The Seventh Book

THE SEVENTH BOOK.

AUGUSTINE'S THIRTY-FIRST YEAR — HE IS GRADUALLY EXTRICATED FROM HIS ERRORS, BUT STILL WITH MATERIAL CONCEPTIONS OF GOD — AIDED BY AN ARGUMENT OF NEBRIDICS — SEES THAT the cause s SIN LIES IN FREE-WILL—REJECTS THE MANICH-EAN HEREBY, BUT CANNOT ALTOGETHER EMBRACE THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH — RECOVERED FROM THE BELIEF IN ASTROLOGY, BUT MISERABLY PERPLEXED ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF EVIL—IS LED TO FIND IN THE PLATONISTS THE SEEDS OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE DIVINITY OF THE WORD, BUT NOT OF HIS HUMILIATION—HENCE HE OBTAINS CLEARER NOTIONS OF GOD'S MAJESTY, BUT, NOT KNOWING CHRIST TO BE THE MEDIATOR, REMAINS ESTRANGED FROM HIM — ALL his doubts REMOVED BY THE HOLY SCRIPTURE, ESPECIALLY ST. PAUL.

I. 1. My evil and abominable youth was now ended, and I was passing into early manhood; the more defiled by vain things as I grew in years, for I could not imagine any substance, but such as is wont to be seen with these eyes. I did not think of Thee, O God, under the figure of an human body; since I began to hear aught of wisdom, I always avoided this; and rejoiced to have found the same in the faith of our spiritual mother, Thy Catholic Church. But what else to conceive Thee I knew not. And I, a man, and such a man, sought to conceive of Thee the sovereign, only, true God; and I did in my inmost soul believe that Thou art incorruptible, and uninjurable, and unchangeable; because, though not knowing whence or how, yet I saw plainly and was His thirty-first year. 145

sure that the corruptible must be inferior to the incorruptible; 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 phantoms, and with one blow I sought to beat away from the eye of my mind all that unclean troop which buzzed around it. And lo! being scarcely driven off, in the twinkling of an eye they gathered again thick about me, flew against my face, and beclouded it; so that, though not under the form of the human body, yet was I constrained to conceive of Thee (that incorruptible, uninjurable, and unchangeable, which I preferred before the corruptible, and injurable, and changeable) as being in space, either infused into the world, or diffused infinitely without it. Because, whatsoever I conceived deprived of this space seemed to me nothing, yea, altogether nothing; not even a void, as if a body were taken out of its place, and the place should remain empty of any body at all, of earth and water, air and heaven, yet would it remain a void place, as it were a spacious nothing.

2. I then being thus gross-hearted, nor clear even to myself, whatsoever was not extended over certain spaces, nor diffused, nor condensed, nor swelled out, or did not or could not receive some of these dimensions, I thought to be altogether nothing. For over such forms as my eyes are wont to range, did my heart then range: nor yet did I see that this same notion of the mind, whereby I formed those very images, was not of this sensuous sort, and yet the 146 Inquiries about the Being of God.

mind could not have formed them, had not itself been some great thing. So also did I endeavor 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 as the body of this air which is above the earth hindereth not the light of the sun from passing through it, penetrating it, not by bursting or by cutting, but by filling it wholly: so I thought the body not of heaven, air, and sea only, but of the earth too, pervious to Thee, so that in all its parts, the greatest as the smallest, it should admit Thy presence, by a secret inspiration, within and without, directing all things which Thou hast created. So I guessed, only as unable to conceive aught else, for it was false. For in that case, a greater part of the earth would contain a greater portion of Thee, and a less, a lesser: and all things would be full of Thee, in such manner that the body of an elephant would contain more of Thee than that of a sparrow, since it is larger, and takes up more room; and thus Thou wouldest make the several portions of Thyself present unto the several portions of the world, in fragments, large to the large, little to the little. But such art not Thou, who hadst not as yet enlightened my darkness.

II. 3. It was enough for me, Lord, to oppose to those deceived deceivers, and dumb praters, what manner of God's presence in the universe. 147

Nebridius used to propound, while we were yet at Carthage, at which all we that heard it were staggered: "That kingdom of darkness, which the Manichees are wont to set as an opposing mass, over against God, what could it have done unto God, had He refused to fight with it? For, if they answer,' it would have done God some hurt,' then would God be subject to injury and corruption: but if they answer ' it could do God no hurt,' then there was no reason why God should fight with it; and fighting, . too, in such wise, as that a certain portion or member of God, or offspring of His very Substance, should be mingled with opposed powers and natures not created by God, 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 God's Substance was the soul, which being enthralled, defiled, corrupted, the Divine Word, free, pure, and whole, might relieve; that Word Itself being also corruptible, because It was of one and the same Substance.¹ So then, should they affirm God, whatsoever He is (that is, the Substance whereby He is), 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 vom148 The problem of evil.

1 Compare the account of the Manichxan cosmogony, together with that of the Hasilidean and Valentinian Gnosticism, in Guericke's Church History, H 46, 47,54. — Ed.

ited out of the overcharged stomach; for they had no escape from horrible blasphemy of heart and tongue, thus thinking and speaking of Thee.

III. 4. But 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, art undefilable and unalterable, and in no degree mutable, yet I understood 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 the evil I was seeking to understand. I sought it out, then, thus far free from anxiety, certain of the untruth of what the Manichees held, from whom I shrunk with my whole heart; for I saw that, through inquiring the origin of evil, they were filled with evil, in that they preferred to think that Thy substance did suffer ill than that their own did commit it.

5. And I strained to perceive what I now heard, that freewill was the cause of our doing ill, and Thy just judgment of our suffering ill. But I was not able clearly to discern it. So, then, endeavoring to draw my soul's vision out of that deep pit, I was again plunged therein, and endeavoring often, I was plunged back as often^ But this raised me a little into Thy light, so that I knew as well that I had a will, as that I lived: when then I did will or nill anything, I was most sure that no other than myself did will and nill: and I all but saw that there was The problem of evil. 149

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,¹ 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.²

IV. 6. For I was striving to find out the rest, having already found that the incorruptible must needs be better than the corruptible: and whatsoever Thou wert, I confessed Thee to be incorruptible. For never soul was, nor shall be, able to conceive anything which may be better than Thou, who art the sovereign and the best good. But since, most truly and certainly, the incorruptible is 150 The problem of evil

1 The question: What is the efficient cause of an evil will? Augustine, at a later day, affirmed to be inadmissible because it involves a self-contradiction. See De Civitate Dei, XII. 7. —Ed.

2 Ps. vl. 5.

preferable to the corruptible (as I did now prefer it), then if Thou wert 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 do anything,since Thy will isnot 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 more reason should we give, " why that substance which God is should not be corruptible," seeing if it were so, it should not be God?

V. 7. And I sought, "whence is evil," and sought in an evil way; and saw not the evil in my very search. I set now before the sight of my spirit the whole creation, whatsoever we can see therein (as sea, earth, air, stars, trees, mortal creatures), yea, and whatever in it we do not see, as the firmament of heaven, all angels moreover, and all the spiritual inhabitants thereof. But these very beings, as though they were bodies, did my fancy dispose each in its The problem of evil. 151

own 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 fitting, 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, everywhere, and on every side, through unmeasured space, one only boundless sea, and it contained within it a 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 environs and full-fills them. Where is evil, then? and whence, and how crept it in hither? What is its root, and what its seed? Or, hath it no being? Why then fear we and avoid what is not? Or, if we fear it idly, then is that very fear evil, whereby the soul is thus idly goaded and racked. Yea, and so much a greater evil, as we have nothing to fear, and yet do fear. Therefore either that evil which we fear actually exists, or else our fear is evil. Whence is evil, 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, then, is evil? Was there some evil matter out of which He made, 152 The problem of evil.

and formed, and ordered these lesser goods, yet left something in this matter 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 anything at all of it, and not rather by the same Allmightiness cause it not to be at all? Or, could it then be, against His will? Or, if it were from eternity, why suffered He it so to be for infinite spaces of times past, and was pleased so long after to make something out of it? Or, if He were suddenly pleased now to effect somewhat, this rather should the Almighty 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 is 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 would not be Almighty, 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 the most gnawing anxiety 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, although yet unformed, and fluctuating from the rule of doctrine; yet my mind did not utterly leave it, but rather daily took in more and more of it.

No faith to be placed in astrologers. 153

VI. 8. 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,¹ 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 providest then a friend for me, who was no negligent consulter of the astrologers; nor yet was he well skilled in those astrological arts, but (as I said) a curious consulter with astrologers and yet knowing something, which he said he had heard from his father, which how far it went to overthrow the estimation of that art, he knew not. This man then, Firminus by name, of liberal education, and well taught in Rhetoric, consulted me, as one very dear to him, to know what, according to his so-called constellations, I thought in 154 No faith to be placed in astrologers.

1 See B. IV. o. 111.

regard to certain affairs of his, wherein his worldly hopes had risen; and I, who had now begun to incline towards Nebridius's 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 from his father, that when his mother was about to give birth to him, Firminus, a womanservant of that friend of his father's was also with child, a fact which could not escape her master, who took care with most exact diligence to know the births of his very puppies. And it so happened, that while the one for his wife, and the other for his servant, with the most careful observation, was reckoning days, hours, nay, the lesser divisions of the hours, both women were delivered at the same instant; so that both were constrained to allow the same constellations, even to the minutest points, the one for his son, the other for his new-born slave. For so soon as the women began to be in labor, each gave notice to the other what was fallen out in their houses, and had messengers ready to send to one Falsity of Astrology. 155

another, so soon as they had notice of the actual birth, — of which they had easily provided, each in his own case, to receive instant intelligence. And 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 honors; whereas that slave continued to serve his masters, without any relaxation of his yoke, as Firminus, who knew him, told me.

9. Upon hearing and believing these things, told by one of such credibility, all my resistance gave way; and first I endeavored to reclaim Firminus himself from his hankering after astrology, 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 neighbors, 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 (if I would tell him, too, truly) to see in them a lineage the most abject, a slavish condition, and everything 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 156 Falsity of Astrology.

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.

10. An opening thus made, ruminating with myself on the like things, that no one of those dotards (who lived by such a trade, and whom I longed to attack, and with derision to confute) might urge against me, that Firminus had informed me falsely, or his father him; I bent my thoughts on those that are born twins, who for the most part come out of the womb so near one to other, that the small interval (how much force soever in the nature of things folk may pretend it to have) cannot be noted by human observation, or be at all expressed in those figures which the Astrologer is to inspect, that he may pronounce truly. Yet they cannot be true: for looking into the same figures, he must have predicted the same of Esau and Jacob, whereas the same happened not to them. Therefore he must speak falsely; or if truly, then, looking into the same figures, he must not give the same answer. Not by art, then, but by chance, would he speak truly. For Thou, O Lord, most righteous Ruler of the Universe, while consulters and consulted know it not, dost by Thy hidden inspiration effect that the consulter should hear what according to the hidden deservings of souls, he ought to hear, out of the abyss of Thy just judgment; to Whom let no man say, What is this? Why that? Let him not so say, for he is man.

VII. 11. Now then, O my Helper, hadst Thou Still troubled by the problem of evil. 157

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, but no man knew. For how insignificant was that which was through my tongue distilled into the ears of my most familiar friends? Could 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 befere Thee, but the light of mine eyes was not with me;' for that was within, I without: nor was that confined to space, but I was intent on things contained in space, and in space I found no resting-place; nor did these visible things so receive me, that I could say "It is enough," "it is 158 Assisted by the Platonists

1 Ps. xxxvii. 9—11. Vulg. 1 Job xv 26. 2 Ps. Ixxxviii. 11. Vulg. 3 Ps. cii. 18.

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 only when I am subjected to Thee, and Thou subjectest to me only what Thou hast created 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 "humblest the proud like one that is wounded,"² and through my own swelling was I separated from Thee; yea, my prideswollen face closed up mine eyes.

VIII. 12. But Thou, Lord, abidest for ever, yet not for ever art Thou angry with us;³ 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 trouto recognize the Logos. 159

bled and bedimmed eye-sight of my mind, by the smarting anointings of healthful sorrows, was from day to day healed.

IX. 13. And Thou, willing first to shew me how Thou resistest the proud, but givest grace unto the humble,¹ and by how great an act of Thy mercy Thou hast 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;⁵ but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of 160 Comparison of Platonism with Scripture.

1 James iv. 6. 1 Pet. v. 5. 3 John i. 9. 6 John i. 11.

2 John i. 1,—5. * John i. 10.

God, as many as believed in his name;¹ this I read not there.

14. Again I read there, that God the Word was born not of flesh nor of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God? But th at the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us? I read not there. For I traced in those Platonic books, that it was many and divers ways said that the Son was in the form of the Father, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, for that naturally He was the Same Substance. But that He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man, humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, and that the death of the cross: wherefore God exalted him from the dead, and gave Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father of those Platonic books have not. For that before all times and above all times Thy Only-Begotten Son remaineth unchangeably, coeternal with Thee, and that of His fulness souls receive,⁵ 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 ;³ and that Thou sparedst not Thine Only Son, but deliveredest inwardly taught by God. 161

1 John i. 12. 3 John i. 14. 5 John i. 16.

2 John i. 13. 4PhU.il. 6 —11. 6 Rom. v. 6.

Him for us all,¹ is not there. For Thou hiddest these things from the wise, and revealedst them to babes; that they that labor and are heavy laden, might come unto Him, and He refresh them, because He is meek and lowly in heart;² and the meek He directeth in judgment, and the gentle He teacheth His ways,³ beholding our lowliness and trouble, and forgiving all our sins.* But such as are lifted up by the buskin 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 know 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 are wise, they become fools. "

15. And therefore did I read there also, that they had changed the glory of Thy incorruptible nature into idols and divers shapes, into the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and birds and beasts, and creeping things;⁷ hankering after that Egyptian food,⁸ for which Esau lost his birth-right,⁹ since Thy first-born people worshipped the head of a fourfooted beast instead of Thee,^]0 turning back in heart towards Egypt, and bowing Thy image, their own soul, before the image of a calf that eatelh hay.^u These things found I here, but I fed not on them. For it pleased Thee, O Lord, to take away the re162 inwardly taught by God.

1 Rom. viil. 32. « Matt. xi. 29. 9 Gen. xxv. 33, 34.

2 Matt. xi. 25, 28, 29. 6 Rom. i. 21,22. 10 Ex. xxxii. 1—6.

3 Ps. xxv. 9. 1 Rom. i 23. 11 Ps. cvi. 20.

4 Ps. xxv. 18. s The lentil; compare Augustine Enarratio in Ps. xlvi. 1 Rom ix 18. 3 Acts xvii. 28. « Rom. i. 25.

proach of diminution from Jacob, that the elder should serve the younger:¹ and Thou callest 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.² 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 Platonic 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?

X. 16. And being thence admonished to return to myself, I entered even into my inward self, Thou being my Guide: and I was able to do so because Thou wert become my Helper. And I entered and beheld with the eye of my soul, (such as it was,) even above 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 different, far different from all these. Nor was it above my soul, as oil is above water, nor yet as heaven above earth: but above my soul, because It made me; and I below It, because I was made by It. He that knows Contemplation of God. 163

2 Exod. iii. 22. xi. 2. 4 Hos. ii. 8.

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. When I first knew Thee, Thou lifledst me up, that I might see there was somewhat for me to see, and that I was not yet able to see. And Thou didst beat back the weakness of my sight, streaming forth Thy beams of light upon me most strongly, and I trembled with love and awe: and I perceived myself to be far off from Thee, in the region of unlikeness, as if I heard this Thy voice from on high: "I am the food of grown men; grow, and thou shalt feed upon Me; nor shalt thou convert Me, like the food of thy flesh, into thee, but thou shalt be converted into Me." And I learned, that Thou for iniquity chastenest man, and Thou madest my soul to consume away like a spider^} And I said, "Is Truth therefore nothing because it is not diffused through space finite or infinite?" And Thou criedst to me from afar; "Yea, verily, I AM that I AM."² 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?

XL 17. And I beheld the other things below Thee, and I perceived that they neither altogether are, nor altogether are not; for they are, since they are from Thee, but are not, because they are not 164 Evil not a substance.

1 Ps. xxxix. 11. 2 Exod. iii. 14. 3 Rom. i. 20.

what Thou art. For that truly is which remains unchangeably. It is good then for me to hold fast unto Godz¹ for if I remain not in Him, I cannot in myself; but He remaining in Himself, reneioeth all things^? And Thou art the Lord my God, since Thou standest not in need of my goodness^?

XII. 18. And it was manifested unto me, that those things are good which yet are corruptible; which if they were sovereignly good, or if they were not at all good, could not 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 substantially is, is good. That evil then which I sought to know 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 corAll things praise God. 165

1 Ps. lxxiii. 28. 2 Wisd. vii. 27. 3 Ps. xvi. 1.

rupted. 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 because Thou madest not all things equal, therefore is there a diversity of things; for each is good, and all together are very good, because our God made all things very good^}

XIII. 19. And to Thee is nothing whatsoever evil: yea, not only to Thee, but also to Thy creation as a whole, because there is nothing without, which may break in and corrupt that order which Thou hast appointed. But in the parts thereof, some things, because unharmonizing with other some, are accounted evil: whereas those very things harmonize with others, and are good; and in themselves are good. And all these things which harmonize not together, do yet harmonize with the inferior part, which we call Earth, which has its own cloudy and windy sky harmonizing with it. Far be it then that I should say, "These things should not be :" for should I see nought but these, I should long for the better; but still I must even for these alone praise Thee; for that Thou art to be praised do shew 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.

I Gen. i. 31; Eccli. xxxix.

166 All things praise God,

But when from heaven Thy works praise Thee, our God, all Thy angels in the heights, 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 thought of all: and with a sounder judgment I apprehended that the things above were better than these below, yet that all together were better than those above by themselves.

XIV. 20. There is no soundness in them, whom aught of Thy creation displeaseth: as neither in me, when much which Thou hast made displeased me. And because my soul durst not be displeased at my God, it would fain not account that to be 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,² 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.

XV. 21. And I looked back on other things; and I saw that they owed their being to Thee; and were all bounded in Thee: but in a different way, and are contained in God. 167

1 Ps. cxlviii. 1—12. 2 Ps. cxix. 37.

not as being in space, but because Thou containest all things in Thine hand, in Thy Truth; and all things are true so far as they be; nor is there any falsehood, unless when that is thought to be, which is not. And I saw that all things did harmonize, not with their places only, but with their seasons. And 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.

XVI. 22. And I perceived and found it nothing strange, that bread which is pleasant to a healthy palate, is loathsome to one distempered: and to sore eyes light is offensive, which to the sound eye 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.

XVII. 23. And I wondered that I now loved Thee, and no phantasm for Thee. And yet did I not press on to enjoy my God; but was borne up to Thee by Thy beauty, and soon borne down from 168 Augustine's psychology.

Thee by mine own weight, sinking with sorrow into 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: because 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 reaches the faculties of beasts; and thence again to the reasoning faculty, to which what is received from the senses of the body is referred to be judged. which finding itself also to be in me a thing variable, raised itself up to its own understanding, and drew away my thoughts from the power of habit, withdrawing itself from those troops of contradicHis dim apprehension of the Logos. 169

1 Wisd ix. I5. 2 Rom. i. 20.

tory 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 odor of, but was not yet able to feed on.

XVIII. 24. Then I sought a way of obtaining strength, sufficient to enjoy Thee; and found it not, until I embraced that Mediator betwixt God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,² 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, 5 that Thy Wisdom, whereby Thou createdst all things, might provide milk for our infant state. For not being humbled, I did not understand the humiliation of my Lord Jesus Christ; nor knew I yet whereto His infirmity would guide us. For Thy Word, the Eter170

1 Rom. i. 20. 3 Rom. ix. 5. 6 lb. i. 14.

2 1 Tim ii. 5. * John xiv. 6.

Learns to understand

nal Truth', being far above Thy highest creatures, raises up the subdued unto Itself: but in this lower world It built for Itself a lowly habitation of our clay, whereby to abase from themselves such as would be subdued, and bring them over to Itself; allaying their swelling pride, and fomenting their love; that they might go on no further in self-confidence, but rather consent to become weak, on seeing at their feet the Divinity infirm by having taken on our coats of skin;' and wearied, might cast themselves down upon It, and It rising, might lift them

^UP'

XIX. 25. But I thought otherwise; conceiving,

only of my Lord Christ as of a man of excellent wisdom, whom no one could be equalled unto; especially, for that being wonderfully born of a Virgin, He seemed, in conformity therewith, through the Divine care for us, to have attained that great eminence of authority, for an ensample of despising things temporal for the obtaining of immortality. But what mystery there lay in, "The Word was made flesh" I could not even imagine. Only I had learnt out of what is delivered to us in Scripture 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 afthe Person of Christ. 171

1 Gen. iii 21.

fection, 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 prove to be falsely written of Him, all the rest of Scripture also would be put in jeopardy, nor would there remain in those books any saving faith for mankind. Since then they were written truly, I acknowledged a perfect man to be in Christ; not the body of a man only, nor, with the body, a sensitive soul without a rational, but very man; whom, not only as being a form of Truth, but for a certain great excellency of human nature and 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.¹ For the rejection of heretics makes the tenets of Thy Church, and sound doctrines, to stand out more clearly. For there must also be heresies, 172 receives great assistance

1 Guericke's Church History, § M.

that the approved may be made manifest among the weak^}

XX. 26. But having then read those books of the Platonists, and thence been taught to search for incorporeal truth, I saw Thy invisible things, understood by those things which are made;² 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 art, and art 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.³ For where was that charity building upon the foundation of humility, which is Christ Jesus P* or when should these Platonic 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 from the writings of St. Paul. 173

11 Cor. xi 19. 3 1 Cor. viii. 1.

2 Rom. i. 20. 4 1 Cor. lii. 11.

discern and distinguish between presumption and confession; between those who saw whither they were to go, yet saw not the way, — a way that leadeth not merely to behold the beatific country, but to dwell in it. 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 the Platonic books alone.

XXI. 27. Most eagerly, then, did I seize that venerable writing of Thy Spirit, and chiefly the Apostle Paul; whereupon those difficulties vanished away wherein he once seemed to me to contradict himself, and the text of his discourse not to agree with the testimonies of the Law and the Prophets. And the face of that pure word appeared to me one and the same; and I learned to rejoice with trembling} So I began; and whatsoever truth I had read in those other books, I found here amid the praises 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, being healed, to hold Thee; and that he who cannot see afar off, may yet walk on the way,

I Ps. 11.11. 2 1 Cor. iv. 7.

174 Plato's writings and

whereby he may arrive, and behold, and hold Thee. For, though a man be delighted with the law of God after the inner man,¹ what shall he do with that other law in his members which warreth against the law of his mind, and Iringeth him into captivity to the law of sin which is in his members f² For Thou art righteous, O Lord; but we have sinned, and committed iniquity, and have done wickedly? and Thy hand is grown heavy upon us, and we are justly delivered over unto that ancient sinner, the king of death; because he persuaded our will to be like his will, whereby he abode not in Thy truth. What shall wretched man do? who shall deliver him from the body of this death, but only Thy grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord,* whom Thou hast begotten coeternal, and formedst in the beginning of Thy ways,⁶ in whom the prince of this world found nothing worthy of death,⁹ yet killed he Him; and the handwriting, which was contrary to us, was blotted out?⁷ This the Platonic 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,¹⁹ the cup of our Hedemption.ⁿ No man sings there, Shall not my soul be submitted unto God? for of Him cometh my salvation. For He is the Scriptures. 175

1 Rom. vii. 22. « Prov. viii. 22. 8 IV 11.17.

2 Rom. vii. 23. <^; John xiv. 80. 9 Rev. xxi. 2. s Song of the Three Children, 4 sqq. 10 2 Cor. v. 5.

'4 Rom. vii. 24. 1 Col. ii. 14. 11 Pa. cxvi. 13.

my God and my salvation, my guardian, I shall no more be moved^} No one hears Him call in those books, Come unto Me all ye that labor? 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,⁴ and in vain to strive towards it through paths impassable, opposed and beset by fugitives and deserters led by their captain the lion and the dragon; and quite another thing to keep on the way that leads thither, guarded by the hosts of the heavenly General, where those who have deserted the heavenly army spoil and rob not, for they avoid that army as very torment itself. These things did wonderfully sink into my heart, when I read that least of Thy apostles? and meditated upon Thy works, and trembled exceedingly.

1 Ps. Ixii. 1,2. 5 Matt. xi. 29. « 1 Cor. XT. 9.

2 Matt. xi. 28. 4 Deut. xxxii. 49.