there can be in assenting to this brief course of reasoning. But I am disturbed lest it
should bring any one to suppose those dramas to be true; for these also we learn and
retain. R. Was then our master unwilling that we should believe what he taught, and know
it? A. Nay, he was thoroughly in earnest that we should know it. R. And did he, pray, ever
set out to have us believe that Daedalus flew? A. That, indeed, never. But assuredly
unless we remembered the poem, he took such order that we were scarcely able to hold
anything in our hands. R. Do you then deny it to be true that there is such a poem, and
that such a tradition is spread abroad concerning Daedalus? A. I do not deny this to be
true. R. You do not then deny that you learned the truth, when you learned these things.

For if it is true that Daedalus flew, and boys should receive and recite this as a
reigning fable, they would be laying up falsities in mind by the very fact that the things
were true which they recited. For from this results what we were admiring above, that
there could not be a true fiction turning on the flight of Daedalus, unless it were false
that Daedalus flew. A. I now grasp that; but what good is to, come of it, I do not yet
see. R. What, unless that that course of reasoning is not false, whereby we gather that a
science, unless it is true, cannot be a science? A. And what does this signify? R. Because
I wish to have you tell me on what the science of Grammar rests: for the truth of the
science rests on that very principle which makes it a science. A. I know not what to
answer thee. R. Does it not seem to you, that if nothing in it had been defined, and
nothing distributed and distinguished into classes and parts, it could not in any wise be
a true science? A. Now I grasp thy meaning:

nor does the remembrance of any science whatever occur to me, in which definitions and
divisions and processes of reasoning do not, inasmuch as it is declared what each thing
is, as without confusion of parts its proper attributes are ascribed to each class,
nothing peculiar to it being neglected, nothing alien to it admitted, perform that whole
range of functions from which it has the name of Science. R. That whole range of functions
therefore from which it has the name of true A. I see this to be implied. 21. R. Tell me
now what science contains the principles of definitions, divisions and partitions. A. It
has been said above that these are contained in the rules of disputation. R. Grammar
therefore, both as a science, and as a true science, has been created by the same art
which has above been defended from the charge of falsity. Which conclusion I am not
required to confine to Grammar alone, but am permitted to extend to all sciences whatever.
For you have said, and truly said, that no science occurs to you, in which the law of
defining and distributing does not lie at the very foundation of its character as a
science. But if they are true on that ground on which they are sciences, will any one deny
that very thing to be truth through which all the sciences are true? A. Assuredly I find
it hard to withhold assent: but this gives me pause, that we reckon among the sciences
even that theory of disputation. Wherefore I judge that rather to be truth, whereby this
theory itself is true. R. Your watchful accuracy is indeed most highly to be commended:
but you do not deny. I suppose, that it is true on the same ground on which it is a theory
and science. A. Nay, that is my very ground of perplexity. For I have noted that it also
is a science, and is on this account called true. R. What then?

Do you think this could be a science on any other ground than that all things in it were
defined and distributed? A. I have nothing else to say. R. But if this function appertains
to it, it is in and of itself a true science. Why then should any one find it wonderful,
if that truth whereby all things are true, should be through itself and in itself true? A.
Nothing stands now in the way of my giving an unreserved assent to that opinion. 22. R.
Attend therefore to the few things that remain. A. Bring forth whatever thou hast, if only
it be such as I can understand, and I will willingly agree. R. We do not forget, that to
say that anything is in anything, is capable of a double sense. It may mean that it is so
in such a sense as that it can also be disjoined and be elsewhere, as this wood in this
place, or the sun in the East. Or it may mean anything is so in a subject, that it cannot
be separated from it, as in this wood the shape and visible appearance, as in the sun the
light, as in fire heat, as in the mind discipline, and such like. Or seems it otherwise to
thee? A. These distinctions are indeed most thoroughly familiar to us, and from early
youth most studiously made an element of thought; wherefore, if asked about these, I must
needs grant the position at once. R. But do you not concede that if the subject do not
abide, that which is in the subject cannot inseparably abide? A. This also I see
necessary: for, the subject remaining, that which is in the subject may possibly not
remain, as any one with a little thought can perceive. Since the color of this body of
mine may, by reason of health or age, suffer change, though the body has not yet perished.

And this is not equally true of all things, but of those whose coexistence with the
subject is not necessary to the existence of the subject. For it is not necessary that
this wall, in order to be a wall, should be of this color, which we see in it; for even
if, by some chance, it should become black or white, or should undergo some other change
of color, it would nevertheless remain a wall and be so called. But if fire werewithout
heat, it will not even be fire; nor can we talk of snow except as being white. 23. But as
to thy question, who would grant, or to whom could it appear possible, that that which is
in the subject should remain, while the subject perished? For it is monstrous and most
utterly foreign to the truth that what would not be unless it were in thesubject, could be
even when the subject itself was no more. R. Then that which we were seeking is found. A.
What dost thou mean? R. What you hear. A. And is it then now clearly made out that the
mind is immortal? R. If these things which you have granted are true, with most
indisputable clearness: unless perchance you would say that the mind, even though it die,
is still the mind. A. I, at least, will never say that; but by this very fact that it
perishes it then comes about that it is not the mind, is what I do say. Nor am I shaken in
this opinion because it has been said by great philosophers that that thing which,
wherever it comes, affords life, cannot admit death into itself. For although the light
wheresoever it has been able to gain entrance, makes that place luminous, and, by virtue
of that memorable force of contrarieties, cannot admit darkness into itself; yet it is
extinguished, and that place is by its extinction made dark. So that which resisted the
darkness, neither in any way admitted the darkness into it, and yet made place for it by
perishing, as it could have made place for it by departing.

Therefore I fear lest death should befall the body in such wise as darkness a place, the
mind, like light, sometimes departing, but sometimes being extinguished on the spot; so
that now not concerning every death of the body is there security, but a particular kind
of death is to be chosen, by which the soul may be conducted out of the body unharmed, and
guided to a place, if there is any such place, where it cannot be extinguished. Or, if not
even this may be, and the mind, as it were a light, is kindled in the body itself, nor has
capacity to endure elsewhere, and every death is a sort of extinction of the soul in the
body, or of the life; some sort is to be chosen by which, so far as man is allowed, life,
while it is lived, may be lived in security and tranquillity, although I know not how that
can come to pass if the soul dies. O greatly blessed they, who, whether from themselves,
or from whom you will, have gained the persuasion, that death is not to be feared, even if
the soul should perish! But, wretched me, no reasonings, no books, have hitherto been able
to persuade of this.

24. R. Groan not, the human mind is immortal. A. How dost thou prove it? R. From those
things which you have granted above, with great caution. A. I do not indeed recall to mind
any want of vigilance in my admissions when questioned by thee: but now gather all into
one sum, I pray thee; let us see at what point we have arrived after so many circuits, nor
would I have thee in doing so question me. For if thou art about to enumerate concisely
those things which I have granted, why is my response again desired? Or is it that thou
wouldst wantonly torture me by delays of joy, if we have in fact achieved any solid
result? R. I will do that which I see that thou dost wish, but attend most diligently. A.
Speak now, here I am; why slayest thou me? R. If everything which is in the subject always
abides, it follows of necessity that the subject itself always abides. And every
discipline is in the subject mind. It is necessary therefore that the mind should continue
forever, if the science continues forever. Now Science is Truth, and always, as in the
beginning of this book Reason hath convinced thee, does Truth abide. Therefore the mind
lasts forever, nor dead, could it be called the mind. He therefore alone can escape
absurdity in denying the mind to be immortal, who can prove that any of the foregoing
concessions have been made without reason.

25. A. And now I am ready to plunge into the expected joys, but yet I am held hesitating
by two thoughts. For, first, it makes me uneasy that we have used so long a circuit,
following out I know not what chain of reasonings, when the whole matter of discourse
admitted of so brief a demonstration, as has now been shown. Wherefore, it renders me
anxious that the discourse has so long held so wary a step, as if with some design of
setting an ambush. Next, I do not see how a science is always in the mind, when, on the
one hand, so few are familiar with it, and, on the other, whoever does know it, was during
so long a time of early childhood unacquainted with it. For we can neither say that the
minds of the untaught are not minds, nor that that science is in their mind of which they
are ignorant. And if this is utterly absurd, it results that either the science is not
always in the mind, or that that science is not Truth.

26. R. Thou mayest note that it is not for naught that our reasoning has taken so wide a
round. For we were inquiring what is Truth, which not even now, in this very forest of
thoughts and things, beguiling our steps into an infinity of paths, have we, as I see,
been able to track out to the end. But what are we to do? Shall we desist from our
undertaking, and wait in hope that some book or other may fall into our hands, which may
satisfy this question? For many, I think, have written before our age, whom we have not
read: and now, to give no guess at what we do not know, we see plainly that there is much
writing upon this theme, both in verse and prose; and that by men whose writings cannot be
unknown to us, and whose genius we know to be such, that we cannot despair of finding in
their works what we require: especially when here before our eyes is he in whom we have
recognized that eloquence for which we mourned as dead, to have revived in vigorous life.
Will he suffer us, after having in his writings taught us the true manner of living. to
remain ignorant of the true nature of living? A. I indeed do not think so, and hope much
from thence but one matter of grief I have, that we have not opportunity of opening to him
our zealous affection either towards him or towards Wisdom.

For assuredly he would pity our thirst and would overflow much more quickly than now. For
he is secure, because he has now won a full conviction of the immortality of the soul, and
perhaps knows not that there are any, who have only too well experienced 'the misery of
this ignorance, and whom it is cruel not to aid, especially when they entreat it. But that
other knows indeed from old familiarity our ardor of longing; but he is so far removed,
and we are so circumstanced, that we have scarcely the opportunity of so much as sending a
letter to him. Whom I believe to have lately in Transalpine retirement composed a spell,
under whose ban the fear of death is compelled to flee, and the cold stupor of the soul,
indurate with lasting ice, is expelled. But in the meantime, while these helps are
leisurely making their way hither, a benefit which it is not in our power to command, is
it not most unworthy that our leisure should be wasting, and our very mind hang wholly
dependent on the uncertain decision of another's will?

27. What shall we say to this, that we have entreated God and do entreat, that He will
show us a way, not to riches, not to bodily pleasures, not to popular honors and seats of
state, but to the knowledge of our own soul, and that He will likewise disclose Himself to
them that seek Him? Will He, indeed, forsake us, or shall He be forsaken by us R. Most
utterly foreign to Him is it indeed, that He should desert them who desire such things:
whence also it ought to be strange to our thoughts that we should desert so great a Guide.
Wherefore, if you will, let us briefly go over the considerations from which either
proposition results, either that Truth always abides, or that Truth is the theory of
argumentation. For you have said that these points wavered in your mind, so as to make us
less secure of the final conclusion of the whole matter. Or shall we rather inquire this,
how a science can be in an untrained mind, which yet we cannot deny to be a mind? For this
seemed to give you uneasiness, so as to involve you again in doubt as to your previous
concessions. A. Nay, let us first discuss the two former propositions, and then we will
consider the nature of this latter fact. For so, as I judge, no controversy will remain.
R. So be it, but attend with the utmost heed and caution. For I know what happens to you
as you listen, namely, that while you are too intent upon the conclusion, and expecting
that now, or now, it will be drawn, you grant the points implied in my questions without a
sufficiently diligent scrutiny. A. Perchance thou speakest the truth; but I shall strive
against this kind of disease as much as I can: only begin thou now to inquire of me, that
we linger not over things superfluous.

28. R. From this truth, as I remember, that Truth cannot perish, we have concluded, that
not only if the whole world should perish, but even if Truth itself should, it will still
be true that both the world and Truth have perished. Now there is nothing true without
truth: in no wise therefore does Truth perish. A. I acknowledge all this, and shall be
greatly surprised if it turns out false. R. Let us then consider that other point. A.
Suffer me, I pray thee, to reflect a little, lest I should soon come back in confusion. R.
Will ittherefore not be true that Truth has perished? If it will not be true, then Truth
does not perish. If it were true, where, after the fall of Truth, will be the true. when
now there is no truth? A. I have no further occasion for thought and consideration;
proceed to something else. Assuredly we will take order, so far as we may, that learned
and wise men may read these musings, and may correct our unadvisedness, if they shall find
any: for as to myself, I do not believe that either now or hereafter I shall be able to
discover what can be said against this.

29. R. Is Truth then so called for any other reason than as being that by which everything
is true which is true? A. For no other reason. R. Is it rightly called true for any ground
than that it is not false? A. To doubt this were madness. R. Is that not false which is
accommodated to the similitude of anything, yet is not that the likeness of which it
appears? A. Nothing indeed do I see which I would more willingly call false. But yet that
is commonly called false, which is far removed from the similitude of the true. R. Who
denies it? But yet because it implies some imitation of the true. A. How? For when it is
said, that Medea flew away with winged snakes harnessed to her car, that thing on no side
imitates truth; inasmuch as the thing is naught, nor can that thing imitate aught, when
itself is absolutely nothing. R. You say right; but you do not note that that thing which
is absolutely nothing, cannot even be called false. For if it is false, it is: if it is
not, it is not false. A. Shall we not then say that monstrous story of Medea is false? R.
Assuredly not; for if it is false, how is it a monstrous story? A. Admirable! Then when I
say"The mighty winged snakes I fasten to my car," do I not say false? R. You do,
assuredly: for that is which you say to be false. A.. What, I pray? R.

That sentence, forsooth, which is contained in the verse itself. A. And pray what
imitation of truth has that? R. Because it would bear the same tenor, even if Medea had
truly done that thing. Therefore in its very terms a false sentence imitates true
sentences. Which, if it is not believed, in this alone does it imitate true ones, that it
is expressed as they, and it is only false, it is not also misleading. But if it obtains
faith, it imitates also those sentences which, being true, are believed true. A. Now I
perceive that there is a great difference between those things which we say and those
things concerning which we say aught; wherefore I now assent: for this proposition alone
held me back, that whatever we call false is not rightly so called, unless it have an
imitation of something true. For who, calling a stone false silver, would not be justly
derided? Yet if any one should declare a stone to be silver, we say that he speaks
falsely, that is, that he utters a false sentence. But it is not, I think, unreasonable
that we should call, tin or lead false silver, because the thing itself, as it were,
imitates that: nor is our sentence declaring this therefore false, but that l very thing
concerning which it is pronounced.

30. R. You apprehend the matter well. But consider this, whether we can also with
propriety call silver by the name of false lead. A. Not in my opinion. R. Why so? A. I
know not; except that I see that it would be altogether against my will to have it so
called. R. Is it perchance for the reason that silver is the better, and such a name would
be contemptuous of it; but it confers a certain honor, as it were, on lead, if it should
be called false silver? A. Thou hast expressed exactly what I had in mind. And therefore I
believe that it is with good right that those are held infamous and incapable of bearing
witness, who flaunt themselves in female attire, whom I know not whether I should more
reasonably call false women, or false men. True actors, however, and truly infamous,
without doubt we can call them; or, if they lurk unseen, and if infamy implies an evil
repute, we may call them not without truth, true specimens of worthlessness. R. We shall
have another opportunity of discussing these things: for many things are done, which in
the mere guise of them appear base, yet, done for some praiseworthy end, are shown to be
honorable. And it is a great question whether one, for the sake of liberating his country,
ought to put on a woman's garment to deceive the enemy, being, perhaps, by the very fact
that he is a false woman, apt to be shown the truer man:

and whether a wise man who in some way may have certainly ascertained that his life will
be necessary to the interests of mankind, ought to choose rather to die of cold, than to
indue himself in female vestments, if he can find no other. But concerning this, as has
been said, we will consider hereafter. For unquestionably thou discernest how careful an
inquisition it requires, how far such things can be carried, without falling into various
inexcusable basenesses. But now-which suffices for the present question-I think it is now
evident, and beyond doubt, that there is not anything false except by some imitation of
the true. 31. A. Go on to what remains; for of this I am well convinced. 27. Then I ask
this, whether, besides the sciences in which we are instructed, and in which it is fitting
that the study of wisdom itself should be included, we can find anything so true, that it
is not, like that Achilles of the stage, false on one side, that it may be true on
another? A. To me, indeed, many such things appear capable of being found. For no sciences
contain this stone, nor yet, that it may be a true stone, does it imitate anything
according to which it would be called false. Which one thing being mentioned, thou seest
there is opportunity to dwell upon things innumerable, which of themselves occur to the
thought. R. I see, I see. But do they not seem to thee to be included in the one name of
Body? A. They might so seem, if either I had ascertained. the inane to be nothing, or
thought that the mind itself ought to be numbered among bodies, or believed that God also
is a body. If all these things are, I see them not to be false and true in imitation of
anything. R. You send us a long journey, but I will use all compendious speed. For
certainly what you call the Inane is one thing, what you call Truth another. A. Widely
diverse, indeed. For what more inane than I, if I think Truth anything inane, or so
greatly seek after aught inane?

For what else than Truth do I desire to find? R. Therefore perchance you grant this too,
that nothing is true which does not by Truth come to be true. A. This became manifest at
an early stage. R. Do you doubt that nothing is inane except the Inane itself, or
certainly that a body is not inane? A. I do not doubt it at all. R. I suppose therefore,
you believe that Truth is some sort of body. A. In no wise. R. What is a body? A: I know
not; no matter: for I think thou knowest that even that inane, if it is inane, is more
completely so where there is no body. R. This assuredly is plain. A. Why then do we delay?
R. Does it then seem to thee either that Truth made the inane, or that there is anything
true where Truth is not? A. Neither seems true. R. The inane therefore is not true,
because neither could it become inane by that which is not inane: and it is manifest that
what is void of truth is not true; and, in fine, that very thing which is called inane, is
so called because it is nothing. How therefore can that be true which is not or how can
that be which is absolutely nothing? A. Well then, let us desert the inane as being inane.

32. R. What sayest thou concerning the rest? A. What? R. Because you see how much stands
on my side. For we have remaining the Soul and God. And if these two are true for the
reason that Truth is in them of the immortality of God no one doubts. But the mind is
believed immortal, if Truth which cannot perish, is proved to be in it. Wherefore let as
consider this last point, whether the body be not truly true, that is, whether there be in
it, not Truth, but a certain image of Truth. For if even in the body, which we know to be
perishable, we find such an element of truth, as there is in the sciences, it does not
then so certainly follow, that the art of discussion is Truth, whereby all sciences are
true. For true is even the body, which does not seem to have been formed by the force of
argument. But if even the body is true by a certain imitation, and is on this account, not
absolutely and purely true, there will then, perchance, be nothing to hinder the theory of
argument from being taught to be Truth itself. A Meanwhile let us inquire concerning the
body; for not even when this shall have been settled, do I see a prospect of ending this
controversy. R. Whence knowest thou what God purposes? Therefore attend:

for I at least think the body to be contained in a certain form and guise, which if it had
not, it would not be the body; if it had it in truth, it would be the mind. Or does the
fact stand otherwise? A. I assent in part, of the rest I doubt; for, unless some figure is
maintained, I grant that it is not a body. But how, if it had it in truth, it would be the
mind, I do not well understand. R. Do you then remember nothing concerning the exordium of
this book, and that Geometry of yours? A. Thou hast mentioned it to purpose; I do indeed
remember, and am most willing to do so. R. Are such figures found in bodies, as that
science demonstrates? A. Nay, it is incredible how greatly inferior they are convicted of
being. R. Which of them, therefore, do you think true? A. Do not, I beg, think it
necessary even to put that question to me. For who is so dull, as not to see that those
figures which are taught in Geometry, dwell in Truth itself, or even Truth in these; but
that those embodied figures, inasmuch as, they seem, so to speak, to tend towards these,
have I know not what imitation of truth, and are therefore false? For now that whole
matter which thou wert laboring to show, understand.

33. R. What need is there any longer than that we should inquire concerning the science of
disputation? For whether the figures of Geometry are in the Truth, or the Truth is in
them, that they are contained in our soul, that, is, in our intelligence, no one calls in
question, and through this fact Truth also is compelled to be in our mind. But if every
science whatever is so in the mind, as in the subject inseparably, and if Truth is not
able to perish; why, I ask, do we doubt concerning the perpetual life of the mind through
I know not what familiarity with death? Or have that line or squareness or roundness other
things which they imitate that they may be true? A. In no way can I believe that, unless
perchance a line be something else than length without breadth, and a circle something
else than a circumscribed line everywhere verging equally to the centre. Why then do we
hesitate? Or is not Truth where these things are? A. God avert such madness. R. Or is not
the science in the mind? A. Who would say that? R. But is it possible, the subject
perishing, that that which is in the subject should perdure? A. When could I imagine such
a thing? R. It remains to suppose that Truth may fail. A. Whence could this be brought to
pass? R. Therefore the soul is immortal: now at last yield to thine own arguments, believe
the Truth;

she cries out that she dwelleth in thee, and is immortal, and that her seat cannot be
withdrawn from her by any possible death of the body. Turn away from thy shadow, return
into thyself; of no meaning is the destruction thou fearest, except that thou hast
forgotten that thou canst not be destroyed. A. I hear, I come to a better mind, I begin to
recollect myself. But I beg thou wouldst expedite those things which remain; how, in an
undisciplined mind, for a mortal one we cannot call it, Science and Truth are to be
understood to be. R. That question requires another volume, if thou wouldst have it
treated thoroughly: moreover also I see occasion for thee to review those things, which,
after our best power, have been already examined; because if no one of those things which
have been admitted is doubtful, I think that we have accomplished much, and with no small
security may proceed to push our inquiries farther.

34. A. It is as thou sayest, and I willingly yield compliance with thine injunctions. But
this at least I would entreat, before thou decreest a term to the volume, that thou
wouldst summarily explain what the distinction is between the true figure, which is
contained in the intelligence, and that which thought frames to itself, which in Greek is
termed either Phantasia or Phantasma. R. Thou seekest that which no one except one of
purest sight is able to see, and to the vision of which thing thou art but poorly trained;
nor have we now in these wide circuits anything else in view than to exercise thee, that
thou mayest be competent to see: yet how it is possible to be taught that the difference
is very great, perhaps I can, with a little pains, make clear. For suppose thou hadst
forgotten something, and that others were wishing that thou should st recall it to memory.
They therefore say: Is it this, or that bringing forward things diverse from it as if
similar to it. But thou neither seest that which thou desirest to recollect, and yet seest
that it is not this which is suggested. Seems this to thee, when it happens, by any means
equivalent to total forgetfulness? For this very power of distinguishing, whereby the
false suggestions made to time are repelled, is a certain part of recollection. A. So it
seems. R. Such therefore do not yet see the truth yet they cannot be misled and deceived;
and what they seek, they sufficiently know.

But if any one should say that thou didst laugh a few days after thou wast born, thou
wouldst not venture to say it was false: and if he were an authority worthy of credit,
thou art ready, not, indeed, to remember, but to believe; for to thee that whole time is
buried in most authentic oblivion. Or thinkest thou otherwise? A. I thoroughly agree with
this. it. This oblivion therefore differs exceedingly from that, but that stands midway.
For there is another nearer and more closely neighboring to the recollection and rekindled
vision of truth: the like of which is when we see something, and recognize for certain
that we have seen it at some time, and affirm that we know it; but where, or when, or how,
or with whom it came into our knowledge, we have enough to do to search our memory for an
answer. As if this happens in regard to a man, we also inquire where we have known him:
which when he has brought to mind, suddenly the whole thing flashes upon the memory like a
light, and we have no more trouble to recollect. Is this sort of forgetfulness unknown to
thee, or obscure? A. What plainer than this or what is happening to me more frequently?

35. R. Such are those who are well instructed in the liberal arts; since they by learning
disinter them, buried in oblivion, doubtless, within themselves, and, in a manner, dig
them out afresh: nor yet are they content, nor refrain themselves until the whole aspect
of Truth, of which, in those arts, a certain effulgence already gleams forth upon them, is
by them most widely and most clearly beheld. But from this certain false colors and forms
themselves as it were upon the mirror of thought, and mislead inquirers often, and deceive
those who think that to be the whole which they know or which they inquire. Those
imaginations themselves are to be avoided with great carefulness; which are detected as
fallacious, by their varying with the varied mirror of thought, whereas that face of Truth
abides one and immutable. For then thought portrays to itself, for instance, a square of
this or that or the other magnitude, and, as it were, brings it before the eyes; but the
inner mind which wishes to see the truth, applies itself rather to that general
conception, if it can, according to which it judges all these to be squares. A. What if
some one should say to us that the mind judges according to what it is accustomed to see
with the eyes? R. Why then does it judge, that is, if it is well trained, that a true
sphere of any conceivable size is touched by a true plane at a point?

How has eye ever seen, or how can eye ever see such a thing, when anything of this kind
cannot be bodied forth in the pure imagination of thought? Or do we not prove this, when
we describe even the smallest imaginary circle in our mind, and from it draw lines to the
centre? For when we have drawn two, between which there is scarce room for a needle's
point, we are no longer able, even in imagination, to draw others between, so that they
shall arrive at the centre without any commixture; whereas reason exclaims that
innumerable lines can be drawn, without being able to touch each other except in the
centre, so that in every interval between them even a circle could be described. Since
that Phantasy cannot accomplish this, and is more deficient than the eyes themselves,
since it is through them that it inflicted on the mind, it is manifest that it differs
much from Truth, and that that, when this is seen, is not seen.

36. These points will be treated with more pains and greater subtilty, when we shall have
begun to discuss the faculty of intelligence, which part of our theme is proposed by us,
as something which is to be developed and discussed by us, when anything gives anxiety
concerning the life of the soul. For I believe thee to stand in no slight fear lest the
death of man, even if it do not slay the soul, should nevertheless induce oblivion of all
things, and of Truth itself, if any shall have been discovered. A. It cannot be expressed
holy much this evil is to be feared. For of what sort will be that eternal life, or what
death is not to be preferred to it, if the soul so lives, as we see it live in a child
just born to say nothing of that life which is lived in the womb; for I do not think it to
be none. R. Be of good courage; God will be present, as we now feel, to us who seek, who
promises a certain most blessed body after this, and an utter plenitude of Truth without
any falsehood. A. May it be as we hope.parparpar


ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
=====================

ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE Augustine of Hippo

AD 354–430

Bishop of Hippo, the most influential Latin father.

INTRODUCTION

Containing a General View of the Subjects Treated in Holy Scripture.

1 Argument-The author divides his work into two parts, one relating to the discovery, the
other to the expression, of the true sense of scripture. He shows that to discover the
meaning we must attend both to things and to signs, as it is necessary to know what things
we ought to teach to the Christian people, and also the signs of these things, that is,
where the knowledge of these things is to be sought. In this first book he treats of
things, which he divides into three classes,-things to be enjoyed, things to be used, and
things which use and enjoy. The only object which ought to be enjoyed is the triune God,
who is our highest good and our true happiness. We are prevented by our sins from enjoying
God; and that our sins might be taken away, "the word was made flesh," our Lord suffered,
and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, taking to himself as his bride the
church, in which we receive remission of our sins. And if our sins are remitted and our
souls renewed by grace, we may await with hope the resurrection of the body to eternal
glory; if not, we shall be raised to everlasting punishment. These matters relating to
faith having been expounded, the author goes on to show that all objects, except God, are
for use; for, though some of them may be loved, yet our love is not to rest in them, but
to have reference to God.

2 And we ourselves are not objects of enjoyment to God; he uses us, but for our own
advantage. He then goes on to show that love-the love of God for his own sake and the love
of our neighbor for God's sake-is the fulfillment and the end of all Scripture. After
adding a few words about hope, he shows, in conclusion, that faith, hope, and love are
graces essentially necessary for him who would understand and explain aright the Holy
Scriptures.

CHAPTER 1.-THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE DEPENDS ON THE DISCOVERY AND ENUNCIATION OF THE MEANING, AND IS TO BE UNDERTAKEN IN DEPENDENCE ON GOD'S AID.

1. There are two things on which all interpretation of Scripture depends: the mode of
ascertaining the proper meaning, and the mode of making known the meaning when it is
ascertained. We shall treat first of the mode of ascertaining, next of the mode of making
known, the meaning;-a great and arduous undertaking, and one that, if difficult to carry
out, it is, I fear, presumptuous to enter upon. And presumptuous it would undoubtedly be,
if I were counting on my own strength; but since my hope of accomplishing the work rests
on Him who has already supplied me with many thoughts on this subject, I do not fear but
that He will go on to supply what is yet wanting when once I have begun to use what He has
already given. For a possession which is not diminished by being shared with others, if it
is possessed and not shared, is not yet possessed as it ought to be possessed. The Lord
saith "Whosoever hath, to him shall be given." He will give, then, to those who have; that
is to say, if they use freely and cheerfully what they have received, He will add to and
perfect His gifts. The loaves in the miracle were only five and seven in number before the
disciples began to divide them among the hungry people. But when once they began to
distribute them, though the wants of so many thousands were satisfied, they filled baskets
with the fragments that were left. Now, just as that bread increased in the very act of
breaking it, so those thoughts which the Lord has already vouchsafed to me with a view to
undertaking this work will, as soon as I begin to impart them to others, be multiplied by
His grace, so that, in this very work of distribution in which I have engaged, so far from
incurring loss and poverty, I shall be made to rejoice in a marvellous increase of wealth.

CHAPTER 2.-WHAT A THING IS, AND WHAT ASIGN.

2. All instruction is either about things or about signs; but things are learnt by means
of signs. I now use the word "thing" in a strict sense, to signify that which is never
employed as a sign of anything else: for example, wood, stone, cattle, and other things of
that kind. Not, however, the wood which we read Moses cast into the bitter waters to make
them sweet, nor the stone which Jacob used as a pillow, nor the ram which Abraham offered
up instead of his son; for these, though they are things, are also signs of other things.
There are signs of another kind, those which are never employed except as signs: for
example, words. No one uses words except as signs of something else; and hence may be
understood what I call signs: those things, to wit, which are used to indicate something
else. Accordingly, every sign is also a thing; for what is not a thing is nothing at all.
Every thing, however, is not also a sign. And so, in regard to this distinction between
things and signs, I shall, when I speak of things, speak in such a way that even if some
of them may be used as signs also, that will not interfere with the division of the
subject according to which I am to discuss things first and signs afterwards. But we must
carefully remember that what we have now to consider about things is what they are in
themselves, not what other things they are signs of.

CHAPTER 3.-SOME THINGS ARE FOR USE, SOME FOR ENJOYMENT.

3. There are some things, then, which are to be enjoyed, others which are to be used,
others still which enjoy and use. Those things which are objects of enjoyment make us
happy. Those things which are objects of use assist, and (so to speak) support us in our
efforts after happiness, so that we can attain the things that make us happy and rest in
them. We ourselves, again, who enjoy and use these things, being placed among both kinds
of objects, if we set ourselves to enjoy those which we ought to use, are hindered in our
course, and sometimes even led away from it; so that, getting entangled in the love of
lower gratifications, we lag behind in, or even altogether turn back from, the pursuit of
the real and proper objects of enjoyment.

CHAPTER 4.-DIFFERENCE OF USE AND ENJOYMENT.

4. For to enjoy a thing is to rest with satisfaction in it for its own sake. To use, on
the other hand, is to employ whatever means are at one's disposal to obtain what one
desires, if it is a proper object of desire; for an unlawful use ought rather to be called
an abuse. Suppose, then, we were wanderers in a strange country, and could not live
happily away from our fatherland, and that we felt wretched in our wandering, and wishing
to put an end to our misery, determined to return home. We find, however, that we must
make use of some mode of conveyance, either by land or water, in order to reach that
fatherland where our enjoyment is to commence. But the beauty of the country through which
we pass, and the very pleasure of the motion, charm our hearts, and turning these things
which we ought to use into objects of enjoyment, we become unwilling to hasten the end of
our journey; and becoming engrossed in a factitious delight, our thoughts are diverted
from that home whose delights would make us truly happy. Such is a picture of our
condition in this life of mortality. We have wandered far from God; and if we wish to
return to our Father's home, this world must be used, not enjoyed, that so the invisible
things of God may be clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, -that is,
that by means of what is material and temporary we may lay hold upon that which is
spiritual and eternal.

CHAPTER 5.-THE TRINITY THE TRUE OBJECT OF ENJOYMENT.

5. The true objects of enjoyment, then, are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
who are at the same time the Trinity, one Being, supreme above all, and common to all who
enjoy Him, if He is an object, and not rather the cause of all objects, or indeed even if
He is the cause of all. For it is not easy to find a name that will suitably express so
great excellence, unless it is better to speak in this way: The Trinity, one God, of whom
are all things, through whom are all things, in whom are all things. Thus the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit, and each of these by Himself, is God, and at the same time
they are all one God; and each of them by Himself is a complete substance, and yet they
are all one substance. The Father is not the Son nor the Holy Spirit; the Son is not the
Father nor the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son: but the Father
is only Father, the Son is only Son, and the Holy Spirit is only Holy Spirit. To all three
belong the same eternity, the same unchangeableness, the same majesty, the same power. In
the Father is unity, in the Son equality, in the Holy Spirit the harmony of unity and
equality; and these three attributes are all one because of the Father, all equal because
of the Son, and all harmonious because of the Holy Spirit.

CHAPTER 6.-IN WHAT SENSE GOD IS INEFFABLE.

6. Have I spoken of God, or uttered His praise, in any worthy way? Nay, I feel that I have
done nothing more than desire to speak; and if I have said anything, it is not what I
desired to say. How do I know this, except from the fact that God is unspeakable? But what
I have said, if it had been unspeakable, could not have been spoken. And so God is not
even to be called "unspeakable," because to say even this is to speak of Him. Thus there
arises a curious contradiction of words, because if the unspeakable is what cannot be
spoken of, it is not unspeakable if it can be called unspeakable. And this opposition of
words is rather to be avoided by silence than to be explained away by speech. And yet God,
although nothing worthy of His greatness can be said of Him, has condescended to accept
the worship of men's mouths, and has desired us through the medium of our own words to
rejoice in His praise. For on this principle it is that He is called Dues (God). For the
sound of those two syllables in itself conveys no true knowledge of His nature; but yet
all who know the Latin tongue are led, when that sound reaches their ears, to think of a
nature supreme in excellence and eternal in existence.

CHAPTER 7.-WHAT ALL MEN UNDERSTAND BY THE TERM GOD.

7. For when the one supreme God of gods is thought of, even by those who believe that
there are other gods, and who call them by that name, and worship them as gods, their
thought takes the form of an endeavor to reach the conception of a nature, than which
nothing more excellent or more exalted exists. And since men are moved by different kinds
of pleasures, partly by those which pertain to the bodily senses, partly by those which
pertain to the intellect and soul, those of them who are in bondage to sense think that
either the heavens, or what appears to be most brilliant in the heavens, or the universe
itself, is God of gods: or if they try to get beyond the universe, they picture to
themselves something of dazzling brightness, and think of it vaguely as infinite, or of
the most beautiful form conceivable; or they represent it in the form of the human body,
if they think that superior to all others. Or if they think that there is no one God
supreme above the rest, but that there are many or even innumerable gods of equal rank,
still these too they conceive as possessed of shape and form, according to what each man
thinks the pattern of excellence. Those, on the other hand, who endeavor by an effort of
the intelligence to reach a conception of God, place Him above all visible and bodily
natures, and even above all intelligent and spiritual natures that are subject to change.
All, however, strive emulously to exalt the excellence of God: nor could any one be found
to believe that any being to whom there exists a superior is God. And so all concur in
believing that God is that which excels in dignity all other objects.

CHAPTER 8.-GOD TO BE ESTEEMED ABOVE ALL ELSE, BECAUSE HE IS UNCHANGEABLE WISDOM.

1 8. And since all who think about God think of Him as living, they only can form any
conception of Him that is not absurd and unworthy who think of Him as life itself; and,
whatever may be the bodily form that has suggested itself to them, recognize that it is by
life it lives or does not live, and prefer what is living to what is dead; who understand
that the living bodily form itself, however it may outshine all others in splendor,
overtop them in size, and excel them in beauty, is quite a distinct thing from the life by
which it is quickened; and who look upon the life as incomparably superior in dignity and
worth to the mass which is quickened and animated by it. Then, when they go on to look
into the nature of the life itself, if they find it mere nutritive life, without
sensibility, such as that of plants, they consider it inferior to sentient life, such as
that of cattle; and above this, again, they place intelligent life, such as that of men.
And, perceiving that even this is subject to change, they are compelled to place above it,
again, that unchangeable life which is not at one time foolish, at another time wise, but
on the contrary is wisdom itself. For a wise intelligence, that is, one that has attained
to wisdom, was, previous to its attaining wisdom, unwise. But wisdom itself never was
unwise, and never can become so.

2 And if men never caught sight of this wisdom, they could never with entire confidence
prefer a life which is unchangeably wise to one that is subject to change. This will be
evident, if we consider that the very rule of truth by which they affirm the unchangeable
life to be the more excellent, is itself unchangeable: and they cannot find such a rule,
except by going beyond their own nature; for they find nothing in themselves that is not
subject to change.

CHAPTER 9.-ALL ACKNOWLEDGE THE SUPERIORITY OF UNCHANGEABLE WISDOM TO THAT WHICH IS VARIABLE.

9. Now, no one is so egregiously silly as to ask, "How do you know that a life of
unchangeable wisdom is preferable to one of change?" For that very truth about which he
asks, how I know it? is unchangeably fixed in the minds of all men, and presented to their
common contemplation. And the man who does not see it is like a blind man in the sun, whom
it profits nothing that the splendor of its light, so clear and so near, is poured into
his very eye-balls. The man, on the other hand, who sees, but shrinks from this truth, is
weak in his mental vision from dwelling long among the shadows of the flesh. And thus men
are driven back from their native land by the contrary blasts of evil habits, and pursue
lower and less valuable objects in preference to that which they own to be more excellent
and more worthy.

CHAPTER 10.-TO SEE GOD, THE SOUL MUST BE PURIFIED.

10. Wherefore, since it is our duty fully to enjoy the truth which lives unchangeably, and
since the triune God takes counsel in this truth for the things which He has made, the
soul must be purified that it may have power to perceive that light, and to rest in it
when it is perceived. And let us look upon this purification as a kind of journey or
voyage to our native land. For it is not by change of place that we can come nearer to Him
who is in every place, but by the cultivation of pure desires and virtuous habits.

CHAPTER 11.-WISDOM BECOMING INCARNATE, A PATTERN TO US OF PURIFICATION.

11. But of this we should have been wholly incapable, had not Wisdom condescended to adapt
Himself to our weakness, and to show us a pattern of holy life in the form of our own
humanity. Yet, since we when we come to Him do wisely, He when He came to us was
considered by proud men to have done very foolishly. And since we when we come to Him
become strong, He when He came to us was looked upon as weak. But "the foolishness of God
is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." And thus, though Wisdom
was Himself our home, He made Himself also the way by which we should reach our home.

CHAPTER 12.-INWHAT SENSE THE WISDOM OF GOD CAME TO US.

And though He is everywhere present to the inner eye when it is sound and clear, He
condescended to make Himself manifest to the outward eye of those whose inward sight is
weak and dim. "For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 12. Not then in
the sense of traversing space, but because He appeared to mortal men in the form of mortal
flesh, He is said to have come to us. For He came to a place where He had always been,
seeing that "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him." But, because men, who in
their eagerness to enjoy the creature instead of the Creator had grown into the likeness
of this world, and are therefore most appropriately named "the world," did not recognize
Him, therefore the evangelist says, "and the world knew Him not." Thus, in the wisdom of
God, the world by wisdom knew not God. Why then did He come, seeing that He was already
here, except that it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe?

CHAPTER 13.-THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH.

In what way did He come but this, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us"? Just as
when we speak, in order that what we nave in our minds may enter through the ear into the
mind of the hearer, the word which we have in our hearts becomes an outward sound and is
called speech; and yet our thought does not lose itself in the sound, but remains complete
in itself, and takes the form of speech without being modified in its own nature by the
change: so the Divine Word, though suffering no change of nature, yet became flesh, that
He might dwell among us.

CHAPTER 14.-HOW THE WISDOM OF GOD HEALED MAN.

1 13. Moreover, as the use of remedies is the way to health, so this remedy took up
sinners to heal and restore them. And just as surgeons, when they bind up wounds, do it
not in a slovenly way, but carefully, that there may be a certain degree of neatness in
the binding, in addition to its mere usefulness, so our medicine, Wisdom, was by His
assumption of humanity adapted to our wounds, curing some of them by their opposites, some
of them by their likes. And just as he who ministers to a bodily hurt in some cases
applies contraries, as cold to hot, moist to dry, etc., and in other cases applies likes,
as a round cloth to a round wound, or an oblong cloth to an oblong wound, and does not fit
the same bandage to all limbs, but puts like to like; in the same way the Wisdom of God in
healing man has applied Himself to his cure, being Himself healer and medicine both in
one. Seeing, then, that man fell through pride, He restored him through humility. We were
ensnared by the wisdom of the serpent: we are set free by the foolishness of God.
Moreover, just as the former was called wisdom, but was in reality the folly of those who
despised God, so the latter is called foolishness, but is true wisdom in those who
overcome the devil. We used our immortality so badly as to incur the penalty of death:

2 Christ used His mortality so well as to restore us to life. The disease was brought in
through a woman's corrupted soul: the remedy came through a woman's virgin body. To the
same class of opposite remedies it belongs, that our vices are cured by the example of His
virtues. On the other hand, the following are, as it were, bandages made in the same shape
as the limbs and wounds to which they are applied: He was born of a woman to deliver us
who fell through a woman: He came as a man to save us who are men, as a mortal to save us
who are mortals, by death to save us who were dead. And those who can follow out the
matter more fully, who are not hurried on by the necessity of carrying out a set
undertaking, will find many other points of instruction in considering the remedies,
whether opposites or likes, employed in the medicine of Christianity.

CHAPTER 15.-FAITH IS BUTTRESSED BY THE RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION OF CHRIST, AND IS STIMULATED BY HIS COMING TO JUDGMENT.

14. The belief of the resurrection of our Lord from the dead, and of His ascension into
heaven, has strengthened our faith by adding a great buttress of hope. For it clearly
shows how freely He laid down His life for us when He had it in His power thus to take it
up again. With what assurance, then, is the hope of believers animated, when they reflect
how great He was who suffered so great things for them while they were still in unbelief!
And when men look for Him to come from heaven as the judge of quick and dead, it strikes
great terror into the careless, so that they betake themselves to diligent preparation,
and learn by holy living to long for His approach, instead of quaking at it on account of
their evil deeds. And what tongue can tell, or what imagination can conceive, the reward
He will bestow at the last, when we consider that for our comfort in this earthly journey
He has given us so freely of His Spirit, that in the adversities of this life we may
retain our confidence in, and love for, Him whom as yet we see not; and that He has also
given to each gifts suitable for the building up of His Church, that we may do what He
points out as right to be done, not only without a murmur, but even with delight?

CHAPTER 16.-CHRIST PURGES HIS CHURCH BY MEDICINAL AFFLICTIONS.

15. For the Church is His body, as the apostle's teaching shows us; and it is even called
His spouse. His body, then, which has many members, and all performing different
functions, He holds together in the bond of unity and love, which is its true health.
Moreover He exercises it in the present time, and purges it with many wholesome
afflictions, that when He has transplanted it from this world to the eternal world, He may
take it to Himself as His bride, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.

CHAPTER 17.-CHRIST, BY FORGIVING OUR SINS, OPENED THE WAY TO OUR HOME.

16. Further, when we are on the way, and that not a way that lies through space, but
through a change of affections, and one which the guilt of our past sins like a hedge of
thorns barred against us, what could He, who was willing to lay Himself down as the way by
which we should return, do that would be still gracious and more merciful, except to
forgive us all our sins, and by being crucified for us to remove the stern decrees that
barred the door against our return?

CHAPTER 18.-THE KEYS GIVEN TO THE CHURCH.

17. He has given, therefore, the keys to His Church, that whatsoever it should bind on
earth might be bound in heaven, and whatsoever it should loose on earth might be, loosed
in heaven; that is to say, that whosoever in the Church should not believe that his sins
are remitted, they should not be remitted to him; but that whosoever should believe and
should repent, and turn from his sins, should be saved by the same faith and repentance on
the ground of which he is received into the bosom of the Church. For he who does not
believe that his sins can be pardoned, falls into despair, and becomes worse as if no
greater good remained for him than to be evil, when he has ceased to have faith in the
results of his own repentance.

CHAPTER 19.-BODILY AND SPIRITUAL DEATH AND RESURRECTION.

18. Furthermore, as there is a kind of death of the soul, which consists in the putting
away of former habits and former ways of life, and which comes through repentance, so also
the death of the body consists in the dissolution of the former principle of life. And
just as the soul, after it has put away and destroyed by repentance its former habits, is
created anew after a better pattern, so we must hope and believe that the body, after that
death which we all owe as a debt contracted through sin, shall at the resurrection be
changed into a better form;-not that flesh and blood shall inherit the kingdom of God (for
that is impossible), but that this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall put on immortality. And thus the body, being the source of no uneasiness because it
can feel no want, shall be animated by a spirit perfectly pure and happy, and shall enjoy
unbroken peace.

CHAPTER 20.-THE RESURRECTION TO DAMNATION.

19. Now he whose soul does not die to this world and begin here to be conformed to the
truth, falls when the body dies into a more terrible death, and shall revive, not to
change his earthly for a heavenly habitation, but to endure the penalty of his sin.

CHAPTER 21.-NEITHER BODY NOR SOUL EXTINGUISHED AT DEATH.

And so faith clings to the assurance, and we must believe that it is so in fact, that
neither the human soul nor the human body suffers complete extinction, but that the wicked
rise again to endure inconceivable punishment, and the good to receive eternal life.

CHAPTER 22.-GOD ALONE TO BE ENJOYED.

20. Among all these things, then, those only are the true objects of enjoyment which we
have spoken of as eternal and unchangeable. The rest are for use, that we may be able to
arrive at the full enjoyment of the former. We, however, who enjoy and use other things
are things ourselves. For a great thing truly is man, made after the image and similitude
of God, not as respects the mortal body in which he is clothed, but as respects the
rational soul by which he is exalted in honor above the beasts. And so it becomes an
important question, whether men ought to enjoy, or to use, themselves, or to do both. For
we are commanded to love one another: but it is a question whether man is to be loved by
man for his own sake, or for the sake of something else. If it is for his own sake, we
enjoy him; if it is for the sake of something else, we use him. It seems to me, then, that
he is to be loved for the sake of something else. For if a thing is to be loved for its
own sake, then in the enjoyment of it consists a happy life, the hope of which at least,
if not yet the reality, is our comfort in the present time. But a curse is pronounced on
him who places his hope in man.

21. Neither ought any one to have joy in himself, if you look at the matter clearly,
because no one ought to love even himself for his own sake, but for the sake of Him who is
the true object of enjoyment. For a man is never in so good a state as when his whole life
is a journey towards the unchangeable life, and his affections are entirely fixed upon
that. If, however, he loves himself for his own sake, he does not look at himself in
relation to God, but turns his mind in upon himself, and so is not occupied with anything
that is unchangeable. And thus he does not enjoy himself at his best, because he is better
when his mind is fully fixed upon, and his affections wrapped up in, the unchangeable
good, than when he turns from that to enjoy even himself. Wherefore if you ought not to
love even yourself for your own sake, but for His in whom your love finds its most worthy
object, no other man has a right to be angry if you love him too for God's sake. For this
is the law of love that has been laid down by Divine authority: "Thou shall love thy
neighbor as thyself; but, "Thou shall love God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind: so that you are to concentrate all your thoughts, your whole life
and your whole intelligence upon Him from whom you derive all that you bring.

For when He says, "With all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," He
means that no part of our life is to be unoccupied, and to afford room, as it were, for
the wish to enjoy some other object, but that whatever else may suggest itself to us as an
object worthy of love is to be borne into the same channel in which the whole current of
our affections flows. Whoever, then, loves his neighbor aright, ought to urge upon him
that he too should love God with his whole heart, and soul, and mind. For in this way,
loving his neighbor as himself, a man turns the whole current of his love both for himself
and his neighbor into the channel of the love of God, which suffers no stream to be drawn
off from itself by whose diversion its own volume would be diminished.

CHAPTER 23.-MAN NEEDS NO INJUNCTION TO LOVE HIMSELF AND HIS OWN BODY.

22. Those things which are objects of use are not all, however, to be loved, but those
only which are either united with us in a common relation to God, such as a man or an
angel, or are so related to us as to need the goodness of God through our instrumentality,
such as the body. For assuredly the martyrs did not love the wickedness of their
persecutors, although they used it to attain the favor of God. As, then, there are four
kinds of things that are to be loved,-first, that which is above us; second, ourselves;
third, that which is on a level with us; fourth, that which is beneath us,-no precepts
need be given about the second and fourth of these. For, however far a man may fall away
from the truth, he still continues to love himself, and to love his own body. The soul
which flies away from the unchangeable Light, the Ruler of all things, does so that it may
rule over itself and over its own body; and so it cannot but love both itself and its own
body.

23. Morever, it thinks it has attained something very great if it is able to lord it over
its companions, that is, other men. For it is inherent in the sinful soul to desire above
all things, and to claim as due to itself, that which is properly due to God only. Now
such love of itself is more correctly called hate. For it is not just that it should
desire what is beneath it to be obedient to it while itself will not obey its own
superior; and most justly has it been said, "He who loveth iniquity hateth his own soul."
And accordingly the soul becomes weak, and endures much suffering about the mortal body.
For, of course, it must love the body, and be grieved at its corruption; and the
immortality and incorruptibility of the body spring out of the health of the soul. Now the
health of the soul is to cling steadfastly to the better part, that is, to the
unchangeable God. But when it aspires to lord it even over those who are by nature its
equals,-that is, its fellow-men,-this is a reach of arrogance utterly intolerable.

CHAPTER 24.-NO MAN HATES HIS OWN FLESH, NOT EVEN THOSE WHO ABUSE IT.

24. No man, then, hates himself. On this point, indeed, no question was ever raised by any
sect. But neither does any man hate his own body. For the apostle says truly, "No man ever
yet hated his own flesh." And when some people say that they would rather be without a
body altogether, they entirely deceive themselves. For it is not their body, but its
corruptions and its heaviness, that they hate. And so it is not no body, but an
uncorrupted and very light body, that they want. But they think a body of that kind would
be no body at all, because they think such a thing as that must be a spirit. And as to the
fact that they seem in some sort to scourge their bodies by abstinence and toil, those who
do this in the right spirit do it not that they may get rid of their body, but that they
may have it in subjection and ready for every needful work. For they strive by a kind of
toilsome exercise of the body itself to root out those lusts that are hurtful to the body,
that is, those habits and affections of the soul that lead to the enjoyment of unworthy
objects. They are not destroying themselves; they are taking care of their health.

25. Those, on the other hand, who do this in a perverse spirit, make war upon their own
body as if it were a natural enemy. And in this matter they are led astray by a mistaken
interpretation of what they read: "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other. For this is said of the
carnal habit yet unsubdued, against which the spirit lusteth, not to destroy the body, but
to eradicate the lust of the body-i.e., its evil habit-and thus to make it subject to the
spirit, which is what the order of nature demands. For as, after the resurrection, the
body, having become wholly subject to the spirit, will live in perfect peace to all
eternity; even in this life we must make it an object to have the carnal habit changed for
the better, so that its inordinate affections may not war against the soul. And until this
shall take place, "the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh;
the spirit struggling, not in hatred, but for the mastery, because it desires that what it
loves should be subject to the higher principle; and the flesh struggling, not in hatred,
but because of the bondage of habit which it has derived from its parent stock, and which
has grown in upon it by a law of nature till it has become inveterate.

The spirit, then, in subduing the flesh, is working as it were to destroy the ill-founded
peace of an evil habit, and to bring about the real peace which springs out of a good
habit. Nevertheless, not even those who, led astray by false notions, hate their bodies
would be prepared to sacrifice one eye, even supposing they could do so without suffering
any pain, and that they had as much sight left in one as they formerly had in two, unless
some object was to be attained which would overbalance the loss. This and other
indications of the same kind are sufficient to show those who candidly seek the truth how
well-founded is the statement of the apostle when he says, "No man ever yet hated his own
flesh. He adds too, "but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church."

CHAPTER 25.-A MAN MAY LOVE SOMETHING MORE THAN HIS BODY, BUT DOES NOT THEREFORE HATE HIS BODY.

26. Man, therefore, ought to be taught the due measure of loving, that is, in what measure
he may love himself so as to be of service to himself. For that he does love himself, and
does desire to do good to himself, nobody but a fool would doubt. He is to be taught, too,
in what measure to love his body, so as to care for it wisely and within due limits. For
it is equally manifest that he loves his body also, and desires to keep it safe and sound.
And yet a man may have something that he loves better than the safety and soundness of his
body. For many have been found voluntarily to suffer both pains and amputations of some of
their limbs that they might obtain other objects which they valued more highly. But no one
is to be told not to desire the safety and health of his body because there is something
he desires more. For the miser, though he loves money, buys bread for himself,-that is, he
gives away money that he is very fond of and desires to heap up,-but it is because he
values more highly the bodily health which the bread sustains. It is superfluous to argue
longer on a point so very plain, but this is just what the error of wicked men often
compels us to do.

CHAPTER 26.-THE COMMAND TO LOVE GOD AND OUR NEIGHBOR INCLUDES A COMMAND TO LOVE OURSELVES.

27. Seeing, then, that there is no need of a command that every man should love himself
and his own body,-seeing, that is, that we love ourselves, and what is beneath us but
connected with us, through a law of nature which has never been violated, and which is
common to us with the beasts (for even the beasts love themselves and their own
bodies),-it only remained necessary to lay injunctions upon us in regard to God above us,
and our neighbor beside us. "Thou shalt love," He says, "the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; and thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Thus the end of the
commandment is love, and that twofold, the love of God and the love of our neighbor. Now,
if you take yourself in your entirety,-that is, soul and body together,-and your neighbor
in his entirety, soul and body together (for man is made up of soul and body), you will
find that none of the classes of things that are to be loved is overlooked in these two
commandments. For though, when the love of God comes first, and the measure of our love
for Him is prescribed in such terms that it is evident all other things are to find their
centre in Him, nothing seems to be said about our love for ourselves; yet when it is said,
"Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself," it at once becomes evident that our love for
ourselves has not been overlooked.

CHAPTER 27.-THE ORDER OF LOVE.

28. Now he is a man of just and holy life who forms an unprejudiced estimate of things,
and keeps his affections also under strict control, so that he neither loves what he ought
not to love, nor fails to love what he ought to love, nor loves that more which ought to
be loved less, nor loves that equally which ought to be loved either less or more, nor
loves that less or more which ought to be loved equally. No sinner is to be loved as a
sinner; and every man is to be loved as a man for God's sake; but God is to be loved for
His own sake. And if God is to be loved more than any man, each man ought to love God more
than himself. Likewise we ought to love another man better than our own body, because all
things are to be loved in reference to God, and another man can have fellowship with us in
the enjoyment of God, whereas our body cannot; for the body only lives through the soul,
and it is by the soul that we enjoy God.

CHAPTER 28.-HOW WE ARE TO DECIDE WHOM TO AID.

29. Further, all men are to be loved equally. But since you cannot do good to all, you are
to pay special regard to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance,
are brought into closer connection with you. For, suppose that you had a great deal of
some commodity, and felt bound to give it away to somebody who had none, and that it could
not be given to more than one person; if two persons presented themselves, neither of whom
had either from need or relationship a greater claim upon you than the other, you could do
nothing fairer than choose by lot to which you would give what could not be given to both.
Just so among men: since you cannot consult for the good of them all, you must take the
matter as decided for you by a sort of lot, according as each man happens for the time
being to be more closely connected with you.

CHAPTER 29.-WE ARE TO DESIRE AND ENDEAVOR THAT ALL MEN MAY LOVE GOD.

1 30. Now of all who can with us enjoy God, we love partly those to whom we render
services, partly those who render services to us, partly those who both help us in our
need and in turn are helped by us, partly those upon whom we confer no advantage and from
whom we look for none. We ought to desire, however, that they should all join with us in
loving God, and all the assistance that we either, give them or accept from them should
tend to that one end. For in the theatres, dens of iniquity though they be, if a man is
fond of a particular actor, and enjoys his art as a great or even as the very greatest
good, he is fond of all who join with him in admiration of his favorite, not for their own
sakes, but for the sake of him whom they admire in common; and the more fervent he is in
his admiration, the more he works in every way he can to secure new admirers for him, and
the more anxious he becomes to show him to others; and if he find any one comparatively
indifferent, he does all he can to excite his interest by urging his favorite's merits:
if, however, he meet with any one who opposes him, he is exceedingly displeased by such a
man's contempt of his favorite, and strives in every way he can to remove it.

2 Now, if this be so, what does it become us to do who live in the fellowship of the love
of God, the enjoyment of whom is true happiness of life, to whom all who love Him owe both
their own existence and the love they bear Him, concerning whom we have no fear that any
one who comes to know Him will be disappointed in Him, and who desires our love, not for
any gain to Himself, but that those who love Him may obtain an eternal reward, even
Himself whom they love? And hence it is that we love even our enemies. For we do not fear
them, seeing they cannot take away from us what we love; but we pity them rather, because
the more they hate us the more are they separated from Him whom we love. For if they would
turn to Him, they must of necessity love Him as the supreme good, and love us too as
partakers with them in so great a blessing.

CHAPTER 30.-WHETHER ANGELS ARE TO BE RECKONED OUR NEIGHBORS.

31. There arises further in this connection a question about angels. For they are happy in
the enjoyment of Him whom we long to enjoy; and the more we enjoy Him in this life as
through a glass darkly, the more easy do we find it to bear our pilgrimage, and the more
eagerly do we long for its termination. But it is not irrational to ask whether in those
two commandments is included the love of angels also. For that He who commanded us to love
our neighbor made no exception, as far as men are concerned, is shown both by our Lord
Himself in the Gospel, and by the Apostle Paul. For when the man to whom our Lord
delivered those two commandments, and to whom He said that on these hang all the law and
the prophets, asked Him, "And who is my neighbor? He told him of a certain man who, going
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves, and was severely wounded by them, and
left naked and half dead. And He showed him that nobody was neighbor to this man except
him who took pity upon him and came forward to relieve and care for him. And the man who
had asked the question admitted the truth of this when he was himself interrogated in
turn. To whom our Lord says, "Go and do thou likewise;

teaching us that he is our neighbor whom it is our duty to help in his need, or whom it
would be our duty to help if he were in need. Whence it follows, that he whose duty it
would be in turn to help us is our neighbor. For the name "neighbor" is a relative one,
and no one can be neighbor except to a neighbor. And, again, who does not see that no
exception is made of any one as a person to whom the offices of mercy may be denied when
our Lord extends the rule even to our enemies? "Love your enemies, do good to them that
hate you." 32. And so also the Apostle Paul teaches when he says: "For this, Thou shall
not commit adultery, Thou shall not kill, Thou shall not steal, Thou shalt not bear false
witness, Thou shall not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly
comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh
no ill to his neighbor." Whoever then supposes that the apostle did not embrace every man
in this precept, is compelled to admit, what is at once most absurd and most pernicious,
that the apostle thought it no sin, if a man were not a Christian or were an enemy, to
commit adultery with his wife, or to kill him, or to covet his goods. And as nobody but a
fool would say this, it is clear that every man is to be considered our neighbor, because
we are to work no ill to any man.

33. But now, if every one to whom we ought to show, or who ought to show to us, the
offices of mercy is by right called a neighbor, it is manifest that the command to love
our neighbor embraces the holy angels also, seeing that so great offices of mercy have
been performed by them on our behalf, as may easily be shown by turning the attention to
many passages of Holy Scripture. And on this ground even God Himself, our Lord, desired to
be called our neighbor. For our Lord Jesus Christ points to Himself under the figure of
the man who brought aid to him who was lying half dead on the road, wounded and abandoned
by the robbers. And the Psalmist says in his prayer, "I behaved myself as though he had
been my friend or brother." But as the Divine nature is of higher excellence than, and far
removed above, our nature, the command to love God is distinct from that to love our
neighbor. For He shows us pity on account of His own goodness, but we show pity to one
another on account of His;-that is, He pities us that we may fully enjoy Himself; we pity
one another that we may fully enjoy Him.

CHAPTER 31.-GOD USES RATHER THAN ENJOYS US.

34. And on this ground, when we say that we enjoy only that which we love for its own
sake, and that nothing is a true object of enjoyment except that which makes us happy, and
that all other things are for use, there seems still to be something that requires
explanation. For God loves us, and Holy Scripture frequently sets before us the love He
has towards us. In what way then does He love us? As objects of use or as objects of
enjoyment? If He enjoys us, He must be in need of good from us, and no sane man will say
that; for all the good we enjoy is either Himself, or what comes from Himself. And no one
can be ignorant or in doubt as to the fact that the light stands in no need of the glitter
of the things it has itself lit up. The Psalmist says most plainly, "I said to the Lord,
Thou art my God, for Thou needest not my goodness." He does not enjoy us then, but makes
use of us. For if He neither enjoys nor uses us, I am at a loss to discover in what way He
can love us.

CHAPTER 32.-IN WHAT WAY GOD USES MAN.

35. But neither does He use after our fashion of using. For when we use objects, we do so
with a view to the full enjoyment of the goodness of God. God, however, in His use of us,
has reference to His own goodness. For it is because He is good we exist; and so far as we
truly exist we are good. And, further, because He is also just, we cannot with impunity be
evil; and so far as we are evil, so far is our existence less complete. Now He is the
first and supreme existence, who is altogether unchangeable, and who could say in the
fullest sense of the words, "I AM That I AM," and "Thou shalt say to them, I AM hath sent
me unto you;" so that all other things that exist, both owe their existence entirely to
Him, and are good only so far as He has given it to them to be so. That use, then, which
God is said to make of us has no reference to His own advantage, but to ours only; and, so
far as He is concerned, has reference only to His goodness. When we take pity upon a man
and care for him, it is for his advantage we do so; but somehow or other our own advantage
follows by a sort of natural consequence, for God does not leave the mercy we show to him
who needs it to go without reward. Now this is our highest reward, that we should fully
enjoy Him, and that all who enjoy Him should enjoy one another in Him.

CHAPTER 33.-IN WHAT WAY MAN SHOULD BE ENJOYED.

36. For if we find our happiness complete in one another, we stop short upon the road, and
place our hope of happiness in man or angel. Now the proud man and the proud angel
arrogate this to themselves, and are glad to have the hope of others fixed upon them. But,
on the contrary, the holy man and the holy angel, even when we are weary and anxious to
stay with them and rest in them, set themselves to recruit our energies with the provision
which they have received of God for us or for themselves; and then urge us thus refreshed
to go on our way towards Him, in the enjoyment of whom we find our common happiness. For
even the apostle exclaims, "Was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of
Paul?" and again: "Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God
that giveth the increase." And the angel admonisheth the man who is about to worship him,
that he should rather worship Him who is his Master, and under whom he himself is a
fellow-servant.

37. But when you have joy of a man in God, it is God rather than man that you enjoy. For
you enjoy Him by whom you are made happy, and you rejoice to have come to Him in whose
presence you place your hope of joy. And accordingly, Paul says to Philemon, "Yea,
brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord." For if he had not added "in the Lord," but
had only said, "Let me have joy of thee," he would have implied that he fixed his hope of
happiness upon him, although even in the immediate context to "enjoy" is used in the sense
of to "use with delight." For when the thing that we love is near us, it is a matter of
course that it should bring delight with it. And if you pass beyond this delight, and make
it a means to that which you are permanently to rest in, you are using it, and it is an
abuse of language to say that you enjoy it. But if you cling to it, and rest in it,
finding your happiness complete in it, then you may be truly and properly said to enjoy
it. And this we must never do except in the case of the Blessed Trinity, who is the
Supreme and Unchangeable Good.

CHAPTER 34.-CHRIST THE FIRST WAY TO GOD.

1 38. And mark that even when He who is Himself the Truth and the Word, by whom all things
were made, had been made flesh that He might dwell among us, the apostle yet says: "Yea,
though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. For
Christ, desiring not only to give the possession to those who had completed the journey,
but also to be Himself the way to those who were just setting out, determined to take a
fleshly body. Whence also that expression, "The Lord created me in the beginning of His
way," that is, that those who wished to come might begin their journey in Him. The
apostle, therefore, although still on the way, and following after God who called him to
the reward of His heavenly calling, yet forgetting those things which were behind, and
pressing on towards those things which were before, had already passed over the beginning
of the way, and had now no further need of it; yet by this way all must commence their
journey who desire to attain to the truth, and to rest in eternal life. For He says: "I am
the way, and the truth, and the life; that is, by me men come, to me they come, in me they
rest. For when we come to Him, we come to the Father also, because through an equal an
equal is known;

2 and the Holy Spirit binds, and as it were seals as, so that we are able to rest
permanently in the supreme and unchangeable Good. And hence we may learn how essential it
is that nothing should detain us on the way, when not even our Lord Himself, so far as He
has condescended to be our way, is willing to detain us, but wishes us rather to press on;
and, instead of weakly clinging to temporal things, even though these have been put on and
worn by Him for our salvation, to pass over them quickly, and to struggle to attain unto
Himself, who has freed our nature from the bondage of temporal things, and has set it down
at the right hand of His Father.

CHAPTER 35.-THE FULFILLMENT AND END OF SCRIPTURE IS THE LOVE OF GOD AND OUR NEIGHBOR.

39. Of all, then, that has been said since we entered upon the discussion about things,
this is the sam: that we should clearly understand that the fulfillment and the end of the
Law, and of all Holy Scripture, is the love of an object which is to be enjoyed, and the
love of an object which can enjoy that other in fellowship with ourselves. For there is no
need of a command that each man should love himself. The whole temporal dispensation for
our salvation, therefore, was framed by the providence of God that we might know this
truth and be able to act upon it; and we ought to use that dispensation, not with such
love and delight as if it were a good to rest in, but with a transient feeling rather,
such as we have towards the road, or carriages, or other things that are merely means.
Perhaps some other comparison can be found that will more suitably express the idea that
we are to love the things by which we are borne only for the sake of that towards which we
are borne.

CHAPTER 36.-THAT INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE WHICH BUILDS US UP IN LOVE IS NOT PERNICIOUSLY DECEPTIVE NOR MENDACIOUS, EVEN THOUGH IT BE FAULTY. THE INTERPRETER, HOWEVER, SHOULD BE CORRECTED.

40. Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them,
but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this twofold love
of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought. If, on the other hand,
a man draws a meaning from them that may be used for the building up of love, even though
he does not happen upon the precise meaning which the author whom he reads intended to
express in that place, his error is not pernicious, and he is wholly clear from the charge
of deception. For there is involved in deception the intention to say what is false; and
we find plenty of people who intend to deceive, but nobody who wishes to be deceived.
Since, then, the man who knows practises deceit, and the ignorant man is practised upon,
it is quite clear that in any particular case the man who is deceived is a better man than
he who deceives, seeing that it is better to suffer than to commit injustice. Now every
man who lies commits an injustice; and if any man thinks that a lie is ever useful, he
must think that injustice is sometimes useful. For no liar keeps faith in the matter about
which he lies. He wishes, of course, that the man to whom he lies should place confidence
in him; and yet he betrays his confidence by lying to him. Now every man who breaks faith
is unjust. Either, then, injustice is sometimes useful (which is impossible), or a lie is
never useful.

41. Whoever takes another meaning out of Scripture than the writer intended, goes astray,
but not through any falsehood in Scripture. Nevertheless, as I was going to say, if his
mistaken interpretation tends to build up love, which is the end of the commandment, he
goes astray in much the same way as a man who by mistake quits the high road, but yet
reaches through the fields the same place to which the road leads. He is to be corrected,
however, and to be shown how much better it is not to quit the straight road, lest, if he
get into a habit of going astray, he may sometimes take cross roads, or even go in the
wrong direction altogether.

CHAPTER 37.-DANGERS OF MISTAKEN INTERPRETATION.

For if he takes up rashly a meaning which the author whom he is reading did not intend, he
often falls in with other statements which he cannot harmonize with this meaning. And if
he admits that these statements are true and certain, then it follows that the meaning he
had put upon the former passage cannot be the true one: and so it comes to pass, one can
hardly tell how, that, out of love for his own opinion, he begins to feel more angry with
Scripture than he is with himself. And if he should once permit that evil to creep in, it
will utterly destroy him. "For we walk by faith, not by sight." Now faith will totter if
the authority of Scripture begin to shake. And then, if faith totter, love itself will
grow cold. For if a man has fallen from faith, he must necessarily also fall from love;
for he cannot love what he does not believe to exist. But if he both believes and loves,
then through good works, and through diligent attention to the precepts of morality, he
comes to hope also that he shall attain the object of his love. And so these are the three
things to which all knowledge and all prophecy are subservient: faith, hope, love.

CHAPTER 38.-LOVE NEVER FAILETH.

42. But sight shall displace faith; and hope shall be swallowed up in that perfect bliss
to which we shall come: love, on the other hand, shall wax greater when these others fail.
For if we love by faith that which as yet we see not, how much more shall we love it when
we begin to see! And if we love by hope that which as yet we have not reached, how much
more shall we love it when we reach it! For there is this great difference between things
temporal and things eternal, that a temporal object is valued more before we possess it,
and begins to prove worthless the moment we attain it, because it does not satisfy the
soul, which has its only true and sure resting-place in eternity: an eternal object, on
the other hand, is loved with greater ardor when it is in possession than while it is
still an object of desire, for no one in his longing for it can set a higher value on it
than really belongs to it, so as to think it comparatively worthless when he finds it of
less value than he thought; on the contrary, however high the value any man may set upon
it when he is on his way to possess it, he will find it, when it comes into his
possession, of higher value still.

CHAPTER 39.-HE WHO IS MATURE IN FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE, NEEDS SCRIPTURE NO LONGER.

43. And thus a man who is resting upon faith, hope and love, and who keeps a firm hold
upon these, does not need the Scriptures except for the purpose of instructing others.
Accordingly, many live without copies of the Scriptures, even in solitude, on the strength
of these three graces. So that in their case, I think, the saying is already fulfilled:
"Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease;
whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away." Yet by means of these instruments (as
they may be called), so great an edifice of faith and love has been built up in them,
that, holding to what is perfect, they do not seek for what is only in part perfect-of
course, I mean, so far as is possible in this life; for, in comparison with the future
life, the life of no just and holy man is perfect here. Therefore the apostle says: "Now
abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity:" because,
when a man shall have reached the eternal world, while the other two graces will fail,
love will remain greater and more assured.

CHAPTER 40.-WHAT MANNER OF READER SCRIPTURE DEMANDS.

1 44. And, therefore, if a man fully understands that "the end of the commandment is
charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned," and is
bent upon making all his understanding of Scripture to bear upon these three graces, he
may come to the interpretation of these books with an easy mind. For while the apostle
says "love," he adds "out of a pure heart," to provide against anything being loved but
that which is worthy of love. And he joins with this "a good conscience," in reference to
hope; for, if a man has the burthen of a bad conscience, he despairs of ever reaching that
which he believes in and loves. And in the third place he says: "and of faith unfeigned."
For if our faith is free from all hypocrisy, then we both abstain from loving what is
unworthy of our love, and by living uprightly we are able to indulge the hope that our
hope shall not be in vain.

2 For these reasons I have been anxious to speak about the objects of faith, as far as I
thought it necessary for my present purpose; for much has already been said on this
subject in other volumes, either by others or by myself. And so let this be the end of the
present book. In the next I shall discuss, as far as God shall give me light, the subject
of signs.

INTRODUCTION

Argument-Having completed his exposition of things, the author now proceeds to discuss the
subject of signs. He first defines what a sign is, and shows that there are two classes of
signs, the natural and the conventional. Of conventional signs (which are the only class
here noticed), words are the most numerous and important, and are those with which the
interpreter of Scripture is chiefly concerned. The difficulties and obscurities of
Scripture spring chiefly from two sources, unknown and ambiguous signs. The present book
deals only with unknown signs, the ambiguities of language being reserved for treatment in
the next book. The difficulty arising from ignorance of signs is to be removed by learning
the Greek and Hebrew languages, in which Scripture is written, by comparing the various
translations, and by attending to the context. In the interpretation of figurative
expressions, knowledge of things is as necessary as knowledge of words; and the various
sciences and arts of the heathen, so far as they are true and useful, may be turned to
account in removing our ignorance of signs, whether these be direct or figurative. Whilst
exposing the folly and futility of many heathen superstitions and practices, the author
points out how all that is sound and useful in their science and philosophy may be turned
to a Christian use. And in conclusion, he shows the spirit in which it behoves us to
address ourselves to the study and interpretation of the sacred books.

CHAPTER 1.-SIGNS, THEIR NATURE AND VARIETY.

1. As when I was writing about things, I introduced the subject with a warning against
attending to anything but what they are in themselves, even though they are signs of
something else, so now, when I come in its turn to discuss the subject of signs, I lay
down this direction, not to attend to what they are in themselves, but to the fact that
they are signs, that is, to what they signify. For a sign is a thing which, over and above
the impression it makes on the senses, causes something else to come into the mind as a
consequence of itself: as when we see a footprint, we conclude that an animal whose
footprint this is has passed by; and when we see smoke, we know that there is fire
beneath; and when we hear the voice of a living man, we think of the feeling in his mind;
and when the trumpet sounds, soldiers know that they are to advance or retreat, or do
whatever else the state of the battle requires.

2. Now some signs are natural, others conventional. Natural signs are those which, apart
from any intention or desire of using them as signs, do yet lead to the knowledge of
something else, as, for example, smoke when it indicates fire. For it is not from any
intention of making it a sign that it is so, but through attention to experience we come
to know that fire is beneath, even when nothing but smoke can be seen. And the footprint
of an animal passing by belongs to this class of signs. And the countenance of an angry or
sorrowful man indicates the feeling in his mind, independently of his will: and in the
same way every other emotion of the mind is betrayed by the tell-tale countenance, even
though we do nothing with the intention of making it known. This class of signs, however,
it is no part of my design to discuss at present. But as it comes under this division of
the subject, I could not altogether pass it over. It will be enough to have noticed it
thus far.

CHAPTER 2.-OF THE KIND OF SIGNS WE ARE NOW CONCERNED WITH.

3. Conventional signs, on the other hand, are those which living beings mutually exchange
for the purpose of showing, as well as they can, the feelings of their minds, or their
perceptions, or their thoughts. Nor is there any reason for giving a sign except the
desire of drawing forth and conveying into another's mind what the giver of the sign has
in his own mind. We wish, then, to consider and discuss this class of signs so far as men
are concerned with it, because even the signs which have been given us of God, and which
are contained in the Holy Scriptures, were made known to us through men-those, namely, who
wrote the Scriptures. The beasts, too, have certain signs among themselves by which they
make known the desires in their mind. For when the poultry-cock has discovered food, he
signals with his voice for the hen to run to him, and the dove by cooing calls his mate,
or is called by her in turn; and many signs of the same kind are matters of common
observation. Now whether these signs, like the expression or the cry of a man in grief,
follow the movement of the mind instinctively and apart from any purpose, or whether they
are really used with the purpose of signification, is another question, and does not
pertain to the matter in hand. And this part of the subject I exclude from the scope of
this work as not necessary to my present object.

CHAPTER 3.-AMONG SIGNS, WORDS HOLD THE CHIEF PLACE.

4. Of the signs, then, by which men communicate their thoughts to one another, some relate
to the sense of sight, some to that of hearing, a very few to the other senses. For, when
we nod, we give no sign except to the eyes of the man to whom we wish by this sign to
impart our desire. And some convey a great deal by the motion of the hands: and actors by
movements of all their limbs give certain signs to the initiated, and, so to speak,
address their conversation to the eyes: and the military standards and flags convey
through the eyes the will of the commanders. And all these signs are as it were a kind of
visible words. The signs that address themselves to the ear are, as I have said, more
numerous, and for the most part consist of words. For though the bugle and the flute and
the lyre frequently give not only a sweet but a significant sound, yet all these signs are
very few in number compared with words. For among men words have obtained far and away the
chief place as a means of indicating the thoughts of the mind. Our Lord, it is true, gave
a sign through the odor of the ointment which was poured out upon His feet; and in the
sacrament of His body and blood He signified His will through the sense of taste; and when
by touching the hem of His garment the woman was made whole, the act was not wanting in
significance. But the countless multitude of the signs through which men express their
thoughts consist of words. For I have been able to put into words all those signs, the
various classes of which I have briefly touched upon, but I could by no effort express
words in terms of those signs.

CHAPTER 4.-ORIGIN OF WRITING.

5. But because words pass away as soon as they strike upon the air, and last no longer
than their sound, men have by means of letters formed signs of words. Thus the sounds of
the voice are made visible to the eye, not of course as sounds, but by means of certain
signs. It has been found impossible, however, to make those signs common to all nations
owing to the sin of discord among men, which springs from every man trying to snatch the
chief place for himself. And that celebrated tower which was built to reach to heaven was
an indication of this arrogance of spirit; and the ungodly men concerned in it justly
earned the punishment of having not their minds only, but their tongues besides, thrown
into confusion and discordance.

CHAPTER 5.-SCRIPTURE TRANSLATED INTO VARIOUS LANGUAGES.

6. And hence it happened that even Holy Scripture, which brings a remedy for the terrible
diseases of the human will, being at first set forth in one language, by means of which it
could at the fit season be disseminated through the whole world, was interpreted into
various tongues, and spread far and wide, and thus became known to the nations for their
salvation. And in reading it, men seek nothing more than to find out the thought and will
of those by whom it was written, and through these to find out the will of God, in
accordance with which they believe these men to have spoken.

CHAPTER 6.-USE OF THE OBSCURITIES IN SCRIPTURE WHICH ARISE FROM ITS FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE.

7. But hasty and careless readers are led astray by many and manifold obscurities and
ambiguities, substituting one meaning for another; and in some places they cannot hit upon
even a fair interpretation. Some of the expressions are so obscure as to shroud the
meaning in the thickest darkness. And I do not doubt that all this was divinely arranged
for the purpose of subduing pride by toil, and of preventing a feeling of satiety in the
intellect, which generally holds in small esteem what is discovered without difficulty.
For why is it, I ask, that if any one says that there are holy and just men whose life and
conversation the Church of Christ uses as a means of redeeming those who come to it from
all kinds of superstitions, and making them through their imitation of good men members of
its own body; men who, as good and true servants of God, have come to the baptismal font
laying down the burdens of the world, and who rising thence do, through the implanting of
the Holy Spirit, yield the fruit of a two-fold love, a love, that is, of God and their
neighbor;-how is it, I say, that if a man says this, he does not please his hearer so much
as when he draws the same meaning from that passage in Canticles, where it is said of the
Church, when it is being praised under the figure of a beautiful woman, "Thy teeth are
like a flock of sheep that are shorn which came up from the washing, whereof every one
bears twins, and none is barren among them? Does the hearer learn anything more than when
he listens to the same thought expressed in the plainest language, without the help of
this figure? And yet, I don't know why, I feel greater pleasure in contemplating holy men,
when I view them as the teeth of the Church, tearing men away from their errors, and
bringing them into the Church's body, with all their harshness softened down, just as if
they had been torn off and masticated by the teeth.

It is with the greatest pleasure, too, that I recognize them under the figure of sheep
that have been shorn, laying down the burthens of the world like fleeces, and coming up
from the washing, i.e., from baptism, and all bearing twins, i.e., the twin commandments
of love, and none among them barren in that holy fruit. 8. But why I view them with
greater delight under that aspect than if no such figure were drawn from the sacred books,
though the fact would remain the same and the knowledge the same, is another question, and
one very difficult to answer. Nobody, however, has any doubt about the facts, both that it
is pleasanter in some cases to have knowledge communicated through figures, and that what
is attended with difficulty in the seeking gives greater pleasure in the finding.-For
those who seek but do not find suffer from hunger. Those, again, who do not seek at all
because they have what they require just beside them often grow languid from satiety. Now
weakness from either of these causes is to be avoided. Accordingly the Holy Spirit has,
with admirable wisdom and care for our welfare, so arranged the Holy Scriptures as by the
plainer passages to satisfy our hunger, and by the more obscure to stimulate our appetite.
For almost nothing is dug out of those obscure passages which may not be found set forth
in the plainest language elsewhere.

CHAPTER 7.-STEPS TO WISDOM: FIRST, FEAR; SECOND, PIETY; THIRD, KNOWLEDGE; FOURTH, RESOLUTION; FIFTH, COUNSEL; SIXTH, PURIFICATION OF HEART; SEVENTH, STOP OR TERMINATION, WISDOM.

9. First of all, then, it is necessary that we should be led by the fear of God to seek
the knowledge of His will, what He commands us to desire and what to avoid. Now this fear
will of necessity excite in us the thought of our mortality and of the death that is
before us, and crucify all the motions of pride as if our flesh were nailed to the tree.
Next it is necessary to have our hearts subdued by piety, and not to run in the face of
Holy Scripture, whether when understood it strikes at some of our sins, or, when not
understood, we feel as if we could be wiser and give better commands ourselves. We must
rather think and believe that whatever is there written, even though it be hidden, is
better and truer than anything we could devise by our own wisdom.

10. After these two steps of fear and piety, we come to the third step, knowledge, of
which I have now undertaken to treat. For in this every earnest student of the Holy
Scriptures exercises himself, to find nothing else in them but that God is to be loved for
His own sake, and our neighbor for God's sake; and that God is to be loved with all the
heart, and with all the soul, and with all the mind, and one's neighbor as one's self-that
is, in such a way that all our love for our neighbor, like all our love for ourselves,
should have reference to God. And on these two commandments I touched in the previous book
when I was treating about things. It is necessary, then, that each man should first of all
find in the Scriptures that he, through being entangled in the love of this world-i.e., of
temporal things-has been drawn far away from such a love for God and such a love for his
neighbor as Scripture enjoins. Then that fear which leads him to think of the judgment of
God, and that piety which gives him no option but to believe in and submit to the
authority of Scripture, compel him to bewail his condition. For the knowledge of a good
hope makes a man not boastful, but sorrowful. And in this frame of mind he implores with
unremitting prayers the comfort of the Divine help that he may not be overwhelmed in
despair, and so he gradually comes to the fourth step,-that is, strength and resolution,
-in which he hungers and thirsts after righteousness. For in this frame of mind he
extricates himself from every form of fatal joy in transitory things, and turning away
from these, fixes his affection on things eternal, to wit, the unchangeable Trinity in
unity.

11. And when, to the extent of his power, he has gazed upon this object shining from afar,
and has felt that owing to the weakness of his sight he cannot endure that matchless
light, then in the fifth step-that is, in the counsel of compassion -he cleanses his soul,
which is violently agitated, and disturbs him with base desires, from the filth it has
contracted. And at this stage he exercises himself diligently in the love of his neighbor;
and when he has reached the point of loving his enemy, full of hopes and unbroken in
strength, he mounts to the sixth step, in which he purifies the eye itself which can see
God, so far as God can be seen by those who as far as possible die to this world. For men
see Him just so far as they die to this world; and so far as they live to it they see Him
not. But yet, although that light may begin to appear clearer, and not only more
tolerable, but even more delightful, still it is only through a glass darkly that we are
said to see, because we walk by faith, not by sight, while we continue to wander as
strangers in this world, even though our conversation be in heaven. And at this stage,
too, a man so purges the eye of his affections as not to place his neighbor before, or
even in comparison with, the truth, and therefore not himself, because not him whom he
loves as himself.

Accordingly, that holy man will be so single and so pure in heart, that he will not step
aside from the truth, either for the sake of pleasing men or with a view to avoid any of
the annoyances which beset this life. Such a son ascends to wisdom, which is the seventh
and last step, and which he enjoys in peace and tranquillity. For the fear of God is the
beginning of wisdom. From that beginning, then, till we reach wisdom itself, our way is by
the steps now described.

CHAPTER 8.-THE CANONICAL BOOKS.

12. But let us now go back to consider the third step here mentioned, for it is about it
that I have set myself to speak and reason as the Lord shall grant me wisdom. The most
skillful interpreter of the sacred writings, then, will be he who in the first place has
read them all and retained them in his knowledge, if not yet with full understanding,
still with such knowledge as reading gives,-those of them, at least, that arc called
canonical. For he will read the others with greater safety when built up in the belief of
the truth, so that they will not take first possession of a weak mind, nor, cheating it
with dangerous falsehoods and delusions, fill it with prejudices adverse to a sound
understanding. Now, in regard to the canonical Scriptures, he must follow the judgment of
the greater number of catholic churches; and among these, of course, a high place must be
given to such as have been thought worthy to be the seat of an apostle and to receive
epistles. Accordingly, among the canonical Scriptures he will judge according to the
following standard: to prefer those that are received by all the catholic churches to
those which some do not receive. Among those, again, which are not received by all, he
will prefer such as have the sanction of the greater number and those of greater
authority, to such as are held by the smaller number and those of less authority. If,
however, he shall find that some books are held by the greater number of churches, and
others by the churches of greater authority (though this is not a very likely thing to
happen), I think that in such a case the authority on the two sides is to be looked upon
as equal.

13. Now the whole canon of Scripture on which we say this judgment is to be exercised, is
contained in the following books:-Five books of Moses, that is, Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; one book of Joshua the son of Nun; one of Judges; one
short book called Ruth, which seems rather to belong to the beginning of Kings; next, four
books of Kings, and two of Chronicles -these last not following one another, but running
parallel, so to speak, and going over the same ground. The books now mentioned are
history, which contains a connected narrative of the times, and follows the order of the
events. There are other books which seem to follow no regular order, and are connected
neither with the order of the preceding books nor with one another, such as Job, and
Tobias, and Esther, and Judith, and the two books of Maccabees, and the two of Ezra, which
last look more like a sequel to the continuous regular history which terminates with the
books of Kings and Chronicles. Next are the Prophets, in which there is one book of the
Psalms of David; and three books of Solomon, viz., Proverbs, Song of Songs, and
Ecclesiastes. For two books, one called Wisdom and the other Ecclesiasticus, are ascribed
to Solomon from a certain resemblance of style, but the most likely opinion is that they
were written by Jesus the son of Sirach. Still they are to be reckoned among the
prophetical books, since they have attained recognition as being authoritative.

The remainder are the books which are strictly called the Prophets: twelve separate books
of the prophets which are connected with one another, and having never been disjoined, are
reckoned as one book; the names of these prophets are as follows:-Hosea, Joel, Amos,
Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; then there
are the four greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel. The authority of the Old
Testament is contained within the limits of these forty-four books. That of the New
Testament, again, is contained within the following:-Four books of the Gospel, according
to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, according to John; fourteen epistles of
the Apostle Paul-one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, to the
Ephesians, to the Philippians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Colossians, two to
Timothy, one to Titus, to Philemon, to the Hebrews: two of Peter; three of John; one of
Jude; and one of James; one book of the Acts of the Apostles; and one of the Revelation of
John.

CHAPTER 9.-HOW WE SHOULD PROCEED IN STUDYING SCRIPTURE.

14. In all these books those who fear God and are of a meek and pious disposition seek the
will of God. And in pursuing this search the first rule to be observed is, as I said, to
know these books, if not yet with the understanding, still to read them so as to commit
them to memory, or at least so as not to remain wholly ignorant of them. Next, those
matters that are plainly laid down in them, whether rules of life or rules of faith, are
to be searched into more carefully and more diligently; and the more of these a man
discovers, the more capacious does his understanding become. For among the things that are
plainly laid down in Scripture are to be found all matters that concern faith and the
manner of life,-to wit, hope and love, of which I have spoken in the previous book. After
this, when we have made ourselves to a certain extent familiar with the language of
Scripture, we may proceed to open up and investigate the obscure passages, and in doing so
draw examples from the plainer expressions to throw light upon the more obscure, and use
the evidence of passages about which there is no doubt to remove all hesitation in regard
to the doubtful passages. And in this matter memory counts for a great deal; but if the
memory be defective, no rules can supply the want.

CHAPTER 10.-UNKNOWN OR AMBIGUOUS SIGNS PREVENT SCRIPTURE FROM BEING UNDERSTOOD.

15. Now there are two causes which prevent what is written from being understood: its
being vailed either under unknown, or under ambiguous signs. Signs are either proper or
figurative. They are called proper when they are used to point out the objects they were
designed to point out, as we say bos when we mean an ox, because all men who with us use
the Latin tongue call it by this name. Signs are figurative when the things themselves
which we indicate by the proper names are used to signify something else, as we say bos,
and understand by that syllable the ox, which is ordinarily called by that name; but then
further by that ox understand a preacher of the gospel, as Scripture signifies, according
to the apostle's explanation, when it says: "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth
out the corn."

CHAPTER 11.-KNOWLEDGE OF LANGUAGES, ESPECIALLY OF GREEK AND HEBREW, NECESSARY TO REMOVE IGNORANCE OR SIGNS.

16. The great remedy for ignorance of proper signs is knowledge of languages. And men who
speak the Latin tongue, of whom are those I have undertaken to instruct, need two other
languages for the knowledge of Scripture, Hebrew and Greek, that they may have recourse to
the original texts if the endless diversity of the Latin translators throw them into
doubt. Although, indeed, we often find Hebrew words untranslated in the books as for
example, Amen, Halleluia, Racha, Hosanna, and others of the same kind. Some of these,
although they could have been translated, have been preserved in their original form on
account of the more sacred authority that attaches to it, as for example, Amen and
Halleluia. Some of them, again, are said to be untranslatable into another tongue, of
which the other two I have mentioned are examples. For in some languages there are words
that cannot be translated into the idiom of another language. And this happens chiefly in
the case of interjections, which are words that express rather an emotion of the mind than
any part of a thought we have in our mind. And the two given above are said to be of this
kind, Racha expressing the cry of an angry man, Hosanna that of a joyful man. But the
knowledge of these languages is necessary, not for the sake of a few words like these
which it is very easy to mark and to ask about, but, as has been said, on account of the
diversities among translators. For the translations of the Scriptures from Hebrew into
Greek can be counted, but the Latin translators are out of all number. For in the early
days of the faith every man who happened to get his hands upon a Greek manuscript, and who
thought he had any knowledge, were it ever so little, of the two languages, ventured upon
the work of translation.

CHAPTER 12.-A DIVERSITY OF INTERPRETATIONS IS USEFUL. ERRORS ARISING FROM AMBIGUOUS WORDS.

17. And this circumstance would assist rather than hinder the understanding of Scripture,
if only readers were not careless. For the examination of a number of texts has often
thrown light upon some of the more obscure passages; for example, in that passage of the
prophet Isaiah, one translator reads: "And do not despise the domestics of thy seed;
another reads: "And do not despise thine own flesh. Each of these in turn confirms the
other. For the one is explained by the other; because "flesh" may be taken in its literal
sense, so that a man may understand that he is admonished not to despise his own body; and
"the domestics of thy seed" may be understood figuratively of Christians, because they are
spiritually born of the same seed as ourselves, namely, the Word. When now the meaning of
the two translators is compared, a more likely sense of the words suggests itself, viz.,
that the command is not to despise our kinsmen, because when one brings the expression
"domestics of thy seed" into relation with "flesh," kinsmen most naturally occur to one's
mind. Whence, I think, that expression of the apostle, when he says, "If by any means I
may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them; that is,
that through emulation of those who had believed, some of them might believe too. And he
calls the Jews his "flesh," on account of the relationship of blood. Again, that passage
from the same prophet Isaiah:

"If ye will not believe, ye shall not understand," another has translated: "If ye will not
believe, ye shall not abide. Now which of these is the literal translation cannot be
ascertained without reference to the text in the original tongue. And yet to those who
read with knowledge, a great truth is to be found in each. For it is difficult for
interpreters to differ so widely as not to touch at some point. Accordingly here, as
understanding consists in sight, and is abiding, but faith feeds us as babes, upon milk,
in the cradles of temporal things (for now we walk by faith, not by sight); as, moreover,
unless we walk by faith, we shall not attain to sight, which does not pass away, but
abides, our understanding being purified by holding to the truth;-for these reasons one
says," If ye will not believe, ye shall not understand; but the other, "If ye will not
believe, ye shall not abide."

18. And very often a translator, to whom the meaning is not well known, is deceived by an
ambiguity in the original language, and puts upon the passage a construction that is
wholly alien to the sense of the writer. As for example, some texts read: "Their feet are
sharp to shed blood;" for the word ozuj among the Greeks means both sharp and swift. And
so he saw the true meaning who translated: "Their feet are swift to shed blood." The
other, taking the wrong sense of an ambiguous word, fell into error. Now translations such
as this are not obscure, but false; and there is a wide difference between the two things.
For we must learn not to interpret, but to correct texts of this sort. For the same reason
it is, that because the Greek word hoskoj means a calf, some have not understood that
moskeumata are shoots of trees, and have translated the word "calves;" and this error has
crept into so many texts, that you can hardly find it written in any other way. And yet
the meaning is very clear; for it is made evident by the words that follow. For "the
plantings of an adulterer will not take deep root," is a more suitable form of expression
than the" calves;" because these walk upon the ground with their feet, and are not fixed
in the earth by roots. In this passage, indeed, the rest of the context also justifies
this translation.


ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE (CHAPTERS 13.-HOW FAULTY INTERPRETATIONS CAN BE EMENDED.–7.-THE USELESS BONDAGE OF THE GENTILES.)
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ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE continued

CHAPTER 13.-HOW FAULTY INTERPRETATIONS CAN BE EMENDED.

19. But since we do not clearly see what the actual thought is which the several
translators endeavor to express, each according to his own ability and judgment, unless we
examine it in the language which they translate; and since the translator, if he be not a
very learned man, often departs from the meaning of his author, we must either endeavor to
get a knowledge of those languages from which the Scriptures are translated into Latin, or
we must get hold of the translations of those who keep rather close to the letter of the
original, not because these are sufficient, but because we may use them to correct the
freedom or the error of others, who in their translations have chosen to follow the sense
quite as much as the words. For not only single words, but often whole phrases are
translated, which could not be translated at all into the Latin idiom by any one who
wished to hold by the usage of the ancients who spoke Latin. And though these sometimes do
not interfere with the understanding of the passage, yet they are offensive to those who
feel greater delight in things when even the signs of those things are kept in their own
purity. For what is called a solecism is nothing else than the putting of words together
according to a different rule from that which those of our predecessors who spoke with any
authority followed.

For whether we say inter homines (among men) or inter hominibus, is of no consequence to a
man who only wishes to know the facts. And in the same way, what is a barbarism but the
pronouncing of a word in a different way from that in which those who spoke Latin before
us pronounced it? For whether the word ignoscere (to pardon) should be pronounced with the
third syllable long or short, is not a matter of much concern to the man who is beseeching
God, in any way at all that he can get the words out, to pardon his sins. What then is
purity of speech, except the preserving of the custom of language established by the
authority of former speakers? 20. And men are easily offended in a matter of this kind,
just in proportion as they are weak; and they are weak just in proportion as they wish to
seem learned, not in the knowledge of things which tend to edification, but in that of
signs, by which it is hard not to be puffed up, seeing that the knowledge of things even
would often set up our neck, if it were not held down by the yoke of our Master. For how
does it prevent our understanding it to have the following passage thus expressed: "Quae
est terra in qua isti insidunt super eam, si bona est an nequam; el quoe sunt civitates,
in quibus ipsi inhabitant in ipsis? And I am more disposed to think that this is simply
the idiom of another language than that any deeper meaning is intended. Again, that
phrase, which we cannot now take away from the lips of the people who sing it: "Super
ipsum autem floriet sanctificatio mea," surely takes away nothing from the meaning. Yet a
more learned man would prefer that this should be corrected, and that we should say, not
floriet, but florebit. Nor does anything stand in the way of the correction being made,
except the usage of the singers. Mistakes of this kind, then, if a man do not choose to
avoid them altogether, it is easy to treat with indifference, as not interfering with a
right understanding. But take, on the other hand, the saying of the apostle:

"Quod stultum est Dei, sapientius est hominibus, et quod infirmum est Dei, fortius est
hominibus. If any one should retain in this passage the Greek idiom, and say," Quod
stultum est Dei, sapientius est hominum et quod infirmum est Dei fortius est hominum," a
quick and careful reader would indeed by an effort attain to the true meaning, but still a
man of slower intelligence either would not understand it at all, or would put an utterly
false construction upon it. For not only is such a form of speech faulty in the Latin
tongue, but it is ambiguous too, as if the meaning might be, that the folly of men or the
weakness of men is wiser or stronger than that of God. But indeed even the expression
sapientius est hominibus (stronger than men) is not free from ambiguity, even though it be
free from solecism. For whether hominibus is put as the plural of the dative or as the
plural of the ablative, does not appear, unless by reference to the meaning. It would be
better then to say, sapientius est guam homines, and fortius est quamhomines.

CHAPTER 14.-HOW THE MEANING OF UNKNOWN WORDS AND IDIOMS IS TO BE DISCOVERED.

1 21. About ambiguous signs, however, I shall speak afterwards. I am treating at present
of unknown signs, of which, as far as the words are concerned, there are two kinds, For
either a word or an idiom, of which the reader is ignorant, brings him to a stop. Now if
these belong to foreign tongues, we must either make inquiry about them from men who speak
those tongues, or if we have leisure we must learn the tongues ourselves, or we must
consult and compare several translators. If, however, there are words or idioms in our own
tongue that we are unacquainted with, we gradually come to know them through being
accustomed to read or to hear them. There is nothing that it is better to commit to memory
than those kinds of words and phrases whose meaning we do not know, so that where we
happen to meet either with a more learned man of whom we can inquire, or with a passage
that shows, either by the preceding or succeeding context, or by both, the force and
significance of the phrase we are ignorant of, we can easily by the help of our memory
turn our attention to the matter and learn all aboutit.

2 So great, however, is the force of custom, even in regard to learning, that those who
have been in a sort of way nurtured and brought up on the study of Holy Scripture, are
surprised at other forms of speech, and think them less pure Latin than those which they
have learnt from Scripture, but which are not to be found in Latin authors. In this
matter, too, the great number of the translators proves a very great assistance, if they
are examined and discussed with a careful comparison of their texts. Only all positive
error must be removed. For those who are anxious to know, the Scriptures ought in the
first place to use their skill in the correction of the texts, so that the uncorrected
ones should give way to the corrected, at least when they are copies of the same
translation.

CHAPTER 15.-AMONG VERSIONS A PREFERENCE IS GIVEN TO THE SEPTUAGINT AND THE ITALA.

1 22. Now among translations themselves the Italian (Itala) is to be preferred to the
others, for it keeps closer to the words without prejudice to clearness of expression. And
to correct the Latin we must use the Greek versions, among which the authority of the
Septuagint is pre-eminent as far as the Old Testament is concerned; for it is reported
through all the more learned churches that the seventy translators enjoyed so much of the
presence and power of the Holy Spirit in their work of translation, that among that number
of men there was but one voice. And if, as is reported, and as many not unworthy of
confidence assert, they were separated during the work of translation, each man being in a
cell by himself, and yet nothing was found in the manuscript of any one of them that was
not found in the same words and in the same order of words in all the rest, who dares put
anything in comparison with an authority like this, not to speak of preferring anything to
it? And even if they conferred together with the result that a unanimous agreement sprang
out of the common labor and judgment of them all; even so, it would not be right or
becoming for any one man, whatever his experience, to aspire to correct the unanimous
opinion of many venerable and learned men.

2 Wherefore, even if anything is found in the original Hebrew in a different form from
that in which these men have expressed it, I think we must give way to the dispensation of
Providence which used these men to bring it about, that books which the Jewish race were
unwilling, either from religious scruple or from jealousy, to make known to other nations,
were, with the assistance of the power of King Ptolemy, made known so long beforehand to
the nations which in the future were to believe in the Lord. And thus it is possible that
they translated in such a way as the Holy Spirit, who worked in them and had given them
all one voice, thought most suitable for the Gentiles. But nevertheless, as I said above,
a comparison of those translators also who have kept most closely to the words, is often
not without value as a help to the clearing up of the meaning. The Latin texts, therefore,
of the Old Testament are, as I was about to say, to be corrected if necessary by the
authority of the Greeks, and especially by that of those who, though they were seventy in
number, are said to have translated as with one voice. As to the books of the New
Testament, again, if any perplexity arises from the diversities of the Latin texts, we
must of course yield to the Greek, especially those that are found in the churches of
greater learning and research.

CHAPTER 16.-THE KNOWLEDGE BOTH OF LANGUAGE AND THINGS IS HELPFUL FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS.

23. In the case of figurative signs, again, if ignorance of any of them should chance to
bring the reader to a stand-still, their meaning is to be traced partly by the knowledge
of languages, partly by the knowledge of things. The pool of Siloam, for example, where
the man whose eyes our Lord had anointed with clay made out of spittle was commanded to
wash, has a figurative significance, and undoubtedly conveys a secret sense; but yet if
the evangelist had not interpreted that name, a meaning so important would lie unnoticed.
And we cannot doubt that, in the same way, many Hebrew names which have not been
interpreted by the writers of those books, would, if any one could interpret them, be of
great value and service in solving the enigmas of Scripture. And a number of men skilled
in that language have conferred no small benefit on posterity by explaining all these
words without reference to their place in Scripture, and telling us what Adam means, what
Eve, what Abraham, what Moses, and also the names of places, what Jerusalem signifies, or
Sion, or Sinai, or Lebanon, or Jordan, and whatever other names in that language we are
not acquainted with. And when these names have been investigated and explained, many
figurative expressions in Scripture become clear.

24. Ignorance of things, too, renders figurative expressions obscure, as when we do not
know the nature of the animals, or minerals, or plants, which are frequently referred to
in Scripture by way of comparison. The fact so well known about the serpent, for example,
that to protect its head it will present its whole body to its assailants-how much light
it throws upon the meaning of our Lord's command, that we should be wise as serpents; that
is to say, that for the sake of our head, which is Christ, we should willingly offer our
body to the persecutors, lest the Christian faith should, as it were, be destroyed in us,
if to save the body we deny our God! Or again, the statement that the serpent gets rid of
its old skin by squeezing itself through a narrow hole, and thus acquires new strength-how
appropriately it fits in with the direction to imitate the wisdom of the serpent, and to
put off the old man, as the apostle says, that we may put on the new; and to put it off,
too, by coming through a narrow place, according to the saying of our Lord, "Enter ye in
at the strait gate! As, then, knowledge of the nature of the serpent throws light upon
many metaphors which Scripture is accustomed to draw from that animal, so ignorance of
other animals, which are no less frequently mentioned by way of comparison, is a very
great drawback to the reader. And so in regard to minerals and plants:

knowledge of the carbuncle, for instance, which shines in the dark, throws light upon many
of the dark places in books too, where it is used metaphorically; and ignorance of the
beryl or the adamant often shuts the doors of knowledge. And the only reason why we find
it easy to understand that perpetual peace is indicated by the olive branch which the dove
brought with it when it returned to the ark, is that we know both that the smooth touch of
olive oil is not easily spoiled by a fluid of another kind, and that the tree itself is an
evergreen. Many, again, by reason of their ignorance of hyssop, not knowing the virtue it
has in cleansing the lungs, nor the power it is said to have of piercing rocks with its
roots, although it is a small and insignificant plant, cannot make out why it is said,
"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean."

25. Ignorance of numbers, too, prevents us from understanding things that are set down in
Scripture in a figurative and mystical way. A candid mind, if I may so speak, cannot but
be anxious, for example, to ascertain what is meant by the fact that Moses and Elijah, and
our Lord Himself, all fasted for forty days. And except by knowledge of and reflection
upon the number, the difficulty of explaining the figure involved in this action cannot be
got over. For the number contains ten four times, indicating the knowledge of all things,
and that knowledge interwoven with time. For both the diurnal and the annual revolutions
are accomplished in periods numbering four each; the diurnal in the hours of the morning,
the noontide, the evening, and the night; the annual in the spring, summer, autumn, and
winter months. Now while we live in time, we must abstain and fast from all joy in time,
for the sake of that eternity in which we wish to live; although by the passage of time we
are taught this very lesson of despising time and seeking eternity. Further, the number
ten signifies the knowledge of the Creator and the creature, for there is a trinity in the
Creator; and the number seven indicates the creature, because of the life and the body.
For the life consists of three parts, whence also God is to be loved with the whole heart,
the whole soul, and the whole mind;

and it is very clear that in the body there are four elements of which it is made up. In
this number ten, therefore, when it is placed before us in connection with time, that is,
when it is taken four times we are admonished to live unstained by, and not partaking of,
any delight in time, that is, to fast for forty days. Of this we are admonished by the law
personified in Moses by prophecy personified in Elijah, and by our Lord Himself, who, as
if receiving the witness both of the law and the prophets, appeared on the mount between
the other two, while His three disciples looked on in amazement. Next, we have to inquire
in the same way, how out of the number forty springs the number fifty, which in our
religion has no ordinary sacredness attached to it on account of the Pentecost, and how
this number taken thrice on account of the three divisions of time, before the law, under
the law, and under grace, or perhaps on account of the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, and the Trinity itself being added over and above, has reference to the mystery of
the most Holy Church, and reaches to the number of the one hundred and fifty-three fishes
which were taken after the resurrection of our Lord, when the nets were cast out on the
right-hand side of the boat.

And in the same way, many other numbers and combinations of numbers are used in the sacred
writings, to convey instruction under a figurative guise, and ignorance of numbers often
shuts out the reader from this instruction. 26. Not a few things, too, are closed against
us and obscured by ignorance of music. One man, for example, has not unskillfully
explained some metaphors from the difference between the psaltery and the harp. And it is
a question which it is not out of place for learned men to discuss, whether there is any
musical law that compels the psaltery of ten chords to have just so many strings; or
whether, if there be no such law, the number itself is not on that very account the more
to be considered as of sacred significance, either with reference to the ten commandments
of the law (and if again any question is raised about that number, we can only refer it to
the Creator and the creature), or with reference to the number ten itself as interpreted
above. And the number of years the temple was in building, which is mentioned in the
gospel -viz., forty-six-has a certain undefinable musical sound, and when referred to the
structure of our Lord's body, in relation to which the temple was mentioned, compels many
heretics to confess that our Lord put on, not a false, but a true and human body. And in
several places in the Holy Scriptures we find both numbers and music mentioned with honor.

CHAPTER 17.-ORIGIN OF THE LEGEND OF THE NINE MUSES.

27. For we must not listen to the falsities of heathen superstition, which represent the
nine Muses as daughters of Jupiter and Mercury. Varro refutes these, and I doubt whether
any one can be found among them more curious or more learned in such matters. He says that
a certain state (I don't recollect the name) ordered from each of three artists a set of
statues of the Muses, to be placed as an offering in the temple of Apollo, intending that
whichever of the artists produced the most beautiful statues, they should select and
purchase from him. It so happened that these artists executed their works with equal
beauty, that all nine pleased the state, and that all were bought to be dedicated in the
temple of Apollo; and he says that afterwards Hesiod the poet gave names to them all. It
was not Jupiter, therefore, that begat the nine Muses, but three artists created three
each. And the state had originally given the order for three, not because it had seen them
in visions, nor because they had presented themselves in that number to the eyes of any of
the citizens, but because it was obvious to remark that all sound, which is the material
of song, is by nature of three kinds. For it is either produced by the voice, as in the
case of those who sing with the mouth without an instrument; or by blowing, as in the case
of trumpets and flutes; or by striking, as in the case of harps and drums, and all other
instruments that give their sound when struck.

CHAPTER 18.-NO HELP IS TO BE DESPISED, EVEN THOUGH IT COME FROM A PROFANE SOURCE.

28. But whether the fact is as Varro has related, or is not so, still we ought not to give
up music because of the superstition of the heathen, if we can derive anything from it
that is of use for the understanding of Holy Scripture; nor does it follow that we must
busy ourselves with their theatrical trumpery because we enter upon an investigation about
harps and other instruments, that may help us to lay hold upon spiritual things. For we
ought not to refuse to learn letters because they say that Mercury discovered them; nor
because they have dedicated temples to Justice and Virtue, and prefer to worship in the
form of stones things that ought to have their place in the heart, ought we on that
account to forsake justice and virtue. Nay, but let every good and true Christian
understand that wherever truth may be found, it belongs to his Master; and while he
recognizes and acknowledges the truth, even in their religious literature, let him reject
the figments of superstition, and let him grieve over and avoid men who, "when they knew
God, glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they
became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to
corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things."

CHAPTER 19.-TWO KINDS OFHEATHEN KNOWLEDGE.

29. But to explain more fully this whole topic (for it is one that cannot be omitted),
there are two kinds of knowledge which are in vogue among the heathen. One is the
knowledge of things instituted by men, the other of things which they have noted, either
as transacted in the past or as instituted by God. The former kind, that which deals with
human institutions, is partly superstitious, partly not.

CHAPTER 20.-THE SUPERSTITIOUS NATURE OF HUMAN INSTITUTIONS.

30. All the arrangements made by men for the making and worshipping of idols are
superstitious, pertaining as they do either to the worship of what is created or of some
part of it as God, or to consultations and arrangements about signs and leagues with
devils, such, for example, as are employed in the magical arts, and which the poets are
accustomed not so much to teach as to celebrate. And to this class belong, but with a
bolder teach of deception, the books of the haruspices and augurs. In this class we must
place also all amulets and cures which the medical art condemns, whether these consist in
Incantations, or in marks which they call characters, or in hanging or tying on or even
dancing in a fashion certain articles, not with reference to the condition of the body,
but to certain signs hidden or manifest; and these remedies they call by the less
offensive name of physica, so as to appear not to be engaged in superstitious observances,
but to be taking advantage of the forces of nature. Examples of these are the earrings on
the top of each ear, or the rings of ostrich bone on the fingers, or telling you when you
hiccup to hold your left thumb in your right hand.

31. To these we may add thousands of the most frivolous practices, that are to be observed
if any part of the body should jump, or if, when friends are walking arm-in-arm, a stone,
or a dog, or a boy, should come between them. And the kicking of a stone, as if it were a
divider of friends, does less harm than to cuff an innocent boy if he happens to run
between men who are walking side by side. But it is delightful that the boys are sometimes
avenged by the dogs; for frequently men are so superstitious as to venture upon striking a
dog who has run between them,-not with impunity however, for instead of a superstitious
remedy, the dog sometimes makes his assailant run in hot haste for a real surgeon. To this
class, too, belong the following rules: To tread upon the threshold when you go out in
front of the house; to go back to bed if any one should sneeze when you are putting on
your slippers; to return home if you stumble when going to a place; when your clothes are
eaten by mice, to be more frightened at the prospect of coming misfortune than grieved by
your present loss. Whence that witty saying of Cato, who, when consulted by a man who told
him that the mice had eaten his boots, replied, "That is not strange, but it would have
been very strange indeed if the boots had eaten the mice."

CHAPTER 21.-SUPERSTITION OF ASTROLOGERS.

1 32. Nor can we exclude from this kind of superstition those who were called genethliaci,
on account of their attention to birthdays, but are now commonly called mathematici. For
these, too, although they may seek with pains for the true position of the stars at the
time of our birth, and may sometimes even find it out, yet in so far as they attempt
thence to predict our actions, or the consequences of our actions, grievously err, and
sell inexperienced men into a miserable bondage. For when any freeman goes to an
astrologer of this kind, he gives money that he may come away the slave either of Mars or
of Venus, or rather, perhaps, of all the stars to which those who first fell into this
error, and handed it on to posterity, have given the names either of beasts on account of
their likeness to beasts, or of men with a view to confer honor on those men. And this is
not to be wondered at, when we consider that even in times more recent and nearer our own,
the Romans made an attempt to dedicate the star which we call Lucifer to the name and
honor of Caesar. And this would, perhaps, have been done, and the name handed down to
distant ages, only that his ancestress Venus had given her name to this star before him,
and could not by any law transfer to her heirs what she had never possessed, nor sought to
possess, in life.

2 For where a place was vacant, or not held in honor of any of the dead of former times,
the usual proceeding in such cases was carried out. For example, we have changed the names
of the months Quintilis and Sextilis to July and August, naming them in honor of the men
Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar; and from this instance any one who cares can easily see
that the stars spoken of above formerly wandered in the heavens without the names they now
bear. But as the men were dead whose memory people were either compelled by royal power or
impelled by human folly to honor, they seemed to think that in putting their names upon
the stars they were raising the dead men themselves to heaven. But whatever they may be
called by men, still there are stars which God has made and set in order after His own
pleasure, and they have a fixed movement, by which the seasons are distinguished and
varied. And when any one is born, it is easy to observe the point at which this movement
has arrived, by use of the rules discovered and laid down by those who are rebuked by Holy
Writ in these terms: "For if they were able to know so much that they could weigh the
world, how did they not more easily find out the Lord thereof?"

CHAPTER 22 .-THE FOLLY OF OBSERVING THE STARS IN ORDER TO PREDICT THE EVENTS OF A LIFE.

33. But to desire to predict the characters, the acts, and the fate of those who are born
from such an observation, is a great delusion and great madness. And among those at least
who have any sort of acquaintance with matters of this kind (which, indeed, are only fit
to be unlearnt again), this superstition is refuted beyond the reach of doubt. For the
observation is of the position of the stars, which they call constellations, at the time
when the person was born about whom these wretched men are consulted by their still more
wretched dupes. Now it may happen that, in the case of twins, one follows the other out of
the womb so closely that there is no interval of time between them that can be apprehended
and marked in the position of the constellations. Whence it necessarily follows that twins
are in many cases born under the same stars, while they do not meet with equal fortune
either in what they do or what they suffer, but often meet with fates so different that
one of them has a most fortunate life, the other a most unfortunate. As, for example, we
are told that Esau and Jacob were born twins, and in such close succession, that Jacob,
who was born last, was found to have laid hold with his hand upon the heel of his brother,
who preceded him. Now, assuredly, the day and hour of the birth of these two could not be
marked in any way that would not give both the same constellation. But what a difference
there was between the characters, the actions, the labors, and the fortunes of these two,
the Scriptures bear witness, which are now so widely spread as to be in the mouth of all
nations.

34. Nor is it to the point to say that the very smallest and briefest moment of time that
separates the birth of twins, produces great effects in nature, and in the extremely rapid
motion of the heavenly bodies. For, although I may grant that it does produce the greatest
effects, yet the astrologer cannot discover this in the constellations, and it is by
looking into these that he professes to read the fates. If, then, he does not discover the
difference when he examines the constellations, which must, of course, be the same whether
he is consulted about Jacob or his brother, what does it profit him that there is a
difference in the heavens, which he rashly and carelessly brings into disrepute, when
there is no difference in his chart, which he looks into anxiously but in vain? And so
these notions also, which have their origin in certain signs of things being arbitrarily
fixed upon by the presumption of men, are to be referred to the same class as if they were
leagues and covenants with devils.

CHAPTER 23.-WHY WE REPUDIATE ARTS OF DIVINATION.

35. For in this way it comes to pass that men who lust after evil things are, by a secret
judgment of God, delivered over to be mocked and deceived, as the just reward of their
evil desires. For they are deluded and imposed on by the false angels, to whom the lowest
part of the world has been put in subjection by the law of God's providence, and in
accordance with His most admirable arrangement of things. And the result of these
delusions and deceptions is, that through these superstitious and baneful modes of
divination many things in the past and future are made known, and turn out just as they
are foretold and in the case of those who practise superstitious observances, many things
turn out agreeably to their observances, and ensnared by these successes, they become more
eagerly inquisitive, and involve themselves further and further in a labyrinth of most
pernicious error. And to our advantage, the Word of God is not silent about this species
of fornication of the soul; and it does not warn the soul against following such practices
on the ground that those who profess them speak lies, but it says, "Even if what they tell
you should come to pass, hearken not unto them." For though the ghost of the dead Samuel
foretold the truth to King Saul, that does not make such sacrilegious observances as those
by which his ghost was brought up the less detestable; and though the ventriloquist woman
in the Acts of the Apostles bore true testimony to the apostles of the Lord, the Apostle
Paul did not spare the evil spirit on that account, but rebuked and cast it out, and so
made the woman clean.

36. All arts of this sort, therefore, are either nullities, or are part of a guilty
superstition, springing out of a baleful fellowship between men and devils, and are to be
utterly repudiated and avoided by the Christian as the covenants of a false and
treacherous friendship. "Not as if the idol were anything," says the apostle; "but because
the things which they sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God; and I would not
that ye should have fellowship with devils." Now what the apostle has said about idols and
the sacrifices offered in their honor, that we ought to feel in regard to all fancied
signs which lead either to the worship of idols, or to worshipping creation or its parts
instead of God, or which are connected with attention to medicinal charms and other
observances for these are not appointed by God as the public means of promoting love
towards God and our neighbor, but they waste the hearts of wretched men in private and
selfish strivings after temporal things. Accordingly, in regard to all these branches of
knowledge, we must fear and shun the fellowship of demons, who, with the Devil their
prince, strive only to shut and bar the door against our return. As, then, from the stars
which God created and ordained, men have drawn lying omens of their own fancy, so also
from things that are born, or in any other way come into existence under the government of
God's providence, if there chance only to be something unusual in the occurrence,-as when
a mule brings forth young, or an object is struck by lightning,-men have frequently drawn
omens by conjectures of their own, and have committed them to writing, as if they had
drawn them by rule.

CHAPTER 24.-THE INTERCOURSE AND AGREEMENT WITH DEMONS WHICH SUPERSTITIOUS OBSERVANCES MAINTAIN.

1 37. And all these omens are of force just so far as has been arranged with the devils by
that previous understanding in the mind which is, as it were, the common language, but
they are all full of hurtful curiosity, torturing anxiety, and deadly slavery. For it was
not because they had meaning that they were attended to, but it was by attending to and
marking them that they came to have meaning. And so they are made different for different
people, according to their several notions and prejudices. For those spirits which are
bent upon deceiving, take care to provide for each person the same sort of omens as they
see his own conjectures and preconceptions have already entangled him in. For, to take an
illustration, the same figure of the letter X, which is made in the shape of a cross,
means one thing among the Greeks and another among the Latins, not by nature, but by
agreement and pre-arrangement as to its signification; and so, any one who knows both
languages uses this letter in a different sense when writing to a Greek from that in which
he uses it when writing to a Latin. And the same sound, beta, which is the name of a
letter among the Greeks, is the name of a vegetable among the Latins; and when I say,
lege, these two syllables mean one thing to a Greek and another to a Latin.

2 Now, just as all these signs affect the mind according to the arrangements of the
community in which each man lives, and affect different men's minds differently, because
these arrangements are different; and as, further, men did not agree upon them as signs
because they were already significant, but on the contrary they are now significant
because men have agreed upon them; in the same way also, those signs by which the ruinous
intercourse with devils is maintained have meaning just in proportion to each man's
observations. And this appears quite plainly in the rites of the augurs; for they, both
before they observe the omens and after they have completed their observations, take pains
not to see the flight or hear the cries of birds, because these omens are of no
significance apart from the previous arrangement in the mind of the observer.

CHAPTER 25.-IN HUMAN INSTITUTIONS WHICH ARE NOT SUPERSTITIOUS, THERE ARE SOME THINGS SUPERFLUOUS AND SOME CONVENIENT AND NECESSARY.

38. But when all these have been cut away and rooted out of the mind of the Christian we
must then look at human institutions which are not superstitious, that is, such as are not
set up in association with devils, but by men in association with one another. For all
arrangements that aye in force among men, because they have agreed among themselves that
they should be in force, are human institutions; and of these, some are matters of
superfluity and luxury, some of convenience and necessity. For if those signs which the
actors make in dancing were of force by nature, and not by the arrangement and agreement
of men, the public crier would not in former times have announced to the people of
Carthage, while the pantomime was dancing, what it was he meant to express,-a thing still
remembered by many old men from whom we have frequently heard it. And we may well believe
this, because even now, if any one who is unaccustomed to such follies goes into the
theatre, unless some one tells him what these movements mean, he will give his whole
attention to them in vain. Yet all men aim at a certain degree of likeness in their choice
of signs, that the signs may as far as possible be like the things they signify. But
because one thing may resemble another in many ways, such signs are not always of the same
significance among men, except when they have mutually agreed upon them.

39. But in regard to pictures and statues, and other works of this kind, which are
intended as representations of things, nobody makes a mistake, especially if they are
executed by skilled artists, but every one, as soon as he sees the likenesses, recognizes
the things they are likenesses of. And this whole class are to be reckoned among the
superfluous devices of men, unless when it is a matter of importance to inquire in regard
to any of them, for what reason, where, when, and by whose authority it was made. Finally,
the thousands of fables and fictions, in whose lies men take delight, are human devices,
and nothing is to be considered more peculiarly man's own and derived from himself than
anything that is false and lying. Among the convenient and necessary arrangements of men
with men are to be reckoned whatever differences they choose to make in bodily dress and
ornament for the purpose of distinguishing sex or rank; and the countless varieties of
signs without which human intercourse either could not be carried on at all, or would be
carried on at great inconvenience; and the arrangements as to weights and measures, and
the stamping and weighing of coins, which are peculiar to each state and people, and other
things of the same kind. Now these, if they were not devices of men, would not be
different in different nations, and could not be changed among particular nations at the
discretion of their respective sovereigns.

40. This whole class of human arrangements, which are of convenience for the necessary
intercourse of life, the Christian is not by any means to neglect, but on the contrary
should pay a sufficient degree of attention to them, and keep them in memory.

CHAPTER 26.-WHAT HUMAN CONTRIVANCES WE ARE TO ADOPT, AND WHAT WE ARE TO AVOID.

For certain institutions of men are in a sort of way representations and likenesses of
natural objects. And of these, such as have relation to fellowship with devils must, as
has been said, be utterly rejected and held in detestation; those, on the other hand,
which relate to the mutual intercourse of men, are, so far as they are not matters of
luxury and superfluity, to be adopted, especially the forms of the letters which are
necessary for reading, and the various languages as far as is required-a matter I have
spoken of above. To this class also belong shorthand characters, those who are acquainted
with which are called shorthand writers. All these are useful, and there is nothing
unlawful in learning them, nor do they involve us in superstition, or enervate us by
luxury, if they only occupy our minds so far as not to stand in the way of more important
objects to which they ought to be subservient.

CHAPTER 27.-SOME DEPARTMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE, NOT OF MERE HUMAN INVENTION, AID US IN INTERPRETING SCRIPTURE.

41. But, coming to the next point, we are not to reckon among human institutions those
things which men nave handed down to us, not as arrangements of their own, but as the
result of investigation into the occurrences of the past, and into the arrangements of
God's providence. And of these, some pertain to the bodily senses, some to the intellect.
Those which are reached by the bodily senses we either believe on testimony, or perceive
when they are pointed out to us, or infer from experience.

CHAPTER 28.-TO WHAT EXTENT HISTORY IS AN AID.

42. Anything, then, that we learn from history about the chronology of past times assists
us very much in understanding the Scriptures, even if it be learnt without the pale of the
Church as a matter of childish instruction. For we frequently seek information about a
variety of matters by use of the Olympiads, and the names of the consuls; and ignorance of
the consulship in which our Lord was born, and that in which He suffered, has led some
into the error of supposing that He was forty-six years of age when He suffered, that
being the number of years He was told by the Jews the temple (which He took as a symbol of
His body) was in building. Now we know on the authority of the evangelist that He was
about thirty years of age when He was baptized; But the number of years He lived
afterwards, although by putting His actions together we can make it out, yet that no
shadow of doubt might arise from another source, can be ascertained more clearly and more
certainly from a comparison of profane history with the gospel. It will still be evident,
however, that it was not without a purpose it was said that the temple was forty and six
years in building; so that, as more secret formation of the body which, for our sakes, the
only-begotten Son of God, by whom all things were made, condescended to put on.

43. As to the utility of history, moreover, passing over the Greeks, what a great question
our own Ambrose has set at rest! For, when the readers and admirers of Plato dared
calumniously to assert that our Lord Jesus Christ learnt all those sayings of His, which
they are compelled to admire and praise, from the books of Plato-because (they urged) it
cannot be denied that Plato lived long before the coming of our Lord!-did not the
illustrious bishop, when by his investigations into profane history he had discovered that
Plato made a journey into Egypt at the time when Jeremiah the prophet was there, show that
it is much more likely that Plato was through Jeremiah's means initiated into our
literature, so as to be able to teach and write those views of his which are so justly
praised? For not even Pythagoras himself, from whose successors these men assert Plato
learnt theology, lived at a date prior to the books of that Hebrew race, among whom the
worship of one God sprang up, and of whom as concerning the flesh our Lord came. And thus,
when we reflect upon the dates, it becomes much more probable that those philosophers
learnt Whatever they said that was good and true from our literature, than that the Lord
Jesus Christ learnt from the writings of Plato,-a thing which it is the height of folly to
believe.

44. And even when in the course of an historical narrative former institutions of men are
described, the history itself is not to be reckoned among human institutions; because
things that are past and gone and cannot be undone are to be reckoned as belonging to the
course of time, of which God is the author and governor. For it is one thing to tell what
has been done, another to show what ought to be done. History narrates what has been done,
faithfully and with advantage; but the books of the haruspices, and all writings of the
same kind, aim at teaching what ought to be done or observed, using the boldness of an
adviser, not the fidelity of a narrator.

CHAPTER 29.-TO WHAT EXTENT NATURAL SCIENCE IS AN EXEGETICAL AID.

45. There is also a species of narrative resembling description, in which not a past but
an existing state of things is made known to those who are ignorant of it. To this species
belongs all that has been written about the situation of places, and the nature of
animals, trees, herbs, stones, and other bodies. And of this species I have treated above,
and have shown that this kind of knowledge is serviceable in solving the difficulties of
Scripture, not that these objects are to be used conformably to certain signs as nostrums
or the instruments of superstition; for that kind of knowledge I have already set aside as
distinct from the lawful and free kind now spoken of. For it is one thing to say: If you
bruise down this herb and drink it, it will remove the pain from your stomach; and another
to say: If you hang this herb round your neck, it will remove the pain from your stomach.
In the former case the wholesome mixture is approved of, in the latter the superstitious
charm is condemned; although indeed, where incantations and invocations and marks are not
used, it is frequently doubtful whether the thing that is tied or fixed in any way to the
body to cure it, acts by a natural virtue, in which case it may be freely used; or acts by
a sort of charm, in which case it becomes the Christian to avoid it the more carefully,
the more efficacious it may seem to be. But when the reason why a thing is of virtue does
not appear, the intention with which it is used is of great importance, at least in
healing or in tempering bodies, whether in medicine or in agriculture.

46. The knowledge of the stars, again, is not a matter of narration, but of description.
Very few of these, however, are mentioned in Scripture. And as the course of the moon,
which is regularly employed in reference to celebrating the anniversary of our Lord's
passion, is known to most people; so the rising and setting and other movements of the
rest of the heavenly bodies are thoroughly known to very few. And this knowledge, although
in itself it involves no superstition, renders very little, indeed almost no assistance,
in the interpretation of Holy Scripture, and by engaging the attention unprofitably is a
hindrance rather; and as it is closely related to the very pernicious error of the
diviners of the fates, it is more convenient and becoming to neglect it. It involves,
moreover, in addition to a description of the present state of things, something like a
narrative of the past also; because one may go back from the present position and motion
of the stars, and trace by rule their past movements. It involves also regular
anticipations of the future, not in the way of forebodings and omens, but by way of sure
calculation; not with the design of drawing any information from them as to our own acts
and fates, in the absurd fashion of the genethliaci, but only as to the motions of the
heavenly bodies themselves. For, as the man who computes the moon's age can tell, when he
has found out her age today, what her age was any number of years ago, or what will be her
age any number of years hence, in just the same way men who are skilled in such
computations are accustomed to answer like questions about every one of the heavenly
bodies. And I have stated what my views are about all this knowledge, so far as regards
its utility.

CHAPTER 30.-WHAT THE MECHANICAL ARTS CONTRIBUTE TO EXEGETICS.

47. Further, as to the remaining arts, whether those by which something is made which,
when the effort of the workman is over, remains as a result of his work, as, for example,
a house, a bench, a dish, and other things of that kind; or those which, so to speak,
assist God in His operations, as medicine, and agriculture, and navigation: or those whose
sole result is an action, as dancing, and racing, and wrestling;-in all these arts
experience teaches us to infer the future from the past. For no man who is skilled in any
of these arts moves his limbs in any operation without connecting the memory of the past
with the expectation of the future. Now of these arts a very superficial and cursory
knowledge is to be acquired, not with a view to practising them (unless some duty compel
us, a matter on which I do not touch at present), but with a view to forming a judgment
about them, that we may not be wholly ignorant of what Scripture means to convey when it
employs figures of speech derived from these arts.

CHAPTER 31.-USE OF DIALECTICS. OF FALLACIES.

48. There remain those branches of knowledge which pertain not to the bodily senses, but
to the intellect, among which the science of reasoning and that of number are the chief.
The science of reasoning is of very great service in searching into and unravelling all
sorts of questions that come up in Scripture, only in the use of it we must guard against
the love of wrangling, and the childish vanity of entrapping an adversary. For there are
many of what are called solphisms, inferences in reasoning that are false, and yet so
close an imitation of the true, as to deceive not only dull people, but clever men too,
when they are not on their guard. For example, one man lays before another with whom he is
talking, the proposition, "What I am, you are not." The other assents, for the proposition
is in part true, the one man being cunning and the other simple. Then the first speaker
adds: "I am a man;" and when the other has given his assent to this also, the first draws
his conclusion: "Then you are not a man. "' Now of this sort of ensnaring arguments,
Scripture, as I judge, expresses detestation in that place where it is said, "There is one
that showeth wisdom in words, and is hated;" although, indeed, a style of speech which is
not intended to entrap, but only aims at verbal ornamentation more than is consistent with
seriousness of purpose, is also called sophistical.

49. There are also valid processes of reasoning which lead to false conclusions, by
following out to its logical consequences the error of the man with whom one is arguing;
and these conclusions are sometimes drawn by a good and learned man, with the object of
making the person from whose error these consequences result, feel ashamed of them and of
thus leading him to give up his error when he finds that if he wishes to retain his old
opinion, he must of necessity also hold other opinions which he condemns. For example, the
apostle did not draw true conclusions when he said, "Then is Christ not risen," and again,
"Then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain;" and further on drew other
inferences which are all utterly false; for Christ has risen, the preaching of those who
declared this fact was not in vain, nor was their faith in vain who had believed it. But
all these false inferences followed legitimately from the opinion of those who said that
there is no resurrection of the dead. These inferences, then, being repudiated as false,
it follows that since they would be true if the dead rise not, there will be a
resurrection of the dead. As, then, valid conclusions may be drawn not only from true but
from false propositions, the laws of valid reasoning may easily be learnt in the schools,
outside the pale of the Church. But the truth of propositions must be inquired into in the
sacred books of the Church.

CHAPTER 32.-VALID LOGICAL SEQUENCE IS NOT DEVISED BUT ONLY OBSERVED BY MAN.

50. And yet the validity of logical sequences is not a thing devised by men, but is
observed and noted by them that they may be able to learn and teach it; for it exists
eternally in the reason of things, and has its origin with God. For as the man who
narrates the order of events does not himself create that order; and as he who describes
the situations of places, or the natures of animals, or roots, or minerals, does not
describe arrangements of man; and as he who points out the stars and their movements does
not point out anything that he himself or any other man has ordained;-in the same way, he
who says, "When the consequent is false, the antecedent must also be false," says what is
most true; but he does not himself make it so, he only points out that it is so. And it is
upon this rule that the reasoning I have quoted from the Apostle Paul proceeds. For the
antecedent is, "There is no resurrection of the dead,"-the position taken up by those
whose error the apostle wished to overthrow. Next, from this antecedent, the assertion,
viz., that there is no resurrection of the dead, the necessary consequence is, "Then
Christ is not risen." But this consequence is false, for Christ has risen; therefore the
antecedent is also false. But the antecedent is, that there is no resurrection of the
dead. We conclude, therefore, that there is a resurrection of the dead. Now all this is
briefly expressed thus: If there is no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen;
but Christ is risen, therefore there is a resurrection of the dead. This rule, then, that
when the consequent is removed, the antecedent must also be removed, is not made by man,
but only pointed out by him. And this rule has reference to the validity of the reasoning,
not to the truth of the statements.

CHAPTER 33.-FALSE INFERENCES MAY BE DRAWN FROM VALID REASONINGS, AND VICE VERSA.

1 51. In this passage, however, where the argument is about the resurrection, both the law
of the inference is valid, and the conclusion arrived at is true. But in the case of false
conclusions, too, there is a validity of inference in some such way as the following. Let
us suppose some man to have admitted: If a snail is an animal, it has a voice. This being
admitted, then, when it has been proved that the snail has no voice, it follows (since
when the consequent is proved false, the antecedent is also false) that the snail is not
an animal. Now this conclusion is false, but it is a true and valid inference from the
false admission. Thus, the truth of a statement stands on its own merits; the validity of
an inference depends on the statement or the admission of the man with whom one is
arguing. And thus, as I said above, a false inference may be drawn by a valid process of
reasoning, in order that he whose error we wish to correct may be sorry that he has
admitted the antecedent, when he sees that its logical consequences are utterly untenable.
And hence it is easy to understand that as the inferences may be valid where the opinions
are false, so the inferences may be unsound where the opinions are true. For example,
suppose that a man propounds the statement, "If this man is just, he is good," and we
admit its truth. Then he adds, "But he is not just;

2 and when we admit this too, he draws the conclusion, "Therefore he is not good. Now
although every one of these statements may be true, still the principle of the inference
is unsound. For it is not true that, as when the consequent is proved false the antecedent
is also false, so when the antecedent is proved false the consequent is false. For the
statement is true, "If he is an orator, he is a man. But if we add, "He is not an orator,"
the consequence does not follow, "He is not a man."

CHAPTER 34.-IT IS ONE THING TO KNOW THE LAWS OF INFERENCE, ANOTHER TO KNOW THE TRUTH OF OPINIONS.

52. Therefore it is one thing to know the laws of inference, and another to know the truth
of opinions. In the former case we learn what is consequent, what is inconsequent, and
what is incompatible. An example of a consequent is, "If he is an orator,he is a man;" of
an inconsequent, "If he is a man, he is an orator;" of an incompatible, "If he is a man,
he is a quadruped." In these instances we judge of the connection. In regard to the truth
of opinions, however, we must consider propositions as they stand by themselves, and not
in their connection with one another; but when propositions that we are not sure about are
joined by a valid inference to propositions that are true and certain, they themselves,
too, necessarily become certain. Now some, when they have ascertained the validity of the
inference, plume themselves as if this involved also the truth of the propositions. Many,
again, who hold the true opinions have an unfounded contempt for themselves, because they
are ignorant of the laws of inference; whereas the man who knows that there is a
resurrection of the dead is assuredly better than the man who only knows that it follows
that if there is no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen.

CHAPTER 35 .-THE SCIENCE OF DEFINITION IS NOT FALSE, THOUGH IT MAY BE APPLIED TO FALSITIES.

53. Again, the science of definition, of division, and of partition, although it is
frequently applied to falsities, is not itself false, nor framed by man's device, but is
evolved from the reason of things. For although poets have applied it to their fictions,
and false philosophers, or even heretics-that is, false Christians-to their erroneous
doctrines, that is no reason why it should be false, for example, that neither in
definition, nor in division, nor in partition, is anything to be included that does not
pertain to the matter in hand, nor anything to be omitted that does. This is true, even
though the things to be defined or divided are not true. For even falsehood itself is
defined when we say that falsehood is the declaration of a state of things which is not as
we declare it to be; and this definition is true, although falsehood itself cannot be
true. We can also divide it, saying that there are two kinds of falsehood, one in regard
to things that cannot be true at all, the other in regard to things that are not, though
it is possible they might be, true. For example, the man who says that seven and three are
eleven, says what cannot be true under any circumstances; but he who says that it rained
on the kalends of January, although perhaps the fact is not so, says what posssibly might
have been. The definition and division, therefore, of what is false may be perfectly true,
although what is false cannot, of course, itself be true.

CHAPTER 36.-THE RULES OF ELOQUENCE ARE TRUE, THOUGH SOMETIMES USED TO PERSUADE MEN OF WHAT IS FALSE.

54. There are also certain rules for a more copious kind of argument, which is called
eloquence, and these rules are not the less true that they can be used for persuading men
of what is false; but as they can be used to enforce the truth as well, it is not the
faculty itself that is to be blamed, but the perversity of those who put it to a bad use.
Nor is it owing to an arrangement among men that the expression of affection conciliates
the hearer, or that a narrative, when it is short and clear, is effective, and that
variety arrests men's attention without wearying them. And it is the same with other
directions of the same kind, which, whether the cause in which they are used be true or
false, are themselves true just in so far as they are effective in producing knowledge or
belief, or in moving men's minds to desire and aversion. And men rather found out that
these things are so, than arranged that they should be so.

CHAPTER 37.-USE OF RHETORIC AND DIALECTIC.

1 55. This art, however, when it is learnt, is not to be used so much for ascertaining the
meaning as for setting forth the meaning when it is ascertained. But the art previously
spoken of, which deals with inferences, and definitions, and divisions, is of the greatest
assistance in the discovery of the meaning, provided only that men do not fall into the
error of supposing that when they have learnt these things they have learnt the true
secret of a happy life. Still, it sometimes happens that men find less difficulty in
attaining the object for the sake of which these sciences are learnt, than in going
through the very intricate and thorny discipline of such rules. It is just as if a man
wishing to give rules for walking should warn you not to lift the hinder foot before you
set down the front one, and then should describe minutely the way you ought to move the
hinges of the joints and knees. For what he says is true, and one cannot walk in any other
way; but men find it easier to walk by executing these movements than to attend to them
while they are going through them, or to understand when they are told about them. Those,
on the other hand, who cannot walk, care still less about such directions, as they cannot
prove them by making trial of them. And in the same way a clever man often sees that an
inference is unsound more quickly than he apprehends the rules for it.

2 A dull man, on the other hand, does not see the unsoundness, but much less does he grasp
the rules. And in regard to all these laws, we derive more pleasure from them as
exhibitions of truth, than assistance in arguing or forming opinions, except perhaps that
they put the intellect in better training. We must take care, however that they do not at
the same time make it more inclined to mischief or vanity,-that is to say, that they do
not give those who have learnt them an inclination to lead people astray by plausible
speech and catching questions, or make them think that they have attained some great thing
that gives them an advantage over the good and innocent.

CHAPTER 38.-THE SCIENCE OF NUMBERS NOT CREATED, BUT ONLY DISCOVERED, BY MAN.

56. Coming now to the science of number, it is clear to the dullest apprehension that this
was not created by man, but was discovered by investigation. For, though Virgil could at
his own pleasure make the first syllable of Italia long, while the ancients pronounced it
short, it is not in any man's power to determine at his pleasure that three times three
are not nine, or do not make a square, or are not the triple of three, nor one and a half
times the number six, or that it is not true that they are not the double of any number
because odd numbers have no half. Whether, then, numbers are considered in themselves, or
as applied to the laws of figures, or of sounds, or of other motions, they have fixed laws
which were not made by man, but which the acuteness of ingenious men brought to light.

57. The man, however, who puts so high a value on these things as to be inclined to boast
himself one of the learned, and who does not rather inquire after the source from which
those things which he perceives to be true derive their truth, and from which those others
which he perceives to be unchangeable also derive their truth and unchangeableness, and
who, mounting up from bodily appearances to the mind of man, and finding that it too is
changeable (for it is sometimes instructed, at other times uninstructed), although it
holds a middle place between the unchangeable truth above it and the changeable things
beneath it, does not strive to make all things redound to the praise and love of the one
God from whom he knows that all things have their being;-the man, I say, who acts in this
way may seem to be learned, but wise he cannot in any sense be deemed.

CHAPTER 39.-TO WHICH OF THE ABOVE-MENTIONED STUDIES ATTENTION SHOULD BE GIVEN, AND IN WHAT SPIRIT.

58. Accordingly, I think that it is well to warn studious and able young men, who fear God
and are seeking for happiness of life, not to venture heedlessly upon the pursuit of the
branches of learning that are in vogue beyond the pale of the Church of Christ, as if
these could secure for them the happiness they seek; but soberly and carefully to
discriminate among them. And if they find any of those which have been instituted by men
varying by reason of the varying pleasure of their founders, and unknown by reason of
erroneous conjectures, especially if they involve entering into fellowship with devils by
means of leagues and covenants about signs, let these be utterly rejected and held in
detestation. Let the young men also withdraw their attention from such institutions of men
as are unnecessary and luxurious. But for the sake of the necessities of this life we must
not neglect the arrangements of men that enable us to carry on intercourse with those
around us. I think, however, there is nothing useful in the other branches of learning
that are found among the heathen, except information about objects, either past or
present, that relate to the bodily senses, in which are included also the experiments and
conclusions of the useful mechanical arts, except also the sciences of reasoning and of
number. And in regard to all these we must hold by the maxim, "Not too much of anything;"
especially in the case of those which, pertaining as they do to the senses, are subject to
the relations of space and time.

59. What, then, some men have done in regard to all words and names found in Scripture, in
the Hebrew, and Syriac, and Egyptian, and other tongues, taking up and interpreting
separately such as were left in Scripture without interpretation; and what Eusebius has
done in regard to the history of the past with a view to the questions arising in
Scripture that require a knowledge of history for their solution;-what, I say, these men
have done in regard to matters of this kind, making it unnecessary for the Christian to
spend his strength on many subjects for the sake of a few items of knowledge, the same, I
think, might be done in regard to other matters, if any competent man were willing in a
spirit of benevolence to undertake the labor for the advantage of his brethren. In this
way he might arrange in their several classes, and give an account of the unknown places,
and animals, and plants, and trees, and stones, and metals, and other species of things
that are mentioned in Scripture, taking up these only, and committing his account to
writing. This might also be done in relation to numbers, so that the theory of those
numbers, and those only, which are mentioned in Holy Scripture, might be explained and
written down.

And it may happen that some or all of these things have been done already (as I have found
that many things I had no notion of have been worked out and committed to writing by good
and learned Christians), but are either lost amid the crowds of the careless, or are kept
out of sight by the envious. And I am not sure whether the same thing can be done in
regard to the theory of reasoning; but it seems to me it cannot, because this runs like a
system of nerves through the whole structure of Scripture, and on that account is of more
service to the reader in disentangling and explaining ambiguous passages, of which I shall
speak hereafter, than in ascertaining the meaning of unknown signs, the topic I am now
discussing.

CHAPTER 40.-WHATEVER HAS BEEN RIGHTLY SAID BY THE HEATHEN, WE MUST APPROPRIATE TO OUR USES.

60. Moreover, if those who are called philosophers, and especially the Platonists, have
said aught that is true and in harmony with our faith, we are not only not to shrink from
it, but to claim it for our own use from those who have unlawful possession of it. For, as
the Egyptians had not only the idols and heavy burdens which the people of Israel hated
and fled from, but also vessels and ornaments of gold and silver, and garments, which the
same people when going out of Egypt appropriated to themselves, designing them for a
better use, not doing this on their own authority, but by the command of God, the
Egyptians themselves, in their ignorance, providing them with things which they themselves
were not making a good use of; in the same way all branches of heathen learning have not
only false and superstitious fancies and heavy burdens of unnecessary toil, which every
one of us, when going out under the leadership of Christ from the fellowship of the
heathen, ought to abhor and avoid; but they contain also liberal instruction which is
better adapted to the use of the truth, and some most excellent precepts of morality; and
some truths in regard even to the worship of the One God are found among them. Now these
are, so to speak, their gold and silver, which they did not create themselves, but dug out
of the mines of God's providence which are everywhere scattered abroad, and are perversely
and unlawfully prostituting to the worship of devils. These, therefore, the Christian,
when he separates himself in spirit from the miserable fellowship of these men, ought to
take away from them, and to devote to their proper use in preaching the gospel. Their
garments, also,-that is, human institutions such as are adapted to that intercourse with
men which is indispensable in this life,-we must take and turn to a Christian use.

61. And what else have many good and faithful men among our brethren done? Do we not see
with what a quantity of gold and silver and garments Cyprian, that most per suasive
teacher and most blessed martyr, was loaded when he came out of Egypt? How much Lactantius
brought with him? And Victorinus, and Optatus, and Hilary, not to speak of living men! How
much Greeks out of number have borrowed! And prior to all these, that most faithful
servant of God, Moses, had done the same thing; for of him it is written that he was
learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And to none of all these would heathen
superstition (especially in those times when, kicking against the yoke of Christ, it was
persecuting the Christians) have ever furnished branches of knowledge it held useful, if
it had suspected they were about to turn them to the use of worshipping the One God, and
thereby overturning the vain worship of idols. But they gave their gold and their silver
and their garments to the people of God as they were going out of Egypt, not knowing how
the things they gave would be turned to the service of Christ. For what was done at the
time of the exodus was no doubt a type prefiguring what happens now. And this I say
without prejudice to any other interpretation that may be as good, or better.

CHAPTER 41.-WHAT KIND OF SPIRIT IS REQUIRED FOR THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE.

1 62. But when the student of the Holy Scriptures, prepared in the way I have indicated,
shall enter upon his investigations, let him constantly meditate upon that saying of the
apostle's, "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. For so he will feel that, whatever
may be the riches he brings with him out of Egypt, yet unless he has kept the passover, he
cannot be safe. Now Christ is our passover sacrificed for us, and there is nothing the
sacrifice of Christ more clearly teaches us than the call which He himself addresses to
those whom He sees toiling in Egypt under Pharaoh: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I
am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light. To whom is it light but to the meek and lowly in heart, whom
knowledge doth not puff up, but charity edifieth? Let them remember, then, that those who
celebrated the passover at that time in type and shadow, when they were ordered to mark
their door-posts with the blood of the lamb, used hyssop to mark them with. Now this is a
meek and lowly herb, and yet nothing is stronger and more penetrating than its roots;

2 that being rooted and grounded in love, we may be able to comprehend with all saints
what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, -that is, to comprehend the cross
of our Lord, the breadth of which is indicated by the transverse wood on which the hands
are stretched, its length by the part from the ground up to the cross-bar on which the
whole body from the head downwards is fixed, its height by the part from the crossbar to
the top on which the head lies, and its depth by the part which is hidden, being fixed in
the earth. And by this sign of the cross all Christian action is symbolized, viz., to do
good works in Christ, to cling with constancy to Him, tó hope for heaven, and not to
desecrate the sacraments. And purified by this Christian action, we shall be able to know
even "the love of Christ which passeth knowledge," who is equal to the Father, by whom all
things, were made, "that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. There is besides
in hyssop a purgative virtue, that the breast may not be swollen with that knowledge which
puffeth up, nor boast vainly of the riches brought out from Egypt. "Purge me with hyssop,"
the psalmist says, "and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make
me to hear joy and gladness.

3 Then he immediately adds, to show that it is purifying from pride that is indicated by
hyssop, "that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice."

CHAPTER 42.-SACRED SCRIPTURE COMPARED WITH PROFANE AUTHORS.

63. But just as poor as the store of gold and silver and garments which the people of
Israel brought with them out of Egypt was in comparison with the riches which they
afterwards attained at Jerusalem, and which reached their height in the reign of King
Solomon, so poor is all the useful knowledge which is gathered from the books of the
heathen when compared with the knowledge of Holy Scripture, For whatever man may have
learnt from other sources, if it is hurtful, it is there condemned; if it is useful, it is
therein contained. And while every man may find there all that he has learnt of useful
elsewhere, he will find there in much greater abundance things that are to be found
nowhere else, but can be learnt only in the wonderful sublimity and wonderful simplicity
of the Scriptures. When, then, the reader is possessed of the instruction here pointed
out, so that unknown signs have ceased to be a hindrance to him; when he is meek and lowly
of heart, subject to the easy yoke of Christ, and loaded with His light burden, rooted and
grounded and built up in faith, so that knowledge cannot puff him up, let him then
approach the consideration and discussion of ambiguous signs in Scripture. And about these
I shall now, in a third book, endeavor to say what the Lord shall be pleased to vouchsafe.

INTRODUCTION

Argument-The author, having discussed in the preceding book the method of dealing with
unknown signs, goes on in this third book to treat of ambiguous signs. Such signs may be
either direct or figurative. In the case of direct signs ambiguity may arise from the
punctuation, the pronunciation, or the doubtful signification of the words, and is to be
resolved by attention to the context, a comparison of translations, or a reference to the
original tongue. In the case of figurative signs we need to guard against two mistakes:-1.
the interpreting literal expressions figuratively; 2. the interpreting figurative
expressions literally. The author lays down rules by which we may decide whether an
expression is literal or figurative; the general rule being, that whatever can be shown to
be in its literal sense inconsistent either with purity of life or correctness of doctrine
must be taken figuratively. He then goes on to lay down rules for the interpretation of
expressions which have been proved to be figurative; the general principle being, that no
interpretation can be true which does not promote the love of God and the love of man. The
author then proceeds to expound and illustrate the seven rules of Tichonius the donatist,
which he commends to the attention of the student of Holy Scripture.

CHAPTER I .-SUMMARY OF THE FOREGOING BOOKS, AND SCOPE OF THAT WHICH FOLLOWS.

I. The man who fears God seeks diligently in Holy Scripture for a knowledge of His will.
And when he has become meek through piety, so as to have no love of strife; when furnished
also with a knowledge of languages, so as not to be stopped by unknown words and forms of
speech, and with the knowledge of certain necessary objects, so as not to be ignorant of
the force and nature of those which are used figuratively; and assisted, besides, by
accuracy in the texts, which has been secured by skill and care in the matter of
correction;-when thus prepared, let him proceed to the examination and solution of the
ambiguities of Scripture. And that he may not be led astray by ambiguous signs, so far as
I can give him instruction (it may happen, however, that either from the greatness of his
intellect, or the greater clearness of the light he enjoys, he shall laugh at the methods
I am going to point out as childish),-but yet, as I was going to say, so far as I can give
instruction, let him who is in such a state of mind that he can be instructed by me know,
that the ambiguity of Scripture lies either in proper words or in metaphorical, classes
which I have already described in the second book.

CHAPTER 2.-RULE FOR REMOVING AMBIGUITY BY ATTENDING TO PUNCTUATION.

2. But when proper words make Scripture ambiguous, we must see in the first place that
there is nothing wrong in our punctuation or pronunciation. Accordingly, if, when
attention is given to the passage, it shall appear to be uncertain in what way it ought to
be punctuated or pronounced, let the reader consult the rule of faith which he has
gathered from the plainer passages of Scripture, and from the authority of the Church, and
of which I treated at sufficient length when I was speaking in the first book about
things. But ifboth readings, or all of them (if there are more than two), give a meaning
in harmony with the faith, it remains to consult the context, both what goes before and
what comes after, to see which interpretation, out of many that offer themselves, it
pronounces for and permits to be dovetailed into itself. 3. Now look at some examples. The
heretical pointing, "In principio erat verbum, et verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat," so
as to make the next sentence run, "Verbum hoc erat in principio apud Deum ," arises out of
unwillingness to confess that the Word was God. But this must be rejected by the rule of
faith, which, in reference to the equality of the Trinity, directs us to say: "et Deus
erat verbum;" and then to add: "hoc erat in principio apud Deum."

4. But the following ambiguity of punctuation does not go against the faith in either way
you take it, and therefore must be decided from the context. It is where the apostle says:
"What I shall choose I wot not: for I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to
depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is
more needful for you. Now it is uncertain whether we should read, "ex duobus
concupiscentiam habens" [having a desire for two things], or "compellor autem ex duobus"
[I am in a strait betwixt two]; and so to add: "concupiscentiam habens dissolvi, et esse
cum Christo" [having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ].But since there follows
"multo enim magis optimum" [for it is far better], it is evident that he says he has a
desire for that which is better; so that, while he is in a strait betwixt two, yet he has
a desire for one and sees a necessity for the other; a desire, viz., to be with Christ,
and a necessity to remain in the flesh. Now this ambiguity is resolved by one word that
follows, which is translated enim [for]; and the translators who have omitted this
particle have preferred the interpretation which makes the apostle seem not only in a
strait betwixt two, but also to have a desire for two. We must therefore punctuate the
sentence thus: "et quid eligam ignoro: compellor autem ex duobus" [what I shall choose I
wot not:

for I am in a strait betwixt two]; and after this point follows: "concupiscentiam habens
dissolvi, et esse cum Christo" [having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ]. And, as
if he were asked why he has a desire for this in preference to the other, he adds: "multo
enim magis optimum" [for it is far better]. Why, then, is he in a strait betwixt the two?
Because there is a need for his remaining, which he adds in these terms: "manere in carne
necessarium propter vos" [nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you]. 5.
Where, however, the ambiguity cannot be cleared up, either by the rule of faith or by the
context, there is nothing to hinder us to point the sentence according to any method we
choose of those that suggest themselves. As is the case in that passage to the
Corinthians: "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Receive us; we have wronged no man." It is doubtful whether we should read, mundemus nos
ab omni coinquinatione carnis et spiritus" [let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit], in accordance with the passage, "that she may be holy both in
body and in spirit," or, "mundemus nos ab omni coinquinatione carnis" [let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh], so as to make the next sentence, "et spiritus
perficientes sanctificationem in timore Dei capite nos" [and perfecting holiness of spirit
in the fear of God, receive us]. Such ambiguities of punctuation, therefore, are left to
the reader's discretion.

CHAPTER 3.-HOW PRONUNCIATION SERVES TO REMOVE AMBIGUITY DIFFERENT KINDS OF INTERROGATION.

6. And all the directions that I have given about ambiguous punctuations are to be
observed likewise in the case of doubtful pronunciations. For these too, unless the fault
lies in the carelessness of the reader, are corrected either by the rule of faith, or by a
reference to the preceding or succeeding context; or if neither of these methods is
applied with success, they will remain doubtful, but so that the reader will not be in
fault in whatever way he may pronounce them. For example, if our faith that God will not
bring any charges against His elect, and that Christ will not condemn His elect, did not
stand in the way, this passage, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
might be pronounced in such a way as to make what follows an answer to this question, "God
who justifieth," and to make a second question, "Who is he that condemneth? with the
answer, "Christ Jesus who died. But as it would be the height of madness to believe this,
the passage will be pronounced in such a way as to make the first part a question of
inquiry, and the second a rhetorical interrogative. Now the ancients said that the
difference between an inquiry and an interrogative was this, that an inquiry admits of
many answers, but loan interrogative the answer must be either "No" or "Yes. The passage
will be pronounced, then, in such a way that after the inquiry, "Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect?

what follows will be put as an interrogative: "Shall God who justifieth?"-the answer" No"
being understood. And in the same way we shall have the inquiry, "Who is he that
condemneth? and the answer here again in the form of an interrogative, "Is it Christ who
died? yea, rather, who is risen again? who is even at the right hand of God? who also
maketh intercession forus?"-the answer "No" being understood to every one of these
questions. On the other hand, in that passage where the apostle says, "What shall we say
then? That the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to
righteousness; unless after the inquiry, "What shall we say then? what follows were given
as the answer to this question: "That the Gentiles, which followed not after
righteousness, have attained to righteousness; it would not be in harmony with the
succeeding context. But with whatever tone of voice one may choose to pronounce that
saying of Nathanael's, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" -whether with that of a
man who gives an affirmative answer, so that "out of Nazareth" is the only part that
belongs to the interrogation, or with that of a man who asks the whole question with doubt
and hesitation,-I do not see how a difference can be made. But neither sense is opposed to
faith.

7. There is, again, an ambiguity arising out of the doubtful sound of syllables; and this
of course has relation to pronunciation. For example, in the passage, "My bone [os meum]
was not hid from Thee, which Thou didst make in secret," it is not clear to the reunder
whether he should take the word os as short or long. If he make it short, it is the
singular of ossa [bones]; if he make it long, it is the singular of ora [mouths]. Now
difficulties such as this are cleared up by looking into the original tongue, for in the
Greek we find not sto/ma [mouth], but o9ste/ [bone]. And for this reason the vulgar idiom
is frequently more useful in conveying the sense than the pure speech of the educated. For
I would rather have the barbarism, non est absconditum a te assure meum, than have the
passage in better Latin, but the sense less clear. But sometimes when the sound of a
syllable is doubtful, it is decided by a word near it belonging to the same sentence. As,
for example, that saying of the apostle, "Of the which I tell you before [praedico], as I
have also told you in time past [proedixi], that they which do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God." Now if he had only said, "Of the which I tell you before
[quoe praedico vobis]," and had not added, "as I have also told you in time past [sicut
proedixi]," we could not know without going back to the original whether in the word
praedico the middle syllable should be pronounced long or short. But as it is, it is clear
that it should be pronounced long; for he does not say, sicut praedicavi, but sicut
proedixi.

CHAPTER 4.-HOW AMBIGUITIES MAY BE SOLVED.

8. And not only these, but also those ambiguities that do not relate either to punctuation
or pronunciation, are to be examined in the same way. For example, that one in the Epistle
to the Thessalonians: Propterea consolati sumus fratres in vobis. Now it is doubtful
whether fratres [brethren] is in the vocative or accusative case, and it is not contrary
to faith to take it either way. But in the Greek language the two cases are not the same
in form; and accordingly, when we look into the original, the case is shown to be
vocative. Now if the translator had chosen to say, propterea consolationem habuimus
fratres in vobis, he would have followed the words less literally, but there would have
been less doubt about the meaning; or, indeed, if he had added nostri, hardly any one
would have doubted that the vocative case was meant when he heard propterea consolati
sumus fratres nostri in vobis. But this is a rather dangerous liberty to take. It has been
taken, however, in that passage to the Corinthians, where the apostle says, "I protest by
your rejoicing [per vestram gloriam] which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily."
For one translator has it, per vestram juro gloriam, the form of adjuration appearing in
the Greek without any ambiguity. It is therefore very rare and very difficult to find any
ambiguity in the case of proper words, as far at least as Holy Scripture is concerned,
which neither the context, showing the design of the writer, nor a comparison of
translations, nor a reference to the original tongue, will suffice to explain.

CHAPTER 5.-IT IS A WRETCHED SLAVERY WHICH TAKES THE FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS OF SCRIPTURE IN A LITERAL SENSE.

9.But the ambiguities of metaphorical words, about which I am next to speak, demand no
ordinary care and diligence. In the first place, we must beware of taking a figurative
expression literally. For the saying of the apostle applies in this case too: "The letter
killeth, but the spirit giveth life." For when what is said figuratively is taken as if it
were said literally, it is understood in a carnal manner. And nothing is more fittingly
called the death of the soul than when that in it which raises it above the brutes, the
intelligence namely, is put in subjection to the flesh by a blind adherence to the letter.
For he who follows the letter takes figurative words as if they were proper, and does not
carry out what is indicated by a proper word into its secondary signification; but, if he
hears of the Sabbath, for example, thinks of nothing but the one day out of seven which
recurs in constant succession; and when he hears of a sacrifice, does not carry his
thoughts beyond the customary offerings of victims from the flock, and of the fruits of
the earth. Now it is surely a miserable slavery of the soul to take signs for things, and
to be unable to lift the eye of the mind above what is corporeal and created, that it may
drink in eternal light.

CHAPTER 6.-UTILITY OF THE BONDAGE OF THE JEWS.

10. This bondage, however, in the case of the Jewish people, differed widely from what it
was in the case of the other nations; because, though the former were in bondage to
temporal things, it was in such a way that in all these the One God was put before their
minds. And although they paid attention to the signs of spiritual realities in place of
the realities themselves, not knowing to what the signs referred, still they had this
conviction rooted in their minds, that in subjecting themselves to such a bondage they
were doing the pleasure of the one invisible God of all. And the apostle describes this
bondage as being like to that of boys under the guidance of a schoolmaster. And those who
clung obstinately to such signs could not endure our Lord's neglect of them when the time
for their revelation had come; and hence their leaders brought it as a charge against Him
that He healed on the Sabbath, and the people, clinging to these signs as if they were
realities, could not believe that one who refused to observe them in the way the Jews did
was God, or came from God.

But those who did believe, from among whom the first Church at Jerusalem was formed,
showed clearly how great an advantage it had been to be so guided by the schoolmaster that
signs, which had been for a season imposed on the obedient, fixed the thoughts of those
who observed them on the worship of the One God who made heaven and earth. These men,
because they had been very near to spiritual things (for even in the temporal and carnal
offerings and types, though they did not clearly apprehend their spiritual meaning, they
had learnt to adore the One Eternal God,) were filled with such a measure of the Holy
Spirit that they sold all their goods, and laid their price at the apostles' feet to be
distributed among the needy, and consecrated themselves wholly to God as a new temple, of
which the old temple they were serving was but the earthly type.

11. Now it is not recorded that any of the Gentile churches did this, because men who had
for their gods idols made with hands had not been so near to spiritual things.

CHAPTER 7.-THE USELESS BONDAGE OF THE GENTILES.

1 And if ever any of them endeavored to make it out that their idols were only signs, yet
still they used them in reference to the worship and adoration of the creature. What
difference does it make to me, for instance, that the image of Neptune is not itself to be
considered a god, but only as representing the wide ocean, and all the other waters
besides that spring out of fountains? As it is described by a poet of theirs, who says, if
I recollect aright, "Thou, Father Neptune, whose hoary temples are wreathed with the
resounding sea, whose beard is the mighty ocean flowing forth unceasingly, and whose hair
is the winding rivers. This husk shakes its rattling stones within a sweet covering, and
yet it is not food for men, but for swine. He who knows the gospel knows what I mean. What
profit is it to me, then, that the image of Neptune is used with a reference to this
explanation of it, unless indeed the result be that I worship neither? For any statue you
like to take is as much god to me as the wide ocean. I grant, however, that they who make
gods of the works of man have sunk lower than they who make gods of the works of God. But
the command is that we should love and serve the One God, who is the Maker of all those
things, the images of which are worshipped by the heathen either as gods, or as signs and
representations of gods.

2 If, then, to take a sign which has been established for a useful end instead of the
thing itself which it was designed to signify, is bondage to the flesh, how much more so
is it to take signs intended to represent useless things for the things themselves! For
even if you go back to the very things signified by such signs, and engage your mind in
the worship of these, you will not be anything the more free from the burden and the
livery of bondage to the flesh.


ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE (CHAPTERS 8.-THE JEWS LIBERATED FROM THEIR BONDAGE IN ONE WAY, THE GENTILES IN ANOTHER.–6.-THE SACRED WRITERS UNITE ELOQUENCE WITH WISDOM.)
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ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE continued

CHAPTER 8.-THE JEWS LIBERATED FROM THEIR BONDAGE IN ONE WAY, THE GENTILES IN ANOTHER.

12. Accordingly the liberty that comes by Christ took those whom it found under bondage to
useful signs, and who were (so to speak) near to it, and, interpreting the signs to which
they were in bondage, set them free by raising them to the realities of which these were
signs. And out of such were formed the churches of the saints of Israel. Those, on the
other hand, whom it found in bondage to useless signs, it not only freed from their
slavery to such signs, but brought to nothing and cleared out of the way all these signs
themselves, so that the Gentiles were turned from the corruption of a multitude of false
gods, which Scripture frequently and justly speaks of as fornication, to the worship of
the One God: not that they might now fall into bondage to signs of a useful kind, but
rather that they might exercise their minds in the spiritual understanding of such.

CHAPTER 9.-WHO IS IN BONDAGE TO SIGNS, AND WHO NOT.

1 13. Now he is in bondage to a sign who uses, or pays homage to, any significant object
without knowing what it signifies: he, on the other hand, who either uses or honors a
useful sign divinely appointed, whose force and significance he understands, does not
honor the sign which is seen and temporal, but that to which all such signs refer. Now
such a man is spiritual and free even at the time of his bondage, when it is not yet
expedient to reveal to carnal minds those signs by subjection to which their carnality is
to be overcome. To this class of spiritual persons belonged the patriarchs and the
prophets, and all those among the people of Israel through whose instrumentality the Holy
Spirit ministered unto us the aids and consolations of the Scriptures. But at the present
time, after that the proof of our liberty has shone forth so clearly in the resurrection
of our Lord, we are not oppressed with the heavy burden of attending even to those signs
which we now understand, but our Lord Himself, and apostolic practice, have handed down to
us a few rites in place of many, and these at once very easy to perform, most majestic in
their significance, and most sacred in the observance; such, for example, as the sacrament
of baptism, and the celebration of the body and blood of the Lord.

2 And as soon as any one looks upon these observances he knows to what they refer, and so
reveres them not in carnal bondage, but in spiritual freedom. Now, as to follow the
letter, and to take signs for the things that are signified by them, is a mark of weakness
and bondage; so to interpret signs wrongly is the result of being misled by error. He,
however, who does not understand what a sign signifies, but yet knows that it is a sign,
is not in bondage. And it is better even to be in bondage to unknown but useful signs
than, by interpreting them wrongly, to draw the neck from under the yoke of bondage only
to insert it in the coils of error.

CHAPTER 10.-HOW WE ARE TO DISCERN WHETHER A PHRASE IS FIGURATIVE.

14. But in addition to the foregoing rule, which guards us against taking a metaphorical
form of speech as if it were literal, we must also pay heed to that which tells us not to
take a literal form of speech as if it were figurative. In the first place, then, we must
show the way to find out whether a phrase is literal or figurative. And the way is
certainly as follows: Whatever there is in the word of God that cannot, when taken
literally, be referred either to purity of life or soundness of doctrine, you may set down
as figurative. Purity of life has reference to the love of God and one's neighbor;
soundness of doctrine to the knowledge of God and one's neighbor. Every man, moreover, has
hope in his own conscience, so far as he perceives that he has attained to the love and
knowledge of God and his neighbor. Now all these matters have been spoken of in the first
book.

15. But as men are prone to estimate sins, not by reference to their inherent sinfulness,
but rather by reference to their own customs, it frequently happens that a man will think
nothing blameable except what the men of his own country and time are accustomed to
condemn, and nothing worthy of praise or approval except what is sanctioned by the custom
of his companions; and thus it comes to pass, that if Scripture either enjoins what is
opposed to the customs of the hearers, or condemns what is not so opposed, and if at the
same time the authority of the word has a hold upon their minds, they think that the
expression is figurative. Now Scripture enjoins nothing except charity, and condemns
nothing except lust, and in that way fashions the lives of men. In the same way, if an
erroneous opinion has taken possession of the mind, men think that whatever Scripture
asserts contrary to this must be figurative. Now Scripture asserts nothing but the
catholic faith, in regard to things past, future, and present. It is a narrative of the
past, a prophecy of the future, and a description of the present. But all these tend to
nourish and strengthen charity, and to overcome and root out lust.

16. I mean by charity that affection of the mind which aims at the enjoyment of God for
His own sake, and the enjoyment of one's self and one's neighbor in subordination to God;
by lust I mean that affection of the mind which aims at enjoying one's self and one's
neighbor, and other corporeal things, without reference to God. Again, what lust, when
unsubdued, does towards corrupting, one's own soul and body, is called vice; but what it
does to injure another is called crime. And these are the two classes into which all sins
may be divided. But the vices come first; for when these have exhausted the soul, and
reduced it to a kind of poverty, it easily slides into crimes, in order to remove
hindrances to, or to find assistance in, its vices. In the same way, what charity does
with a view to one's own advantage is prudence; but what it does with a view to a
neighbor's advantage is called benevolence. And here prudence comes first; because no one
can confer an advantage on another which he does not himself possess. Now in proportion as
the dominion of lust is pulled down, in the same proportion is that of charity built up.

CHAPTER II.-RULE FOR INTERPRETING PHRASES WHICH SEEM TO ASCRIBE SEVERITY TO GOD AND THE SAINTS.

17. Every severity, therefore, and apparent cruelty, either in word or deed, that is
ascribed in Holy Scripture to God or His saints, avails to the pulling down of the
dominion of lust. And if its meaning be clear, we are not to, give it some secondary
reference, as if it were spoken figuratively. Take, for example, that saying of the
apostle: "But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath
against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render
to every man according to his deeds: to them who, by patient continuance in well-doing,
seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, eternal life; but unto them that are
contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and
also of the Gentile." But this is addressed to those who, being unwilling to subdue their
lust, are themselves involved in the destruction of their lust. When, however, the
dominion of lust is overturned in a man over whom it had held sway, this plain expression
is used: "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts."
Only that, even in these instances, some words are used figuratively, as for example, "the
wrath of God" and "crucified." But these are not so numerous, nor placed in such a way as
to obscure the sense, and make it allegorical or enigmatical, which is the kind of
expression properly called figurative. But in the saying addressed to Jeremiah, "See, I
have this day set thee over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull
down, and to destroy, and to throw down," there is no doubt the whole of the language is
figurative, and to be referred to the end I have spoken of.

CHAPTER 12.-RULE FOR INTERPRETING THOSE SAYINGS AND ACTIONS WHICH ARE ASCRIBED TO GOD AND THE SAINTS, AND WHICH YET SEEM TO THE UNSKILLFUL TO BE WICKED.

18. Those things, again, whether only sayings or whether actual deeds, which appear to the
inexperienced to be sinful, and which are ascribed to God, or to men whose holiness is put
before us as an example, are wholly figurative, and the hidden kernel of meaning they
contain is to be picked out as food for the nourishment of charity. Now, whoever uses
transitory objects less freely than is the custom of those among whom he lives, is either
temperate or superstitious; whoever, on the other hand, uses them so as to transgress the
bounds of the custom of the good men about him, either has a further meaning in what he
does, or is sinful. In all such matters it is not the use of the objects, but the lust of
the user, that is to blame. Nobody in his sober senses would believe, for example, that
when our Lord's feet were anointed by the woman with precious ointment, it was for the
same purpose for which luxurious and profligate men are accustomed to have theirs anointed
in those banquets which we abhor. For the sweet odor means the good report which is earned
by a life of good works; and the man who wins this, while following in the footsteps of
Christ, anoints His feet (so to speak) with the most precious ointment. And so that which
in the case of other persons is often a sin, becomes, when ascribed to God or a prophet,
the sign of some great truth. Keeping company with a harlot, for example, is one thing
when it is the result of abandoned manners, another thing when done in the course of his
prophecy by the prophet Hosea. Because it is a shamefully wicked thing to strip the body
naked at a banquet among the drunken and licentious, it does not follow that it is a sin
to be naked in the baths.

19. We must, therefore, consider carefully what is suitable to times and places and
persons, and not rashly charge men with sins. For it is possible that a wise man may use
the daintiest food without any sin of epicurism or gluttony, while a fool will crave for
the vilest food with a most disgusting eagerness of appetite. And any sane man would
prefer eating fish after the manner of our Lord, to eating lentiles after the manner of
Esau, or barley after the manner of oxen. For there are several beasts that feed on
commoner kinds of food, but it does not follow that they are more temperate than we are.
For in all matters of this kind it is not the nature Of the things we use, but our reason
for using them, and our manner of seeking them, that make what we do either praiseworthy
or blameable.

20. Now the saints of ancient times were, under the form of an earthly kingdom, fore-
shadowing and foretelling the kingdom of heaven. And on account of the necessity for a
numerous offspring, the custom of one man having several wives was at that time blameless:
and for the same reason it was not proper for one woman to have several husbands, because
a woman does not in that way become more fruitful, but, on the contrary, it is base
harlotry to seek either gain or offspring by promiscuous intercourse. In regard to matters
of this sort, whatever the holy men of those times did without lust, Scripture passes over
without blame, although they did things which could not be done at the present time,
except through lust. And everything of this nature that is there narrated we are to take
not only in its historical and literal, but also in its figurative and prophetical sense,
and to interpret as bearing ultimately upon the end of love towards God or our neighbor,
or both. For as it was disgraceful among the ancient Romans to wear tunics reaching to the
heels, and furnished with sleeves, but now it is disgraceful for men honorably born not to
wear tunics of that description: so we must take heed in regard to other things also, that
lust do not mix with our use of them; for lust not only abuses to wicked ends the customs
of those among whom we live, but frequently also transgressing the bounds of custom,
betrays, in a disgraceful outbreak, its own hideousness, which was concealed under the
cover of prevailing fashions.

CHAPTER 13.-SAME SUBJECT, CONTINUED.

21. Whatever, then, is in accordance with the habits of those with whom we are either
compelled by necessity, or undertake as a matter of duty, to spend this life, is to be
turned by good and great men to some prudent or benevolent end, either directly, as is our
duty, or figuratively, as is allowable to prophets.

CHAPTER 14.-ERROR OF THOSE WHO THINK THAT THERE IS NO ABSOLUTE RIGHT AND WRONG.

22. But when men unacquainted with other modes of life than their own meet with the record
of such actions, unless they are restrained by authority, they look upon them as sins, and
do not consider that their own customs either in regard to marriage, or feasts, or dress,
or the other necessities and adornments of human life, appear sinful to the people of
other nations and other times. And, distracted by this endless variety of customs, some
who were half asleep (as I may say)-that is, who were neither sunk in the deep sleep of
folly, nor were able to awake into the light of wisdom-have thought that there was no such
thing as absolute right, but that every nation took its own custom for right; and that,
since every nation has a different custom, and right must remain unchangeable, it becomes
manifest that there is no such thing as right at all. Such men did not perceive, to take
only one example, that the precept, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye
even so to them," cannot be altered by any diversity of national customs. And this
precept, when it is referred to the love of God, destroys all vices when to the love of
one's neighbor, puts an end to all crimes. For no one is willing to defile his own
dwelling; he ought not, therefore, to defile the dwelling of God, that is, himself. And no
one wishes an injury to be done him by another; he himself, therefore, ought not to do
injury to another.

CHAPTER 15.-RULE FOR INTERPRETING FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS.

23. The tyranny of lust being thus over-thrown, charity reigns through its supremlly just
laws of love to God for His own sake, and love to one's self and one's neighbor for God's
sake. Accordingly, in regard to figurative expressions, a rule such as the following will
be observed, to carefully turn over in our minds and meditate upon what we read till an
interpretation be found that tends to establish the reign of love. Now, if when taken
literally it at once gives a meaning of this kind, the expression is not to be considered
figurative.

CHAPTER 16.-RULE FOR INTERPRETING COMMANDS AND PROHIBITIONS.

1 24. If the sentence is one of command, either forbidding a crime or vice, or enjoining
an act of prudence or benevolence, it is not figurative. If, however, it seems to enjoin a
crime or vice, or to forbid an act of prudence or benevolence, it is figurative. "Except
ye eat the flesh of the Son of man," says Christ, "and drink His blood, ye have no life in
you. This seems to enjoin a crime or a vice; it is therefore a figure, enjoining that we
should have a share in the sufferings of our Lord, and that we should retain a sweet and
profitable memory of the fact that His flesh was wounded and crucified for us. Scripture
says: "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; and this is beyond
doubt a command to do a kindness. But in what follows, "for in so doing thou shall heap
coals of fire on his head," one would think a deed of malevolence was enjoined. Do not
doubt, then, that the expression is figurative; and, while it is possible to interpret it
in two ways, one pointing to the doing of an injury, the other to a display of
superiority, let charity on the contrary call you back to benevolence, and interpret the
coals of fire as the burning groans of penitence by which a man's pride is cured who
bewails that he has been the enemy of one who came to his assistance in distress.

2 In the same way, when our Lord says, "He who loveth his life shall lose it," we are not
to think that He forbids the prudence with which it is a man's duty to care for his life,
but that He says in a figurative sense, "Let him lose his life"-that is, let him destroy
and lose that perverted and unnatural use which he now makes of his life, and through
which his desires are fixed on temporal things so that he gives no heed to eternal. It is
written: "Give to the godly man, and help not a sinner. The latter clause of this sentence
seems to forbid benevolence; for it says, "help not a sinner. Understand, therefore, that
"sinner" is put figuratively for sin, so that it is his sin you are not to help.

CHAPTER 17.-SOME COMMANDS ARE GIVEN TO ALL IN COMMON, OTHERS TO PARTICULAR CLASSES.

25. Again, it often happens that a man who has attained, or thinks he has attained, to a
higher grade of spiritual life, thinks that the commands given to those who are still in
the lower grades are figurative; for example, if he has embraced a life of celibacy and
made himself a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven's sake, he contends that the commands
given in Scripture about loving and ruling a wife are not to be taken literally, but
figuratively; and if he has determined to keep his virgin unmarried, he tries to put a
figurative interpretation on the passage where it is said, "Marry thy daughter, and so
shall thou have performed a weighty matter." Accordingly, another of our rules for
understanding the Scriptures will be as follows,-to recognize that some commands are given
to all in common, others to particular classes of persons, that the medicine may act not
only upon the state of health as a whole, but also upon the special weakness of each
member. For that which cannot be raised to a higher state must be cared for in its own
state.

CHAPTER 18.-WE MUST TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE TIME AT WHICH ANYTHING WAS ENJOYED OR ALLOWED.

26. We must also be on our guard against supposing that what in the Old Testament, making
allowance for the condition of those times, is not a crime or a vice even if we take it
literally and not figuratively, can be transferred to the present time as a habit of life.
For no one will do this except lust has dominion over him, and endeavors to find support
for itself in the very Scriptures which were intended to overthrow it. And the wretched
man does not perceive that such matters are recorded with this useful design, that men of
good hope may learn the salutary lesson, both that the custom they spurn can be turned to
a good use, and that which they embrace can be used to condemnation, if the use of the
former be accompanied with charity, and the use of the latter with lust. 27. For, if it
was possible for one man to use many wives with chastity, it is possible for another to
use one wife with lust. And I look with greater approval on the man who uses the
fruitfulness of many wives for the sake of an ulterior object, than on the man who enjoys
the body of one wife for its own sake. For in the former case the man aims at a useful
object suited to the circumstances of the times; in the latter case he gratifies a lust
which is engrossed in temporal enjoyments. And those men to whom the apostle permitted as
a matter of indulgence to have one wife because of their incontinence, were less near to
God than those who, though they had each of them numerous wives, yet just as a wise man
uses food and drink only for the sake of bodily health, used marriage only for the sake of
offspring. And, accordingly, if these last had been still alive at the advent of our Lord,
when the time not of casting stones away but of gathering them together had come, they
would have immediately made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. For there
is no difficulty in abstaining unless when there is lust in enjoying. And assuredly those
men of whom I speak knew that wantonness even in regard to wives is abuse and
intemperance, as is proved by Tobit's prayer when he was married to his wife. For he says:
"Blessed art Thou, O God of our fathers, and blessed is Thy holy and glorious name for
ever; let the heavens bless Thee, and all Thy creatures. Thou madest Adam, and gavest him
Eve his wife for an helper and stay. . . . And now, O Lord, Thou knowest that I take not
this my sister for lust, but uprightly: therefore have pity on us, O Lord."

CHAPTER 19.-WICKED MEN JUDGE OTHERS BY THEMSELVES.

28. But those who, giving the rein to lust, either wander about steeping themselves in a
multitude of debaucheries, or even in regard to one wife not only exceed the measure
necessary for the procreation of children, but with the shameless licence of a sort of
slavish freedom heap up the filth of a still more beastly excess, such men do not believe
it possible that the men of ancient times used a number of wives with temperance, looking
to nothing but the duty, necessary in the circumstances of the time, of propagating the
race; and what they themselves, who are entangled in the meshes of lust, do not accomplish
in the case of a single wife, they think utterly impossible in the case of a number of
wives. 29. But these same men might say that it is not right even to honor and praise good
and holy men, because they themselves when they are honored and praised, swell with pride,
becoming the more eager for the emptiest sort of distinction the more frequently and the
more widely they are blown about on the tongue of flattery, and so become so light that a
breath of rumor, whether it appear prosperous or adverse, will carry them into the
whirlpool of vice or dash them on the rocks of crime. Let them, then, learn how trying and
difficult it is for themselves to escape either being caught by the bait of praise, or
pierced by the stings of insult; but let them not measure others by their own standard.

CHAPTER 20.-CONSISTENCY OF GOOD MEN IN ALL OUTWARD CIRCUMSTANCES.

Let them believe, on the contrary, that the apostles of our faith were neither puffed up
when they were honored by men, nor cast down when they were despised. And certainly
neither sort of temptation was wanting to those great men. For they were both cried up by
the loud praises of believers, and cried down by the slanderous reports of their
persecutors. But the apostles used all these things, as occasion served, and were not
corrupted; and in the same way the saints of old used their wives with reference to the
necessities of their own times, and were not in bondage to lust as they are who refuse to
believe these things. 30. For if they had been under the influence of any such passion,
they could never have restrained themselves from implacable hatred towards their sons, by
whom they knew that their wives and concubines were solicited and debauched.

CHAPTER 21.-DAVID NOT LUSTFUL, THOUGH HE FELL INTO ADULTERY.

1 But when King David had suffered this injury at the hands of his impious and unnatural
son, he not only bore with him in his mad passion, but mourned over him in his death. He
certainly was not caught in the meshes of carnal jealousy, seeing that it was not his own
injuries but the sins of his son that moved him. For it was on this account he had given
orders that his son should not be slain if he were conquered in battle, that he might have
a place of repentance after he was subdued; and when he was baffled in this design, he
mourned over his son's death, not because of his own loss, but because he knew to what
punishment so impious an adulterer and parricide had been hurried. For prior to this, in
the case of another son who had been guilty of no crime, though he was dreadfully
afflicted for him while he was sick, yet he comforted himself after his death.

2 31. And with what moderation and self-restraint those men used their wives appears
chiefly in this, that when this same king, carried away by the heat of passion and by
temporal prosperity, had taken unlawful possession of one woman, whose husband also he
ordered to be put to death, he was accused of his crime by a prophet, who, when he had
come to show him his sin, set before him the parable of the poor man who had but one ewe-
lamb, and whose neighbor, though he had many, yet when a guest came to him spared to take
of his own flock, but set his poor neighbor's one lamb before his guest to eat. And
David's anger being kindled against the man, he commanded that he should be put to death,
and the lamb restored fourfold to the poor man; thus unwittingly condemning the sin he had
wittingly committed. And when he had been shown this, and God's punishment had been
denounced against him, he wiped out his sin in deep penitence. But yet in this parable it
was the adultery only that was indicated by the poor man's ewe-lamb; about the killing of
the woman's husband,-that is, about the murder of the poor man himself who had the one
ewe-lamb,-nothing is said in the parable, so that the sentence of condemnation is
pronounced against the adultery alone. And hence we may understand with what temperance he
possessed a number of wives when he was forced to punish himself for transgressing in
regard to one woman.

3 But in his case the immoderate desire did not take up its abode with him, but was only a
passing guest. On this account the unlawful appetite is called even by the accusing
prophet, a guest. For he did not say that he took the poor man's ewe-lamb to make a feast
for his king, but for his guest. In the case of his son Solomon, however, this lust did
not come and pass away like a guest, but reigned as a king. And about him Scripture is not
silent, but accuses him of being a lover of strange women; for in the beginning of his
reign he was inflamed with a desire for wisdom, but after he had attained it through
spiritual love, he lost it through carnal lust.

CHAPTER 22.-RULE REGARDING PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE IN WHICH APPROVAL IS EXPRESSED OF ACTIONS WHICH ARE NOW CONDEMNED BY GOOD MEN.

32. Therefore, although all, or nearly all, the transactions recorded in the Old Testament
are to be taken not literally only, but figuratively as well, nevertheless even in the
case of those which the reader has taken literally, and which, though the authors of them
are praised, are repugnant to the habits of the good men who since our Lord's advent are
the custodians of the divine commands, let him refer the figure to its interpretation, but
let him not transfer the act to his habits of life. For many things which were done as
duties at that time, cannot now be done except through lust.

CHAPTER 23.-RULE REGARDING THE NARRATIVE OF SINS OF GREAT MEN.

33. And when he reads of the sins of great men, although he may be able to see and to
trace out in them a figure of things to come, let him yet put the literal fact to this use
also, to teach him not to dare to vaunt himself in his own good deeds, and in comparison
with his own righteousness, to despise others as sinners, when he sees in the case of men
so eminent both the storms that are to be avoided and the shipwrecks that are to be wept
over. For the sins of these men were recorded to this end, that men might everywhere and
always tremble at that saying of the apostle: "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall." For there is hardly a page of Scripture on which it is not
clearly written that God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.

CHAPTER 24.-THE CHARACTER OF THE EXPRESSIONS USED IS ABOVE ALL TO HAVE WEIGHT.

34. The chief thing to be inquired into, therefore, in regard to any expression that we
are trying to understand is, whether it is literal or figurative. For when it is
ascertained to be figurative, it is easy, by an application of the laws of things which we
discussed in the first book, to turn it in every way until we arrive at a true
interpretation, especially when we bring to our aid experience strengthened by the
exercise of piety. Now we find out whether an expression is literal or figurative by
attending to the considerations indicated above.

CHAPTER 25.-THE SAME WORD DOES NOT ALWAYS SIGNIFY THE SAME THING.

And when it is shown to be figurative, the words in which it is expressed will be found to
be drawn either from like objects or from objects having some affinity. 35. But as there
are many ways in which things show a likeness to each other, we are not to suppose there
is any rule that what a thing signifies by similitude in one place it is to be taken to
signify in all other places. For our Lord used leaven both in a bad sense, as when He
said,"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees," and in a good sense, as when He said, "The
kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of
meal, till the whole was leavened." 36. Now the rule in regard to this variation has two
forms. For things that signify now one thing and now another, signify either things that
are contrary, or things that are only different. They signify contraries, for example,
when they are used metaphorically at one time in a good sense, at another in a bad, as in
the case of the leaven mentioned above. Another example of the same is that a lion stands
for Christ in the place where it is said, "The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed;
and again, stands for the devil where it is written, "Your adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. In the same way the serpent is
used in a good sense, "Be wise as serpents; and again, in a bad sense, "The serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtilty. Bread is used in a good sense, "I am the living bread
which came down from heaven; in a bad, "Bread eaten in secret is pleasant. And so in a
great many other cases. The examples I have adduced are indeed by no means doubtful in
their signification, because only plain instances ought to be used as examples. There are
passages, however, in regard to which it is uncertain in what sense they ought to be
taken, as for example, "In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red: it is
full of mixture.

Now it is uncertain whether this denotes the wrath of God, but not to the last extremity
of punishment, that is, "to the very dregs; or whether it denotes the grace of the
Scriptures passing away from the Jews and coming to the Gentiles, because "He has put down
one and set up another,"-certain observances, however, which they understand in a carnal
manner, still remaining among the Jews, for "the dregs hereof is not yet wrung out. The
following is an example of the same object being taken, not in opposite, but only in
different significations: water denotes people, as we read in the Apocalypse, and also the
Holy Spirit, as for example, "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water; and many
other things besides water must be interpreted according to the place in which they are
found. 37. And in the same way other objects are not single in their signification, but
each one of them denotes not two only but sometimes even several different things,
according to the connection in which it is found.

CHAPTER 26.-OBSCURE PASSAGES ARE TO BE INTERPRETED BY THOSE WHICH ARE CLEARER.

Now from the places where the sense in which they are used is more manifest we must gather
the sense in which they are to be understood in obscure passages. For example, there is no
better way of understanding the words addressed to God, "Take hold of shield and buckler
and stand up for mine help, than by referring to the passage where we read, "Thou, Lord,
hast crowned us with Thy favor as with a shield." And yet we are not so to understand it,
as that wherever we meet with a shield put to indicate a protection of any kind, we must
take it as signifying nothing but the favor of God. For we hear also of the shield of
faith, "wherewith," says the apostle, "ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked. Nor ought we, on the other hand, in regard to spiritual armor of this kind to
assign faith to the shield only; for we read in another place of the breastplate of faith:
"putting on," says the apostle, "the breastplate of faith and love.

CHAPTER 27.-ONE PASSAGE SUSCEPTIBLE OF VARIOUS INTERPRETATIONS.

38. When, again, not some one interpretation, but two or more interpretations are put upon
the same words of Scripture, even though the meaning the writer intended remain
undiscovered, there is no danger if it can be shown from other passages of Scripture that
any of the interpretations put on the words is in harmony with the truth. And if a man in
searching the Scriptures endeavors to get at the intention of the author through whom the
Holy Spirit spoke, whether he succeeds in this endeavor, or whether he draws a different
meaning from the words, but one that is not opposed to sound doctrine, he is free from
blame so long as he is supported by the testimony of some other passage of Scripture. For
the author perhaps saw that this very meaning lay in the words which we are trying to
interpret; and assuredly the Holy Spirit, who through him spoke these words, foresaw that
this interpretation would occur to the reader, nay, made provision that it should occur to
him, seeing that it too is founded on truth. For what more liberal and more fruitful
provision could God have made in regard to the Sacred Scriptures than that the same words
might be understood in several senses, all of which are sanctioned by the concurring
testimony of other passages equally divine?

CHAPTER 28.-IT IS SAFER TO EXPLAIN A DOUBTFUL PASSAGE BY OTHER PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE THAN BY REASON.

39. When, however, a meaning is evolved of such a kind that what is doubtful in it cannot
be cleared up by indubitable evidence from Scripture, it remains for us to make it clear
by the evidence of reason. But this is a dangerous practice. For it is far safer to walk
by the light of Holy Scripture; so that when we wish to examine the passages that are
obscured by metaphorical expressions, we may either obtain a meaning about which there is
no controversy, or if a controversy arises, may settle it by the application of
testimonies sought out in every portion of the same Scripture.

CHAPTER 29.-THE KNOWLEDGE OF TROPES IS NECESSARY.

40. Moreover, I would have learned men to know that the authors of our Scriptures use all
those forms of expression which grammarians call by the Greek name tropes, and use them
more freely and in greater variety than people who are unacquainted with the Scriptures,
and have learnt these figures of speech from Other writings, can imagine or believe.
Nevertheless those who know these tropes recognize them in Scripture, and are very much
assisted by their knowledge of them in understanding Scripture. But this is not the place
to teach them to the illiterate, lest it might seem that I was teaching grammar. I
certainly advise, however, that they be learnt elsewhere, although indeed I have already
given that advice above, in the second book -namely, where I treated of the necessary
knowledge of languages. For the written characters from which grammar itself gets its name
(the Greek name for letters being grammata are the signs of sounds made by the articulate
voice with which we speak. Now of some of these figures of speech we find in Scripture not
only examples (which we have of them all), but the very names as well: for instance,
allegory, enigma, and parable. However, nearly, all these tropes which are said to be
learnt as a matter of liberal education are found even in the ordinary speech of men who
have learnt no grammar, but are content to use the vulgar idiom. For who does not say, "So
may you flourish?" And this is the figure of speech called metaphor. Who does not speak of
a fish-pond in which there is no fish, which was not made for fish, and yet gets its name
from fish? And this is the figure called catachresis.

41. It would be tedious to go over all the rest in this way; for the speech of the vulgar
makes use of them all, even of those more curious figures which mean the very opposite of
what they say, as for example, those called irony and antiphrasis. Now in irony we
indicate by the tone of voice the meaning we desire to convey; as when we say to a man who
is behaving badly, "You are doing well." But it is not by the tone of voice that we make
an antiphrasis to indicate the opposite of what the words convey; but either the words in
which it is expressed are used in the opposite of their etymological sense, as a grove is
called lucus from its want of light; or it is customary to use a certain form of
expression, although it puts yes for no by a law of contraries, as when we ask in a place
for what is not there, and get the answer, "There is plenty;" or we add words that make it
plain we mean the opposite of what we say, as in the expression, "Beware of him, for he is
a good man." And what illiterate man is there that does not use such expressions, although
he knows nothing at all about either the nature or the names of these figures of speech?
And yet the knowledge of these is necessary for clearing up the difficulties of Scripture;
because when the words taken literally give an absurd meaning, we ought forthwith to
inquire whether they may not be used in this or that figurative sense which we are
unacquainted with; and in this way many obscure passages have had light thrown upon them.

CHAPTER 30.-THE RULES OF TICHONIUS THE DONATIST EXAMINED.

42. One Tichonius, who, although a Donatist himself, has written most triumphantly against
the Donatists (and herein showed himself of a most inconsistent disposition, that he was
unwilling to give them up altogether), wrote a book which he called the Book of Rules,
because in it he laid down seven rules, which are, as it were, keys to open the secrets of
Scripture. And of these rules, the first relates to the Lord and His body, the second to
the twofold division of the Lord's body, the third to the promises and the law, the fourth
to species and genus, the fifth to times, the sixth to recapitulation, the seventh to the
devil and his body. Now these rules, as expounded by their author, do indeed, when
carefully considered, afford considerable assistance in penetrating the secrets of the
sacred writings; but still they do not explain all the difficult passages, for there are
several other methods required, which are so far from being embraced in this number of
seven, that the author himself explains many obscure passages without using any of his
rules; finding, indeed, that there was no need for them, as there was no difficulty in the
passage of the kind to which his rules apply. As, for example, he inquires what we are to
understand in the Apocalypse by the seven angels of the churches to whom John is commanded
to write; and after much and various reasoning, arrives at the conclusion that the angels
are the churches themselves. And throughout this long and full discussion, although the
matter inquired into is certainly very obscure, no use whatever is made of the rules. This
is enough for an example, for it would be too tedious and troublesome tocollect all the
passages in the canonical Scriptures which present obscurities of such a kind as require
none of these seven rules for their elucidation.

43. The author himself, however, when commending these rules, attributes so much value to
them that it would appear as if, when they were thoroughly known and duly applied, we
should be able to interpret all the obscure passages in the law-that is, in the sacred
books. For he thus commences this very book: "Of all the things that occur to me, I
consider none so necessary as to write a little book of rules, and, as it were, to make
keys for, and put windows in, the secret places of the law. For there are certain mystical
rules which hold the key to the secret recesses of the whole law, and render visible the
treasures of truth that are to many invisible. And if this system of rules be received as
I communicate it, without jealousy, what is shut shall be laid open, and what is obscure
shall be elucidated, so that a man travelling through the vast forest of prophecy shall,
if he follow these rules as pathways of light, be preserved from going astray. Now, if he
had said, "There are certain mystical rules which hold the key to some of the secrets of
the law," or even "which hold the key to the great secrets of the law," and not what he
does say, "the secret recesses of the whole law;

and if he had not said" What is shut shall be laid open," but, "Many things that are shut
shall be laid open," he would have said what was true, and he would not, by attributing
more than is warranted by the facts to his very elaborate and useful work, have led the
reader into false expectations. And I have thought it right to say thus much, in order
both that the book may be read by the studious (for it is of very great assistance in
understanding Scripture), and that no more may be expected from it than it really
contains. Certainly it must be read with caution, not only on account of the errors into
which the author falls as a man, but chiefly on account of the heresies which he advances
as a Donatist. And now I shall briefly indicate what these seven rules teach or advise.

CHAPTER 31.-THE FIRST RULE OF TICHONIUS.

44. The first is about the Lord and His body, and it is this, that, knowing as we do that
the head and the body-that is, Christ and His Church-are sometimes indicated to us under
one person (for it is not in vain that it is said to believers, "Ye then are Abraham's
seed," when there is but one seed of Abraham, and that is Christ), we need not be in a
difficulty when a transition is made from the head to the body or from the body to the
head, and yet no change made in the person spoken of. For a single person is represented
as saying, "He hath decked me as a bridegroom with ornaments, and adorned me as a bride
with jewels" and yet it is, of course, a matter for; interpretation which of these two
refers to the head and Which to the body, that is, which to Christ and which to the
Church.

CHAPTER 32.-THE SECOND RULE OF TICHONIUS.

1 45. The second rule is about the twofold division of the body of the Lord; but this
indeed is not a suitable name, for that is really no part of the body of Christ which will
not be with Him in eternity. We ought, therefore, to say that the rule is about the true
and the mixed body of the Lord, or the true and the counterfeit, or some such name;
because, not to speak of eternity, hypocrites cannot even now be said to be in Him,
although they seem to be in His Church. And hence this rule might be designated thus:
Concerning the mixed Church. Now this rule requires the reader to be on his guard when
Scripture, although it has now come to address or speak of a different set of persons,
seems to be addressing or speaking of the same persons as before, just as if both sets
constituted one body in consequence of their being for the time united in a common
participation of the sacraments. An example of this is that passage in the Song of
Solomon, "I am black, but comely, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. For
it is not said, I was black as the tents of Kedar, but am now comely as the curtains of
Solomon. The Church declares itself to be at present both; and this because the good fish
and the bad are for the time mixed up in the one net.

2 For the tents of Kedar pertain to Ishmael, who "shall not be heir with the son of the
free woman. And in the same way, when God says of the good part of the Church, "I will
bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not
known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these things
will I do unto them, and not forsake them; He immediately adds in regard to the other
part, the bad that is mixed with the good, "They shall be turned back. Now these words
refer to a set of persons altogether different from the former; but as the two sets are
for the present united in one body, He speaks as if there were no change in the subject of
the sentence. They will not, however, always be in one body; for one of them is that
wicked servant of whom we are told in the gospel, whose lord, when he comes, "shall cut
him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites."

CHAPTER 33. THE THIRD RULE OF TICHONIUS.

1 46. The third rule relates to the promises and the law, and may be designated in other
terms as relating to the spirit and the letter, which is the name I made use of when
writing a book on this subject. It may be also named, of grace and the law. This, however,
seems to me to be a great question in itself, rather than a rule to be applied to the
solution of other questions. It was the want of clear views on this question that
originated, or at least greatly aggravated, the Pelagian heresy. And the efforts of
Tichonius to clear up this point were good, but not complete. For, in discussing the
question about faith and works, he said that works were given us by God as the reward of
faith, but that faith itself was so far our own that it did not come to us from God; not
keeping in mind the saying of the apostle:

2 "Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ," But he had not come into contact with this heresy, which has arisen in our time,
and has given us much labor and trouble in defending against it the grace of God which is
through our Lord Jesus Christ, and which (according to the saying of the apostle, "There
must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among
you" ) has made us much more watchful and diligent to discover in Scripture what escaped
Tichonius, who, having no enemy to guard against, was less attentive and anxious on this
point, namely, that even faith itself is the gift of Him who "hath dealt to every man the
measure of faith. Whence it is said to certain believers: "Unto you it is given, in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake. Who, then,
can doubt that each of these is the gift of God, when he learns from this passage, and
believes, that each of them is given? There are many other testimonies besides which prove
this. But I am not now treating of this doctrine. I have, however, dealt with it, one
place or another, very frequently.

CHAPTER 34.-THE FOURTH RULE OF TICHONIUS.

47. The fourth rule of Tichonius is about species and genus. For so he calls it, intending
that by species should be understood a part, by genus the whole of which that which he
calls species is a part: as, for example, every single city is a part of the great society
of nations: the city he calls a species, all nations constitute the genus. There is no
necessity for here applying that subtilty of distinction which is in use among logicians,
who discuss with great acuteness the difference between a part and a species. The rule is
of course the same, if anything of the kind referred to is found in Scripture, not in
regard to a single city, but in regard to a single province, or tribe, or kingdom. Not
only, for example, about Jerusalem, or some of the cities of the Gentiles, such as Tyre or
Babylon, are things said in Scripture whose significance oversteps the limits of the city,
and which are more suitable when applied to all nations; but in regard to Judea also, and
Egypt, and Assyria, or any other nation you choose to take which contains numerous cities,
but still is not the whole world, but only a part of it, things are said which pass over
the limits of that particular country, and apply more fitly to the whole of which this is
a part; or, as our author terms it, to the genus of which this is a species. And hence
these words have come to be commonly known, so that even uneducated people understand what
is laid down specially, and what generally, in any given Imperial command. The same thing
occurs in the case of men: things are said of Solomon, for example, the scope of which
reaches far beyond him, and which are only properly understood when applied to Christ and
His Church, of which Solomon is a part.

48. Now the species is not always overstepped, for things are often said of such a kind as
evidently apply to it also, or perhaps even to it exclusively. But when Scripture, having
up to a certain point been speaking about the species, makes a transition at that point
from the species to the genus, the reader must then be carefully on his guard against
seeking in the species what he can find much better and more surely in the genus. Take,
for example, what the prophet Ezekiel says: "When the house of Israel dwelt in their own
land, they defiled it by their own way, and by their doings: their way was before me as
the uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood
that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it: and
I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries:
according to their way, and according to their doings, I judged them. Now it is easy to
understand that this applies to that house of Israel of which the apostle says, "Behold
Israel after the flesh; because the people of Israel after the flesh did both perform and
endure all that is here referred to. What immediately follows, too, may be understood as
applying to the same people. But when the prophet begins to say, "And I will sanctify my
great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of
them;

and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord," the reader ought now carefully to observe
the way in which the species is overstepped and the genus taken in. For he goes on to say:
"And I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the
heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then
will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and
from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new
spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I
will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put y Spirit within you, and cause you to walk
in my statutes, and ye shall keep my commandments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the
land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I
will also save you from all your uncleannesses. Now that this is a prophecy of the New
Testament, to which pertain not only the remnant of that one nation of which it is
elsewhere said, "For though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the
sea, yet a remnant of them shall be saved," but also the other nations which were promised
to their fathers and our fathers;

and that there is here a promise of that washing of regeneration which, as we see, is now
imparted to all nations, no one who looks into the matter can doubt. And that saying of
the apostle, when he is commending the grace of the New Testament and its excellence in
comparison with the Old, "Ye are our epistle . . . written not with ink, but with the
Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart," has
an evident reference to this place where the prophet says, "A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of
your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Now the heart of flesh from which the
apostle's expression, "the fleshy tables of the heart," is drawn, the prophet intended to
point out as distinguished from the stony heart by the possession of sentient life; and by
sentient he understood intelligent life. And thus the spiritual Israel is made up, not of
one nation, but of all the nations which were promised to the fathers in their seed, that
is, in Christ.

49. This spiritual Israel, therefore, is distinguished from the carnal Israel which is of
one nation, by newness of grace, not by nobility of descent, in feeling, not in race; but
the prophet, in his depth of meaning, while speaking of the carnal Israel, passes on,
without indicating the transition, to speak of the spiritual, and although now speaking of
the latter, seems to be still speaking of the former; not that he grudges us the dear
apprehension of Scripture, as if we were enemies, but that he deals with us as a
physician, giving us a wholesome exercise for our spirit. And therefore we ought to take
this saying, "And I will bring you into your own land," and what he says shortly
afterwards, as if repeating himself, "And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your
fathers," not literally, as if they referred to Israel after the flesh, but spiritually,
as referring to the spiritual Israel. For the Church, without spot or wrinkle, gathered
out of all nations, and destined to reign for ever with Christ, is itself the land of the
blessed, the land of the living; and we are to understand that this was given to the
fathers when it was promised to them for what the fathers believed would be given in its
own time was to them, on account of the unchangeableness of the promise and purpose, the
same as if it were already given; just as the apostle, writing to Timothy, speaks.

of the grace which is given to the saints: "Not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; but
is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour. He speaks of the manifest. It is
possible, however, that these words may refer to the land of the age to come, when there
will be a new heaven and a new earth, wherein the unrighteous shall be unable to dwell.
And so it is truly said to the righteous, that the land itself is theirs, no part of which
will belong to the unrighteous; because it is the same as if it were itself given, when it
is firmly settled that it shall be given.

CHAPTER 35.-THE FIFTH RULE OF TICHONIUS.

50. The fifth rule Tichonius lays down is one he designates of times,-a rule by which we
can frequently discover or conjecture quantities of time which are not expressly mentioned
in Scripture. And he says that this rule applies in two ways: either to the figure of
speech called synecdoche, or to legitimate numbers. The figure synecdoche either puts the
part for the whole, or the whole for the part. As, for example, in reference to the time
when, in the presence of only three of His disciples, our Lord was transfigured on the
mount, so that His face shone as the sun, and His raiment was white as snow, one
evangelist says that this event occurred "after eight days," while another says that it
occurred "after six days." Now both of these statements about the number of days cannot be
true, unless we suppose that the writer who says "after eight days," counted the latter
part of the day on which Christ uttered the prediction and the first part of the day on
which he showed its fulfillment as two whole days; while the writer who says "after six
days," counted only the whole unbroken days between these two. This figure of speech,
which puts the part for the whole, explains also the great question about the resurrection
of Christ. For unless to the latter part of the day on which He suffered we join the
previous night, and count it as a whole day, and to the latter part of the night in which
He arose we join the Lord's day and He would be in the heart of the earth.

51. In the next place, our author calls those numbers legitimate which Holy Scriptures
more highly favors such as seven, or ten, or twelve, or any of the other numbers which the
diligent reader of Scripture soon comes to know. Now numbers of this sort are often means
just the same as "His praise shall continually be in my mouth." And their force is exactly
the same, either when multiplied by ten, as seventy hundred seven hundred (whence the
seventy years mentioned in Jeremiah may be taken in a spiritual sense for the whole time
during which the Church is a sojourner among aliens); or when multiplied into themselves,
as ten into ten gives one hundred, and twelve into twelve gives one hundred and forty-
four, which last number is used in the Apocalypse to signify the whole body of the saints.
Hence it appears that it is not merely questions about times that are to be settled by
these numbers, but that their significance is of much wider application, and extends to
many subjects. That number in the Apocalypse, for example, mentioned above, has not
reference to times, but to men.

CHAPTER 36.-THE SIXTH RULE OF TICHONIUS.

52. The sixth rule Tichonius calls the recapitulation, which, with sufficient
watchfulness, is discovered in difficult parts of Scripture. For certain occurrences are
so related, that the narrative appears to be following the order of time, or the
continuity of events, when it really goes back without mentioning it to previous
occurrences, which had been passed over in their proper place. And we make mistakes if we
do not understand this, from applying the rule here spoken of. For example, in the book of
Genesis we read, "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the
man whom He had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is
pleasant to the sight, and good for food. Now here it seems to be indicated that the
events last mentioned took place after God had formed man and put him in the garden;
whereas the fact is, that the two events having been briefly mentioned, viz., that God
planted a garden, and there put the man whom He had formed, the narrative goes back, by
way of recapitulation, to tell what had before been omitted, the way in which the garden
was planted: that out of the ground God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the
sight, and good for fond. Here there follows "The tree of life also was in the midst of
the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Next the river is mentioned which watered the garden, and which was parted into four
heads, the sources of four streams; and all this has reference to the arrangements of the
garden. And when this is finished, there is a repetition of the this: "And the Lord God
took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden. For it was after all these other things
were done that man was put in the garden, as now appears from the order of the narrative
itself: it was not after man was put there that the other things were done, as the
previous statement might be thought to imply, did we not accurately mark and understand
the recapitulation by which the narrative reverts to what had previously been passed over.
53. In the same book, again, when the generations of the sons of Noah are recounted, it is
said: "These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their
countries, and in their nations." And, again, when the sons of Shem are enumerated: "These
are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after
their nations." And it is added in reference to them all: "These are the families of the
sons of Noah, after their generations in their nations; and by these were the nations
divided in the earth after the flood. And the whole earth was of one language and of one
speech." Now the addition of this sentence, "And the whole earth was of one language and
of one speech," seems to indicate that at the time when the nations were scattered over
the earth they had all one language in common; but this is evidently inconsistent with the
previous words, in their families, after their tongues." For each family or nation could
not be said to have its own language if all had one language in common. And so it is by
way of recapitulation it is added, "And the whole earth was of one language and of one
speech," the narrative here going back, without indicating the change, to tell how it was,
that from having one language in common, the nations were divided into a multitude of
tongues. And, accordingly, we are forthwith told of the building of the tower, and of this
punishment being there laid upon them as the judgment of God upon their arrogance; and it
was after this that they were scattered over the earth according to their tongues.

54. This recapitulation is found in a still more obscure form; as, for example, our Lord
says in the gospel: "The same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire from heaven,
and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
In that day, he which shall be upon the house-top, and his stuff in the house, let him not
come down to take it away; and he back. Remember Lot's wife." Is it when our Lord shall
have been revealed that men are to give heed to these sayings, and not to look behind
them, that is, not to long after the past life which they have renounced? Is not the
present rather the time to give heed to them, that when the Lord shall have been revealed
every man may receive his reward according to the things he has given heed to or despised?
And yet because Scripture says, "In that day," the time of the revelation of the Lord will
be thought the time for giving heed to these sayings, unless the reader be watchful and
intelligent so as to understand the recapitulation, in which he will be assisted by that
other passage of Scripture which even in the time of the apostles proclaimed: "Little
children, it is the last time." The very time then when the gospel is preached, up to the
time that the Lord shall be revealed, is the day in which men ought to give heed to these
sayings: for to the same day, which shall be brought to a close by a day of judgment,
belongs that very revelation of the Lord here spoken of.

CHAPTER 37.-THE SEVENTH RULE OF TICHONIUS.

55. The seventh rule of Tichonius and the last, is about the devil and his body. For he is
the head of the wicked, who are in a sense his body, and destined to go with him into the
punishment of everlasting fire, just as Christ is the head of the Church, which is His
body, destined to be with Him in His eternal kingdom and glory. Accordingly, as the first
rule, which is called of the Lord and His body, directs us, when Scripture speaks of one
and the same person, to take pains to understand which part of the statement applies to
the head and which to the body; so this last rule shows us that statements are sometimes
made about the devil, whose truth is not so evident in regard to himself as in regard to
his body; and his body is made up not only of those who are manifestly out of the way, but
of those also who, though they really belong to him, are for a time mixed up with the
Church, until they depart from this life, or until the chaff is separated from the wheat
at the last great winnowing. For example, what is said in Isaiah, "How he is fallen from
heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!" and the other statements of the context which, under
the figure of the king of Babylon, are made about the same person, are of course to be
understood of the devil; and yet the statement which is made in the same place, "He is
ground down on the earth, who sendeth to all nations," does not altogether fitly apply to
the head himself. For, although the devil sends his angels to all nations, yet it is his
body, not himself, that is ground down on the each, except that he himself is in his body,
which is beaten small like the dust which the wind blows from the face of the earth.

56. Now all these rules, except the one about the promises and the law, make one meaning
to be understood where another is expressed, which is the peculiarity of figurative
diction; and this kind of diction, it seems to me, is too widely spread to be comprehended
in its full extent by any one. For, wherever one thing is said with the intention that
another should be understood we have a figurative expression, even though the name of the
trope is not to be found in the art of rhetoric. And when an expression of this sort
occurs where it is customary to find it, there is no trouble in understanding it; when it
occurs, however, where it is not customary, it costs labor to understand it, from some
more, from some less, just as men have got more or less from God of the gifts of
intellect, or as they have access to more or fewer external helps.

And, as in the case of proper words which I discussed above, and in which things are to be
understood just as they are expressed, so in the case of figurative words, in which one
thing is expressed and another is to be understood, and which I have just finished
speaking of as much as I thought enough, students of these venerable documents ought to be
counselled not only to make themselves acquainted with the forms of expression ordinarily
used in Scripture, to observe them carefully, and to remember them accurately, but also,
what is especially and before all things necessary, to pray that they may understand them.
For in these very books on the study of which they are intent, they read, "The Lord giveth
wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding; and it is from Him they have
received their very desire for knowledge, if it is wedded to piety. But about signs, so
far as relates to words, I have now said enough. It remains to discuss, in the following
book, so far as God has given me light, the means of communicating our thoughts to others.

INTRODUCTION

Argument-Passing to the second part of his work, that which treats of expression, the
author premises that it is no part of his intention to write a treatise on the laws of
rhetoric. These can be learned elsewhere, and ought not to be neglected, being indeed
specially necessary for the Christian teacher, whom it behoves to excel in eloquence and
power of speech. After detailing with much care and minuteness the various qualities of an
orator, he recommends the authors of the Holy Scriptures as the best models of eloquence,
far excelling all others in the combination of eloquence with wisdom. He points out that
perspicuity is the most essential quality of style, and ought to be cultivated with
especial care by the teacher, as it is the main requisite for instruction, although other
qualities are required for delighting and persuading the hearer. All these gifts are to be
sought in earnest prayer from God, though we are not to forget to be zealous and diligent
in study. He shows that there are three species of style, the subdued, the elegant, and
the majestic; the first serving for instruction, the second for praise, and the third for
exhortation: and of each of these he gives examples, selected both from scripture and from
early teachers of the church, Cyprian and Ambrose. He shows that these various styles may
be mingled, and when and for what purposes they are mingled; and that they all have the
same end in view, to bring home the truth to the hearer, so that he may understand it,
hear it with gladness, and practise it in his life. Finally, he exhorts the Christian
teacher himself, pointing out the dignity and responsibility of the office he hold to lead
a life in harmony with his own teaching, and to show a good example to all.

CHAPTER 1.-THIS WORK NOT INTENDED AS A TREATISE ON RHETORIC.

1. This work of mine, which is entitled On Christian Doctrine, was at the commencement
divided into two parts. For, after a preface, in which I answered by anticipation those
who were likely to take exception to the work, I said, "There are two things on which all
interpretation of Scripture depends: the mode of ascertaining the proper meaning, and the
known, the meaning." As, then, I have already said a great deal about the mode of
ascertaining the meaning, and have given three books to this one part of the subject, I
shall only say a few things about the mode of making known the meaning, in order if four
books. 2. In the first place, then, I wish by this preamble to put a stop to the
expectations of readers who may think that I am about to lay down rules of rhetoric such
as I have learnt and taught too, in the secular schools, and to warn them that they need
not look for any such from me. Not that I think such rules of no use, but that whatever
use they have is to be learnt elsewhere; and if any good man should happen to have leisure
for learning them, he is not to ask me to teach them either in this work or any other.

CHAPTER 2.-IT IS LAWFUL FOR A CHRISTIAN TEACHER TO USE THE ART OF RHETORIC.

3. Now, the art of rhetoric being available for the enforcing either of truth or
falsehood, who will dare to say that truth in the person of its defenders is to take its
stand unarmed against falsehood? For example, that those who are trying to persuade men of
what is false are to know how to introduce their subject, so as to put the hearer into a
friendly, or attentive, or teachable frame of mind, while the defenders of the truth shall
be ignorant of that art? That the former are to tell their falsehoods briefly, clearly,
and plausibly, while the latter shall tell the truth in such a way that it is tedious to
listen to, hard to understand, and, in fine, not easy to believe it? That the former are
to oppose the to melt, to enliven, and to rouse them, while the latter shall in defence of
the truth be sluggish, and frigid, and somnolent? Who is such a fool as to think this
wisdom? Since, then, the faculty of eloquence is available for both sides, and is of very
great service in the enforcing either of wrong or right, why do not good men study to
engage it on the side of truth, when bad men use it to obtain the triumph of wicked and
worthless causes, and to further injustice and error?

CHAPTER 3.-THE PROPER AGE AND THE PROPER MEANS FOR ACQUIRING RHETORICAL SKILL.

4. But the theories and rules on this subject (to which, when you add a tongue thoroughly
skilled by exercise and habit in the use of many words and many ornaments of speech, you
have what is called eloquence or oratory) may be learnt apart from these writings of mine,
if a suitable space of time be set aside for the purpose at a fit and proper age. But only
by those who can learn them any one who cannot learn this art quickly can never thoroughly
learn it at all. Whether this be true or not, why need we inquire? For even if this art
can occasionally be in the end mastered by men of slower intellect, I do not think it of
so much importance as to wish men who have arrived at mature age to spend time in learning
it. It is enough that boys should give attention to it; and even of these, not all who are
to be fitted for usefulness in the Church, but only those who are not yet engaged in any
occupation of more urgent necessity, or which ought evidently to take precedence of it.
For men of quick intellect and glowing temperament find it easier to become eloquent by
reading and listening to eloquent speakers than by following rules for eloquence.

And even outside the canon, which to our great advantage is fixed in a place of secure
authority, there is no want of ecclesiastical writings, in reading which a man of ability
will acquire a tinge of the eloquence with which they are written, even though he does not
aim at this, but is solely intent on the matters treated of; especially, of course, if in
addition he practise himself in writing, or dictating, and at last also in speaking, the
opinions he has formed on grounds of piety them, and who speak with fluency and elegance,
cannot always think of them when they are speaking so as to speak in accordance with them,
unless they are discussing the rules themselves. Indeed, I think there are scarcely any
who can do both things-that is, speak well, and; in order to do this, think of the rules
of speaking while they are speaking. For we must be careful that what we have got to say
does not escape us whilst we are thinking about saying it according to the rules of art.
Nevertheless, in the speeches of eloquent men, we find rules of eloquence carried out
which the speakers did not think of as aids to eloquence at the time when they were
speaking, whether they had ever learnt them, or whether they had never even met with them.
For it is because they are eloquent that they exemplify these rules; it is not that they
use them in order to be eloquent.

5. And, therefore, as infants cannot learn to speak except by learning words and phrases
from those who do speak, why should not men become eloquent without being taught any art
of speech, simply by reading and learning the speeches of eloquent men, and by imitating
them as far as they can? And what do we find from the examples themselves to be the case
in this respect? We know numbers who, without acquaintance with rhetorical rules, are more
eloquent than many who have learnt these; but we know no one who is eloquent without
having read and listened to the speeches and debates of eloquent men. For even the art of
grammar, which teaches correctness of speech, need not be learnt by boys, if they have the
advantage of growing up and living among men who speak correctly. For without knowing the
names of any of the faults, they will, from being accustomed to correct speech, lay hold
upon whatever is faulty in the speech of any one they listen to, and avoid it; just as
city-bred men, even when illiterate, seize upon the faults of rustics.

CHAPTER 4.-THEDUTY OF THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER.

6. It is the duty, then, of the interpreter and teacher of Holy Scripture the defender of
the true faith and the opponent of error, both to teach what is right and to refute what
is wrong, and in the performance of this task to conciliate the hostile, to rouse the
careless, and to tell the ignorant both what is occurring at present and what is probable
in the future. But once that his hearers are friendly, attentive, and ready to learn,
whether he has found them so, or has himself made them so the remaining objects are to be
carried out in whatever way the case requires. If the hearers need teaching, the matter
treated of must be made fully known by means of narrative. On the other hand, to clear up
points that are doubtful requires reasoning and the exhibition of proof. If, however, the
hearers require to be roused rather than instructed, in order that they may be diligent to
do what they already know, and to bring their feelings into harmony with the truths they
admit, greater vigor of speech is needed. Here entreaties and reproaches, exhortations and
upbraidings, and all the other means of rousing the emotions, are necessary.

7. And all the methods I have mentioned are constantly used by nearly every one in cases
where speech is the agency employed.

CHAPTER 5.-WISDOM OF MORE IMPORTANCE THAN ELOQUENCE TO THE CHRIST!AN TEACHER.

1 But as some men employ these coarsely, inelegantly, and frigidly, while others use them
with acuteness, elegance, and spirit, the work that I am speaking of ought to be
undertaken by one who can argue and speak with wisdom, if not with eloquence, and with
profit to his hearers, even though he profit them less than he would if he could speak
with eloquence too. But we must beware of the man who abounds in eloquent nonsense, and so
much the more if the hearer is pleased with what is not worth listening to, and thinks
that because the speaker is eloquent what he says must be true. And this opinion is held
even by those who think that the art of rhetoric should be taught; for they confess that
"though wisdom without eloquence is of little service to states, yet eloquence without
wisdom is frequently a positive injury, and is of service never. If, then, the men who
teach the principles of eloquence have been forced by truth to confess this in the very
books which treat of eloquence, though they were ignorant of the true, that is, the
heavenly wisdom which comes down from the Father of Lights, how much more ought we to feel
it who are the sons and the ministers of this higher wisdom! Now a man speaks with more or
less wisdom just as he has made more or less progress in the knowledge of Scripture;

2 I do not mean by reading them much and committing them to memory, but by understanding
them aright and carefully searching into their meaning. For there are who read and yet
neglect them; they read to remember the words, but are careless about knowing the meaning.
It is plain we must set far above these the men who are not so retentive of the words, but
see with the eyes of the heart into the heart of Scripture. Better than either of these,
however, is the man who, when he wishes, can repeat the words, and at the same time
correctly apprehends their meaning. 3 8. Now it is especially necessary for the man who is
bound to speak wisely, even though he cannot speak eloquently, to retain in memory the
words of Scripture. For the more he discerns the poverty of his own speech, the more he
ought to draw on the riches of Scripture, so that what he says in his own words he may
prove by the words of Scripture; and he himself, though small and weak in his own words,
may gain strength and power from the confirming testimony of great men. For his proof
gives pleasure when he cannot please by his mode of speech. But if a man desire to speak
not only with wisdom, but with eloquence also (and assuredly he will prove of greater
service if he can do both), I would rather send him to read, and listen to, and exercise
himself in imitating, eloquent men, than advise him to spend time with the teachers of
rhetoric; especially if the men he reads and listens to are justly praised as having
spoken, or as being accustomed to speak, not only with eloquence, but with wisdom also.
For eloquent speakers are heard with pleasure; wise speakers with profit. And, therefore,
Scripture does not say that the multitude of the eloquent, but "the multitude of the wise
is the welfare of the world." And as we must often swallow wholesome bitters, so we must
always avoid unwholesome sweets. But what is better than wholesome sweetness or sweet
wholesomeness? For the sweeter we try to make such things, the easier it is to make their
wholesomeness serviceable. And so there are writers of the Church who have expounded the
Holy Scriptures, not only with wisdom, but with eloquence as well; and there is not more
time for the reading of these than is sufficient for those who are studious and at leisure
to exhaust them.

CHAPTER 6.-THE SACRED WRITERS UNITE ELOQUENCE WITH WISDOM.

9. Here, perhaps, some one inquires whether the authors whose divinely-inspired writings
constitute the canon, which carries with it a most wholesome authority, are to be
considered wise only, or eloquent as well. A question which to me, and to those who think
with me, is very easily settled. For where I understand these writers, it seems to me not
only that nothing can be wiser, but also that nothing can be more eloquent. And I venture
to affirm that all who truly understand what these writers say, perceive at the same time
that it could not have been properly said in any other way. For as there is a kind of
eloquence that is more becoming in youth, and a kind that is more becoming in old age, and
nothing can be called eloquence if it be not suitable to the person of the speaker, so
there is a kind of eloquence that is becoming in men who justly claim the highest
authority, and who are evidently inspired of God. With this eloquence they spoke; no other
would have been suitable for them; and this itself would be unsuitable in any other, for
it is in keeping with their character, while it mounts as far above that of others (not
from empty inflation, but from solid merit) as it seems to fall below them. Where,
however, I do not understand these writers, though their eloquence is then less apparent,
I have no doubt but that it is of the same kind as that I do understand. The very
obscurity, too, of these divine and wholesome words was a necessary element in eloquence
of a kind that was designed to profit our understandings, not only by the discovery of
truth, but also by the exercise of their powers.

10. I could, however, if I had time, show those men who cry up their own form of language
as superior to that of our authors (not because of its majesty, but because of its
inflation), that all those powers and beauties of eloquence which they make their boast,
are to be found in the sacred writings which God in His goodness has provided to mould our
characters, and to guide us from this world of wickedness to the blessed world above. But
it is not the qualities which these writers have in common with the heathen orators and
poets that give me such unspeakable delight in their eloquence; I am more struck with
admiration at the way in which, by an eloquence peculiarly their own, they so use this
eloquence of ours that it is not conspicuous either by its presence or its absence: for it
did not become them either to condemn it or to make an ostentatious display of it; and if
they had shunned it, they would have done the former; if they had made it prominent. they
might have appeared to be doing the latter. And in those passages where the learned do
note its presence, the matters spoken of are such, that the words in which they are put
seem not so much to be sought out by the speaker as spontaneously to suggest themselves;
as if wisdom were walking out of its house,-that is, the breast of the wise man, and
eloquence, like an inseparable attendant, followed it without being called for.


ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE (CHAPTERS 7.-EXAMPLES OF TRUE ELOQUENCE DRAWN FROM THE EPISTLES OF PAUL AND THE PROPHECIES OF AMOS.–27.-THE MAN WHOSE LIFE IS IN HARMONY WITH HIS TEACHING WILL TEACH WITH GREATER EFFECT.)
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ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE continued

CHAPTER 7.-EXAMPLES OF TRUE ELOQUENCE DRAWN FROM THE EPISTLES OF PAUL AND THE PROPHECIES OF AMOS.

11. For who would not see what the apostle meant to say, and how wisely he has said it, in
the following passage: "We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh
patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed;
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto
us"? Now were any man unlearnedly learned (if I may use the expression) to contend that
the apostle had here followed the rules of rhetoric, would not every Christian, learned or
unlearned, laugh at him? And yet here we find the figure which is called in Greek klimaz
(climax,) and by some in Latin gradatio, for they do not care to call it scala (a ladder),
when the words and ideas have a connection of dependency the one upon the other, as we see
here that patience arises out of tribulation, experience out of patience, and hope out of
experience. Another ornament, too, is found here; for after certain statements finished in
a single tone of voice, which we call clauses and sections (membra et caesa), but the
Greeks kpla and kommata, there follows a rounded sentence (ambitus sive circuitus) which
the Greeks call periodoj, the clauses of which are suspended on the voice of the speaker
till the whole is completed by the last clause For of the statements which precede the
period this is the first clause, "knowing that tribulation worketh patience; the second,
"and patience, experience; the third, "and experience, hope.

Then the period which is subjoined is completed in three clauses, of which the first is,
"and hope maketh not ashamed; the second, "because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts; the third, "by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. But these and other matters
of the same kind are taught in the art of elocution. As then I do not affirm that the
apostle was guided by the rules of eloquence, so I do not deny that his wisdom naturally
produced, and was accompanied by, eloquence. 12. In the Second Epistle to the Corinthians,
again, he refutes certain false apostles who had gone out from the Jews, and had been
trying to injure his character; and being compelled to speak of himself, though he
ascribes this as folly to himself, how wisely and how eloquently he speaks! But wisdom is
his guide, eloquence his attendant; he follows the first, the second follows him, and yet
he does not spurn it when it comes after him. "I say again," he says, "Let no man think me
a fool: if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little. That
which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence
of boasting. Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. For ye suffer
fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into
bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite
you on the face. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit,
whereinsoever any is bold (I speak foolishly), I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? so am I.
Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of
Christ? (I speak as a fool), I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure,
in prisons more frequent, in deaths off.

Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one, thrice was I beaten with rods,
once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own
countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness,
in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in
watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides
those things which are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the
churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs
glory, I will glory of the things which concern my infirmities. The thoughtful and
attentive perceive how much wisdom there is in these words. And even a man sound asleep
must notice what a stream of eloquence flows through them.

13. Further still, the educated man observes that those sections which the Greeks call
kommata, and the clauses and periods of which I spoke a short time ago, being intermingled
in the most beautiful variety, make up the whole form and features (so to speak) of that
diction by which even the unlearned are delighted and affected. For, from the place where
I commenced to quote, the passage consists of periods: the first the smallest possible,
consisting of two members; for a period cannot have less than two members, though it may
have more: "I say again, let no man think me a fool. The next has three members: "if
otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little. The third has four
members: "That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in
this confidence of boasting. The fourth has two: "Seeing that many glory after the flesh,
I will glory also. And the fifth has two: "For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye
yourselves are wise. The sixth again has two members: "for ye suffer, if a man bring you
into bondage. Then follow three sections (caesa): "if a man devour you, if a man take of
you, if a man exalt himself. Next three clauses (membra): if "a man smite you on the face.
I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Then is subjoined a period of
three members: "Howbeit, whereinsoever any is bold (I speak foolishly), I am bold also.

After this, certain separate sections being put in the interrogatory form, separate
sections are also given as answers, three to three: "Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they
Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. But a fourth section being put
likewise in the interrogatory form, the answer is given not in another section (caesum)
but in a clause (membrum): "Are they the ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool. I am
more. Then the next four sections are given continuously, the interrogatory form being
most elegantly suppressed: "in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons
more frequent, in deaths oft. Next is interposed a short period; for, by a suspension of
the voice, "of the Jews five times" is to be marked off as constituting one member, to
which is joined the second, "received I forty stripes save one. Then he returns to
sections, and three are set down: "Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned,
thrice I suffered shipwreck. Next comes a clause: "a night and a day I have been in the
deep. Next fourteen sections burst forth with a vehemence which is most appropriate:

"In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own
countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness,
in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in
watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. After
this comes in a period of three members: "Besides those things which are without, that
which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. And to this he adds two clauses
in a tone of inquiry: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? In
fine, this whole passage, as if panting for breath, winds up with a period of two members:
"If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. And I
cannot sufficiently express how beautiful and delightful it is when after this outburst he
rests himself, and gives the hearer rest, by interposing a slight narrative. For he goes
on to say: "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore,
knoweth that I lie not. And then he tells, very briefly the danger he had been in, and the
way he escaped it.

14. It would be tedious to pursue the matter further, or to point out the same facts in
regard to other passages of Holy Scripture. Suppose had taken the further trouble, at
least in regard to the passages I have quoted from the apostle's writings, to point out
figures of speech which are taught in the art of rhetoric? Is it not more likely that
serious men would think I had gone too far, than that any of the studious would think I
had done enough? All these things when taught by masters are reckoned of great value;
great prices are paid for them, and the vendors puff them magniloquently. And I fear lest
I too should smack of that puffery while thus descanting on matters of this kind. It was
necessary, however, to reply to the ill-taught men who think our authors contemptible; not
because they do not possess, but because they do not display, the eloquence which these
men value so highly.

15. But perhaps some one is thinking that I have selected the Apostle Paul because he is
our great orator. For when he says, "Though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge, he
seems to speak as if granting so much to his detractors, not as confessing that he
recognized its truth. If he had said, "I am indeed rude in speech, but not in knowledge,"
we could not in any way have put another meaning upon it. He did not hesitate plainly to
assert his knowledge, because without it he could not have been the teacher of the
Gentiles. And certainly if we bring forward anything of his as a model of eloquence, we
take it from those epistles which even his very detractors, who thought his bodily
presence weak and his speech contemptible, confessed to be weighty and powerful. I see,
then, that I must say something about the eloquence of the prophets also, where many
things are concealed under a metaphorical style, which the more completely they seem
buried under figures of speech, give the greater pleasure when brought to light. In this
place, however, it is my duty to select a passage of such a kind that I shall not be
compelled to explain the matter, but only to commend the style. And I shall do so, quoting
principally from the book of that prophet who says that he was a shepherd or herdsman, and
was called by God from that occupation, and sent to prophesy to the people of God. I shall
not, however, follow the Septuagint translators, who, being themselves under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit in their translation, seem to have altered some passages with the view
of directing the reader's attention more particularly to the investigation of the
spiritual sense; (and hence some passages are more obscure, because more figurative, in
their translation;) but I shall follow the translation made from the Hebrew into Latin by
the presbyter Jerome, a man thoroughly acquainted with both tongues.

16. When, then, this rustic, or quondam rustic prophet, was denouncing the godless, the
proud, the luxurious, and therefore the most neglectful of brotherly love, he called
aloud, saying: "Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria,
who are heads and chiefs of the people, entering with pomp into the house of Israel! Pass
ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath
of the Philistines, and to all the best kingdoms of these: is their border greater than
your border? Ye that are set apart for the day of evil, and that come near to the seat of
oppression; that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch yourselves upon couches that eat the
lamb of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the herd; that chant to the sound of
the viol. They thought that they had instruments of music like David; drinking wine in
bowls, and anointing themselves with the costliest ointment: and they were not grieved for
the affliction of Joseph." Suppose those men who, assuming to be themselves learned and
eloquent, despise our prophets as untaught and unskillful of speech, had been obliged to
deliver a message like this, and to men such as these, would they have chosen to express
themselves in any respect differently-those of them, at least, who would have shrunk from
raving like madmen?

17. For what is there that sober ears could wish changed in this speech? In the first
place, the invective itself; with what vehemence it throws itself upon the drowsy senses
to startle them into wakefulness: "Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, and trust in the
mountains of Samaria, who are heads and chiefs of the people, entering with pomp into the
house of Israel!" Next, that he may use the favors of God, who has bestowed upon them
ample territory, to show their ingratitude in trusting to the mountain of Samaria, where
idols were worshipped: "Pass ye unto Calneh," he says, "and see; and from thence go ye to
Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines, and to all the best kingdoms of
these: is their border greater than your border?" At the same time also that these things
are spoken of, the style is adorned with names of places as with lamps, such as "Zion,"
"Samaria," "Calneh," "Hamath the great," and "Gath of the Philistines." Then the words
joined to these places are most appropriately varied: "ye are at ease," "ye trust," "pass
on," "go," "descend."

18. And then the future captivity under an oppressive king is announced as approaching,
when it is added: "Ye that are set apart for the day of evil, and come near to the seat of
oppression." Then are subjoined the evils of luxury: "ye that lie upon beds of ivory, and
stretch yourselves upon couches; that eat the lamb from the flock, and the calves out of
the midst of the herd." These six clauses form three periods of two members each. For he
does not say: Ye who are set apart for the day of evil, who come near to the seat of
oppression, who sleep upon beds of ivory, who stretch yourselves upon couches, who eat the
lamb from the flock, and calves out of the herd." If he had so expressed it, this would
have had its beauty: six separate clauses running on, the same pronoun being repeated each
time, and each clause finished by a single effort of the speaker's voice. But it is more
beautiful as it is, the clauses being joined in pairs under the same pronoun, and forming
three sentences, one referring to the prophecy of the captivity: "Ye that are set apart
for the day of evil, and come near the seat of oppression;" the second to lasciviousness:
"ye that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch yourselves upon couches;" the third to
gluttony: "who eat the lamb from the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the herd."
So that it is at the discretion of the speaker whether he finish each clause separately
and make six altogether, or whether he suspend his voice at the first, the third, and the
fifth, and by joining the second to the first, the fourth to the third, and the sixth to
the fifth, make three most elegant periods of two members each: one describing the
imminent catastrophe; another, the lascivious couch; and the third, the luxurious table.

19. Next he reproaches them with their luxury in seeking pleasure for the sense of
hearing. And here, when he had said, "Ye who chant to the sound of the viol," seeing that
wise men may practise music wisely, he, with wonderful skill of speech, checks the flow of
his invective, and not now speaking to, but of, these men, and to show us that we must
distinguish the music of the wise from the music of the voluptuary, he does not say, "Ye
who chant to the sound of the viol, and think that ye have instruments of music like
David;" but he first addresses to themselves what it is right the voluptuaries should
hear, "Ye who chant to the sound of the viol;" and then, turning to others, he intimates
that these men have not even skill in their art: "they thought that they had instruments
of music like David; drinking wine in bowls, and anointing themselves with the costliest
ointment." These three clauses are best pronounced when the voice is suspended on the
first two members of the period, and comes to a pause on the third.

20. But now as to the sentence which follows all these: "and they were not grieved for the
affliction of Joseph." Whether this be pronounced continuously as one clause, or whether
with more elegance we hold the words, "and they were not grieved," suspended on the voice,
and then add, "for the affliction of Joseph," so as to make a period of two members; in
any case, it is a touch of marvelous beauty not to say," and they were not grieved for the
affliction of their brother;" but to put Joseph for brother, so as to indicate brothers in
general by the proper name of him who stands out illustrious from among his brethren, both
in regard to the injuries he suffered and the good return he made. And, indeed, I do not
know whether this figure of speech, by which Joseph is put for brothers in general, is one
of those laid down in that art which I learnt and used to teach. But how beautiful it is,
and how it comes home to the intelligent reader, it is useless to tell any one who does
not himself feel it.

21. And a number of other points bearing on the laws of eloquence could be found in this
passage which I have chosen as an example. But an intelligent reader will not be so much
instructed by carefully analysing it as kindled by reciting it with spirit. Nor was it
composed by man's art and care, but it flowed forth in wisdom and eloquence from the
Divine mind; wisdom not aiming at eloquence, yet eloquence not shrinking from wisdom. For
if, as certain very eloquent and acute men have perceived and said, the rules which are
laid down in the art of oratory could not have been observed, and noted, and reduced to
system, if they had not first had their birth in the genius of orators, is it wonderful
that they should be found in the messengers of Him who is the author of all genius?
Therefore let us acknowledge that the canonical writers are not only wise but eloquent
also, with an eloquence suited to a character and position like theirs.

CHAPTER 8.-THE OBSCURITY OF THE SACRED WRITERS, THOUGH COMPATIBLE WITH ELOQUENCE, NOT TO BE IMITATED BY CHRISTIAN TEACHERS.

22. But although I take some examples of eloquence from those writings of theirs which
there is no difficulty in understanding, we are not by any means to suppose that it is our
duty to imitate them in those passages where, with a view to exercise and train the minds
of their readers, and to break in upon the satiety and stimulate the zeal of those who are
willing to learn, and with a view also to throw a veil over the minds of the godless
either that they may be converted to piety or shut out from a knowledge of the mysteries,
from one or other of these reasons they have expressed themselves with a useful and
wholesome obscurity. They have indeed expressed themselves in such a way that those who in
after ages understood and explained them aright have in the Church of God obtained an
esteem, not indeed equal to that with which they are themselves regarded, but coming next
to it. The expositors of these writers, then, ought not to express themselves in the same
way, as if putting forward their expositions as of the same authority; but they ought in
all their deliverances to make it their first and chief aim to be understood, using as far
as possible such clearness of speech that either he will be very dull who does not
understand them, or that if what they say should not be very easily or quickly understood,
the reason will lie not in their manner of expression, but in the difficulty and subtilty
of the matter they are trying to explain.

CHAPTER 9.-HOW, AND WITH WHOM, DIFFICULT PASSAGES ARE TO BE DISCUSSED.

23. For there are some passages which are not understood in their proper force, or are
understood with great difficulty, at whatever length, however clearly, or with whatever
eloquence the speaker may expound them; and these should never be brought before the
people at all, or only on rare occasions when there is some urgent reason. In books,
however, which are written in such a style that, if understood, they, so to speak, draw
their own readers, and if not understood, give no trouble to those who do not care to read
them and in private conversations, we must not shrink from the duty of bringing the truth
which we ourselves have reached within the comprehension of others, however difficult it
may be to understand it, and whatever labor in the way of argument it may cost us. Only
two conditions are to be insisted upon, that our hearer or companion should have an
earnest desire to learn the truth, and should have capacity of mind to receive it in
whatever form it may be communicated, the teacher not being so anxious about the eloquence
as about the clearness of his teaching.

CHAPTER 10.-THE NECESSITY FOR PERSPICUITYOF STYLE.

24. Now a strong desire for clearness sometimes leads to neglect of the more polishedforms
of speech, and indifference about what sounds well, compared with what dearly expresses
and conveys the meaning intended. Whence a certain author, when dealing with speech of
this kind, says that there is in it "a kind of careful negligence. Yet while taking away
ornament, it does not bring in vulgarity of speech; though good teachers have, or ought to
have, so great an anxiety about teaching that they will employ a word which cannot be made
pure Latin without becoming obscure or ambiguous, but which when used according to the
vulgar idiom is neither ambiguous nor obscure) not in the way the learned, but rather in
the way the unlearned employ it. For if our translators did not shrink from saying, "Non
congregabo conventicula eorum de sanguinibus," because they felt that it was important for
the sense to put a word here in the plural which in Latin is only used in the singular;
why should a teacher of godliness who is addressing an unlearned audience shrink from
using ossum assure instead of os, if he fear that the latter might be taken not as the
singular of ossa, but as the singular of ora, seeing that African ears have no quick
perception of the shortness or length of vowels?

And what advantage is there in purity of speech which does not lead to understanding in
the hearer, seeing that there is no use at all in speaking, if they do not understand us
for whose sake we speak? He, therefore, who teaches will avoid all words that do not
teach; and if instead of them he can find words which are at once pure and intelligible,
he will take these by preference; if, however, he cannot, either because there are no such
words, or because they do not at the time occur to him, he will use words that are not
quite pure, if only the substance of his thought be conveyed and apprehended in its
integrity. 25. And this must be insisted on as necessary to our being understood, not only
in conversations, whether with one person or with several, but much more in the case of a
speech delivered in public: for in conversation any one has the power of asking a
question; but when all are silent that one may be heard, and all faces are turned
attentively upon him, it is neither customary nor decorous for a person to ask a question
about what he does not understand; and on this account the speaker ought to be especially
careful to give assistance to those who cannot ask it. Now a crowd anxious for instruction
generally shows by its movements if it understands what is said; and until some indication
of this sort be given, the subject discussed ought to be turned over and over, and put in
every shape and form and variety of expression, a thing which cannot be done by men who
are repeating words prepared beforehand and committed to memory. As soon, however, as the
speaker has ascertained that what he says is understood, he ought either to bring his
address to a close, or pass on to another point. For if a man gives pleasure when he
throws light upon points on which people wish for instruction, he becomes wearisome when
he dwells at length upon things that are already well known, especially when men's
expectation was fixed on having the difficulties of the passage removed.

For even things that are very well known are told for the sake of the pleasure they give,
if the attention be directed not to the things themselves, but to the way in which they
are told. Nay, even when the style itself is already well known, if it be pleasing to the
hearers, it is almost a matter of indifference whether he who speaks be a speaker or a
reader. For things that are gracefully written are often not only read with delight by
those who are making their first acquaintance with them, but re-read with delight by those
who have already made acquaintance with them, and have not yet forgotten them; nay, both
these classes will derive pleasure even from hearing another man repeat them. And if a man
has forgotten anything, when he is reminded of it he is taught. But I am not now treating
of the mode of giving pleasure. I am speaking of the mode in which men who desire to learn
ought to be taught. And the best mode is that which secures that he who hears shall hear
the truth, and that what he hears he shall understand. And when this Joint has been
reached, no further labor need be spent on the truth itself, as if it required further
explanation; but perhaps some trouble may be taken to enforce it so as to bring it home to
the heart. If it appear right to do this, it ought to be done so moderately as not to toad
to weariness and impatience.

CHAPTER 11.-THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER MUST SPEAK CLEARLY, BUT NOT INELEGANTLY.

26. For teaching, of course, true eloquence consists, not in making people like what they
disliked, nor in making them do what they shrank from, but in making clear what was
obscure; yet if this be done without grace of style, the benefit does not extend beyond
the few eager students who are anxious to know whatever is to be learnt, however rude and
unpolished the form in which it is put; and who, when they have succeeded in their object,
find the plain truth pleasant food enough. And it is one of the distinctive features of
good intellects not to love words, but the truth in words. For of what service is a golden
key, if it cannot open what we want it to open? Or what objection is there to a wooden one
if it can, seeing that to open what is shut is all we want? But as there is a certain
analogy between learning and eating, the very food without which it is impossible to live
must be flavored to meet the tastes of the majority.

CHAPTER 12.-THE AIM OF THE ORATOR, ACCORDING TO CICERO, IS TO TEACH, TO DELIGHT, AND TO MOVE. OF THESE, TEACHING IS THE MOST ESSENTIAL.

27. Accordingly a great orator has truly said that "an eloquent man must speak so as to
teach, to delight, and to persuade. Then he adds: "To teach is a necessity, to delight is
a beauty, to persuade is a triumph. Now of these three, the one first mentioned, the
teaching, which is a matter of necessity, depends on what we say; the other two on the way
we say it. He, then, who speaks with the purpose of teaching should not suppose that he
has said what he has to say as long as he is not understood; for although what he has said
be intelligible to himself it is not said at all to the man who does not understand it.
If, however, he is understood, he has said his say, whatever may have been his manner of
saying it. But if he wishes to delight or persuade his hearer as well, he will not
accomplish that end by putting his thought in any shape no matter what, but for that
purpose the style of speaking is a matter of importance. And as the hearer must be pleased
in order to secure his attention, so he must be persuaded in order to move him to action.
And as he is pleased if you speak with sweetness and elegance, so he is persuaded if he be
drawn by your promises, and awed by your threats; if he reject what you condemn, and
embrace what you commend;

if he grieve when you heap up objects for grief, and rejoice when you point out an object
for joy; if he pity those whom you present to him as objects of pity, and shrink from
those whom you set before him as men to be feared and shunned. I need not go over all the
other things that can be done by powerful eloquence to move the minds of the hearers, not
telling them what they ought to do, but urging them to do what they already know ought to
be done. 28. If, however, they do not yet know this, they must of course be instructed
before they can be moved. And perhaps the mere knowledge of their duty will have such an
effect that there will be no need to move them with greater strength of eloquence. Yet
when this is needful, it ought to be done. And it is needful when people, knowing what
they ought to do, do it not. Therefore, to teach is a necessity. For what men know, it is
in their own hands either to do or not to I do. But who would say that it is their duty to
do what they do not know? On the same principle, to persuade is not a necessity: for it is
not always called for; as, for example, when the hearer yields his assent to one who
simply teaches or gives pleasure. For this reason also to persuade is a triumph, because
it is possible that a man may be taught and delighted, and yet not give his consent. And
what will be the use of gaining the first two ends if we fail in the third? Neither is it
a necessity to give pleasure; for when, in the course of an address, the truth is clearly
pointed out (and this is the true function of teaching), it is not the fact, nor is it the
intention, that the style of speech should make the truth pleasing, or that the style
should of itself give pleasure; but the truth itself, when exhibited in its naked
simplicity, gives pleasure, because it is the truth. And hence even falsities are
frequently a source of pleasure when they are brought to light and exposed. It is not, of
course, their falsity that gives pleasure; but as it is true that they are false, the
speech which shows this to be true gives pleasure.

CHAPTER 13.-THE HEARER MUST BE MOVED AS WELL AS INSTRUCTED.

29. But for the sake of those who are so fastidious that they do not care for truth unless
it is put in the form of a pleasing discourse, no small place has been assigned in
eloquence to the art of pleasing. And yet even this is not enough for those stubborn-
minded men who both understand and are pleased with the teacher's discourse, without
deriving any profit from it. For what does it profit a man that he both confesses the
truth and praises the eloquence, if he does not yield his consent, when it is only for the
sake of securing his consent that the speaker in urging the truth gives careful attention
to what he says? If the truths taught are such that to believe or to know them is enough,
to give one's assent implies nothing more than to confess that they are true. When,
however, the truth taught is one that must be carried into practice, and that is taught
for the very purpose of being practiced, it is useless to be persuaded of the truth of
what is said, it is useless to be pleased with the manner in which it is said, if it be
not so learnt as to be practiced. The eloquent divine, then, when he is urging a practical
truth, must not only teach so as to give instruction, and please so as to keep up the
attention, but he must also sway the mind so as to subdue the will. For if a man be not
moved by the force of truth, though it is demonstrated to his own confession, and clothed
in beauty of style, nothing remains but to subdue him by the power of eloquence.

CHAPTER 14.-BEAUTY OF DICTION TO BE IN KEEPING WITH THE MATTER.

30. And so much labor has been spent by men on the beauty of expression here spoken of,
that not only is it not our duty to do, but it is our duty to shun and abhor, many and
heinous deeds of wickedness and baseness which wicked and base men have with great
eloquence recommended, not with a view to gaining assent, but merely for the sake of being
read with pleasure. But may God avert from His Church what the prophet Jeremiah says of
the synagogue of the Jews: "A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land: the
prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests applaud them with their hands; and my people
love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?" O eloquence, which is the
more terrible from its purity, and the more crushing from its solidity! Assuredly it is "a
hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces." For to this God Himself has by the same prophet
compared His own word spoken through His holy prophets. God forbid, then, God forbid that
with us the priest should applaud the false prophet, and that God's people should love to
have and so. God forbid, I say, that with us there should be such terrible madness! For
what shall we do in the end thereof? And assuredly it is preferable, even though what is
said should be less intelligible, less pleasing, and less persuasive, that truth be
spoken, and that what is just, not what is iniquitous, be listened to with pleasure. But
this, of course, cannot be, unless what is true and just be expressed with elegance.

31. In a serious assembly, moreover, such as is spoken of when it is said, "I will praise
Thee among much people," no pleasure is derived from that species of eloquence which
indeed says nothing that is false, but which buries small and unimportant truths under a
frothy mass of ornamental words, such as would not be graceful or dignified even if used
to adorn great and fundamental truths. And something of this sort occurs in a letter of
the blessed Cyprian, which, I think, came there by accident, or else was inserted
designedly with this view, that posterity might see how the wholesome discipline of
Christian teaching had cured him of that redundancy of language, and confined him to a
more dignified and modest form of eloquence, such as we find in his subsequent letters, a
style which is admired without effort, is sought after with eagerness, but is not attained
without great difficulty. He says, then, in one place," Let us seek this abode: the
neighboring solitudes afford a retreat where, whilst the spreading shoots of the vine
trees, pendulous and intertwined, creep amongst the supporting reeds, the leafy covering
has made a portico of vine." There is wonderful fluency and exuberance of language here;
but it is too florid to be pleasing to serious minds. But people who are fond of this
style are apt to think that men who do not use it, but employ a more chastened style, do
so because they cannot attain the former, not because their judgment teaches them to avoid
it. Wherefore this holy man shows both that he can speak in that style, for he has done so
once, and that he does not choose, for he never uses it again.

CHAPTER 15.-THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER SHOULD PRAY BEFORE PREACHING.

1 32. And so our Christian orator, while he says what is just, and holy, and good (and he
ought never to say anything else), does all he can to be heard with intelligence, with
pleasure, and with obedience; and he need and so far as he succeeds, he will succeed more
by piety in prayer than by gifts of oratory; and so he ought to pray for himself, and for
those he is about to address, before he attempts to speak. And when the hour is come that
he must speak, he ought, before he opens his mouth, to lift up his thirsty soul to God, to
drink in what he is about to pour forth, and to be himself filled with what he is about to
distribute. For, as in regard to every matter of faith and love there are many things that
may be said, and many ways of saying them, who knows what it is expedient at a given
moment for us to say, or to be heard saying, except God who knows the hearts of all? And
who can make us say what we ought, and in the way we ought, except Him in whose hand both
we and our speeches are? Accordingly, he who is anxious both to know and to teach should
learn all that is to be taught, and acquire such a faculty of speech as is suitable for a
divine.

2 But when the hour for speech arrives, let him reflect upon that saying of our Lord's as
better suited to the wants of a pious mind "Take no thought how or what ye shall speak;
for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that
speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. The Holy Spirit, then, speaks
thus in those who for Christ's sake are delivered to the persecutors; why not also in
those who deliver Christ's message to those who are wilting to learn?

CHAPTER 16.-HUMAN DIRECTIONS NOT TO BE DESPISED, THOUGH GOD MAKES THE TRUE TEACHER.

33. Now if any one says that we need not direct men how or what they should teach, since
the Holy Spirit makes them teachers, he may as well say that we need not pray, since our
Lord says, "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him; or that the
Apostle Paul should not have given directions to Timothy and Titus as to how or what they
should teach others. And these three apostolic epistles ought to be constantly before the
eyes of every one who has obtained the position of a teacher in the Church. In the First
Epistle to Timothy do we not read: "These things command and teach? What these things are,
has been told previously. Do we not read there: "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a
father? Is it not said in the Second Epistle: "Hold fast the form of sound words, which
thou hast heard of me? And is he not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth? And
in the same place: "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine. And so in the Epistle to Titus, does he not
say that a bishop ought to "hold fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he
may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers? There, too,
he says: "But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: that the aged men be
sober," and so on.

And there, too: "These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man
despise thee. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers" and so on. What
then are we to think? Does the apostle in any way contradict himself, when, though he says
that men are made teachers by the operation of the Holy Spirit, he yet himself gives them
directions how and what they should teach? Or are we to understand, that though the duty
of men to teach even the teachers does not cease when the Holy Spirit is given, yet that
neither is he who planteth anything, nor he who watereth, but God who giveth the increase?
Wherefore though holy men be our helpers, or even holy angels assist us, no one learns
aright the things that pertain to life with God, until God makes him ready to learn from
Himself, that God who is thus addressed in the psalm: "Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou
art my God. And so the same apostle says to Timothy himself, speaking, of course, as
teacher to disciple: "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast
been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. For as the medicines which men
apply to the bodies of their fellow-men are of no avail except God gives them virtue (who
can heal without their aid, though they cannot without His), and yet they are applied;

and if it be done from a sense of duty, it is esteemed a work of mercy or benevolence; so
the aids of teaching, applied through the instrumentality of man, are of advantage to the
soul only when God works to make them of advantage, who could give the gospel to man even
without the help or agency of men. Chap· 17.-Threefold Division OF The Various Styles OF
Speech. 34. He then who, in speaking, aims at enforcing what is good, should not despise
any of those three objects, either to teach, or to give pleasure, or to move, and should
pray and strive, as we have said above, to be heard with intelligence, with pleasure, and
with ready compliance· And when he does this with elegance and propriety, he may justly be
called eloquent, even though he do not carry with him the assent of his hearer. For it is
these three ends, viz., teaching, giving pleasure, and moving, that the great master of
Roman eloquence himself seems to have intended that the following three directions should
subserve: "He, then, shall be eloquent, who can say little things in a subdued style,
moderate things in a temperate style, and great things in a majestic style:" as if he had
taken in also the three ends mentioned above, and had embraced the whole in one sentence
thus: "He, then, shall be eloquent, who can say little things in a subdued style, in order
to give instruction, moderate things in a temperate style, in order to give pleasure, and
great things in a majestic style, in order to sway the mind."

CHAPTER 18.-THE CHRISTIAN ORATOR IS CONSTANTLY DEALING WITH GREAT MATTERS.

35. Now the author I have quoted could have exemplified these three directions, as laid
down by himself, in regard to legal questions: he could not, however, have done so in
regard to ecclesiastical questions,-the only ones that an address such as I wish to give
shape to is concerned with. For of legal questions those are called small which have
reference to pecuniary transactions; those great where a matter relating to man's life or
liberty comes up. Cases, again, which have to do with neither of these, and where the
intention is not to get the hearer to do, or to pronounce judgment upon anything, but only
to give him pleasure, occupy as it were a middle place between the former two, and are on
that account called middling, or moderate. For moderate things get their name from modus
(a measure); and it is an abuse, not a proper use of the word moderate, to put it for
little. In questions like ours, however, where all things, and especially those addressed
to the people from the place of authority, ought to have reference to men's salvation, and
that not their temporal but their eternal salvation, and where also the thing to be
guarded against is eternal ruin, everything that we say is important; so much so, that
even what the preacher says about pecuniary matters, whether it have reference to loss or
gain, whether the amount be great or small, should not seem unimportant.

For justice is never unimportant, and justice ought assuredly to be observed, even in
small affairs of money, as our Lord says: "He that is faithful in that which is least, is
faithful also in much. That which is least, then, is very little; but to be faithful in
that which is least is great. For as the nature of the circle, viz., that all lines drawn
from the centre to the circumference are equal, is the same in a great disk that it is in
the smallest coin; so the greatness of justice is in no degree lessened, though the
matters to which justice is applied be small. 36. And when the apostle spoke about trials
in regard to secular affairs (and what were these but matters of money?), he says: "Dare
any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before
the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall
be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall
judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If, then, ye have judgments
of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the Church.
I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that
shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and
that before the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye
go to law one with another: why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer
yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" Why is it that the apostle
is so indignant, and that he thus accuses, and upbraids, and chides, and threatens? Why is
it that the changes in his tone, so frequent and so abrupt, testify to the depth of his
emotion? Why is it, in fine, that he speaks in a tone so exalted about matters so very
trifling? Did secular matters deserve so much at his hands? God forbid. No; but all this
is done for the sake of justice, charity, and piety, which in the judgment of every sober
mind are great, even when applied to matters the very least.

37. Of course, if we were giving men advice as to how they ought to conduct secular cases,
either for themselves or for their connections, before the church courts, we would tightly
advise them to conduct them quietly as matters of little moment. But we are treating of
the manner of speech of the man who is to be a teacher of the truths which deliver us from
eternal misery and bring us to eternal happiness; and wherever these truths are spoken of,
whether in public or private, whether to one or many, whether to friends or enemies,
whether in a continuous discourse or in conversation, whether in tracts, or in books, or
in letters long or short, they are of great importance. Unless indeed we are prepared to
say that, because a cup of cold water is a very trifling and common thing, the saying of
our Lord that he who gives a cup of cold water to one of His disciples shall in no wise
lose his reward, is very trivial and unimportant. Or that when a preacher takes this
saying as his text, he should think his subject very unimportant, and therefore speak
without either eloquence or power, but in a subdued and humble style. Is it not the case
that when we happen to speak on this subject to the people, and the presence of God is
with us, so that what we say is not altogether unworthy of the subject, a tongue of fire
springs up out of that cold water which inflames even the cold hearts of men with a zeal
for doing works of mercy in hope of an eternal reward?

CHAPTER 19.-THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER MUST USE DIFFERENT STYLES ON DIFFERENT OCCASIONS.

1 38. And yet, while our teacher ought to speak of great matters, he ought not always to
be speaking of them in a majestic tone, but in a subdued tone when he is teaching,
temperately when he is giving praise or blame. When, however, something is to be done, and
we are speaking to those who ought, but are not willing, to do it, then great matters must
be spoken of with power, and in a manner calculated to sway the mind. And sometimes the
same important matter is treated in all these ways at different times, quietly when it is
being taught, temperately when its importance is being urged, and powerfully when we are
forcing a mind that is averse to the truth to turn and embrace it. For is there anything
greater than God Himself? Is nothing, then, to be learnt about Him? Or ought he who is
teaching the Trinity in unity to speak of it otherwise than in the method of calm
discussion, so that in regard to a subject which it is not easy to comprehend, we may
understand as much as it is given us to understand? Are we in this case to seek out
ornaments instead of proofs? Or is the hearer to be moved to do something instead of being
instructed so that he may learn something?

2 But when we come to praise God, either in Himself, or in His works, what a field for
beauty and splendor of language opens up before man, who can task his powers to the utmost
in praising Him whom no one can adequately praise, though there is no one who does not
praise Him in some measure! But if He be not worshipped, or if idols, whether they be
demons or any created being whatever, be worshipped with Him or in preference to Him, then
we ought to speak out with power and impressiveness, show how great a wickedness this is,
and urge men to flee from it.

CHAPTER 20.-EXAMPLES OF THE VARIOUS STYLES DRAWN FROM SCRIPTURE.

39. But now to come to something more definite. We have an example of the calm, subdued
style in the Apostle Paul, where he says: "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do
ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons; the one by a bond maid,
the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh; but
he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two
covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. For
this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in
bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us
all; and so on. And in the same way where he reasons thus: "Brethren, I speak after the
manner of men: Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man
disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He
saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And
this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which
was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise
of none effect.

For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham
by promise. And because it might possibly occur to the hearer to ask, If there is no
inheritance by the law, why then was the law given? he himself anticipates this objection
and asks, "Wherefore then serveth the law? And the answer is given: "It was added because
of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was
ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but
God is one. And here an objection occurs which he himself has stated: "Is the law then
against the promises of God? He answers: "God forbid. And he also states the reason in
these words: "For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin,
that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. It is part,
then, of the duty of the teacher not only to interpret what is obscure, and to unravel the
difficulties of questions, but also, while doing this, to meet other questions which may
chance to suggest themselves, lest these should cast doubt or discredit on what we say.
If, however, the solution of these questions suggest itself as soon as the questions
themselves arise, it is useless to disturb what we cannot remove.

And besides, when out of one question other questions arise, and out of these again still
others; if these be all discussed and solved, the reasoning is extended to such a length,
that unless the memory be exceedingly powerful and active the reasoner finds it impossible
to return to the original question from which he set out. It is, however, exceedingly
desirable that whatever occurs to the mind as an objection that might be urged should be
stated and refuted, lest it turn up at a time when no one will be present to answer it, or
lest, if it should occur to a man who is present but says nothing about it, it might never
be thoroughly removed. 40. In the following words of the apostle we have the temperate
style: "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;
the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters. And also in these: "I beseech you,
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is you reasonable service. And almost the
whole of this hortatory passage is in the temperate style of eloquence; and those parts of
it are the most beautiful in which, as if paying what was due, things that belong to each
other are gracefully brought together. For example: "Having then gifts, differing
according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to
the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth,
on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that ruleth, with diligence; he that
showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that, which is
evil, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly
love; in honor preferring one another; not slothful in business; fervent in spirit;
serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute
you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that
weep. Be of the same mind one toward another.

And how gracefully all this is brought to a close in a period of two members: "Mind not
high things, but condescend to men of low estate! And a little afterwards: "Render
therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear
to whom fear; honor to whom honor. And these also, though expressed in single clauses, are
terminated by a period of two members: "Owe no man anything, but to love one another. And
a little farther on: "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast
off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly, as
in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in
strife and envying: but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the
flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Now if the passage were translated thus, "et carnis
providentiam ne in cancupiscentiis feceritis," the ear would no doubt be gratified with a
more harmonious ending; but our translator, with more strictness, preferred to retain even
the order of the words. And how this sounds in the Greek language, in which the apostle
spoke, those who are better skilled in that tongue may determine. My opinion, however, is,
that what has been translated to us in the same order of words does not run very
harmoniously even in the original tongue.

41. And, indeed, I must confess that our authors are very defective in that grace of
speech which consists in harmonious endings. Whether this be the fault of the translators,
or whether, as I am more inclined to believe, the authors designedly avoided such
ornament, I dare not affirm; for I confess I do not know. This I know, however, that if
any one who is skilled in this species of harmony would take the closing sentences of
these writers and arrange them according to the law of harmony (which he could very easily
will learn that these divinely-inspired men are not defective in any of those points which
he has been taught in the schools of the grammarians and rhetoricians to consider of
importance; and he will find in them many kinds of speech of great beauty,-beautiful even
in our language, but especially beautiful in the original,-none of which can be found in
those writings of which they boast so much. But care must be taken that, while adding
harmony, we take away none of the weight from these divine and authoritative utterances.
Now our prophets were so far from being deficient in the musical training from which this
harmony we speak of is most fully learnt, that Jerome, a very learned man, describes even
the metres employed by some of them, in the Hebrew language at least; though, in order to
give an accurate rendering of the words, he has not preserved these in his translation I,
however (to speak of my own feeling, which is better known to me than it is to others, and
than that of others is to me), while I do not in my own speech, however modestly I think
it done, neglect these harmonious endings, am just as well pleased to find them in the
sacred authors very rarely.

42. The majestic style of speech differs from the temperate style just spoken of, chiefly
in that it is not so much decked out with verbal ornaments as exalted into vehemence by
mental emotion. It uses, indeed, nearly all the ornaments that the other does; but if they
do not happen to be at hand, it does not seek for them. For it is borne on by its own
vehemence; and the force of the thought, not the desire for ornament, makes it seize upon
any beauty of expression that comes in its way. It is enough for its object that warmth of
feeling should suggest the fitting words; they need not be selected by careful elaboration
of speech. If a brave man be armed with weapons adorned with gold and jewels, heat of
battle, not because they are costly, but because they are arms; and yet the same man does
great execution, even when anger furnishes him with a weapon that he digs out of the
ground. The apostle in the following with patience all the evils of this life. It is
"Behold," he says, "now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Giving
no offence in anything, that the ministry not blamed: but in all things approving
ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in
distresses, in strifes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in
fastings;

by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, of God, by the armor of righteousness on the
right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as
deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live;
as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many
rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. See him still burning: "O ye
Corinthians, our mouth is opened unto you, our heart is enlarged," and so on; it would be
tedious to go through it all. 43. And in the same way, writing to the Romans, he urges
that the persecutions of treats this subject with both power and beauty: "We know," he
says, "that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also
justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword? (As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors, through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

44. Again, in writing to the Galatians, although the whole epistle is written in the
subdued style, except at the end, where it rises into a temperate eloquence, yet he
interposes one passage of so much feeling that, notwithstanding the absence of any
ornaments such as appear in the passages just quoted, it cannot be called anything but
powerful: "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I
have bestowed upon you labor in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye
are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how, through infirmity of the flesh, I
preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye
despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been
possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I
therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but
pot well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be
zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. My
little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire
to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you." Is there
anything here of contrasted words arranged antithetically, or of words rising gradually to
a climax, or of sonorous clauses, and sections, and periods? Yet, notwithstanding, there
is a glow of strong emotion that makes us feel the fervor of eloquence.

CHAPTER 21.-EXAMPLES OF THE VARIOUS STYLES, DRAWN FROM THE TEACHERS OF THE CHURCH, ESPECIALLY AMBROSE AND CYPRIAN.

45. But these writings of the apostles, though dear, are yet profound, and are so written
that one who is not content with a superficial acquaintance, but desires to know them
thoroughly, must not only read and hear them, but must have an expositor. Let us, then,
study these various modes of speech as they are exemplified in the writings of men who, by
reading the Scriptures, have attained to the knowledge of divine and saving truth, and
have ministered it to the Church. Cyprian of blessed memory writes in the subdued style in
his treatise on the sacrament of the cup. In this book he resolves the question, whether
the cup of the Lord ought to contain water only, or water mingled with wine. But we must
quote a passage by way of illustration. After the customary introduction, he proceeds to
the discussion of the point in question. "Observe" he says, "that we are instructed, in
presenting the cup, to maintain the custom handed down to us from the Lord, and to do
nothing that our Lord has not first done for us: so that the cup which is offered in
remembrance of Him should be mixed with wine. For, as Christ says, 'I am the true vine,'
it follows that the blood of Christ is wine, not water; and the cup cannot appear to
contain His blood by which we are redeemed and quickened, if the wine be absent;

for by the wine is the blood of Christ typified, that blood which is foreshadowed and
proclaimed in all the types and declarations of Scripture. For we find that in the book of
Genesis this very circumstance in regard to the sacrament is foreshadowed, and our Lord's
sufferings typically set forth, in the case of Noah, when he drank wine, and was drunken,
and was uncovered within his tent, and his nakedness was exposed by his second son, and
was carefully hidden by his elder and his younger sons. It is not necessary to mention the
other circumstances in detail, as it is only necessary to observe this point, that Noah,
foreshadowing the future reality, drank, not water, but wine, and thus showed forth our
Lord's passion. In the same way we see the sacrament of the Lord's supper prefigured in
the case of Melchizedek the priest, according to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures,
where it says: ' And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was
the priest of the most high God. And he blessed Abraham.' Now, that Melchizedek was a type
of Christ, the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms, where the Father addressing the Son
says, 'Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.' " In this passage, and
in all of the letter that follows, the subdued style is maintained, as the reader may
easily satisfy himself.

46. St. Ambrose also, though dealing with a question of very great importance, the
equality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son, employs the subdued style,
because the object he has in view demands, not beauty of diction, nor the swaying of the
mind by the stir of emotion, but facts and proofs. Accordingly, in the introduction to his
work, we find the following passage among others: "When Gideon was startled by the message
he had heard from God, that, though thousands of the people failed, yet through one man
God would driver His people from their enemies, he brought forth a kid of the goats, and
by direction of the angel laid it with unleavened cakes upon a rock, and poured the broth
over it; and as soon as the angel of God touched it with the end of the staff that was in
his hand, there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the offering. Now this sign
seems to indicate that the rock was a type of the body of Christ, for it is written,
`They: drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ;' this,
of course, referring not to Christ's divine nature but to His flesh, whose ever-flowing
fountain of blood has ever satisfied the hearts of His thirsting people.

And so it was at that time declared in a mystery that the Lord Jesus, when crucified,
should abolish in His flesh the sins of the whole world, and not their guilty acts merely,
but the evil lusts of their hearts. For the kid's flesh refers to the guilt of the outward
act, the broth to the allurement of lust within, as it is written, 'And the mixed
multitude that was among them fell a lusting; and the children of Israel also wept again
and again and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? When the angel, then, stretched out
his staff and with the Spirit of God, should burn up all the sins of the human race.
Whence also the lord says 'I am come to send fire on the earth. And in the same style he
pursues the subject, devoting himself chiefly to proving and enforcing his point.

47. An example of the temperate style is the celebrated encomium on virginity from
Cyprian: "Now our discourse addresses itself to the (virgins, who, as they are the objects
of higher honor, are also the objects of greater care. These are the flowers on the tree
of the Church, the glory and ornament of spiritual grace, the joy of honor and praise, a
work unbroken and unblemished, the image of God answering to the holiness of the Lord, the
brighter portion of the flock of Christ. The glorious fruitfulness of their mother the
Church rejoices in them, and in them flourishes more abundantly; and in proportion as
bright virginity adds to her numbers, in the same proportion does the mother's joy
increase. And at another place in the end of the epistle 'As we have borne,' he says, '
the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.' Virginity bears
this image, integrity bears it, holiness and truth bear it; they bear it who are mindful
of the chastening of the Lord, who observe justice and piety, who are strong in faith,
humble in fear, steadfast in the endurance of suffering, meek in the endurance of injury,
ready to pity, of one mind and of one heart in brotherly peace. and every one of these
things ought ye, holy virgins, to observe, to cherish, and fulfill, who having hearts at
leisure for God and for Christ, and having chosen the greater and better part, lead and
point the way to the Lord, to whom you have pledged are younger, wait upon the eiders, and
encourage your equals; stir up one another by mutual exhortations; provoke one another to
glory by emulous examples of virtue; endure bravely, advance in spirituality, finish your
course with joy; only be mindful of us when your virginity shall begin to reap its reward
of honor."

48. Ambrose also uses the temperate and ornamented style when he is holding up before
virgins who have made their profession a model for their imitation, and says: "She was a
virgin not in body only, but also in mind; not mingling the purity of her affection with
any dross of hypocrisy; serious in speech; uncertain riches, but in the prayer of the
poor; diligent in labor; reverent in word; accustomed to look to God, not man, as the
guide of her conscience; injuring no one, wishing well to all; dutiful to her elders, not
envious of her equals; avoiding boastfulness, following reason, loving virtue. When did
she wound her parents even by a look? When did she quarrel with her neighbors? When did
she spurn the humble, laugh at the weak, or shun the indigent? She is accustomed to visit
only those haunts of men that pity would not blush for, nor modesty pass by. There is
nothing haughty in her eyes, nothing bold in her words, nothing wanton in her gestures:
her bearing is not voluptuous, nor her gait too free, nor her voice petulant; so that her
outward appearance is an image of her mind, and a picture of purity. For a good house
ought to be known for Such at the very threshold, and show at the very entrance that there
is no dark recess within, as the light of a lamp set inside sheds its radiance on the
outside.

Why need I detail her sparingness in food, her superabundance in duty,-the one falling
beneath the demands of nature, the other rising above its powers? The latter has no
intervals of intermission, the former doubles the days by fasting; and when the desire for
refreshment does arise, it is satisfied with food such as will support life, but not
minister to appetite. Now I have died these latter passages as examples of the temperate
style, because their purpose is not to induce those who have not yet devoted themselves to
take the vows of virginity, but to show of what character those who have taken vows ought
to be. To prevail on any one to take a step of such a nature and of so great importance,
requires that the mind should be excited and set on fire by the majestic style. Cyprian
the martyr, however, did not write about the duty of taking up the profession of
virginity, but about the dress and deportment of virgins. Yet that great bishop urges them
to their duty even in these respects by the power of a majestic eloquence.

49. But I shall select examples of the majestic style from their treatment of a subject
which both of them have touched. Both have denounced the women who color, or rather
discolor, their faces with paint. And the first, in dealing with this topic, says:
"Suppose a painter should depict in colors that arrival nature's the features and form and
complexion of some man, and that, when the portrait had been finished with consummate art,
another painter should put his hand over it, as if to improve by his superior skill the
painting already completed; surely the first artist would feel deeply insulted, and his
indignation would be justly roused. Dost thou, then, think that thou wilt carry off with
impunity so audacious an act of wickedness, such an insult to God the great artificer?
For, granting that thou art not immodest in thy behavior towards men, and that thou art
not polluted in mind by these meretricious deceits, yet, in corrupting and violating what
is God's, thou provest thyself worse than an adulteress. The fact that thou considerest
thyself adorned and beautified by such arts is an impeachment of God's handiwork, and a
violation of truth. Listen to the warning leavened. For even Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the
leaven of malice and wickedness;

but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.' Now can sincerity and truth
continue to exist when what is sincere is polluted, and what is true is changed by
meretricious coloring and the deceptions of quackery into a lie? Thy Lord says, ' Thou
canst not make one hair white or black;' and dost thou wish to have greater power so as to
bring to nought the words of thy Lord? With rash and sacrilegious hand thou wouldst fain
change the color of thy hair: I would that, with a prophetic look to the future, thou
shouldst dye it the color of flame. It would be too long to quote all that follows. 50.
Ambrose again, inveighing against such practices, says: "Hence arise these incentives to
vice, that women, in their fear that they may not prove attractive to men, paint their
faces with carefully-chosen colors, and then from stains on their features go on to stains
on their chastity. What folly it is to change the features of nature into those of
painting, and from fear of incurring their husband's disapproval, to proclaim openly that
they have incurred their own! For the woman who desires to alter her natural appearance
pronounces condemnation on herself; and her eager endeavors to please another prove that
she has first been displeasing to herself. And what testimony to thine ugliness can we
find, O woman, that is more unquestionable than thine own, when thou art afraid to show
thyself? If thou art comely why dost thou hide thy comeliness? If thou art plain, why dost
thou lyingly pretend to be beautiful, when thou canst not enjoy the pleasure of the lie
either in thine own consciousness or in that of another? For he loves another woman, thou
desirest to please another man; and thou art angry if he love another, though he is taught
adultery in thee. Thou art the evil promptress of thine own injury. For even the woman who
has been the victim of a pander shrinks from acting the pander's part, and though she be
vile, it is herself she sins against and not another. The crime of adultery is almost more
tolerable than thine;

for adultery tampers with modesty, but thou with nature. It is sufficiently clear, I
think, that this eloquence calls passionately upon women to avoid tampering with their
appearance by deceitful arts, and to cultivate modesty and fear. Accordingly, we notice
that the style is neither subdued nor temperate, but majestic throughout Now in these two
authors whom I have selected as specimens of the rest, and in other ecclesiastical writers
who both speak the truth and speak it well,-speak it, that is, judiciously, pointedly, and
with beauty and power of expression,-many examples may be found of the three styles of
speech, scattered through their various writings and discourses; and the diligent student
may by assiduous reading, intermingled with practice on his own part, become thoroughly
imbued with them all.

CHAPTER 22.-THE NECESSITY OF VARIETY IN STYLE.

51. But we are not to suppose that it is against rule to mingle these various styles:
taste. For when we keep monotonously to one style, we fail to retain the hearer's
attention; but when we pass from one style to another, the discourse goes off more
gracefully, even though it extend to greater length. Each separate style, again, has
varieties of its own which prevent the hearer's attention from cooling or becoming
languid. We can bear the subdued style, however, longer without variety than the majestic
style. For the mental emotion which it is necessary to stir up in order to carry the
hearer's feelings with us, when once it has been sufficiently excited, the higher the
pitch to which it is raised, can be maintained the shorter time. And therefore we must be
on our guard, lest, in striving to carry to a higher point the emotion we have excited, we
rather lose what we have already gained. But after the interposition of matter that we
have to treat in a quieter style, we can return with good effect to that which must be
treated forcibly, thus making the tide of eloquence to ebb and flow like the sea. It
follows from this, that the majestic style, if it is to be long continued, ought not to be
unvaried, but should alternate at intervals with the other styles; the speech or writing
as a whole, however, being referred to that style which is the prevailing one.

CHAPTER 23.-HOW THE VARIOUS STYLES SHOULD BE MINGLED.

52. Now it is a matter of importance to determine what style should be alternated with
what other, and the places where it is necessary that any particular style should be used.
In the majestic style, for instance, it is always, or almost always, desirable that the
introduction should be temperate. And the speaker has it in his discretion to use the
subdued style even where the majestic would be allowable, in order that the majestic when
it is used may be the more majestic by comparison, and may as it were shine out with
greater brilliance from the dark background. Again, whatever may be the style of the
speech or writing, when knotty questions turn up for solution, accuracy of distinction is
required, and this naturally demands the subdued style. And accordingly this style must be
used in alternation with the other two styles whenever questions of that sort turn up;
just as we must use the temperate style, no matter what may be the general tone of the
discourse, whenever praise or blame is to be given without any ulterior reference to the
condemnation or acquittal of any one, or to obtaining the concurrence of any one in a
course of action. In the majestic style, then, and in the quiet likewise, both the other
two styles occasionally find place. The temperate style, on the other hand, not indeed
always, but occasionally, needs the quiet style; for example, when, as I have said, a
knotty question comes up to be settled, or when some points that are susceptible of
ornament are left unadorned and expressed in the quiet style, in order to give greater
effect to certain exuberances (as they may be called) of ornament. But the temperate style
never needs the aid of the majestic; for its object is to gratify, never to excite, the
mind.

CHAPTER 24.-THE EFFECTS PRODUCED BY THE MAJESTIC STYLE.

53. If frequent and vehement applause follows a speaker, we are not to suppose on that
account that he is speaking in the majestic style; for this effect is often produced both
by the accurate distinctions of the quiet style, and by the beauties of the temperate. The
majestic style, on the other hand, frequently silences the audience by its impressiveness,
but calls forth their tears. For example, when at Caesarea in Mauritania I was dissuading
the people from that civil, or worse than civil, war which they called Caterva (for it was
not fellow-citizens merely, but neighbors, brothers, fathers and sons even, who, divided
into two factions and armed with stones, fought annually at a certain season of the year
for several days continuously, every one killing whomsoever he could), I strove with all
the vehemence of speech that I could command to root out and drive from their hearts and
lives an evil so cruel and inveterate; it was not, however, when I heard their applause,
but when I saw their tears, that I thought I had produced an effect. For the applause
showed that they were instructed and delighted, but the tears that they were subdued. And
when I saw their tears I was confident even before the event proved it, that this horrible
and barbarous custom (which had been handed down to them from their fathers and their
ancestors of generations long gone by and which like an enemy was besieging their hearts,
or rather had complete possession of them) was overthrown;

and immediately that my sermon was finished I called upon them with heart and voice to
give praise and thanks to God. And, lo, with the blessing of Christ, it is now eight years
or more since anything of the sort was attempted there. In many other cases besides I have
observed that men show the effect made on them by the powerful eloquence of a wise man,
not by clamorous applause so much as by groans, sometimes even by tears, finely by change
of life. 54. The quiet style, too, has made a change in many; but it was to teach them
what they were ignorant of, or to persuade them of what they thought incredible, not to
make them do what they knew they ought to do but were unwilling to do. To break down
hardness of this sort, speech needs to be vehement. Praise and censure, too, when they are
eloquently expressed, even in the temperate style, produce such an effect on some, that
they are not only pleased with the eloquence of the encomiums and censures, but are led to
live so as themselves to deserve praise, and to avoid living so as to incur blame. But no
one would say that all who are thus delighted change their habits in consequence, whereas
all who are moved by the majestic style act accordingly, and all who are taught by the
quiet style know or believe a truth which they were previously ignorant of.

CHAPTER 25.-HOW THE TEMPERATE STYLE IS TO BE USED.

1 55. From all this we may conclude, that the end arrived at by the two styles last
mentioned is the one which it is most essential for those who aspire to speak with wisdom
and eloquence to secure. On the other hand, what the temperate style properly aims at,
viz., to please by beauty of expression, is not in itself an adequate end; but when what
we have to say is good and useful, and when the hearers are both acquainted with it and
favorably disposed towards it, so that it is not necessary either to instruct or persuade
them, beauty of style may have its influence in securing their prompter compliance, or in
making them adhere to it more tenaciously. For as the function of all eloquence, whichever
of these three forms it may assume, is to speak persuasively, and its object is to
persuade, an eloquent man will speak persuasively, whatever style he may adopt; but unless
he succeeds in persuading, his eloquence has not secured its object. Now in the subdued
style, he persuades his hearers that what he says is true; in the majestic style, he
persuades them to do what they are aware they ought to do, but do not; in the temperate
style, he persuades them that his speech is elegant and ornate. But what use is there in
attaining such an object as this last?

2 They may desire it who are vain of their eloquence and make a boast of panegyrics, and
such-like performances, where the object is not to instruct the hearer, or to persuade him
to any course of action, but merely to give him pleasure. We, however, ought to make that
end subordinate to another, viz., the effecting by this style of eloquence what we aim at
effecting when we use the majestic style. For we may by the use of this style persuade men
to cultivate good habits and give up evil ones, if a good course; we may induce them to
pursue a good course, we may induce them to pursue it more zealously, and to persevere in
it with , constancy. Accordingly, even in the temperate style we must use beauty of
expression not for ostentation, but for wise ends; not contenting ourselves merely with
pleasing the hearer, but rather seeking to aid him in the pursuit of the good end which we
hold out before him.

CHAPTER 26.-IN EVERY STYLE THE ORATOR SHOULD AIM AT PERSPICUITY, BEAUTY, AND PERSUASIVENESS.

55. Now in regard to the three conditions I laid down a little while ago as necessary to
be fulfilled by any one who wishes to speak with wisdom and eloquence, viz. perspicuity,
beauty of style, and persuasive power, we are not to understand that these three qualities
attach themselves respectively to the three several styles of speech, one to each, so that
perspicuity is a merit peculiar to the subdued style, beauty to the temperate and
persuasive power to the majestic. On the contrary, all speech, whatever its style, ought
constantly to aim at, and as far as possible to display, all these three merits. For we do
not like even to, not with intelligence merely, but with pleasure as well. Again, why do
we enforce what we teach by divine testimony, except that we wish to carry the hearer with
us, that, to compel his assent by calling in the assistance of Him of whom it is said,
"Thy testimonies are very sure"? And when any one narrates a story, even in the subdued
style, what does he wish but to be believed? But who will listen to him if he do not
arrest attention by some beauty of style? And if he be not intelligible, is it not plain
that he can neither give pleasure nor enforce conviction? The subdued style, again, in its
own naked simplicity, when it unravels questions of very great difficulty, and throws an
unexpected light upon them;

when it worms out and brings to light some very acute observations from a quarter whence
nothing was expected; when it seizes upon and exposes the falsity of an opposing opinion,
which seemed at its first statement to be unassailable; especially when all this is
accompanied by a natural, unsought grace of expression, and by a rhythm and balance of
style which is not ostentatiously obtruded, but seems rather to be called forth by the
nature of the subject: this style, so used, frequently calls forth applause so great that
one can hardly believe it to be the subdued style. For the fact that it comes forth
without either ornament or defense, and offers battle in its own naked simplicity, does
not hinder it from crushing its adversary by weight of nerve and muscle, and overwhelming
and destroying the falsehood that opposes it by the mere strength of its own fight arm.
How explain the frequent and vehement applause that waits upon men who speak thus, except
by the pleasure that truth so irresistibly established, and so victoriously defended,
naturally affords? Wherefore the Christian teacher and speaker ought, when he uses the
subdued style, to endeavor not only to be dear and intelligible, but to give pleasure and
to bring home conviction to the hearer.

57. Eloquence of the temperate style, also, must, in the case of the Christian orator, be
neither altogether without ornament, nor unsuitably adorned, nor is it to make the giving
of pleasure its sole aim, which is all it professes to accomplish in the hands of others;
but in its encomiums and censures it should aim at inducing the hearer to strive after or
avoid or renounce what it condemns. On the other hand, without perspicuity this style
cannot give pleasure. And so the three qualities, perspicuity, beauty, and persuasiveness.
are to be sought in this style also; beauty, of course, being its primary object. 58.
Again, when it becomes necessary to stir and sway the hearers mind by the majestic style
(and this is always necessary when he admits that what you say is both true and agreeable,
and yet is unwilling to act accordingly), you must, of course, speak in the majestic
style. but who can be moved if he does not understand what is said? and who will stay to
listen if he receives no pleasure? Wherefore, in this style, too, when an obdurate heart
is to be persuaded to obedience, you must speak so as to be both intelligible and
pleasing, if you would be heard with a submissive mind.

CHAPTER 27.-THE MAN WHOSE LIFE IS IN HARMONY WITH HIS TEACHING WILL TEACH WITH GREATER EFFECT.

59. But whatever may be the majesty of the style, the life of the speaker will count for
more in securing the hearer's compliance. The man who speaks wisely and eloquently, but
lives wickedly, may, it is true, instruct many who are anxious to learn; though, as it is
written, he "is unprofitable to himself." Wherefore, also, the apostle says: "Whether in
pretence or in truth Christ is preached." Now Christ is the truth; yet we see that the
truth can be preached, though not in truth,-that is, what is right and true in itself may
be preached by a man of perverse and deceitful mind. And thus it is that Jesus Christ is
preached by those that seek their own, and not the things that are Jesus Christ's. But
since true believers obey the voice, not of any man, but of the Lord Himself, who says,
"All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do: but do not ye after
their works; for they say and do not;" therefore it is that men who themselves lead
unprofitable lives are heard with profit by others. For though they seek their own
objects, they do not dare to teach their own doctrines, sitting as they do in the high
places of ecclesiastical authority, which is established on sound doctrine. Wherefore our
Lord Himself, before saying what I have just quoted about men of this stamp, made this
observation: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat." The seat they occupied,
then, which was not theirs but Moses', compelled them to say what was good, though they
did what was evil. And so they followed their own course in their lives, but were
prevented by the seat they occupied, which belonged to another, from preaching their own
doctrines.

60. Now these men do good to many by preaching what they themselves do not perform; but
they would do good to very many more if they lived as they preach. For there are numbers
who seek an excuse for their own evil lives in comparing the teaching with the conduct of
their instructors, and who say in their hearts, or even go a little further, and say with
their lips: Why do you not do yourself what you bid me do? And thus they cease to listen
with submission to a man who does not listen to himself, and in despising the preacher
they learn to despise the word that is preached. Wherefore the apostle, writing to
Timothy, after telling him, "Let no man despise thy youth," adds immediately the course by
which he would avoid contempt: "but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity."


ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE (CHAPTERS 28.-TRUTH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EXPRESSION.WHAT IS MEANT BY STRIFEABOUT WORDS.–31.-APOLOGY FOR THE LENGTH OF THE WORK.)
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ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE continued

CHAPTER 28.-TRUTH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EXPRESSION.WHAT IS MEANT BY STRIFEABOUT WORDS.

1 61. Such a teacher as is here described may, to secure compliance, speak not only
quietly and temperately, but even vehemently, without any breach of modesty, because his
life protects him against contempt. For while he pursues an upright life, he takes care to
maintain a good reputation as well, providing things honest in the sight of God and men,
fearing God, and caring for men. In his very speech even he prefers to please by matter
rather than by words; thinks that a thing is well said in proportion as it is true in
fact, and that a teacher should govern his words, not let the words govern him. This is
what the apostle says: "Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made
of none effect. To the same effect also is what he says to Timothy: "Charging them before
the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the
hearers. Now this does not mean that, when adversaries oppose the truth, we are to say
nothing in defence of the truth. For where, then, would be what he says when he is
describing the sort of man a bishop ought to be: "that he may be able by sound doctrine
both to exhort and convince the gainsayers? To strive about words is not to be careful
about the way to overcome error by truth, but to be anxious that your mode of expression
should be preferred to that of another.

2 The man who does not strive about words, whether he speak quietly, temperately or
vehemently, uses words with no other purpose than to make the truth plain, pleasing, and
effective; for not even love itself, which is the end of the commandment and the
fulfilling of the law, can be rightly exercised unless the objects of love are true and
not false. For as a man with a comely body but an ill-conditioned mind is a more painful
object than if his body too were deformed, so men who teach lies are the more pitiable if
they happen to be eloquent in speech. To speak eloquently, then, and wisely as well, is
just to express truths which it is expedient to teach in fit and proper words,-words which
in the subdued style are adequate, in the temperate, elegant, and in the majestic,
forcible. But the man who cannot speak both eloquently and wisely should speak wisely
without eloquence, rather than eloquently without wisdom.

CHAPTER 29.-IT IS PERMISSIBLE FOR A PREACHER TO DELIVER TO THE PEOPLE WHAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN BY A MORE ELOQUENT MAN THAN HIMSELF.

1 If, however, he cannot do even this, let his life be such as shall not only secure a
reward for himself, but afford an example to others; and let his manner of living be an
eloquent sermon in itself. 2 63. There are, indeed, some men who have a good delivery, but
cannot compose anything to deliver. Now, if such men take what has been written with
wisdom and eloquence by others, and commit it to memory, and deliver it to the people,
they cannot be blamed, supposing them to do it without deception For in this way many
become preachers of the truth (which is certainly desirable), and yet not many teachers;
for all deliver the discourse which one real teacher has composed, and there are no
divisions among them. Nor are such men to be alarmed by the words of Jeremiah the prophet,
through whom God denounces those who steal His words every one from his neighbor. For
those who steal take what does not belong to them, but the word of God belongs to all who
obey it; and it is the man who speaks well, but lives badly, who really takes the words
that belong to another, For the good things he says seem to be the result of his own
thought, and yet they have nothing in common with his manner of life. And so God has said
that they steal His words who would appear good by speaking God's words, but are in fact
bad, as they follow their own ways. And if you look closely into the matter, it is not
really themselves who say the good things they say. For how can they say in words what
they deny in deeds?

3 It is not for nothing that the apostle says of such men: "They profess that they know
God, but in works they deny Him. In one sense, then, they do say the things, and in
another sense they do not say them; for both these statements must be true, both being
made by Him who is the Truth. Speaking of such men, in one place He says, "Whatsoever they
bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works;"-that is to say,
what ye hear from. their lips, that do; what ye see in their lives, that do ye not;-"for
they say and do not. And so, though they do not, yet they say. but in another place,
upbraiding such men, He says, "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good
things? And from this it would appear that even what they say, when they say what is good,
it is not themselves who say, for in will and in deed they deny what they say. Hence it
happens that a wicked man who is eloquent may compose a discourse in which the truth is
set forth to be delivered by a good man who is not eloquent; and when this takes place,
the former draws from himself what does not belong to him, and the latter receives from
another what really belongs to himself. But when true believers render this service to
true believers, both parties speak what is their own, for God is theirs, to whom belongs
all that they say;

4 and even those who could not compose what they say make it their own by composing their
lives in harmony with it.

CHAPTER 30.-THE PREACHER SHOULD COMMENCE HIS DISCOURSE WITH PRAYER TO GOD.

63. But whether a man is going to address the people or to dictate what others will
deliver or read to the people, he ought to pray God to put into his mouth a suitable
discourse. For if Queen Esther prayed, when she was about to speak to the king touching
the temporal welfare of her race, that God would put fit words into her mouth, how much
more ought he to pray for the same blessing who labors in word and doctrine for the
eternal welfare of men? Those, again, who are to deliver what others compose for them
ought, before they receive their discourse, to pray for those who are preparing it; and
when they have received it, they ought to pray both that they themselves may deliver it
well, and that those to whom they address it may give ear; and when the discourse has a
happy issue, they ought to render thanks to Him from whom they know such blessings come,
so that all the praise may be His "in whose hand are both we and our words."

CHAPTER 31.-APOLOGY FOR THE LENGTH OF THE WORK.

64. This book has extended to a greater length than I expected or desired. But the reader
or hearer who finds pleasure in it will not think it long. He who thinks it long, but is
anxious to know its contents, may read it in part. He who does not care to be acquainted
with it need not complain of its length. I, however, give thanks to God that with what
little ability I possess I have in these four books striven to depicted, not the sort of
man I am myself (for my defects are very many), but the sort of man he ought to be who
desires to labor in sound, that is, in Christian doctrine, not for his own instruction
only, but for that of others also.parparpar


ON THE CATECHISING OF THE UNINSTRUCTED
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ON THE CATECHISING OF THE UNINSTRUCTED Augustine of Hippo

AD 354–430

Bishop of Hippo, the most influential Latin father.

INTRODUCTION

1 In the fourteenth chapter of the second book of his Retractations, Augustin makes the
following statement: "There is also a book of ours on the subject of the Catechising of
the Uninstructed, [or, for Instructing the Unlearned, De Catechizandis Rudibus], that
being, indeed, the express title by which it is designated. In this book, where I have
said, `Neither did the angel, who, in company with other spirits who were his satellites,
forsook in pride the obedience of God, and became the devil, do any hurt to God, but to
himself; for God knoweth how to dispose of souls that leave Him:' it would be more
appropriate to say, `spirits that leave Him,' inasmuch as the question dealt with angels.
This book commences in these terms: `You have requested me, brother Deogratias.' " The
composition so described in the passage cited is reviewed by Augustin in connection with
other works which he had in hand about the year 400 A.D., and may therefore be taken to
belong to that date. It has been conjectured that the person to whom it is addressed may
perhaps be the same with the presbyter Deogratias, to whom, as we read in the epistle
which now ranks as the hundred and second, Augustin wrote about the year 406, in reply to
some questions of the pagans which were forwarded to him from Carthage.

2 The Benedictine editors introduce the treatise in the following terms: "At the request
of a deacon of Carthage, Augustin undertakes the task of teaching the art of catechising;
and in the first place, he gives certain injunctions, to the effect that this kind of duty
may be discharged not only in a settled method and an apt order, but also without
tediousness, and in a spirit of cheerfulness. Thereafter reducing his injunctions to
practical use, he gives an example of what he means by delivering two set discourses,
presenting parallels to each other, the one being somewhat lengthened and the other very
brief, but both suitable for the instruction of any individual whose desire is to be a
Christian." [This treatise shows what was thought in the age of Saint Augustin to be the
most needful instruction in religion. The Latin text: De Cactechizandis Rudibus, is in the
sixth vol. of the Benedictine edition, and in .the handy ed. of C. Marriott: S. Augustini
Opuscula quaedam, Oxford and London (Parker & Co.) 4th ed. 1885. An earlier and closer
English Version by Rev. C. L. Cornish, M. A., of Exeter College. Oxford, appeared in the
Oxford "Library of the Fathers" (1847, PP. 187 sqq.,) under the title On Instructing the
Unlearned. H. De Romestin reproduces the Oxford translation in the English version of
Marriott's ed. of five treatises of St. Augustin, Oxford and London, 1885, pp. 1-71.-P.
S.]

CHAPTER 1.-HOW AUGUSTIN WRITES IN ANSWER TO A FAVOR ASKED BY A DEACON OF CARTHAGE.

1. You have requested me, brother Deogratias, to send you in writing something which might
be of service to you in the matter of catechising the uninstructed. For you have informed
me that in Carthage, where you hold the position of a deacon, persons, who have to be
taught the Christian faith from its very rudiments, are frequently brought to you by
reason of your enjoying the reputation of possessing a rich gift in catechising, due at
once to an intimate acquaintance with the faith, and to an attractive method of discourse;
but that you almost always find yourself in a difficulty as to the manner in which a
suitable declaration is to be made of the precise doctrine, the belief of which
constitutes us Christians: regarding the point at which our statement of the same ought to
commence, and the limit to which it should be allowed to proceed: and with respect to the
question whether, when our narration is concluded, we ought to make use of any kind of
exhortation, or simply specify those precepts in the observance of which the person to
whom we are discoursing may know the Christian life and profession to be maintained. At
the same time, you have made the confession and complaint that it has often befallen you
that in the course of a lengthened and languid address you have become profitless and
distasteful even to yourself, not to speak of the learner whom you have been endeavoring
to instruct by your utterance, and the other parties who have been present as hearers; and
that youhave been constrained by these straits to put upon me the constraint of that love
which I owe to you, so that I may not feel it a burdensome thing among all my engagements
to write you something on this subject.

2. As for myself then, if, in the exercise of those capacities which through the bounty of
our Lord I am enabled to present, the same Lord requires me to offer any manner of aid to
those whom He has made brethren to me, I feel constrained not only by that love and
service which is due from me to you on the terms of familiar friendship, but also by that
which I owe universally to my mother the Church, by no means to refuse the task, but
rather to take it up with a prompt and devoted willingness. For the more extensively I
desire to see the treasure of the Lord distributed, the more does it become my duty, if I
ascertain that the stewards, who are my fellow-servants, find any difficulty in laying it
out, to do all that lies in my power to the end that they may be able to accomplish easily
and expeditiously what they sedulously and earnestly aim at.

CHAPTER 2.-HOW IT OFTEN HAPPENS THAT A DISCOURSE WHICH GIVES PLEASURE TO THE HEARER IS DISTASTEFUL TO THE SPEAKER; AND WHAT EXPLANATION IS TO BE OFFERED OF THAT FACT.

3. But as regards the idea thus privately entertained by yourself in such efforts, I would
not have you to be disturbed by the consideration that you have often appeared to yourself
to be delivering a poor and wearisome discourse. For it may very well be the case that the
matter has not so presented itself to the person whom you were trying to instruct, but
that what you were uttering seemed to you to be unworthy of the ears of others, simply
because it was your own earnest desire that there should be something better to listen to.
Indeed with me, too, it is almost always the fact that my speech displeases myself. For I
am covetous of something better, the possession of which I frequently enjoy within me
before I commence to body it forth in intelligible words: and then when my capacities of
expression prove inferior to my inner apprehensions, I grieve over the inability which my
tongue has betrayed in answering to my heart. For it is my wish that he who hears me
should have the same complete understanding of the subject which I have myself;

and I perceive that I fail to speak in a manner calculated to effect that, and that this
arises mainly from the circumstance that the intellectual apprehension diffuses itself
through the mind with something like a rapid flash, whereas the utterance is slow, and
occupies time, and is of a vastly different nature, so that, while this latter is moving
on, the intellectual apprehension has already withdrawn itself within its secret abodes.
Yet, in consequence of its having stamped certain impressions of itself in a marvellous
manner upon the memory, these prints endure with the brief pauses of the syllables; and as
the outcome of these same impressions we form intelligible signs, which get the name of a
certain language, either the Latin, or the Greek, or the Hebrew, or some other. And these
signs may be objects of thought, or they may also be actually uttered by the voice. On the
other hand however, the impressions themselves are neither Latin, nor Greek, nor Hebrew,
nor peculiar to any other race whatsoever, but are made good in the mind just as looks are
in the body. For anger is designated by one word in Latin, by another in Greek, and by
different terms in other languages, according to their several diversities. But the look
of the angry man is neither (peculiarly) Latin nor (peculiarly) Greek. Thus it is that
when a person says Iratus sum, he is not understood by every nation, but only by the
Latins;

whereas, if the mood of his mind when it is kindling to wrath comes forth upon the face
and affects the look, all who have the individual within their view understand that he is
angry. But, again, it is not in our power to bring out those impressions which the
intellectual apprehension stamps upon the memory, and to hold them forth, as it were, to
the perception of the hearers by means of the sound of the voice, in any manner parallel
to the clear and evident form in which the look appears. For those former are within in
the mind, while this latter is without in the body. Wherefore we have to surmise how far
the sound of our mouth must be from representing that stroke of the intelligence, seeing
that it does not correspond even with the impression produced upon the memory. Now, it is
a common occurrence with us that, in the ardent desire to effect what is of profit to our
hearer, our aim is to express ourselves to him exactly as our intellectual apprehension is
at the time, when, in the very effort, we are failing in the ability to speak; and then,
because this does not succeed with us, we are vexed, and we pine in weariness as if we
were applying ourselves to vain labors; and, as the result of this very weariness, our
discourse becomes itself more languid and pointless even than it was when it first induced
such a sense of tediousness.

4. But ofttimes the earnestness of those who are desirous of hearing me shows me that my
utterance is not so frigid as it seems i to myself to be. From the delight, too, which
they exhibit, I gather that they derive some profit from it. And I occupy myself
sedulously with the endeavor not to fail in putting before them a service in which I
perceive them to take in such good part what is put before them. Even, so, on your side
also, the very fact that persons who require to be instructed in the faith are brought so
frequently to you, ought to help you to understand that your discourse is not displeasing
to others as it is displeasing to yourself; and you ought not to consider yourself
unfruitful, simply because you do not succeed in setting forth in such a manner as you
desire the things which you discern; for, perchance, you may be just as little able to
discern them in the way you wish. For in this life who sees except as "in an enigma and
through a glass"? Neither is love itself of might sufficient to rend the darkness of the
flesh, and penetrate into that eternal calm from which even things which pass away derive
the light in which they shine.

But inasmuch as day by day the good are making advances towards the vision of that day,
independent of the rolling sky, and without the invasion of the night, "which eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man," there is no greater
reason why our discourse should become valueless in our own estimate, when we are engaged
in teaching the uninstructed, than this,-namely, that it is a delight to us to discern in
an extraordinary fashion, and a weariness to speak in an ordinary. And in reality we are
listened to with much greater satisfaction, indeed, when we ourselves also have pleasure
in the same work; for the thread of our address is affected by the very joy of which we
ourselves are sensible, and it proceeds from us with greater ease and with more
acceptance. Consequently, as regards those matters which are recommended as articles of
belief, the task is not a difficult one to lay down injunctions, with respect to the
points at which the narration should be commenced and ended, or with respect to the method
in which the narration is to be varied, so that at one time it may be briefer, at another
more lengthened, and yet at all times full and perfect; and, again, with respect to the
particular occasions on which it may be right to use the shorter form, and those on which
it will be proper to employ the longer.

But as to the means by which all is to be done, so that every one may have pleasure in his
work when he catechises (for the better he succeeds in this the more attractive will he
be),-that is what requires the greatest consideration. And yet we have not far to seek for
the precept which will rule in this sphere. For if, in the matter of carnal means, God
loves a cheerful giver, how much more so in that of the spiritual? But our security that
this cheerfulness may be with us at the seasonable hour, is something dependent upon the
mercy of Him who has given us such precepts. Therefore, in accordance with my
understanding of what your own wish is, we shall discuss in the first place the subject of
the method of narration, then that of the duty of delivering injunction and exhortation,
and afterwards that of the attainment of the said cheerfulness, so far as God may furnish
us with the ideas.

CHAPTER 3.-OF THE FULL NARRATION TO BE EMPLOYED IN CATECHISING.

5. The narration is full when each person is catechised in the first instance from what is
written in the text, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," on to the
present times of the Church. This does not imply, however, either that we ought to repeat
by memory the entire Pentateuch, and the entire Books of Judges, and Kings, and Esdras,
and the entire Gospel and Acts of the Apostles, if we have learned all these word for
word; or that we should put all the matters which are contained in these volumes into our
own words, and in that manner unfold and expound them as a whole. For neither does the
time admit of that, nor does any necessity demand it. But what we ought to do is, to give
a comprehensive statement of all things, summarily and generally, so that certain of the
more wonderful facts may be selected which are listened to with superior gratification,
and which have been ranked so remarkably among the exact turning-points (of the history);
that, instead of exhibiting them to view only in their wrappings, if we may so speak, and
then instantly snatching them from our sight, we ought to dwell on them for a certain
space, and thus, as it were, unfold them and open them out to vision, and present them to
the minds of the hearers as things to be examined and admired. But as for all other
details, these should be passed over rapidly, and thus far introduced and woven into the
narrative.

The effect of pursuing this plan is, that the particular facts which we wish to see
specially commended to attention obtain greater prominence in consequence of the others
being made to yield to them; while, at the same time, neither does the learner, whose
interest we are anxious to stimulate by our statement, come to these subjects with a mind
already exhausted, nor is confusion induced upon the memory of the person whom we ought to
be instructing by our teaching. 6. In all things, indeed, not only ought our own eye to be
kept fixed upon the end of the commandment, which is "charity, out of a pure heart, and a
good conscience, and faith unfeigned," to which we should make all that we utter refer;
but in like manner ought the gaze of the person whom we are instructing by our utterance
to be moved toward the same, and guided in that direction. And, in truth, for no other
reason were all those things which we read in the Holy Scriptures written, previous to the
Lord's advent, but for this,-namely, that His advent might be pressed upon the attention,
and that the Church which was to be, should be intimated beforehand, that is to say, the
people of God throughout all nations; which Church is His body, wherewith also are united
and numbered all the saints who lived in this world, even before His advent, and who
believed then in His future coming, just as we believe in His past coming. For (to use an
illustration) Jacob, at the time when he was being born, first put forth from the womb a
hand, with which also he held the foot of the brother who was taking priority of him in
the act of birth; and next indeed the head followed, and thereafter, at last, and as
matter of course, the rest of the members:

while, nevertheless the head in point of dignity and power has precedence, not only of
those members which followed it then, but also of the very hand which anticipated it in
the process of the birth, and is really the first, although not in the matter of the time
of appearing, at least in the order of nature. And in an analogous manner, the Lord Jesus
Christ, previous to His appearing in the fiesta, and coming forth in a certain manner out
of the womb of His secrecy, before the eyes of men as Man, the Mediator between God and
men, "who is over all, God blessed for ever," sent before Him, in the person of the holy
patriarchs and prophets, a certain portion of His body, wherewith, as by a hand, He gave
token beforetime of His own approaching birth, and also supplanted the people who were
prior to Him in their pride, using for that purpose the bonds of the law, as if they were
His five fingers. For through five epochs of times there was no cessation in the
foretelling and prophesying of His own destined coming; and in a manner consonant with
this, he through whom the law was given wrote five books; and proud men, who were carnally
minded, and sought to "establish their own righteousness," were not filled with blessing
by the open hand of Christ, but were debarred from such good by the hand compressed and
closed; and therefore their feet were tied, and "they fell, while we are risen, and stand
upright.

But although, as I have said, the Lord Christ did thus send before Him a certain portion
of His body, in the person of those holy men who came before Him as regards the time of
birth, nevertheless He is Himself the Head of the body, the Church, and all these have
been attached to that same body of which He is the head, in virtue of their believing in
Him whom they announced prophetically. For they were: not sundered (from that body) in
consequence of fulfilling their course before Him, but rather were they made one with the
same by reason of their obedience. For although the hand may be put forward away before
the head, still it has its connection beneath the head. Wherefore all things which were
written aforetime were written in order that we might be taught thereby, and were our
figures, and happened in a figure in the ease of these men. Moreover they were written for
our sakes, upon whom the end of the ages has come.

CHAPTER 4.-THAT THE GREAT REASON FOR THE ADVENT OF CHRIST WAS THE COMMENDATION OF LOVE.

7. Moreover, what greater reason is apparent for the advent of the Lord than that God
might show His love in us, commending it powerfully, inasmuch as "while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us"? And furthermore, this is with the intent that, inasmuch as
charity is "the end of the commandment," and "the fulfilling of the law," we also may love
one another and lay down our life for the brethren, even as He laid down His life for us.
And with regard to God Himself, its object is that, even if it were an irksome task to
love Him, it may now at least cease to be irksome for us to return His love, seeing that"
He first loved us," and "spared not His own only Son, but delivered Him up for us all. For
their is no mightier invitation to love than to anticipate in loving; and that soul is
over hard which, supposing it unwilling indeed to give love, is unwilling also to give the
return of love. But if, even in the case of criminal and sordid loves, we see how those
who desire to be loved in return make it their special and absorbing business, by such
proofs as are within their power, to render the strength of the love which they themselves
bear plain and patent;

if we also perceive how they affect to put forward an appearance of justice in what they
thus offer, such as may qualify them in some sort to demand that a response be made in all
fairness to them on the part of those souls which they are laboring to beguile; if,
further, their own passion burns more vehemently when they observe that the minds which
they are eager to possess are also moved now by the same fire: if thus, I say, it happens
at once that the soul which before was torpid is excited so soon as it feels itself to be
loved, and that the soul which was enkindled already becomes the more inflamed so soon as
it is made cognizant of the return of its own love, it is evident that no greater reason
is to be found why love should be either originated or enlarged, than what appears in the
occasion when one who as yet loves not at all comes to know himself to be the object of
love, or when one who is already a lover either hopes that he may yet be loved in turn, or
has by this time the evidence of a response to his affection. And if this holds good even
in the case of base loves, how much more in (true) friendship?

For what else have we carefully to attend to in this question touching the injuring of
friendship than to this, namely, not to give our friend cause to suppose either that we do
not love him at all, or that we love him less than he loves us? If, indeed, he is led to
entertain this belief, he will be cooler in that love in which men enjoy the interchange
of intimacies one with another; and if he is not of that weak type of character to which
such an offense to affection will serve as a cause of freezing off from love altogether,
he yet confines himself to that kind of affection in which he loves, not with the view of
enjoyment to himself, but with the idea of studying the good of others. But again it is
worth our while to notice how,-although superiors also have the wish to be loved by their
inferiors, and are gratified with the zealous attention paid to them by such, and
themselves cherish greater affection towards these inferiors the more they become
cognizant of that,-with what might of love, nevertheless, the inferior kindles so soon as
he learns that he is beloved by his superior. For there have we love in its more grateful
aspect, where it does not consume itself in the drought of want, but flows forth in the
plenteousness of beneficence. For the former type of love is of misery, the latter of
mercy.

And furthermore, if the inferior was despairing even of the possibility of his being loved
by his superior, he will now be inexpressibly moved to love if the superior has of his own
will condescended to show how much he loves this person who could by no means be bold
enough to promise himself so great a good. But what is there superior to God in the
character of Judge? and what more desperate than man in the character of sinner?-than man,
I ask, who had given himself all the more unreservedly up to the wardship and domination
of proudpowers which are unable to make him blessed, as he had come more absolutely to
despair of the possibility of his being an object of interest to that power which wills
not to be exalted in wickedness, but is exalted in goodness. 8. If, therefore, it was
mainly for this purpose that Christ came, to wit, that man might learn how much God loves
him; and that he might learn this, to the intent that he might be kindled to the love of
Him by whom he was first loved, and might also love his neighbor at the command and
showing of Him who became our neighbor, in that He loved man when, instead of being a
neighbor to Him, he was sojourning far apart: if, again, all divine Scripture, which was
written aforetime, was written with the view of presignifying the Lord's advent; and if
whatever has been committed to writing in times subsequent to these, and established by
divine authority, is a record of Christ, and admonishes us of love, it is manifest that on
those two commandments of love to God and love to our neighbor hang not only all the law
and the prophets, which at the time when the Lord spoke to that effect were as yet the
only Holy Scripture, but also all those books of the divine literature which have been
written at a later period for our health, and consigned to remembrance. Wherefore, in the
Old Testament there is a veiling of the New, and in the New Testament there is a revealing
of the Old. According to that veiling, carnal men, understanding things in a carnal
fashion, have been under the dominion, both then and now, of a penal fear.

According to this revealing, on the other hand, spiritual men,-among whom we reckon at
once those then who knocked in piety and found even hidden things opened to them, and
others now who seek in no spirit of pride, lest even things uncovered should be closed to
them,-understanding in a spiritual fashion, have been made free through the love wherewith
they have been gifted. Consequently, inasmuch as there is nothing more adverse to love
than envy, and as pride is the mother of envy, the same Lord jesus Christ, God-man, is
both a manifestation of divine love towards us, and an example of human humility with us,
to the end that our great swelling might be cured by a greater counteracting remedy. For
here is great misery, proud man! But there is greater mercy, a humble God! Take this love,
therefore, as the end that is set before you, to which you are to refer all that you say,
and, whatever you narrate, narrate it in such a manner that he to whom you are discoursing
on hearing may believe, on believing may hope, on hoping may love.

CHAPTER 5.-THAT THE PERSON WHO COMES FOR CATECHETICAL INSTRUCTION IS TO BE EXAMINED WITH RESPECT TO HIS VIEWS, ON DESIRING TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN.

1 9. Moreover, it is on the gound of that very severity of God, by which the hearts of
mortals are agitated with a most wholesome terror,that love is to be built up; so that,
rejoicing that he is loved by Him whom he fears, man may have boldness to love Him in
return, and yet at the same time be afraid to displeaseHis love toward himself, even
should he be able to do so with impunity. For certainly it very rarely happens, nay, I
should rather say, never, that any one approaches us with the wish to become a Christian
who has not been smitten with some sort of fear of God. For if it is in the expectation of
some advantage from men whom he deems himself unlikely to please in any other way, or with
the idea of escaping any disadvantage at the hands of men of whose displeasure or
hostility he is seriously afraid, that a man wishes to become a Christian, then his wish
to become one is not so earnest as his desire to feign one. For faith is not a matter of
the body which does obeisance, but of the mind which believes. But unmistakeably it is
often the case that the mercy of God comes to be present through the ministry of the
catechiser, so that, affected by the discourse, the man now wishes to become in reality
that which he had made up his mind only to feign.

2 And so soon as he begins to have this manner of desire, we may judge him then to have
made a genuine approach to us. It is true, indeed, that the precise time when a man, whom
we perceive to be present with us already in the body, comes to us in reality with his
mind, is a thing hidden from us. But, notwithstanding that, we ought to deal with him in
such a manner that this wish may be made to arise within him, even should it not be there
at present. For no such labor is lost, inasmuch as, if there is any wish at all, it is
assuredly strengthened by such action on our part, although we may be ignorant of the time
or the hour at which it began. It is useful certainly, if it can be done, to get from
those who know the man some idea beforehand of the state of mind in which he is, or of the
causes which have induced him to come with the view of embracing religion. But if there is
no other person available from whom we may gather such information, then, indeed, the man
himself is to be interrogated, so that from what he says in reply we may draw the
beginning of our discourse. Now if he has come with a false heart, desirous only of human
advantages or thinking to escape disadvantages, he will certainly speak what is untrue.
Nevertheless, the very untruth which he utters should be made the point from which we
start.

3 This should not be done, however, with the (open) intention of confuting his falsehood,
as if that were a settled matter with you; but, taking it for granted that he has
professed to have come with a purpose which is really worthy of approbation (whether that
profession be true or false), it should rather be our aim to commend and praise such a
purpose as that with which, in his reply, he has declared himself to have come; so that we
may make him feel it a pleasureto be the kind of man actually that he wishesto seem to be.
On the other hand, supposing him to have given a declaration of his views other than what
ought to be before the mind of one who is to be instructed in the Christian faith, then by
reproving him with more than usual kindness and gentleness, as a person uninstructed and
ignorant, by pointing out and commending, concisely and in a grave spirit the end of
Christian doctrine in its genuine reality, and by doing all this in such a manner as
neither to anticipate the times of a narration, which should be given subsequently, nor to
venture to impose that kind of statement upon a mind not previously set for it, you may
bring him to desire that which, either in mistake or in dissimulation, he has not been
desiring up to this stage.

CHAPTER 6.-OF THE WAY TO COMMENCE THE CATECHETICAL INSTRUCTION, AND OF THE NARRATION OF FACTS FROM THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S CREATION ON TO THE PRESENT TIMES OF THE CHURCH.

1 10. But if it happens that his answer is to the effect that he has met with some divine
warning, or with some divine terror, prompting him to become a Christian, this opens up
the way most satisfactorily for a commencement to our discourse, by suggesting the
greatness of God's interest in us. His thoughts, however, ought certainly to be turned
away from this line of things, whether miracles or dreams, and directed to the more solid
path and the surer oracles of the Scriptures; so that he may also come to understand how
mercifully that warning was administered to him in advance, previous to his giving himself
to the Holy Scriptures. And assuredly it ought to be pointed out to him, that the Lord
Himself would neither thus have admonished him and urged him on to become a Christian, and
to be incorporated into the Church, nor have taught him by such signs or revelations, had
it not been His will that, for his greater safety and security, he should enter upon a
pathway already prepared in the Holy Scriptures, in which he should not seek after visible
miracles, but learn the habit of hoping for things invisible, and in which also he should
receive monitions not in sleep but in wakefulness. At this point the narration ought now
to be commenced,which should start with the fact that God made all things very good, and
which should be continued, as we have said, on to the present times of the Church.

2 This should be done in such a manner as to give, for each of the affairs and events
which we relate, causes and reasons by which we may refer them severally to that end of
love from which neither the eye of the man who is occupied in doing anything, nor that of
the man who is engaged in speaking, ought to be turned away. For if, even in handling the
fables of the poets, which are but fictitious creations and things devised for the
pleasure of minds whose food is found in trifles, those grammarians who have the
reputation and the name of being good do nevertheless endeavor to bring them to bear upon
some kind of (assumed) use, although that use itself may be only something vain and
grossly bent upon the coarse nutriment of this world: how much more careful does it become
us to be, not to let those genuine verities which we narrate, in consequence of any want
of a well-considered account of their causes, be accepted either with a gratification
which issues in no practical good, or, still less, with a cupidity which may prove
hurtful! At the same time, we are not to set forth these causes in such a manner as to
leave the proper course of our narration, and let our heart and our tongue indulge in
digressions into the knotty questions of more intricate discussion.

3 But the simple truth of the explanation which we adduce ought to be like the gold which
binds together a row of gems, and yet does not interfere with the choice symmetry of the
ornament by any undue intrusion of itself.

CHAPTER 7.-OF THE EXPOSITION OF THE RESURRECTION, THE JUDGMENT, AND OTHER SUBJECTS, WHICH SHOULD FOLLOW THIS NARRATION.

1 11. On the completion of this narration, the hope of the resurrection should be set
forth, and, so far as the capacity and strength of the hearer will bear it, and so far
also as the measure of time at our disposal will allow, we ought to handle our arguments
against the vain scoffings of unbelievers on the subject of the resurrection of the body,
as well as on that of the future judgment, with its goodness in relation to the good, its
severity in relation to the evil, its truth in relation to all. And after the penalties of
the impious have thus been declared with detestation and horror, then the kingdom of the
righteous and faithful, and that supernal city and its joy, should form the next themes
for our discourse. At this point, moreover, we ought to equip and animate the weakness of
man in withstanding temptations and offenses, whether these emerge without or rise within
the church itself; without, as in opposition to Gentiles, or Jews, or heretics; within, on
the other hand, as in opposition to the chaff of the Lord's threshing-floor. It is not
meant, however, that we are to dispute against each several type of perverse men, and that
all their wrong opinions are to be refuted by set arrays of argumentations:

2 but, in a manner suitable to a limited allowance of time, we ought to show how all this
was foretold, and to point out of what service temptations are in the training of the
faithful, and what relief there is in the example of the patience of God, who has resolved
to permit them even to the end. But, again, while he is being furnished against these
(adversaries), whose perverse multitudes fill the churches so far as bodily presence is
concerned, the precepts of a Christian and honorable manner of life should also be briefly
and befittingly detailed at the same time, to the intent that he may neither allow himself
to be easily led astray in this way, by any who are drunkards, covetous, fraudulent,
gamesters, adulterers, fornicators, lovers of public spectacles, wearers of unholy charms,
sorcerers, astrologers, or diviners practising any sort of vain and wicked arts, and
allother parties of a similar character; nor to let himself fancy that any such course may
be followed with impunity on his part, simply because he sees many who are called
Christians loving these things, and engaging themselves with them, and defending them, and
recommending them, and actually persuading others to their use.

3 For as to the end which is appointed for those who persist in such a mode of life, and
as to the method in which they are to be borne with in the church itself, out of which
they are destined to be separated in the end,-these are subjects in which the learner
ought to be instructed by means of the testimonies of the divine books. He should also,
however, be informed beforehand that he will find in the church many good Christians, most
genuine citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, if he sets about being such himself. And,
finally, he must be sedulously warned against letting his hope rest on man. For it is not
a matter that can be easily judged by man, what man is righteous. And even were this a
matter which could be easily done, still the object with which the examples of righteous
men are set before us is not that we may be justified by them, but that, as we imitate
them, we may understand how we ourselves also are justified by their Justifier. For the
issue of this will be something which must merit the highest approval,-namely this, that
when the person who is hearing us, or rather, who is hearing God by us, has begun to make
some progress in moral qualities and in knowledge, and to enter upon the way of Christ
with ardor, he will not be so bold as to ascribe the change either to us or to himself;

4 but he will love both himself and us, and whatever other persons he loves as friends, in
Him, and for His sake who loved him when he was an enemy, in order that He might justify
him and make him a friend. And now that we have advanced thus far, I do not think that you
need any preceptor to tell you how you should discuss matters briefly, when either your
own time or that of those who are hearing you is occupied; and how, on the other hand, you
should discourse at greater length when there is more time at your command. For the very
necessity of the case recommends this, apart from the counsel of any adviser.

CHAPTER 8.-OF THE METHOD TO BE PURSUED IN CATECHISING THOSE WHO HAVE HAD A LIBERAL EDUCATION.

1 12. But there is another case which evidently must not be overlooked. I mean the case of
one coming to you to receive catchetical instruction who has cultivated the field of
liberal studies, who has already made up his mind to be a Christian, and who has betaken
himself to you for the express purpose of becoming one. It can scarcely fail to be the
fact that a person of this character has already acquired a considerable knowledge of our
Scriptures and literature; and, furnished with this, he may have come now simply with the
view of being made a partaker in the sacraments. For it is customary with men of this
class to inquire carefully into all things, not at the very time when they are made
Christians, but previous to that, and thus early also to communicate and reason, with any
whom they can reach, on the subject of the feelings of their own minds. Consequently a
brief method of procedure should be adopted with these, so as not to inculcate on them, in
an odious fashion, things which they know already, but to pass over these with a light and
modest touch. Thus we should say how we believe that they are already familiar with this
and the other subject, and that we therefore simply reckon up in a cursory manner all
those facts which require to be formally urged upon the attention of the uninstructed and
unlearned.

2 And we should endeavor so to proceed, that, supposing this man of culture to have been
previously acquainted with any one of our themes, he may not hear it now as from a
teacher; and that, in the event of his being still ignorant of any of them, he may yet
learn the same while we are going over the things with which we understand him to be
already familiar. Moreover, it is certainly not without advantage to interrogate the man
himself as to the means by which he was induced to desire to be a Christian; so that, if
you discover him to have been moved to that decision by books, whether they be the
canonical writings or the compositions of literary men worth the studying, you may say
something about these at the outset, expressing your approbation of them in a manner which
may suit the distinct merits which they severally possess, in respect of canonical
authority and of skillfully applied diligence on the part of these expounders; and, in the
case of the canonical Scriptures, commending above all the most salutary modesty (of
language) displayed alongside their wonderful loftiness (of subject); while, in those
other productions you notice, in accordance with the characteristic faculty of each
several writer, a style of a more sonorous and, as it were more rounded eloquence adapted
to minds that are prouder, and, by reason thereof weaker.

3 We should certainly also elicit from him some account of himself, so that he may give us
to understand what writer he chiefly perused, and with what books he was more familiarly
conversant, as these were the means of moving him to wish to be associated with the
church. And when he has given us this information, then if the said books are known to us,
or if we have at least ecclesiastical report as our warrant for taking them to have been
written by some catholic man of note, we should joyfully express our approbation. But if,
on the other hand, he has fallen upon the productions of some heretic and in ignorance, it
may be, has retained in his mind anything which the true faith condemns, and yet supposes
it to be catholic doctrine, then we must set ourselves sedulously to teach him, bringing
before him (in its rightful superiority) the authority of the Church universal, and of
other most learned men reputed both for their disputations and for their writings in (the
cause of) its truth.

4 At the same time, it is to be admitted that even those who have departed this life as
genuine catholics, and have left to posterity some Christian writings, in certain passages
of their small works, either in consequence of their failing to be understood, or (as the
way is with human infirmity) because they lack ability to pierce into the deeper mysteries
with the eye of the mind, and in (pursuing) the semblance of what is true, wander from the
truth itself, have proved an occasion to the presumptuous and audacious for constructing
and generating some heresy. This, however, is not to be wondered at, when, even in the
instance of the canonical writings themselves, where all things have been expressed in the
soundest manner, we see how it has happened,-not indeed through merely taking certain
passages in a sense different from that which the writer had in view or which is
consistent with the truth itself, (for if this were all, who would not gladly pardon human
infirmity, when it exhibits a readiness to accept correction?), but by persistently
defending, with the bitterest vehemence and in impudent arrogance, opinions which they
have taken up in perversity and error,-many have given birth to many pernicious dogmas at
the cost of rending the unity of the (Christian) communion.

5 All these subjects we should discuss in modest conference with the individual who makes
his approach to the society of the Christian people, not in the character of an uneducated
man, as they say, but in that of one who has passed through a finished culture and
training in the books of the learned. And in enjoining him to guard against the errors of
presumption, we should assume only so much authority as that humility of his, which
induced him to come to us, is now felt to admit of. As to other things, moreover, in
accordance with the rules of saving doctrine, which require to be narrated or discussed,
whether they be matters relating to the faith, or questions bearing on the moral life, or
others dealing with temptations, all these should be gone through in the manner whichI
have indicated, and ought therein to be referred to the more excellent way (already
noticed).

CHAPTER 9.-OF THE METHOD IN WHICH GRAMMARIANS AND PROFESSIONAL SPEAKERS ARE TO BE DEALT WITH.

1 13. There are also some who come from the commonest schools of the grammarians and
professional speakers, whom you may not venture to reckon either among the uneducated or
among those very learned classes whose minds have been exercised in questions of real
magnitude. When such persons, therefore, who appear to be superior to the rest of mankind,
so far as the art of speaking is concerned, approach you with the view of becoming
Christians, it will be your duty in your communications with them, in a higher degree than
in your dealings with those other illiterate hearers, to make it plain that they are to be
diligently admonished to clothe themselves with Christian humility, and learn not to
despise individuals whom they may discover keeping themselves free from vices of conduct
more carefully than from faults of language; and also that they ought not to presume so
much as to compare with a pure heart the practised tongue which they were accustomed even
to put in preference. But above all, such persons should be taught to listen to the divine
Scriptures, so that they may neither deem solid eloquence to be mean, merely because it is
not inflated, nor suppose that the words or deeds of men, of which we read the accounts in
those books, involved and covered as they are in carnal wrappings, are not to be drawn
forth and unfolded with a view to an (adequate) understanding of them, but are to be taken
merely according to the sound of the letter.

2 And as to this same matter of the utility of the hidden meaning, the existence of which
is the reason why they are called also mysteries, the power wielded by these intricacies
of enigmatical utterances in the way of sharpening our love for the truth, and shaking off
the torpor of weariness, is a thing which the persons in question must have made good to
them by actual experience, when some subject which failed to move them when it was placed
baldly before them, has its significance elicited by the detailed working out of an
allegorical sense. For it is in the highest degree useful to such men to come to know how
ideas are to be preferred to words, just as the soul is preferred to the body. And from
this, too, it follows that they ought to have the desire to listen to discourses
remarkable for their truth, rather than to those which are notable for their eloquence;
just as they ought to be anxious to have friends distinguished for their wisdom, rather
than those whose chief merit is their beauty. They should also understand thai there is no
voice for the ears of God save the affection of the soul. For thus they will not act the
mocker if they happen to observe any of the prelates and ministers of the Church either
calling upon God in language marked by barbarisms and solecisms, or failing in
understanding correctly the very words which they are pronouncing, and making confused
pauses.

3 It is not meant, of course, that such faults are not to be corrected, so that the people
may say "Amen" to something which they plainly understand; but what is intended is, that
such things should be piously borne with by those who have come to understand how, as in
the forum it is in the sound, so in the church it is in the desire that the grace of
speech resides. Therefore that of the forum may sometimes be called good speech, but never
gracious speech. Moreover, with respect to the sacrament which they are about to receive,
it is enough for the more intelligent simply to hear what the thing signifies. But with
those of slower intellect, it will be necessary to adopt a somewhat more detailed
explanation, together with the use of similitudes, to prevent them from despising what
they see.

CHAPTER 10.-OF THE ATTAINMENT OF CHEERFULNESS IN THE DUTY OF CATECHISING, AND OF VARIOUS CAUSES PRODUCING WEARINESS IN THE CATECHUMEN.

14. At this point you perhaps desiderate some example of the kind of discourse intended,
so that I may show you by an actual instance how the things which I have recommended are
to be done. This indeed I shall do, so far as by God's help I shall be able. But before
proceeding to that, it is my duty, in consistency with what I have promised, to speak of
the acquisition of the cheerfulness (to which I have alluded). For as regards the matter
of the rules in accordance with which your discourse should be set forth, in the case of
the catechetical instruction of a person who comes with the express view of being made a
Christian, I have already made good, as far as has appeared sufficient, the promise which
I made. And surely I am under no obligation at the same time to do myself in this volume
that which I enjoin as the right thing to be done. Consequently, if I do that, it will
have the value of an overplus. But how can the overplus be super-added by me before I have
filled up the measure of what is due? Besides, one thing which I have heard you make the
subject of your complaint above all others, is the fact that your discourse seemed to
yourself to be poor and spiritless when you were instructing any one in the Christian
name.

Now this, I know, results not so much from want of matter to say, with which I am well
aware you are sufficiently provided and furnished, or from poverty of speech itself, as
rather from weariness of mind. And that may spring either from the cause of which I have
already spoken, namely, the fact that our intelligence is better pleased and more
thoroughly arrested by that which we perceive in silence in the mind, and that we have no
inclination to have our attention called off from it to a noise of words coming far short
of representing it; or from the circumstance that even when discourse is pleasant, we have
more delight in hearing or reading things which have been expressed in a superior manner,
and which are set forth without any care or anxiety on our part, than in putting together,
with a view to the comprehension of others, words suddenly conceived, and leaving it an
uncertain issue, on the one hand, whether such terms occur to us as adequately represent
the sense, and on the other, whether they be accepted in such a manner as to profit;

or yet again, from the consideration that, in consequence of their being now thoroughly
familiar to ourselves, and no longer necessary to our own advancement, it becomes irksome
to us to be recurring very frequently to those matters which are urged upon the
uninstructed, and our mind, as being by this time pretty well matured, moves with no
manner of pleasure in the circle of subjects so well-worn, and, as it were, so childish. A
sense of weariness is also induced upon the speaker when he has a hearer who remains
unmoved, either in that he is actually not stirred by any feeling, or in that he does not
indicate by any motion of the body that he understands or that he is pleased with what is
said. Not that it is a becoming disposition in us to he greedy of the praises of men, but
that the things which we minister are of God; and the more we love those to whom we
discourse, the more desirous are we that they should he pleased with the matters which are
held forth for their salvation: so that if we do not succeed in this, we are pained, and
we are weakened, and become broken-spirited in the midst of our course, as if we were
wasting our efforts to no purpose.

Sometimes, too, when we are drawn off from some matter which we are desirous to go on
with, and the transaction of which was a pleasure to us, or appeared to be more than
usually needful, and when we are compelled, either by the command of a person whom we are
unwilling to offend, or by the importunity of some parties that we find it impossible to
get rid of, to instruct any one catechetically, in such circumstances we approach a duty
for which great calmness is indispensable with minds already perturbed, and grieving at
once that we are not permitted to keep that order which we desire to observe in our
actions, and that we cannot possibly be competent for all things; and thus out of very
heaviness our discourse as it advances is less of an attraction, because, starting from
the arid soil of dejection, it goes on less flowingly. Sometimes, too, sadness has taken
possession of our heart in consequence of some offense or other, and at that very time we
are addressed thus: "Come, speak with this person; he desires to become a Christian. For
they who thus address us do it in ignorance of the hidden trouble which is consuming us
within. So it happens that, if they are not the persons to whom it befits us to open up
our feelings, we undertake with no sense of pleasure what they desire;

and then, certainly, the discourse will be languid and unenjoyable which is transmitted
through the agitated and fuming channel of a heart in that condition. Consequently, seeing
there are so many causes serving to cloud the calm serenity of our minds, in accordance
with God's will we must seek remedies for them, such as may bring us relief from these
feelings of heaviness, and help us to rejoice in fervor of spirit, and to be jocund in the
tranquility of a good work. "For God loveth a cheerful giver." 15. Now if the cause of our
sadness lies in the circumstance that our hearer does not apprehend what we mean, so that
we have to come down in a certain fashion from the elevation of our own conceptions, and
are under the necessity of dwelling long in the tedious processes of syllables which come
far beneath the standard of our ideas, and have anxiously to consider how that which we
ourselves take in with a most rapid draught of mental apprehension is to be given forth by
the mouth of flesh in the long and perplexed intricacies of its method of enunciation; and
if the great dissimilarity thus felt (between our utterance and our thought) makes it
distasteful to us to speak, and a pleasure to us to keep silence, then let us ponder what
has been set before us by Him who has"showed us an example that we should follow His
steps. For however much our articulate speech may differ from the vivacity of our
intelligence, much greater is the difference of the flesh of mortality from the equality
of God. And, neverless, "although He was in the same form, He emptied Himself, taking the
form of a servant,"-and so on down to the words "the death of the cross. What is the
explanation of this but that He made Himself "weak to the weak, in order that He might
gain the weak? Listen to His follower as he expresses himself also in another place to
this effect: "For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God;

or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth us,
because we thus judge that He died for all. And how, indeed, should one be ready to be
spent for their souls, if he should find it irksome to him to bend himself to their ears?
For this reason, therefore, He became a little child in the midst of us, (and) like a
nurse cherishing her children. For is it a pleasure to lisp shortened and broken words,
unless love invites us? And yet men desire to have infants to whom they have to do that
kind of service; and it is a sweeter thing to a mother to put small morsels of masticated
food into her little son's mouth, than to eat up and devour larger pieces herself. In like
manner, accordingly, let not the thought of the hen recede from your heart, who covers her
tender brood with her drooping feathers, and with broken voice calls her chirping young
ones to her, while they that turn away from her fostering wings in their pride become a
prey to birds.

For if intelligence brings delights in its purest recesses, it should also be a delight to
us to have an intelligent understanding of the manner in which charity, the more
complaisantly it descends to the lowest objects, finds its way back, with all the greater
vigor to those that are most secret, along the course of a good conscience which witnesses
that it has sought nothing from those to whom it has descended except their everlasting
salvation.

CHAPTER 11.-OF THE REMEDY FOR THE SECOND SOURCE OF WEARINESS.

1 16. If, however, it is rather our desire to read or hear such things as are already
prepared for our use and expressed in a superior style, and if the consequence is that we
feel it irksome to put together, at the time and with an uncertain issue, the terms of
discourse on our own side, then, provided only that our mind does not wander off from the
truth of the facts themselves, it is an easy matter for the hearer, if he is offended by
anything in our language, to come to see in that very circumstance how little value should
be set, supposing the subject itself to be rightly understood, upon the mere fact that
there may have been some imperfection or some inaccuracy in the literal expressions, which
were employed indeed simply with the view of securing a correct apprehension of the
subject-matter. 2 But if the bent of human infirmity has wandered off from the truth of
the facts themselves,-although in the catechetical instruction of the unlearned, where we
have to keep by the most beaten track, that cannot occur very readily,-still, lest haply
it should turn out that our hearer finds cause of offence even in this direction, we ought
not to deem this to have come upon us in any other way than as the issue of God's own wish
to put us to the test with respect to our readiness to receive correction in calmness of
mind, so as not to rush headlong, in the course of a still greater error, into the defense
of our error. But if, again, no one has told us of it, and if the thing has altogether
escaped our own notice, as well as the observation of our hearers, then there is nothing
to grieve over, provided only the same thing does not occur a second time. For the most
part, however, when we recall what we have said, we ourselves discover something to find
fault with, and are ignorant of the manner in which it was received when it was uttered;
and so when charity is fervent within us, we are the more vexed if the thing, while really
false, has been received with unquestioning acceptance.

3 This being the case, then, whenever an opportunity occurs, as we have been finding fault
with ourselves in silence, we ought in like manner to see to it that those persons be also
set right on the subject in a considerate method, who have fallen into some sort of error,
not by the words of God, but plainly by those used by us. If, on the other hand, there are
any who, blinded by insensate spite, rejoice that we have committed a mistake, whisperers
as they are, and slanderers, and "hateful to God," such characters should afford us matter
for the exercise of patience with pity, inasmuch as also the "patience of God leadeth them
to repentance. For what is more detestable, and what more likely to "treasure up wrath in
the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God," than to rejoice, after
the evil likeness and pattern of the devil, in the evil of another? At times, too, even
when all is correctly and truly spoken, either something which has not been understood, or
something which, as being opposed to the idea and wont of an old error, seems harsh in its
very novelty, offends and disturbs the hearer. But if this becomes apparent, and if the
person shows himself capable of being set right, he should be set right without any delay
by the use of abundance of authorities and reasons. On the other hand, if the offense is
tacit and hidden, the medicine ofGod is the effective remedy for it.

4 And if,again, the person starts back and declines to be cured, we should comfort
ourselves with that example of our Lord, who, when men were offended at His word, and
shrank from it as a hard saying, addressed Himself at the same time to those who had
remained, in these terms, "Will ye also go away? For it ought to be retained as a
thoroughly "fixed and immovable" position in our heart, that Jerusalem which is in
captivity is set free from the Babylon of this world when the times have run their course,
and that none belonging to her shall perish: for whoever may perish was not of her. "For
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His;
and, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. If we ponder these
things, and call upon the Lord to come into our heart, we shall be less apprehensive of
the uncertain issues of our discourse, consequent on the uncertain feelings of our
hearers; and the very endurance of vexations in the cause of a work of mercy will also be
something pleasant to us, if we seek not our own glory in the same. For then is a work
truly good, when the aim of the doer gets its impetus from charity, and, as if returning
to its own place, rests again in charity.

5 Moreover, the reading which delights us, or any listening to an eloquence superior to
our own, the effect of which is to make us inclined to set a greater value upon it than
upon the discourse which we ourselves have to deliver, and so to lead us to speak with a
reluctant or tedious utterance, will come upon us in a happier spirit, and will be found
to be more enjoyable after labor. Then, too, with a stronger confidence shall we pray to
God to speak to us as we wish, if we cheerfully submit to let Him speak by us as we are
able. Thus is it brought about that all things come together for good to them that love
God.

CHAPTER 12.-OF THE REMEDY FOR THE THIRD SOURCE OF WEARINESS.

1 17. Once more, however, we often feel it very wearisome to go over repeatedly matters
which are thoroughly familiar, and adapted (rather) to children. If this is the case with
us, then we should endeavor to meet them with a brother's, a father's, and a mother's
love; and, if we are once united with them thus in heart, to us no less than to them will
these things seem new. For so great is the power of a sympathetic disposition of mind,
that, as they are affected while we are speaking, and we are affected while they are
learning, we have our dwelling in each other; and thus, at one and the same time, they as
it were in us speak what they hear, and we inthem learn after a certain fashion what we
teach. Is it not a common occurrence with us, that when we show to persons, who have never
seen them, certain spacious and beautiful tracts, either in cities or in fields, which we
have been in the habit of passing by without any sense of pleasure, simply because we have
become so accustomed to the sight of them, we find our own enjoyment renewed in their
enjoyment of the novelty of the scene? And this is so much the more our experience in
proportion to the intimacy of our friendship with them; because, just as we are in them in
virtue of the bond of love, in the same degree do things become new to us which previously
were old.

2 But if we ourselves have made any considerable progress in the contemplative study of
things, it is not our wish that those whom we love should simply be gratified and
astonished as they gaze upon the works of men's hands; but it becomes our wish to lift
them to (the contemplation of) the very skill or wisdom of their author, and from this to
(see them) rise to the admiration and praise of the all-creating God, with whom is the
most fruitful end of love. How much more, then, ought we to be delighted when men come to
us with the purpose already formed of obtaining the knowledge of God Himself, with a view
to (the knowledge of) whom all things should be learned which are to be learned! And how
ought we to feel ourselves renewed in their newness (of experience), so that if our
ordinary preaching is somewhat frigid, it may rise to fresh warmth under (the stimulus of)
their extraordinary hearing! There is also this additional consideration to help us in the
attainment of gladness, namely, that we ponder and bear in mind out of what death of error
the man is passing over into the life of faith.

3 And if we walk through streets which are most familiar to us, with a beneficent
cheerfulness, when we happen to be pointing out the way to some individual who had been in
distress in consequence of missing his direction, how much more should be the alacrity of
spirit, and how much greater the joy with which, in the matter of saving doctrine, we
ought to traverse again and again even those tracks which, so far as we are ourselves
concerned, there is no need to open up any more; seeing that we are leading a miserable
soul, and one worn out with the devious courses of this world, through the paths of peace,
at the command of Him who made that peace good to us!

CHAPTER 13.-OF THE REMEDY FOR THE FOURTHSOURCE OF WEARINESS.

18. But in good truth it is a serious demand to make upon us, to continue discoursing on
to the set limit when we fall to see our hearer in any degree moved; whether it be that,
under the restraints of the awe of religion, he has not the boldness to signify his
approval by voice or by any movement of his body, or that he is kept back by the modesty
proper to man, or that he does not understand our sayings, or that he counts them of no
value. Since, then, this must be a matter of uncertainty to us, as we cannot discern his
mind, it becomes our duty in our discourse tO make trial of all things which may be of any
avail in stirring him up and drawing him forth as it were from his place of concealment.
For that sort of fear which is excessive, and which obstructs the declaration of his
judgment, ought to be dispelled by the force of kindly exhortation; and by bringing before
him the consideration of our brotherly affinity, we should temper his reverence for us;
and by questioning him, we should ascertain whether he understands what is addressed to
him; and we should impart to him a sense of confidence, so that he may give free
expression to any objection which suggests itself to him.

We should at the same time ask him whether he has already listened to such themes on some
previous occasion, and whether perchance they fail to move him now in consequence of their
being to him like things well known and commonplace. And we ought to shape our course in
accordance with his answer, so as either to speak in a simpler style and with greater
detail of explanation, or to refute some antagonistic opinion, or, instead of attempting
any more diffuse exposition of the subjects which are known to him, to give a brief
summary of these, and to select some of those matters which are handled in a mystical
manner in the holy books, and especially in the historical narrative, the unfolding and
setting forth of which may make our addresses more attractive. But if the man is of a very
sluggish disposition, and if he is senseless, and without anything in common with all such
sources of pleasure, then we must simply bear with him in a compassionate spirit; and,
after briefly going over other points, we ought to impress upon him, in a manner
calculated to inspire him with awe, the truths which are most indispensable on the subject
of the unity of the Catholic Church, on that of temptation, on that of a Christian
conversation in view of the future judgment; and we ought rather to address ourselves to
God for him than address much to him concerning God.

19. It is likewise a frequent occurrence that one who at first listened to us with all
readiness, becomes exhausted either by the effort of hearing or by standing, and now no
longer commends what is said, but gapes and yawns, and even unwillingly exhibits a
disposition to depart. When we observe that, it becomes our duty to refresh his mind by
saying something seasoned with an honest cheerfulness and adapted to the matter which is
being discussed, or something of a very wonderful and amazing order, or even, it may be,
something of a painful and mournful nature. Whatever we thus say may be all the better if
it affects himself more immediately, so that the quick sense of self-concern may keep his
attention on the alert. At the same time, however, it should not be of the kind to offend
his spirit of reverence by any harshness attaching to it; but it should be of a nature
fitted rather to conciliate him by the friendliness which it breathes. Or else, we should
relieve him by accommodating him with a seat, although unquestionably matters will be
better ordered if from the outset, whenever that can be done with propriety, he sits and
listens.

And indeed in certain of the churches beyond the sea, with a far more considerate regard
to the fitness of things, not only do the prelates sit when they address the people, but
they also themselves put down seats for the people, lest any person of enfeebled strength
should become exhausted by standing, and thus have his mind diverted from the most
wholesome purport (of the discourse), or even be under the necessity of departing. And yet
it is one thing if it be simply some one out of a great multitude who withdraws in order
to recruit his strength, he being also already under the obligations which result from
participation in the sacraments; and it is quite another thing if the person withdrawing
is one (inasmuch as it is usually the case in these circumstances that the man is
unavoidably urged to that course by the fear that he should even fall, overcome by
internal weakness) who has to be initiated in the first sacraments; for a person in this
position is at once restrained by the sense of shame from stating the reason of his going,
and not permitted to stand through the force of his weakness. This I speak from
experience. For this was the case with a certain individual, a man from the country, when
I was instructing him catechetically: and from his instance I have learned that this kind
of thing is carefully to be guarded against.

For who can endure our arrogance when we fail to make men who are our brethren, or even
those who are not yet in that relation to us (for our solicitude then should be all the
greater to get them to become our brethren), to be seated in our presence, seeing that
even a woman sat as she listened to our Lord Himself, in whose service the angels stand
alert? Of course if the address is to be but short, or if the place is not well adapted
for sitting, they should listen standing. But that should be the case only when there are
many hearers, and when they are not to be formally admitted at the time. For when the
audience consists only of one or two, or a few, who have come with the express purpose of
being made Christians, there is a risk in speaking to them standing. Nevertheless,
supposing that we have once begun in that manner, we ought at least, whenever we observe
signs of weariness on the part of the hearer, to offer him the liberty of being seated;
nay more, we should urge him by all means to sit down, and we ought to drop some remark
calculated at once to refresh him and to banish from his mind any anxiety which may have
chanced to break in upon him and draw off his attention.

For inasmuch as the reasons why he remains silent and declines to listen cannot be
certainly known to us, now that he is seated we may speak to some extent against the
incidence of thoughts about worldly affairs, delivering ourselves either in the cheerful
spirit to which I have already adverted, or in a serious vein; so that, if these are the
particular anxieties which have occupied his mind, they may be made to give way as if
indicted by name: while, on the other hand, supposing them not to be the special causes
(of the loss of interest), and supposing him to be simply worn out with listening, his
attention will be relieved of the pressure of weariness when we address to him some
unexpected and extraordinary strain of remark on these subjects, in the mode of which I
have spoken, as if they were the particular anxieties,-for indeed we are simply ignorant
(of the true causes). But let the remark thus made be short, especially considering that
it is thrown in out of order, lest the very medicine even increase the malady of weariness
which we desire to relieve; and, at the same time, we should go on rapidly with what
remains, and promise and present the prospect of a conclusion nearer than was looked for.

CHAPTER 14.-OF THE REMEDY AGAINST THE FIFTH AND SIXTH SOURCES OF WEARINESS.

20. If, again, your spirit has been broken by the necessity of giving up some other
employment, on which, as the more requisite, you were now bent; and if the sadness caused
by that constraint makes you catechise in no pleasant mood, you ought to ponder the fact
that, excepting that we know it to be our duty, in all our dealings with men, to act in a
merciful manner, and in the exercise of the sincerest charity,-with this one exception, I
say, it is quite uncertain to us what is the more profitable thing for us to do, and what
the more opportune thing for us either to pass by for a time or altogether to omit. For
inasmuch as we know not how the merits of men, on whose behalf we are acting, stand with
God, the question as to what is expedient for them at a certain time is something which,
instead of being able to comprehend, we can rather only surmise, without the aid of any
(clear) inferences, or (at best) with the slenderest and the most uncertain. Therefore we
ought certainly to dispose the matters with which we have to deal according to our
intelligence; and then, if we prove able to carry them out in the manner upon which we
have resolved, we should rejoice, not indeed that it was our will, but that it was God's
will, that they should thus be accomplished.

But if anything unavoidable happens, by which the disposition thus proposed by us is
interfered with, we should bend ourselves to it readily, lest we be broken; so that the
very disposition of affairs which God has preferred to ours may also be made our own. For
it is more in accordance with propriety that we should follow His will than that He should
follow ours. Besides, as regards this order in the doing of things, which we wish to
keepin accordance with our own judgment, surely that course is to be approved of in which
objects that are superior have the precedence. Why then are we aggrieved that the
precedence over men should be held by the Lord God in His vast superiority to us men, so
that in the said love which we entertain for our own order, we should thus (exhibit the
disposition to) despise order? For "no one orders for the better" what he has to do,
except the man who is rather ready to leave undone what he is prohibited from doing by the
divine power, than desirous of doing that which he meditates in his own human cogitations.
For "there are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord stands
for ever."

21. But if our mind is agitated by some cause of offense, so as not to be capable of
delivering a discourse of a calm and enjoyable strain, our charity towards those for whom
Christ died, desiring to redeem them by the price of His own blood from the death of the
errors of this world, ought to be so great, that the very circumstance of intelligence
being brought us in our sadness, regarding the advent of some person who longs to become a
Christian, ought to be enough to cheer us and dissipate that heaviness of spirit, just as
the delights of gain are wont to soften the pain of losses. For we are not (fairly)
oppressed by the offense of any individual, unless it be that of the man whom we either
perceive or believe to be perishing himself, or to be the occasion of the undoing of some
weak one. Accordingly, one who comes to us with the view of being formally admitted, in
that we cherish the hope of his ability to go forward, should wipe away the sorrow caused
by one who fails us. For even if the dread that our proselyte may become the child of hell
comes into our thoughts, as, there are many such before our eyes, from whom those offenses
arise by which we are distressed, this ought to operate, not in the way of keeping us
back, but rather in the way of stimulating us and spurring us on.

And in the same measure we ought to admonish him whom we are instructing to be on his
guard against imitating those who are Christians only in name and not in very truth, and
to take care not to suffer himself to be so moved by their numbers as either to be
desirous of following them, or to be reluctant to follow Christ on their account, and
either to be unwilling to be in the Church of God, where they are, or to wish to be there
in such a character as they bear. And somehow or other, in admonitions of this sort, that
address is the more glowing to which a present sense of grief supplies the fuel; so that
instead of being duller, we utter with greater fire and vehemence under such feelings
things which, in times of greater ease, we would give forth in a colder and less energetic
manner. And this should make us rejoice that an opportunity is afforded us under which the
emotions of our mind pass not away without yielding some fruit.

22. If, however, grief has taken possession of us on account of something in which we
ourselves have erred or sinned, we should bear in mind not only that a "broken spirit is a
sacrifice to God," but also the saying, "Like as water quencheth fire, so alms sin; and
again, "I will have mercy," saith He, "rather than sacrifice. Therefore, as in the event
of our being in peril from fire we would certainly run to the water in order to get the
fire extinguished, and we would be grateful if any person were to offer it in the
immediate vicinity; so, if some flame of sin has risen from our own stack, and if we are
troubled on that account, when an opportunity has been given for a most merciful work, we
should rejoice in it, as if a fountain were offered us in order that by it the
conflagration which had burst forth might be extinguished. Unless haply we are foolish
enough to think that we ought to be readier in running with bread, wherewith we may fill
the belly of a hungry man, than with the word of God, wherewith we may instruct the mind
of the man who feeds on it.

There is this also to consider, namely, that if it would only be of advantage to us to do
this thing, and entail no disadvantage to leave it undone, we might despise a remedy
offered in an unhappy fashion in the time of peril with a view to the safety, not now of a
neighbor, but of ourselves. But when from the mouth of the Lord this so threatening
sentence is heard, "Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou oughtest to give my money to
the exchangers," what madness, I pray thee, is it thus, seeing that our sin pains us, to
be minded to sin again, by refusing to give the Lord's money to one who desires it and
asks it! When these and such like considerations and reflections have succeeded in
dispelling the darkness of weary feelings, the bent of mind is rendered apt for the duty
of catechising, so that that is received in a pleasant manner which breaks forth
vigorously and cheerfully from the rich vein of charity. For these things indeed which are
uttered here are spoken, not so much by me to you, as rather to us all by that very "love
which is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that is given to us."

CHAPTER 15.-OF THE METHOD IN WHICH OUR ADDRESS SHOULD BE ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT CLASSES OF HEARERS.

1 23. But now, perhaps, you also demand of me as a debt that which, previous to the
promise which I made, I was under no obligation to give, namely, that I should not count
it burdensome to unfold some sort of example of the discourse intended, and to set it
before you for your study, just as if I were myself engaged in catechising some
individual. Before I do that, however, I wish you to keep in mind the fact that the mental
effort is of one kind in the case of a person who dictates, with a future reader in his
view, and that it is of quite another kind in the case of a person who speaks with a
present hearer to whom to direct his attention. And further, it is to be remembered that,
in this latter instance in particular, the effort is of one kind when one is admonishing
in private, and when there is no other person at hand to pronounce judgment on us; whereas
it is of a different order when one is conveying any instruction in public, and when there
stands around him an audience of persons holding dissimilar opinions; and again, that in
this exercise of teaching, the effort will be of one sort when only a single individual is
being instructed, while all the rest listen, like persons judging or attesting things well
known to them, and that it will be different when all those who are present wait for what
we have to deliver to them;

2 and once more, that, in this same instance, the effort will be one thing when all are
seated, as it were, in private conference with a view to engaging in some discussion, and
that it will be quite another thing when the people sit silent and intent on giving their
attention to some single speaker who is to address them from a higher position. It will
likewise make a considerable difference, even when we are discoursing in that style,
whether there are few present or many, whether they are learned or unlearned, or made up
of both classes combined; whether they are city-bred or rustics, or both the one and the
other together; or whether, again, they are a people composed of all orders of men in due
proportion. For it is impossible but that they will affect in different ways the person
who has to speak to them and discourse with them, and that the address which is delivered
will both bear certain features, as it were, expressive of the feelings of the mind from
which it proceeds, and also influence the hearers in different ways, in accordance with
that same difference (in the speaker's disposition), while at the same time the hearers
themselves will influence one another in different ways by the simple force of their
presence with each other.

3 But as we are dealing at present with the matter of the instruction of the unlearned, I
am a witness to you, as regards my own experience, that I find myself variously moved,
according as I see before me, for the purposes of catechetical instruction, a highly
educated man, a dull fellow, a citizen, a foreigner, a rich man, a poor man, a private
individual, a man of honors, a person occupying some position of authority, an individual
of this or the other nation, of this or the other age or sex, one proceeding from this or
the other sect, from this or the other common error,-and ever in accordance with the
difference of my feelings does my discourse itself at once set out, go on, and reach its
end. And inasmuch as, although the same charity is due to all, yet the same medicine is
not to be administered to all, in like manner charity itself travails with some, is made
weak together with others; is at pains to edify some, tremblingly apprehends being an
offense to others; bends to some, lifts itself erect to others; is gentle to some, severe
to others; to none an enemy, to all a mother.

4 And when one, who has not gone through the kind of experience to which I refer in the
same spirit of charity, sees us attaining, in virtue of some gift which has been conferred
upon us, and which carries the power of pleasing, a certain repute of an eulogistic nature
in the mouth of the multitude, he counts us happy on that account. But may God, into whose
cognizance the "groaning of them that are bound enters," look upon our humility, and our
labor, and forgive us all our sins. Wherefore, if anything in us has so far pleased you as
to make you desirous of hearing from us some remarks on the subject of the form of
discourse which you ought to follow, you should acquire a more thorough understanding of
the matter by contemplating us, and listening to us when we are actually engaged with
these topics, than by a perusal when we are only dictating them.


ON THE CATECHISING OF THE UNINSTRUCTED (CHAPTERS 16.-A SPECIMEN OF A CATECHETICAL ADDRESS; AND FIRST, THE CASE OF A CATECHUMEN WITH WORTHY VIEWS.–27.-OF THE PROPHECIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THEIR VISIBLE FULFILLMENT IN THE CHURCH.)
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ON THE CATECHISING OF THE UNINSTRUCTED continued

CHAPTER 16.-A SPECIMEN OF A CATECHETICAL ADDRESS; AND FIRST, THE CASE OF A CATECHUMEN WITH WORTHY VIEWS.

24. Nevertheless, however that may be, let us here suppose that some one has come to us
who desires to be made a Christian, and who belongs indeed to the order of private
persons, and yet not to the class of rustics, but to that of the city-bred, such as those
whom you cannot fail to come across in numbers in Carthage. Let us also suppose that, on
being asked whether the inducement leading him to desire to be a Christian is any
advantage looked for in the present life, or the rest which is hoped for after this life,
he has answered that his inducement has been the rest that is yet to come. Then perchance
such a person might be instructed by us in some such strain of address as the following:
"Thanks be to God, my brother; cordially do I wish you joy, and I am glad on your account
that, amid all the storms of this world, which are at once so great and so dangerous, you
have bethought yourself of some true and certain security. For even in this life men go in
quest of rest and security at the cost: of heavy labors, but they fail to find such in
consequence of their wicked lusts. For their thought is to find rest in things which are
unquiet, and which endure not. And these objects, inasmuch as they are withdrawn from them
and pass away in the course of time, agitate them by fears and griefs, and suffer them not
to enjoy tranquillity.

For if it be that a man seeks to find his rest in wealth, he is rendered proud rather than
at ease. Do we not see how many have lost their riches on a sudden,-how many, too, have
been undone by reason of them, either as they have been coveting to possess them, or as
they have been borne down and despoiled of them by others more covetous than themselves?
And even should they remain with the man all his life long, and never leave their lover,
yet would he himself (have to) leave them at his death. For of what measure is the life of
man, even if he lives to old age? Or when men desire for themselves old age, what else do
they really desire but long infirmity? So, too, with the honors of this world,-what are
they but empty pride and vanity, and peril of ruin? For holy Scripture speaks in this
wise: 'All flesh is grass, and the glory of man is as the flower of grass. The grass
withereth, the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever.
Consequently, if any man longs for true rest and true felicity, he ought to lift his hope
off things which are mortal and transitory, and fix it on the word of the Lord; so that,
cleaving to that which endures for ever, he may himself together with it endure for ever.

25. "There are also other men who neither crave to be rich nor go about seeking the vain
pomps of honors, but who nevertheless are minded to find their pleasure and rest in dainty
meats, and in fornications, and in those theatres and spectacles which are at their
disposal in great cities for nothing. But it fares with these, too, in the same way; or
they waste their small means in luxury, and subsequently, under pressure of want, break
out into thefts and burglaries, and at times even into highway robberies, and so they are
suddenly filled with fears both numerous and great; and men who a little before were
singing in the house of revelry, are now dreaming of the sorrows of the prison. Moreover,
in their eager devotion to the public spectacles, they come to resemble demons, as they
incite men by their cries to wound each other, and instigate those who have done them no
hurt to engage in furious contests with each other, while they seek to please an insane
people. And if they perceive any such to be peaceably disposed, they straightway hate them
and persecute them, and raise an outcry, asking that they should be beaten with clubs, as
if they had been in collusion to cheat them; and this iniquity they force even the judge,
who is the (appointed) avenger of iniquities, to perpetrate.

On the other hand, if they observe such men exerting themselves in horrid hostilities
against each other, whether they be those who are called sintoe, or theatrical actors and
players, or charioteers, or hunters,-those wretched men whom they engage in conflicts and
struggles, not only men with men, but even men with beasts,-then the fiercer the fury with
which they perceive these unhappy creatures rage against each other, the better they like
them, and the greater the enjoyment they have in them; and they favor them when thus
excited, and by so favoring them they excite them all the more, the spectators themselves
striving more madly with each other, as they espouse the cause of different combatants,
than is the case even with those very men whose madness they madly provoke, while at the
same time they also long to be spectators of the same in their mad frenzy. How then can
that mind keep the soundness of peace which feeds on strifes and contentions? For just as
is the food which is received, such is the health which results.

In fine, although mad pleasures are no pleasures, nevertheless let these things be taken
as they are, and it still remains the case that, whatever their nature may be, and
whatever the measure of enjoyment yielded by the boasts of riches, and the inflation of
honors, and the spendthrift pleasures of the taverns, and the contests of the theatres,
and the impurity of fornications, and the pruriency of the baths, they are all things of
which one little fever deprives us, while, even from those who still survive, it takes
away the whole false happiness of their life. Then there remains only a void and wounded
conscience, destined to apprehend that God as a Judge whom it refused to have as a Father,
and destined also to find a severe Lord in Him whom it scorned to seek and love as a
tender Father. But thou, inasmuch as thou seekest that true rest which is promised to
Christians after this life, wilt taste the same sweet and pleasant rest even here among
the bitterest troubles of this life, if thou continuest to love the commandments of Him
who hath promised the same. For quickly wilt thou feel that the fruits of righteousness
are sweeter than those of unrighteousness, and that a man finds a more genuine and
pleasurable joy in the possession of a good conscience in the midst of troubles than in
that of an evil conscience in the midst of delights.

For thou hast not come to be united to the Church of God with the idea of seeking from it
any temporal advantage.

CHAPTER 17.-THE SPECIMEN OF CATECHETICAL DISCOURSE CONTINUED, IN REFERENCE SPECIALLY TO THE REPROVAL OF FALSE AIMS ON THE CATECHUMEN'S PART.

26. "For there are some whose reason for desiring to become Christians is either that they
may gain the favor of men from whom they look for temporal advantages, or that they are
reluctant to offend those whom they fear. But these are reprobate; and although the church
bears them for a time, as the threshing-floor bears the chaff until the period of
winnowing, yet if they fail to amend and begin to be Christians in sincerity in view of
the everlasting rest which is to come, they will be separated from it in the end. And let
not such flatter themselves, because it is possible for them to be in the threshing-floor
along with the grain of God. For they will not be together with that in the barn, but are
destined for the fire, which is their due. There are also others of better hope indeed,
but nevertheless in no inferior danger. I mean those who now fear God, and mock not the
Christian name, neither enter the church of God with an assumed heart, but still look for
their felicity in this life, expecting to have more felicity in earthly things than those
enjoy who refuse to worship God. And the consequence of this false anticipation is, that
when they see some wicked and impious men strongly established and excelling in this
worldly prosperity, while they themselves either possess it in a smaller degree or miss it
altogether, they are troubled with the thought that they are serving God without reason,
and so they readily fall away from the faith.

27. "But as to the man who has in view that everlasting blessedness and perpetual rest
which is promised as the lot destined for the saints after this life, and who desires to
become a Christian, in order that he may not pass into eternal fire with the devil, but
enter into the eternal kingdom together with Christ, such an one is truly a Christian;
(and he will be) on his guard in every temptation, so that he may neither be corrupted by
prosperity nor be utterly broken in spirit by adversity, but remain at once modest and
temperate when the good things of earth abound with him, and brave and patient when
tribulations overtake him. A person of this character will also advance in attainments
until he comes to that disposition of mind which will make him love God more than he fears
hell; so that even were God to say to him, 'Avail yourself of carnal pleasures for ever,
and sin as much as you are able, and you shall neither die nor be sent into hell, but you
will only not be with me, he would be terribly dismayed, and would altogether abstain from
sinning, not now (simply) with the purpose of not falling into that of which he was wont
to be afraid, but with the wish not to offend Him whom he so greatly loves: in whom alone
also there is the rest which eye hath not seen, neither hath ear heard, neither hath it
entered into the heart of man (to conceive),-the rest which God hath prepared for them
that love Him.

28. "Now, on the subject of this rest Scripture is significant, and refrains not to speak,
when it tells us how at the beginning of the world, and at the time when God made heaven
and earth and all things which are in them, He worked during six days, and rested on the
seventh day. For it was in the power of the Almighty to make all things even in one moment
of time. For He had not labored in the view that He might enjoy (a needful) rest, since
indeed "He spake, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created; but that He
might signify how, after six ages of this world, in a seventh age, as on the seventh day,
He will rest in His saints; inasmuch as these same saints shall rest also in Him after all
the good works in which they have served Him,-which He Himself, indeed, works in them, who
calls them, and instructs them, and puts away the offenses that are past, and justifies
the man who previously was ungodly. For as, when by Hisgift they work that which is good,
He is Himself rightly said to work (that in them), so, when they rest in Him, He is
rightly said to rest Himself. For, as regards Himself, He seeks no. cessation, because He
feels no labor Moreover He made all things by His Word; and His Word is Christ Himself, in
whom the angels and all those purest spirits of heaven rest in holy silence.

Man, however in that he fell by sin, has lost the rest which he possessed in His divinity,
and receives it again (now) in His humanity; and for this purpose He became man, and was
born of a woman, at the seasonable time at which He Himself knew it behoved it so to be
fulfilled And from the flesh assuredly He could not sustain any contamination, being
Himself rather destined to purify the flesh. Of His future coming the ancient saints, in
the revelation of the Spirit, had knowledge, and prophesied. And thus were they saved by
believing that He was to come, even as we are saved by believing that He has come. Hence
ought we to love God who has so loved us as to have sent His only Son, in order that He
might endue Himself with the lowliness of our mortality, and die both at the hands of
sinners and on behalf of Sinners. For even in times of old, and in the opening ages, the
depth of this mystery ceases not to be prefigured and prophetically announced.

CHAPTER 18.-OF WHAT IS TO BE BELIEVED ON THE SUBJECT OF THE CREATION OF MAN AND OTHER OBJECTS.

29. "Whereas, then, the omnipotent God, who is also good and just and merciful, who made
all things,-whether they be great or small, whether they be highest or lowest, whether
they be things which are seen, such as are the heavens and the earth and the sea, and in
the heavens, in particular, the sun and the moon and other luminaries, and in the earth
and the sea, again, trees and shrubs and animals each after their kind, and all bodies
celestial or terrestrial alike, or whether they be things which are not seen, such as are
those spirits whereby bodies are animated and endowed with life,-made also man after His
own image, in order that, as He Himself, in virtue of His omnipotence, presides over
universal creation, so man, in virtue of that intelligence of his by which he comes to
know even his Creator and worships Him, might preside over all the living creatures of
earth: Whereas, too, he made the woman to be an helpmeet for him: not for carnal
concupiscence,-since, indeed, they had not corruptible bodies at that period, before the
punishment of sin invaded them in the form of mortality,-but for this purpose, that the
man might at once have glory of the woman in so far as he went before her to God, and
present in himself an example to her for imitation in holiness and piety, even as he
himself was to be the glory of God in so far as he followed his wisdom:

30. "Therefore did he place them in a certain locality of perpetual blessedness, which the
Scripture designates Paradise: and he gave them a commandment, on condition of not
violating which they were to continue for ever in that blessedness of immortality; while,
on the other hand, if they transgressed it, they were to sustain the penalties of
mortality. Now God knew beforehand that they would trangress it. Nevertheless, in that He
is the author and maker of everything good, He chose rather to make them, as He also made
the beasts, in order that He might replenish the earth with the good things proper to
earth. And certainly man, even sinful man, is better than a beast. And the commandment,
which they were not to keep, He yet preferred to give them, in order that they might be
without excuse when He should begin to vindicate Himself against them. For whatever man
may have done, he finds God worthy to be praised in all His doings: if he shall have acted
rightly, he finds Him worthy to be praised for the righteousness of His rewards: if he
shall have sinned, he finds Him worthy to be praised for the righteousness of His
punishments: if he shall have confessed his sins and returned to an uprightlife, he finds
Him worthy to be praised for the mercy of His pardoning favors.

Why, then, should God not make man, although He foreknew that he would sin, when He might
crown him if he stood, and set him right if he fell, and help him if he rose, Himself
being always and everywhere glorious in goodness, righteousness, and clemency? Above all,
why should He not do so, since He also foreknew this, namely, that from the race of that
mortality there would spring saints, who should not seek their own, but give glory to
their Creator; and who, obtaining deliverance from every corruption by worshipping Him,
should be counted worthy to live for ever, and to live in blessedness with the holy
angels? For He who gave freedom of will to men, in order that they might worship God not
of slavish necessity but with ingenuous inclination, gave it also to the angels; and hence
neither did the angel, who, in company with other spirits who were his satellites, forsook
in pride the obedience of God and became the devil, do any hurt to God, but to himself.
For God knoweth how to dispose of souls that leave Him, and out of their righteous misery
to furnish the inferior sections of His creatures with the most appropriate and befitting
laws of His wonderful dispensation. Consequently, neither did the devil in any manner harm
God, whether in falling himself, or in seducing man to death;

nor did man himself in any degree impair the truth, or power, or blessedness of His Maker,
in that, when his partner was seduced by the devil, he of his own deliberate inclination
consented unto her in the doing of that which God had forbidden. For by the most righteous
laws of God all were condemned, God Himself being glorious in the equity of retribution,
while they were shamed through the degradation of punishment: to the end that man, when he
turned away from his Creator, should be overcome by the devil and made his subject, and
that the devil might be set before man as an enemy to be conquered, when he turned again
to his Creator; so that whosoever should consent unto the devil even to the end, might go
with him into eternal punishments; whereas those who should humble themselves to God, and
by His grace overcome the devil, might be counted worthy of eternal rewards.

CHAPTER 19.-OF THE CO-EXISTENCE OF GOOD AND EVIL IN THE CHURCH, AND THEIR FINAL SEPARATION.

31. "Neither ought we to be moved by the consideration that many consent unto the devil,
and few follow God; for the grain, too, in comparison with the chaff, has greatly the
defect in number. But even as the husbandman knows what to do with the mighty heap of
chaff, so the multitude of sinners is nothing to God, who knows what to do with them, so
as not to let the administration of His kingdom be disordered and dishonored in any part.
Nor is the devil to be supposed to have proved victorious for the mere reason of his
drawing away with him more than the few by whom he may be overcome. In this way there are
two communities-one of the ungodly, and another of the holy-which are carried down from
the beginning of the human race even to the end of the world, which are at present
commingled in respect of bodies, but separated in respect of wills, and which, moreover,
are destined to be separated also in respect of bodily presence in the day of judgment.
For all men who love pride and temporal power with vain elation and pomp of arrogance, and
all spirits who set their affections on such things and seek their own glory in the
subjection of men, are bound fast together in one association; nay, even although they
frequently fight against each other on account of these things, they are nevertheless
precipitated by the like weight of lust into the same abyss, and are united with each
other by similarity of manners and merits. And, again, all men and all spirits who humbly
seek the glory of God and not their own, and who follow Him in piety, belong to one
fellowship. And, notwithstanding this, God is most merciful and patient with ungodly men,
and offers them a place for penitence and amendment.

32. "For with respect also to the fact that He destroyed all men in the flood, with the
exception of one righteous man together with his house, whom He willed to be saved in the
ark, He knew indeed that they would not amend themselves; yet, nevertheless, as the
building of the ark went on for the space of a hundred years, the wrath of God which was
to come upon them was certainly preached to them: and if they only would have turned to
God, He would have spared them, as at a later period He spared the city of Nineveh when it
repented, after He had announced to it, by means of a prophet, the destruction that was
about to overtake it. Thus, moreover, God acts, granting a space for repentance even to
those who He knows will persist in wickedness, in order that He may exercise and instruct
our patience by His own example; whereby also we may know how greatly it befits us to bear
with the evil in long-suffering, when we know not what manner of men they will prove
hereafter, seeing that He, whose cognizance nothing that is yet to be escapes, spares them
and suffers them to live. Under the sacramental sign of the flood, however, in which the
righteous were rescued by the wood, there was also a fore-announcement of the Church which
was to be, which Christ, its King and God, has raised on high; by the mystery of His
cross, in safety from the submersion of this world.

Moreover, God was not ignorant of the fact that, even of those who had been saved in the
ark, there would be born wicked men, who would cover the face of the earth a second time
with iniquities. But, nevertheless, He both gave them a pattern of the future judgment,
and fore-announced the deliverance of the holy by the mystery of the wood. For even after
these things wickedness did not cease to sprout forth again through pride, and lusts, and
illicit impieties, when men, forsaking their Creator,not only fell to the (standard of
the) creaturewhich God made, so as to worship instead of God that which God made, but even
bowed their souls to the works of the hands of men and to the contrivances of craftsmen,
wherein a more shameful triumph was to be won over them by the devil, and by those evil
spirits who rejoice in finding themselves adored and reverenced in such false devices,
while they feed their own errors with the errors of men.

33. "But in truth there were not wanting in those times righteous men also of the kind to
seek God piously and to overcome the pride of the devil, citizens of that holy community,
who were made whole by the humiliation of Christ, which was then only destined to enter,
but was revealed to them by the Spirit. From among these, Abraham, a pious and faithful
servant of God, was chosen, in order that to him might be shown the sacrament of the Son
of God, so that thus, in virtue of the imitation of his faith, all the faithful of all
nations might be called his children in the future. Of him was born a people, by whom the
one true God who made heaven and earth should be worshipped when all other nations did
service to idols and evil spirits. In that people, plainly, the futureChurch was much more
evidently prefigured.For in it there was a carnal multitude that worshipped God with a
view to visible benefits. But in it there were also a few who thought of the future rest,
and looked longingly for the heavenly fatherland, to whom through prophecy was revealed
the coming humiliation of God in the person of our King and Lord Jesus Christ, in order
that they might be made whole of all pride and arrogance through that faith.

And with respect to these saints who in point of time had precedence of the birth of the
Lord, not only their speech, but also their life, and their marriages, and their children,
and their doings, constituted a prophecy of this time, at which the Church is being
gathered together out of all nations through faith in the passion of Christ. By the
instrumentality of those holy patriarchs and prophets this carnal people of Israel, who at
a later period were also called Jews, had ministered unto them at once those visible
benefits which they eagerly desired of the Lord in a carnal manner, and those
chastisements, in the form of bodily punishments, which were intended to terrify them for
the time, as was befitting for their obstinacy. And in all these, nevertheless, there were
also spiritual mysteries signified, such as were meant to bear upon Christ and the Church;
of which Church those saints also were members, although they existed in this life
previous to the birth of Christ, the Lord, according to the flesh. For this same Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God, the Word of the Father, equal and co-eternal with the
Father, by whom all things were made, was Himself also made man for our sakes, in order
that of the whole Church, as of His whole body, He might be the Head.

But just as when the whole man is in the process of being born, although he may put the
hand forth first in the act of birth, yet is that hand joined and compacted together with
the whole body under the bead, even as also among these same patriarchs some were born
with the hand put forth first as a sign of this very thing: so all the saints who lived
upon the earth previous to the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, although they were born
antecedently, were nevertheless united under the Head with that universal body of which He
is the Head.

CHAPTER 20.-OF ISRAEL'S BONDAGE IN EGYPT, THEIR DELIVERANCE, AND THEIR PASSAGE THROUGH THE RED SEA.

34. "That people, then, having been brought down into Egypt, were in bondage to the
harshest of kings; and, taught by the most oppressive labors, they sought their deliverer
in God; and there was sent to them one belonging to the people themselves, Moses, the holy
servant of God, who, in the might of God, terrified the impious nation of the Egyptians in
those days by great miracles, and led forth the people of God out of that land through the
Red Sea, where the water parted and opened up a way for them as they crossed it, whereas,
when the Egyptians pressed on in pursuit, the waves returned to their channel and
overwhelmed them, so that they perished. Thus, then, just as the earth through the agency
of the flood was cleansed by the waters from the wickedness of the sinners, who in those
times were destroyed in their inundation, while the righteous escaped by means of the
wood; so the people of God, when they went forth from Egypt, found a way through the
waters by which their enemies were devoured. Nor was the sacrament of the wood wanting
there. For Moses smote with his rod, in order that that miracle might be effected. Both
these are signs of holy baptism, by which the faithful pass into the new life, while their
sins are done away with like enemies, and perish.

But more clearly was the passion of Christ prefigured in the case of that people, when
they were commanded to slay and eat the lamb, and to mark their door-posts with its blood,
and to celebrate this rite every year, and to designate it the Lord's passover. For surely
prophecy speaks with the utmost plainness of the Lord Jesus Christ, when it says that "He
was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And with the sign of His passion and cross, thou art
this day to be marked on thy forehead, as on the door-post, and all Christians are marked
with the same. 35. "Thereafter this people was conducted through the wilderness for forty
years. They also received the law written by the finger of God, under which name the Holy
Spirit is signified, as it is declared with the utmost plainness in the Gospel. For God is
not defined by the form of a body, neither are members and fingers to be thought of as
existent in Him in the way in which we see them in ourselves. But, inasmuch as it is
through the Holy Spirit that God's gifts are divided to His saints, in order that,
although they vary in their capacities, they may nevertheless not lapse from the concord
of charity, and inasmuch as it is especially in the fingers that there appears a certain
kind of division, while nevertheless there is no separation from unity, this may be the
explanation of the phrase. But whether this may be the case, or whatever other reason may
be assigned for the Holy Spirit being called the finger of God, we ought not at any rate
to think of the form of a human body when we hear this expression used. The people in
question, then, received the law written by the finger of God, and that in good sooth on
tables of stone, to signify the hardness of their heart in that they were not to fulfill
the law. For, as they eagerly sought from the Lord gifts meant for the uses of the body,
they were held by carnal fear rather than by spiritual charity.

But nothing fulfills the law save charity. Consequently, they were burdened with many
visible sacraments, to the intent that they should feel the pressure of the yoke of
bondage in the observances of meats, and in the sacrifices of animals, and in other rites
innumerable; which things, at the same time, were signs of spiritual matters relating to
the Lord Jesus Christ and to the Church; which, furthermore, at that time were both
understood by a few holy men to the effect of yielding the fruit of salvation, and
observed by them in accordance with the fitness of the time, while by the multitude of
carnal men they were observed only and not understood. 36. "In this manner, then, through
many varied signs of things to come. which it would be tedious to enumerate in complete
detail, and which we now see in their fulfillment in the Church, that people were brought
to the land of promise, in which they were to reign in a temporal and carnal way in
accordance with their own longings: which earthly kingdom, nevertheless, sustained the
image of a spiritual kingdom. There Jerusalem was founded, that most celebrated city of
God, which, while in bondage, served as a sign of the free city, which is called the
heavenly Jerusalem which latter term is a Hebrew word, and signifies by interpretation the
'vision of peace.' The citizens thereof are all sanctified men, who have been, who are,
and who are yet to be; and all sanctified spirits, even as many as are obedient to God
with pious devotion in the exalted regions of heaven, and imitate not the impious pride of
the devil and his angels. The King of this city is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God,
by whom the highest angels are governed, and at the same time the Word that took unto
Himself human nature, in order that by Him men also might be governed, who, in His
fellowship, shall reign all together in eternal peace. In the service of prefiguring this
King in that earthly kingdom of the people of Israel, King David stood forth pre-eminent,
of whose seed according to the flesh that truest King was to come, to wit, our Lord Jesus
Christ, 'who is over all, God blessed for ever.' In that land of promise many things were
done, which held good as figures of the Christ who was to come, and of the Church, with
which you will have it in your power to acquaint yourself by degrees in the Holy Books.

CHAPTER 21.-OF THE BABYLONISH CAPTIVITY, AND THE THINGS SIGNIFIED THEREBY.

37. "Howbeit, after the lapse of some generations, another type was presented, which bears
very emphatically on the matter in hand. For that city was brought into captivity, and a
large section of the people were carried off into Babylonia. Now, as Jerusalem signifies
the city and fellowship of the saints, so Babylonia signifies the city and fellowship of
the wicked, seeing that by interpretation it denotes confusion. On the subject of these
two cities, which have been running their courses, mingling the one with the other,
through all the changes of time from the beginning of the human race, and which shall so
move on together until the end of the world, when they are destined to be separated at the
last judgment, we have spoken already a little ago. That captivity, then, of the city of
Jerusalem, and the people thus carried into Babylonia in bondage, were ordained so to
proceed by the Lord, by the voice of Jeremiah, a prophet of that time. And there appeared
kings of Babylon, under whom they were in slavery, who on occasion of the captivity of
this people were so wrought upon by certain miracles that they came to know the one true
God who rounded universal creation, and worshipped Him, and commanded that He should be
worshipped. Moreover the people were ordered both to pray for those by whom they were
detained in captivity, and in their peace to hope for peace, to the effect that they
should beget children, and build houses, and plant gardens and vineyards.

But at the end of seventy years, release from their captivity was promised to them. All
this, furthermore, signified in a figure that the Church of Christ in all His saints, who
are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, would have to do service under the kings of this
world. For the doctrine of the apostles speaks also in this wise, that 'every soul should
be subject to the higher powers,' and that there 'should be rendered all things to all
men, tribute to whom tribute (is due), custom to whom custom,' and all other things in
like manner which, without detriment to the worship of our God, we render to the rulers in
the constitution of human society: for the Lord Himself also, in order to set before us an
example of this sound doctrine, did not deem it unworthy of Him to pay tribute on account
of that human individuality wherewith He was invested. Again, Christian servants and good
believers are also commanded to serve their temporal masters in equanimity and
faithfulness; whom they will hereafter judge, if even on to the end they find them wicked,
or with whom they will hereafter reign in equality, if they too shall have been converted
to the true God.

Still all are enjoined to be subject to the powers that are of man and of earth, even
until, at the end of the predetermined time which the seventy years signify, the Church
shall be delivered from the confusion of this world, like as Jerusalem was to be set free
from the captivity in Babylonia. By occasion of that captivity, however, the kings of
earth too have themselves been led to forsake the idols on account of which they were wont
to persecute the Christians, and have come to know, and now worship, the one true God and
Christ the Lord; and it is on their behalf that the Apostle Paul enjoins prayer to be
made, even although they should persecute the Church. For he speaks in these terms: 'I
entreat, therefore, that first of all supplications, adorations, intercessions, and
givings of thanks be made for kings, for all men, and all that are in authority, that we
may lead a quiet and peaceable life, with all godliness and charity. Accordingly peace has
been given to the Church by these same persons, although it be but of a temporal sort,-a
temporal quiet for the work of building houses after a spiritual fashion, and planting
gardens and vineyards. For witness your own case, too,-at this very time we are engaged,
by means of this discourse, in building you up and planting you.

And the like process is going on throughout the whole circle of lands, in virtue of the
peace allowed by Christian kings, even as the same apostle thus expresses himself: 'Ye are
God's husbandry; ye are God's building.' 38. "And, indeed, after the lapse of the seventy
years of which Jeremiah had mystically prophesied, to the intent of prefiguring the end of
times, with a view still to the perfecting of that same figure, no settled peace and
liberty were conceded again to the Jews. Thus it was that they were conquered subsequently
by the Romans and made tributary. From that period, in truth, at which they received the
land of promise and began to have kings, in order to preclude the supposition that the
promise of the Christ who was to be their Liberator had met its complete fulfillment in
the person of any one of their kings, Christ was prophesied of with greater clearness in a
number of prophecies; not only by David himself in the book of Psalms, but also by the
rest of the great and holy prophets, even on to the time of their conveyance into
captivity in Babylonia; and in that same captivity there were also prophets whose mission
was to prophesy of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Liberator of all. And after
the restoration of the temple, when the seventy years had passed, the Jews sustained
grievous oppressions and sufferings at the hands of the kings of the Gentiles, fitted to
make them understand that the Liberator was not yet come, whom they failed to apprehend as
one who was to effect for them a spiritual deliverance, and whom they fondly longed for on
account of a carnal liberation.

CHAPTER 22.-OF THE SIX AGES OF THE WORLD.

39. "Five ages of the world, accordingly, having been now completed (there has entered the
sixth). Of these ages the first is from the beginning of the human race, that is, from
Adam, who was the first man that was made, down to Noah, who constructed the ark at the
time of the flood. Then the second extends from that period on to Abraham, who was called
the father indeed of all nations which should follow the example of his faith, but who at
the same time in the way of natural descent from his own flesh was the father of the
destined people of the Jews; which people, previous to the entrance of the Gentiles into
the Christian faith, was the one people among all the nations of all lands that worshipped
the one true God: from which people also Christ the Saviour was decreed to come according
to the flesh. For these turning-points of those two ages occupy an eminent place in the
ancient books. On the other hand, those of the other three ages are also declared in the
Gospel, where the descent of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh is likewise
mentioned. For the third age extends from Abraham on to David the king; the fourth from
David on to that captivity whereby the people of God passed over into Babylonia; and the
fifth from that transmigration down to the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. With His
coming the sixth age has entered on its process;

so that now the spiritual grace, which in previous times was known to a few patriarchs and
prophets, may be made manifest to all nations; to the intent that no man should worship
God but freely, fondly desiring of Him not the visible rewards of His services and the
happiness of this present life, but that eternal life alone in which he is to enjoy God
Himself: in order that in this sixth age the mind of man may be renewed after the image of
God, even as on the sixth day man was made after the image of God. For then, too, is the
law fulfilled, when all that it has commanded is done, not in the strong desire for things
temporal, but in the love of Him who has given the commandment. Who is there, moreover,
who should not be earnestly disposed to give the return of love to a God of supreme
righteousness and also of supreme mercy, who has first loved men of the greatest
unrighteousness and the loftiest pride, and that, too, so deeply as to have sent in their
behalf His only Son, by whom He made all things, and who being made man, not by any change
of Himself, but by the assumption of human nature, was designed thus to become capable not
only of living with them, but also of dying at once for them and by their hands?

40. "Thus, then, showing forth the New Testament of our everlasting inheritance, wherein
man was to be renewed by the grace of God and lead a new life, that is, a spiritual life;
and with the view of exhibiting the first one as an old dispensation, wherein a carnal
people acting out the old man (with the exception of a few patriarchs and prophets, who
had understanding, and some hidden saints), and leading a carnal life, desiderated carnal
rewards at the hands of the Lord God, and received in that fashion but the figures of
spiritual blessings;-with this intent, I say, the Lord Christ, when made man, despised all
earthly good things, in order that He might show us how these things ought to be despised;
and He endured all earthly ills which He was inculcating as things needful to be endured;
so that neither might our happiness be sought for in the former class, nor our unhappiness
be apprehended in the latter. For being born of a mother who, although she conceived
without being touched by man and always remained thus untouched, in virginity conceiving,
in virginity bringing forth, in virginity dying, had nevertheless been espoused to a
handicraftsman, He extinguished all the inflated pride of carnal nobility. Moreover, being
born in the city of Bethlehem, which among all the cities of Judges was so insignificant
that even in our own day it is designated a village, He willed not that any one should
glory in the exalted position of any city of earth.

He, too, whose are all things and by whom all things were created, was made poor, in order
that no one, while believing in Him, might venture to boast himself in earthly riches. He
refused to be made by men a king, because He displayed the pathway of humility to those
unhappy ones whom pride had separated from Him; and yet universal creation attests the
fact of His everlasting kingdom. An hungered was He who feeds all men; athirst was He by
whom is created whatsoever is drunk, and who in a spiritual manner is the bread of the
hungry and the fountain of the thirsty; in journeying on earth, wearied was He who has
made Himself the way for us into heaven; as like one dumb and deaf in the presence of His
revilers was He by whom the dumb spoke and the deaf heard; bound was He who freed us from
the bonds of infirmities; scourged was He who expelled from the bodies of man the scourges
of all distresses; crucified was He who put an end to our crucial pains; dead did He
become who raised the dead. But He also rose again, no more to die, so that no one should
from Him learn so to contemn death as if he were never to live again.

CHAPTER 23.-OF THE MISSION OF THE HOLY GHOST FIFTY DAYS AFTER CHRIST'S RESURRECTION.

41. "Thereafter, having confirmed the disciples, and having sojourned with them forty
days, He ascended up into heaven, as these same persons were beholding Him. And on the
completion of fifty days from His resurrection He sent to them the Holy Spirit (for so He
had promised), by whose agency they were to have love shed abroad in their hearts, to the
end that they might be able to fulfill the law, not only without the sense of its being
burdensome, but even with a joyful mind. This law was given to the Jews in the ten
commandments, which they call the Decalogue. And these commandments, again, are reduced to
two, namely that we should love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our
mind; and that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. For that on these two precepts
hang all the law and the prophets, the Lord Himself has at once declared in the Gospel and
shown in His own example. For thus it was likewise in the instance of the people of
Israel, that from the day on which they first celebrated the passover in a form, slaying
and eating the sheep, with whose blood their door-posts were marked for the securing of
their safety, -from this day, I repeat, the fiftieth day in succession was completed, and
then they received the law written by the finger of God, under which phrase we have
already stated that the Holy Spirit is signified.

And in the same manner, after the passion and resurrection of the Lord, who is the true
passover, the Holy Ghost was sent personally to the disciples on the fiftieth day: not
now, however, by tables of stone significant of the hardness of their hearts; but, when
they were gathered together in one place at Jerusalem itself, suddenly there came a sound
from heaven, as if a violent blast were being borne onwards, and there appeared to them
tongues cloven like fire, and they began to speak with tongues, in such a manner that all
those who had come to them recognized each his own language (for in that city the Jews
were in the habit of assembling from every country wheresoever they had been scattered
abroad, and had learned the diverse tongues of diverse nations); and thereafter, preaching
Christ with all boldness, they wrought many signs in His name,-so much so, that as Peter
was passing by, his shadow touched a certain dead person, and the man rose in life again.

42. "But when the Jews perceived so great signs to be wrought in the name of Him, whom,
partly through ill-will and partly in ignorance, they crucified, some of them were
provoked to persecute the apostles, who were His preachers; while others, on the contrary,
marvelling the more at this very circumstance, that so great miracles were being performed
in the name of Him whom they had derided as one overborne and conquered by themselves,
repented, and were converted, so that thousands of Jews believed on Him. For these parties
were not bent now on craving at the hand of God temporal benefits and an earthly kingdom,
neither did they look any more for Christ, the promised king, in a carnal spirit; but they
continued in immortal fashion to apprehend and love Him, who in mortal fashion endured on
their behalf at their own hands sufferings so heavy, and imparted. to them the gift of
forgiveness for all their sins, even down to the iniquity of His own blood, and by the
example of His own resurrection unfolded immortality as the object which they should hope
for and long for at His hands. Accordingly, now mortifying the earthly cravings of the old
man, and inflamed with the new experience of the spiritual life, as the Lord had enjoined
in the Gospel, they sold all that they had, and laid the price of their possessions at the
feet of the apostles, in order that these might distribute to every man according as each
had need;

and living in Christian love harmoniously with each other, they did not affirm anything to
be their own, but they had all things in common, and were one in soul and heart toward
God. Afterwards these same persons also themselves suffered persecution in their flesh at
the hands of the Jews, their carnal fellow-countrymen, and were dispersed abroad, to the
end that, in consequence of their dispersion, Christ should be preached more extensively,
and that they themselves at the same time should be followers of the patience of their
Lord. For He who in meekness had endured them, enjoined them in meekness to endure for His
sake. 43. "Among those same persecutors of the saints the Apostle Paul had once also
ranked; and he raged with eminent violence against the Christians. But, subsequently, he
became a believer and an apostle, and was sent to preach the gospel to the Gentiles,
suffering (in that ministry) things more grievous on behalf of the name of Christ than
were those which he had done against the name of Christ. Moreover, in establishing
churches throughout all the nations where he was sowing the seed of the gospel, he was
wont to give earnest injunction that, as these converts (coming as they did from the
worship of idols and without experience in the worship of the one God) could not readily
serve God in the way of selling and distributing their possessions, they should make
offerings for the poor brethren among the saints who were in the churches of Judea which
had believed in Christ. In this manner the doctrine of the apostle constituted some to be,
as it were, soldiers, and others to be, as it were, provincial tributaries, while it set
Christ in the centre of them like the corner-stone (in accordance with what had been
announced beforetime by the prophet), in whom both parties, like walls advancing from
different sides, that is to say, from Jews and from Gentiles, might be joined together in
the affection of kinship. But at a later period heavier and more frequent persecutions
arose from the unbelieving Gentiles against the Church of Christ, and day by day was
fulfilled that prophetic word which the Lord spake when He said, 'Behold, I send you as
sheep in the midst of wolves.'

CHAPTER 24.-OF THE CHURCH IN ITS LIKENESS TO A VINE SPROUTING AND SUFFERING PRUNING.

44. "But that vine, which was spreading forth its fruitful shoots throughout the circle of
lands, according as had been prophesied with regard to it, and as had been foretold by the
Lord Himself, sprouted all the more luxuriantly in proportion as it was watered with
richer streams of the blood of martyrs. And as these died in behalf of the truth of the
faith in countless numbers throughout all lands, even the persecuting kingdoms themselves
desisted, and were converted to the knowledge and worship of Christ, with the neck of
their pride broken. Moreover it behoved that this same vine should be pruned in accordance
with the Lord's repeated predictions, and that the unfruitful twigs should be cut out of
it, by which heresies and schisms were occasioned in various localities, under the name of
Christ, on the part of men who sought not His glory but their own; whose oppositions,
however, also served more and more to discipline the Church, and to test and illustrate
both its doctrine and its patience.

45. "All these things, then, we now perceive to be realized precisely as we read of them
in predictions uttered so long before the event. And as the first Christians, inasmuch as
they did not see these things literally made good in their own day, were moved by miracles
to believe them; so as regards ourselves, inasmuch as all these things have now been
brought to pass exactly as we read of them in those books which were written a long time
previous to the fulfillment of the things in question, wherein they were all announced as
matters yet future, even as they are now seen to be actually present, we are built up unto
faith, so that, enduring and persevering in the Lord, we believe without any hesitation in
the destined accomplishment even of those things which still remain to be realized. For,
indeed, in the same Scriptures, tribulations yet to come are still read of, as well as the
final day of judgment itself, when all the citizens of these two states shall receive
their bodies again, and rise and give account of their life before the judgment-seat of
Christ. For He will come in the glory of His power, who of old condescended to come in the
lowliness of humanity; and He will separate all the godly from the ungodly,-not only from
those who have utterly refused to believe in Him at all, but also from those who have
believed in Him to no purpose and without fruit. To the one class He will give an eternal
kingdom together with Himself, while to the other He will award eternal punishment
together with the devil. But as no joy yielded by things temporal can be found in any
measure comparable to the joy of life eternal which the saints are destined to attain, so
no torment of temporal punishments can be compared to the everlasting torments of the
unrighteous.

CHAPTER 25.-OF CONSTANCY IN THE FAITH OF THE RESURRECTION.

46. "Therefore, brother, confirm yourself in the name and help of Him in whom you believe,
so as to withstand the tongues of those who mock at our faith, in whose case the devil
speaks seductive words, bent above all on making a mockery of the faith in a resurrection.
But, judging from your own history, believe that, seeing you have been, you will also be
hereafter, even as you perceive yourself now to be, although previously you were not. For
where was this great structure of your body, and where this formation and compacted
connection of members a few years ago, before you were born, or even before you were
conceived in your mother's womb? Where, I repeat, was then this structure and this stature
of your body? Did it not come forth to light from the hidden secrets of this creation,
under tile invisible formative operations of the Lord God, and did it not rise to its
present magnitude and fashion by those fixed measures of increase which come with the
successive periods of life? Is it then in any way a difficult thing for God, who also in a
moment brings together out of secrecy the masses of the clouds and veils the heavens in an
instant of time, to make this quantity of your body again what it was, seeing that He was
able to make it what formerly it was not?

Consequently, believe with a manful and unshaken spirit that all those things which seem
to be withdrawn from the eyes of men as if to perish, are safe and exempt from loss in
relation to the omnipotence of God, who will restore them, without any delay or
difficulty, when He is so minded,-those of them at least, I should say, that are judged by
His justice to merit restoration; in order that men may give account of their deeds in
their very bodies in which they have done them; and that in these they may be deemed
worthy to receive either the exchange of heavenly incorruption in accordance with the
deserts of their piety, or the corruptible condition of body in accordance with the
deserts of their wickedness,-and that, too, not a condition such as may be done away with
by death, but such as shall furnish material for everlasting pains.

47. "Flee, therefore, by steadfast faith and good manners,-flee, brother, those torments
in which neither the torturers fail, nor do the tortured die; to whom it is death without
end, to be unable to die in their pains. And be kindled with love and longing for the
everlasting life of the saints, in which neither will action be toilsome nor will rest be
indolent; in which the praise of God will be without irksomeness and without defect;
wherein there will be no weariness in the mind, no exhaustion in the body; wherein, too,
there shall be no want, whether on your own part, so that you should crave for relief, or
on your neighbor's part, so that you should be in haste to carry relief to him. God will
be the whole enjoyment and satisfaction of that holy city, which lives in Him and of Him,
in wisdom and beatitude. For as we hope and look for what has been promised by Him, we
shall be made equal to the angels of God, and together with them we shall enjoy that
Trinity now by sight, wherein at present we walk by faith. For we believe that which we
see not, in order that through these very deserts of faith we may be counted worthy also
to see that which we believe, and to abide in it; to the intent that these mysteries of
the equality of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the unity of this same
Trinity, and the manner in which these three subsistences are one God, need no more be
uttered by us in words of faith and sounding syllables, but may be drunk in in purest and
most burning contemplation in that silence.

48. "These things hold fixed in your heart, and call upon the God in whom you believe, to
defend you against the temptations of the devil; and be careful, lest that adversary come
stealthily upon you from a strange quarter, who, as a most malevolent solace for his own
damnation, seeks others whose companionship he may obtain in that damnation. For he is
bold enough not only to tempt Christian people through the instrumentality of those who
hate the Christian name, or are pained to see the world taken possession of by that name,
and still fondly desire to do service to idols and to the curious rites of evil spirits,
but at times he also attempts the same through the agency of such men as we have mentioned
a little ago, to wit, persons severed from the unity of the Church, like the twigs which
are lopped off when the vine is pruned, who are called heretics or schismatics. Howbeit
sometimes also he makes the same effort by means of the Jews, seeking to tempt and seduce
believers by their instrumentality. Nevertheless, what ought above all things to be
guarded against is, that no individual may suffer himself to be tempted and deceived by
men who are within the Catholic Church itself, and who are borne by it like the chaff that
is sustained against the time of its winnowing.

For in being patient toward such persons, God has this end in view, namely, to exercise
and confirm the faith and prudence of His elect by means of the perverseness of these
others while at the same time He also takes account of the fact that many of their number
make an advance, and are converted to the doing of the good pleasure of God with a great
impetus, when led to take pity upon their own souls. For not all treasure up for
themselves, through the patience of God, wrath in the day of the wrath of His just
judgment; but many are brought by the same patience of the Almighty to the most wholesome
pain of repentance. And until that is effected, they are made the means of exercising not
only the forbearance, but also the compassion of those who are already holding by the
right way. Accordingly, you will have to witness many drunkards, covetous men, deceivers
gamesters, adulterers, fornicators, men who bind upon their persons sacrilegious charms
and others given up to sorcerers and astrologers, and diviners practised in all kinds of
impious arts. You will also have to observe how those very crowds which fill the theatres
on the festal days of the pagans also fill the churches on the festal days of the
Christians. And when you see these things you will be tempted to imitate them. Nay, why
should I use the expression, you will see, in reference to what you assuredly are
acquainted with even already?

For you are not ignorant of the fact that many who are called Christians engage in all
these evil things which I have briefly mentioned. Neither are you ignorant that at times,
perchance, men whom you know to bear the name of Christians are guilty of even more
grievous offenses than these. But if you have come with the notion that you may do such
things as in a secured position, you are greatly in error; neither will the name of Christ
be of any avail to you when He begins to judge in utmost strictness, who also of old
condescended in utmost mercy to come to man's relief. For He Himself has foretold these
things, and speaks to this effect in the Gospel: 'Not every one that saith unto me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father.
Many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, in thy name we have eaten and drunken.'
For all, therefore, who persevere in such works the end is damnation. Consequently, when
you see many not only doing these things but also defending and recommending them keep
yourself firmly by the law of God, and follow not its willful transgressors. For it is not
according to their mind, but according to His truth that you will be judged.

49. "Associate with the good, whom you perceive to be at one with you in loving your King.
For there are many such for you to discover, if you also begin to cultivate that character
yourself. For if in the public spectacles you wished to be in congenial company, and to
attach yourself closely to men who are united with you in a liking for some charioteer, or
some hunter, or some player or other, how much more ought you to find pleasure in
associating with those who are at one with you in loving that God, with regard to whom no
one that loves Him shall ever have cause for the blush of shame, inasmuch as not only is
He Himself incapable of being overcome, but He will also render those unconquerable who
are affectionately disposed toward Him. At the same time, not even on those same good men,
who either anticipate you or accompany you on the way to God, ought you to set your hope,
seeing that no more ought you to place it on yourself, however great may be the progress
you have made, but on Him who justifies both them and you, and thus makes you what you
are. For you are secure in God, because He changes not; but in man no one prudently counts
himself secure. But if we ought to love those who are not righteous as yet, with the view
that they may be so, how much more warmly ought those to be loved who already are
righteous?

At the same time, it is one thing to love man, and another thing to set one's hope in man;
and the difference is so great, that God enjoins the one and forbids the other. Moreover,
if you have to sustain either any insults or any sufferings in the cause of the name of
Christ, and neither fall away from the faith nor decline from the good way, you are
certain to receive the greater reward; whereas those who give way to the devil in such
circumstances, lose even the less reward. But be humble toward God, in order that He may
not permit you to be tempted beyond your strength."

CHAPTER 26.-OF THE FORMAL ADMISSION OF THE CATECHUMEN, AND OF THE SIGNS THEREIN MADE USE OF.

50. At the conclusion of this address the person is to be asked whether he believes these
things and earnestly desires to observe them. And on his replying to that effect then
certainly he is to be solemnly signed and dealt with in accordance with the custom of the
Church. On the subject of the sacrament, indeed, which he receives, it is first tobe well
impressed upon his notice that the signs of divine things are, it is true, things visible,
but that the invisible things themselves are also honored in them, and that that species,
which is then sanctified by the blessing, is therefore not to be regarded merely in the
way in which it is regarded in any common use. And thereafter he ought to be told what is
also signified by the form of words to which he has listened, and what in him is seasoned
by that (spiritual grace) of which this material substance presents the emblem. Next we
should take occasion by that ceremony to admonish him that, if he hears anything even in
the Scriptures which may carry a carnal sound, he should, even although he fails to
understand it, nevertheless believe that something spiritual is signified thereby, which
bears upon holiness of character and the future life.

Moreover, in this way he learns briefly that, whatever he may hear in the canonical books
of such a kind as to make him unable to refer it to the love of eternity, and of truth,
and of sanctity, and to the love of our neighbor, he should believe that to have been
spoken or done with a figurative significance; and that, consequently, he should endeavor
to understand it in such a manner as to refer it to that twofold (duty of) love. He should
be further admonished, however, not to take the term neighbor in a carnal sense, but to
understand under it every one who may ever be with him in that holy city, whether there
already or not yet apparent. And (he should finally be counselled) not to despair of the
amendment of any man whom he perceives to be living under the patience of God for no other
reason, as the apostle says, than that he may be brought to repentance.

51. If this discourse, in which I have supposed myself to have been teaching some
uninstructed person in my presence, appears to you to be too long, you are at liberty to
expound these matters with greater brevity. I do not think, however, that it ought to be
longer than this. At the same time, much depends on what the case itself, as it goes on,
may render advisable, and what the audience actually present shows itself not only to
bear, but also to desire. When, however, rapid despatch is required, notice with what
facility the whole matter admits of being explained. Suppose once more that some one comes
before us who desires to be a Christian; and accordingly, suppose further that he has been
interrogated, and that he has returned the answer which we have taken the former
catechumen to have given; for, even should he decline to make this reply, it must at least
be said that he ought to have given it;.-then all that remains to be said to him should be
put together in the following manner:-

52. "Of a truth, brother, that is great and true blessedness which is promised to the
saints in a future world. All visible things, on the other hand, pass away, and all the
pomp, and pleasure, and solicitude of this world will perish, and (even now) they drag
those who love them along with them onward to destruction. The merciful God, willing to
deliver men from this destruction, that is to say, from everlasting pains, if they should
not prove enemies to themselves, and if they should not withstand the mercy of their
Creator, sent His only-begotten Son, that is to say, His Word, equal with Himself, by whom
He made all things. And He, while abiding indeed in His divinity, and neither receding
from the Father nor being changed in anything, did at the same time, by taking on Himself
human nature, and appearing to men in mortal flesh, come unto men; in order that, just as
death entered among the human race by one man, to wit, the first that was made, that is to
say, Adam, because he consented unto his wife when she was seduced by the devil to the
effect that they (both) transgressed the commandment of God; even so by one man, Jesus
Christ, who is also God, the Son of God, all those who believe in Him might have all their
past sins done away with, and enter into eternal life.

CHAPTER 27.-OF THE PROPHECIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THEIR VISIBLE FULFILLMENT IN THE CHURCH.

53. "For all those things, which at present you witness in the Church of God, and which
you see to be taking place under the name of Christ throughout the whole world, were
predicted long ages ago. And even as we read of them, so also we now see them. And by
means of these things we are built up unto faith. Once of old there occurred a flood over
the whole earth, the object of which was that sinners might be destroyed. And,
nevertheless, those who escaped in the ark exhibited a sacramental sign of the Church that
was to be, which at present is floating on the waves of the world, and is delivered from
submersion by the wood of the cross of Christ. It was predicted to Abraham, a faithful
servant of God, a single man, that of Him it was determined that a people should be born
who should worship one God in the midst of all other nations which worshipped idols; and
all things which were prophesied of as destined to happen to that people have come to pass
exactly as they were foretold. Among that people Christ, the King of all saints and their
God, was also prophesied of as destined to come of the seed of that same Abraham according
to the flesh, which (flesh) He took unto Himself, in order that all those also who became
followers of His faith might be sons of Abraham; and thus it has come to pass:

Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, who belonged to that race. It was foretold by the
prophets that He would suffer on the cross at the hands of that same people of the Jews,
of whose lineage, according to the flesh, He came; and thus it has come to pass. It was
foretold that He would rise again: He has risen again; and, in accordance with these same
predictions of the prophets, He has ascended into heaven and has sent the Holy Spirit to
His disciples. It was foretold not only by the prophets, but also by the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, that His Church would exist throughout the whole world, extended by the
martyrdoms and sufferings of the saints; and this was foretold at a time when as yet His
name was at once undeclared to the Gentiles, and made a subject of derision where it was
known; and, nevertheless, in the power of His miracles, whether those which He wrought by
His own hand or those which he effected by means of His servants, as these things are
being reported and believed, we already see the fulfillment of that which was predicted,
and behold the very kings of the earth, who formerly were wont to persecute the
Christians, even now brought into subjection to the name of Christ.

It was also foretold that schisms and heresies would arise from His Church, and that under
His name they would seek their own glory instead of Christ's, in such places as they might
be able to command;and these predictions have been realized. 54. "Will those things, then,
which yet remain fail to come to pass? It is manifest that, just as the former class of
things which were foretold have come to pass, so will these latter also come to pass. I
refer to all the tribulations of the righteous, which yet wait for fulfillment, and to the
day of judgment, which will separate all the wicked from the righteous in the resurrection
of the dead;-and not only will it thus separate those wicked men who are outside the
Church, but also it will set apart for the fire, which is due to such, the chaff of the
Church itself, which must be borne with in utmost patience on to the last winnowing.
Moreover, they who deride the (doctrine of a) resurrection, because they think that this
flesh, inasmuch as it becomes corrupt, cannot rise again, will certainly rise in the same
unto punishment, and God will make it plain to such, that He who was able to form these
bodies when as yet they were not, is able in a moment to restore them as they were. But
all the faithful who are destined to reign with Christ shall rise with the same body in
such wise that they may also be counted worthy to be changed into angelic incorruption; so
that they may be made equal unto the angels of God, even as the Lord Himself has promised;
and that they may praise Him without any failure and without any weariness, ever living in
Him and of Him, with such joy and blessedness as can be neither expressed nor conceived by
man.

55. "Believe these things, therefore, and be on your guard against temptations (for the
devil seeks for others who may be brought to perish along with himself); so that not only
may that adversary fail to seduce you by the help of those who are without the Church,
whether they be pagans, or Jews, or heretics; but you yourself also may decline to follow
the example of those within the Catholic Church itself whom you see leading an evil life,
either indulging in excess in the pleasures of the belly and the throat, or unchaste, or
given up to the vain and unlawful observances of curious superstitions, whether they be
addicted to (the inanities of) public spectacles, or charms, or divinations of devils, or
be living in the pomp and inflated arrogance of covetousness and pride, or be pursuing any
sort of life which the law condemns and punishes. But rather connect yourself with the
good, whom you will easily find out, if you yourself were once become of that character;
so that you may unite with each other in worshipping and loving God for His own sake; for
He himself will be our complete reward to the intent that we may enjoy His goodness and
beauty in that life. He is to be loved, however, not in the way in which any object that
is seen with the eyes is loved, but as wisdom is loved, and truth, and holiness, and
righteousness, and charity, and whatever else may be mentioned as of kindred nature;

and further, with a love conformable to these things not as they are in men, but as they
are in the very fountain of incorruptible and unchangeable wisdom. Whomsoever, therefore,
you may observe to be loving these things, attach yourself to them, so that through
Christ, who became man in order that He might be the Mediator between God and men, you may
be reconciled to God. But as regards the perverse, even if they find their way within the
walls of the Church, think not that they will find their way into the kingdom of heaven;
for in their own time they will be set apart, if they have not altered to the better.
Consequently, follow the example of good men, bear with the wicked, love all; forasmuch as
you know not what he will be to-morrow who to-day is evil. Howbeit, love not the
unrighteousness of such; but love the persons themselves with the express intent that they
may apprehend righteousness; for not only is the love of God enjoined upon us, but also
the love of our neighbor, on which two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. And
this is fulfilled by no one save the man who has received the (other) gift, the Holy
Spirit, who is indeed equal with the Father and with the Son; for this same Trinity is
God; and on this God every hope ought to be placed. On man our hope ought not to be
placed, of whatsoever character he may be.

For He, by whom we are justified, is one thing; and they, together with whom we are
justified, are another. Moreover, it is not only by lusts that the devil tempts, but also
by the terrors of insults, and pains, and death itself. But whatever a man shall have
suffered on behalf of the name of Christ, and for the sake of the hope of eternal life,
and shall have enduredin constancy, (in accordance therewith) the greater reward shall be
given him; whereas, if he shall give way to the devil, he shall be damned along with him.
But works of mercy, conjoined with pious humility, meet with this acknowledgment from God,
to wit, that He will not suffer His servants to be tempted more than they are able to
bear."


ON FAITH AND THE CREED
======================

ON FAITH AND THE CREED Augustine of Hippo

AD 354–430

Bishop of Hippo, the most influential Latin father.

INTRODUCTION

1 The occasion and date of the composition of this treatise are indicated in a statement
which Augustin makes in the seventeenth chapter of the First Book of his Retractations.
From this we learn that, in its original form, it was a discourse which Augustin, when
only a presbyter, was requested to deliver in public by the bishops assembled at the
Council of Hippo-Regius, and that it was subsequently issued as a book at the desire of
friends. The general assembly of the North African Church, which was thus convened at what
is now Bona, in the modern territory of Algiers, took place in the year 393 A.D., and was
otherwise one of some historical importance, on account of the determined protest which it
emitted against the position elsewhere allowed to Patriarchs in the Church, and against
the admittance of any more authoritative or magisterial title to the highest
ecclesiastical official than that of simply "Bishop of the first Church" (primae sedis
episcopus).

2 The work constitutes an exposition of the several clauses of the so-called Apostles'
Creed. The questions concerning the mutual relations of the three Persons in the Godhead
are handled with greatest fullness; in connection with which, especially in the use made
of the analogies of Being, Knowledge, and Love, and in the cautions thrown in against
certain applications of these and other illustrations taken from things of human
experience, we come across sentiments which are also repeated in the City of God, the
books on the Trinity, and others of his doctrinal writings. 3 The passage referred to in
the Retractations is as follows: About the same period, in presence of the bishops, who
gave me orders to that effect, and who were holding a plenary Council of the whole of
Africa at Hippo-Regius, I delivered, as presbyter, a discussion on the subject of Faith
and the Creed. This disputation, at the very pressing request of some of those who were on
terms of more than usual intimacy and affection with us, I threw into the form of a book,
in which the themes themselves are made the subjects of discourse, although not in a
method involving the adoption of the particular connection of words which is given to the
competentes to be committed to memory. In this book, when discussing the question of the
resurrection of the flesh, I say: `Rise again the body will, according to the Christian
faith, which is incapable of deceiving. And if this appears incredible to any one, [it is
because] he looks simply to what the flesh is at present, while he fails to consider of
what nature it shall be hereafter.

4 For at that time of angelic change it will no more be flesh and blood, but only body;'
and so on, through the other statements which I have made there on the subject of the
change of bodies terrestrial into bodies celestial, as the apostle, when he spake from the
same point, said, `Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God.' But if any one
takes these declarations in a sense leading him to suppose that the earthly body, such as
we now have it, is changed in the resurrection into a celestial body, in any such wise as
that neither these members nor the substance of the flesh will subsist any more,
undoubtedly he must be set right, by being put in mind of the body of the Lord, who
subsequently to His resurrection appeared in the same members, as One who was not only to
be seen with the eyes, but also handled with the hands; and made His possession of the
flesh likewise surer by the discourse which He spake, saying, `Handle me, and see; for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.' Hence it is certain that the apostle
did not deny that the substance of the flesh will exist in the kingdom of God, but that
under the name of `flesh and blood' he designated either men who live after the flesh, or
the express corruption of the flesh, which assuredly at that period shall subsist no more.

5 For after he had said, `Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God,' what he
proceeds to say next,-namely, `neither shall corruption inherit incorruption,'-is rightly
taken to have been added by way of explaining his previous statement. And on this subject,
which is one on which it is difficult to convince unbelievers, any one who reads my last
book, On the City of God, will find that I have discoursed with the utmost carefulness of
which I am capable. The performance in question commences thus: `Since it is written,'
etc." 6 [Additional Note by the American Editor.] [Another English edition of this
treatise De Fide et Symbolo was prepared by the Rev. Charles a. Heurtley, D.D., Margaret
Professor of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and published by Parker & Co.,
Oxford and London, 1886. The following text of the Apostles' Creed may be collected from
this book of St. Augustin, and was current in North Africa towards the close of the fourth
century: 1. I Believe in God the Father Almighty. Chs. 2 and 3. 2. (And) In Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the Only-Begotten of the Father, or, His Only Son, Our Lord. Ch. 3. 3. Who
Was Born Through the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary. Ch. 4 (§ 8.) 4. Who Under Pontius
Pilate Was Crucified and Buried. Ch. 5 (§ 11.) 5. On the Third Day He Rose Again from the
Dead. Ch. 5 (§ 12.)

7 6. He Ascended into Heaven. Ch. 6 (§ 13.) 7. He Sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father.
Ch. 7 (§ 14.) 8. From Thence He Will Come and Judge the Living and the Dead. Ch. 8 (§ 15.)
9. (and I Believe) in the Holy Spirit. Ch. 9 (§ 16-19.) 10. I Believe the Holy Church
(Catholic). Ch. 10 (§ 21.) 11. The Forgiveness of Sin. Ch. 10 (§ 23.) 12. The Resurrection
of the Body. Ch. 10 (§ 23, 24.) 13. The Life Everlasting. Ch. 10 (§ 24.)]

CHAPTER 1.-OF THE ORIGIN AND OBJECT OF THE COMPOSITION.

1. Inasmuch as it is a position, written and established on the most solid foundation of
apostolic teaching, "that the just lives of faith;" and inasmuch also as this faith
demands of us the duty at once of heart and tongue,-for an apostle says, "With the heart
man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,"
-it becomes us to be mindful both of righteousness and of salvation. For, destined as we
are to reign hereafter in everlasting righteousness, we certainly cannot secure our
salvation from the present evil world, unless at the same time, while laboring for the
salvation of our neighbors, we likewise with the mouth make our own profession of the
faith which we carry in our heart. And it must be our aim, by pious and careful
watchfulness, to provide against the possibility of the said faith sustaining any injury
in us, on any side, through the fraudulent artifices [or, cunning fraud] of the heretics.

2 We have, however, the catholic faith in the Creed, known to the faithful and committed
to memory, contained in a form of expression as concise as has been rendered admissible by
the circumstances of the case; the purpose of which [compilation] was, that individuals
who are but beginners and sucklings among those who have been born again in Christ, and
who have not yet been strengthened by most diligent and spiritual handling and
understanding of the divine Scriptures, should be furnished with a summary, expressed in
few words, of those matters of necessary belief which were subsequently to be explained to
them in many words, as they made progress and rose to [the height of] divine doctrine, on
the assured and steadfast basis of humility and charity. It is underneath these few words,
therefore, which are thus set in order in the Creed, that most heretics have endeavored to
conceal their poisons; whom divine mercy has withstood, and still withstands, by the
instrumentality of spiritual men, who have been counted worthy not only to accept and
believe the catholic faith as expounded in those terms, but also thoroughly to understand
and apprehend it by the enlightenment imparted by the Lord. For it is written, "Unless ye
believe, ye shall not understand." But the handling of the faith is of service for the
protection of the Creed; not, however, to the intent that this should itself be given
instead of the Creed, to be committed to memory and repeated by those who are receiving
the grace of God, but that it may guard the matters which are retained in the Creed
against the insidious assaults of the heretics, by means of catholic authority and a more
entrenched defence.

CHAPTER 2.-OF GOD AND HIS EXCLUSIVE ETERNITY.

2. For certain parties have attempted to gain acceptance for the opinion that God the
Father is not Almighty: not that they have been bold enough expressly to affirm this, but
in their traditions they are convicted of entertaining and crediting such a notion. For
when they affirm that there is a nature which God Almighty did not create, but of which at
the same time He fashioned this world, which they admit to have been disposed in beauty
they thereby deny that God is almighty, to the effect of not believing that He could have
created the world without employing, for the purpose of its construction, another nature,
which had been in existence previously, and which He Himself had not made. Thus, forsooth,
[they reason] from their carnal familiarity with the sight of craftsmen and house-
builders, and artisans of all descriptions, who have no power to make good the effect of
their own art unless they get the help of materials already prepared. And so these parties
in like manner understand the Maker of the world not to be almighty, if thus He could not
fashion the said world without the help of some other nature, not framed by Himself, which
He had to use as His materials. Or if indeed they do allow God, the Maker of the world, to
be almighty, it becomes matter of course that they must also acknowledge that He made out
of nothing the things which He did make.

For, granting that He is almighty, there cannot exist anything of which He should not be
the Creator. For although He made something out of something, as man out of clay,
nevertheless He certainly did not make any object out of aught which He Himself had not
made; for the earth from which the clay comes He had made out of nothing. And even if He
had made out of some material the heavens and the earth themselves, that is to say, the
universe and all things which are in it, according as it is written, "Thou who didst make
the world out of matter unseen," or also "without form," as some copies give it; yet we
are under no manner of necessity to believe that this very material of which the universe
was, made, although it might be "without form," although it might be "unseen," whatever
might be the mode of its subsistence, could: possibly have subsisted of itself, as if it
were co-eternal and co-eval with God. But whatsoever that mode was which it possessed to
the effect of subsisting in some manner, whatever that manner might be, and of being
capable of taking on the forms of distinct things, this it did not possess except by the
hand of Almighty God, by whose goodness it is that everything exists,-not only every
object which is already formed, but also every object which is formable.

This, moreover, is the difference between the formed and the formable, that the formed has
already taken on form, while the formable is capable of taking the same. But the same
Being who imparts form to objects, also imparts the capability of being formed. For of Him
and in Him is the fairest figure of all things, unchangeable; and therefore He Himself is
One, who communicates to everything its I possibilities, not only that it be beautiful
actually, but also that it be capable of being beautiful. For which reason we do most
right to believe that God made all things of nothing. For, even although the world was
made of some sort of material, this self-same material itself was made of nothing; so
that, in accordance with the most orderly gift of God, there was to enter first the
capacity of taking forms, and then that all things should be formed which have been
formed. This, however, we have said, in order that no one might suppose that the
utterances of the divine Scriptures are contrary the one to the other, in so far as it is
written at once that God made all things of nothing, and that the world was made of matter
without form.

3. As we believe, therefore, in God the Father Almighty, we ought to uphold the opinion
that there is no creature which has not been created by the Almighty. And since He created
all things by the Word, which Word is also designated the Truth, and the Power, and the
Wisdom of God, -as also under many other appellations the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
commended to our faith, is presented likewise to our mental apprehensions, to wit, our
Deliverer and Ruler, the Son of God; for that Word, by whose means all things were
founded, could not have been begotten by any other than by Him who founded all things by
His instrumentality;-

CHAPTER 3.-OF THE SON OF GOD, AND HIS PECULIAR DESIGNATION AS THE WORD.

1 -Since this is the case, I repeat, we believe also in Jesus Christ, the Son of God the
Only-Begotten of the Father, that is to say, His Only Son, our Lord. This Word however, we
ought not to apprehend merely in the sense in which we think of our own words, which are
given forth by the voice anti the mouth, and strike the air and pass on, and subsist no
longer than their sound continues. For that Word remains unchangeably: for of this very
Word was it spoken when of Wisdom it was said, "Remaining in herself, she maketh all
things new." Moreover, the reason of His being named the Word of the Father, is that the
Father is made known by Him. Accordingly, just as it is our intention, when we speak
truth, that by means of our words our mind should be made known to him who hears us, and
that whatever we carry in secrecy in our heart may be set forth by means of signs of this
sort for the intelligent understanding of another individual; so this Wisdom that God the
Father begot is most appropriately named His Word, inasmuch as the most hidden Father is
made known to worthy minds by the same.

2 4. Now there is a very great difference between our mind and those words of ours, by
which we endeavor to set forth the said mind. We indeed do not beget intelligible words,
but we form them; and in the forming of them the body is the underlying material. Between
mind and body, however, there is the greatest difference. But God, when He begot the Word,
begot that which He is Himself. Neither out of nothing, nor of any material already made
and founded did He then beget; but He begot of Himself that which He is Himself. For we
too aim at this when we speak, (as we shall see) if we carefully consider the inclination
of our will; not when we lie, but when we speak the truth. For to what else do we direct
our efforts then, but to bring our own very mind, if it can be done at all, in upon the
mind of the hearer, with the view of its being apprehended and thoroughly discerned by
him; so that we may indeed abide in our very selves, and make no retreat from ourselves,
and yet at the same time put forth a sign of such a nature as that by it a knowledge of us
may be effected in another individual; that thus, so far as the faculty is granted us,
another mind may be, as it were, put forth by the mind, whereby it may disclose itself?

3 This we do, making the attempt both by words, and by the simple sound of the voice, and
by the countenance, and by the gestures of the body,-by so many contrivances, in sooth,
desiring to make patent that which is within; inasmuch as we are not able to put forth
aught of this nature [in itself completely]: and thus it is that the mind of the speaker
cannot become perfectly known; thus also it results that a place is open for falsehoods.
God the Father, on the other hand, who possessed both the will and the power to declare
Himself with the utmost truth to minds designed to obtain knowledge of Him, with the
purpose of thus declaring Himself begot this [Word] which He Himself is who did beget;
which [Person] is likewise called His Power and Wisdom, inasmuch as it is by Him that He
has wrought all things, and in order disposed them; of whom these words are for this
reason spoken: "She (Wisdom) reacheth from one end to another mightily, and sweetly doth
she order all things."

CHAPTER 4.-OF THE SON OF GOD AS NEITHER MADE BY THE 'FATHER NOR LESS THAN THE FATHER, AND OF HIS INCARNATION.

5. Wherefore The Only-Begotten Son of God was neither made by the Father; for, according
to the word of an evangelist, "all things were made by Him: nor begotten instantaneously;
since God, who is eternally wise, has with Himself His eternal Wisdom: nor unequal with
the Father, that is to say, in anything less than He; for an apostle also speaks in this
wise, "Who, although He was constituted in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God. By this catholic faith, therefore, those are excluded, on the one hand,
who affirm that the Son is the same [Person] as the Father; for [it is clear that] this
Word could not possibly be with God, were it not with God the Father, and [it is just as
evident that] He who is alone is equal to no one, And, on the other hand, those are
equally excluded who affirm that the Son is a creature, although not such an one as the
rest of the creatures are. For however great they declare the creature to be, if it is a
creature, it has been fashioned and made. For the terms fashion and create mean one and
the same thing; although in the usage of the Latin tongue the phrase create is employed at
times instead of what would be the strictly accurate word beget. But the Greek language
makes a distinction. For we call that creatura (creature) which they call ktisma or
ktisij;

and when we desire to speak without ambiguity, we use not the word creare (create), but
the word condere (fashion, found). Consequently, if the Son is a creature, however great
that may be, He has been made. But we believe in Him by whom all things (omnia) were made,
not in Him by whom the rest of things (cetera) were made. For here again we cannot take
this term all things in any other sense than as meaning whatsoever things have been made.
6. But as "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," the same Wisdom which was
begotten of God condescended also to be created among men. There is a reference to this in
the word, "The Lord created me in the beginning of His ways. For the beginning of His ways
is the Head of the Church, which is Christ endued with human nature (homine indutus), by
whom it was purposed that there should be given to us a pattern of living, that is, a sure
way by which we might reach God. For by no other path was it possible for us to return but
by humility, who fell by pride, according as it was said to our first creation, "Taste,
and ye shall be as gods. Of this humility, therefore, that is to say, of the way by which
it was needful for us to return, our Restorer Himself has deemed it meet to exhibit an
example in His own person, "who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied
Himself, taking the form of a servant; in order that He might be created Man in the
beginning of His ways, the Word by whom all things were made. Wherefore, in so far as He
is the Only-begotten, He has no brethren;

but in so far as He is the First-begotten, He has deemed it worthy of Him to give the name
of brethren to all those who, subsequently to and by means of His pre-eminence, are born
again into the grace of God through the adoption of sons, according to the truth commended
to us by apostolic teaching. Thus, then, the Son according to nature (naturalis filius)
was born of the very substance of the Father, the only one so born, subsisting as that
which the Father is, God of God, Light of Light. We, on the other hand, are not the light
by nature, but are enlightened by that Light, so that we may be able to shine in wisdom.
For, as one says, "that was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world. Therefore we add to the faith of things eternal likewise the temporal dispensation
of our Lord, which He deemed it worthy of Him to bear for us and to minister in behalf of
our salvation. For in so far as He is the only-begotten Son of God, it cannot be said of
Him that He was and that He shall be, but only that He is; because, on the one hand, that
which was, now isnot; and, on the other, that which shall be, as yet is not. He, then, is
unchangeable, independent of the condition of times and variation.

And it is my opinion that this is the very consideration to which was due the circumstance
that He introduced to the apprehension of His servant Moses the kind of name [which He
then adopted]. For when he asked of Him by whom he should say that he was sent, in the
event of the people to whom he was being sent despising him, he received his answer when
He spake in this wise: "I Am that I Am. Thereafter, too, He added this: "Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, He that is (Qui est) has sent me unto you." 7. From this,
I trust, it is now made patent to spiritual minds that there cannot possibly exist any
nature contrary to God. For if He is,-and this is a word which can be spoken with
propriety only of God (for that which truly is remains unchangeably; inasmuch as that
which is changed has been something which now it is not, and shall be something which as
yet it is not),-it follows that God has nothing contrary to Himself. For if the question
were put to us, What is contrary to white? we would reply, black; if the question were,
What is contrary to hot? we would reply, cold; if the question were, What is contrary to
quick? we would reply, slow; and all similar interrogations we would answer in like
manner. When, however, it is asked, What is contrary to that which is? the right reply to
give is, that which is not.

8. But whereas, in a temporal dispensation, as I have said, with a view to our salvation
and restoration, and with the goodness of God acting therein, our changeable nature has
been assumed by that unchangeable Wisdom of God, we add the faith in temporal things which
have been done with salutary effect on our behalf, believing in that Son of God Who Was
Born Through the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary. For by the gift of God, that is, by the
Holy Spirit, there was granted to us so great humility on the part of so great a God, that
He deemed it worthy of Him to assume the entire nature of man (totum hominem) in the womb
of the Virgin, inhabiting the material body so that it sustained no detriment (integrum),
and leaving it without detriment. This temporal dispensation is in many ways craftily
assailed by the heretics. But if any one shall have grasped the catholic faith, so as to
believe that the entire nature of man was assumed by the Word of God, that is to say,
body, soul, and spirit, he has sufficient defense against those parties. For surely, since
that assumption was effected in behalf of our salvation, one must be on his guard lest, as
he believes that there is something belonging to. our nature which sustains no relation to
that assumption, this something may fail also to sustain any relation to the salvation.

And seeing that, with the exception of the form of the members, which has been imparted to
the varieties of living objects with differences adapted to their different kinds, man is
in nothing separated from the cattle but in [the possession of] a rational spirit
(rationali spiritu), which is also named mind (mens), how is that faith sound, according
to which the belief is maintained, that the Wisdom of God assumed that part of us which we
hold in common with the cattle, while He did not assume that which is brightly illumined
by the light of wisdom, and which is man's peculiar gift? 9. Moreover, those parties also
are to be abhorred who deny that our Lord Jesus Christ had in Mary a mother upon earth;
while that dispensation has honored both sexes, at once the male and the female, and has
made it plain that not only that sex which He assumed pertains to God's care, but also
that sex by which He did assume this other, in that He bore [the nature of] the man (virum
gerendo), [and] in that He was born of the woman. Neither is there anything to compel us
to a denial of the mother of the Lord, in the circumstance that this word was spoken by
Him: "Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. But He rather
admonishesus to understand that, in respect of His being God, there was no mother for Him,
the part of whose personal majesty (cujus majestatis personam) He was preparing to show
forth in the turning of water into wine. But as regards His being crucified, He was
crucified in respect of his being man; and that was the hour which had not come as yet, at
the time when this word was spoken, "What have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not vet
come; that is, the hour at which I shall recognize thee. For at that period, when He was
crucified as man, He recognized His human mother (hominem matrem), and committed her most
humanely (humanissime) to the care of the best beloved disciple.

Nor, again, should we be moved by the fact that, when the presence of His mother and His
brethren was announced to Him, He replied, "Who is my mother, or who my brethren? etc. But
rather let it teach us, that when parents hinder our ministry wherein we minister the word
of God to our brethren, they ought not to be recognized by us. For if, on the ground of
His having said, "Who is my mother? every one should conclude that He had no mother on
earth, then each should as matter of course be also compelled to deny that the apostles
had fathers on earth; since He gave them an injunction in these terms: "Call no man your
father upon the earth; for one is your Father, which is in heaven." 10. Neither should the
thought of the woman's womb impair this faith in us, to the effect that there should
appear to be any necessity for rejecting such a generation of our Lord for the mere reason
that worthless men consider it unworthy (sordidi sordidam putant). For most true are these
sayings of an apostle, both that "the foolishness of God is wiser than men," and that "to
the pure all things are pure." Those, therefore, who entertain this opinion ought to
ponder the fact that the rays of this sun, which indeed they do not praise as a creature
of God, but adore as God, are diffused all the world over, through the noisomenesses of
sewers and every kind of horrible thing, and that they operate in these according to their
nature, and yet never become debased by any defilement thence contracted, albeit that the
visible light is by nature in closer conjunction with visible pollutions. How much less,
therefore, could the Word of God, who is neither corporeal nor visible, sustain defilement
from the female body, wherein He assumed human flesh together with soul and spirit,
through the incoming of which the majesty of the Word dwells in a less immediate
conjunction with the frailty of a human body! Hence it is manifest that the Word of God
could in no way have been defiled by a human body, by which even the human soul is not
defiled. For not when it rules the body and quickens it, but only when it lusts after the
mortal good things thereof, is the soul defiled by the body. But if these persons were to
desire to avoid the defilements of the soul, they would dread rather these falsehoods and
profanities.

CHAPTER 5.-OF CHRIST'S PASSION, BURIAL, AND RESURRECTION.

11. But little [comparatively] was the humiliation (humilitas) of our Lord on our behalf
in His being born: it was also added that He deemed it meet to die in behalf of mortal
men. For "He humbled Himself, being made subject even unto death, yea, the death of the
cross:" lest any one of us, even were he able to have no fear of death [in general],
should yet shudder at some particular sort of death which men reckon most shameful.
Therefore do we believe in Him Who Under Pontius Pilate Was Crucified and Buried. For it
was requisite that the name of the judge should be added, with a view to the cognizance of
the times. Moreover, when that burial ismade an object of belief, there enters also: the
recollection of the new tomb, which was meant to present a testimony to Him in His destiny
to rise again to newness of life, even as the Virgin's womb did the same to Him in His
appointment to be born. For just as in that sepulchre no other dead person was buried,
whether before or after Him; so neither in that womb, whether before or after, was
anything mortal conceived.

12. We believe also, that On the Third Day He Rose Again from Tile Dead, the first-
begotten for brethren destined to come after Him, whom He has called into the adoption of
the sons of God, whom [also] He has deemed it meet to make His own joint-partners and
joint-heirs.

CHAPTER 6.-OF CHRIST'S ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN.

1 13. We believe that He Ascended into Heaven, which place of blessedness He has likewise
promised unto us, saying, "They shall be as the angels in the heavens," in that city which
is the mother of us all, the Jerusalem eternal in the heavens. But it is wont to give
offense to certain parties, either impious Gentiles or heretics, that we should believe in
the assumption of an earthly body into heaven. The Gentiles, however, for the most part,
set themselves diligently to ply us with the arguments of the philosophers, to the effect
of affirming that there cannot possibly be anything earthly in heaven. For they know not
our Scriptures, neither do they understand how it has been said, "It is sown an animal
body, it is raised a spiritual body. For thus it has not been expressed, as if body were
turned into spirit and became spirit; inasmuch as at present, too, our body, which is
called animal (animale), has not been turned into soul and become soul (anima). But by a
spiritual body is meant one which has been made subject to spirit in such wise that it is
adapted to a heavenly habitation, all frailty and every earthly blemish having been
changed and converted into heavenly purity and stability. This is the change concerning
which the apostle likewise speaks thus: "We shall all rise, but we shall not all be
changed.

2 And that this change is made not unto the worse, but unto the better, the same [apostle]
teaches, when he says, "And we shall be changed. But the question as to where and in what
manner the Lord's body is in heaven, is one which it would be altogether over-curious and
superfluous to prosecute. Only we must believe that it is in heaven. For it pertains not
to our frailty to investigate the secret things of heaven, but it does pertain to our
faith to hold elevated and honorable sentiments on the subject of the dignity of the
Lord's body.

CHAPTER 7.-OF CHRIST'S SESSION AT THE FATHER'S RIGHT HAND.

14. We believe also that He Sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father. This, however, is not
to lead us to suppose that God the Father is, as it were, circumscribed by a human form,
so that, when we think of Him, a right side or a left should suggest itself to the mind.
Nor, again, when it is thus said in express terms that the Father sitteth, are we to fancy
that this is done with bended knees; lest we should fall into that profanity, in [dealing
with] which an apostle execrates those who "changed the glory of the incorruptible God
into the likeness of corruptible man." For it is unlawful for a Christian to set up any
such image for God in a temple; much more nefarious is it, [therefore], to set it up in
the heart, in which truly is the temple of God, provided it be purged of earthly lust and
error. This expression, "at the right hand," therefore, we must understand to signify a
position in supremest blessedness, where righteousness and peace and joy are; just as the
kids are set on the left hand, that is to say, in misery, by reason of unrighteousness,
labors, and torments. And in accordance with this, when it is said that God "sitteth," the
expression indicates not a posture of the members, but a judicial power, which that
Majesty never fails to possess, as He is always awarding deserts as men deserve them
(digna dignis tribuendo); although at the last judgment the unquestionable brightness of
the only-begotten Son of God, the Judge of the living and the dead, is destined yet to be
a thing much more manifest among men.

CHAPTER 8.-OF CHRIST'S COMING TO JUDGMENT.

15. We believe also, that at the most seasonable time He Will Come from Thence, and Will
Judge the Quick and the Dead: whether by these terms are signified the righteous and:
sinners, or whether it be the case that those persons are here called the quick, whom at
that period He shall find, previous to [their] death, upon the earth, while the dead
denote those who shall rise again at His advent. This temporal dispensation not only is,
as holds good of that generation which respects His being God, but also hath been and
shall be. For our Lord hath been upon the earth, and at present He is in heaven, and
[hereafter] He shall be in His brightness as the Judge of the quick and the dead. For He
shall yet come, even so as He has ascended, according to the authority which is contained
in the Acts of the Apostles. It is in accordance with this temporal dispensation,
therefore, that He speaks in the Apocalypse, where it is written in this wise: "These
things saith He, who is, and who was, and who is to come."

CHAPTER 9.-OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY.

16. The divine generation, therefore, of our Lord, and his human dispensation, having both
been thus systematically disposed and commended to faith, there is added to our
Confession, with a view to the perfecting of the faith which we have regarding God, [the
doctrine of] The Holy Spirit, who is not of a nature inferior to the Father and the Son,
but, so to say, consubstantial and co-eternal: for this Trinity is one God, not to the
effect that the Father is the same [Person] as the Son and the Holy Spirit, but to the
effect that the Father is the Father, and the Son is the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the
Holy Spirit; and this Trinity is one God, according as it is written, "Hear, O Israel, the
Lord your God is one God. At the same time, if we be interrogated on the subject of each
separately, and if the question be put to us, "Is the Father God? we shall reply, "He is
God. If it be asked whether the Son is God, we shall answer to the same effect. Nor, if
this kind of inquiry be addressed to us with respect to the Holy Spirit, ought we to
affirm in reply that He is anything else than God; being earnestly on our guard,
[however], against an acceptance of this merely in the sense in which it is applied to
men, when it is said, "Ye are gods.

For of all those who have been made and fashioned of the Father, through the Son, by the
gift of the Holy Spirit, none are gods according to nature. For it is this same Trinity
that is signified when an apostle says, "For of Him, and in Him, and through Him, are all
things. Consequently, although, when we are interrogated on the subject of each [of these
Persons] severally, we reply that that particular one regarding whom the question is
asked, whether it be the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, is God, no one,
notwithstanding this, should suppose that three Gods are worshipped by us. 17. Neither is
it strange that these things are said in reference to an ineffable Nature, when even in
those objects which we discern with the bodily eyes, and judge of by the bodily sense,
something similar holds good. For take the instance of an interrogation on the subject of
a fountain, and consider how we are unable then to affirm that the said fountain is itself
the river; and how, when we are asked about the river, we are as little able to call it
the fountain; and, again, how we are equally unable to designate the draught, which comes
of the fountain or the river, either river or fountain. Nevertheless, in the case of this
trinity we use the name water [for the whole]; and when the question is put: regarding
each of these separately, we reply in each several instance that the thing is water. For
if I inquire whether it is water in the fountain, the reply is given that it is water; and
if we ask whether it is water in the river, no different response is returned; and in the
case of the said draught, no other answer can possibly be made: and yet, for all this, we
do not speak of these things as three waters, but as one water. At the same time, of
course, care must be taken that no one should conceive of the ineffable substance of that
Majesty merely as he might think of this visible and material fountain, or river, or
draught.

For in the case of these latter that water which is at present in the fountain goes forth
into the river, and does not abide in itself; and when it passes from the river or from
the fountain into the draught, it does not continue permanently there where it is taken
from. Therefore it is possible here that the same water may be in view at one time under
the appellation of the fountain and at another under that of the river, and at a third
under that of the draught. But in the case of that Trinity, we have affirmed it to be
impossible that the Father should be sometime the Son, and sometime the Holy Spirit: just
as, in a tree, the root is nothing else than the root, and the trunk (robur) is nothing
else than the trunk, and we cannot call the branches anything else than branches for, what
is called the root cannot be called trunk and branches; and the wood which belongs to the
root cannot by any sort of transference be now in the root, and again in the trunk, and
yet again in the branches, but only in the root; since this rule of designation stands
fast, so that the root is wood. and the trunk is wood, and the branches are wood, while
nevertheless it is not three woods that are thus spoken of, but only one.

Or, if these objects have some sort of dissimilarity, so that on account of their
difference in strength they may be spoken of, without any absurdity, as three woods; at
least all parties admit the force of the former example,-namely, that if three cups be
filled out of one fountain, they may certainly be called three cups, but cannot be spoken
of as three waters, but only as one all together. Yet, at the same time, when asked
concerning the several cups, one by one, we may answer that in each of them bY itself
there is water; although in this case no such transference takes place as we were speaking
of as occurring from the fountain into the river. But these examples in things material
(corporalia exempla) have been adduced not in virtue of their likeness to that divine
Nature, but in reference to the oneness which subsists even in things visible, so that it
may be understood to be quite a possibility for threeobjects of some sort, not only
severally, but also all together, to obtain one single name; and that in this way no one
may wonder and think it absurd that we should call the Father God, the Son God, the Holy
Spirit God, and that nevertheless we should say that there are not three Gods in that
Trinity, but one God and one substance.

18. And, indeed, on this subject of the Father and the Son, learned and spiritual men have
conducted discussions in many books, in which, so far as men could do with men, they have
endeavored to introduce an intelligible account as to how the Father was not one
personally with the Son, and yet the two were one substantially; and as to what the Father
was individually (proprie), and what the Son: to wit, that the former was the Begetter,
the latter the Begotten; the formernot of the Son, the latter of the Father: theformer the
Beginning of the latter, whence also He is called the Head of Christ, although Christ
likewise is the Beginning, but not of the Father; the latter, moreover, the Image of the
former, although in no respect dissimilar, and although absolutely and without difference
equal (omnino et indifferenter aequalis). These questions are handled with greater breadth
by those who, in less narrow limits than ours are at present, seek to set forth the
profession of the Christian faith in its totality. Accordingly, in so far as He is the
Son, of the Father received He it that He is, while that other [the Father] received not
this of the Son;

and in so far as He, in unutterable mercy, in a temporal dispensation took upon Himself
the [nature of] man (hominem),-to wit, the changeable creature that was thereby to be
changed into something better,-many statements concerning Him are discovered in the
Scriptures, which are so expressed as to have given occasion to error in the impious
intellects of heretics, with whom the desire to teach takes precedence of that to
understand, so that they have supposed Him to be neither equal with the Father nor of the
same substance. Such statements [are meant] as the following: "For the Father is greater
than I; and, "The head of the woman is the man, the Head of the man is Christ, and the
Head of Christ is God; and, "Then shall He Himself be subject unto Him that put all things
under Him; and, "I go to my Father and your Father, my God and your God," together with
some others of like tenor. Now all these have had a place given them, [certainly] not with
the object of signifying an inequality of nature and substance; for to take them so would
be to falsify a different class of statements, such as, "I and my Father are one" (unum);
and, "He that hath seen me hath seen my Father also; and, "The Word was God," for He was
not made, inasmuch as "all things were made by Him; and, "He thought it not robbery to be
equal with God: together with all the other passages of a similar order.

But these statements have had a place given them, partly with a view to that
administration of His assumption of human nature (administrationem suscepti hominis), in
accordance with which it is said that "He emptied Himself: not that that Wisdom was
changed, since it is absolutely unchangeable; but that it was His will to make Himself
known in such humble fashion to men. Partly then, I repeat, it is with a view to this
administration that those things have been thus written which the heretics make the ground
of their false allegations; and partly it was with a view to the consideration that the
Son owes to the Father that which He is, -thereby also certainly owing this in particular
to the Father, to wit, that He is equal to the same Father, or that He is His Peer (eidem
Patri aequalis aut par est), whereas the Father owes whatsoever He is to no one.

19. With respect to the Holy Spirit, however, there has not been as yet, on the part of
learned and distinguished investigators of the Scriptures, a discussion of the subject
full enough or careful enough to make it possible for us to obtain an intelligent
conception of what also constitutes His special individuality (proprium): in virtue of
which special individuality it comes to be the case that we cannot call Him either the Son
or the Father, but only the Holy Spirit; excepting that they predicate Him to be the Gift
of God, so that we may believe God not to give a gift inferior to Himself. At the same
time they hold by this position, namely, to predicate the Holy Spirit neither as begotten,
like the Son, of the Father; for Christ is the only one [so begotten]: nor as [begotten]
of the Son, like a Grandson of the Supreme Father: while they do not affirm Him to owe
that which He is to no one, but [admit Him to owe it] to the Father, of whom are all
things; lest we should establish two Beginnings without beginning (ne duo constituamus
principia isne principio), which would be an assertion at once most false and most absurd,
and one proper not to the catholic faith, but to the error of certain heretics. Some,
however, have gone so far as to believe that the communion of the Father and the Son, and
(so to speak) their Godhead (deitatem), which the Greeks designate qeotha, is the Holy
Spirit;

so that, inasmuch as the Father is God and the Son God, the Godhead itself, in which they
are united with each other,-to wit, the former by begetting the Son, and the latter by
cleaving to the Father, -should [thereby] be constituted equal with Him by whom He is
begotten. This Godhead, then, which they wish to be understood likewise as the love and
charity subsisting between these two [Persons], the one toward the other, they affirm to
have received the name of the Holy Spirit. And this opinion of theirs they support by many
proofs drawn from the Scriptures; among which we might instance either the passage which
says, "For the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who has been
given unto us," or many other proofs texts of a similar tenor: while they ground their
position also upon the express fact that it is through the Holy Spirit that we are
reconciled unto God; whence also, when He is called the Gift of God, they will have it
that sufficient indication is offered of the love of God and the Holy Spirit being
identical. For we are not reconciled unto Him except through that love in virtue of which
we are also called sons: as we are no more "under fear, like servants," because "love,
when it is made perfect, casteth out fear; and [as] "we have received the spirit of
liberty, wherein we cry, Abba, Father.

And inasmuch as, being reconciled and called back into friendship through love, we shall
be able to become acquainted with all the secret things of God, for this reason it is said
of the Holy Spirit that "He shall lead you into all truth. For the same reason also, that
confidence in preaching the truth, with which the apostles were filled at His advent, is
rightly ascribed to love; because diffidence also is assigned to fear, which the
perfecting of love excludes. Thus, likewise, the same is called the Gift of God, because
no one enjoys that which he knows, unless he also love it. To enjoy the Wisdom of God,
however, implies nothing else than to cleave to the same in love (ei dilectione
cohaerere). Neither does any one abide in that which he apprehends, but by love; and
accordingly the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of sanctity (Spiritus Sanctus), inasmuch
as all things that are sanctioned (sanciuntur) are sanctioned with a view to their
permanence, and there is no doubt that the term sanctity (sanctitatem) is derived from
sanction (a sanciendo). Above all, however, that testimony is employed by the upholders of
this opinion, where it is thus written, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit; "for God is a Spirit. For here He speaks of
our regeneration, which is not, according to Adam, of the flesh, but, according to Christ,
of the Holy Spirit.

Wherefore, if in this passage mention is made of the Holy Spirit, when it is said, "For
God is a Spirit," they maintain that we must take note that it is not said, "for the
Spirit is God," but, "for God is a Spirit; so that the very Godhead of the Father and the
Son is in this passage called God, and that is the Holy Spirit. To this is added another
testimony which the Apostle John offers, when he says, "For God is love. For here, in like
manner, what he says is not, "Love is God," but, "God is love; so that the very Godhead is
taken to be love. And with respect to the circumstance that, in that enumeration of
mutually connected objects which is given when it is said, "All things are yours, and ye
are Christ's, and Christ is God's," as also, "The head of the woman is the man, the Head
of the man is Christ, and the Head of Christ is God," there is no mention of the Holy
Spirit; this they affirm to be but an application of the principle that, in general, the
connection itself is not wont to be enumerated among the things which are connected with
each other. Whence, also, those who read with closer attention appear to recognize the
express Trinity likewise in that passage in which it is said, "For of Him, and through
Him, and in Him, are all things.

"Of Him," as if it meant, of that One who owes it to no one that He is: "through Him," as
if the idea were, through a Mediator; "in Him," as if it were, in that One who holds
together, that is, unites by connecting. 20. Those parties oppose this opinion who think
that the said communion, which we call either Godhead, or Love, or Charity, is not a
substance. Moreover, they require the Holy Spirit to be set forth to them according to
substance; neither do they take it to have been otherwise impossible for the expression
God is Love" to have been used, unless love were a substance. In this, indeed, they are
influenced by the wont of things of a bodily nature. For if two bodies are connected with
each other in such wise as to be placed in juxtaposition one with the other, the
connection itself is not a body: inasmuch as when these bodies which had been connected
are separated, no such connection certainly is found [any more]; while, at the same time,
it is not understood to have departed, as it were, and migrated, as is the case with those
bodies themselves. But men like these should make their heart pure, so far as they can, in
order that they may have power to see that in the substance of God there is not anything
of such a nature as would imply that therein substance is one thing, and that which is
accident to substance (aliud quod accidat subsantioe) another thing, and not substance;
whereas whatsoever can be taken to be therein is substance. These things, however, can
easily be spoken and believed; but seen, so as to reveal how they are in themselves, they
absolutely cannot be, except by the pure heart.

For which reason, whether the opinion in question be true, or something else be the case,
the faith ought to be maintained unshaken, so that we should call the Father God, the Son
God, the Holy Spirit God, and yet not affirm three Gods, but hold the said Trinity to be
one God; and again, not affirm these [Persons] to be different in nature, but hold them to
be of the same substance; and further uphold it, not as if the Father were sometime the
Son, and sometime the Holy Spirit, but in such wise that the Father is always the Father,
and the Son always the Son, and the Holy Spirit always the Holy Spirit. Neither should we
make any affirmation on the subject of things unseen rashly, as if we had knowledge, but
[only modestly] as believing. For these things cannot be seen except by the heart made
pure; and [even] he who in this life sees them "in part," as it has been said, and "in an
enigma," cannot secure it that the person to whom he speaks shall also see them, if he is
hampered by impurities of heart. "Blessed," however, "are they of a pure heart, for they
shall see God. This is the faith on the subject of God our Maker and Renewer.

21. But inasmuch as love is enjoined upon us, not only toward God, when it was said, "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind;" but also toward our neighbor, for "thou shalt love," saith He, "thy neighbor as
thyself;" and inasmuch, moreover, as the faith in question is less fruitful, if it does
not comprehend a congregation and society of men, wherein brotherly charity may operate;-

CHAPTER 10.-OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, THE REMISSION OF SINS, AND THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH.

-Inasmuch, I repeat, as this is the case, we believe also in The Holy Church, [intending
thereby] assuredly the Catholic. For both heretics and schismatics style their
congregations churches. But heretics, in holding false opinions regarding God, do injury
to the faith itself; while schismatics, on the other hand, in wicked separations break off
from brotherly charity, although they may believe just what we believe. Wherefore neither
do the heretics belong to the Church catholic, which loves God; nor do the schismatics
form a part of the same, inasmuch as: it loves the neighbor, and consequently readily
forgives the neighbor's sins, because it prays that forgiveness may be extended to itself
by Him who has reconciled us to Himself, doing away with all past things, and calling us
to a new life. And until we reach the perfection of this new life, we cannot be without
sins. Nevertheless it is a matter of consequence of what sort those sins may be.

22. Neither ought we only to treat of the difference between sins, but we ought most
thoroughly to believe that those things in which we sin are in no way forgiven us, if we
show ourselves severely unyielding in the matter of forgiving the sins of others. Thus,
then, we believe also in The Remission of Sins. 23. And inasmuch as there are three things
of which man consists,-namely, spirit, soul, and body,-which again are spoken of as two,
because frequently the soul is named along with the spirit; for a certain rational portion
of the same, of which beasts are devoid, is called spirit: the principal part in us is the
spirit; next, the life whereby we are united with the body is called the soul; finally,
the body itself, as it is visible, is the last part in us. This "whole creation"
(creatura), however, "groaneth and travaileth until now. Nevertheless, He has given it the
first-fruits of the Spirit, in that it has believed God, and is now of a good will. This
spirit is also called the mind, regarding which an apostle speaks thus: "With the mind I
serve the law of God. Which apostle likewise expresses himself thus in another passage:
"For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit. Moreover, the soul, when as yet it
lusts after carnal good things, is called the flesh. For a certain part thereof resists
the Spirit, not in virtue of nature, but in virtue of the custom of sins; whence it is
said, "With the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. And this
custom has been turned into a nature, according to mortal generation, by the sin of the
first man.

Consequently it is also written in this wise, "And we were sometime by nature the children
of wrath," that is, of vengeance, through which it has come to pass that we serve the law
of sin. The nature of the soul, however, is perfect when it is made subject to its own
spirit, and when it follows that spirit as the same follows God. Therefore "the animal man
receiveth not the things which are of the Spirit of God. But the soul is not so speedily
subdued to the spirit unto good action, as is the spirit to God unto true faith and
goodwill; but sometimes its impetus, whereby it moves downwards into things carnal and
temporal, is more tardily bridled. But inasmuch as this same soul is also made pure, and
receives the stability of its own nature, under the dominance of the spirit, which is the
head for it, which head of the said soul has again its own head in Christ, we ought not to
despair of the restoration of the body also to its own proper nature. But this certainly
will not be effected so speedily as is the case with the soul; just as the soul too, is
not restored so speedily as the spirit. Yet it will take place in the appropriate season,
at the last trump, when "the dead shall rise uncorrupted, and we shall be changed.

And accordingly we believe also in The Resurrection of the Flesh, to wit, not merely that
that soul, which at present by reason of carnal affections is called the flesh, is
restored; but that it shall be so likewise with this visible flesh, which is the flesh
according to nature, the name of which has been received by the soul, not in virtue of
nature, but in reference to carnal affections: this visible flesh, then, I say, which is
the flesh properly so called, must without doubt be believed to be destined to rise again.
For the Apostle Paul appears to point to this, as it were, with his finger, when he says,
"This corruptible must put on incorruption. For when he says this, he, as it were, directs
his finger toward it. Now it is that which is visible that admits of being pointed out
with the finger; since the soul might also have been called corruptible, for it is itself
corrupted by vices of manners. And when it is read, "and this mortal [must] put on
immortality," the same visible flesh is signified, inasmuch as at it ever and anon the
finger is thus as it were pointed. For the soul also may thus in like manner be called
mortal, even as it is designated corruptible in reference to vices of manners. For
assuredly it is "the death of the soul to apostatize from God; which is its first sin in
Paradise, as it is contained in the sacred writings.

24. Rise again, therefore, the body will, according to the Christian faith, which is
incapable of deceiving. And if this appears incredible to any one, [it is because] he
looks simply to what the flesh is at present, while he fails to consider of what nature it
shall be hereafter. For at that time of angelic change it will no more be flesh and blood,
but onlybody. For when the apostle speaks of the flesh, he says, "There is one flesh of
cattle, another of birds, another of fishes, another of creeping things: there are also
both celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies. Now what he has said here is not "celestial
flesh," but "both celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies. For all flesh is also body; but
every body is not also flesh. In the first instance, [for example, this holds good] in the
case of those terrestrial bodies, inasmuch as wood is body, but not flesh. In the case of
man, again, or in that of cattle, we have both body and flesh. In the case of celestial
bodies, on the other hand, there is no flesh, but only those simple and lucent bodies
which the apostle designates spiritual, while some call them ethereal. And consequently,
when he says, "Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God," that does not
contradict the resurrection of the flesh; but the sentence predicates what will be the
nature of that hereafter which at present is flesh and blood.

And if any one refuses to believe that the flesh is capable of being changed into the sort
of nature thus indicated, he must be led on, step by step, to this faith. For if you
require of him whether earth is capable of being changed into water, the nearness of the
thing will make it not seem incredible to him. Again, if you inquire whether water is
capable of being changed into air, he replies that this also is not absurd, for the
elements are near each other. And if, on the subject of the air, it is asked whether that
can be changed into an ethereal, that is, a celestial body, the simple fact of the
nearness at once convinces him of the possibility of the thing. But if, then, he concedes
that through such gradations it is quite a possible thing that earth should be changed
into an ethereal body, why does he refuse to believe, when that will of God, too, enters
in addition, whereby a human body had power to walk upon the waters, that the same change
is capable of being effected with the utmost rapidity, precisely in accordance with the
saying, "in the twinkling of an eye," and without any such gradations, even as, according
to common wont, smoke is changed into flame with marvellous quickness? For our flesh
assuredly is of earth.

But philosophers, on the ground of whose arguments opposition is for the most part offered
to the resurrection of the flesh, so far as in these they assert that no terrene body can
possibly exist in heaven, yet concede that any kind of body may be converted and changed
into every [other] sort of body. And when this resurrection of the body has taken place,
being set free then from the condition of time, we shall fully enjoy Eternal Life in
ineffable love and steadfastness, without corruption. For "then shall be brought to pass
the saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Where is, O death, thy
sting? Where is, O death, thy contention?" 25. This is the faith which in few words is
given in the Creed to Christian novices, to be held by them. And these few words are known
to the faithful, to the end that in believing they may be made subject to God; that being
made subject, they may rightly live; that in rightly living, they may make the heart pure;
that with the heart made pure, they may understand that which they believe.


ON THE CREED
============

ON THE CREED Augustine of Hippo

AD 354–430

Bishop of Hippo, the most influential Latin father.

ON THE CREED

[De Symbolo a.d. Catechumenos.]

Translated by the Rev. C. L. Cornish, M.a., of Exeter College, Oxford 1. Receive, my
children, the Rule of Faith, which is called the Symbol (or Creed ). And when ye have
received it, write it in your heart, and be daily saying it to yourselves; before ye
sleep, before ye go forth, arm you with your Creed. The Creed no man writes so as it may
be able to be read: but for rehearsal of it, lest haply forgetfulness obliterate what care
hath delivered, let your memory be your record-roll: what ye are about to hear, that are
ye to believe; and what ye shall have believed, that are about to give back with your
tongue. For the Apostle says, "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation." For this is the Creed which ye are to
rehearse and to repeat in answer. These words which ye have heard are in the Divine
Scriptures scattered up and down: but thence gathered and reduced into one, that the
memory of slow persons might not be distressed; that every person may be able to say, able
to hold, what he believes. For have ye now merely heard that God is Almighty? But ye begin
to have him for your father, when ye have been born by the church as your Mother.

2. Of this, then, ye have now received, have meditated, and having meditated have held,
that ye should say, "I believe in God the Father Almighty. God is Almighty, and yet,
though Almighty, He cannot die, cannot be deceived, cannot lie; and, as the Apostle says,
"cannot deny Himself. How many things that He cannot do, and yet is Almighty! yea
therefore is Almighty, because He cannot do these things. For if He could die, He were not
Almighty; if to lie, if to be deceived, if to do unjustly, were possible for Him, He were
not Almighty: because if this were in Him, He should not be worthy to be Almighty. To our
Almighty Father, it is quite impossible to sin. He does whatsoever He will: that is
Omnipotence. He does whatsoever He rightly will, whatsoever He justly will: but whatsoever
is evil to do, He wills not. There is no resisting one who is Almighty, that He should not
do what He will. It was He Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,
invisible and visible. Invisible such as are in heaven, thrones, dominions,
principalities, powers, archangels, angels: all, if we shall live aright, our fellow-
citizens. He made in heaven the things visible; the sun, the moon, the stars. With its
terrestrial animals He adorned the earth, filled the air with things that fly, the land
with them that walk and creep, the sea with them that swim: all He filled with their own
proper creatures.

He made also man after His own image and likeness, in the mind: for in that is the image
of God. This is the reason why the mind cannot be comprehended even by itself, because in
it is the image of God. To this end were we made, that over the other creatures we should
bear rule: but through sin in the first man we fell, and are all come into an inheritance
of death. We were brought low, became mortal, were filled with fears, with errors: this by
desert of sin: with which desert and guilt is every man born. This is the reason why, as
ye have seen to-day, as ye know, even little children undergo exsufflation, exorcism; to
drive away from them the power of the devil their enemy, which deceived man that it might
possess mankind. It is not then the creature of God that in infants undergoes exorcism or
exsufflation: but he under whom are all that are born with sin; for he is the first of
sinners. And for this cause by reason of one who fell and brought all into death, there
was sent One without sin, Who should bring unto life, by delivering them from sin, all
that believe on Him.

3. For this reason we believe also in His Son, that is to say, God the Father Almighty's,
"His Only Son, our Lord." When thou hearest of the Only Son of God, acknowledge Him God.
For it could not be that God's Only Son should not be God. What He is, the same did He
beget, though He is not that Person Whom He begot. If He be truly Son, He is that which
the Father is; if He be not that which the Father is, He is not truly Son. Observe mortal
and earthly creatures: what each is, that it engendereth. Man besets not an ox, sheep
besets not dog, nor dog sheep. Whatever it be that begetteth, that which it is, it
begetteth. Hold ye therefore boldly, firmly, faithfully, that the Begotten of God the
Father is what Himself is, Almighty. These mortal creatures engender by corruption. Does
God so beget? He that is begotten mortal generates that which himself is; the Immortal
generates what He is: corruptible besets corruptible, Incorruptible besets Incorruptible:
the corruptible besets corruptibly, Incorruptible, Incorruptibly: yea, so begetteth what
Itself is, that One besets One, and therefore Only. Ye know, that when I pronounced to you
the Creed, so I said, and so ye are bounden to believe; that we "believe in God the Father
Almighty, and in Jesus Christ His Only Son." Here too, when thou believest that He is the
Only, believe Him Almighty: for it is not to be thought that God the Father does what He
will, and God the Son does not what He will. One Will of Father and Son, because one
Nature. For it is impossible for the will of the Son to be any whit parted from the
Father's will. God and God; both one God: Almighty and Almighty; both One Almighty.

4. We do not bring in two Gods as some do, who say, "God the Father and God the Son, but
greater God the Father and lesser God the Son. They both are what? Two Gods? Thou blushest
to speak it, blush to believe it. Lord God the Father, thou sayest, and Lord God the Son:
and the Son Himself saith, "No man can serve two Lords. In His family shall we be in such
wise, that, like as in a great house where there is the father of a family and he hath a
son, so we should say, the greater Lord, the lesser Lord? Shrink from such a thought. If
ye make to yourselves such like in your heart, ye set up idols in the "one soul" Utterly
repel it. First believe, then understand. Now to whom God gives that when he has believed
he soon understands; that is God's gift, not human frailness. Still, if ye do not yet
understand, believe: One God the Father, God Christ the Son of God. Both are what? One
God. And how are both said to be One God? How? Dost thou marvel? In the Acts of the
Apostles, "There was," it says, "in the believers, one soul and one heart. There were many
souls, faith had made them one. So many thousands of souls were there; they loved each
other, and many are one: they loved God in the fire of charity, and from being many they
are come to the oneness of beauty.

If all those many souls the dearness of love made one soul, what must be the dearness of
love in God, where is no diversity, but entire equality! If on earth and among men there
could be so great charity as of so many souls to make one soul, where Father from Son, Son
from Father, hath been ever inseparable, could They both be other than One God? Only,
those souls might be called both many souls and one soul; but God, in Whom is ineffable
and highest conjunction, may be called One God, not two Gods. 5. The Father doeth what He
will, and what He will doeth the Son. Do not imagine an Almighty Father and a not Almighty
Son: it is error, blot it out within you, let it not cleave in your memory, let it not be
drunk into your faith, and if haply any of you shall have drunk it in, let him vomit it
up. Almighty is the Father, Almighty the Son. If Almighty begat not Almighty, He begat not
very Son. For what say we, brethren, if the Father being greater begat a Son less than He?
What said I, begat? Man engenders, being greater, a son being less: it is true: but that
is because the one grows old, the other grows up, and by very growing attains to the form
of his father. The Son of God, if He groweth not because neither can God wax old, was
begotten perfect. And being begotten perfect, if He groweth not, and remained not less, He
is equal. For teat ye may know Almighty begotten of Almighty, hear Him Who is Truth. That
which of Itself Truth saith, is true. What saith Truth? What saith the Son, Who is Truth?
"Whatsoever things the Father doeth, these also the Son likewise doeth. The Son is
Almighty, in doing all things that He willeth to do. For if the Father doeth some things
which the Son doeth not, the Son said falsely, "Whatsoever things the Father doeth, these
also the Son doeth likewise. But because the Son spake truly, believe it:

"Whatsoever things the Father doeth, these also the Son doeth likewise," and ye have
believed in the Son that He is Almighty. Which word although ye said not in the Creed, yet
this is it that ye expressed when ye believed in the Only Son, Himself God. Hath the
Father aught that the Son hath not? This Arian heretic blasphemers say, not I. But what
say I? If the Father hath aught that the Son hath not, the Son lieth in saying, "All
things that the Father hath, are Mine. Many and innumerable are the testimonies by which
it is proved that the Son is Very Son of God the Father, and the Father God hath His Very-
begotten Son God, and Father and Son is One God. 6. But this Only Son of God, the Father
Almighty, let us see what He did for us, what He suffered for us. "Born of the Holy Ghost
and of the Virgin Mary." He, so great God, equal with the Father, born of the Holy Ghost
and of the Virgin Mary, born lowly, that thereby He might heal the proud. Man exalted
himself and fell; God humbled Himself and raised him up. Christ's lowliness, what is it?
God hath stretched out an hand to man laid low. We fell, He descended: we lay low, He
stooped. Let us lay hold and rise, that we fall not into punishment. So then His stooping
to us is this, "Born of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary." His very Nativity too as
man, it is lowly, and it is lofty. Whence lowly? That as man He was born of men. Whence
lofty? That He was born of a virgin. A virgin conceived, a virgin bore, and after the
birth was a virgin still.

7. What next? "Suffered under Pontius Pilate." He was in office as governor and was the
judge, this same Pontius Pilate, what time as Christ suffered. In the name of the judge
there is a mark of the times, when He suffered under Pontius Pilate: when He suffered,
"was crucified, dead, and buried." Who? what? for whom? Who? God's Only Son, our Lord.
What? Crucified, dead, and buried. For whom? for ungodly and sinners. Great condescension,
great grace! "What shall I render unto the Lord for all that He hath bestowed on me?" 8.
He was begotten before all times, before all worlds. "Begotten before. Before what, He in
Whom is no before? Do not in the least imagine any time before that Nativity of Christ
whereby He was begotten of the Father; of that Nativity I am speaking by which He is Son
of God Almighty, His Only Son our Lord; of that am I first speaking. Do not imagine in
this Nativity a beginning of time; do not imagine any space of eternity in which the
Father was and the Son was not. Since when the Father was, since then the Son. And what is
that "since," where is no beginning? Therefore ever Father without beginning, ever Son
without beginning. And how, thou wilt say, was He begotten, if He have no beginning? Of
eternal, coeternal. At no time was the Father, and the Son not, and yet Son of Father was
begotten. Whence is any manner of similitude to be had? We are among things of earth, we
are in the visible creature. Let the earth give me a similitude: it gives none. Let the
element of the waters give me some similitude: it hath not Whereof to give. Some animal
give me a similitude: neither can this do it. An animal indeed engenders, both what
engenders and what is engendered: but first is the father, and then is born the son. Let
us find the coeval and imagine it coeternal.

If we shall be able to find a father coeval with his son, and son coeval with his father,
let us believe God the Father coeval with His Son, and God the Son coeternal with His
Father. On earth we can find some coeval, we cannot find any coeternal. Let us stretch the
coeval and imagine it coeternal. Some one, it may be, will put you on the stretch, by
saying, "When is it possible for a father to be found coeval with his son, or son coeval
with his father? That the father may beget he goes before in age; that the son may be
begotten, he comes after in age: but this father coeval with son, or son with father, how
can it be? Imagine to yourselves fire as father, its shining as son; see, we have found
the coevals. From the instant that the fire begins to be, that instant it begets the
shining: neither fire before shining, nor shining after fire. And if we ask, which begets
which? the fire the shining, or the shining the fire? Immediately ye conceive by natural
sense, by the innate wit of your minds ye all cry out, The fire the shining, not the
shining the fire. Lo, here you have a father beginning; lo, a son at the same time,
neither going before nor coming after. Lo, here then is a father beginning, lo, a son at
the same time beginning.

If I have shown you a father beginning, and a son at the same time beginning, believe the
Father not beginning, and with Him the Son not beginning either; the one eternal, the
other coeternal. If ye get on with your learning, ye understand: take pains to get on. The
being born, ye have; but also the growing, ye ought to have; because no man begins with
being perfect. As for the Son of God, indeed, He could be born perfect, because He was
begotten without time, coeternal with the Father, long before all things, not in age, but
in eternity. He then was begotten coeternal, of which generation the Prophet said, "His
generation who shall declare? begotten of the Father without time, He was born of the
Virgin in the fullness of times. This nativity had times going before it. In opportunity
of time, when He would, when He knew, then was He born: for He was not born without His
will. None of us is born because he will, and none of us dies when he will: He, when He
would, was born; when He would, He died: how He would, He was born of a Virgin: how He
would, He died; on the cross. Whatever He would, He did: because He was in such wise Man
that, unseen, He was God; God assuming, Man assumed; One Christ, God and Man.

9. Of His cross what shall I speak, what say? This extremest kind of death He chose, that
not any kind of death might make His Martyrs afraid. The doctrine He shewed in His life as
Man, the example of patience He demonstrated in His Cross. There, you have the work, that
He was crucified; example of the work, the Cross; reward of the work, Resurrection. He
shewed us in the Cross what we ought to endure, He shewed in the Resurrection what we have
to hope. Just like a consummate task-master in the matches of the arena, He said, Do, and
bear; do the work and receive the prize; strive in the match and thou shall be crowned.
What is the work? Obedience. What the prize? Resurrection without death. Why did I add,
"without death?" Because "Lazarus rose, and died: Christ rose again, "dieth no more, death
will no longer nave dominion over Him."

10. Scripture saith, "Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the
Lord. When we read what great trials Job endured, it makes one shudder, it makes one
shrink, it makes one quake. And what did he receive? The double of what he had lost. Let
not a man therefore with an eye to temporal rewards be willing to have patience, and say
to himself, "Let me endure loss, God will give me back sons twice as many; Job received
double of all, and begat as many sons as he had buried. Then is this not the double? Yes,
precisely the double, because the former sons still lived. Let none say, "Let me bear
evils, and God will repay me as He repaid Job: that it be now no longer patience but
avarice. For if it was not patience which that Saint had, nor a brave enduring of nil that
came upon him; the testimony which the Lord gave, whence should he have it? "Hast thou
observed," saith the Lord, "my servant Job? For there is not like him any on the earth, a
man without fault, true worshipper of God. What a testimony, my brethren, did this holy
man deserve of the Lord! And yet him a bad woman sought by her persuasion to deceive, she
too representing that serpent, who, like as in Paradise he deceived the man whom God first
made, so likewise here by suggesting blasphemy thought to be able to deceive a man who
pleased God.

What things he suffered, my brethren! Who can have so much to suffer in his estate, his
house, his sons, his flesh, yea in his very wife who was left to be his tempter! But even
her who was left, the devil would have taken away long ago, but that he kept her to be his
helper: because by Eve he had mastered the first man, therefore had he kept an Eve. What
things, then, he suffered! He lost all that he had; his house fell; would that were all!
it crushed his sons also. And, to see that patience had great place in him, hear what he
answered; "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so hath it
been done; blessed be the name of the Lord. He hath taken what He gave, is He lost Who
gave? He hath taken what He gave. As if he should say, He hath taken away all, let Him
take all, send me away naked, and let me keep Him. What shall I lack if I have God? or
what is the good of all else to me, if I have not God? Then it came to his flesh, he was
stricken with a wound from head to foot; he was one running sore, one mass of crawling
worms: and showed himself immovable in his God, stood fixed. The woman wanted, devil's
helper as she was not husband's comforter, to put him up to blaspheme God. "How long,"
said she, "dost thou suffer" so and so;

"speak some word against the Lord, and die. So then, because he had been brought low, he
was to be exalted. And this the Lord did, in order to show it to men; as for His servant,
He kept greater things for him in heaven. So then Job who was brought low, He exalted; the
devil who was lifted up, He brought low: for "He putteth down one and setteth up another.
But let not any man, my beloved brethren, when he suffers any such-like tribulations, look
for a reward here: for instance, if he suffer any losses, let him not peradventure say,
"The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so is it done: blessed
be the name of the Lord; only with the mind to receive twice as much again. Let patience
praise God, not avarice. If what thou hast lost thou seekest to receive back twofold, and
therefore praisest God, it is of covetousness thou praisest, not of love. Do not imagine
this to be the example of that holy man; thou deceivest thyself. When Job was enduring
all, he was not hoping for to have twice as much again. Both in his first confession when
he bore up under his losses, and bore out to the grave the dead bodies of his sons, and in
the second when he was now suffering torments of sores in his flesh, ye may observe what I
am saying. Of his former confession the words run thus:

"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: as it pleased the Lord, so is it done:
blessed be the name of the Lord. He might have said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away; He that took away can once more give; can bring back more than He took. He
said not this, but, "As it pleased the Lord," said he, "so is it done: because it pleases
Him, let it please me: let not that which hath pleased the good Lord misplease His
submissive servant; what pleased the Physician, not misplease the sick man. Hear his other
confession: "Thou hast spoken," said he to his wife, "like one of the foolish women. If we
have received good at the hand of the Lord, why shall we not bear evil? He did not add,
what, if he had said it, would have been true. "The Lord is able both to bring back my
flesh into its former condition, and that which He hath taken away from us, to make
manifold more: lest he should seem to have endured in hope of this. This was not what he
said, not what he hoped. But, that we might be taught, did the Lord that for him, not
hoping for it, by which we should be taught, that God was with him: because if He had not
also restored to him those things, there was the crown indeed, but hidden, and we could
not see it.

And therefore what says the divine Scripture in exhorting to patience and hope of things
future, not reward of things present? "Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen
the end of the Lord. Why is it, "the patience of Job," and not, Ye have seen the end of
Job himself? Thou wouldest open thy mouth for the "twice as much; wouldest say, "Thanks be
to God; let me bear up: I receive twice as much again, like Job. "Patience of Job, end of
the Lord. The patience of Job we knows and the end of the Lord we know. What end of the
Lord? "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? They are the words of the Lord hanging
on the cross. He did as it were leave Him for present felicity, not leave Him for eternal
immortality. In this is "the end of the Lord. The Jews hold Him, the Jews insult, the Jews
bind Him, crown Him with thorns, dishonor Him with spitting, scourge Him, overwhelm Him
with revilings, hang Him upon the tree, pierce Him with a spear, last of all bury Him. He
was as it were left: but by whom? By those insulting ones. Therefore thou shall but to
this end have patience, that thou mayest rise again and not die, that is, never die, even
as Christ. For so we read, "Christ rising from the dead henceforth dieth not."

11. "He ascended into heaven:" believe. "He sitteth at the right hand of the Father:"
believe. By sitting, understand dwelling: as [in Latin] we say of any person, "In that
country he dwelt (sedit) three years." The Scripture also has that expression, that such
an one dwelt (sedisse) in a city for such a time. Not meaning that he sat and never rose
up? On this account the dwellings of men are called seats (sedes). Where people are seated
(in this sense), are they always sitting? Is there no rising, no walking, no lying down?
And yet they are called seats (sedes). In this way, then, believe an inhabiting of Christ
on the right hand of God the Father: He is there. And let not your heart say to you, What
is He doing? Do not want to seek what is not permitted to find: He is there; it suffices
you. He is blessed, and from blessedness which is called the right hand of the Father, of
very blessedness the name is, right hand of the Father. For if we shall take it carnally,
then because He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, the Father will be on His left
hand. Is it consistent with piety so to put Them together, the Son on the right, the
Father on the left? There it is all right-hand, because no misery is there.

12. "Thence He shall come to judge the quick and dead." The quick, who shall be alive and
remain; the dead, who shall have gone before. It may also be understood thus: The living,
the just; the dead, the unjust. For He judges both, rendering unto each his own. To the
just He will say in the judgment, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom
prepared for you from the beginning of the world." For this prepare yourselves, for these
things hope, for this live, and so live, for this believe, for this be baptized, that it
may be said to you, "Come ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world." To them on the left hand, what? "Go into everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Thus will they be judged by Christ, the quick
and the dead. We have spoken of Christ's first nativity, which is without time; spoken of
the other in the fullness of time, Christ's nativity of the Virgin; spoken of the passion
of Christ; spoken of the coming of Christ to judgment. The whole is spoken, that was to be
spoken of Christ, God's Only Son, our Lord. But not yet is the Trinity perfect.

13. It follows in the Creed, "And in the Holy Ghost. This Trinity, one God, one nature,
one substance, one power; highest equality, no division, no diversity, perpetual dearness
of love. Would ye know the Holy Ghost, that He is God? Be baptized, and ye will be His
temple. The Apostle says, "Know ye not that your bodies are the temple within you of the
Holy Ghost, Whom ye have of God? A temple is for God: thus also Solomon, king and prophet,
was bidden to build a temple for God. If he had built a temple for the sun or moon or some
star or some angel, would not God condemn him Because therefore he built a temple for God
he showed that he worshipped God. And of what did he build? Of wood and stone, because God
deigned to make unto Himself by His servant an house on earth, where He might be asked,
where He might be had in mind. Of which blessed Stephen says, "Solomon built Him an house;
howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made by hand. If then our bodies are the
temple of the Holy Ghost, what manner of God is it that built a temple for the Holy Ghost?
But it was God. For if our bodies be a temple of the Holy Ghost, the same built this
temple for the Holy Ghost, that built our bodies. Listen to the Apostle saying, "God hath
tempered the body, giving unto that which lacked the greater honor;

when he was speaking of the different members that there should be no schisms in the body.
God created our body. The grass, God created; our body Who created? How do we prove that
the grass is God's creating? He that clothes, the same creates. Read the Gospel, "If then
the grass of the fields," saith it, "which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven,
God so clotheth. He, then, creates Who clothes. And the Apostle: "Thou fool, that which
thou sowest is not quickened except it die; and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not
that body that shall be, but a bare grain, as perchance of wheat, or of some other corn;
but God giveth it a body as He would, and to each one of seeds its proper body. If then it
be God that builds our bodies, God that builds our members, and our bodies are the temple
of the Holy Ghost, doubt not that the Holy Ghost is God. And do not add as it were a third
God; because Father and Son and Holy Ghost is One God. So believe ye.

14. It follows after commendation of the Trinity, "The Holy Church." God is pointed out,
and His temple. "For the temple of God is holy," says the Apostle, "which (temple) are
ye." This same is the holy Church, the one Church, the true Church, the catholic Church,
fighting against all heresies: fight, it can: be fought down, it cannot. As for heresies,
they went all out of it, like as unprofitable branches pruned from the vine: but itself
abideth in its root, in its Vine, in its charity. "The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it." 15. "Forgiveness of sins." Ye have [this article of] the Creed perfectly in
you when ye receive Baptism. Let none say, "I have done this or that sin: perchance that
is not forgiven me." What hast thou done? How great a sin hast thou done? Name any heinous
thing thou hast committed, heavy, horrible, which thou shudderest even to think of: have
done what thou wilt: hast thou killed Christ? There is not than that deed any worse,
because also than Christ there is nothing better. What a dreadful thing is it to kill
Christ! Yet the Jews killed Him, and many afterwards believed on Him and drank His blood:
they are forgiven the sin which they committed. When ye have been baptized, hold fast a
good life in the commandments of God, that ye may guard your Baptism even unto the end. I
do not tell you that ye will live here without sin; but they are venial, without which
this life is not. For the sake of all sins was Baptism provided; for the sake of light
sins, without which we cannot be, was prayer provided. What hath the Prayer? "Forgive us
our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." Once for all we have washing in Baptism, every
day we have washing in prayer. Only, do not commit those things for which ye must needs be
separated from Christ's body: which be far from you! For those whom ye have seen doing
penance, have committed heinous things, either adulteries or some enormous crimes: for
these they do penance. Because if theirs had been light sins, to blot out these daily
prayer would suffice.

16. In three ways then are sins remitted in the Church; by Baptism, by prayer, by the
greater humility of penance; yet God doth not remit sins but to the baptized. The very
sins which He remits first, He remits not but to the baptized. When? when they are
baptized. The sins which are after remitted upon prayer, upon penance, to whom He remits,
it is to the baptized that He remitteth. For how can they say, "Our Father," who are not
yet born sons? The Catechumens, so long as they be such, have upon them all their sins. If
Catechumens, how much more Pagans?how much more heretics? But to heretics we do not change
their baptism. Why? because they have baptism in the same way as a deserter has the
soldier's mark: just so these also have Baptism; they have it, but to be condemned
thereby, not crowned. And yet if the deserter himself, being amended, begin to do duty as
a soldier, does any man dare to change his mark?

17. We believe also "the resurrection of the flesh," which went before in Christ: that the
body too may have hope of that which went before in its Head. The Head of the Church,
Christ: the Church, the body of Christ. Our Head is risen, ascended into heaven: where the
Head, there also the members. In what way the resurrection of the flesh? Lest any should
chance to think it like as Lazarus's resurrection, that thou mayo est know it to be not
so, it is added, "Into life everlasting." God regenerate you! God preserve and keep you!
God bring you safe unto Himself, Who is the Life Everlasting. Amen.


THE ENCHIRIDION ON FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE
=======================================

THE ENCHIRIDION ON FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE Augustine of Hippo

AD 354–430

Bishop of Hippo, the most influential Latin father.

INTRODUCTION

1 By the Editor. St. Augustin speaks of this book in his Retractations, 1. ii. c. 63, as
follows: "I also wrote a book; on Faith, Hope, and Charity, at the request of the person
to whom I addressed it, that he might have a work of mine which should never be out of his
hands, such as the Greeks call an Enchiridion (Hand-Book). There I think I have pretty
carefully treated of the manner in which God is to be worshipped, which knowledge divine
Scripture defines to be the true wisdom of man. The book begins: `I cannot express,'" etc.
The Enchiridion is among the latest books of Augustin. It was written after the death of
Jerome, which occurred Sept. 30, 420; for he alludes in ch. 87 to Jerome "of blessed
memory" (sanctae memoriae Hieronymus presbyter). It is addressed to Laurentius, in answer
to his questions. This person is otherwise unknown. One Ms. calls him a deacon, another a
notary of the city of Rome. He was probably a layman.

2 The author usually calls the book "On Faith, Hope and Love," because he treats the
subject under these three heads (comp. I Cor. xiii. 13). He follows under the first head
the order of the Apostles' Creed, and refutes, without naming them, the Manichaen,
Apollinarian, Arian, and Pelagian heresies. Under the second head he gives a brief
exposition of the Lord's Prayer. The third part is a discourse on Christian love. The
original is in the sixth volume of the Benedictine edition. A neat edition of the Latin
text, with three other small tracts of Augustin, (De Catechizandis Rudibus; De Fide Rerum
quoe non creduntur; De Utilitate Credendi), is also published in C. Marriott's S. Aurelius
Augustinus, 4th ed. by H. de Romestin, Oxford and London (Parker and Comp.), 1885 (pp.
150-251.) An English edition of the same tracts by H. de Romestin, Oxford and London, 1885
(pp. 151-251). His English translation is based on that of C. L. Cornish, M.A., which
appeared in the Oxford "Library of the Fathers," Oxford 1847 ("Seventeen Short Treatises
of St. Aug." pp. 85-158).

3 The present translation by Professor Shaw was first published in Dr. Dods's series of
Augustin's works, Edinburgh, (T. and T. Clark,) 3d ed. 1883. It is more free and idiomatic
than that of Cornish. I have in a few cases conformed it more closely to the original. P.
S.

ARGUMENT.

Laurentius having asked Augustin to furnish him with a handbook of christian doctrine,
containing in brief compass answers to several questions which he had proposed, Augustin
shows him that these questions can be fully answered by any one who knows the proper
objects of faith, hope, and love. He then proceeds, in the first part of the work (chap.
ix.-cxiii.), to expound the objects of faith, taking as his text the apostles' creed; and
in the course of this exposition, besides refuting divers heresies, he throws out many
observations on the conduct of life. the second part of the work (chap. cxiv.-cxvi.)
treats of the objects of hope, and consists of a very brief exposition of the several
petitions in the lord's prayer. the third and concluding part (chap. cxvii.-cxxii.) treats
of the objects of love, showing the pre-eminence of this grace in the gospel system, that
it is the end of the commandment and the fulfilling of the law, and that God himself is
love.

CHAPTER 1.-THE AUTHOR DESIRES THE GIFT OF TRUE WISDOM FOR LAURENTIUS.

I Cannot express, my beloved son Laurentius, the delight with which I witness your
progress in knowledge, and the earnest desire I have that you should be a wise man: not
one of those of whom it is said, "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the
disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" but one of
those of whom it is said, "The multitude of the wise is the welfare of the world," and
such as the apostles wishes those to become, whom he tells," I would have you wise unto
that which is good, and simple concerning evil." Now, just as no one can exist of himself,
so no one san be wise of himself, but only by the enlightening influence of Him of whom it
is written," All wisdom cometh from the Lord."

CHAPTER 2.-THE FEAR OF GOD IS MAN'S TRUE WISDOM.

The true wisdom of man is piety. You find this in the book of holy Job. For we read there
what wisdom itself has said to man: "Behold, the fear of the Lord [pietas], that is
wisdom." If you ask further what is meant in that place by pietas, the Greek calls it more
definitely qeosebeia, that is, the worship of God. The Greeks sometimes call piety
eusebeia, which signifies right worship, though this, of course, refers specially to the
worship of God. But when we are defining in what man's true wisdom consists, the most
convenient word to use is that which distinctly expresses the fear of God. And can you,
who are anxious that I should treat of great matters in few words, wish for a briefer form
of expression? Or perhaps you are anxious that this expression should itself be briefly
explained, and that I should unfold in a short discourse the proper mode of worshipping
God?

CHAPTER 3.-GOD IS TO BE WORSHIPPED THROUGH FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE.

Now if I should answer, that God is to be worshipped with faith, hope, and love, you will
at once say that this answer is too brief, and will ask me briefly to unfold the objects
of each of these three graces, viz., what we are to believe, what we are to hope for, and
what we are to love. And when I have done this, you will have an answer to all the
questions you asked in your letter. If you have kept a copy of your letter, you can easily
turn it up and read it over again: if you have not, you will have no difficulty in
recalling it when I refresh your memory.

CHAPTER 4.-THE QUESTIONS PROPOUNDED BY LAURENTIUS.

You are anxious, you say, that I should write a sort of handbook for you, which you might
always keep beside you, containing answers to the questions you put, viz.: what ought to
be man's chief end in life; what he ought, in view of the various heresies, chiefly to
avoid; to what extent religion is supported by reason; what there is in reason that lends
no support to faith, when faith stands alone; what is the starting-point, what the goal,
of religion; what is the sum of the whole body of doctrine; what is the sure and proper
foundation of the catholic faith. Now, undoubtedly, you will know the answers to all these
questions, if you know thoroughly the proper objects of faith, hope, and love. For these
must be the chief, nay, the exclusive objects of pursuit in religion. He who speaks
against these is either a total stranger to the name of Christ, or is a heretic. These are
to be defended by reason, which must have its starting-point either in the bodily senses
or in the intuitions of the mind. And what we have neither had experience of through our
bodily senses, nor have been able to reach through the intellect, must undoubtedly be
believed on the testimony of those witnesses by whom the Scriptures, justly called divine,
were written; and who by divine assistance were enabled, either through bodily sense or
intellectual perception, to see or to foresee the things in question.

CHAPTER 5.-BRIEF ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS.

Moreover, when the mind has been imbued with the first elements of that faith which
worketh by love, it endeavors by purity of life to attain unto sight, where the pure and
[perfect in heart know that unspeakable beauty, the full vision of which is supreme
happiness. Here surely is an answer to your question as to what is the starting-point, and
what the goal: we begin in faith, and are made perfect by sight. This also is the sum of
the whole body of doctrine. But the sure and proper foundation of the catholic faith is
Christ. "For other foundation," says the apostle, "can no man lay than that is laid, which
is Jesus Christ." Nor are we to deny that this is the proper foundation of the catholic
faith, because it may be supposed that some heretics hold this in common with us. For if
we carefully consider the things that pertain to Christ, we shall find that, among those
heretics who call themselves Christians, Christ is present in name only: in deed and in
truth He is not among them. But to show this would occupy us too long, for we should
require to go over all the heresies which have existed, which do exist, or which could
exist, under the Christian name, and to show that this is true in the case of each,-a
discussion which would occupy so many volumes as to be all but interminable.

CHAPTER 6.-CONTROVERSY OUT OF PLACE IN A HANDBOOK LIKE THE PRESENT.

Now you ask of me a handbook, that is, one that can be carried in the hand, not one to
load your shelves. To return, then, to the three graces through which, as I have said, God
should be worshipped-faith, hope, and love: to state what are the true and proper objects
of each of these is easy. But to defend this true doctrine against the assaults of those
who hold an opposite opinion, requires much fuller and more elaborate instruction. And the
true way to obtain this instruction is not to have a short treatise put into one's hands,
but to have a great zeal kindled in one's heart.

CHAPTER 7.-THE CREED AND THE LORD'S PRAYER DEMAND THE EXERCISE OF FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE.

For you have the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. What can be briefer to hear or to read? What
easier to commit to memory? When, as the result of sin, the human race was groaning under
a heavy load of misery, and was in urgent need of the divine compassion, one of the
prophets, anticipating the time of God's grace, declared: "And it shall come to pass, that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered." Hence the Lord's Prayer.
But the apostle, when, for the purpose of commending this very grace, he had quoted this
prophetic testimony, immediately added: "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have
not believed?" Hence the Creed. In these two you have those three graces exemplified:
faith believes, hope and love pray. But without faith the two last cannot exist, and
therefore we may say that faith also prays. Whence it is written: "How shall they call on
Him in whom they have not believed?"

CHAPTER 8.-THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN FAITH AND HOPE, AND THE MUTUAL DEPENDENCE OF FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE.

1 Again, can anything be hoped for which is not an object of faith? It is true that a
thing which is not an object of hope may be believed. What true Christian, for example,
does not believe in the punishment of the wicked? And yet such an one does not hope for
it. And the man who believes that punishment to be hanging over himself, and who shrinks
in horror from the prospect, is more properly said to fear than to hope. And these two
states of mind the poet carefully distinguishes, when he says: "Permit the fearful to have
hope. Another poet, who is usually much superior to this one, makes a wrong use of the
word, when he says: "If I have been able to hope for so great a grief as this. And some
grammarians take this case as an example of impropriety of speech, saying, "He said
sperare [to hope] instead of timere [to fear]. Accordingly, faith may have for its object
evil as well as good; for both good and evil are believed, and the faith that believes
them is not evil, but good. Faith, moreover, is concerned with the past, the present, and
the future, all three. We believe, for example, that Christ died,-an event in the past; we
believe that He is sitting at the right hand of God,-a state of things which is present;
we believe that He will come to judge the quick and the dead,-an event of the future.

2 Again, faith applies both to one's own circumstances and those of others. Every one, for
example, believes that his own existence had a beginning, and was not eternal, and he
believes the same both of other men and other things. Many of our beliefs in regard to
religious matters, again, have reference not merely to other men, but to angels also. But
hope has for its object only what is good, only what is future, and only what affects the
man who entertains the hope. For these reasons, then, faith must be distinguished from
hope, not merely as a matter of verbal propriety, but because they are essentially
different. The fact that we do not see either what we believe or what we hope for, is all
that is common to faith and hope. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, for example, faith is
defined (and eminent defenders of the catholic faith have used the definition as a
standard) "the evidence of things not seen. Although, should any one say that he believes,
that is, has grounded his faith, not on words, nor on witnesses, nor on any reasoning
whatever, but on the direct evidence of his own senses, he would not be guilty of such an
impropriety of speech as to be justly liable to the criticism, "You saw,therefore you did
not believe. And hence it does not follow that an object of faith is not an object of
sight.

3 But it is better that we should use the word "faith" as the Scriptures have taught us,
applying it to those things which are not seen. Concerning hope, again, the apostle says:
"Hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we
hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. When, then, we believe
that good is about to come, this is nothing else but to hope for it. Now what shall I say
of love? Without it, faith profits nothing; and in its absence, hope cannot exist. The
Apostle James says: "The devils also believe, and tremble." -that is, they, having neither
hope nor love, but believing that what we love and hope for is about to come, are in
terror. And so the Apostle Paul approves and commends the "faith that worketh by love; and
this certainly cannot exist without hope. Wherefore there is no love without hope, no hope
without love, and neither love nor hope without faith.

CHAPTER 9.-WHAT WE ARE TO BELIEVE. IN REGARD TO NATURE IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR THE CHRISTIAN TO KNOW MORE THAN THAT THE GOODNESS OF THE CREATOR IS THE CAUSE OF ALL THINGS.

When, then, the question is asked what we are to believe in regard to religion, it is not
necessary to probe into the nature of things, as was done by those whom the Greeks call
physici; nor need we be in alarm lest the Christian should be ignorant of the force and
number of the elements,-the motion, and order, and eclipses of the heavenly bodies; the
form of the heavens; the species and the natures of animals, plants, stones, fountains,
rivers, mountains; about chronology and distances; the signs of coming storms; and a
thousand other things which those philosophers either have found out, or think they have
found out. For even these men themselves, endowed though they are with so much genius,
burning with zeal, abounding in leisure, tracking some things by the aid of human
conjecture, searching into others with the aids of history and experience, have not found
out all things; and even their boasted discoveries are oftener mere guesses than certain
knowledge. It is enough for the Christian to believe that the only cause of all created
things, whether heavenly or earthly, whether visible or invisible, is the goodness of the
Creator the one true God; and that nothing exists but Himself that does not derive its
existence from Him; and that He is the Trinity-to wit, the Father, and the Son begotten of
the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeding from the same Father, but one and the same
Spirit of Father and Son.

CHAPTER 10.-THE SUPREMELY GOOD CREATO MADE ALL THINGS GOOD.

By the Trinity, thus supremely and equally and unchangeably good, all things were created;
and these are not supremely and equally and unchangeably good, but yet they are, good,
even taken separately. Taken as a whole, however, they are very good, because their
ensemble constitutes the universe in all its wonderful order and beauty.

CHAPTER 11.-WHAT IS CALLED EVIL IN THE UNIVERSE IS BUT THE ABSENCE OF GOOD.

And in the universe, even that which is called evil, when it is regulated and put in its
own place, only enhances our admiration of the good; for we enjoy and value the good more
when we compare it with the evil. For the Almighty God, who, as even the heathen
acknowledge, has supreme power over all things, being Himself supremely good, would never
permit the existence of anything evil among His works, if He were not so omnipotent and
good that He can bring good even out of evil. For what is that which we call evil but the
absence of good? In the bodies of animals, disease and wounds mean nothing but the absence
of health; for when a cure is effected, that does not mean that the evils which were
present-namely, the diseases and wounds-go away from the body and dwell elsewhere:they
altogether cease to exist; for the wound or disease is not a substance, but a defect in
the fleshly substance,-the flesh itself being a substance, and therefore something good,
of which those evils-that is, privations of the good which we call health-are accidents.
Just in the same way, what are called vices in the soul are nothing but privations of
natural good. And when they are cured, they are not transferred elsewhere: when they cease
to exist in the healthy soul, they cannot exist anywhere else.

CHAPTER 12.-ALL BEINGS WERE MADE GOOD, BUT NOT BEING MADE PERFECTLY GOOD, ARE LIABLE TO CORRUPTION.

1 All things that exist, therefore, seeing that the Creator of them all is supremely good,
are themselves good. But because they are not, like their Creator, supremely and
unchangeably good, their good may be diminished and increased. But for good to be
diminished is an evil, although, however much it may be diminished, it is necessary, if
the being is to continue, that some good should remain to constitute the being. For
however small or of whatever kind the being may be, the good which makes it a being cannot
be destroyed without destroying the being itself. An uncorrupted nature is justly held in
esteem. But if, still further, it be incorruptible, it is undoubtedly considered of still
higher value. When it is corrupted, however, its corruption is an evil, because it is
deprived of some sort of good. For if it be deprived of no good, it receives no injury;
but it does receive injury, therefore it is deprived of good. Therefore, so long as a
being is in process of corruption, there is in it some good of which it is being deprived;
and if a part of the being should remain which cannot be corrupted, this will certainly be
an incorruptible being, and accordingly the process of corruption will result in the
manifestation of this great good. But if it do not cease to be corrupted, neither can it
cease to possess good of which corruption may deprive it.

2 But if it should be thoroughly and completely consumed by corruption, there will then be
nogood left, because there will be no being.Wherefore corruption can consume the good only
by consuming the being. Every being, therefore, is a good; a great good, if it can not be
corrupted; a little good, if it can: but in any case, only the foolish or ignorant will
deny that it is a good. And if it be wholly consumed by corruption, then the corruption
itself must cease to exist, as there is no being left in which it can dwell.

CHAPTER 13.-THERE CAN BE NO EVIL WHERE THERE IS NO GOOD; AND AN EVIL MAN IS AN EVIL GOOD.

1 Accordingly, there is nothing of what we call evil, if there be nothing good. But a good
which is wholly without evil is a perfect good. A good, on the other hand, which contains
evil is a faulty or imperfect good; and there can be no evil where there is no good. From
all this we arrive at the curious result: that since every being, so far as it is a being,
is good, when we say that a faulty being is an evil being, we just seem to say that what
is good is evil, and that nothing but what is good can be evil, seeing that every being is
good, and that no evil can exist except in a being. Nothing, then, can be evil except
something which is good. And although this, when stated, seems to be a contradiction, yet
the strictness of reasoning leaves us no escape from the conclusion. We must, however,
beware of incurring the prophetic condemnation: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and
good evil: that put. darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for
sweet, and sweet for bitter. And yet our Lord says: "An evil man out of the evil treasure
of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil. Now, what is evil man but an evil being?
for a man is a being. Now, if a man is a good thing because he is a being, what is an evil
man but an evil good?

2 Yet, when we accurately distinguish these two things, we find that it is not because he
is a man that he is an evil, or because he is wicked that he is a good; but that he is a
good because he is a man, and an evil because he is wicked. Whoever, then, says, "To be a
man is an evil," or, "To be wicked is a good," falls under the prophetic denunciation:
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil! For he condemns the work of God, which
is the man, and praises the defect of man, which is the wickedness. Therefore every being,
even if it be a defective one, in so far as it is a being is good, and in so far as it is
defective is evil.

CHAPTER 14.-GOOD AND EVIL ARE AN EXCEPTION TO THE RULE THAT CONTRARY ATTRIBUTES CANNOT BE PREDICATED OF THE SAME SUBJECT. EVIL SPRINGS UP IN WHAT IS GOOD, AND CANNOT EXIST EXCEPT IN WHAT IS GOOD.

1 Accordingly, in the case of these contraries which we call good and evil, the rule of
thelogicians, that two contraries cannot be predicated at the same time of the same
thing,does not hold. No weather is at the sametime dark and bright: no food or drink is at
the same time sweet and bitter: no body is at the same time and in the same place black
and white: none is at the same time and in the same place deformed and beautiful. And this
rue is found to hold in regard to many, indeed nearly all, contraries, that they cannot
exist at the same time in any one thing. But although no one can doubt that good and evil
are contraries, not only can they exist at the same time, but evil cannot exist without
good. or in anything that is not good. Good, however, can exist without evil. For a man or
an angel can exist without being wicked; but nothing can be wicked except a man or an
angel: and so far as he is a man or an angel, he is good; so far as he is wicked, he is an
evil. And these two contraries are so far co-existent, that if good did not exist in what
is evil, neither could evil exist; because corruption could not have either a place to
dwell in, or a source to spring from, if there were nothing that could be corrupted;

2 and nothing can be corrupted except what is good, for corruption is nothing else but the
destruction of good. From what is good, then, evils arose, and except in what is good they
do not exist; nor was there any other source from which any evil nature could arise. For
if there were, then, in so far as this was a being, it was certainly a good: and a being
which was incorruptible would be a great good; and even one which was corruptible must be
to some extent a good, for only by corrupting what was good in it could corruption do it
harm.

CHAPTER 15.-THE PRECEDING ARGUMENT IS IN NO WISE INCONSISTENT WITH THE SAYING OF OUR LORD: "A GOOD TREE CANNOT BRING FORTH EVIL FRUIT."

But when we say that evil springs out of good, let it not be thought that this contradicts
our Lord's saying: "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit." For, as He who is the
Truth says, you cannot gather grapes of thorns, because grapes do not grow on thorns. But
we see that on good soil both vines and thorns may be grown. And in the same way, just as
an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit, so an evil will cannot produce good works. But
from the nature of man, which is good, may spring either a good or an evil will. And
certainly there was at first no source from which an evil will could spring, except the
nature of angel or of man, which was good. And our Lord Himself clearly shows this in the
very same place where He speaks about the tree and its fruit. For He says: "Either make
the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt,"
-clearly enough warning us that evil fruits do not grow on a good tree, nor good fruits on
an evil tree; but that nevertheless the ground itself, by which He meant those whom He was
then addressing, might grow either kind of trees.

CHAPTER 16.-IT IS NOT ESSENTIAL TO MAN'S HAPPINESS THAT HE SHOULD KNOW THE CAUSES OF PHYSICAL CONVULSIONS; BUT IT IS, THAT HE SHOULD KNOW THE CAUSES OF GOOD AND EVIL.

Now, in view of these considerations, when we are pleased with that line of Maro, "Happy
the man who has attained to the knowledge of the causes of things," we should not suppose
that it is necessary to happiness to know the causes of the great physical convulsions,
causes which lie hid in the most secret recesses of nature's kingdom, "whence comes the
earthquake whose force makes the deep seas to swell and burst their barriers, and again to
return upon themselves and settle down." But we ought to know the causes of good and evil
as far as man may in this life know them, in order to avoid the mistakes and troubles of
which this life is so full. For our aim must always be to reach that state of happiness in
which no trouble shall distress us, and no error mislead us. If we must know the causes of
physical convulsions, there are none which it concerns us more to know than those which
affect our own health. But seeing that, in our ignorance of these, we are fain to resort
to physicians, it would seem that we might bear with considerable patience our ignorance
of the secrets that lie hid in the earth and heavens.

CHAPTER 17.-THE NATURE OF ERROR. ALL ERROR IS NOT HURTFUL, THOUGH IT IS MAN'S DUTY AS FAR AS POSSIBLE TO AVOID IT.

1 For although we ought with the greatest possible care to avoid error, not only in great
but even in little things, and although we cannot err except through ignorance, it does
not follow that, if a man is ignorant of a thing, he must forthwith fall into error. That
is rather the fate of the man who thinks he knows what he does not know. For he accepts
what is false as if it were true, and that is the essence of error. But it is a point of
very great importance what the subject is in regard to which a man makes a mistake. For on
one and the same subject we rightly prefer an instructed man to an ignorant one, and a man
who is not in error to one who is. In the case of different subjects, however,-that is,
when one man knows one thing, and another a different thing, and when what the former
knows is useful, and what the latter knows is not so useful, or is actually hurtful,-who
would not, in regard to the things the latter knows, prefer the ignorance of the former to
the knowledge of the latter? For there are points on whichignorance is better than
knowledge. And in the same way, it has sometimes been an advantage to depart from the
right way,-in travelling, however, not in morals.

2 It has happened to myself to take the wrong road where two ways met, so that I did not
pass by the place where an armed band of Donatists lay in wait for me. Yet I arrived at
the place whither I was bent, though by a roundabout route; and when I heard of the
ambush, I congratulated myself on my mistake, and gave thanks to God for it. Now, who
would not rather be the traveller who made a mistake like this, than the highwayman who
made no mistake? And hence, perhaps, it is that the prince of poets puts these words into
the mouth of a lover in misery: "How I am undone. how I have been carried away by an evil
error! for there is an error which is good, as it not merely does no harm, hut produces
some actual advantage. But when we look more closely into the nature of truth, and
consider that to err is just to take the false for the true, and the true for the false,
or to hold what is certain as uncertain, and what is uncertain as certain, and that error
in the soul is hideous and repulsive just in proportion as it appears fair and plausible
when we utter it, or assent to it, saying, "Yea, yea; Nay, nay,"-surely this life that we
live is wretched indeed, if only on this account, that sometimes, in order to preserve it,
it is necessary to fall into error.

3 God forbid that such should be that other life, where truth itself is the life of the
soul, where no one deceives, and no one is deceived. But here men deceive and are
deceived, and they are more to be pitied when they lead others astray than when they are
themselves led astray by putting trust in liars. Yet so much does a rational soul shrink
from what is false, and so earnestly does it struggle against error, that even those who
love to deceive are most unwilling to be deceived. For the liar does not think that he
errs, but that he leads another who trusts him into error. And certainly he does not err
in regard to the matter about which he lies, if he himself knows the truth; but he is
deceived in this, that he thinks his lie does him no harm, whereas every sin is more
hurtful to the sinner than to the sinned against.

CHAPTER 18.-IT IS NEVER ALLOWABLE TO TELL A LIE; BUT LIES DIFFER VERY MUCH IN GUILT, ACCORDING TO THE INTENTION AND THE SUBJECT.

1 But here arises a very difficult and very intricate question, about which I once wrote a
large book, finding it necessary to give it an answer. The question is this: whether at
any time it can become the duty of a good man to tell a lie? For some go so far as to
contend that there are occasions on which it is a good and pious work to commit perjury
even, and to say what is false about matters that relate to the worship of God, and about
the very nature of God Himself. To me, however, it seems certain that every lie is a sin,
though it makes a great difference with what intention and on what subject one lies. For
the sin of the man who tells a lie to help another is not so heinous as that of the man
who tells a lie to injure another; and the man who by his lying puts a traveller on the
wrong road, does not do so much harm as the man who by false or misleading representations
distorts the whole course of a life. No one, of course, is to be condemned as a liar who
says what is false, believing it to be true, because such an one does not consciously
deceive, but rather is himself deceived. And, on the same principle, a man is not to be
accused of lying, though he may sometimes be open to the charge of rashness, if through
carelessness he takes up what is false and holds it as true;

2 but, on the other hand, the man who says what is true, believing it to be false, is, so
far as his own consciousness is concerned, a liar. For in saying what he does not believe,
he says what to his own conscience is false, even though it should in fact be true; nor is
the man in any sense free from lying who with his mouth speaks the truth without knowing
it, but in his heart wills to tell a lie. And, therefore, not looking at the matter spoken
of, but solely at the intention of the speaker, the man who unwittingly says what is
false, thinking all the time that it is true, is a better man than the one who unwittingly
says what is true, but in his conscience intends to deceive. For the former does not think
one thing and say another; but the latter, though his statements may be true in fact, has
one thought in his heart and another on his lips: and that is the very essence of lying.
But when we come to consider truth and falsehood in respect to the subjects spoken of, the
point on which one deceives or is deceived becomes a matterof the utmost importance.

3 For although, as far as a man's own conscience is concerned, it is a greater evil to
deceive than to be deceived, nevertheless it is a far less evil to tell a lie in regard to
matters that do not relate to religion, than to be led into error in regard to matters the
knowledge and belief of which are essential to the right worship of God. To illustrate
this by example: suppose that one man should say of some one who is dead that he is still
alive, knowing this to be untrue; and that another man should, being deceived, believe
that Christ shall at the end of some time (make the time as long as you please) die; would
it not be incomparably better to lie like the former, than to be deceived like the latter?
and would it not be a much less evil to lead some man into the former error, than to be
led by any man into the latter?

CHAPTER 19.-MEN'S ERRORS VARY VERY MUCH IN THE MAGNITUDE OF THE EVILS THEY PRODUCE; BUT YET EVERY ERROR IS IN ITSELF AN EVIL.

1 In some things, then, it is a great evil to be deceived; in some it is a small evil; in
some no evil at all; and in some it is an actual advantage. It is to his grievous injury
that a man is deceived when he does not believe what leads to eternal life, or believes
what leads to eternal death. It is a small evil for a man to be deceived, when, by taking
falsehood for truth, he brings upon himself temporal annoyances; for the patience of the
believer will turn even these to a good use, as when, for example, taking a bad man for a
good, he receives injury from him. But one who believes a bad man to be good, and yet
suffers no injury, is nothing the worse for being deceived, nor does he fall under the
prophetic denunciation: "Woe to those who call evil good! For we are to understand that
this is spoken not about evil men, but about the things that make men evil. Hence the man
who calls adultery good, falls justly under that prophetic denunciation. But the man who
calls the adulterer good, thinking him to be chaste, and not knowing him to be an
adulterer, falls into no error in regard to the nature of good and evil, but only makes a
mistake as to the secrets of human conduct. He calls the man good on the ground of
believing him to be what is undoubtedly good; he calls the adulterer evil, and the pure
man good;

2 and he calls this man good, not knowing him to be an adulterer, but believing him to be
pure. Further, if by making a mistake one escape death, as I have said above once happened
to me, one even derives some advantage from one's mistake. But when I assert that in
certain cases a man may be deceived without any injury to himself, or even with some
advantage to himself, I do not mean that the mistake in itself is no evil, or is in any
sense a good; I refer only to the evil that is avoided, or the advantage that is gained,
through making the mistake. For the mistake, considered in itself, is an evil: a great
evil if it concern a great matter, a small evil if it concern a small matter, but yet
always an evil. For who that is of sound mind can deny that it is an evil to receive what
is false as if it were true, and to reject what is true as if it were false, or to hold
what is uncertain as certain, and what is certain as uncertain? But it is one thing to
think a man good when he is really bad, which is a mistake; it is another thing to suffer
no ulterior injury in consequence of the mistake, supposing that the bad man whom we think
good inflicts no damage upon us. In the same way, it is one thing to think that we are on
the right road when we are not;

3 it is another thing when this mistake of ours, which is an evil, leads to some good,
such as saving us from an ambush of wicked men.

CHAPTER 20.-EVERY ERROR IS NOT A SIN. AN EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION OF THE ACADEMIC PHILOSOPHERS, THAT TO AVOID ERROR WE SHOULD IN ALL CASES SUSPEND BELIEF.

1 I am not sure whether mistakes such as the following,-when one forms a good opinion of a
bad man, not knowing what sort of man he is; or when, instead of the ordinary perceptions
through the bodily senses, other appearances of a similar kind present themselves, which
we perceive in the spirit, but think we perceive in the body, or perceive in the body, but
think we perceive in the spirit (such a mistake as the Apostle Peter made when the angel
suddenly freed him from his chains and imprisonment, and he thought he saw a vision ); or
when, in the case of sensible objects themselves, we mistake rough for smooth, or bitter
for sweet, or think that putrid matter has a good smell; or when we mistake the passing of
a carriage for thunder; or mistake one man for another, the two being very much alike, as
often happens in the case of twins (hence our great poet calls it "a mistake pleasing to
parents" ),-whether these, and other mistakes of this kind, ought to be called sins. Nor
do I now undertaketo solve a very knotty question, which perplexed those very acute
thinkers, the Academic philosophers: whether a wise man ought to give his assent to
anything, seeing that he may fall into error by assenting tofalsehood: for all things, as
they assert, are either unknown or uncertain. Now I wrote three volumes shortly after my
conversion, to remove out of my way the objections which lie, as it were, on the very
threshold of faith.

2 And assuredly it was necessary at the very outset to remove this utter despair of
reaching truth, which seems to be strengthened by the arguments of these philosophers. Now
in their eyes every error is regarded as a sin, and they think that error can only be
avoided by entirely suspending belief. For they say that the man who assents to what is
uncertain falls into error; and they strive by the most acute, but most audacious
arguments, to show that, even though a man's opinion should by chance be true, yet that
there is no certainty of its truth, owing to the impossibility of distinguishing truth
from falsehood. But with us, "the just shall live by faith. Now, if assent be taken away,
faith goes too; for without assent there can be no belief. And there are truths, whether
we know them or not, which must be believed if we would attain to a happy life, that is,
to eternal life. But I am not sure whether one ought to argue with men who not only do not
know that there is an eternal life before them, but do not know whether they are living at
the present moment; nay, say that they do not know what it is impossible they can be
ignorant of. For it is impossible that any one should be ignorant that he is alive, seeing
that if he be not alive it is impossible for him to be ignorant; for not knowledge merely,
but ignorance too, can be an attribute only of the living.

3 But, forsooth, they think that by not acknowledging that they are alive they avoid
error, when even their very error proves that they are alive, since one who is not alive
cannot err. As, then, it is not only true, but certain, that we are alive, so there are
many other things both true and certain; and God forbid that it should ever be called
wisdom, and not the height of folly, to refuse assent to these.

CHAPTER 21.-ERROR, THOUGH NOT ALWAYS A SIN, IS ALWAYS AN EVIL.

1 But as to those matters in regard to which our belief or disbelief, and indeed their
truth or supposed truth or falsity, are of no importance whatever, so far as attaining the
kingdom of God is concerned: to make a mistake in such matters is not to be looked on as a
sin, or at least as a very small and trifling sin. In short, a mistake in matters of this
kind, whatever its nature and magnitude, does not relate to the way of approach to God,
which is the faith of Christ that "worketh by love. For the "mistake pleasing to parents"
in the case of the twin children was no deviation from this way; nor did the Apostle Peter
deviate from this way, when, thinking that he saw a vision, he so mistook one thing for
another, that, till the angel who delivered him had departed from him, he did not
distinguish the real objects among which he was moving from the visionary objects of a
dream; nor did the patriarch Jacob deviate from this way, when he believed that his son,
who was really alive, had been slain by a beast. In the case of these and other false
impressions of the same kind, we are indeed deceived, but our faith in God remains secure.
We go astray, but we do not leave the way that leads us to Him.

2 But yet these errors, though they are not sinful, are to be reckoned among the evils of
this life which is so far made subject to vanity, that we receive what is false as if it
were true, reject what is true as if it were false, and cling to what is uncertain as if
it were certain. And although they do not trench upon that true and certain faith through
which we reach eternal blessedness, yet they have much to do with that misery in which we
are now living. And assuredly, if we were now in the enjoyment of the true and perfect
happiness that lies before us, we should not be subject to any deception through any
sense, whether of body or of mind.

CHAPTER 22.-A LIE IS NOT ALLOWABLE, EVEN TO SAVE ANOTHER FROM INJURY.

1 But every lie must be called a sin, because not only when a man knows the truth, but
even when, as a man may be, he is mistaken and deceived, it is his duty to say what he
thinks in his heart, whether it be true, or whether he only think it to be true. But every
liar says the opposite of what he thinks in his heart, with purpose to deceive. Now it is
evident that speech was given to man, not that men might therewith deceive one another,
but that one man might make known his thoughts to another. To use speech, then, for the
purpose of deception, and not for its appointed end, is a sin. Nor are we to suppose that
there is any lie that is not a sin, because it is sometimes possible, by telling a lie, to
do service to another. For it is possible to do this by theft also, as when we steal from
a rich man who never feels the loss, to give to a poor man who is sensibly benefited by
what he gets. And the same can be said of adultery also, when, for instance, some woman
appears likely to die of love unless we consent to her wishes, while if she lived she
might purify herself by repentance; but yet no one will assert that on this account such
an adultery is not a sin.

2 And if we justly place so high a value upon chastity, what offense have we taken at
truth, that, while no prospect of advantage to another will lead us to violate the former
by adultery, we should be ready to violate the latter by lying? It cannot be denied that
they have attained a very high standard of goodness who never lie except to save a man
from injury; but in the case of men who have reached this standard, it is not the deceit,
but their good intention, that is justly praised, and sometimes even rewarded. It is quite
enough that the deception should be pardoned, without its being made an object of
laudation, especially among the heirs of the new covenant, to whom it is said: "Let your
communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
And it is on account of this evil, which never ceases to creep in while we retain this
mortal vesture, that the co-heirs of Christ themselves say, "Forgive us our debts."

CHAPTER 23.-SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS OF THE PRECEDING DISCUSSION.

As it is right that we should know the causes of good and evil, so much of them at least
as will suffice for the way that leads us to the kingdom, where there will be life without
the shadow of death, truth without any alloy of error, and happiness unbroken by any
sorrow, I have discussed these subjects with the brevity which my limited space demanded.
And I think there cannot now be any doubt, that the only cause of any good that we enjoy
is the goodness of God, and that the only cause of evil is the failing away from the
unchangeable good of a being made good but changeable, first in the case of an angel, and
afterwards in the case of man.

CHAPTER 24.-THE SECONDARY CAUSES OF EVIL ARE IGNORANCE AND LUST.

This is the first evil that befell the intelligent creation-that is, its first privation
of good. Following upon this crept in, and now even in opposition to man's will, ignorance
of duty, and lust after what is hurtful: and these brought in their train error and
suffering, which, when they are felt to be imminent, produce that shrinking of the mind
which is called fear. Further, when the mind attains the objects of its desire, however
hurtful or empty they may be, error prevents it from perceiving their true nature, or its
perceptions are overborne by a diseased appetite, and so it is puffed up with a foolish
joy. From these fountains of evil, which spring out of defect rather than superfluity,
flows every form of misery that besets a rational nature.

CHAPTER 25.-GOD'S JUDGMENTS UPON FALLEN MEN AND ANGELS. THE DEATH OF THE BODY IS MAN'S PECULIAR PUNISHMENT.

And yet such a nature, in the midst of all its evils, could not lose the craving after
happiness. Now the evils I have mentioned are common to all who for their wickedness have
been justly condemned by God, whether they be men or angels. But there is one form of
punishment peculiar to man-the death of the body. God had threatened him with this
punishment of death if he should sin, leaving him indeed to the freedom of his own will,
but yet commanding his obedience under pain of death; and He placed him amid the happiness
of Eden, as it were in a protected nook of life, with the intention that, if he preserved
his righteousness, he should thence ascend to a better place.

CHAPTER 26.-THROUGH ADAM'S SIN HIS WHOLE POSTERITY WERE CORRUPTED, AND WERE BORN UNDER THE PENALTY OF DEATH, WHICH HE HAD INCURRED.

Thence, after his sin, he was driven into exile, and by his sin the whole race of which he
was the root was corrupted in him, and thereby subjected to the penalty of death. And so
it happens that all descended from him, and from the woman who had led him into sin, and
was condemned at the same time with him,-being the offspring of carnal lust on which the
same punishment of disobedience was visited,-were tainted with the original sin, and were
by it drawn through divers errors and sufferings into that last and endless punishment
which they suffer in common with the fallen angels, their corrupters and masters, and the
partakers of their doom. And thus "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." By "the world" the
apostle, of course, means in this place the whole human race.

CHAPTER 27.-THE STATE OF MISERY TO WHICH ADAM'S SIN REDUCED MANKIND, AND THE RESTORATION EFFECTED THROUGH THE MERCY OF GOD.

1 Thus, then, matters stood. The whole mass of the human race was under condemnation, was
lying steeped and wallowing in misery, and was being tossed from one form of evil to
another, and, having joined the faction of the fallen angels, was paying the well-merited
penalty of that impious rebellion. For whatever the wicked freely do through blind and
unbridled lust, and whatever they suffer against their will in the way of open punishment,
this all evidently pertains to the just wrath of God. But the goodness of the Creator
never fails either to supply life and vital power to the wicked angels (without which
their existence would soon come to an end); or, in the case of mankind, who spring from a
condemned and corrupt stock, to impart form and life to their seed, to fashion their
members, and through the various seasons of their life, and in the different parts of the
earth, to quicken their senses, and bestow upon them the nourishment they need. For He
judged it better to bring good out of evil, than not to permit any evil to exist. And if
He had determined that in the case.

2 of men, as in the case of the fallen angels, there should be no restoration to
happiness, would it not have been quite just, that the being who rebelled against God, who
in the abuse of his freedom spurned and transgressed the command of his Creator when he
could so easily have kept it, who defaced in himself the image of his Creator by
stubbornly turning away from His light, who by an evil use of his free-will broke away
from his wholesome bondage to the Creator's laws,-would it not have been just that such a
being should have been wholly and to all eternity deserted by God, and left to suffer the
everlasting punishment he had so richly earned? Certainly so God would have done, had He
been only just and not also merciful, and had He not designed that His unmerited mercy
should shine forth the more brightly in contrast with the unworthiness of its objects.

CHAPTER 28.-WHEN THE REBELLIOUS ANGELS WERE CAST OUT, THE REST REMAINED IN THE ENJOYMENT OF ETERNAL HAPPINESS WITH GOD.

Whilst some of the angels, then, in their pride and impiety rebelled against God, and were
cast down from their heavenly abode into the lowest darkness, the remaining number dwelt
with God in eternal and unchanging purity and happiness. For all were not sprung from one
angel who had fallen and been condemned, so that they were not all, like men, involved by
one original sin in the bonds of an inherited guilt, and so made subject to the penalty
which one had incurred; but when he, who afterwards became the devil, was with his
associates in crime exalted in pride, and by that very exaltation was with them cast down,
the rest remained steadfast in piety and obedience to their Lord, and obtained, what
before they had not enjoyed, a sure and certain knowledge of their eternal safety, and
freedom from the possibility of falling.

CHAPTER 29.-THE RESTORED PART OF HUMANITY SHALL, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROMISES OF GOD, SUCCEED TO THE PLACE WHICH THE REBELLIOUS ANGELS LOST.

And so it pleased God, the Creator and Governor of the universe, that, since the whole
body of the angels had not fallen into rebellion, the part of them which had fallen should
remain in perdition eternally, and that the other part, which had in the rebellion
remained steadfastly loyal, should rejoice in the sure and certain knowledge of their
eternal happiness; but that, on the other hand, mankind, who constituted the remainder of
the intelligent creation, having perished without exception under sin, both original and
actual, and the consequent punishments, should be in part restored, and should fill up the
gap which the rebellion and fall of the devils had left in the company of the angels. For
this is the promise to the saints, that at the resurrection they shall be equal to the
angels of God. And thus the Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all, the
city of God, shall not be spoiled of any of the number of her citizens, shall perhaps
reign over even a more abundant population. We do not know the number either of the saints
or of the devils; but we know that the children of the holy mother who was called barren
on earth shall succeed to the place of the fallen angels, and shall dwell for ever in that
peaceful abode from which they fell. But the number of the citizens, whether as it now is
or as it shall be, is present to the thoughts of the great Creator, who calls those things
which are not as though they were, and ordereth all things in measure, and number, and
weight.

CHAPTER 30.-MEN ARE NOT SAVED BY GOOD WORKS, NOR BY THE FREE DETERMINATION OF THEIR OWN WILL, BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD THROUGH FAITH.

1 But this part of the human race to which God has promised pardon and a share in His
eternal kingdom, can they be restored through the merit of their own works? God forbid.
For what good work can a lost man perform, except so far as he has been delivered from
perdition? Can they do anything by the free determination of their own will? Again I say,
God forbid. For it was by the evil use of his free-will that man destroyed both it and
himself. For, as a man who kills himself must, of course, be alive when he kills himself,
but after he has killed himself ceases to live, and cannot restore himself to life; so,
when man by his own free-will sinned, then sin being victorious over him, the freedom of
his will was lost. "For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
This is the judgment of the Apostle Peter. And as it is certainly true, what kind of
liberty, I ask, can the bond-slave possess, except when it pleases him to sin? For he is
freely in bondage who does with pleasure the will of his master. Accordingly, he who is
the servant of sin is free to sin. And hence he will not be free to do right, until, being
freed from sin, he shall begin to be the servant of righteousness. And this is true
liberty, for he has pleasure in the righteous deed;

2 and it is at the same time a holy bondage, for he is obedient to the will of God. But
whence comes this liberty to do right to the man who is in bondage and sold under sin,
except he be redeemed by Him who has said, "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be
free indeed? And before this redemption is wrought in a man, when he is not yet free to do
what is right, how can he talk of the freedom of his will and his good works, except he be
inflated by that foolish pride of boasting which the apostle restrains when he says, "By
grace are ye saved, through faith."

CHAPTER 31.-FAITH ITSELF IS THE GIFT OF GOD; AND GOOD WORKS WILL NOT BE WANTING IN THOSE WHO BELIEVE.

And lest men should arrogate to themselves the merit of their own faith at least, not
understanding that this too is the gift of God, this same apostle, who says in another
place that he had "obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful," here also adds: "and that
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." And
test it should be thought that good works will be wanting in those who believe, he adds
further: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in them." We shall be made truly free, then, when
God fashions us, that is, forms and creases us anew, not as men-for He has done that
already-but as good men, which His grace is now doing, that we may be a new creation in
Christ Jesus, according as it is said: "Create in me a clean heart, O God." For God had
already created his heart, so far as the physical structure of the human heart is
concerned; but the psalmist prays for the renewal of the life which was still lingering in
his heart.

CHAPTER 32.-THE FREEDOM OF THE WILL IS ALSO THE GIFT OF GOD, FOR GOD WORKETH IN US BOTH TO WILL AND TO DO.

1 And further, should any one be inclined to boast, not indeed of his works, but of the
freedom of his will, as if the first merit belonged to him, this very liberty of good
action being given to him as a reward he had earned, let him listen to this same preacher
of grace, when he says: "For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His
own good pleasure; and in another place: "So, then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of
him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Now as, undoubtedly, if a man is of the
age to use his reason, he cannot believe, hope, love, unless he will to do so, nor obtain
the prize of the high calling of God unless he voluntarily run for it; in what sense is it
"not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," except
that, as it is written, "the preparation of the heart is from the Lord?

2 Otherwise, if it is said, "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy," because it is of both, that is, both of the will of man and of
the mercy of God, so that we are to understand the saying, "It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," as if it meant the will of man
alone is not sufficient, if the mercy of God go not with it,-then it will follow that the
mercy of God alone is not sufficient, if the will of man go not with it; and therefore, if
we may rightly say, "it is not of man that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy,"
because the will of man by itself is not enough, why may we not also rightly put it in the
converse way: "It is not of God that showeth mercy, but of man that willeth," because the
mercy of God by itself does not suffice? Surely, if no Christian will dare to say this,
"It is not of God that showeth mercy, but of man that willeth," lest he should openly
contradict the apostle, it follows that the true interpretation of the saying, "It is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," is that the
whole work belongs to God, who both makes the will of man righteous, and thus prepares it
for assistance, and assists it when it is prepared.

3 For the man's righteousness of will precedes many of God's gifts, but not all; and it
must itself be included among those which it does not precede. We read in Holy Scripture,
both that God's mercy "shall meet me," and that His mercy "shall follow me. It goes before
the unwilling to make him willing; it follows the willing to make his will effectual. Why
are we taught to pray for our enemies, who are plainly unwilling to lead a holy life,
unless that God may work willingness in them? And why are we ourselves taught to ask that
may receive, unless that He who has created in us the wish, may Himself satisfy the wish
We pray, then, for our enemies, that the mercy of God may prevent them, as it has
prevented us: we pray for ourselves that His mercy may follow us.

CHAPTER 33.-MEN, BEING BY NATURE THE CHILDREN OF WRATH, NEEDED A MEDIATOR. IN WHAT SENSE GOD IS SAID TO BE ANGRY.

1 And so the human race was lying under a just condemnation, and all men were the children
of wrath. Of which wrath it is written: "All our days are passed away in Thy wrath; we
spend our years as a tale that is told. Of which wrath also Job says: "Man that is born of
a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. Of which wrath also the Lord Jesus says: "He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. He does not say it will come, but it
"abideth on him. For every man is born with it; wherefore the apostle says: "We were by
nature the children of wrath, even as others. Now, as men were lying under this wrath by
reason of their original sin, and as this original sin was the more heavy and deadly in
proportion to the number and magnitude of the actual sins which were added to it, there
was need for a Mediator, that is, for a reconciler, who, by the offering of one sacrifice,
of which all the sacrifices of the law and the prophets were types, should take away this
wrath. Wherefore the apostle says: "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to
God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

2 Now when God is said to be angry, we do not attribute to Him such a disturbed feeling as
exists in the mind of an angry man; but we call His just displeasure against sin by the
name "anger," a word transferred by analogy from human emotions. But our being reconciled
to God through a Mediator, and receiving the Holy Spirit, so that we who were enemies are
made sons ("For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" ): this
is the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

CHAPTER 34.-THE INEFFABLE MYSTERY OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR THROUGH THE VIRGIN MARY.

Now of this Mediator it would occupy too much space to say anything at all worthy of Him;
and, indeed, to say what is worthy of Him is not in the power of man. For who will explain
in consistent words this single statement, that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us," so that we may believe on the only Son of God the Father Almighty, born of the Holy
Ghost and the Virgin Mary The meaning of the Word being made flesh, is not that the divine
nature was changed into flesh, but that the divine nature assumed our flesh. And by
"flesh" we are here to understand "man," the part being put for the whole, as when it is
said: "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified," that is, no man. For we must
believe that no part was wanting in that human nature which He put on, save that it was a
nature wholly free from every taint of sin,-not such a nature as is conceived between the
two sexes through carnal lust, which is born in sin, and whose guilt is washed away in
regeneration; but such as it behoved a virgin to bring forth, when the mother's faith, not
her lust, was the condition of conception. And if her virginity had been marred even in
bringing Him forth, He would not have been born of a virgin; and it would be false (which
God forbid) that He was born of the Virgin Mary, as is believed and declared by the whole
Church, which, in imitation of His mother, daily brings forth members of His body, and yet
remains a virgin. Read, if you please, my letter on the virginity of the holy Mary which I
sent to that eminent man, whose name I mention with respect and affection, Volusianus.

CHAPTER 35.-JESUS CHRIST, BEING THE ONLY SON OF GOD, IS AT THE SAME TIME MAN.

Wherefore Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is both God and man; God before all worlds;man in
our world: God, because the Word of God (for "the Word was God" ); and man, because in His
one person the Word was joined with a body and a rational soul. Wherefore, so far as He is
God, He and the Father are one; so far as He is man, the Father is greater than He. For
when He was the only Son of God, not by grace, but by nature, that He might be also full
of grace, He became the Son of man; and He Himself unites both natures in His own
identity, and both natures constitute one Christ; because, "being in the form of God, He
thought it not robbery to be," what He was by nature, "equal with God." But He made
Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, not losing or
lessening the form of God. And, accordingly, He was both made less and remained equal,
being both in one, as has been said: but He was one of these as Word, and the other as
man. As Word, He is equal with the Father; as man, less than the Father. One Son of God,
and at the same time Son of man; one Son of man, and at the same time Son of God; not two
Sons of God, God and man, but one Son of God: God without beginning; man with a beginning,
our Lord Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER 36 .-THE GRACE OF GOD IS CLEARLY AND REMARKABLY DISPLAYED IN RAISING THE MAN CHRIST JESUS TO THE DIGNITY OF THE SON OF GOD.

1 Now here the grace of God is displayed with the greatest power and clearness. For what
merit had the human nature in the man Christ earned, that it should in this unparalleled
way be taken up into the unity of the person of the only Son of God? What goodness of
will, what goodness of desire and intention, what good works, had gone before, which made
this man worthy to become one person with God?Had He been a man previously to this, and
had He earned this unprecedented reward, that He should be thought worthy to become God?
Assuredly nay; from the very moment that He began to be man, He was nothing else than the
Son of God, the only Son of God, the Word who was made flesh, and therefore He was God so
that just as each individual man unites in one person a body and a rational soul, so
Christ in one person unites the Word and man. Now wherefore was this unheard of glory
conferred on human nature,-a glory which, as there was no antecedent merit, was of course
wholly of grace,-except that here those who looked at the matter soberly and honestly
might behold a clear manifestation of the power of God's free grace, and might understand
that they are justified from their sins by the same grace which made the man Christ Jesus
free from the possibility of sin? And so the angel, when he announced to Christ's mother
the coming birth, saluted her thus: "Hail, thou that art full of grace;

2 and shortly afterwards, "Thou hast found grace with God. Now she was said to be full of
grace, and to have found grace with God, because she was to be the mother of her Lord,
nay, of the Lord of all flesh. But, speaking of Christ Himself, the evangelist John, after
saying, "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," adds, "and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. When he says, "The
Word was made flesh," this is "full of grace; when he says, "the glory of the only-
begotten of the Father," this is "full of truth. For the Truth Himself, who was the only-
begotten of the Father, not by grace, but by nature, by grace took our humanity upon Him,
and so united it with His own person that He Himself became also the Son of man.

CHAPTER 37.-THE SAME GRACE IS FURTHER CLEARLY MANIFESTED IN THIS, THAT THE BIRTH OF CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE FLESH IS OF THE HOLY GHOST.

For the same Jesus Christ who is the only-begotten, that is, the only Son of God, our
Lord, was born of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary. And we know that the Holy Spirit
is the gift of God, the gift being Himself indeed equal to the Giver. And therefore the
Holy Spirit also is God, not inferior to the Father and the Son. The fact, therefore, that
the nativity of Christ in His human nature was by the Holy Spirit, is another clear
manifestation of grace. For when the Virgin asked the angel how this which he had
announced should be, seeing she knew not a man, the angel answered, "The Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that
holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." And when Joseph
was minded to put her away, suspecting her of adultery, as he knew she was not with child
by himself, he was told by the angel, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost:" that is, what thou suspectest to be
begotten of another man is of the Holy Ghost.

CHAPTER 38.-JESUS CHRIST, ACCORDING TO THE FLESH, WAS NOT BORN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN SUCH A SENSE THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS HIS FATHER.

1 Nevertheless, are we on this account to say that the Holy Ghost is the father of the man
Christ, and that as God the Father begat the Word, so God the Holy Spirit begat the man,
and that these two natures constitute the one Christ; and that as the Word He is the Son
of God the Father, and as man the Son of God the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit as
His father begat Him of the Virgin Mary? Who will dare to say so? Nor is it necessary to
show by reasoning how many other absurdities flow from this supposition, when it is itself
so absurd that no believer's ears can bear to hear it. Hence, as we confess, "Our Lord
Jesus Christ, who of God is God, and as man was born of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin
Mary, having both natures, the divine and the human, is the only Son of God the Father
Almighty, from whom proceedeth the Holy Spirit. Now in what sense do we say that Christ
was born of the Holy Spirit, if the Holy Spirit did not beget Him? Is it that He made Him,
since our Lord Jesus Christ, though as God "all things were made by Him," yet as man was
Himself made; as the apostle says, "who was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh?

2 But as that created thing which the Virgin conceived and brought forththough it was
united only to the person of the Son, was made by the whole Trinity (for the works of the
Trinity are not separable), why should the Holy Spirit alone be mentioned as having made
it? Or is it that, when one of the Three is mentioned as the author of any work, the whole
Trinity is to be understood as working? That is true, and can be proved by examples. But
we need not dwell longer on this solution. For the puzzle is, in what sense it is said,
"born of the Holy Ghost," when He is in no sense the Son of the Holy Ghost? For though God
made this world, it would not be right to say that it is the Son of God, or that it was
born of God; we would say that it was created, or made, or framed, or ordered by Him, or
whatever form of expression we can properly use. Here, then, when we make confession that
Christ was born of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary, it is difficult to explain how
it is that He is not the Son of the Holy Ghost and is the Son of the Virgin Mary, when He
was born both of Him and of her. It is clear beyond a doubt that He was not born of the
Holy Spirit as His father, in the same sense that He was born of the Virgin as His mother.

CHAPTER 39.-NOT EVERYTHING THAT IS BORN OF ANOTHER IS TO BE CALLED A SON OF THAT OTHER.

We need not therefore take for granted, that whatever is born of a thing is forthwith to
be declared the son of that thing. For, to pass over the fact that a son is born of a man
in a different sense from that in which a hair or a louse is born of him, neither of these
being a son; to pass over this, I say, as too mean an illustration for a subject of so
much importance: it is certain that those who are born of water and of the Holy Spirit
cannot with propriety be called sons of the water though they are called sons of God the
Father, and of the Church their mother. In the same way, then, He who was born of the Holy
Spirit is the Son of God the Father, not of the Holy Spirit. For what I have said of the
hair and the other things is sufficient to show us that not everything which is born of
another can be called the son of that of which it is born, just as it does not follow that
all who are called a man's sons were born of him, for some sons are adopted. And some men
are called sons of hell, not as being born of hell, but as prepared for it, as the sons of
the kingdom are prepared for the kingdom.

CHAPTER 40.-CHRIST'S BIRTH THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT MANIFESTS TO US THE GRACE OF GOD.

And, therefore, as one thing may be born of another, and yet not in such a way as to be
its son, and as not every one who is called a son was born of him whose son he is called,
it is clear that this arrangement by which Christ was born of the Holy Spirit, but not as
His son, and of the Virgin Mary as her son, is intended as a manifestation of the grace of
God. For it was by this grace that a man, without any antecedent merit, was at the very
commencement of His existence as man, so united in one person with the Word of God, that
the very person who was Son of man was at the same time Son of God, and the very person
who was Son of God was at the same time Son of man; and in the adoption of His human
nature into the divine, the grace itself became in a way so natural to the man, as to
leave no room for the entrance of sin. Wherefore this grace is signified by the Holy
Spirit; for He, though in His own nature God, may also be called the gift of God. And to
explain all this sufficiently, if indeed it could be done at all, would require a very
lengthened discussion.

CHAPTER 41.-CHRIST, WHO WAS HIMSELF FREE FROM SIN, WAS MADE SIN FOR US, THAT WE MIGHT BE RECONCILED TO GOD.

1 Begotten and conceived, then, without any indulgence of carnal lust, and therefore
bringing with Him no original sin, and by the grace of God joined and united in a
wonderful and unspeakable way in one person with the Word, the Only-begotten of the
Father, a son by nature, not by grace, and therefore having no sin of His own;
nevertheless, on account of the likeness of sinful flesh in which He came, He was called
sin, that He might be sacrificed to wash away sin. For, under the Old Covenant. sacrifices
for sin were called sins. And He, of whom all these sacrifices were types and shadows, was
Himself truly made sin. Hence the apostle, after saying, "We pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God," forthwith adds: "for He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew
no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He does not say, as some
incorrect copies read, "He who knew no sin did sin for us," as if Christ had Himself
sinned for our sakes; but he says, "Him who knew no sin," that is, Christ, God, to whom we
are to be reconciled, "hath made to be sin for us," that is, hath made Him a sacrifice for
our sins, by which we might be reconciled to God. He, then, being made sin, just as we are
made righteousness (our righteousness being not our own, but God's, not in ourselves, but
in Him);

2 He being made sin, not His own, but ours, not in Himself, but in us, showed, by the
likeness of sinful flesh in which He was crucified, that though sin was not in Him, yet
that in a certain sense He died to sin, by dying in the flesh which was the likeness of
sin; and that although He Himself had never lived the old life of sin, yet by His
resurrection He typified our new life springing up out of the old death in sin.

CHAPTER 42.-THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM INDICATES OUR DEATH WITH CHRIST TO SIN, AND OUR RESURRECTION WITH HIM TO NEWNESS OF LIFE.

And this is the meaning of the great sacrament of baptism which is solemnized among us,
that all who attain to this grace should die to sin, as He is said to have died to sin,
because He died in the flesh, which is the likeness of sin; and rising from the font
regenerate, as He arose alive from the grave, should begin a new life in the Spirit,
whatever may be the age of the body?

CHAPTER 43.-BAPTISM AND THE GRACE WHICH IT TYPIFIES ARE OPEN TO ALL, BOTH INFANTS AND ADULTS.

For from the infant newly born to the old man bent with age, as there is none shut out
from Baptism, so there is none who in baptism does not die to sin. But infants die only to
original sin; those who are older die also to all the sins which their evil lives have
added to the sin which they brought with them.

CHAPTER 44.-IN SPEAKING OF SIN, THE SINGULAR NUMBER IS OFTEN PUT FOR THE PLURAL, AND THE PLURAL FOR THE SINGULAR.

But even these latter are frequently said to die to sin, though undoubtedly they die not
to one sin, but to all the numerous actual sinsthey have committed in thought, word, or
deed: for the singular number is often put for the plural, as when the poet says, "They
fill its belly with the armed soldier," though in the case here referred to there were
many soldiers concerned. And we read in our own Scriptures: "Pray to the Lord, that He
take away the serpent from us." He does not say serpent's though the people were suffering
from many; and so in other cases. When, on the other hand, the original sin is expressed
in the plural number, as when we say that infants are baptized for the remission of sins,
instead of saying for the remission of sin, this is the converse figure of speech, by
which the plural number is put in place of the singular; as in the Gospel it is said of
the death of Herod, "for they are dead which sought the young child's life," instead of
saying, "he is dead." And in Exodus: "They have made them," Moses says, "gods of gold,"
though they had made only one calf, of which they said: "These be thy gods, O Israel,
which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt," -here, too, putting the plural in place
of the singular.

CHAPTER 45.-IN ADAM'S FIRST SIN, MANY KINDS OF SIN WERE INVOLVED.

However, even in that one sin, which "by one man entered into the world, and so passed
upon all men," and on account of which infants are baptized, a number of distinct sins may
be observed, if it be analyzed as it were into its separate elements. For there is in it
pride, because man chose to be under his own dominion, rather than under the dominion of
God; and blasphemy, because he did not believe God; and murder, for he brought death upon
himself; and spiritual fornication, for the purity of the human soul was corrupted by the
seducing blandishments of the serpent; and theft, for man turned to his own use the food
he had been forbidden to touch; and avarice, for he had a craving for more than should
have been sufficient for him; and whatever other sin can be discovered on careful
reflection to be involved in this one admitted sin.

CHAPTER 46.-IT IS PROBABLE THAT CHILDREN ARE INVOLVED IN THE GUILT NOT ONLY OF THE FIRST PAIR, BUT OF THEIR OWN IMMEDIATE PARENTS.

And it is said, with much appearance of probability, that infants are involved in the
guilt of the sins not only of the first pair, but of their own immediate parents. For that
divine judgment, "I shall visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children,"
certainly applies to them before they come under the new covenant by regeneration. And it
was this new covenant that was prophesied of, when it was said by Ezekiel, that the sons
should not bear the iniquity of the fathers, and that it should no longer be a proverb in
Israel, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge."
Here lies the necessity that each man should be born again, that he might be freed from
the sin in which he was born. For the sins committed afterwards can be cured by penitence,
as we see is the case after baptism. And therefore the new birth would not have been
appointed only that the first birth was sinful, so sinful that even one who was
legitimately born in wedlock says: "I was shapen in iniquities, and in sins did my mother
conceive me." He did not say in iniquity, or in sin, though he might have said so
correctly; but he preferred to say "iniquities" and "sins," because in that one sin which
passed upon all men, and which was so great that human nature was by it made subject to
inevitable death, many sins, as I showed above, may be discriminated; and further, because
there are other sins of the immediate parents, whichthough they have not the same effect
in producing a change of nature, yet subject the children to guilt unless the divine grace
and mercy interpose to rescue them.

CHAPTER 47.-IT IS DIFFICULT TO DECIDE WHETHER THE SINS OF A MAN'S OTHER PROGENITORS ARE IMPUTED TO HIM.

But about the sins of the other progenitors who intervene between Adam and a man's own
parents, a question may very well be raised. Whether every one who is born is involved in
all their accumulated evil acts, in all their multiplied original guilt, so that the later
he is born, so much the worse is his condition; or whether God threatens to visit the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations, because
in His mercy He does not extend His wrath against the sins of the progenitors further than
that, lest those who do not obtain the grace of regeneration might be crushed down under
too heavy a burden if they were compelled to bear as original guilt all the sins of all
their progenitors from the very beginning of the human race, and to pay the penalty due to
them; or whether any other solution of this great question may or may not be found in
Scripture by a more diligent search and a more careful interpretation, I dare not rashly
affirm.

CHAPTER 48.-THE GUILT OF THE FIRST SIN IS SO GREAT THAT IT CAN BE WASHED AWAY ONLY IN THE BLOOD OF THE MEDIATOR, JESUS CHRIST.

1 Nevertheless, that one sin, admitted into a place where such perfect happiness reigned,
was of so heinous a character, that in one man the whole human race was originally, and as
one may say, radically, condemned; and it cannot be pardoned and blotted out except
through the one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who only has had power
to be so born as not to need a second birth. Chapter 49.-Christ Was Not Regenerated in the
Baptism of John, But Submitted to It to Give Us an Example of Humility, Just as He
Submitted to Death, Not as the Punishment of Sin, But to Take Away the Sin of the World. 2
Now, those who were baptized in the baptism of John, by whom Christ was Himself baptized,
were not regenerated; but they were prepared through the ministry of His forerunner, who
cried, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord," for Him in whom only they could be regenerated.
For His baptism is not with water only, as was that of John, but with the Holy Ghost also;
so that whoever believes in Christ is regenerated by that Spirit, of whom Christ being
generated, He did not need regeneration. Whence that announcement of the Father which was
heard after His baptism, "This day have I begotten Thee," referred not to that one day of
time on which He was baptized, but to the one day of an unchangeable eternity, so as to
show that this man was one in person with the Only-begotten. For when a day neither begins
with the close of yesterday, nor ends with the beginning of to-morrow, it is an eternal
to-day. Therefore He asked to be baptized in water by John, not that any iniquity of His
might be washed away, but that He might manifest the depth of His humility. For baptism
found in Him nothing to wash away, as death found in Him nothing to punish; so that it was
in the strictest justice, and not by the mere violence of power, that the devil was
crushed and conquered:

3 for, as he had most unjustly put Christ to death, though there was no sin in Him to
deserve death, it was most just that through Christ he should lose his hold of those who
by sin were justly subject to the bondage in which he held them. Both of these, then, that
is, both baptism and death, were submitted to by Him, not through a pitiable necessity,
but of His own free pity for us, and as part of an arrangement by which, as one man
brought sin into the world, that is, upon the whole human race, so one man was to take
away the sin of the world.

CHAPTER 50.-CHRIST TOOK AWAY NOT ONLY THE ONE ORIGINAL SIN, BUT ALL THE OTHER SINS THAT HAVE BEEN ADDED TO IT.

With this difference: the first man brought one sin into the world, but this man took away
not only that one sin, but all that He found added to it. Hence the apostle says: "And not
as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation,
but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification." For it is evident that the one
sin which we bring with us by nature would, even if it stood alone, bring us under
condemnation; but the free gift justifies · man from many offenses: for each man, in
addition to the one sin which, in common with all his kind, he brings with him by nature,
has committed many sins that are strictly his own.

CHAPTER 51.-ALL MEN BORN OF ADAM ARE UNDER CONDEMNATION, AND ONLY IF NEW BORN IN CHRIST ARE FREED FROM CONDEMNATION.

But what he says a little after, "Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon
all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all
men unto justification of life," shows clearly enough that there is no one born of Adam
but is subject to condemnation, and that no one, unless he be new born in Christ, is freed
from condemnation.

CHAPTER 52.-IN BAPTISM, WHICH IS THE SIMILITUDE OF THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, ALL, BOTH INFANTS AND ADULTS, DIE TO SIN THAT THEY MAY WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE.

1 And after he has said as much about the condemnation through one man, and the free gift
through one man, as he deemed sufficient for that part of his epistle, the apostle goes on
to speak of the great mystery of holy baptism in the cross of Christ, and to clearly
explain to us that baptism in Christ is nothing else than a similitude of the death of
Christ, and that the death of Christ on the cross is nothing but a similitude of the
pardon of sin: so that just as real as is His death, so real is the remission of our sins;
and just as real as is His resurrection, so real is our justification. He says: "What
shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? For he had said
previously, "But where sin, abounded, grace did much more abound. And therefore he
proposes to himself the question, whether it would be right to continue in sin for the
sake of the consequent abounding grace. But he answers, "God forbid; and adds, "How shall
we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Then, to show that we are dead to sin,
"Know ye not," he says, "that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were
baptized into His death? If, then, the fact that we were baptized into the death of Christ
proves that we are dead to sin, it follows that even infants who are baptized into Christ
die to sin, being baptized into His death.

2 For there is no exception made: "So many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were
baptized into His death. And this is said to prove that we are dead to sin. Now, to what
sin do infants die in their regeneration but that sin which they bring with them at birth?
And therefore to these also applies what follows: "Therefore we are buried with Him by
baptism into death; that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted
together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His
resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin
might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed
from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him:
knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more
dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He
liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now he had commenced with proving that we must not
continue in sin that grace may abound, and had said: "How shall we that are dead to sin
live any longer therein?

3 And to show that we are dead to sin, he added: "Know ye not, that so many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death? And so he concludes this whole
passage just as tie began it. For he has brought in the death of Christ in such a way as
to imply that Christ Himself also died to sin. To what sin did He die if not to the flesh,
in which there was not sin, but the likeness of sin, and which was therefore called by the
name of sin? To those who are baptized into the death of Christ, then,-and this class
includes not adults only, hut infants as well,-he says: "Likewise reckon ye also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ ourLord."

CHAPTER 53.-CHRIST'S CROSS AND BURIAL, RESURRECTION, ASCENSION, AND SITTING DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, ARE IMAGES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

All the events, then, of Christ's crucifixion, of His burial, of His resurrection the
third day, of His ascension into heaven, of His sitting down at the right hand of the
Father, were So ordered, that the life which the Christian leads here might be modelled
upon them, not merely in a mystical sense, but in reality. For in reference to His
crucifixion it is said: "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the
affections and lusts." And in reference to His burial: "We are buried with Him by baptism
into death." In reference to His resurrection: "That, like as Christ was raised up from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. And
in reference to His ascension into heaven and sitting down at the right hand of the
Father: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the
earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."

CHAPTER 54.-CHRIST'S SECOND COMING DOES NOT BELONG TO THE PAST, BUT WILL TAKE PLACE AT THE END OF THE WORLD.

But what we believe as to Christ's action in the future, when He shall come from heaven to
judge the quick and the dead, has no bearing upon the life which we now lead here; for it
forms no part of what He did upon earth, but is part of what He shall do at the end of the
world. And it is to this that the apostle refers in what immediately follows the passage
quoted above: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
Him in glory."

CHAPTER 55.-THE EXPRESSION, "CHRIST SHALL JUDGE THE QUICK AND THE DEAD," MAY BE UNDERSTOOD IN EITHER OF TWO SENSES.

Now the expression, "to judge the quick and the dead," may be interpreted in two ways:
either we may understand by the "quick" those who at His advent shall not yet have died,
but whom He shall find alive in the flesh, and by the "dead" those who have departed from
the body, or who shall have departed before His coming; or we may understand the "quick"
to mean the righteous, and the "dead" the unrighteous; for the righteous shall be judged
as well as others. Now the judgment of God is sometimes taken in a bad sense, as, for
example, "They that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment;" sometimes in a good
sense, as, "Save me, O God, by Thy name, and judge me by Thy strength." This is easily
understood When we consider that it is the judgment of God which separates the good from
the evil, and sets the good at His right hand, that they may be delivered from evil, and
not destroyed with the wicked; and it is for this reason that the Psalmist cried, "Judge
me, O God," and then added, as if in explanation, "and distinguish my cause from that of
an ungodly nation."


THE ENCHIRIDION ON FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE (CHAPTERS 56.-THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH. THE CHURCH IS THE TEMPLE OF GOD.–116.-LUKE EXPRESSES THE SUBSTANCE OF THESE SEVEN PETITIONS MORE BRIEFLY IN FIVE.)
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THE ENCHIRIDION ON FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE continued

CHAPTER 56.-THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE CHURCH. THE CHURCH IS THE TEMPLE OF GOD.

1 And now, having spoken of Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, our Lord, with the brevity
suitable to a confession of our faith, we go on to say that we believe also in the Holy
Ghost,-thus completing the Trinity which constitutes the Godhead. Then we mention the Holy
Church. And thus we are made to understand that the intelligent creation, which
constitutes the free Jerusalem, ought to be subordinate in the order of speech to the
Creator, the Supreme Trinity: for all that is said of the man Christ Jesus has reference,
of course, to the unity of the person of the Only-begotten. Therefore the true order of
the Creed demanded that the Church should be made subordinate to the Trinity, as the house
to Him who dwells in it, the temple to God who occupies it, and the city to its builder.
And we are here to understand the whole Church, not that part of it only which wanders as
a stranger on the earth, praising the name of God from the rising of the sun to the going
down of the same, and singing a new song of deliverance from its old captivity; but that
part also which has always from its creation remained steadfast to God in heaven, and has
never experienced the misery consequent upon a fall. This part is made up of the holy
angels, who enjoy uninterrupted happiness; and (as it is bound to do) it renders
assistance to the part which is still wandering among strangers:

2 for these two parts shall be one in the fellowship of eternity, and now they are one in
the bonds of love, the whole having been ordained for the worship of the one God.
Wherefore, neither the whole Church, nor any part of it, has any desire to be worshipped
instead of God, nor to be God to any one who belongs to the temple of God-that temple
which is built up of the saints who were created by the uncreated God. And therefore the
Holy Spirit, if a creature, could not be the Creator, but would be a part of the
intelligent creation. He would simply be the highest creature, and therefore would not be
mentioned in the Creed before the Church; for He Himself would belong to the Church. to
that part of it which is in the heavens. And He would not have a temple, for He Himself
would be part of a temple. Now He has a temple, of which the apostle says: "Know ye not
that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God? Of
which body he says in another place: "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of
Christ? How, then, is He not God, seeing that He has a temple? and how can He be less than
Christ, whose members are His temple? Nor has He one temple, and God another, seeing that
the same apostle says: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?

3 and adds, as proof of this, "and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. God, then,
dwells in His temple: not the Holy Spirit only, but the Father also, and the Son, who says
of His own body, through which He was made Head of the Church upon earth ("that in all
things He might have the pre-eminence): "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up. The temple of God, then, that is, of the Supreme Trinity as a whole, is the
Holy Church, embracing in its full extent both heaven and earth.

CHAPTER 57.-THE CONDITION OF THE CHURCH IN HEAVEN.

But of that part of the Church which is in heaven what can we say, except that no wicked
one is found in it, and that no one has fallen from it, or shall ever fall from it, since
the time that 'God spared not the angels that sinned," as the Apostle Peter writes, "but
cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto
judgment?"

CHAPTER 58.-WE HAVE NO CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ANGELIC SOCIETY.

Now, what the organization is of that supremely happy society in heaven: what the
differences of rank are, which explain the fact that while all are called by the general
name angels, as we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "but to which of the angels said
God at any time, Sit on my right hand?" (this form of expression being evidently designed
to embrace all the angels without exception), we yet find that there are some called
archangels; and whether the archangels are the same as those called hosts, so that the
expression, "Praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts," is the same as
if it had been said, "Praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His archangels;"
and what are the various significations of those four names under which the apostle seems
to embrace the whole heavenly company without exception, "whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers:" -let those who are able answer these questions,
if they can also prove their answers to be true; but as for me, I confess my ignorance. I
am not even certain upon this point: whether the sun, and the moon, and all the stars, do
not form part of this same society, though many consider them merely luminous bodies,
without either sensation or intelligence.

CHAPTER 59.-THE BODIES ASSUMED BY ANGELS RAISE A VERY DIFFICULT, AND NOT VERY USEFUL, SUBJECT OF DISCUSSION.

Further, who will tell with what sort of bodies it was that the angels appeared to men,
making themselves not only visible, but tangible; and again, how it is that, not through
material bodies, but by spiritual power, they present visions not to the bodily eyes, but
to the spiritual eyes of the mind, or speak something not into the ear from without, but
from within the soul of the man, they themselves being stationed there too, as it is
written in the prophet, "And the angel that spake in me said unto me" (he does not say,
"that spake to me," but "that spake in me"); or appear to men in sleep, and make
communications through dreams, as we read in the Gospel, "Behold, the angel of the Lord
appeared unto him in a dream, saying"? For these methods of communication seem to imply
that the angels have not tangible bodies, and make it a very difficult question to solve
how the patriarchs washed their feet, and how it was that Jacob wrestled with the angel in
a way so unmistakeably material. To ask questions like these, and to make such guesses as
we can at the answers, is a useful exercise for the intellect, if the discussion be kept
within proper bounds, and if we avoid the error of supposing ourselves to know what we do
not know. For what is the necessity for affirming, or denying, or defining with accuracy
on these subjects, and others like them, when we may without blame be entirely ignorant of
them?

CHAPTER 60.-IT IS MORE NECESSARY TO BE ABLE TO DETECT THE WILES OF SATAN WHEN HE TRANSFORMS HIMSELF INTO AN ANGEL OF LIGHT.

It is more necessary to use all our powers of discrimination and judgment when Satan
transforms himself into an angel of light, lest by his wiles he should lead us astray into
hurtful courses. For, while he only deceives the bodily senses, and does not pervert the
mind from that true and sound judgment which enables a man to lead a life of faith, there
is no danger to religion; or if, reigning himself to be good, he does or says the things
that befit good angels, and we believe him to be good, the error is not one that is
hurtful or dangerous to Christian faith. But when, through these means, which are alien to
his nature, he goes on to lead us into courses of his own, then great watchfulness is
necessary to detect, and refuse to follow, him. But how many men are fit to evade all his
deadly wiles, unless God restrains and watches over them? The very difficulty of the
matter, however, is useful in this respect, that it prevents men from trusting in
themselves or in one another, and leads all to place their confidence in God alone. And
certainly no pious man can doubt that this is most expedient for us.

CHAPTER 61.-THE CHURCH ON EARTH HAS BEEN REDEEMED FROM SIN BY THE BLOOD OF A MEDIATOR.

This part of the Church, then, which is made up of the holy angels and the hosts of God,
shall become known to us in its true nature, when, at the end of the world, we shall be
united with it in the common possession of everlasting happiness. But the other part,
which, separated from it, wanders as a stranger on the earth, is better known to us, both
because we belong to it, and because it is composed of men, and we too are men. This
section of the Church has been redeemed from all sin by the blood of a Mediator who had no
sin, and its song is: "If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all." Now it was not for the angels that Christ died. Yet
what was done for the redemption of man through His death was in a sense done for the
angels, because the enmity which sin had put between men and the holy angels is removed,
and friendship is restored between them, and by the redemption of man the gaps which the
great apostasy left in the angelic host are filled up.

CHAPTER 62.-BY THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST ALL THINGS ARE RESTORED, AND PEACE IS MADE BETWEEN EARTH AND HEAVEN.

And, of course, the holy angels, taught by God, in the eternal contemplation of whose
truth their happiness consists, know how great a number of the human race are to
supplement their ranks, and fill up the full tale of their citizenship. Wherefore the
apostle says, that "all things are gathered together in one in Christ, both which are in
heaven and which are on earth." The things which are in heaven are gathered together when
what was lost therefrom in the fall of the angels is restored from among men; and the
things which are on earth are gathered together, when those who are predestined to eternal
life are redeemed from their old corruption. And thus, through that single sacrifice in
which the Mediator was offered up, the one sacrifice of which the many victims under the
law were types, heavenly things are brought into peace with earthly things, and earthly
things with heavenly. Wherefore, as the same apostle says: "For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell: and, having made peace through the blood of His cross,
by Him to reconcile all things to Himself: by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth,
or things in heaven."

CHAPTER 63.-THE PEACE OF GOD, WHICH REIGNETH IN HEAVEN, PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING.

This peace, as Scripture saith, "passeth all understanding," and cannot be known by us
until we have come into the full possession of it. For in what sense are heavenly things
reconciled, except they be reconciled to us, viz. by coming into harmony with us? For in
heaven there is unbroken peace, both between all the intelligent creatures that exist
there, and between these and their Creator. And this peace, as is said, passeth all
understanding; but this, of course, means our understanding, not that of those who always
behold the face of their Father. We now, however great may be our human understanding,
know but in part, and see through a glass darkly. But when we shall be equal unto the
angels of God then we shall see face to face, as they do; and we shall have as great peace
towards them as they have towards us, because we shall love them as much as we are loved
by them. And so their peace shall be known to us: for our own peace shall be like to
theirs, and as great as theirs, nor shall it then pass our understanding. But the peace of
God, the peace which He cherisheth towards us, shall undoubtedly pass not our
understanding only, but theirs as well. And this must be so: for every rational creature
which is happy derives its happiness from Him; He does not derive His from it. And in this
view it is better to interpret "all" in the passage, "The peace of God passeth all
understanding," as admitting of no exception even in favor of the understanding of the
holy angels: the only exception that can be made is that of God Himself. For, of course,
His peace does not pass His own understanding.

CHAPTER 64.-PARDON OF SIN EXTENDS OVER THE WHOLE MORTAL LIFE OF THE SAINTS, WHICH, THOUGH FREE FROM CRIME, IS NOT FREE FROM SIN.

1 But the angels even now are at peace with us when our sins are pardoned. Hence, in the
order of the Creed, after the mention of the Holy Church is placed the remission of sins.
For it is by this that the Church on earth stands: it is through this that what had been
lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again. For, setting aside the grace of
baptism, which is given as an antidote to original sin, so that what our birth imposes
upon us, our new birth relieves us from (this grace, however, takes away all the actual
sins also that have been committed in thought, word, and deed): setting aside, then, this
great act of favor, whence commences man's restoration, and in which all our guilt, both
original and actual, is washed away, the rest of our life from the time that we have the
use of reason provides constant occasion for the remission of sins, however great may be
our advance in righteousness. For the sons of God, as long as they live in this body of
death, are in conflict with death. And although it is truly said of them, "As many as are
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God," yet they are led by the Spirit of
God, and as the sons of God advance towards God under this drawback, that they are led
also by their own spirit, weighted as it is by the corruptible body;

2 and that, as the sons of men, under the influence of human affections, they fall back to
their old level, and so sin. There is a difference, however. For although every crime is a
sin, every sin is not a crime. And so we say that the life of holy men, as long as they
remain in this mortal body, may be found without crime; but, as the Apostle John says, "If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is notin us."

CHAPTER 65.-GOD PARDONS SINS, BUT ON CONDITION OF PENITENCE, CERTAIN TIMES FOR WHICH HAVE BEEN FIXED BY THE LAW OF THE CHURCH.

But even crimes themselves, however great, may be remitted in the Holy Church; and the
mercy of God is never to be despaired of by men who truly repent, each according to the
measure of his sin. And in the act of repentance, where a crime has been committed of such
a nature as to cut off the sinner from the body of Christ, we are not to take account so
much of the measure of time as of the measure of sorrow; for a broken and a contrite heart
God doth not despise. But as the grief of one heart is frequently hid from another, and is
not made known to others by words or other signs, when it is manifest to Him of whom it is
said, "My groaning is not hid from Thee," those who govern the Church have rightly
appointed times of penitence, that the Church in which the sins are remitted may be
satisfied; and outside the Church sins are not remitted. For the Church alone has received
the pledge of the Holy Spirit, without which there is no remission of sins-such, at least,
as brings the pardoned to eternal life.

CHAPTER 66.-THE PARDON OF SIN HAS REFERENCE CHIEFLY TO THE FUTURE JUDGMENT.

Now the pardon of sin has reference chiefly to the future judgment. For, as far as this
life is concerned, the saying of Scripture holds good: "A heavy yoke is upon the sons of
Adam, from the day that they go out of their mother's womb, till the day that they return
to the mother of all things." So that we see even infants, after baptism and regeneration,
suffering from the infliction of divers evils: and thus we are given to understand, that
all that is set forth in the sacraments of salvation refers rather to the hope of future
good, than to the retaining or attaining of present blessings. For many sins seem in this
world to be overlooked and visited with no punishment, whose punishment is reserved for
the future (for it is not in vain that the day when Christ shall come as Judge of quick
and dead is peculiarly named the day of judgment); just as, on the other hand, many sins
are punished in this life, which nevertheless are pardoned, and shall bring down no
punishment in the future life. Accordingly, in reference to certain temporal punishments,
which in this life are visited upon sinners, the apostle, addressing those whose sins are
blotted out, and not reserved for the final judgment, says: "For if we would judge
ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord,
that we should not be condemned with the world."

CHAPTER 67.-FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD,AND CANNOT SAVE A MAN.

1 It is believed, moreover, by some, that men who do not abandon the name of Christ, and
who have been baptized in the Church by His baptism, and who have never been cut off from
the Church by any schism or heresy, though they should live in the grossest sin and never
either wash it away in penitence nor redeem it by almsgiving, but persevere in it
persistently to the last day of their lives, shall be saved by fire; that is, that
although they shall suffer a punishment by fire, lasting for a time proportionate to the
magnitude of their crimes and misdeeds, they shall not be punished with everlasting fire.
But those who believe this, and yet are Catholics, seem to me to be led astray by a kind
of benevolent feeling natural to humanity. For Holy Scripture, when consulted, gives a
very different answer. I have written a book on this subject, entitled Of Faith and Works,
in which, to the best of my ability, God assisting me, I have shown from Scripture, that
the faith which saves us is that which the Apostle Paul clearly enough describes when he
says: "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but
faith which worketh by love. But if it worketh evil, and not good, then without doubt, as
the Apostle James says, "it is dead, being alone. The same apostle says again, "What doth
it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save
him?

2 And further, if a wicked man shall be saved by fire on account of his faith alone, and
if this is what the blessed Apostle Paul means when he says, "But he himself shall be
saved, yet so as by fire; then faith without works can save a man, and what his fellow-
apostle James says must be false. And that must be false which Paul himself says in
another place: "Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners; shall inherit the kingdom of God. For if those
who persevere in these wicked courses shall nevertheless be saved on account of their
faith in Christ, how can it be true that they shall not inherit the kingdom of God?

CHAPTER 68.-THE TRUE SENSE OF THE PASSAGE (I COR. III. 11-15) ABOUT THOSE WHO ARE SAVED, YET SO AS BY FIRE,

1 But as these most plain and unmistakeable declarations of the apostles cannot be false,
that obscure saying about those who build upon the foundation, Christ, not gold, silver,
and precious stones, but wood, hay, and stubble (for it is these who, it is said, shall be
saved, yet so as by fire, the merit of the foundation saving them ), must be so
interpreted as not to conflict with the plain statements quoted above. Now wood, hay, and
stubble may, without incongruity, be understood to signify such an attachment to worldly
things, however lawful these may be in themselves, that they cannot be lost without grief
of mind. And though this grief burns, yet if Christ hold the place of foundation in the
heart,-that is, if nothing be preferred to Him, and if the man, though burning with grief,
is yet more willing to lose the things he loves so much than to lose Christ,-he is saved
by fire. If, however, in time of temptation, he prefer to hold by temporal and earthly
things rather than by Christ, he has not Christ as his foundation; for he puts earthly
things in the first place, and in a building nothing comes before the foundation. Again,
the fire of which the apostle speaks in this place must be such a fire as both men are
made to pass through, that is, both the man who builds upon the foundation, gold, silver,
precious stones, and the man who builds wood, hay, stubble. For he immediately adds:

2 "The fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which
he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he
shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. The fire then shall
prove, not the work of one of them only, but of both. Now the trial of adversity is a kind
of fire which is plainly spoken of in another place: "The furnace proverb the potter's
vessels: and the furnace of adversity just men. And this fire does in the course of this
life act exactly in the way the apostle says. If it come into contact with two believers,
one "caring for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord," that is,
building upon Christ the foundation, gold, silver, precious stones; the other "caring for
the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife," that is, building upon the
same foundation wood, hay, stubble,-the work of the former is not burned, because he has
not given his love to things whose loss can cause him grief; but the work of the latter is
burned, because things that are enjoyed with desire cannot be lost without pain.

3 But since, by our supposition, even the latter prefers to lose these things rather than
to lose Christ, and since he does not desert Christ out of fear of losing them, though he
is grieved when he does lose them he is saved, but it is so as by fire; because the grief
for what he loved and has lost burns him. But it does not subvert nor consume him; for he
is protected by his immoveable and incorruptible foundation.

CHAPTER 69.-IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE THAT SOME BELIEVERS MAY PASS THROUGH A PURGATORIAL FIRE IN THE FUTURE LIFE.

And it is not impossible that something of the same kind may take place even after this
life. It is a matter that may be inquired into, and either ascertained or left doubtful,
whether some believers shall pass through a kind of purgatorial fire, and in proportion as
they have loved with more or less devotion the goods that perish, be less or more quickly
delivered from it. This cannot, however, be the case of any of those of whom it is said,
that they "shall not inherit the kingdom of God," unless after suitable repentance their
sins be forgiven them. When I say "suitable," I mean that they are not to be unfruitful in
almsgiving; for Holy Scripture lays so much stress on this virtue, that our Lord tells us
beforehand, that He will ascribe no merit to those on His right hand but that they abound
in it, and no defect to those on His left hand but their want of it, when He shall say to
the former, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom," and to the latter,
"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire."

CHAPTER 70.-ALMSGIVING WILL NOT ATONE FOR SIN UNLESS THE LIFE BE CHANGED.

We must beware, however, lest any one should suppose that gross sins, such as are
committed by those who shall not inherit the kingdom of God, may be daily perpetrated,and
daily stoned for by almsgiving, The life must be changed for the better; and almsgiving
must be used to propitiate God for past sins, not to purchase impunity for the commission
of such sins in the future. For He has given no man license to sin, although in His mercy
He may blot out sins that are already committed, if we do not neglect to make proper
satisfaction.

CHAPTER 71.-THE DAILY PRAYER OF THE BELIEVER MAKES SATISFACTION FOR THE TRIVIAL SINS THAT DAILY STAIN HIS LIFE.

Now the daily prayer of the believer makes satisfaction for those daily sins of a
momentary and trivial kind which are necessary incidents of this life. For he can say,
"Our Father which art in heaven," seeing that to such a Father he is now born again of
water and of the Spirit. And this prayer certainly takes away the very small sins of daily
life. It takes away also those which at one time made the life of the believer very
wicked, but which, now that he is changed for the better by repentance, he has given up,
provided that as truly as he says, "Forgive us our debts" (for there is no want of debts
to be forgiven), so truly does he say, "as we forgive our debtors;" that is, provided he
does what he says he does: for to forgive a man who asks for pardon, is really to give
alms.

CHAPTER 72.-THERE ARE MANY KINDS OF ALMS, THE GIVING OF WHICH ASSISTS TO PROCURE PARDON FOR OUR SINS.

And on this principle of interpretation, our Lord's saying, "Give alms of such things as
ye have, and, behold, all things are clean unto you," applies to every useful act that a
man does in mercy. Not only, then, the man who gives food to the hungry, drink to the
thirsty, clothing to the naked, hospitality to the stranger, shelter to the fugitive, who
visits the sick and the imprisoned, ransoms the captive, assists the weak, leads the
blind, comforts the sorrowful, heals the sick, puts the wanderer on the right path, gives
advice to the perplexed, and supplies the wants of the needy,-not this man only, but the
man who pardons the sinner also gives alms; and the man who corrects with blows, or
restrains by any kind of discipline one over whom he has power, and who at the same time
forgives from the heart the sin by which he was injured, or prays that it may be forgiven,
is also a giver of alms, not only in that he forgives, or prays for forgiveness for the
sin, but also in that he rebukes and corrects the sinner: for in this, too, he shows
mercy. Now much good is bestowed upon unwilling recipients, when their advantage and not
their pleasure is consulted; and they themselves frequently prove to be their own enemies,
while their true friends are those whom they take for their enemies, and to whom in their
blindness they return evil for good. (A Christian, indeed, is not permitted to return evil
even for evil. ) And thus there are many kinds of alms, by giving of which we assist to
procure the pardon of our sins.

CHAPTER 73.-THE GREATEST OF ALL ALMS IS TO FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS AND TO LOVE OUR ENEMIES.

But none of those is greater than to forgive from the heart a sin that has been committed
against us. For it is a comparatively small thing to wish well to, or even to do good to,
a man who has done no evil to you. It is a much higher thing, and is the result of the
most exalted goodness, to love your enemy, and always to wish well to, and when you have
the opportunity, to do good to, the man who wishes you ill, and, when he can does you
harm. This is to obey the command of God: "Love your enemies, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which persecute you." But seeing that this is a frame of mind only
reached by the perfect sons of God, and that though every believer ought to strive after
it, and by prayer to God and earnest struggling with himself endeavor to bring his soul up
to this standard, yet a degree of goodness so high can hardly belong to so great a
multitude as we believe are heard when they use this petition, "Forgive us our debts, as
we forgive our debtors;" in view of all this, it cannot be doubted that the implied
undertaking is fulfilled if a man, though he has not yet attained to loving his enemy,
yet, when asked by one who has sinned against him to forgive him his sin, does forgive him
from his heart. For he certainly desires to be himself forgiven when he prays, "as we
forgive our debtors," that is, Forgive us our debts when we beg forgiveness, as we forgive
our debtors when they beg forgiveness from us.

CHAPTER 74.-GOD DOES NOT PARDON THE SINS OF THOSE WHO DO NOT FROM THE HEART FORGIVE OTHERS.

Now, he who asks forgiveness of the man against whom he has sinned, being moved by his sin
to ask forgiveness, cannot be counted an enemy in such a sense that it should be as
difficult to love him now as it was when he was engaged in active hostility. And the man
who does not from his heart forgive him who repents of his sin, and asks forgiveness, need
not suppose that his own sins are forgiven of God. For the Truth cannot lie. And what
reader or hearer of the Gospel can have failed to notice, that the same person who said,
"I am the Truth," taught us also this form of prayer; and in order to impress this
particular petition deeply upon our minds, said, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses,
neither will your. Father forgive your trespasses"? The man whom the thunder of this
warning does not awaken is not asleep, but dead; and yet so powerful is that voice, that
it can awaken even the dead.

CHAPTER 75.-THE WICKED AND THE UNBELIEVING ARE NOT MADE CLEAN BY THE GIVING OF ALMS, EXCEPT THEY BE BORN AGAIN.

1 Assuredly, then, those who live in gross wickedness, and take no care to reform their
lives and manners, and yet amid all their crimes and vices do not cease to give frequent
alms, in vain take comfort to themselves from the saying of our Lord: "Give alms of such
things as ye have; and, behold, all things are Clean unto you. For they do not understand
how far this saying reaches. But that they may understand this, let them hear what He
says. For we read in the Gospel as follows: "And as He spake, a certain Pharisee besought
Him to dine with him; and He went in, and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee saw it,
he marvelled that He had not first washed before dinner. And the Lord said unto him, Now
do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is
full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without,
make that which is within also? But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and,
behold, all things are clean unto you. Are we to understand this as meaning that to the
Pharisees who have not the faith of Christ all things are clean, if only they give alms in
the way these men count almsgiving, even though they have never believed in Christ, nor
been born again of water and of the Spirit?

2 But the fact is, that all are unclean who are not made clean by the faith of Christ,
according to the expression, "purifying their hearts by faith; and that the apostle says,
"Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and
conscience is defiled. How, then, could all things be clean to the Pharisees, even though
they gave alms, if they were not believers? And how could they be believers if they were
not willing to have faith in Christ, and to be born again of His grace? And yet what they
heard is true: "Give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean
unto you."

CHAPTER 76.-TO GIVE ALMS ARIGHT, WE SHOULD BEGIN WITH OURSELVES, AND HAVE PITY UPON OUR OWN SOULS.

1 For the man who wishes to give aims as he ought, should begin with himself, and give to
himself first. For almsgiving is a work of mercy; and most truly is it said, "To have
mercy on thy soul is pleasing to God. And for this end are we born again, that we should
be pleasing to God, who is justly displeased with that which we brought with us when we
were born. This is our first alms, which we give to ourselves when, through the mercy of a
pitying God, we find that we are ourselves wretched, and confess the justice of His
judgment by which we are made wretched, of which the apostle says, "The judgment was by
one to condemnation; and praise the greatness of His love, of which the same preacher of
grace says, "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us: and thus judging truly of our own misery, and loving God with the love which
He has Himself bestowed, we lead a holy and virtuous life. But the Pharisees, while they
gave as alms the tithe of all their fruits, even the most insignificant, passed over
judgment and the love of God, and so did not commence their alms-giving at home, and
extend their pity to themselves in the first instance. And it is in reference to this
order of love that it is said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself.

2 When, then, our Lord had rebuked them because they made themselves clean on the outside,
but within were full of ravening and wickedness, He advised them, in the exercise of that
charity which each man owes to himself in the first instance, to make clean the inward
parts. "But rather," He says, "give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all
things are clean unto you. Then, to show what it was that He advised, and what they took
no pains to do, and to show that He did not overlook or forget their almsgiving, "But woe
unto you, Pharisees! He says; as if He meant to say: I indeed advise you to give alms
which shall make all things clean unto you; "but woe unto you! for ye tithe mint, and rue,
and all manner of herbs; as if He meant to say: I know these alms of yours, and ye need
not think that I am now admonishing you in respect of such things; "and pass over judgment
and the love of God," an alms by which ye might have been made clean from all inward
impurity, so that even the bodies which ye are now washing would have been clean to you.
For this is the import of all things," both inward and outward things, as we read in
another place: "Cleanse first that which is within, that the outside may be clean also.

3 But lest He might appear to despise the alms which they were giving out of the fruits of
the earth, He says: "These ought ye to have done," referring to judgment and the love of
God, "and not to leave the other undone," referring to the giving of the tithes.

CHAPTER 77.-IF WE WOULD GIVE ALMS TO OURSELVES, WE MUST FLEE INIQUITY; FOR HE WHO LOVETH INIQUITY HATETH HIS SOUL.

Those, then, who think that they can by giving alms, however profuse, whether in money or
in kind, purchase for themselves the privilege of persisting with impunity in their
monstrous crimes and hideous vices, need not thus deceive themselves. For not only do they
commit these sins, but they love. them so much that they would like to go on. forever
committing them, if only they could do so with impunity. Now, he who loveth iniquity
hateth his own soul; and he who hateth his own soul is not merciful but cruel towards it.
For in loving it according to the. world, he hateth it according to God. But if he desired
to give alms to it which should make all things clean unto him, he would hate it according
to the world, and love it according to God. Now no one gives alms unless he receive what
he gives from one who is not in want of it. Therefore it is said, His mercy shall meet
me."

CHAPTER 78.-WHAT SINS ARE TRIVIAL AND WHAT HEINOUS IS A MATTER FOR GOD'S JUDGMENT.

1 Now, what sins are trivial and what heinous. is not a matter to be decided by man's
judgment, but by the judgment of God. For it is plain that the apostles themselves have
given an indulgence in the case of certain sins: take, for example, what the Apostle Paul
says to those who are married: "Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent
for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer: and come together again,
that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. Now it is possible that it might not have
been considered a sin to have intercourse with a spouse, not with a view to the
procreation of children, which is the great blessing of marriage, but for the sake of
carnal pleasure, and to save the incontinent from being led by their weakness into the
deadly sin of fornication, or adultery, or another form of uncleanness which it is
shameful even to name, and into which it is possible that they might be drawn by lust
under the temptation of Satan. It is possible, I say, that this might not have been
considered a sin, had the apostle not added: "But I speak this by permission, and not of
commandment. Who, then, can deny that it is a sin, when confessedly it is only by
apostolic authority that permission is granted to those who do it? Another case of the
same kind is where he says:

2 "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not
before the saints? And shortly afterwards: "If then ye have judgments of things pertaining
to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the Church. I speak to your
shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to
judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the
unbelievers. Now it might have been supposed in this case that it is not a sin to have a
quarrel with another, that the only sin is in wishing to have it adjudicated upon outside
the Church, had not the apostle immediately added: "Now therefore there is utterly a fault
among you, because ye go to law with one another. And lest any one should excuse himself
by saying that he had a just cause, and was suffering wrong, and that he only wished the
sentence of the judges to remove his wrong, the apostle immediately anticipates such
thoughts and excuses, and says: "Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather
suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Thus bringing us back to our Lord's saying, "If any man
will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also; and again,
"Of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again.

3 Therefore our Lord has forbidden His followers to go to law with other men about worldly
affairs. And carrying out this principle, the apostle here declares that to do so is
"altogether a fault. But when, notwithstanding, he grants his permission to have Such
cases between brethren decided in the Church, other brethren adjudicating, and only
sternly forbids them to be carried outside the Church, it is manifest that here again an
indulgence is extended to the infirmities of the weak. It is in view, then, of these sins,
and others of the same sort, and of others again more trifling still, which consist of
offenses in words and thought (as the Apostle James confesses, "In many things we offend
all" ), that we need to pray every day and often to the Lord, saying, "Forgive us our
debts," and to add in truth and sincerity, "as we forgive our debtors."

CHAPTER 79.-SINS WHICH APPEAR VERY TRIFLING, ARE SOMETIMES IN REALITY VERY SERIOUS.

Again, there are some sins which would be considered very trifling, if the Scriptures did
not show that they are really very serious. For who would suppose that the man who says to
his brother, "Thou fool," is in danger of hell-fire, did not He who is the Truth say so?To
the wound, however, He immediately applies the cure, giving a rule for reconciliation with
one's offended brother: "Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there
rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the
altar, and go thy way: first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy
gift." Again, who would suppose that it was so great a sin to observe days, and months,
and times, and years, as those do who are anxious or unwilling to begin anything on
certain days, or in certain months or years, because the vain doctrines of men lead them
to think such times lucky or unlucky, had we not the means of estimating the greatness of
the evil from the fear expressed by the apostle, who says to such men, "I am afraid of
you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain"?

CHAPTER 80.-SINS, HOWEVER GREAT AND DETESTABLE, SEEM TRIVIALWHEN WE ARE ACCUSTOMED TO THEM.

1 Add to this, that sins, however great and detestable they may be, are looked upon as
trivial, or as not sins at all, when men get accustomed to them; and so far does this go,
that such sins are not only not concealed, but are boasted of, and published far and wide;
and thus, as it is written, "The wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the
covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. Iniquity of this kind is in Scripture called a cry. You
have an instance in the prophet Isaiah, in the case of the evil vineyard: "He looked for
judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. Whence also the
expression in Genesis: "The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great," because in these cities
crimes were not only not punished, but were openly committed, as if under the protection
of the law. And so in our own times: many forms of sin, though not just the sameas those
of Sodom and Gomorrah, are now so openly and habitually practised, that not only dare we
not excommunicate a layman, we dare not even degrade a clergyman, for the commission of
them. So that when, a few years ago, I was expounding the Epistle to the Galatians, in
commenting on that very place where the apostle says, "I am afraid of you, lest I have
bestowed labor upon you in vain," I was compelled to exclaim, "Woe to the sins of men!

2 for it is only when we are not accustomed to them that we shrink from them: when once we
are accustomed to them, though the blood of the Son of God was poured out to wash them
away, though they are so great that the kingdom of God is wholly shut against them,
constant familiarity leads to the toleration of them all, and habitual toleration leads to
the practice of many of them. And grant, O Lord, that we may not come to practise all that
we have not the power to hinder. But I shall see whether the extravagance of grief did not
betray me into rashness of speech.

CHAPTER 81.-THERE ARE TWO CAUSES OF SIN, IGNORANCE AND WEAKNESS; AND WE NEED DIVINE HELP TO OVERCOME BOTH.

I shall now say this, which I have often said before in other places of my works. There
are two causes that lead to sin: either we do not yet know our duty, or we do not perform
the duty that we know. The former is the sin of ignorance, the latter of weakness. Now
against these it is our duty to struggle; but we shall certainly be beaten in the fight,
unless we are helped by God, not only to see our duty, but also, when we clearly see it,
to make the love of righteousness stronger in us than the love of earthly things, the
eager longing after which, or the fear of losing which, leads us with our eyes open into
known sin. In the latter case we are not only sinners, for we are so even when we err
through ignorance, but we are also transgressors of the law; for we leave undone what we
know we ought to do, and we do what we know we ought not to do. Wherefore not only ought
we to pray for pardon when we have sinned, saying, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive
our debtors;" but we ought to pray for guidance, that we may be kept from sinning, saying,
"and lead us not into temptation." And we are to pray to Him of whom the Psalmist says,
"The Lord is my light and my salvation:" my light, for He removes my ignorance; my
salvation, for He takes away my infirmity.

CHAPTER 82.-THE MERCY OF GOD IS NECESSARY TO TRUE REPENTANCE.

Now even penance itself, when by the law of the Church there is sufficient reason for its
being gone through, is frequently evaded through infirmity; for shame is the fear of
losing pleasure when the good opinion of men gives more pleasure than the righteousness
which leads a man to humble himself in penitence. Wherefore the mercy of God is necessary
not only when a man repents, but even to lead him to repent. How else explain what the
apostle says of certain persons: "if God peradventure will give them repentance"? And
before Peter wept bitterly, we are told by the evangelist, "The Lord turned, and looked
upon him."

CHAPTER 83.-THE MAN WHO DESPISES THE MERCY OF GOD IS GUILTY OF THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST.

Now the man who, not believing that sins are remitted in the Church, despises this great
gift of God's mercy, anti persists to the last day of his life in his obstinacy of heart,
is guilty of the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, in whom Christ forgives sins But
this difficult question I have discussed as clearly as I could in a book devoted
exclusively to this one point.

CHAPTER 84.-THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY GIVES RISE TO NUMEROUS QUESTIONS.

Now, as to the resurrection of the body, -not a resurrection such as some have had, who
came back to life for a time and died again, but a resurrection to eternal life, as the
body of Christ Himself rose again,-I do not see how I can discuss the matter briefly, and
at the same time give a satisfactory answer to all the questions that are ordinarily
raised about it. Yet that the bodies of all men-both those who have been born and those
who shall be born, both those who have died and those who shall die-shall be raised again,
no Christian ought to have the shadow of a doubt.

CHAPTER 85.-THE CASE OF ABORTIVE CONCEPTIONS.

Hence in the first place arises a question about abortive conceptions, which have indeed
been born in the mother's womb, but not so born that they could be born again. For if we
shall decide that these are to rise again, we cannot object to any conclusion that may be
drawn in regard to those which are fully formed. Now who is there that is not rather
disposed to think that unformed abortions perish, like seeds that have never fructified?
But who will dare to deny, though he may not dare to affirm, that at the resurrection
every defect in the form shall be supplied, and that thus the perfection which time would
have brought shall not be wanting, any more than the blemishes which time did bring shall
be present: so that the nature shall neither want anything suitable and in harmony with it
that length of days would have added, nor be debased by the presence of anything of an
opposite kind that length of days has added; but that what is not yet complete shall be
completed, just as what has been injured shall be renewed.

CHAPTER 86.-IF THEY HAVE EVER LIVED, THEY MUST OF COURSE HAVE DIED, AND THEREFORE SHALL HAVE A SHARE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.

And therefore the following question may be very carefully inquired into and discussed by
learned men, though I do not know whether it is in man's power to resolve it: At what time
the infant begins to live in the womb: whether life exists in a latent form before it
manifests itself in the motions of the living being. To deny that the young who are cut
out limb by limb from the womb, lest if they were left there dead the mother should die
too, have never been alive, seems too audacious. Now, from the time that a man begins to
live, from that time it is possible for him to die. And if he die, wheresoever death may
overtake him, I cannot discover on what principle he can be denied an interest in the
resurrection of the dead.

CHAPTER 87.-THE CASE OF MONSTROUS BIRTHS.

We are not justified in affirming even of monstrosities, which are born and live, however
quickly they may die, that they shall not rise again, nor that they shall rise again in
their deformity, and not rather with an amended and perfected body. God forbid that the
double limbed man who was lately born in the East, of whom an account wasbrought by most
trustworthy brethren who had seen him,-an account which the presbyter Jerome, of blessed
memory, left in writing; -God forbid, I say, that we should think that at the resurrection
there shall be one man with double limbs, and not two distinct men, as would have been the
case had twins been born. And so other births, which, because they have either a
superfluity or a defect, or because they are very much deformed, are called monstrosities,
shall at the resurrection be restored to the normal shape of man; and so each single soul
shall possess its own body; and no bodies shall cohere together even though they were born
in cohesion, but each separately shall possess all the members which constitute a complete
human body.

CHAPTER 88.-THE MATERIAL OF THE BODY NEVER PERISHES.

Nor does the earthly material out of which men's mortal bodies are created ever perish;
but though it may crumble into dust and ashes, or be dissolved into vapors and
exhalations, though it may be transformed into the substance of other bodies, or dispersed
into the elements, though it should become food for beasts or men, and be changed into
their flesh, it returns in a moment of time to that human soul which animated it at the
first, and which caused it to become man, and to live and grow.

CHAPTER 89.-BUT THIS MATERIAL MAY BE DIFFERENTLY ARRANGED IN THE RESURRECTION BODY.

And this earthly material, which when the soul leaves it becomes a corpse, shall not at
the resurrection be so restored as that the parts into which it is separated, and which
under various forms and appearances become parts of other things (though they shall all
return to the same body from which they were separated), must necessarily return to the
same parts of the body in which they were originally situated. For otherwise, to suppose
that the hair recovers all that our frequent clippings and shavings have taken away from
it, and the nails all that we have so often pared off, presents to the imagination such a
picture of ugliness and deformity, as to make the resurrection of the body all but
incredible. But just as if a statue of some soluble metal were either melted by fire, or
broken into dust, or reduced to a shapeless mass, and a sculptor wished to restore it from
the same quantity of metal, it would make no difference to the completeness of the work
what part of the statue any given particle of the material was put into, as long as the
restored statue contained all the material of the original one; so God, the Artificer of
marvellous and unspeakable power, shall with marvellous and unspeakable rapidity restore
our body, using up the whole material of which it originally consisted. Nor will it affect
the completeness of its restorationwhether hairs return to hairs, and nails to nails, or
whether the part of these that had perished be changed into flesh, and called to take its
place in another part of the body, the great Artist taking careful heed that nothing shall
be unbecoming or out of place.

CHAPTER 90.-IF THERE BE DIFFERENCES AND INEQUALITIES AMONG THE BODIES OF THOSE WHO RISE AGAIN, THERE SHALL BE NOTHING OFFENSIVE OR DISPROPORTIONATE IN ANY.

Nor does it necessarily follow that there shall be differences of stature among those who
rise again, because they were of different statures during life; nor is it certain that
the lean shall rise again in their former leanness, and the fat in their former fatness.
But if it is part of the Creator's design that each should preserve his own peculiarities
of feature, and retain a recognizable likeness to his former self, while in regard to
other bodily advantages all should be equal, then the material of which each is composed
may be so modified that none of it shall be lost, and that any defect may be supplied by
Him who can create at His will out of nothing. But if in the bodies of those who rise
again there shall be a well-ordered inequality, such as there is in the voices that make
up a full harmony, then the material of each man's body shall be so dealt with that it
shall form a man fit for the assemblies of the angels, and one who shall bring nothing
among them to jar upon their sensibilities. And assuredly nothing that is unseemly shall
be there; but whatever shall be there shall be graceful and becoming: for if anything is
not seemly, neither shall it be.

CHAPTER 91.-THE BODIES OF THE SAINTS SHALL AT TITLE RESURRECTION BE SPIRITUAL BODIES.

The bodies of the saints, then, shall rise again free from every defect, from every
blemish, as from all corruption, weight, and impediment. For their ease of movement shall
be as complete as their happiness. Whence their bodies have been called spiritual, though
undoubtedly they shall be bodies and not spirits. For just as now the body is called
animate, though it is a body, and not a soul [anima], so then the body shall be called
spiritual, though it shall be a body, not a spirit. Hence, as far as regards the
corruption which now weighs down the soul, and the vices which urge the flesh to lust
against the spirit, it shall not then be flesh, but body; for there are bodies which are
called celestial. Wherefore it is said, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
God;" and, as if in explanation of this, "neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."
What the apostle first called "flesh and blood," he afterwards calls "corruption;" and
what he first called "the kingdom of God," he afterwards calls "incorruption." But as far
as regards the substance, even then it shall be flesh. For even after the resurrection the
body of Christ was called flesh. The apostle, however, says: "It is sown a natural body;
it is raised a spiritual body;" because so perfect shah then be the harmony between flesh
and spirit, the spirit keeping alive the subjugated flesh without the need of any
nourishment, that no part of our nature shall be in discord with another; but as we shall
be free from enemies without, so we shall not have ourselves for enemies within.

CHAPTER 92.-THE RESURRECTION OF THE LOST.

But as for those who, out of the mass of perdition caused by the first man's sin, are not
redeemed through the one Mediator between God and man, they too shall rise again, each
with his own body, but only to be punished with the devil and his angels. Now, whether
they shall rise again with all their diseases and deformities of body, bringing with them
the diseased and deformed limbs which they possessed here, it would be labor lost to
inquire. For we need not weary ourselves speculating about their health or their beauty,
which are matters uncertain, when their eternal damnation is a matter of certainty. Nor
need we inquire in what sense their body shall be incorruptible, if it be susceptible of
pain; or in what sense corruptible, if it be free from the possibility of death. For there
is no true life except where there is happiness in life, and no true incorruption except
where health is unbroken by any pain. When, however, the unhappy are not permitted to die,
then, if I may so speak, death itself dies not; and where pain without intermission
afflicts the soul, and never comes to an end, corruption itself is not completed. This is
called in Holy Scripture "the second death."

CHAPTER 93.-BOTH THE FIRST AND THE SECOND DEATHS ARE THE CONSEQUENCE OF SIN. PUNISHMENT IS PROPORTIONED TO GUILT.

And neither the first death, which takes place when the soul is compelled to leave the
body, nor the second death, which takes place when the soul is not permitted to leave the
suffering body, would have been inflicted on man had no one sinned. And, of course, the
mildest punishment of all will fall upon those who have added no actual sin, to the
original sin they brought with them; and as for the rest who have added such actual sins,
the punishment of each will be the more tolerable in the next world, according as his
iniquity has been less in this world.

CHAPTER 94.-THE SAINTS SHALL KNOW MORE FULLY IN THE NEXT WORLD THE BENEFITS THEY HAVE RECEIVED BY GRACE.

Thus, when reprobate angels and men are left to endure everlasting punishment, the saints
shall know more fully the benefits they have received by grace. Then, in contemplation of
the actual facts, they shall see more clearly the meaning of the expression in the
psalms," I will sing of mercy and judgment;" for it is only of unmerited mercy that any is
redeemed, and only in well-merited judgment that any is condemned.

CHAPTER 95.-GOD'S JUDGMENTS SHALL THEN BE EXPLAINED.

Then shall be made clear much that is now dark. For example, when of two infants, whose
cases seem in all respects alike, one by the mercy of God chosen to Himself, and the other
is by His justice abandoned (where, in the one who is chosen may recognize what was of
justice due to himself, had not mercy intervened); why, of these two, the one should have
been chosen rather than the other, is to, us an insoluble problem. And again, why miracles
were not wrought in the presence of men who would have repented at the working of the
miracles, while they were wrought in the presence of others who, it was known, would not
repent. For our Lord says most distinctly: "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee,
Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and
Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." And assuredly there was
no injustice in God's not willing that they should be saved, though they could have been
saved had He so willed it. Then shall be seen in the clearest light of wisdom what with
the pious is now a faith, though it is not yet a matter of certain knowledge, how sure,
how unchangeable, and how effectual is the will of God; how many things He can do which He
does not will to do, though willing nothing which He cannot perform; and how true is the
song of the psalmist, "But our God is in the heavens; He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased." And this certainly is not true, if God has ever willed anything that He has not
performed; and, still worse, if it was the will of man that hindered the Omnipotent from
doing what He pleased. Nothing, therefore, happens but by the will of the Omnipotent, He
either permitting it to be done, or Himself doing it.

CHAPTER 96.-THE OMNIPOTENT GOD DOES WELL EVEN IN THE PERMISSION OF EVIL.

Nor can we doubt that God does well even in the permission of what is evil. For He permits
it only in the justice of His judgment. And surely all that is just is good. Although,
therefore, evil, in so far as it is evil, is not a good; yet the fact that evil as well as
good exists, is a good. For if it were not a good that evil should exist, its existence
would not be permitted by the omnipotent Good, who without doubt can as easily refuse to
permit what He does not wish, as bring about what He does wish. And if we do not believe
this, the very first sentence of our creed is endangered, wherein we profess to believe in
God the Father Almighty. For He is not truly called Almighty if He cannot do whatsoever He
pleases, or if the power of His almighty will is hindered by the will of any creature
whatsoever.

CHAPTER 97.-IN WHAT SENSE DOES THE APOSTLE SAY THAT "GOD WILL HAVE ALL MEN TO BE SAVED," WHEN, AS A MATTER OF FACT, ALL ARE NOT SAVED?

Hence we must inquire in what sense is said of God what the apostle has mostly truly said:
"Who will have all men to be saved." For, as a matter of fact, not all, nor even a
majority, are saved: so that it would seem that what God wills is not done, man's will
interfering with, and hindering the will of God. When we ask the reason why all men are
not saved, the ordinary answer is: "Because men themselves are not willing." This, indeed
cannot be said of infants, for it is not in their power either to will or not to will. But
if we could attribute to their will the childish movements they make at baptism, when they
make all the resistance they can, we should say that even they are not willing to be
saved. Our Lord says plainly, however, in the Gospel, when upbraiding the impious city:
"How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" as if the will of God had been overcome by
the will of men, and when the weakest stood in the way with their want of will, the will
of the strongest could not be carried out. And where is that omnipotence which hath done
all that it pleased on earth and in heaven, if God willed to gather together the children
of Jerusalem, and did not accomplish it? or rather, Jerusalem was not willing that her
children should be gathered together? But even though she was unwilling, He gathered
together as many of her children as He wished: for He does not will some things and do
them, and will others and do them not; but "He hath done all that He pleased in heaven and
in earth."

CHAPTER 98.-PREDESTINATION TO ETERNAL LIFE IS WHOLLY OF GOD'S FREE GRACE.

1 And, moreover, who will be so foolish and blasphemous as to say that God cannot change
the evil wills of men, whichever, whenever, and wheresoever He chooses, and direct them to
what is good? But when He does this He does it of mercy; when He does it not, it is of
justice that He does it not for "lie hath mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He
will He hardeneth. And when the apostle said this, he was illustrating the grace of God,
in connection with which he had just spoken of the twins in the womb of Rebecca, "who
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said unto her, The
elder shall serve the younger. And in reference to this matter he quotes another prophetic
testimony: "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. But perceiving how what he had said
might affect those who could not penetrate by their understanding the depth of this grace:
"What shall we say then? he says: "Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For it
seems unjust that, in the absence of any merit or demerit, from good or evil works, God
should love the one and hate the other.

2 Now, if the apostle had wished us to understand that there were future good works of the
one, and evil works of the other, which of course God foreknew, he would never have said,
"not of works," but, "of future works," and in that way would have solved the difficulty,
or rather there would then have been no difficulty to solve. As it is, however, after
answering, "God forbid; that is, God forbid that there should be unrighteousness with God;
he goes on to prove that there is no unrighteousness in God's doing this, and says: "For
He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Now, who but a fool would think that God was unrighteous,
either in inflicting penal justice on those who had earned it, or in extending mercy to
the unworthy? Then he draws his conclusion: "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of
him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Thus both the twins were born children of
wrath, not on account of any works of their own, but because they were bound in the
fetters of that original condemnation which came through Adam. But He who said, "I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy," loved Jacob of His undeserved grace, and hated Esau
of His deserved judgment.

3 And as this judgment was due to both, the former learnt from the case of the latter that
the fact of the same punishment not falling upon himself gave him no room to glory in any
merit of his own, but only in the riches of the divine grace; because "it is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And indeeed the
whole face, and, if I may use the expression, every lineament of the countenance of
Scripture conveys by a very profound analogy this wholesome warning to every one who looks
carefully into it, that he who glories should glory in the Lord.

CHAPTER 99.-AS GOD'S MERCY IS FREE, SO HIS JUDGMENTS ARE JUST, AND CANNOT BE GAINSAID.

1 Now after commending the mercy of God, saying, "So it is not of him that willeth, nor of
him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," that he might commend His justice also
(for the man who does not obtain mercy finds, not iniquity, but justice, there being no
iniquity with God), he immediately adds: "For the scripture saith unto Pharoah, Even for
this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my
name might be declared throughout all the earth. And then he draws a conclusion that
applies to both, that is, both to His mercy and His justice: "Therefore hath He mercy on
whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth. "He hath mercy" of His great
goodness, "He hardeneth" without any injustice; so that neither can he that is pardoned
glory in any merit of his own, nor he that is condemned complain of anything but his own
demerit. For it is grace alone that separates the redeemed from the lost, all having been
involved in one common perdition through their common origin. Now if any one, on hearing
this, should say, "Why doth He yet find fault? for who hath resisted His will? as if a man
ought not to be blamed for being bad, because God hath mercy on whom He will have mercy,
and whom He will He hardeneth, God forbid that we should be ashamed to answer as we see
the apostle answered:

2 "Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
Him that formed it, Why hast Thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay,
of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? Now some
foolish people, think that in this place the apostle had no answer to give; and for want
of a reason to render, rebuked the presumption of his interrogator. But there is great
weight in this saying: "Nay, but, O man, who art thou? and in such a matter as this it
suggests to a man in a single word the limits of his capacity, and at the same time does
in reality convey an important reason. For if a man does not understand these matters, who
is he that he should reply against God? And if he does understand them, he finds no
further room for reply. For then he perceives that the whole human race was condemned in
its rebellious head by a divine judgment so just, that if not a single member of the race
had been redeemed, no one could justly have questioned the justice of God;

3 and that it was right that those who are redeemed should be redeemed in such a way as to
show, by the greater number who are unredeemed and left in their just condemnation, what
the whole race deserved, and whither the deserved judgment of God would lead even the
redeemed, did not His undeserved mercy interpose, so that every mouth might be stopped of
those who wish to glory in their own merits, and that he that glorieth might glory in the
Lord.

CHAPTER 100.-THE WILL OF GOD IS NEVER DEFEATED, THOUGH MUCH IS DONE THAT IS CONTRARY TO HIS WILL.

These are the great works of the Lord, sought out according to all His pleasure, and so
wisely sought out, that when the intelligent creation, both angelic and human, sinned,
doing not His will but their own, He used the very will of the creature which was working
in opposition to the Creator's will as an instrument for carrying out His will, the
supremely Good thus turning to good account even what is evil, to the condemnation of
those whom in His justice He has predestined to punishment, and to the salvation of those
whom in His mercy He has predestined to grace. For, as far as relates to their own
consciousness, these creatures did what God wished not to be done: but in view of God's
omnipotence, they could in no wise effect their purpose. For in the very fact that they
acted in opposition to His will, His will concerning them was fulfilled. And hence it is
that "the works of the Lord are great, sought out according to all His pleasure," because
in a way unspeakably strange and wonderful, even what is done in opposition to His will
does not defeat His will. For it would not be done did He not permit it (and of course His
permission is not unwilling, but willing); nor would a Good Being permit evil to be done
only that in His omnipotence He can turn evil into good.

CHAPTER 101.-THE WILL OF GOD, WHICH IS ALWAYS GOOD, IS SOMETIMES FULFILLED THROUGH THE EVIL WILL OF MAN.

1 Sometimes, however, a man in the goodness of his will desires something that God does
not desire, even though God's will is also good, nay, much more fully and more surely good
(for His will never can be evil): for example, if a good son is anxious that his father
should live, when it is God's good will that he should die. Again, it is possible for a
man with evil will to desire what God wills in His goodness: for example, if a bad son
wishes his father to die, when this is also the will of God. It is plain that the former
wishes what God does not wish, and that the latter wishes what God does wish; and yet the
filial love of the former is more in harmony with the good will of God, though its desire
is different from God's, than the wart of filial affection of the latter, though its
desire is the same as God's. So necessary is it, in determining whether a man's desire is
one to be approved or disapproved, to consider what it is proper for man, and what it is
proper for God, to desire, and what is in each case the real motive of the will. For God
accomplishes some of His purposes, which of course are all good, through the evil desires
of wicked men:

2 for example, it was through the wicked designs of the Jews, working out the good purpose
of the Father, that Christ was slain and this event was so truly good, that when the
Apostle Peter expressed his unwillingness that it should take place, he was designated
Satan by Him who had come to be slain. How good seemed the intentions of the pious
believers who were unwilling that Paul should go up to Jerusalem lest the evils which
Agabus had foretold should there befall him! And yet it was God's purpose that he should
suffer these evils for preaching the faith of Christ, and thereby become a witness for
Christ. And this purpose of His, which was good, God did not fulfill through the good
counsels of the Christians, but through the evil counsels of the Jews; so that those who
opposed His purpose were more truly His servants than those who were the willing
instruments of its accomplishment.

CHAPTER 102.-THE WILL OF THE OMNIPOTENT GOD IS NEVER DEFEATED, AND IS NEVER EVIL.

But however strong may be the purposes either of angels or of men, whether of good or bad,
whether these purposes fall in with the will of God or run counter to it, the will of the
Omnipotent is never defeated; and His will never can be evil; because even when it
inflicts evil it is just, and what is just is certainly not evil. The omnipotent God,
then, whether in mercy He pitieth whom He will, or in judgment hardeneth whom He will, is
never unjust in what He does, never does anything except of His own free-will, and never
wills anything that He does not perform.

CHAPTER 103.-INTERPRETATION OF THE EXPRESSION IN I TIM. II. 4: "WHO WILL HAVE. ALL MEN TO BE SAVED."

1 Accordingly, when we hear and read in Scripture that He "will have all men to be saved,"
although we know well that all men are not saved, we are not on that account to restrict
the omnipotence of God, but are rather to understand the Scripture, "Who will have all men
to be saved," as meaning that no man is saved unless God wills his salvation: not that
there is no man whose salvation He does not will, but that no man is saved apart from His
will; and that, therefore, we should pray Him to will our salvation, because if He will
it, it must necessarily be accomplished. And it was of prayer to God that the apostle was
speaking when he used this expression. And on the same principle we interpret the
expression in the Gospel: "The true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world: not that there is no man who is not enlightened, but that no man is enlightened
except by Him. Or, it is said, "Who will have all men to be saved; not that there is no
man whose salvation He does not will (for how, then, explain the fact that He was
unwilling to work miracles in the presence of some who, He said, would have repented if He
had worked them?), but that we are to understand by "all men," the human race in all its
varieties of rank and circumstances,-kings, subjects; noble, plebeian, high, low, learned,
and unlearned;

2 the sound in body, the feeble, the clever, the dull, the foolish, the rich, the poor,
and those of middling circumstances; males, females, infants, boys, youths; young, middle-
aged, and old men; of every tongue, of every fashion, of all arts, of all professions,
with all the innumerable differences of will and conscience, and whatever else there is
that makes a distinction among men. For which of all these classes is there out of which
God does not will that men should be saved in all nations through His only-begotten Son,
our Lord, and therefore does save them; for the Omnipotent cannot will in vain, whatsoever
He may will? Now the apostle had enjoined that prayers should be made for all men, and had
especially added, "For kings, and for all that are in authority," who might be supposed,
in the pride and pomp of worldly station, to shrink from the humility of the Christian
faith. Then saying, "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour,"
thatis, that prayers should be made for such as these, he immediately adds, as if to
remove any ground of despair, "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the
knowledge of the truth. God, then, in His great condescension has judged it good to grant
to the prayers of the humble the salvation of the exalted; and assuredly we have many
examples of this. Our Lord, too, makes use of the same mode of speech in the Gospel, when
He says to the Pharisees:

3 "Ye tithe mint, and rue, and every herb. For the Pharisees did not tithe what belonged
to others, nor all the herbs of all the inhabitants of other lands. As, then, in this
place we must understand by "every herb," every kind of herbs, so in the former passage we
may understand by "all men," every sort of men. And we may interpret it in any other way
we please, so long as we are not compelled to believe that the omnipotent God has willed
anything to be done which was not done: for setting aside all ambiguities, if "He hath
done all that He pleased in heaven and in earth," as the psalmist sings of Him, He
certainly did not will to do anything that He hath not done.

CHAPTER 104.-GOD, FOREKNOWING THE SIN OF THE FIRST MAN, ORDERED HIS OWN PURPOSES ACCORDINGLY.

Wherefore, God would have been willing to preserve even the first man in that state of
salvation in which he was created, and after he had begotten sons to remove him at a fit
time, without the intervention of death, to a better place, where he should have been not
only free from sin, but free even from the desire of sinning, if He had foreseen that man
would have the steadfast will to persist in the state of innocence in which he was
created. But as He foresaw that man would make a bad use of his free-will, that is, would
sin, God arranged His own designs rather with a view to do good to man even in his
sinfulness, that thus the good will of the Omnipotent might not be made void by the evil
will of man, but might be fulfilled in spite of it.

CHAPTER 105.-MAN WAS SO CREATED AS TO BE ABLE TO CHOOSE EITHER GOOD OR EVIL: IN THE FUTURE LIFE, THE CHOICE OF EVIL WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE.

Now it was expedient that man should be at first so created, as to have it in his power
both to will what was right and to will what was wrong; not without reward if he willed
the former, and not without punishment if he willed the latter. But in the future life it
shall not be in his power to will evil; and yet this will constitute no restriction on the
freedom of his will. On the contrary, his will shall be much freer when it shall be wholly
impossible for him to be the slave of sin. We should never think of blaming the will, or
saying that it was no will, or that it was not to be called free, when we so desire
happiness, that not only do we shrink from misery, but find it utterly impossible to do
otherwise. As, then, the soul even now finds it impossible to desire unhappiness, so in
future it shall be wholly impossible for it to desire sin. But God's arrangement was not
to be broken, according to which He willed to show how good is a rational being who is
able even to refrain from sin, and yet how much better is one who cannot sin at all; just
as that was an inferior sort of immortality, and yet it was immortality, when it was
possible for man to avoid death, although there is reserved for the future a more perfect
immortality, when it shall be impossible for man to die.

CHAPTER 106.-THE GRACE OF GOD WAS NECESSARY TO MAN'S SALVATION BEFORE THE FALL AS WELL AS AFTER IT.

The former immortality man lost through the exercise of his free-will; the latter he shall
obtain through grace, whereas, if he had not sinned, he should have obtained it by desert.
Even in that case, however, there could have been no merit without grace; because,
although the mere exercise of man's free-will was sufficient to bring in sin, his free-
will would not have sufficed for his maintenance in righteousness, unless God had assisted
it by imparting a portion of His unchangeable goodness. Just as it is in man's power to
die whenever he will (for, not to speak of other means, any one can put an end to himself
by simple abstinence from food), but the mere will cannot preserve life in the absence of
food and the other means of life; so man in paradise was able of his mere will, simply by
abandoning righteousness, to destroy himself; but to have maintained a life of
righteousness would have been too much for his will, unless it had been sustained by the
Creator's power. After the fall, however, a more abundant exercise of God's mercy was
required, because the will itself had to be freed from the bondage in which it was held by
sin and death. And the will owes its freedom in no degree to itself, but solely to the
grace of God which comes by faith in Jesus Christ; so that the very will, through which we
accept all the other gifts of God which lead us on to His eternal gift, is itself prepared
of the Lord, as the Scripture says.

CHAPTER 107.-ETERNAL LIFE, THOUGH THE REWARD OF GOOD WORKS, IS ITSELF THE GIFT OF GOD.

Wherefore, even eternal life itself, which is surely the reward of good works, the apostle
calls the gift of God. "For the wages of sin," he says, "is death; but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Wages. (stipendium) is paid as a recompense
for military service; it is not a gift: wherefore he says, "the wages of sin is death," to
show that death was not inflicted undeservedly, but as the due recompense of sin. But a
gift, unless it is wholly unearned, is not a gift at all. We are to understand, then, that
man's good deserts are themselves the gift of God, so that when these obtain the
recompense of eternal life, it is simply grace given for grace. Man, therefore, was thus
made upright that, though unable to remain in his uprightness without divine help, he
could of his own mere will depart from it. And whichever of these courses he had chosen,
God's will would have been done, either by him, or concerning him. Therefore, as he chose
to do his own will rather than God's, the will of God is fulfilled concerning him; for
God, out of one and the same heap of perdition which constitutes the race of man, makes
one vessel to honor, another to dishonor; to honor in mercy, to dishonor in judgment; that
no one may glory in man, and consequently not in himself.

CHAPTER 108.-A MEDIATOR WAS NECESSARY TO RECONCILE US TO GOD; AND UNLESS THIS MEDIATOR HAD BEEN GOD, HE COULD NOT HAVE BEEN OUR REDEEMER,

For we could not be redeemed, even through the one Mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, if He were not also God. Now when Adam was created, he, being a righteous
man, had no need of a mediator. But when sin had placed a wide gulf between God and the
human race, it was expedient that a Mediator, who alone of the human race was born, lived,
and died without sin, should reconcile us to God, and procure even for our bodies a
resurrection to eternal life, in order that the pride of man might be exposed and cured
through the humility of God; that man might be shown how far he had departed from God,
when God became incarnate to bring him back; that an example might be set to disobedient
man in the life of obedience of the God-Man; that the fountain of grace might be opened by
the Only-begotten taking upon Himself the form of a servant, a form which had no
antecedent merit; that an earnest of that resurrection of the body which is promised to
the redeemed might be given in the resurrection of the Redeemer; that the devil might be
subdued by the same nature which it was his boast to have deceived, and yet man not
glorified, lest pride should again spring up; and, in fine, with a view to all the
advantages which the thoughtful can perceive and describe, or perceive without being able
to describe, as flowing from the transcendent mystery of the person of the Mediator.

CHAPTER 109.-THE STATE OF THE SOUL DURING THE INTERVAL BETWEEN DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION.

During the time, moreover, which intervenes between a man's death and the final
resurrection, the soul dwells in a hidden retreat, where it enjoys rest or suffers
affliction just in proportion to the merit it has earned by the life which it led on
earth.

CHAPTER 110.-THE BENEFIT TO THE SOULS OF THE DEAD FROM THE SACRAMENTS AND ALMS OF THEIR LIVING FRIENDS.

1 Nor can it be denied that the souls of the dead are benefited by the piety of their
living friends, who offer the sacrifice of the Mediator, or give alms in the church on
their behalf. But these services are of advantage only to those who during their lives
have earned such merit, that services of this kind can help them. For there is a manner of
life which is neither so good as not to require these services after death, nor so bad
that such services are of no avail after death; there is, on the other hand, a kind of
life so good as not to require them; and again, one so bad that when life is over they
render no help. Therefore, it is in this life that all the merit or demerit is acquired,
which can either relieve or aggravate a man's sufferings after this life. No one, then,
need hope that after he is dead he shall obtain merit with God which he has neglected to
secure here. And accordingly it is plain that the services which the church celebrates for
the dead are in no way opposed to the apostle's words: "For we must all appear before the
judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad; for the merit which renders such services
as I speak of profitable to a man, is earned while he lives in the body.

2 It is not to every one that these services are profitable. And why are they not
profitable to all, except because of the different kinds of lives that men lead in the
body? When, then, sacrifices either of the altar or of alms are offered on behalf of all
the baptized dead, they are thank-offerings for the very good, they are propitiatory
offerings for the not very bad, and in the case of the very bad, even though they do not
assist the dead, they are a species of consolation to theliving. And where they are
profitable, their benefit consists either in obtaining a full remission of sins, or at
least in making the condemnation more tolerable.

CHAPTER 111.-AFTER THE RESURRECTION THERE SHALL BE TWO DISTINCT KINGDOMS, ONE OF ETERNAL HAPPINESS, THE OTHER OF ETERNAL MISERY.

After the resurrection, however, when the final, universal judgment has been completed,
there shall be two kingdoms, each with its own distinct boundaries, the one Christ's, the
other the devil's; the one consisting of the good, the other of the bad,-both, however,
consisting of angels and men. The former shall have no will, the latter no power, to sin,
and neither shall have any power to choose death; but the former shall live truly and
happily in eternal life, the latter shall drag a miserable existence in eternal death
without the power of dying; for the life and the death shall both be without end. But
among the former there shall be degrees of happiness, one being more pre-eminently happy
than another; and among the latter there shall be degrees of misery, one being more
endurably miserable than another.

CHAPTER 112.-THERE IS NO GROUND IN SCRIPTURE FOR THE OPINION OF THOSE WHO DENY THE ETERNITY OF FUTURE PUNISHMENTS.

1 It is in vain, then, that some, indeed very many, make moan over the eternal punishment,
and perpetual, unintermitted torments of the lost, and say they do not believe it shall be
so; not, indeed, that they directly oppose themselves to Holy Scripture, but, at the
suggestion of their own feelings, they soften down everything that seems hard, and give a
milder turn to statements which they think are rather designed to terrify than to be
received as literally true For "Hath God" they say, forgotten to be gracious? hath He in
anger shut up His tender mercies? Now, they read this in one of the holy psalms. But
without doubt we are to understand it as spoken of those who are elsewhere called "vessels
of mercy," because even they are freed from misery not on account of any merit of their
own, but solely through the pity of God. Or, if the men we speak of insist that this
passage applies to all mankind, there is no reason why they should therefore suppose that
there will be an end to the punishment of those of whom it is said, "These shall go away
into everlasting punishment; for this shall end in the same manner and at the same time as
the happiness of those of whom it is said, "but the righteous unto life eternal. But let
them suppose, if the thought gives them pleasure, that the pains of the damned are, at
certain intervals, in some degree assuaged.

2 For even in this case the wrath of God, that is, their condemnation (for it is this, and
not any disturbed feeling in the mind of God that is called His wrath), abideth upon them;
that is, His wrath, though it still remains, does not shut up His tender mercies; though
His tender mercies are exhibited, not in putting an end to their eternal punishment, but
in mitigating, or in granting them a respite from, their torments; for the psalm does not
say, "to put an end to His anger," or, "when His anger is passed by," but "in His anger.
Now, if this anger stood alone, or if it existed in the smallest conceivable degree, yet
to be lost out of the kingdom of God, to be an exile from the city of God, to be alienated
from the life of God, to have no share in that great goodness which God hath laid up for
them that fear Him, and hath wrought out for them that trust in Him, would be a punishment
so great, that, supposing it to be eternal, no torments that we know of, continued through
as many ages as man's imagination can conceive, could be compared with it.

CHAPTER 113.-THE DEATH OF THE WICKED SHALL BE ETERNAL IN THE SAME SENSE AS THE LIFE OF THE SAINTS.

This perpetual death of the wicked, then, that is, their alienation from the life of God,
shall abide for ever, and shall be common to them all, whatever men, prompted by their
human affections, may conjecture as to a variety of punishments, or as to a mitigation or
intermission of their woes; just as the eternal life of the saints shall abide for ever,
and shall be common to them all, whatever grades of rank and honor there may be among
those who shine with an harmonious effulgence.

CHAPTER 114.-HAVING DEALT WITH FAITH, WE NOW COME TO SPEAK OF HOPE. EVERYTHING THAT PERTAINS TO HOPE IS EMBRACED IN THE LORD'S PRAYER.

Out of this confession of faith, which is briefly comprehended in the Creed, and which,
carnally understood, is milk for babes, but, spiritually apprehended and studied, is meat
for strong men, springs the good hope of believers; and this is accompanied by a holy
love. But of these matters, all of which are true objects of faith, those only pertain to
hope which are embraced in the Lord's Prayer. For, "Cursed is the man that trusteth in
man" is the testimony of holy writ; and, consequently, this curse attaches also to the man
who trusteth in himself. Therefore, except from God the Lord we ought to ask for nothing
either that we hope to do well, or hope to obtain as a reward of our good works.

CHAPTER 115.-THE SEVEN PETITIONS OF THE LORD'S PRAYER, ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.

Accordingly, in the Gospel according to Matthew the Lord's Prayer seems to embrace seven
petitions, three of which ask for eternal blessings, and the remaining four for temporal;
these latter, however, being necessary antecedents to the attainment of the eternal. For
when we say, "Hallowed be Thy name: Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done in earth, as it is
in heaven" (which some have interpreted, not unfairly, in body as well as in spirit), we
ask for blessings that are to be enjoyed for ever; which are indeed begun in this world,
and grow in us as we grow in grace, but in their perfect state, which is to be looked for
in another life, shall be a possession for evermore. But when we say, "Give us this day
our daily bread: and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors: and lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil," who does not see that we ask for blessings that
have reference to the wants of this present life? In that eternal life, where we hope to
live for ever, the hallowing of God's name, and His kingdom, and His will in our spirit
and body, shall be brought to perfection, and shall endure to everlasting. But our daily
bread is so called because there is here constant need for asmuch nourishment as the
spirit and the flesh demand, whether we understand the expression spiritually, or
carnally, or in both senses. it is here too that we need the forgiveness that we ask, for
it is here that we commit the sins; here are the temptations which allure or drive us into
sin; here, in a word, is the evil from which we desire deliverance: but in that other
world there shall be none of these things.

CHAPTER 116.-LUKE EXPRESSES THE SUBSTANCE OF THESE SEVEN PETITIONS MORE BRIEFLY IN FIVE.

But the Evangelist Luke in his version of the Lord's prayer embraces not seven, but five
petitions: not, of course, that there is any discrepancy between the two evangelists, but
that Luke indicates by his very brevity the mode in which the seven petitions of Matthew
are to be understood. For God's name is hallowed in the spirit; and God's kingdom shall
come in the resurrection of the body. Luke, therefore, intending to show that the third
petition is a sort of repetition of the first two, has chosen to indicate that by omitting
the third altogether. Then he adds three others: one for daily bread, another for pardon
of sin, another for immunity from temptation. And what Matthew puts as the last petition,
"but deliver us from evil," Luke has omitted, to show us that it is embraced in the
previous petition about temptation. Matthew, indeed, himself says, "but deliver," not "and
deliver," as if to show that the petitions are virtually one: do not this, but this; so
that every man is to understand that he is delivered from evil in the very fact of his not
being led into temptation.


THE ENCHIRIDION ON FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE (CHAPTERS 117.-LOVE, WHICH IS GREATER THAN FAITH AND HOPE, IS SHED ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS BY THE HOLY GHOST.–122.-CONCLUSION.)
============================================================

THE ENCHIRIDION ON FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE continued

CHAPTER 117.-LOVE, WHICH IS GREATER THAN FAITH AND HOPE, IS SHED ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS BY THE HOLY GHOST.

And now as to love, which the apostle declares to be greater than the other two graces,
that is, than faith and hope, the greater the measure in which it dwells in a man, the
better is the man in whom it dwells. For when there is a question as to whether a man is
good, one does not ask what he believes, or what he hopes, but what he loves. For the man
who loves aright no doubt believes and hopes aright; whereas the man who has not love
believes in vain, even though his beliefs are true; and hopes in vain, even though the
objects of his hope are a real part of true happiness; unless, indeed, he believes and
hopes for this, that he may obtain by prayer the blessing of love. For, although it is not
possible to hope without love, it may yethappen that a man does not love that which is
necessary to the attainment of his hope; as, for example, if he hopes for eternal life
(and who is there that does not desire this?) and yet does not love righteousness, without
which no one can attain to eternal life. Now this is the true faith of Christ which the
apostle speaks of, "which worketh by love;" and if there is anything that it does not yet
embrace in its love, asks that it may receive, seeks that it may find, and knocks that it
may be opened unto it. For faith obtains through prayer that which the law commands. For
without the gift of God, that is, without the Holy Spirit, through whom love is shed
abroad in our hearts, the law can command, but it cannot assist; and, moreover, it makes a
man a transgressor, for he can no longer excuse himself on the plea of ignorance. Now
carnal lust reigns where there is not the love of God.

CHAPTER 118.-THE FOUR STAGES OF THE CHRISTAIN'S LIFE, AND THE FOUR CORRESPONDING STAGES OF THE CHURCH'S HISTORY.

1 When, sunk in the darkest depths of ignorance, man lives according to the flesh
undisturbed by any struggle of reason or conscience, this is his first state. Afterwards,
when through the law has come the knowledge of sin, and the Spirit of God has not yet
interposed His aid, man, striving to live according to the law, is thwarted in his efforts
and falls into conscious sin, and so, being overcome of sin, becomes its slave ("for of
whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage" ); and thus the effect
produced by the knowledge of the commandment is this, that sin worketh in man all manner
of concupiscence, and he is involved in the additional guilt of willful transgression, and
that is fulfilled which is written: "The, law entered that the Offense might abound. This
is man's second state. But if God has regard to him, and inspires him with faith in God's
help, and the Spirit of God begins to work in him, then the mightier power of love strives
against the power of the flesh; and although there is still in the man's own nature a
power that fights against him (for his disease is not completely cured), yet he lives the
life of the just by faith, and lives in righteousness so far as he does not yield to evil
lust, but conquers it by the love of holiness. This is the third state of a man of good
hope;

2 and he who by steadfast piety advances in this course, shall attain at last to peace,
that peace which, after this life is over, shall be perfected in the repose of the spirit,
and finally in the resurrection of the body. Of these four different stages the first is
before the law, the second is under the law, the third is under grace, and the fourth is
in full and perfect peace. Thus, too, has the history of God's people been ordered
according to His pleasure who disposeth all things in number, and measure, and weight. For
the church existed at first before the law; then under the law, which was given by Moses;
then under grace, which was first made manifest in the coming of the Mediator. Not,
indeed, that this grace was absent previously, but, in harmony with the arrangements of
the time, it was veiled and hidden. For none, even of the just men of old, could find
salvation apart from the faith of Christ; nor unless He had been known to them could their
ministry have been used to convey prophecies concerning Him to us, some more plain, and
some more obscure.

CHAPTER 119.-THE GRACE OF REGENERATION WASHES AWAY ALL PAST SIN AND ALL ORIGINAL GUILT.

Now in whichever of these four stages (as we may call them) the grace of regeneration
finds any particular man, all his past sins are there and then pardoned, and the guilt
which he contracted in his birth is removed in his new birth; and so true is it that "the
wind bloweth where it listeth," that some have never known the second stage, that of
slavery under the law, but have received the divine assistance as soon as they received
the commandment.

CHAPTER 120.-DEATH CANNOT INJURE THOSE WHO HAVE RECEIVED THE GRACE OF REGENERATION.

But before a man can receive the commandment, it is necessary that he should live
according to the flesh. But if once he has received the grace of regeneration, death shall
not injure him, even if he should forthwith depart from this life; "for to this end Christ
both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living;"
nor shall death retain dominion over him for whom Christ freely died.

CHAPTER 121.-LOVE IS THE END OF ALL THE COMMANDMENTS, AND GOD HIMSELF IS LOVE.

1 All the commandments of God, then, are embraced in love, of which the apostle says: "Now
the end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and
of faith unfeigned. Thus the end of every commandment is charity, that is, every
commandment has love for its aim. But whatever is done either through fear of punishment
or from some other carnal motive, and has not for its principle that love which the Spirit
of God sheds abroad in the heart, is not done as it ought to be done, however it may
appear to men. For this love embraces both the love of God and the love of our neighbor,
and "on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets," we may add the Gospel
and the apostles. For it is from these that we hear this voice: The end of the commandment
is charity, and God is love. Wherefore, all God's commandments, one of which is, "Thou
shalt not commit adultery," and all those precepts which are not commandments but special
counsels, one of which is, "It is good for a man not to touch a woman," are rightly
carried out only when the motive principle of action is the love of God, and the love of
our neighbor in God. And this applies both to the present and the future life. We love God
now by faith, then we shall love Him through sight. Now we love even our neighbor by
faith;

2 for we who are ourselves mortal know not the hearts of mortal men. But in the future
life, the Lord "both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make
manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God; for
every man shall love and praise in his neighbor the virtue which, that it may not be hid,
the Lord Himself shall bring to light. Moreover, lust diminishes as love grows, till the
latter grows to such a height that it can grow no higher here. For "greater love hath no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Who then can tell how great
love shall be in the future world, when there shall be no lust for it to restrain and
conquer? for that will be the perfection of health when there shall be no struggle with
death.

CHAPTER 122.-CONCLUSION.

But now there must be an end at last to this volume. And it is for yourself to judge
whether you should call it a hand-book, or should use it as such. I, however, thinking
that your zeal in Christ ought not to be despised, and believing and hoping all good of
you in dependence on our Redeemer's help, and loving you very much as one of the members
of His body, have, to the best of my ability, written this book for you on Faith, Hope,
and Love. May its value be equal to its length.


A PRAYER OF AUGUSTINE
=====================

A PRAYER OF AUGUSTINE Augustine of Hippo

AD 354–430

Bishop of Hippo, the most influential Latin father.

PRAYER OF ST. AUGUSTIN

Which he was wont to use after his Sermons and Lectures. Turn we to the Lord God, the
Father Almighty, and with pure hearts offer to Him, so far as our meanness can, great and
true thanks, with all our hearts praying His exceeding kindness, that of His good pleasure
He would deign to hear our prayers, that by His Power He would drive out the enemy from
our deeds and thoughts, that He would increase our faith, guide our understandings, give
us spiritual thoughts, and lead us to His bliss, through Jesus Christ His Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with Him, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen.parparpar


SOURCES AND CREDITS
===================

Where each text comes from, and the licence under which it may be reused.

THE CONFESSIONS English translation by Edward Bouverie Pusey, from The Confessions of S.
Augustine , translated by E. B. Pusey (Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1838; Library of the
Fathers ); public domain, as transcribed by Robert S. Munday for Project Gutenberg (ebook
3296). SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is
the translator’s own. Footnotes and the editor’s introduction are left out. No original-
language text is shown beside it, and no modern English version has been made. Licence.
The translation was published in 1838 and is in the public domain. Licence: Public domain.

SOLILOQUIES English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected in the
Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only divided
it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek or
Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made. Licence:
Public domain.

ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected
in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only
divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek
or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made.
Licence: Public domain.

ON THE CATECHISING OF THE UNINSTRUCTED English translation: an older public-domain
translation as collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from
the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

ON FAITH AND THE CREED English translation: an older public-domain translation as
collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-
Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

ON THE CREED English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected in the
Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only divided
it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek or
Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made. Licence:
Public domain.

THE ENCHIRIDION ON FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE English translation: an older public-domain
translation as collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from
the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

A PRAYER OF AUGUSTINE English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected
in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only
divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek
or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made.
Licence: Public domain.