BOOK VII

Deceased was now that my evil and abominable youth, and I was passing

into early manhood; the more defiled by vain things as I grew in years,

who could not imagine any substance, but such as is wont to be seen with

these eyes. I thought not of Thee, O God, under the figure of a human

body; since I began to hear aught of wisdom, I always avoided this; and

rejoiced to have found the same in the faith of our spiritual mother,

Thy Catholic Church. But what else to conceive of Thee I knew not. And

I, a man, and such a man, sought to conceive of Thee the sovereign,

only, true God; and I did in my inmost soul believe that Thou wert

incorruptible, and uninjurable, and unchangeable; because though not

knowing whence or how, yet I saw plainly, and was sure, that that which

may be corrupted must be inferior to that which cannot; what could not

be injured I preferred unhesitatingly to what could receive injury; the

unchangeable to things subject to change. My heart passionately cried

out against all my phantoms, and with this one blow I sought to beat

away from the eye of my mind all that unclean troop which buzzed around

it. And lo, being scarce put off, in the twinkling of an eye they

gathered again thick about me, flew against my face, and beclouded

it; so that though not under the form of the human body, yet was I

constrained to conceive of Thee (that incorruptible, uninjurable, and

unchangeable, which I preferred before the corruptible, and injurable,

and changeable) as being in space, whether infused into the world, or

diffused infinitely without it. Because whatsoever I conceived, deprived

of this space, seemed to me nothing, yea altogether nothing, not even

a void, as if a body were taken out of its place, and the place should

remain empty of any body at all, of earth and water, air and heaven, yet

would it remain a void place, as it were a spacious nothing.

I then being thus gross-hearted, nor clear even to myself, whatsoever

was not extended over certain spaces, nor diffused, nor condensed, nor

swelled out, or did not or could not receive some of these dimensions,

I thought to be altogether nothing. For over such forms as my eyes are

wont to range, did my heart then range: nor yet did I see that this same

notion of the mind, whereby I formed those very images, was not of this

sort, and yet it could not have formed them, had not itself been some

great thing. So also did I endeavour to conceive of Thee, Life of my

life, as vast, through infinite spaces on every side penetrating

the whole mass of the universe, and beyond it, every way, through

unmeasurable boundless spaces; so that the earth should have Thee, the

heaven have Thee, all things have Thee, and they be bounded in Thee, and

Thou bounded nowhere. For that as the body of this air which is above

the earth, hindereth not the light of the sun from passing through it,

penetrating it, not by bursting or by cutting, but by filling it wholly:

so I thought the body not of heaven, air, and sea only, but of the earth

too, pervious to Thee, so that in all its parts, the greatest as the

smallest, it should admit Thy presence, by a secret inspiration, within

and without, directing all things which Thou hast created. So I guessed,

only as unable to conceive aught else, for it was false. For thus should

a greater part of the earth contain a greater portion of Thee, and a

less, a lesser: and all things should in such sort be full of Thee,

that the body of an elephant should contain more of Thee, than that of

a sparrow, by how much larger it is, and takes up more room; and thus

shouldest Thou make the several portions of Thyself present unto the

several portions of the world, in fragments, large to the large,

petty to the petty. But such art not Thou. But not as yet hadst Thou

enlightened my darkness.

It was enough for me, Lord, to oppose to those deceived deceivers, and

dumb praters, since Thy word sounded not out of them;--that was enough

which long ago, while we were yet at Carthage, Nebridius used to

propound, at which all we that heard it were staggered: "That said

nation of darkness, which the Manichees are wont to set as an opposing

mass over against Thee, what could it have done unto Thee, hadst Thou

refused to fight with it? For, if they answered, 'it would have

done Thee some hurt,' then shouldest Thou be subject to injury and

corruption: but it could do Thee no hurt,' then was no reason brought

for Thy fighting with it; and fighting in such wise, as that a certain

portion or member of Thee, or offspring of Thy very Substance, should be

mingled with opposed powers, and natures not created by Thee, and be

by them so far corrupted and changed to the worse, as to be turned

from happiness into misery, and need assistance, whereby it might be

extricated and purified; and that this offspring of Thy Substance was

the soul, which being enthralled, defiled, corrupted, Thy Word, free,

pure, and whole, might relieve; that Word itself being still corruptible

because it was of one and the same Substance. So then, should they

affirm Thee, whatsoever Thou art, that is, Thy Substance whereby

Thou art, to be incorruptible, then were all these sayings false and

execrable; but if corruptible, the very statement showed it to be false

and revolting." This argument then of Nebridius sufficed against those

who deserved wholly to be vomited out of the overcharged stomach; for

they had no escape, without horrible blasphemy of heart and tongue, thus

thinking and speaking of Thee.

But I also as yet, although I held and was firmly persuaded that Thou

our Lord the true God, who madest not only our souls, but our bodies,

and not only our souls and bodies, but all beings, and all things, wert

undefilable and unalterable, and in no degree mutable; yet understood I

not, clearly and without difficulty, the cause of evil. And yet whatever

it were, I perceived it was in such wise to be sought out, as should not

constrain me to believe the immutable God to be mutable, lest I should

become that evil I was seeking out. I sought it out then, thus far free

from anxiety, certain of the untruth of what these held, from whom I

shrunk with my whole heart: for I saw, that through enquiring the origin

of evil, they were filled with evil, in that they preferred to think

that Thy substance did suffer ill than their own did commit it.

And I strained to perceive what I now heard, that free-will was the

cause of our doing ill, and Thy just judgment of our suffering ill. But

I was not able clearly to discern it. So then endeavouring to draw my

soul's vision out of that deep pit, I was again plunged therein, and

endeavouring often, I was plunged back as often. But this raised me a

little into Thy light, that I knew as well that I had a will, as that I

lived: when then I did will or nill any thing, I was most sure that no

other than myself did will and nill: and I all but saw that there

was the cause of my sin. But what I did against my will, I saw that

I suffered rather than did, and I judged not to be my fault, but my

punishment; whereby, however, holding Thee to be just, I speedily

confessed myself to be not unjustly punished. But again I said, Who made

me? Did not my God, Who is not only good, but goodness itself? Whence

then came I to will evil and nill good, so that I am thus justly

punished? who set this in me, and ingrafted into me this plant of

bitterness, seeing I was wholly formed by my most sweet God? If the

devil were the author, whence is that same devil? And if he also by his

own perverse will, of a good angel became a devil, whence, again, came

in him that evil will whereby he became a devil, seeing the whole nature

of angels was made by that most good Creator? By these thoughts I was

again sunk down and choked; yet not brought down to that hell of error

(where no man confesseth unto Thee), to think rather that Thou dost

suffer ill, than that man doth it.

For I was in such wise striving to find out the rest, as one who had

already found that the incorruptible must needs be better than the

corruptible: and Thee therefore, whatsoever Thou wert, I confessed to

be incorruptible. For never soul was, nor shall be, able to conceive any

thing which may be better than Thou, who art the sovereign and the

best good. But since most truly and certainly, the incorruptible is

preferable to the corruptible (as I did now prefer it), then, wert Thou

not incorruptible, I could in thought have arrived at something better

than my God. Where then I saw the incorruptible to be preferable to the

corruptible, there ought I to seek for Thee, and there observe "wherein

evil itself was"; that is, whence corruption comes, by which Thy

substance can by no means be impaired. For corruption does no ways

impair our God; by no will, by no necessity, by no unlooked-for chance:

because He is God, and what He wills is good, and Himself is that

good; but to be corrupted is not good. Nor art Thou against Thy will

constrained to any thing, since Thy will is not greater than Thy power.

But greater should it be, were Thyself greater than Thyself. For the

will and power of God is God Himself. And what can be unlooked-for by

Thee, Who knowest all things? Nor is there any nature in things, but

Thou knowest it. And what should we more say, "why that substance which

God is should not be corruptible," seeing if it were so, it should not

be God?

And I sought "whence is evil," and sought in an evil way; and saw not

the evil in my very search. I set now before the sight of my spirit

the whole creation, whatsoever we can see therein (as sea, earth, air,

stars, trees, mortal creatures); yea, and whatever in it we do not see,

as the firmament of heaven, all angels moreover, and all the spiritual

inhabitants thereof. But these very beings, as though they were

bodies, did my fancy dispose in place, and I made one great mass of Thy

creation, distinguished as to the kinds of bodies; some, real bodies,

some, what myself had feigned for spirits. And this mass I made huge,

not as it was (which I could not know), but as I thought convenient, yet

every way finite. But Thee, O Lord, I imagined on every part environing

and penetrating it, though every way infinite: as if there were a sea,

every where, and on every side, through unmeasured space, one only

boundless sea, and it contained within it some sponge, huge, but

bounded; that sponge must needs, in all its parts, be filled from that

unmeasurable sea: so conceived I Thy creation, itself finite, full of

Thee, the Infinite; and I said, Behold God, and behold what God hath

created; and God is good, yea, most mightily and incomparably better

than all these: but yet He, the Good, created them good; and see how

He environeth and fulfils them. Where is evil then, and whence, and how

crept it in hither? What is its root, and what its seed? Or hath it no

being? Why then fear we and avoid what is not? Or if we fear it idly,

then is that very fear evil, whereby the soul is thus idly goaded and

racked. Yea, and so much a greater evil, as we have nothing to fear, and

yet do fear. Therefore either is that evil which we fear, or else evil

is, that we fear. Whence is it then? seeing God, the Good, hath created

all these things good. He indeed, the greater and chiefest Good, hath

created these lesser goods; still both Creator and created, all are

good. Whence is evil? Or, was there some evil matter of which He made,

and formed, and ordered it, yet left something in it which He did not

convert into good? Why so then? Had He no might to turn and change the

whole, so that no evil should remain in it, seeing He is All-mighty?

Lastly, why would He make any thing at all of it, and not rather by

the same All-mightiness cause it not to be at all? Or, could it then be

against His will? Or if it were from eternity, why suffered He it so to

be for infinite spaces of times past, and was pleased so long after to

make something out of it? Or if He were suddenly pleased now to effect

somewhat, this rather should the All-mighty have effected, that this

evil matter should not be, and He alone be, the whole, true, sovereign,

and infinite Good. Or if it was not good that He who was good should not

also frame and create something that were good, then, that evil matter

being taken away and brought to nothing, He might form good matter,

whereof to create all things. For He should not be All-mighty, if He

might not create something good without the aid of that matter which

Himself had not created. These thoughts I revolved in my miserable

heart, overcharged with most gnawing cares, lest I should die ere I had

found the truth; yet was the faith of Thy Christ, our Lord and Saviour,

professed in the Church Catholic, firmly fixed in my heart, in many

points, indeed, as yet unformed, and fluctuating from the rule of

doctrine; yet did not my mind utterly leave it, but rather daily took in

more and more of it.

By this time also had I rejected the lying divinations and impious

dotages of the astrologers. Let Thine own mercies, out of my very

inmost soul, confess unto Thee for this also, O my God. For Thou, Thou

altogether (for who else calls us back from the death of all errors,

save the Life which cannot die, and the Wisdom which needing no light

enlightens the minds that need it, whereby the universe is directed,

down to the whirling leaves of trees?)--Thou madest provision for my

obstinacy wherewith I struggled against Vindicianus, an acute old man,

and Nebridius, a young man of admirable talents; the first vehemently

affirming, and the latter often (though with some doubtfulness) saying,

"That there was no such art whereby to foresee things to come, but that

men's conjectures were a sort of lottery, and that out of many things

which they said should come to pass, some actually did, unawares to them

who spake it, who stumbled upon it, through their oft speaking."

Thou providedst then a friend for me, no negligent consulter of the

astrologers; nor yet well skilled in those arts, but (as I said) a

curious consulter with them, and yet knowing something, which he said

he had heard of his father, which how far it went to overthrow the

estimation of that art, he knew not. This man then, Firminus by name,

having had a liberal education, and well taught in Rhetoric, consulted

me, as one very dear to him, what, according to his so-called

constellations, I thought on certain affairs of his, wherein his worldly

hopes had risen, and I, who had herein now begun to incline towards

Nebridius' opinion, did not altogether refuse to conjecture, and tell

him what came into my unresolved mind; but added, that I was now almost

persuaded that these were but empty and ridiculous follies. Thereupon he

told me that his father had been very curious in such books, and had

a friend as earnest in them as himself, who with joint study and

conference fanned the flame of their affections to these toys, so that

they would observe the moments whereat the very dumb animals, which bred

about their houses, gave birth, and then observed the relative position

of the heavens, thereby to make fresh experiments in this so-called art.

He said then that he had heard of his father, that what time his mother

was about to give birth to him, Firminus, a woman-servant of that friend

of his father's was also with child, which could not escape her master,

who took care with most exact diligence to know the births of his very

puppies. And so it was that (the one for his wife, and the other for his

servant, with the most careful observation, reckoning days, hours,

nay, the lesser divisions of the hours) both were delivered at the same

instant; so that both were constrained to allow the same constellations,

even to the minutest points, the one for his son, the other for his

new-born slave. For so soon as the women began to be in labour, they

each gave notice to the other what was fallen out in their houses, and

had messengers ready to send to one another so soon as they had notice

of the actual birth, of which they had easily provided, each in his own

province, to give instant intelligence. Thus then the messengers of

the respective parties met, he averred, at such an equal distance from

either house that neither of them could make out any difference in the

position of the stars, or any other minutest points; and yet Firminus,

born in a high estate in his parents' house, ran his course through

the gilded paths of life, was increased in riches, raised to honours;

whereas that slave continued to serve his masters, without any

relaxation of his yoke, as Firminus, who knew him, told me.

Upon hearing and believing these things, told by one of such

credibility, all that my resistance gave way; and first I endeavoured to

reclaim Firminus himself from that curiosity, by telling him that upon

inspecting his constellations, I ought if I were to predict truly, to

have seen in them parents eminent among their neighbours, a noble family

in its own city, high birth, good education, liberal learning. But if

that servant had consulted me upon the same constellations, since they

were his also, I ought again (to tell him too truly) to see in them

a lineage the most abject, a slavish condition, and every thing else

utterly at variance with the former. Whence then, if I spake the truth,

I should, from the same constellations, speak diversely, or if I

spake the same, speak falsely: thence it followed most certainly that

whatever, upon consideration of the constellations, was spoken truly,

was spoken not out of art, but chance; and whatever spoken falsely, was

not out of ignorance in the art, but the failure of the chance.

An opening thus made, ruminating with myself on the like things, that

no one of those dotards (who lived by such a trade, and whom I longed

to attack, and with derision to confute) might urge against me that

Firminus had informed me falsely, or his father him; I bent my thoughts

on those that are born twins, who for the most part come out of the womb

so near one to other, that the small interval (how much force soever

in the nature of things folk may pretend it to have) cannot be noted

by human observation, or be at all expressed in those figures which the

astrologer is to inspect, that he may pronounce truly. Yet they cannot

be true: for looking into the same figures, he must have predicted the

same of Esau and Jacob, whereas the same happened not to them. Therefore

he must speak falsely; or if truly, then, looking into the same figures,

he must not give the same answer. Not by art, then, but by chance, would

he speak truly. For Thou, O Lord, most righteous Ruler of the Universe,

while consulters and consulted know it not, dost by Thy hidden

inspiration effect that the consulter should hear what, according to the

hidden deservings of souls, he ought to hear, out of the unsearchable

depth of Thy just judgment, to Whom let no man say, What is this? Why

that? Let him not so say, for he is man.

Now then, O my Helper, hadst Thou loosed me from those fetters: and I

sought "whence is evil," and found no way. But Thou sufferedst me not by

any fluctuations of thought to be carried away from the Faith whereby I

believed Thee both to be, and Thy substance to be unchangeable, and that

Thou hast a care of, and wouldest judge men, and that in Christ, Thy

Son, Our Lord, and the holy Scriptures, which the authority of Thy

Catholic Church pressed upon me, Thou hadst set the way of man's

salvation, to that life which is to be after this death. These things

being safe and immovably settled in my mind, I sought anxiously "whence

was evil?" What were the pangs of my teeming heart, what groans, O my

God! yet even there were Thine ears open, and I knew it not; and when

in silence I vehemently sought, those silent contritions of my soul were

strong cries unto Thy mercy. Thou knewest what I suffered, and no man.

For, what was that which was thence through my tongue distilled into the

ears of my most familiar friends? Did the whole tumult of my soul, for

which neither time nor utterance sufficed, reach them? Yet went up the

whole to Thy hearing, all which I roared out from the groanings of my

heart; and my desire was before Thee, and the light of mine eyes was not

with me: for that was within, I without: nor was that confined to place,

but I was intent on things contained in place, but there found I no

resting-place, nor did they so receive me, that I could say, "It is

enough," "it is well": nor did they yet suffer me to turn back, where

it might be well enough with me. For to these things was I superior, but

inferior to Thee; and Thou art my true joy when subjected to Thee, and

Thou hadst subjected to me what Thou createdst below me. And this was

the true temperament, and middle region of my safety, to remain in

Thy Image, and by serving Thee, rule the body. But when I rose proudly

against Thee, and ran against the Lord with my neck, with the thick

bosses of my buckler, even these inferior things were set above me, and

pressed me down, and no where was there respite or space of breathing.

They met my sight on all sides by heaps and troops, and in thought the

images thereof presented themselves unsought, as I would return to

Thee, as if they would say unto me, "Whither goest thou, unworthy

and defiled?" And these things had grown out of my wound; for Thou

"humbledst the proud like one that is wounded," and through my own

swelling was I separated from Thee; yea, my pride-swollen face closed up

mine eyes.

But Thou, Lord, abidest for ever, yet not for ever art Thou angry with

us; because Thou pitiest our dust and ashes, and it was pleasing in Thy

sight to reform my deformities; and by inward goads didst Thou rouse me,

that I should be ill at ease, until Thou wert manifested to my inward

sight. Thus, by the secret hand of Thy medicining was my swelling

abated, and the troubled and bedimmed eyesight of my mind, by the

smarting anointings of healthful sorrows, was from day to day healed.

And Thou, willing first to show me how Thou resistest the proud, but

givest grace unto the humble, and by how great an act of Thy mercy Thou

hadst traced out to men the way of humility, in that Thy Word was made

flesh, and dwelt among men:--Thou procuredst for me, by means of one

puffed up with most unnatural pride, certain books of the Platonists,

translated from Greek into Latin. And therein I read, not indeed in the

very words, but to the very same purpose, enforced by many and divers

reasons, that In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God: the Same was in the beginning with God: all things

were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made: that which was made

by Him is life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth

in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. And that the soul

of man, though it bears witness to the light, yet itself is not that

light; but the Word of God, being God, is that true light that lighteth

every man that cometh into the world. And that He was in the world, and

the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. But, that He came

unto His own, and His own received Him not; but as many as received Him,

to them gave He power to become the sons of God, as many as believed in

His name; this I read not there.

Again I read there, that God the Word was born not of flesh nor of

blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God.

But that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, I read not there.

For I traced in those books that it was many and divers ways said, that

the Son was in the form of the Father, and thought it not robbery to be

equal with God, for that naturally He was the Same Substance. But that

He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the

likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man, humbled Himself, and

became obedient unto death, and that the death of the cross: wherefore

God exalted Him from the dead, and gave Him a name above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should how, of things in heaven,

and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue

should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the

Father; those books have not. For that before all times and above all

times Thy Only-Begotten Son remaineth unchangeable, co-eternal with

Thee, and that of His fulness souls receive, that they may be blessed;

and that by participation of wisdom abiding in them, they are renewed,

so as to be wise, is there. But that in due time He died for the

ungodly; and that Thou sparedst not Thine Only Son, but deliveredst Him

for us all, is not there. For Thou hiddest these things from the wise,

and revealedst them to babes; that they that labour and are heavy laden

might come unto Him, and He refresh them, because He is meek and lowly

in heart; and the meek He directeth in judgment, and the gentle He

teacheth His ways, beholding our lowliness and trouble, and forgiving

all our sins. But such as are lifted up in the lofty walk of some

would-be sublimer learning, hear not Him, saying, Learn of Me, for I am

meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls. Although

they knew God, yet they glorify Him not as God, nor are thankful,

but wax vain in their thoughts; and their foolish heart is darkened;

professing that they were wise, they became fools.

And therefore did I read there also, that they had changed the glory of

Thy incorruptible nature into idols and divers shapes, into the likeness

of the image of corruptible man, and birds, and beasts, and creeping

things; namely, into that Egyptian food for which Esau lost his

birthright, for that Thy first-born people worshipped the head of a

four-footed beast instead of Thee; turning in heart back towards Egypt;

and bowing Thy image, their own soul, before the image of a calf that

eateth hay. These things found I here, but I fed not on them. For it

pleased Thee, O Lord, to take away the reproach of diminution from

Jacob, that the elder should serve the younger: and Thou calledst the

Gentiles into Thine inheritance. And I had come to Thee from among the

Gentiles; and I set my mind upon the gold which Thou willedst Thy people

to take from Egypt, seeing Thine it was, wheresoever it were. And to the

Athenians Thou saidst by Thy Apostle, that in Thee we live, move, and

have our being, as one of their own poets had said. And verily these

books came from thence. But I set not my mind on the idols of Egypt,

whom they served with Thy gold, who changed the truth of God into a lie,

and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.

And being thence admonished to return to myself, I entered even into my

inward self, Thou being my Guide: and able I was, for Thou wert become

my Helper. And I entered and beheld with the eye of my soul (such as

it was), above the same eye of my soul, above my mind, the Light

Unchangeable. Not this ordinary light, which all flesh may look upon,

nor as it were a greater of the same kind, as though the brightness of

this should be manifold brighter, and with its greatness take up all

space. Not such was this light, but other, yea, far other from these.

Nor was it above my soul, as oil is above water, nor yet as heaven above

earth: but above to my soul, because It made me; and I below It, because

I was made by It. He that knows the Truth, knows what that Light is;

and he that knows It, knows eternity. Love knoweth it. O Truth Who art

Eternity! and Love Who art Truth! and Eternity Who art Love! Thou art

my God, to Thee do I sigh night and day. Thee when I first knew, Thou

liftedst me up, that I might see there was what I might see, and that I

was not yet such as to see. And Thou didst beat back the weakness of my

sight, streaming forth Thy beams of light upon me most strongly, and I

trembled with love and awe: and I perceived myself to be far off from

Thee, in the region of unlikeness, as if I heard this Thy voice from on

high: "I am the food of grown men, grow, and thou shalt feed upon Me;

nor shalt thou convert Me, like the food of thy flesh into thee, but

thou shalt be converted into Me." And I learned, that Thou for iniquity

chastenest man, and Thou madest my soul to consume away like a spider.

And I said, "Is Truth therefore nothing because it is not diffused

through space finite or infinite?" And Thou criedst to me from afar:

"Yet verily, I AM that I AM." And I heard, as the heart heareth, nor had

I room to doubt, and I should sooner doubt that I live than that Truth

is not, which is clearly seen, being understood by those things which

are made.

And I beheld the other things below Thee, and I perceived that they

neither altogether are, nor altogether are not, for they are, since

they are from Thee, but are not, because they are not what Thou art.

For that truly is which remains unchangeably. It is good then for me to

hold fast unto God; for if I remain not in Him, I cannot in myself; but

He remaining in Himself, reneweth all things. And Thou art the Lord my

God, since Thou standest not in need of my goodness.

And it was manifested unto me, that those things be good which yet are

corrupted; which neither were they sovereignly good, nor unless they

were good could be corrupted: for if sovereignly good, they were

incorruptible, if not good at all, there were nothing in them to be

corrupted. For corruption injures, but unless it diminished goodness, it

could not injure. Either then corruption injures not, which cannot be;

or which is most certain, all which is corrupted is deprived of good.

But if they be deprived of all good, they shall cease to be. For if they

shall be, and can now no longer be corrupted, they shall be better than

before, because they shall abide incorruptibly. And what more monstrous

than to affirm things to become better by losing all their good?

Therefore, if they shall be deprived of all good, they shall no longer

be. So long therefore as they are, they are good: therefore whatsoever

is, is good. That evil then which I sought, whence it is, is not any

substance: for were it a substance, it should be good. For either

it should be an incorruptible substance, and so a chief good: or

a corruptible substance; which unless it were good, could not be

corrupted. I perceived therefore, and it was manifested to me that Thou

madest all things good, nor is there any substance at all, which Thou

madest not; and for that Thou madest not all things equal, therefore are

all things; because each is good, and altogether very good, because our

God made all things very good.

And to Thee is nothing whatsoever evil: yea, not only to Thee, but also

to Thy creation as a whole, because there is nothing without, which may

break in, and corrupt that order which Thou hast appointed it. But in

the parts thereof some things, because unharmonising with other some,

are accounted evil: whereas those very things harmonise with others,

and are good; and in themselves are good. And all these things which

harmonise not together, do yet with the inferior part, which we call

Earth, having its own cloudy and windy sky harmonising with it. Far be

it then that I should say, "These things should not be": for should I

see nought but these, I should indeed long for the better; but still

must even for these alone praise Thee; for that Thou art to be praised,

do show from the earth, dragons, and all deeps, fire, hail, snow,

ice, and stormy wind, which fulfil Thy word; mountains, and all hills,

fruitful trees, and all cedars; beasts, and all cattle, creeping things,

and flying fowls; kings of the earth, and all people, princes, and all

judges of the earth; young men and maidens, old men and young, praise

Thy Name. But when, from heaven, these praise Thee, praise Thee, our

God, in the heights all Thy angels, all Thy hosts, sun and moon, all the

stars and light, the Heaven of heavens, and the waters that be above the

heavens, praise Thy Name; I did not now long for things better, because

I conceived of all: and with a sounder judgment I apprehended that the

things above were better than these below, but altogether better than

those above by themselves.

There is no soundness in them, whom aught of Thy creation displeaseth:

as neither in me, when much which Thou hast made, displeased me. And

because my soul durst not be displeased at my God, it would fain not

account that Thine, which displeased it. Hence it had gone into the

opinion of two substances, and had no rest, but talked idly. And

returning thence, it had made to itself a God, through infinite measures

of all space; and thought it to be Thee, and placed it in its heart;

and had again become the temple of its own idol, to Thee abominable. But

after Thou hadst soothed my head, unknown to me, and closed mine eyes

that they should not behold vanity, I ceased somewhat of my former self,

and my frenzy was lulled to sleep; and I awoke in Thee, and saw Thee

infinite, but in another way, and this sight was not derived from the

flesh.

And I looked back on other things; and I saw that they owed their being

to Thee; and were all bounded in Thee: but in a different way; not as

being in space; but because Thou containest all things in Thine hand

in Thy Truth; and all things are true so far as they nor is there any

falsehood, unless when that is thought to be, which is not. And I saw

that all things did harmonise, not with their places only, but with

their seasons. And that Thou, who only art Eternal, didst not begin to

work after innumerable spaces of times spent; for that all spaces of

times, both which have passed, and which shall pass, neither go nor

come, but through Thee, working and abiding.

And I perceived and found it nothing strange, that bread which is

pleasant to a healthy palate is loathsome to one distempered: and to

sore eyes light is offensive, which to the sound is delightful. And Thy

righteousness displeaseth the wicked; much more the viper and reptiles,

which Thou hast created good, fitting in with the inferior portions of

Thy Creation, with which the very wicked also fit in; and that the more,

by how much they be unlike Thee; but with the superior creatures, by how

much they become more like to Thee. And I enquired what iniquity was,

and found it to be no substance, but the perversion of the will, turned

aside from Thee, O God, the Supreme, towards these lower things, and

casting out its bowels, and puffed up outwardly.

And I wondered that I now loved Thee, and no phantasm for Thee. And

yet did I not press on to enjoy my God; but was borne up to Thee by Thy

beauty, and soon borne down from Thee by mine own weight, sinking with

sorrow into these inferior things. This weight was carnal custom. Yet

dwelt there with me a remembrance of Thee; nor did I any way doubt that

there was One to whom I might cleave, but that I was not yet such as to

cleave to Thee: for that the body which is corrupted presseth down the

soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon

many things. And most certain I was, that Thy invisible works from the

creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things

that are made, even Thy eternal power and Godhead. For examining whence

it was that I admired the beauty of bodies celestial or terrestrial;

and what aided me in judging soundly on things mutable, and pronouncing,

"This ought to be thus, this not"; examining, I say, whence it was that

I so judged, seeing I did so judge, I had found the unchangeable and

true Eternity of Truth above my changeable mind. And thus by degrees

I passed from bodies to the soul, which through the bodily senses

perceives; and thence to its inward faculty, to which the bodily senses

represent things external, whitherto reach the faculties of beasts; and

thence again to the reasoning faculty, to which what is received from

the senses of the body, is referred to be judged. Which finding

itself also to be in me a thing variable, raised itself up to its

own understanding, and drew away my thoughts from the power of habit,

withdrawing itself from those troops of contradictory phantasms; that so

it might find what that light was whereby it was bedewed, when, without

all doubting, it cried out, "That the unchangeable was to be preferred

to the changeable"; whence also it knew That Unchangeable, which, unless

it had in some way known, it had had no sure ground to prefer it to the

changeable. And thus with the flash of one trembling glance it arrived

at THAT WHICH IS. And then I saw Thy invisible things understood by

the things which are made. But I could not fix my gaze thereon; and my

infirmity being struck back, I was thrown again on my wonted habits,

carrying along with me only a loving memory thereof, and a longing for

what I had, as it were, perceived the odour of, but was not yet able to

feed on.

Then I sought a way of obtaining strength sufficient to enjoy Thee; and

found it not, until I embraced that Mediator betwixt God and men, the

Man Christ Jesus, who is over all, God blessed for evermore, calling

unto me, and saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and mingling

that food which I was unable to receive, with our flesh. For, the Word

was made flesh, that Thy wisdom, whereby Thou createdst all things,

might provide milk for our infant state. For I did not hold to my Lord

Jesus Christ, I, humbled, to the Humble; nor knew I yet whereto His

infirmity would guide us. For Thy Word, the Eternal Truth, far above the

higher parts of Thy Creation, raises up the subdued unto Itself: but

in this lower world built for Itself a lowly habitation of our clay,

whereby to abase from themselves such as would be subdued, and bring

them over to Himself; allaying their swelling, and fomenting their love;

to the end they might go on no further in self-confidence, but rather

consent to become weak, seeing before their feet the Divinity weak by

taking our coats of skin; and wearied, might cast themselves down upon

It, and It rising, might lift them up.

But I thought otherwise; conceiving only of my Lord Christ as of a man

of excellent wisdom, whom no one could be equalled unto; especially,

for that being wonderfully born of a Virgin, He seemed, in conformity

therewith, through the Divine care for us, to have attained that great

eminence of authority, for an ensample of despising things temporal for

the obtaining of immortality. But what mystery there lay in "The Word

was made flesh," I could not even imagine. Only I had learnt out of what

is delivered to us in writing of Him that He did eat, and drink, sleep,

walk, rejoiced in spirit, was sorrowful, discoursed; that flesh did not

cleave by itself unto Thy Word, but with the human soul and mind. All

know this who know the unchangeableness of Thy Word, which I now knew,

as far as I could, nor did I at all doubt thereof. For, now to move the

limbs of the body by will, now not, now to be moved by some affection,

now not, now to deliver wise sayings through human signs, now to keep

silence, belong to soul and mind subject to variation. And should these

things be falsely written of Him, all the rest also would risk the

charge, nor would there remain in those books any saving faith for

mankind. Since then they were written truly, I acknowledged a perfect

man to be in Christ; not the body of a man only, nor, with the body, a

sensitive soul without a rational, but very man; whom, not only as being

a form of Truth, but for a certain great excellence of human nature and

a more perfect participation of wisdom, I judged to be preferred before

others. But Alypius imagined the Catholics to believe God to be so

clothed with flesh, that besides God and flesh, there was no soul at all

in Christ, and did not think that a human mind was ascribed to Him. And

because he was well persuaded that the actions recorded of Him could

only be performed by a vital and a rational creature, he moved the more

slowly towards the Christian Faith. But understanding afterwards that

this was the error of the Apollinarian heretics, he joyed in and was

conformed to the Catholic Faith. But somewhat later, I confess, did I

learn how in that saying, The Word was made flesh, the Catholic truth

is distinguished from the falsehood of Photinus. For the rejection of

heretics makes the tenets of Thy Church and sound doctrine to stand out

more clearly. For there must also be heresies, that the approved may be

made manifest among the weak.

But having then read those books of the Platonists, and thence been

taught to search for incorporeal truth, I saw Thy invisible things,

understood by those things which are made; and though cast back, I

perceived what that was which through the darkness of my mind I was

hindered from contemplating, being assured "That Thou wert, and wert

infinite, and yet not diffused in space, finite or infinite; and that

Thou truly art Who art the same ever, in no part nor motion varying;

and that all other things are from Thee, on this most sure ground alone,

that they are." Of these things I was assured, yet too unsure to enjoy

Thee. I prated as one well skilled; but had I not sought Thy way in

Christ our Saviour, I had proved to be, not skilled, but killed. For now

I had begun to wish to seem wise, being filled with mine own punishment,

yet I did not mourn, but rather scorn, puffed up with knowledge. For

where was that charity building upon the foundation of humility, which

is Christ Jesus? or when should these books teach me it? Upon these, I

believe, Thou therefore willedst that I should fall, before I studied

Thy Scriptures, that it might be imprinted on my memory how I was

affected by them; and that afterwards when my spirits were tamed through

Thy books, and my wounds touched by Thy healing fingers, I might discern

and distinguish between presumption and confession; between those who

saw whither they were to go, yet saw not the way, and the way that

leadeth not to behold only but to dwell in the beatific country. For

had I first been formed in Thy Holy Scriptures, and hadst Thou in the

familiar use of them grown sweet unto me, and had I then fallen upon

those other volumes, they might perhaps have withdrawn me from the solid

ground of piety, or, had I continued in that healthful frame which I had

thence imbibed, I might have thought that it might have been obtained by

the study of those books alone.

Most eagerly then did I seize that venerable writing of Thy Spirit; and

chiefly the Apostle Paul. Whereupon those difficulties vanished away,

wherein he once seemed to me to contradict himself, and the text of his

discourse not to agree with the testimonies of the Law and the Prophets.

And the face of that pure word appeared to me one and the same; and I

learned to rejoice with trembling. So I began; and whatsoever truth

I had read in those other books, I found here amid the praise of Thy

Grace; that whoso sees, may not so glory as if he had not received, not

only what he sees, but also that he sees (for what hath he, which he

hath not received?), and that he may be not only admonished to behold

Thee, who art ever the same, but also healed, to hold Thee; and that he

who cannot see afar off, may yet walk on the way, whereby he may arrive,

and behold, and hold Thee. For, though a man be delighted with the law

of God after the inner man, what shall he do with that other law in his

members which warreth against the law of his mind, and bringeth him

into captivity to the law of sin which is in his members? For, Thou art

righteous, O Lord, but we have sinned and committed iniquity, and have

done wickedly, and Thy hand is grown heavy upon us, and we are justly

delivered over unto that ancient sinner, the king of death; because

he persuaded our will to be like his will whereby he abode not in Thy

truth. What shall wretched man do? who shall deliver him from the body

of his death, but only Thy Grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, whom

Thou hast begotten co-eternal, and formedst in the beginning of Thy

ways, in whom the prince of this world found nothing worthy of death,

yet killed he Him; and the handwriting, which was contrary to us, was

blotted out? This those writings contain not. Those pages present not

the image of this piety, the tears of confession, Thy sacrifice, a

troubled spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, the salvation of the

people, the Bridal City, the earnest of the Holy Ghost, the Cup of our

Redemption. No man sings there, Shall not my soul be submitted unto God?

for of Him cometh my salvation. For He is my God and my salvation, my

guardian, I shall no more be moved. No one there hears Him call, Come

unto Me, all ye that labour. They scorn to learn of Him, because He is

meek and lowly in heart; for these things hast Thou hid from the wise

and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. For it is one thing,

from the mountain's shaggy top to see the land of peace, and to find no

way thither; and in vain to essay through ways unpassable, opposed and

beset by fugitives and deserters, under their captain the lion and the

dragon: and another to keep on the way that leads thither, guarded by

the host of the heavenly General; where they spoil not who have deserted

the heavenly army; for they avoid it, as very torment. These things did

wonderfully sink into my bowels, when I read that least of Thy Apostles,

and had meditated upon Thy works, and trembled exceedingly.