Augustin: confessions 82

82 Chapter XXXI.—We Do Not See “That It Was Good” But Through the Spirit of God Which is in Us.

46. But as for those who through Thy Spirit, I see these things, Thou seest in them. When: therefore, they see that these things are good, Thou seest that they are good; and whatsoever things for Thy sake are pleasing, Thou art pleased in them; and those things which through Thy Spirit are pleasing unto us, are pleasing unto Thee in us. “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we,” saith he, “have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”253 And I am reminded to say, “Truly, ‘the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God;’ how, then, do we also know ‘what things are given us by God’?” It is answered unto me, “Because the things which we know by His Spirit, even these ‘knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.’ For, as it is rightly said unto those who were to speak by the Spirit of God, ‘It is not ye that speak,’254 so is it rightly said to. I them who know by the Spirit of God, ‘It is not ye that know.’ None the less, then, is it not, have said to those that see by the Spirit of God, ‘It is not ye that see;’ so whatever they see by the Spirit of God that it is good, it is not they, but God who ‘sees that it is good.’” It is one thing, then, for a man to suppose that to be bad which is good, as the fore-named do; another, that what is good a man should see to be good (as Thy creatures are pleasing unto many, because they are good, whom, however, Thou pleasest not in them when they wish to enjoy them rather than enjoy Thee); and another, that when a man these a thing to be good, God should in him see that it is good,—that in truth He may be loved in that which He made,255 who cannot be loved unless by the Holy Ghost, which He hath given. “Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us;”256 by whom we see that whatsoever in any degree is, is good. Because it is from Him who Is not in any degree, but He Is that He Is.

Chapter XXXII.—Of the Particular Works of God, More Especially of Man.

47 Thanks to Thee, O Lord. We behold the heaven and the earth, whether the corporeal part, superior and inferior, or the spiritual and corporeal creature; and in the embellishment of these parts, whereof the universal mass of the world or the universal creation consisteth, we see light made, and divided from the darkness. We see the firmament of heaven,257 whether the primary body of the world between the spiritual upper waters and the corporeal lower waters, or—because this also is called heaven—this expanse of air, through which wander the fowls of heaven, between the waters which are in vapours borne above them, and which in clear nights drop down in dew, and those which being heavy flow along the earth. We behold the waters gathered together through the plains of the sea; and the dry land both void and formed, so as to be visible and compact, and the matter of herbs and trees. We behold the lights shining from above,—the sun to serve the day, the moon and the stars to cheer the night; and that by all these, times should be marked and noted. We behold on every side a humid element, fruitful with fishes, beasts, and birds; because the density of the air, which bears up the flights of birds, is increased by the exhalation of the waters.258 We behold the face of the earth furnished with terrestrial creatures, and man, created after Thy image and likeness, in that very image and likeness of Thee (that is, the power of reason and understanding) on account of which he was set over all irrational creatures. And as in his soul there is one power which rules by directing, another made subject that it might obey, so also for the man was corporeally made a woman,259 who, in the mind of her rational understanding should also have a like nature, in the sex, however, of her body should be in like manner subject to the sex of her husband, as the appetite of action is subjected by reason of the mind, to conceive the skill of acting rightly. These things we behold, and they are severally good, and all very good.

Chapter XXXIII.—The World Was Created by God Out of Nothing.

48. Let Thy works praise Thee, that we may love Thee; and let us love Thee, that Thy works may praise Thee, the which have beginning and end from time,—rising and setting, growth and decay, form and privation. They have therefore their successions of morning and evening, partly hidden, partly apparent; for they were made from nothing by Thee, not of Thee, nor of any matter not Thine, or which was created before, but of concreted matter (that is, matter at the same time created by Thee), because without any interval of time Thou didst form its formlessness.260 For since the matter of heaven and earth is one thing, and the form of heaven and earth another, Thou hast made the matter indeed of almost nothing, but the form of the world Thou hast formed of formless matter; both, however, at the same time, so that the form should follow the matter with no interval of delay.

Chapter XXXIV.—He Briefly Repeats the Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis (Ch. I)., and Confesses that We See It by the Divine Spirit.

49. We have also examined what Thou willedst to be shadowed forth, whether by the creation, or the description of things in such an order. And we have seen that things severally are good, and all things very good,261 in Thy Word, in Thine Only-Begotten, both heaven and earth, the Head and the body of the Church, in Thy predestination before all times, without morning and evening. But when Thou didst begin to execute in time the things predestinated, that Thou mightest make manifest things hidden, and adjust our disorders (for our sins were over us, and we had sunk into profound I darkness away from thee, and Thy good Spirit was borne over us to help us in due season), Thou didst both justify the. ungodly,262 and didst divide them from the wicked; and madest firm the authority of Thy Book between those above, who would be docile unto Thee, and those under, who would be subject unto them; and Thou didst collect the society of unbelievers into one conspiracy, in order that the zeal of the faithful might appear, and that they might bring forth works of mercy unto Thee, even distributing unto the poor earthly riches, to obtain heavenly. And after this didst Thou kindle certain lights in the firmament, Thy holy ones, having the word of life, and shining with an eminent authority preferred by spiritual gifts; and then again, for the instruction of the unbelieving Gentiles, didst Thou out of corporeal matter produce the sacraments and visible miracles, and sounds of words according to the firmament be Thy Book, by which the faithful should of blessed. Next didst Thou form the living soul of the faithful, through affections ordered by the vigour of continency; and afterwards, the mind subjected to Thee alone, and needing to imitate no human authority,263 Thou didst renew after Thine image and likeness; and didst subject its rational action to the excellency of the understanding, as the woman to the man; and to all Thy ministries, necessary for the perfecting of the faithful in this life, Thou didst will that, for their temporal uses, good things, fruitful in the future time, should be given by the same faithful.264 We behold all these things, and they are very good, because Thou dost see them in us,—Thou who hast given unto us Thy Spirit, whereby we might see them, and in them love Thee.

Chapter XXXV.—He Prays God for that Peace of Rest Which Hath No Evening.

50. O Lord God, grant Thy peace unto us,for Thou hast supplied us with all things,—the peace of rest, the peace of the Sabbath, which hath no evening. For all this most beautiful order of things, “very good” (all their courses being finished), is to pass away, for in them there was morning and evening.

Chapter XXXVI.—The Seventh Day, Without Evening and Setting, the Image of Eternal Life and Rest in God.

83 51. But the seventh day is without any evening, nor hath it any setting, because Thou hast sanctified it to an everlasting continuance that that which Thou didst after Thy works, which were very good, resting on the seventh day, although in unbroken rest Thou madest them that the voice of Thy Book may speak beforehand unto us, that we also after our works (therefore very good, because Thou hast given them unto us) may repose in Thee also in the Sabbath of eternal life.

Chapter XXXVII.—Of Rest in God Who Ever Worketh, and Yet is Ever at Rest.

52. For even then shalt Thou so rest in us, as now Thou dost work in us; and thus shall that be Thy rest through us, as these are Thy works through us.265 But Thou, O Lord, ever workest, and art ever at rest. Nor seest Thou in time, nor movest Thou in time, nor restest Thou in time; and yet Thou makest the scenes of time, and the times themselves, and the rest which results from time.

Chapter XXXVIII.—Of the Difference Between the Knowledge of God and of Men, and of the Repose Which is to Be Sought from God Only.

53. We therefore see those things which Thou madest, because they are; but they are because Thou seest them. And we see without that they are, and within that they are good, but Thou didst see them there, when made, where Thou didst see them to be made. And we were at another time moved to do well, after our hearts had conceived of Thy Spirit; but in the former time, forsaking Thee, we were moved to do evil; but Thou, the One, the Good God, hast never ceased to do good. And we also have certain good works, of Thy gift, but not eternal; after these we hope to rest in Thy great hallowing. But Thou, being the Good, needing no good, art ever at rest, because Thou Thyself art Thy rest. And what man will teach man to understand this? Or what angel, an angel? Or what angel, a man? Let it be asked of Thee, sought in Thee, knocked for at Thee; so, even so shall it be received, so shall it be found, so shall it be opened.266 Amen.


1 See 1,sec. 2, above.

2 Similar views as to God’s not having need of us, though He created us, and as to our service being for our and not His advantage, will be found in his De Gn ad Lit. 8,11; and Con. Adv. Leg. et Proph. 1,4).

3 (
Gn 1,2).

4 In his De Gn ad Lit. 1,5, he maintains that the spiritual creature may have a formless life, since it has its form—its wisdom and happiness—by being turned to the Word of God, the Immutable Light of Wisdom).

5 (Ps 73,28).

6 Similarly, in his De Civ. Dei, 12,1, he argues that true blessedness is to be attained “by adhering to the Immutable Good, the Supreme God.” This, indeed, imparts the only true life (See note, p. 133, above); for, as Origen says (in S. Joh. 2,7), “the good man is he who truly exists,” and “to be evil and to be wicked are the same as not to be.” See notes, pp. 75 and 151, above).

7 (Ep 5,8).

8 (Ps 36,6, as in the Vulgate, which renders the Hebrew more correctly than the Authorized Version. This passage has been variously interpreted. Augustin makes “the mountains of God” to mean the saints, prophets, and apostles, while “the great deep” he interprets of the wicked and sinful. Compare In Ev. Joh. Tract. 1,2; and in Ps 35,7, sec. 10).

9 (Gn 1,3).

359 10 Compare the end of chap. 24 of book xi of the De Civ. Dei, where he says that the life and light and joy of the holy city which is above is in God).

11 (
Gn 1,2).

12 (Nb 11,25 Nb 11,

13 (Ps 36,9 Ps 36,

14 See also 11,sec. 10, and note, above).

15 Rom.v. 5).

16 (1Co 12,1, 31).

17 (Ep 3,14-19).

18 “Neque enim loca sunt quibus mergimur et emergimus.”

19 Watts remarks here: “This sentence was generally in the Church service and communion. Nor is there scarce any one old liturgy but hath it, Sursum corda, Habemus ad Dominum.” Palmer, speaking of the Lord’s Supper, says, in his Origines Liturgicae., 4,14, that “Cyprian, in the third century, attested the use of the form, ‘Lift up your hearts,0’ and its response, in the liturgy of Africa (Cyprian, De Orat. Dom. p. 152, Opera, ed. Fell). Augustin, at the beginning of the fifth century, speaks of these words as being used in all churches” (Aug). De Vera Relig. 3,). We find from the same writer, ibid. 5,5, that in several churches this sentence was used in the office of baptism).

20 “Sine substantia,” the Old Ver.rendering of Ps cxxiv. 5. The Vulgate gives “aquam intolerabilem.” The Authorized Version, however, correctly renders the Hebrew by “proud waters,” that is, swollen. Augustin, in in Ps cxxiii. 5, sec. 9, explains the “aqua sine substantia,” as the water of sins; “for,” he says, “sins have not substance; they have weakness, not substance; want, not substance.”

360 21 We may note here that Augustin maintains the existence of the relationship between these two events. He says in his Enchiridion, c. xxix., that “the restored part of humanity will fill up the gap which the rebellion and fall of the devils had left in the company of the angels. For this is the promise to the saints, that at the resurrection they shall be equal to the angels of God (Lc 20,36). And thus the Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all, the City of God, shall not be spoiled of any of the number of her citizens, shall perhaps reign over even a more abundant population.” He speaks to the same effect at the close of ch. 1 of his De Civ. Dei, 22,This doctrine was enlarged upon by some of the writers of the seventeenth century).

22 See his De Civ. Dei, 22,1, where he beautifully compares sin to blindness, in that it makes us miserable in depriving us of the sight of God. Also his De Cat. Rud. sec. 24, where he shows that the restlessness and changefulness of the world cannot give rest. Comp. p. 46, note 7, above).

23 (Ps 18,28).

24 (Ps 104,2).

25 (Ps 139,12).

26 (Ps 31,20 Ps 31, abscondito vultus tui,” Old Ver. Augustin in his comment on this passage (Enarr. 4, sec. 8) gives us his interpretation. He points out that the refuge of particular place (e.g. the bosom of Abraham) is not enough. We must have God with us here as our refuge, and then we will hidden in His countenance hereafter; or in other words, if we receive Him into our heart now, He will hereafter receive us into His countenance—Ille post hoc seculum excipiet te vultu suo. For heaven prepared place for prepared people, and we must fitted to live with Him there by going to Him now, and this, to quote from his De Serm. Dom. in Mon. 1,27, “not with slow movement of the body, but with the swift impulse of love.”

27 See p. 133, note 2, above).

28 See De Trin. 15,17-19.

29 (Ps 9,13 Ps 9,

30 (Lc 2,14, Vulg.

31 Compare De Civ. Dei, 11,28: “For the specific gravity of bodies is, as it were, their love, whether they are carried downwards by their weight, or upwards by their levity.”

361 32 (Ps 84,5 Ps 84,

33 (Ps cxxii. 1.

34 (Ep 5,8 Ep 5,

35 Et qui non potest, which words, however, some Mss. omit, reading, Qui potest intelligat; a te petat.

36 (Jn 1,9 See p. Jn 76, note Jn 2, and p. Jn 181, note Jn 2, above).

37 As Augustin constantly urges of God, “Cujus nulla scientia est in anima, nisi scire quomodo eum nesciat” (De Ord. 2,18), so we may say of the Trinity. The objectors to the doctrine sometimes speak as if it were irrational (Mansel’s Bampton Lectures, lect. vi., notes 9, 10). But while the doctrine is above reason, it is not contrary thereto; and, as Dr. Newman observes in his Grammar of Assent, 5,2 (a book which the student should remember has been written since his union with the Roman Church), though the doctrine be mysterious, and, when taken as a whole, transcends all our experience, there is that on which the spiritual life of the Christian can repose in its “propositions taken one by one, and that not in the case of intellectual and thoughtful minds only, but of all religious minds whatever, in the case of a child or a peasant as well as of a philosopher.” With the above compare the words of Leibnitz in his “Discours de la Conformité de la Foi avec la Raison,” sec. 56: “Il en est de même des autres mystères, où les esprits modérés trouveront toujours une explication suffisante pour croire, et jamais autant qu’il en faut pour comprendre. Il nous suffit d’un certain ce que c’est (tiejsti); mais le comment (pw`") nous passe, et ne nous est point nécessaire” (Euvres de Locke et Leibnitz). See also p. 175, note 1, above, on the “incomprehensibility” of eternity).

38 While giving illustrations of the Trinity like the above, he would not have a man think “that he has discovered that which is above these, Unchangeable.” (See also De Trin. 15,5, end). He is very fond of such illustrations. In his De Civ. Dei, 11,26, 27, for example, we have a parallel to this in our text, in the union of existence, knowledge, and love in man; in his De Trin. 9,4, 17, 18, we have mind, knowledge, and love; ibid. 10,19, memory, understanding, and will; and ibid. 11,16, memory, thought, and will. In his De Lib. Arb. 2,7, again, we have the doctrine illustrated by the union of being, life, and knowledge in man. He also finds illustrations of the doctrine in other created things, as in their measure, weight, and number (De Trin. 11,18), and their existence, figure, and order (De Vera Relig. xiii).. The nature of these illustrations would at first sight seem to involve him in the Sabellian heresy, which denied the fulness of the Godhead to each of the three Persons of the Trinity; but this is only in appearance. He does not use these illustrations as presenting anything analogous to the union of the three Persons in the Godhead, but as dimly illustrative of it. He declares his belief in the Athanasian doctrine, which, as Dr. Newman observes (Grammar of Assent ,v. 2), “may be said to be summed up in this very formula on which St. Augustin lays so much stress,—‘Tres et Unus,0’ not merely ‘Unum.0’ ” Nothing can be clearer than his words in his De Civ. Dei, xi. 24: “When we inquire regarding each singly, it is said that each is God and Almighty; and when we speak of all together, it is said that there are not three Gods, nor three Almighties, but one God Almighty.” Compare with this his De Trin. 7,, end of ch. 11, where the language is equally emphatic. See also Mansel, as above, lect. 6,and notes 11 and 12).

39 (Mt 28,19 Mt 28,

40 (He similarly interprets “heaven and earth” in his De Lit. 2,4. With this compare Chrysostom’s illustration in his De Paenit. hom. 8. The Church is like the ark of Noah, yet different from it. Into that ark as the animals entered, so they came forth. The fox remained a fox, the hawk a hawk, and the serpent a serpent. But with the spiritual ark it is not so, for in it evil dispositions are changed. This illustration of Chrysostom is used with an effective but rough eloquence by the Italian preacher Segneri, in his Quaresimale, serm. 4,sec.

41 (Rm 6,17 Rm 6,

42 (Ps 39,II.

362 43 (Ps 36,6 Ps 36,

44 (Gn 1,3 Gn 1,

45 See p. 47, note 10, above.

46 (Mt 3,2 Mt 3,

47 “His putting repentance and light together is, for that baptism was anciently called illumination, as He 6,4, Ps 42,2.”—W. W. See also p. 118, note 4, part 1, above, for the meaning of “illumination.”

48 (Ps 42,6 Ps 42,

49 That is, Christ. See p. 130, note 8, part 2, above; and compare the De Div. Quaest., lxxxiii. 6.

50 (Ep 5,8).

51 (2Co 5,7 2Co 5,

52 (Rm 8,24 Rm 8,

53 The “deep” Augustin interprets (as do the majority of Patristic commentators), in Ps 41,8, sec. 13, to be the heart of man; and the “deep” that calls unto it, is the preacher who has his own “deep” of infirmity, even as Peter had.

363 54 (Ps 42,7 Ps 42,

55 (1Co 3,1 1Co 3,

56 (Ph 3,13 Ph 3,

57 (2Co 5,2, 4.

58 (Ps 42,1, 2.

59 (2Co 5,2 2Co 5,

60 (Rm 12,2 Rm 12,

61 (1Co 14,20 1Co 14,

62 (Ga 3,1 Ga 3,

63 (Ac 2,19 Ac 2,

64 (Ep 4,8 Ep 4,

364 65 (Ml 3,10 Ml 3,

66 (Ps 46,4 Ps 46,

67 (Jn 3,29 Jn 3,

68 (Rm 8,23 Rm 8,

69 (Jn 3,29 Jn 3,

70 (Ps 42,7 Ps 42,

71 (2Co 11,3, and 1Jn 3,3 1Jn 3,

72 Ibid. ver. 2).

73 (Ps 42,3 Ps 42,

74 Ibid. ver. 4.

75 Ibid. ver. 5.

365 76 (Ps 119,105 Ps 119,

77 (Jb 14,13 Jb 14,

78 (Ep 2,3, and 5,8.

79 (Rm 8,10 Rm 8,

80 (Ct 2,17 Ct 2,

81 (Ps 5,3

82 (Ps 30,12

83 (Ps 43,5).

84 (Rm 8,11 Rm 8,

85 (2Co 1,22).

86 (Rm 8,24 Rm 8,

366 87 Though of the light, we are not yet in the light; and though, in this grey dawn of the coming day, we have a foretaste of the vision that shall be, we cannot hope, as he says in Ps 5,4, to “see Him as He is” until the darkness of sin be overpast.

88 (Ep 5,8, and
1Th 5,5).

89 (Ps 7,9).

90 (Gn 1,5 Gn 1,

91 (1Co 4,7).

92 (Rm 9,21 Rm 9,

93 (Gn 1,6 Gn 1,

94 See sec. 33, below, and references there given.

95 (Is 34,4, and Ap 6,14 Ap 6,

96 (Ps 104,2 in the Vulg. being, “extendens caelum sicut pellem.” The LXX. agrees with the Vulg. in translating hxk'YIiiYB,i

, “as a curtain,” by “as a skin.”

367 97 (Gn 3,21 Gn 3, he makes the emblems of mortality, as being taken from animals. See p. Gn 112, note Gn 8, above.

98 That is, the firmament of Scripture was after man’s sin stretched over him as a parchment scroll,—stretched over him for his enlightenment by the ministry of mortal men. This idea is enlarged on in Ps 8,4, sec. 7, etc., 18,sec. 2, 32,6, 7, and 146,8, sec. 15.

99 We have the same idea in Ps ciii. sec. 8: “Cum enim viverent nondum erat extenta pellis, nondum erat extentum caelum, ut tegeret orbem terrarum.”

100 (Ps 8,3).

101 (Ps 19,7 Ps 19, p. Ps 62, note Ps 6, above).

102 (Ps 8,2 Ps 8,

103 (He alludes to the Manichaeans. See notes, pp. 67, 81, and 87).

104 See part 2 of note 8 on p. 76, above).

105 (Ps 19,8).

106 (Mt 18,10 Mt 18,

107 “Legunt, eligunt, et diligunt.”

368 108 (Is 34,4).

109 (Ps 36,5 Ps 36,

110 (Mt 24,35 Mt 24,

111 (Is 34,4).

112 (Is 40,6-8. The law of storms, and that which regulates the motions of the stars or the ebbing and flowing of the tides, may change at the “end of the world.” But the moral law can know no change, for while the first is arbitrary, the second is absolute. On the difference between moral and natural law, see Candlish, Reason and Revelation, “Conscience and the Bible.”

113 (1Co 13,12 1Co 13,

114 (1Jn 3,2 1Jn 3,

115 (Ct 2,9 Ct 2,

116 (Ct 1,3).

117 (1Jn 3,2 1Jn 3,

118 See Dean Mansel on this place (Bampton Lectures, lect. 5,note 18), who argues that revelation is clear and devoid of mystery when viewed as intended “for our practical guidance,” and not as a matter of speculation. He says: “The utmost deficiency that can be charged against human faculties amounts only to this, that we cannot say that we know God as God knows Himself,—that the truth of which our finite minds are susceptible may, for aught we know, be but the passing shadow of some higher reality, which exists only in the Infinite Intelligence.” He shows also that this deficiency pertains to the human faculties as such, and that, whether they set themselves to consider the things of nature or revelation. See also p. 193, note 8, above, and notes, pp. 197, 198, below.

369 119 (Ps 63,1 Ps 63,

120 (Ps 36,9).

121 (Gn 1,9 Gn 1, his comment on Psalm lxiv. Gn 6, he interprets “the sea,” allegorically, of the wicked world. Hence were the disciples called “fishers of men.” If the fishers have taken us in the nets of faith, we are to rejoice, because the net will dragged to the shore. On the providence of God, regulating the wickedness of men, See p. Gn 79, note Gn 4, above.

122 (Ps 143,6, and 63,1).

123 (Ps xcv. 5.

124 (Ps 104,9, and Jb 38,11, 12.

125 (Gn 1,11 Gn 1, he interprets (See sec. 20, note, above) the sea as the world, so he tells us in Ps lxvi. Ps 6, sec. Ps 8, that when the earth, full of thorns, thirsted for the waters of heaven, God in His mercy sent His apostles to preach the gospel, whereon the earth brought forth that fruit which fills the world; that is, the earth bringing forth fruit represents the Church).

126 (Ps lxxxv. 11.

127 (Gn 1,14 Gn 1,

128 (Is 58,7 Is 58,

129 (Gn 1,12 Gn 1,

370 130 (Is 58,8 Is 58,

131 (Ph 2,15 Ph 2,

132 (2Co 5,17 2Co 5,

133 (Rm 13,11, 12.

134 (Rm 13,11, 12.

135 (Ps 65,11 Ps 65,

136 (Mt 9,38 Mt 9,

137 (Mt 13,39 Mt 13,

138 (Pr 10,6 Pr 10,

139 (Ps 102,27).

140 Compare his De Trin. 12,22-55, where, referring to 1Co 12,8, he explains that “knowledge” has to do with action, or that by which we use rightly things temporal: while wisdom has to do with the contemplation of things eternal. See also in Ps cxxxv. sec. 8).

371 141 (1Co 12,8-11).

142 1 Cor xii 7).

143 1 Cor 13,2. The Authorized Version and the Vulgate render more correctly, “mysteries.” From Palmer (See p. 118, note 3, above), we learn that “the Fathers gave the name of sacrament or mystery to everything which conveyed one signification or property to unassisted reason, and another to faith;” while, at the same time, they counted Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the two great sacraments. The sacraments, then, used in this sense are “varied in their periods,” and Augustin, in Ps. lxxiii. 2, speaks of distinguishing between the sacraments of the Old Testament and the sacraments of the New. “Sacramenta novi Testamenti” he says, “dant salutem, sacramenta veteris Testamenti promiserunt salvatorem.” So also in Ps. xlvi. he says: “Our Lord God varying, indeed, the sacraments of the words, but commending unto us one faith, hath diffused through the sacred Scriptures manifoldly and variously the faith in which we live, and by which we live. For one and the same thing is said in many ways, that it may be varied in the manner of speaking in order to prevent aversion, but may be preserved as one with a view to concord.”

144 (
1Co 3,1).

145 (1Co 2,6).

146 (1Co 3,2, and He 5,12 He 5, allusion in our text is to what is called the Disciplina Arcani of the early Church. Clement of Alexandria, in his Stromata, enters at large into the matter of esoteric teaching, and traces its use amongst the Hebrews, Greeks, and Egyptians. Clement, like Chrysostom and other Fathers, supports this principle of interpretation on the authority of St. Paul in He 5,and  vi., referred to by Augustin above. He says , “Babes must fed with milk, the perfect man with solid food; milk is catechetical instruction, the first nourishment of the soul; solid food, contemplation penetrating into all mysteries (hJ ejpoptikhV qewria), the blood and flesh of the Word, the comprehension of the Divine power and essence.” Augustin, therefore, when he speaks of being “contented with the light of the moon and stars,” alludes to the partial knowledge imparted to the catechumen during his probationary period before baptism. It was only as competentes, and ready for baptism, that the catechumens were taught the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed. We have already adverted to this matter in note Is 4 on p. Is 89, and need not now do more than refer the reader to Dr. Newman’s Arians. In ch. 1,sec. DR 3 of that work, there are some most interesting pages on this subject, in its connection with the Catechetical School of Alexandria. See also p. DR 118, note DR 8, above; Palmer, Origines Liturgicae, 4,sec. DR 7, and note DR 1, below).

147 Those ready for strong meat were called “illuminated” (See p. 118, note 4, above), as their eyes were “enabled to look upon the Sun.” We have frequent traces in Augustin’s writings of the Neo-Platonic doctrine that the soul has a capacity to see God, even as the eye the sun. In Serm. lxxxviii. 6 he says: “Daretne tibi unde videres solem quem fecit, et non tibi daret unde videres eum qui te fecit, cum te ad imaginem suam fecerit?” And, referring to 1Jn 3,2, he tells us in Ep. xcii. 3, that not with the bodily eye shall we see God, but with the inner, which is to be renewed day by day: “We shall, therefore, see Him according to the measure in which we shall be like Him; because now the measure in which we do not see Him is according to the measure of our unlikeness to Him.” Compare also Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, c. 4: “Plato, indeed, says, that the mind’s eye is of such a nature, and has been given for this end, that we may see that very Being who is the cause of all when the mind is pure itself.” Some interesting remarks on this subject, and on the three degrees of divine knowledge as held by the Neo-Platonists, will be found in Jn Smith’s Select Discourses, pp. 2 and 165 (Cambridge 1860). On growth in grace, See note 4, p. 140, above).

148 “He alludes to the sacrament of Baptism.”—W. W.

149 (Is 1,16, 19.

150 (Gn 1,11, 30.

151 (Is 1,l8.

372 152 (Gn 1,15 Gn 1,

153 (Mt 19,16 Mt 19,

154 Ibid. ver. 17.

155 (1Co 5,8).

156 (Mt 19,16-19.

157 Ibid. ver. 20.

158 Ibid. ver. 21.

159 (Mt 6,21 Mt 6,

160 (Mt 19,22 Mt 19,

161 (Mt 13,7, 22.

162 (1P 2,9 1P 2,

163 (1Co 1,27 1Co 1,

164 (Is 52,7 Is 52,

165 (Da 12,3 Da 12,

166 (Ps xix.

167 (Ac 2,3 Ac 2,

168 (1Jn 1,1).

169 That is, as having their light from Him who is their central Sun (See p. 76, note 2, above). For it is true of all Christians in relation to their Lord, as he says of Jn the Baptist (Serm. ccclxxxii. 7): “Johannes lumen illuminatum: Christus lumen illuminans.” See also note 1, above.

170 (Mt 5,14).

171 (Gn 1,20).

172 (Jr 15,19).

173 (Ps 19,3, 4. The word “sound” in this verse (as given in the LXX. and Vulg.), is in the Hebrew sWk'qrk, , which is rightly rendered in the Authorized Version a “line” or “rule.” It may be noted, in connection with Augustin’s interpretation, that the word “firmament” in the first verse of this psalm is the Åk'yqk',  of Gn 1,7: translated in both places by the LXX). steriwma The “heavens” and the “firmament” are constantly interpreted by the Fathers as referring to the apostles and their firmness in teaching the word: and this is supported by reference to St. Paul’s quotation of the text in Rom. x. 18: “But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.”

174 (Gn 1,4 Gn 1,

175 See end of note 17, p. 197, above).

176 “He alludes to Baptism in water, accompanied with the word of the gospel; of the institution whereof man’s misery was the occasion.”—W. W).

177 See sec. 20, note, above.

178 “He means that Baptism, which is the sacrament of initiation, was not so profitable without the Lord’s Supper, which ancients called the sacrament of perfection or consummation.”—W. W. Compare also sec. 24, note, and p. 140, note 3, above.

179 See sec. 20, note, and sec. 21, note, above.

180 (Gn 1,20).

181 (Gn 2,7).

182 (Jn 3,5 Jn 3,

183 (Jn 4,48 Jn 4,

184 (1Co 14,22 1Co 14,

185 “Fundasti super aquas,” which is the Old Ver. of Ps cxxxvi. 6. Augustin sometimes uses a version with “firmavit terram,” which corresponds to the LXX., but the Authorized Version renders the Hebrew more accurately by “stretched out.” In his comment on this place he applies this text to baptism as being the entrance into the Church, and in this he is followed by many mediaeval writers).

186 (Ps 23,5 Ps 23, of the Fathers interpret this text of the Lord’s Supper, as Augustin does above. The fish taken out of the deep, which is fed upon, means Christ, in accordance with the well-known acrostic of IlQUS “If,” he says in his De Civ. Dei, 18,23, “you join the initial letters of these five Greek words, Ihsou`" Cristo" qeou` Uiov" SwtVhr, which mean, ‘Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Saviour,0’ they will make the word icqu",,—that is, ‘fish,0’ in which word Christ is mystically understood, because He was able to live, that is, to exist without sin in the abyss of this mortality as in the depth of waters.” So likewise we find Tertullian saying in his De Bapt. chap. i. , “Nos pisciculi, secundum ICQUN nostrum Jesum Christum in aqua nascimur; nec aliter quam in aqua permanendo salvi sumus.” See Bishop Kaye’s Tertullian, pp. So 43,44 and sec. So 34, below.

187 (1Tm 5,6 1Tm 5,

188 (Gn 3,8 Gn 3,

189 (Ps 69,32).

190 (Rm 12,2 Rm 12,

191 1Tim. 6,20. See p. 153, note 7, above).

192 (Jr 2,13 Jr 2, p. Jr 133, note Jr 2, and p. Jr 129, note Jr 8, above).

193 (Rm 12,2 Rm 12,

194 (1Co 11,1 1Co 11,

195 See p. 71, note 3, above.

196 (Ga 4,12 Ga 4,

197 (Si 3,17, etc.

198 (1Co 8,8 1Co 8,

199 (Mt 10,16 Mt 10,

200 (Rm 1,20 Rm 1,

201 In his De Gn con. Manich. i. 20, he interprets the dominion given to man over the beasts of his keeping in subjection the passions of the soul, so as to attain true happiness.

202 As Origen has it: “The good man is he who truly exists.” See p. 190, note 6, above; and compare the use made of the idea in Archbishop Thomson’s Bampton Lectures, lect. 1,

203 (Rm 12,2 Rm 12,

204 (Gn 1,26 Gn 1,

205 (1Co 4,15 1Co 4,

206 (1Th 2,7 1Th 2,

207 (Rm 12,2 Rm 12,

208 (Jr 31,34 Jr 31,

209 (Gn 1,27 Gn 1,

210 (Col 3,10).

211 (1Co 2,15 1Co 2,

212 (1Co 2,14 1Co 2,

213 (Ps 49,20 Ps 49,

214 (Ep 2,10 Ep 2,

215 (Gn 1,27 Gn 1,

216 (Ga 3,28).

217 In his De Civ. Dei, 11,3, he defines very distinctly (as he does in other of his writings) the knowledge received “by sight”—that is, by experience, as distinguished from that which is received “by faith”—that is, by revelation (2Co 5,7). He, in common with all the Fathers who had knowledge of the Pagan philosophy, would feel how utterly that philosophy had failed to “find out” (Jb 11,7) with certitude anything as to God and His character,—the Creation of the world,—the Atonement wrought by Christ,—the doctrine of the Resurrection, as distinguished from the Immortality of the Soul,—our Immortal Destiny after death, or “the Restitution of all things.” As to the knowledge of God, see Justin Martyr’s experience in the schools of philosophy, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. ii.; and on the doctrine of Creation, See p. 165, note 4. On the “Restitution of all things,” etc., reference may be made to Mansel’s Gnostics, who points out (Introd. p. 3) that “in the Greek philosophical systems the idea of evil holds a very subordinate and insignificant place, and that the idea of redemption seems not to be recognised at all.” He shows further (ibid. p. 4), that “there is no idea of the delivery of the creature from the bondage of corruption. The great year of the Stoics, the commencement of the new cycle which takes its place after the destruction of the old world, is but a repetition of the old evil.” See also p. 164, note 2, above).

218 (Jc 4,11).

219 (Mt 8,20 Mt 8,

220 (1Co 5,12).

221 See sec. 29, note.

222 (Gn 1,28).

223 See p. 92, note 1, above.

224 See p. 189, note 2, above).

225 See p. 199, note 3, above).

226 See sec. 21, and note, above.

227 (Rm 3,4, and Ps 116,11,

228 (Jn 8,44,

229 (Gn 1,29).

230 Ibid. ver. 30.

231 (2Tm 1,16).

232 (2Co 11,9,

233 (2Tm 4,16).

234 “Rationalem. An old epithet to most of the holy things. So, reasonable service, Rm 12,1, logikoVn gavla; 1 Pet. 2,2, sincere milk. Clem. Alex. calls Baptism so, Pedag. i. 6. And in Constitut. Apost. 6,23, the Eucharist is styled, a reasonable Sacrifice. The word was used to distinguish Christian mysteries from Jewish). Rationale est spirituale.”—W. W.

235 (Ps 19,4 Ps 19,

236 (Ph 3,19).

237 (Rm 16,18 Rm 16,

238 (Ph 4,18).

239 Ibid. ver. 10.

240 Ibid. vers. 11-13).

241 (Ph 4,14 Ph 4,

242 Compare p. 160, note 2, above.

243 (Ps 4,1 Ps 4,

244 Compare his De Bono Conjug. ch. xxi., where he points out that while any may suffer need and abound, to know how to suffer belongs only to great souls, and to know how to abound to those whom abundance does not corrupt).

245 (Ph 4,15, 16).

246 Ibid. ver. 17.

247 (Mt 10,41, 42).

248 (1R 17,See p. 133, note 2, above.

249 We have already referred (p. 69, note 5, above) to the cessation of miracles. Augustin has a beautiful passage in Serm. ccxliv. 8, on the evidence which we have in the spread of Christianity—it doing for us what miracles did for the early Church. Compare also De Civ. Dei, 22,8. And he frequently alludes, as, for example, in Ps. cxxx., to “charity” being more desirable than the power of working miracles).

250 (Gn 1,31,

251 In his De Gn con. Manich. i. 21, he enlarges to the same effect on Gn 1,31).

252 (He alludes in the above statements to the heretical notions of the Manichaeans. Their speculations on these matters are enlarged on in note 8 on p. 76.

253 (1Co 2,12).

254 (Mt 10,20,

255 See the end of note 1, p. 74.

256 (Rm 5,5).

257 In his Retractations, 2,6, he says: “Non satis considerate dictum est; res enem in abdito est valde.”

258 Compare De Gn con. Manich. ii. 15).

259 “ ‘Concipiendam,0’ or the reading may be ‘concupiscendam,0’ according to St. Augustin’s interpretation of Gen. iii. 16, in the De Gn con. Manich. 2,15. ‘As an instance hereof was woman made, who is in the order of things made subject to the man; that what appears more evidently in two human beings, the man and the woman, may be contemplated in the one, man; viz. that the inward man, as it were manly reason, should have in subjection the appetiteof the soul, whereby we act through the bodily members.0’ ”—E. B. P.

260 See p. 165, note 4, above.

261 (Gn 1,31,

262 (Rm 4,5).

263 See p. 165, note 2, above.

264 “The peace of heaven,” says Augustin in his De Civ. Dei, 19,17, “alone can be truly called and esteemed the peace of the reasonable creatures, consisting as it does in the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God, and of one another in God. When we shall have reached that peace, this mortal life shall give place to one that is eternal, and our body shall be no more this animal body which by its corruption weighs down the soul, but a spiritual body feeling no want, and in all its members subjected to the will.” See p. 111, note 8 (end), above).

265 Compare his De Gn ad Lit. iv. 9: “For as God is properly said to do what we do when He works in us, so is God properly said to rest when by His gift we rest.”

266 (Mt 7,7).



[i]Roberts, Alexander and Donaldson, James, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series: Volume I, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc). 1997.



Augustin: confessions 82