the AfricaÌ„ or Punike Puls The making of which is described in Cato de Re rustica cap. 85. The chiefe substance wherof was Wheat-meale or grotes tempred with water Cheese-curds Honey and Eggs onely this Puls was boyled and ours baked I beleeve that that parched Corne mentioned 1 Sam. 17. 17. was something like this Puls of Africa The Hebrew word there is Kali of Kalah to parch For they first parcht their Corne then they fryed it and lostly they boyl'd it to a paist and then tempred it as before which they carried dry with them to the Campe and so wet the Cakes in wine or milke c. See Stuckius Antiqu. Conviv l. 1. p. 58. b O stiariius the Doore-keeper See our Preface * Dignationem sumâ—ret * Parentalia These Pultes saith S. Augustine were used in Parehtalibus and Pliny lib. 18. c. 8. sayes they were in his time used also in Notalibus anniversary seasts for their birth dayes b I he former Translator well notes in his margent An inconvenient custome abrogated by S. Ambrose I wish that the Pope would doe so with their Images of the dead Saints upon the same reason for that they are too like the superstitious Images of the Genules But observe that S. Ambrose chang'd this custome and that at Milian so neere Rome too Where was then the Popes Authority The Archbishop of Millan dares alter nothing now a dayes without the Popes Licence * Had it bin so generall in those daies that all Bishops and Priests must upon paine of losing their Orders professe single life why should Saint Augustine thinke thus of Ambrose more than of other Bishops of his time * The Manichees * The Primitive fashion it was to impose the name when the partie was first admitted to be a Catechumenus or wheÌ„ he desired baptisme This had Saint Augustine done in 1 sicknesse being a Child as before hee told us This name was after given up a little before the Baptisme and againe repeated both a Baptisme and Confirmation And whereas be here speakes of the name of Christ 't is meant of the custome of calling them Christians so soone as they gave up their names the day after they were stiled Catechumeni the day after that were they exorcised So 't is plainely in the great Councell of Constantinople Canon 95. And so S. Augustine himselfe in divers places 2 Cor. 3. 6. a The other Translator notes upon it That the way of knowing in Religion is by first beleeving True but not Implicite Popish Faith which be meanes to beleeve â—â— the Church of Rome beleeves Saint Augustine meant not such a Faith b Et tantam illis authoritatem tribuisti This the other Translator maliciously miscenstrues with a purpose to weaken the Authority of the Holy Scriptures the Medicines of Faith here spoken of Turning the words And recommended them to mankind by so great Authority As if all the Authority were in Gods recommending and none else in the Scriptures Fye upon it Here I suspect S. Augustins Copie to be imperfect but t is not much materiall * Here the Authority by which the Scriptures be settled is originally attributed to God himselfe and not to the Church as the Topish Translator would haue it See our note upon lib. 7. cap. 7. a Here again the Popish Translator notes in his Margent The Authority of the Church whereas S. Augustine speakes of the authority of the Scriptures Wilfull Sophistry b Marke this ye Papists 1. What high termes hee gives the Scriptures whereas you call them A nose of Way a shipmans Hose c. 2. Here 's liberty for all to read them you looke them under an unknowne tongue from the Laytie 3. Here are they said it be plaine but you fray the people with their difficulty profoundnesse and danger * The former Translator twice turnes this phrase from S. Austens purpose * Some Copies reade it optando alluding to the beggars praying for his good masters But the last read it potando as I doe * These were Chariot-races c. Prov. 9. 8. * These gladiators or Fencers were maintained by great men who to please the people would often exhibite theÌ„ upon the Stage to fight at sharpe in good carnest for their lives be being accounted the bravest fellow that look his wounds or death with least shrinking * The Stage a Quidam Scholasticorum No word hath more altered the significatioÌ„ But in those daies and ancienter it signified a Lawyer or Advocate So in the Councell of Sardica Can. 10. vel ex foro Scholasticus a Lawyer from the Court or Barre The Greeke word is the same with the Latine Then came it to be given to Rhetoricians then to Poets as Prudentius was called Hispaniarum Scholasticus Physitians Musicians any professor of the liberall Sciences were so stiled He that first made the Canon for the CoÌ„munion was called Iohannes Scholasticus 'T is now settled upon the Schoolemen but most anciently the Lawyers had it b Cancellos This was the ancient sence or ornament for Courts of Iustice Hence the Iudge came to bee called Cancellarius and the Court The Chancery Chancels being thus parted from the Churches hence had their name also c Vico Argentario This could be no street of silver smiths or Silver-street as the former Translator turnes it for what need he breake into a street that way he might easily come in But the wary Ancients had their Courts of Iustice their Exchequer and Mint-house all together oftentimes and all in their Forum or publike Market-place There stood Saturnes Temple at Rome which was their Exchequer and Mint-house This Saturnes Temple was in the Market-place there were also their Courts of Iustice so was it at Millan belike and therfore had their Forum its Aedituos Officers or Watchmen as before he said a If the Primitive Clergy medled with matters of Iustice they had Saint Pauls Commission 1 Cor. 6. which Possidonius in the Life of S. Augustine quotes who shewes how many houres a day Augustine spent this way He quotes also 1 Tim. 5. 20. Those that sinne rebuke before all And this is a Divine fittest to doe there belongs more to a Iustice than the making of a Mittimus He quotes also Ezek. 3. 17. I have made thee a Watchman yea and as if this were a part of the Ministers duty he applyes that in 2 Tim. 4. 2. Be instant in season out of season reprove c. No Antiquaâ—y but knowes that the old Clergie had greater authority in temporall matters than our Iustices of Peace in England yet here 't is boggled at But 't is by those that would faine have their Church-lands Plainely The Lord Chancellor Keeper and Master of the Rolles the 6 Clerkes Heraulds Masters of the Chancery c. have heretofore for the most part beene Clergie men when it was never better with the Land T is true the old Canons forbid them to meddle in cases of blood and that may they easily avoid
In Geneva I hope the Minister hath more authority than in England a Romae assidebat Comiti largitionuÌ„ ItalicaruÌ„ The Lord high Treasurer of the Westerne Empire was called Comes sacrarum laâ—gitionum he had sâ—xe other Treasurers in so many Provinces under him whereof he of Italy was one Vnder whom this Alipius had sâ—me Office of Iudicature ourâ—aions â—aions of the Exchequer See Sir Henry 〈◊〉 Glossary in the word 〈◊〉 And 〈…〉 l. 5. c. 40. The other Translator 〈◊〉 Assessor to the Prefect of the Contributioner of Italy Ill. Luk. 16. 10 11. 12. Psal 145. 15. * Here 's an obiection of flesh and blood against the motions of Gods Spirit * Another Obiection of flesh and blood * Why then doe the Papists inforce so many young Maids and men to vow as if it were in their own power And why suffer they those to keepe the habite and place of Chastity when as their Visitor knowes they have broken the Vow of Chastity * Mat. 19. 11. * Promeruissent Deum Which the Popish Translator turnes And were gratefull unto God Very well gratefull that is acceptable Seeing then promerita is but acceptablenesse why should merita the single word have so sawcie a signification in Popish doctrine as merits Let them mince the matter with Logike how they can by their distinction of condignity and congruity of merits sure they are gone by the Lawes of Grammar which admits no such signification of promereo or of merita unlesse perchance our Dictionaries have the word Merits not in the genuine signification but to learne us to understand what the Papists meane by it * See what we have before noted pag. 36. in the margent * Quem tunc graves aestus negotioruÌ„ suorum ad ComitatuÌ„ attraxerant This the former Translator turnes That place of our residence The man had ill lucke to misse at every hard place He helpe him Comitatus was like the place where our Termes be kept the Imperiall Chamber at Spires in Germany may rightly be called Comitatus The Emperours appointed it in any good Towne where they pleased though themselves were not there and at this time for these parts it was at Millan So plainely sayes Possidonius in the life of Saint Augustine Comitatus is the place whither subiects repaire for the dispateh of such businesse as depends upon the Kings Courts of Iustice London is our Comitatus the Kings Chamber for the South Yorke for the North. This word is familiar to the Civill Lawyers See the eighth and ninth Canons of the Councell of Sardica Mat. 7. 13. Psal 33. 11 Psal 145. * A Vow of Chastity sayes the Popish TraÌ„slator and a goodly one too How many such Nuns hath the Church of Rome that then vow chastity wheÌ„ they are satisfied with lust But well it were they had no worse Nunnes than such as vow upon remorse of conscience as this whoore did But this was a private Vow yet which God knowes how long she kept and no formall Nunnery Vow she carried not her portion into the Nunnery with her Money is of the substance of the Nunnes Vow now-a dayes Chastity is but a formality She vowes not to know a man but her money does not so the Friers may know that The Primitives admitted no Nunnes but pure Virgins and if ever it could be proved she had plaid false before her Admission she was canonically to be put out of the House Any crackt Chamber-maid will make as good a Nunne as the best now-a daies Could Nunnes keepe their Vow I would never speake against their Order * Et tractus meritorum This the Popish Translator turnes And that which Merits do import Meere non sense And notes in his margent Merits As if the place made for Popish merits Doughtily proved as if Augustine who was yet no Divine knew any thing of the Doctrine of Merits Hee taâ—kâ— before of the last Iudgement and here he talkes of the places of punishment or reward which Epicurus Philosophy knew nothing of If he pleases to looke his Dicticnary he shall finde Tractus to signifie a Region or Countrey He alludes to other Philosophers beleeving of the severall Regions of Hell and Elysium which were both under the earth but distinguisht into severall Quarters or Regions Tractus is the Accusative case plurall a This Philosophical word the former Translator turnes This Action of my minde Short of the sense Saint Augustine alludes to that in Philosophy That all naturall bodies to make theÌ„selves perceived by the sense doe send and beame out from them some figure Image c. by which the sense may appâ—hend them which figure or shape striking upon the sense provokes it and so makes it take actuall notice of us proper object And this spirituall figure representing a reall object which these bodies send out doe the Philosophers call their Intention So that Austens 〈◊〉 fancying the like Images he cals it the intention of his minds a The other Tranlator renders it thus And that this helpe must bee the Soule which thy Word being free might succour Succour a helpe A meere Bull and Non-sense which utterly loses the force and meaning of the Argument a Here flyes my Popish Translator out upon Mr. Calvine for teaching Gods Decree and purpose by with-holding of his Grace to be the Causes of Sinne and Damnation Verily Mr. Calvine is wronged that way But this being an Arminian Controversie I had rather obey His Majesties two Proclamations and one Declaration than to be so soole-hardy as to meddle with it I am neither Calvinist nor Arminian I am of the Religion of the Primitive Fathers which the Church of England professes b Here the Popish Translator commits a most negligent and grosse mistake as if the soule of man had of a pure Angell turn'd to a Divell Saint Augustine speakes not of the Soules turning Divell but of him that was once created a good Angell a Here the Popish Translater grossely playes the Papist purposely wresting the sense thus Yet did the beliefe of the Catholike Church concerning thy Christ sticke fast in me As if Saint Augustine had held this Popish implicite faith To beleeve as the Church beleeves had beene enough There is much difference betwixt a mans cleere and explicite knowledge of what he beleeves in Christ and a blinde implicite beliefe as the Church beleeves when he knowes not what the Church beleeves a See the 3. Chap. of the 4. Booke a Scripturis quas Ecclesiae commendaret autoritas Where Ecclesiae may be the dative Case and then may it goe thus Which Scriptures thy authority recommended unto the Church as before hee said lib. 6. cap. 5. See the place Here the Popish Translator would needes give Authority to the Church to teach us what is Scripture For that controversie see our Preface Iob 15. 26. I am 4. 6. a This was likely to be the Booke of Amelius the Platonist who hath indeed this beginning of S. Iohns Gospell
I him every Sunday preaching the Word of Truth rightly to the People by which that apprehension of mine was more and more confirmed in me that all those knots of crafty calumnies which those our deceivers had knit in prejudice of the Holy Bookes might well enough bee untyed 4. But so soone as I understood withall That Man created by thee after thine owne Image was not so understood by thy spirituall sonnes whom of our Catholike Mother thou hast begotten by thy Grace as if they once beleeved or imagined thee to be made up into an humane shape although I had not the least suspicion nor so much as a confused notion in what strange manner a spirituall substance should be yet blushing did I rejoyce that I had not so many yeeres barkt against the Catholike faith but against the fictions of carnall imaginations But herein had I beene rash and anpious that what I ought to have learned by enquirie I had spoken of as condemning For thou O the most high and the most neere the most secret and yet most present with us hast not such limbes of which some be bigger and some smalâ—â—â— but art wholly every where circumscribed in no certaine place nor art thou like these corporeall shapes yet hast thou made man after thine owne Image and behold from head to foot is he contained in some certaine biding CHAP. 4. Of the Letter and the Spirit 1. BEing thus ignorant therfore in what manner this Image of thine should subsist I something earnestly propounded the doubt how that was to be 〈◊〉 but did not triumphingâ—y oppose against it as if it peremptorily should according to the Letter bee beleeved The anxiety therefore of resolving what certaintie I was to hold did so much the more sharply even gnaw my very bowels by how much the more ashamed I was that having bin so long deceived by the promise of certaineties I had with a childish errour and stubbornnes prated up and downe of so many uncertainties and that as confidently as if they had beene certainties For that they were meere falshoods it cleerely appeared to me afterwards yea even already was I certaine that they were at least uncertaine and that I had all this while beleeved them for certaine when as namely out of a blinde and contentious humour I accused thy Catholike Church which though I had not yet found to 〈◊〉 trâ—â—â— yet found it not â—o teach what I heartily 〈◊〉 it for teaching In this manner was I first confounded and then converted and I much rejoyced O my God that thy onely Church the body of thine onely Sonne wherein the name of Christ had beene put upon me being yet an Infant did not relish these childish toyes nor maintained any such Tenet in her sound Doctrine as to crowd up the Creator of this All under the shape of humane members into any proportions of a place which though never so great and so large should yet be terminated and surrounded 2. And for this I rejoyced also for that the Old Scriptures of the Law the Prophets were laid before me now to be perused not with that eye to which they seemed most absurd before when as I misliked thy holy ones for thinking so so whereas indeed they thought not so and for that with joyfull heart I heard Ambrose in his Sermons to the people most diligently oftentimes recommend this Text for a Rule unto them The letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life and for that those things which taken according to the letter seemed to teach perverse doctrines he spiritually laid open unto us having taken off the veyle of the mystery teaching nothing in it that offended mee though such things he taught as I knew not as yet whether they were true or no. For I all this while kept my heart firme from assenting to any thing fearing to fall headlong but by this hanging in suspence I was the worse killed for my whole desire was to be made so well assured of those things which I saw not as I was certaine that seven and three make tenne 3. For I was not so mad yet as not to thinke that this last proposition might not by demonstration bee comprehended wherefore I desired to have other things as cleerely demonstrated as this whether namely those things should bee corporeall which were not present before my senses or spirituall whereof I knew not yet how to conceive but after a corporeall manner But by beleeving might I have beene cured that so the eye-sight of my soule being cleered might some way or other have beene directed toward thy truth which is the same eternally and in no point fayling But as it happens usually to him that having had experience of a bad Physician is fearefull afterwards to trust himselfe with a good so was it with the state of my soule which could no waies be healed but by beleeving and left it should beleeve falshoods it refused to be cured resisting in the meane time thy hands who hast prepared for us the Medicines of faith and hast applyed them to the diseases of the whole world and given unto them so great Authority CHAP. 5. Of the Authority and necessary vse of the holy Bible 1. FRom henceforth therfore I beganne first of all to esteeme better of the Catheâ—â—â— Doctrine and also to thinke that â—e did with more modesty and without any deceit command many things to be beleeved notwithstanding it were not there demonstrated 〈◊〉 what it should be or to what purpose it should serve nor yet what it should not bee than in the Manichees doctrine upon a rash promise of great knowledge expose my easinesse of beliefe first of all unto derision and suffer afterwards so many most fabulous and absurd things to be therefore imposed upon me to beleeve because they could not be demonstrated Next of all thou Lord by little and little with a gentle and most mercifull hand working and rectifying my heart even while I tooke into my consideration how innumerable things I otherwise beleeved which I had never scene nor was present at while they were in doing like as those many reports in the History of severall Nations those many relations of places and of Cities which I had never seene so many reports likewise of friends so many of Physicians so many of these and these men which unlesse wee should beleeve we should doe nothing at all in this life Last of all I considered with how unalterable an assurance I beleeved of what parents I was descended which I could not otherwise come to know had I not beleeved it upon heare-say perswadedst mee at last that not they who beleeved thy Bible which with so great authority thou hast setled almost among all Nations but those who beleeved it not were to bee blamed nor were those men to bee listned unto who would say perchance How knowest thou those Scriptures to have beene imparted unto mankinde by the spirit
of the onely true and most true God seeing this fundamentall point was above all the rest to be beleeved and that because no wrangles of all those cavilling Questions whereof I had read so many controverted amongst the Philosophers could so farre enforce me as that I should at any time not beleeve Thee to bee whatsover thou wert though what I knew not or that the government of human businesses should not belong unto thee Thus much though I sometimes beleeved more strongly and more weakly other-whiles yet I ever beleeved both that thou wert God and hadst a care of us though I were utterly ignorant either what was to be thought of thy substance or what way led or brought backe againe towards thee 3. Seeing therefore mankind would prove too weake to find out the truth by the way of evident Reason and even for this cause was there need of the Authority of Holy Writ I began now to beleeve that thou wouldest by no meanes have estated such excellency of authority upon that Booke all the world over had it not beene thy expresse pleasure to have thine owne selfe both beleeved in by meanes of it and sought by it also For those absurdities which in those Scriptures were went heretofore to offend me after I had heard divers of them expounded probably I referred now to the depth of the mystery yea and the Authority of that Booke appeared so much the more venerable and so much the more worthy of our religious credit by how much the readier at hand it was for ALL to read upon preserving yet the Majesty of the Secret under the profoundnes of the meaning offering it selfe unto ALL in words most open and in a stile of speaking most humble and exercising the intention of such as are not light of heart that it might by that meanes receive ALL into its common bosome and through narrow passages waft over some few towards thee yet are these few a good many moe than they would have beene had it not obtained the eminency of such high authority nor alluâ—ed on those companies with a bosome of holy humility These things then I thought upon and thou wert with me I sighed thou heardst me I wavered up and down and thou didst guide me I wandred through the broad way of this world yet didst thou not forsake me CHAP. 6. The misery of the Ambitious shewne by the example of a Beggar 1. I Gaped after Honours gaines wedlocke and thou laughedst at me In these desires of mine I underwent most bitter hardships wherein thou wert so much the more gracious unto me as thou didst lesse suffer any thing to grow sweet unto mee which was not thou thy selfe Behold now my heart O Lord who wouldst I should remember all this that I might now confesse it unto thee Let now my soule cleave fast unto thee which thou hast freed from that fast-holding birdlime of death How wretched was it at that time it had utterly lost the sense of its owne wound but thâ—â— didst launce it that forsaking â—â— other things it might be converted unto thee who art above all and without whom all things would turne to nothing that it might I say be converted and be healed How miserable therfore was I at that time and how didst thou deale with mee to make me sensible of my misery that same day namely when I provided my selfe for an Oration in praise of the Emperour wherein I was to deliver many an untruth and to be applauded notwithstanding even by those that knew I did so Whilest my heart panted after these cares and boyled againe with the favourishnesse of these consuming thoughts walking along one of the streets of Millan I observed a poore beggar-man halfe drunke I beleeve very jocund and pleasant upon the matter but I looking mournfully at it fell to discourse with my friends then in company with me about the many sorrowes occasioned by our owne madnesse for that by all such endevours of ours under which I then laboured and galled by the spurres of desire dragd after me the burthen of mine owne infelicity increasing it by the dragging we had minde of nothing but how to attaine some kinde of Iocundnesse whither that beggar-man had arrived before us who should never perchance come at all thither For that which he had attained unto by meanes of a few pence and those beg'd too the same was I now plotting for by many a troublesome turning and winding namely to compasse the joy of a temporary felicity 2. For that beggar-man verily enjoy'd no true joy but yet 〈◊〉 those my ambitious designes hunted after a much uncertainer And certainely that fellow was jocund but I perplexed he void of care I full of feares But should any man demand of me whether I had rather be merry or fearefull I would answer merry Againe were I askt whether I had rather be in that beggar-mans case or in mine owne at that time I would make choice of my own though thus overgone with cares and feares yet was this upon a wilfulnesse for was it out of any true reason For I ought not to preferre my selfe before that beggar because I was more learned than he seeing my Learning was not it that made me joyfull but I sought rather to please men by it not so much to instruct them as meerely to delight them For this cause didst thou even breake my bones with the staffe of thy correction Away with those therefore from my soule who say unto it There is much difference betwixt the occasions of a mans rejoycing 3. That beggar-man rejoyced in his drunkennesse thou desiredst to rejoyce in a purchased glory What glory Lord That which is not in thee For even as his was no true joy no more was mine any true glory besides which it utterly overturned my soule He was that night to digest his drunkennesse but many a might had I slept with mine and had risen againe with it and was to sleepe againe and againe to rise with it I know not how often But is there indeed any difference in the grounds of a mans rejoycing I know there is and that the joy of a faithfull hope is incomparably beyond such a vanity Yea and at that very time was there much difference betwixt him and I for he verily was the happier man not onely for that he was throughly drencht in mirth when as my bowels were grip't with cares but also for that by his lusty bowsing hee had gotten good store of Wine whereas I by a slattering Oration sought after 〈◊〉 puffe of pride Much to this purpose said I at that time to my deare Companions and I markt by them how it fared with me and I found my selfe in an ill taking I griev'd for it by which I doubled my ill taking and when any prosperity smiled upon mee it irkt mee to catch at it for that almost before I could lay hand upon it away it flew from me
in respect of the hidden deservings of the soules thou thinkest fit for him to heare To whom let not man say What is this or Why is that Let him not say so never let him ask such a questioÌ„ seeing he is but a man CHAP. 7. He is miserably tortured in his enquirie after the Root of Evill 1. ANd now O my helper hadst thou discharged me from those fetters and presently enquired I whence Evill should be but found no way out of my question But thou sufferedst me not to be carried away from the Faith by any waves of those thoughts by which Faith I beleeved both that thou wert and that thy substance was unchangeable and that thou hadst a care of and passedst thy judgement upon men and that in Christ thy Sonne our Lord and thy holy Scriptures which the Authority of thy Church should acknowledge thou hast laid out the way of mans salvation to passe to that life which is to come after death These grounds remaining safe and irremoveably settled in my minde I with much anxiety sought from what root the nature of Evill should proceed What torments did my teeming heart then endure and what throwes O my God! yet even to them were thine eares open and I knew it not and when in silence I so vehemently enquired after it those silent conditions of my soule were strong cryes unto thy mercy 2. Thou and not man knewest how much I suffered For how great was that which my tongue sent forth into the eares of my most familiar friends And yet did I disclose the whole tumule of my soule for which neither my time nor tongue had beene sufficient Yet did all of it ascend into thy hearing which I roared out from the grones of my heart yea my whole desires were said up before thee nor was I master of so much as of the light of mine owne eyes for that was all turn'd inward but I outward nor was that confined to any place but I bent my selfe to those things that are contained in places but there found I no place to rest in nor did those places so entertain mee that I could say It is enough and 't is well nor did they yet suffer me to turne back where I might finde well-being enough For to these things was I superiour but inferiour to thee and thou art that true joy of me thy Subject and thou hast subjected under mee those things which thou createdst below me 3. And this was the true temper and the middle Region of my safety where I might remaine conformable to thine Image and by serving thee get the dominion over mine owne body But when as I rose up proudly against thee and when I ran upon my Lord with my necke with the thick bosses of my buckler then were these inferiour things made my over-matches and kept me under nor could I get either releasement or space of breathing They ran on all sides by heapes and troopes upon mee broad-looking on them but having in my thoghts these corporeall Images they way-laid me as I turn'd backe 〈◊〉 they should say unto mee Whither goest thou O thou unworthy and base creature And these grew more in number even out of my wound for thou hast humbled the proud like as him that is wounded through my owne swelling was I set further off from thee yea my cheekes too big swolne even blinded up mine eyes CHAP. 8. How the mercy of God at length relieved him 1. THou Lord art the same for ever nor art thou angry with us for ever because thou hast pitie upon dust and ashes and it was pleasing in thy sight to reforme my deformities and by inward gallingsdidst thou startle me that I shouldst become unquiet till such time as it might bee assured unto my inward sight that it was thou thy selfe Thus by the secret hand of thy medicining was my swelling abated and that troubled and bedimmed eyesight of my soule by the smart eye-salve of mine owne wholsome dolours daily began more and more to be cleered CHAP. 9. What he found in some Bookes of the Platonists agreeable to the Christian Doctrine 1. AND thou being desirous first of all to shew unto me how thou resistest the proud but givest grace unto the humble and with what great mercy of thine the way of humility is traced out unto men in that thy WORD was made flesh and dwelt among men thou procuredst for mee by meanes of a certaine man puft up with a most unreasonable pride to see certaine Bookes of the Platonists translated out of Greeke into Latine And therein I read not indeed in the selfe same words but to the very same purpose perswaded by many reasons and of severall kinds That In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and that Word was God The same was in the beginning with God All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made In him was life and the life was the light of men And the light shined in the darknesse and the darknesse comprehended it not And for that the soule of man though it gives testimony of the light yet it selfe is not that light but the Word of God is for God is that true light that lighteth every man that commeth into the world And because he was in the world and the world was made by him the world knew him not and because hee came unto his owne and his owne received him not But as many as received him to them gave hee power to become the sons of God as many as beleeved in his name All this did I not read there 2. There again did I read that God the Word was not borne 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 did I not there reade I found out in those Bookes that it was many and divers waies said that the Sonne being in the forme of the Father thought it no robbery to be equal with God for that naturally he was the same with him But that 〈◊〉 himselfe of no reputaâ—â—â— taking upon him the forme â—â— a servant and was made in 〈◊〉 likenesse of men and was sound in fashion as a man and humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse Wherefore God hath highty exalted him from the dead and given him a name over every name that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth And that every tongue should confesse that Iesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father those Bookes have not 3. But that thy onely begotten Sonne coeternall with thee war before all times and beyond all times remains unchangeable and that of his fulnesse all soules receive what makes theÌ„ blessed and that by participation
euery thing is it that discouers the time of it but that matter was sometimes without forme but is now obserued to bee together in time with its forme And yet is there not any thing to bee sayd of that matter but as if it were its forme in respect of time whenas indeede it is considered of as the latter of the two Because doubtlesse better are things that haue forme then things that haue no forme yea they haue precedence in the eternity of the Creator that so there might be something out of nothing of which somewhat might be created CHAP. 30. The Scriptures are to be searched with honourable respect vnto the Penman 1. IN this diuersity of most true opinions let Truth it selfe procure reconcilement And our God haue mercy vpon vs that wee may vse the law lawfully the end of the Commandement being pure Charity By this if a man now demaunds of me which of all these was the meaning of thy seruant Moses such discourses were not fit to be put among my Confessions should I not confesse vnto thee I cannot tell and yet this I can tell That they are all true senses those carnall ones excepted of which I haue fully spoken mine opinion As for those little ones of good hopes them doe not the words of thy Bible terrifie which deliuer high my steries in so humble a phrase few things in so copious an expression And as for all those whom I confesse both to haue seene and spoken the truth deliuered in those words let vs loue one another yea and ioyntly together let vs loue thee our God the fountayne of truth if so bee our thirst bee after truth and not after vanities yea let vs in such manner honour this seruant of thine the dispencer of this Scripture so full of thy Spirit that wee may beleeue him when by thy reuelation he wrote these things to haue bent his intentions vnto that sense in them which principally excels the rest both for light of truth and fruitfullnesse of profit CHAP. 31. Truth is to be receiued whoeuer speakes it 1. SO now when another shall say Moses meant as I doe and another Yea the very same that I doe I suppose that with more religion I may say Why meant hee not as you both meane if you both meane truely And if there may bee a third truth or a fourth yea if any other man may discouer any other trueth in those words why may not Hee bee beleeued to haue seene all these Hee by whose ministery GOD that is but One hath tempered these holy Scriptures to the meanings of a many that were both to see true and yet diuerse things For mine owne part verily and fearelessely I speake it from my heart that were I to endite any thing that should attayne the highest Top of authority I would choose to write in such a strayne as that my words might carry the sound of any trueth with them which any man were apprehensiue of concerning these matters rather then so clearely to set downe one true sence onely concerning some one particular as that I should thereby exclude all such other sences which being not false could no waies offend mee I will not therefore O my God be so heady as not to beleeue that this a man obtained not thus much at thy hands Hee without doubt both perceiued and was aduised of in those words whenas hee wrote them what trueth soeuer wee haue beene able to finde in them yea and whatsoeuer we haue not heretofore beene able no nor yet are prouided that this trueth bee possible to bee found in them at all CHAP. 32. He prayes to obtaine the right meaning 1. LAstly O Lord thou that art a God and not flesh and blood what though a man should not see all yet could any part of that be concealed from thy good Spirit who shall leade me into the land of vprightnesse which thou thy selfe wert by those words to reueale vnto the Readers of all times to come notwithstanding that he that deliuered vs these words might among many true meaning pitche his thoughts perchance vpon one onely Which if so it bee let that meaning then bee granted to bee more excellent then the rest But doe thou O Lord eyther reueale that very same vnto vs or any other true one which thou pleasest that so whether thou discouerest the same vnto vs which thou diddest vnto that seruant of thine or else some other by occasion of those words yet do thou thy selfe edifie vs and let not error deceiue vs. 2. Behold now O Lord my God how much we haue written vpon a few words yea how much I beseech thee What strength of ours yea what ages would bee sufficient to goe ouer all thy bookes in this manner Giue mee leaue therefore brieflyer now to confesse vnto thee concerning them and to make choyce of some one true certaine and good sense that thou shalt inspire mee withall yea and if many such sences shall offer themselues vnto mee where many safely may leaue them also to bee confessed by mee that I may at length preach the same which thine owne minister intended both rightly and most profitably for that is the thing which my duty is to endeauor which if I may not attayne vnto yet let mee preach that which by those words thy Truth was pleased to tell mee which sometimes reuealed also vnto him that which it pleased The end of the twelfth booke Saint Augustines Confessions The Thirteenth Booke CHAP. 1 He calleth vpon God 1. I Call vpon thee O my God my mercy vpon thee that createdst me and who hast not forgotten him that had forgotten thee I enuite thee into my soule which by a desire that thy selfe inspireth into her thou now preparest to entertayne thee Forsake mee not now when I call vpō thee whō thou preuentest before I call'd hauing beene earnest with mee with much variety of repeating calls that I would heare thee from a far and suffer my selfe to be conuerted and call at length vpon thee that now calledst after me For thou Lord hast blotted out all my euill dseeruings left thou shouldest bee forced to take vengeance vpon my hands wherewith I haue fallen off from thee and thou hast Preuented all my well deseruings too that thou mightest returne a recompence vnto thine owne hands with which thou madest mee because that before I was Thou art Nor was I any thing vpon which thou mightest bestow the fauour to cause mee to bee and yet behold I now am meerely out of thine owne goodnesse preuenting both all this which thou hast made mee and all that too whereof thou hast made mee For thou neyther hadst any neede of mee nor yet am I of such good vse as any wayes to bee helpefull vnto my Lord and God nor am I made to be so assistant to thee with my seruice as to keepe thee from tyring in thy working or for feare thy power might
singly of themselues and one with another very good in Thy Word euen in Thy onely Word both Heauen and Earth the head and the body of the Church in thy Predestination before all times without succession of morning and euening In which notwithstanding Thou begannest in Thy good time to put in execution Thy predestinated decrees to the end Thou mightest reucale hidden things and rectifie disordered things for our sinnes hung ouer vs and wee had sunke into the darksome deepenesse and Thy good Spirit houered ouer vs to helpe vs in due season and Thou didst iustifie the vngodly and distinguishedst them from the wicked and Thou settledst the authority of Thy Bible betweene the gouernours of the Church who were to bee taught by Thee and the Inferior people who were to be subiect to them and thou hast gathered together the society of vnbeleeuers into one conspiracy that the studies or the faythfull might be more apparant and that their works of mercy mightâ— obey Thy commands they distributing to the poore their earthly riches to obtayne Heauenly 2. And after this didst Thou kindle certaine lights in the firmament euen Thy Holy ones hauing the word of life set aloft by Spirituall gifts shining with eminent authoritie after that againe for the instruction of the vnbeleeuing Gentiles didst Thou out of a corporeall matter produce the Sacraments and certain visible miracles and Formes of words according to the Firmament of thy Bible by which the faythfull should receiue a blessing Next after that hast Thou formed the liuing soules of the faythfull through their affections well ordered by thee vigor of Continencie and the minde after that subiected to thy selfe alone and needing to imitate no humane authority hast thou renewed after Thine own Image and similitude and hast subiected its rationall actions to the excellency of the vnderstanding as a woman to a man and to all offices of Ministery necessary for the perfecting of the faythfull in this life Thy great will is that for their temporall vses such good things bee giuen by the sayd faythfull as may be profitable to themselues in time to come All these wee see and they are very good because Thou seest them in vs who hast giuen vnto vs thy Spirit by which wee might see these things and might loue thee in them CHAP. 35. He prayes for peace 1. GRant O Lord God thy peace vnto vs for what euer we haue thou hast giuen vs. Giue vs the peace of quietnesse the peace of the Sabbath a Sabbath of peace without any euening For all this most goodly array of things so very good hauing finished their courses is so passe away for a morning and an euening was desâ—inâ—ed 〈…〉 them CHAP. 36. Why the seuenth day hath no euening 1. BVt the Seuenth day is without any euening nor hath it any Sun-set euer because thou hast sanctified it to an euerlasting continu 〈…〉 that that which Thy selfe didst after Thy workes which were very good rest namely the seuenth day although â—â—on those workes thou createdst without breaking Thy rest the same may the voyce of thy Bible speake before-hand vnto vs namely that wee also after our workes which are therefore very good because Thou hast giuen vs grace to doe them may rest in Thee in the Sabbath of life euerlasting CHAP. 37. When God shall rest in vs. 1. FOr in that Sabbath Thou shalt so rest in vs as thou now workest in vs and so shall that Rest bee thine by vs euen as these workes are Thine too by vs. But thou O Lord doest worke alwayes and rest alwayes too Nor doest thou see for a 〈◊〉 nor art thou moued for a time nor doest rest for a time and yet thou makest those viewes which are made in time yea the very times themselues and the rest which proceede from time CHAP. 38. God be holds created things one way and man another way VVEE therefore behold these things which Thou hast created euen because they Are but they Are euen because Thou seest them And wee looke vpon their outside because they haue a Being and wee discerne their Inside that they are good in their Being but Thou sawest them there already made where Thou sawest them there-after to be made And wee were not till after that time moued to doe well that our heart had conceiued the purpose of it by Thy Spirit but before that time wee were inclined to doe euill euen when we forsooke Thee but 〈◊〉 O soueraigne God one and good didst neuer cease doing good for vs. And some certaine works of ours there bee that be Good but it is by Thy Grace that they are so which yet are not of continuance sempiternall After them we trust to find repose in Thy grand SanctificatioÌ„ But Thou being the Good standest in neede of no good Thou art at rest alwayes because Thy Rest Thou art Thy selfe And what man is he that can teach another man to vnderstand this or what Angell another Angell or what Angell a man Let this mystery bee begd of Thee bee sought at Thy hands knockt for at Thy gate so so shall it bee receiued so shall it bee found and so shall it be opened Amen * ⎠* FINIS The order of the chiefe passages in these Confessions Which may serue for a Table SAint Augustines childhood page 24 His first sicknesse and deferring of his baptisme p. 33 His first studies p. 38 His Youth described p. 66 Goes to study at Carthage p. 71 Robs a Peare tree p. 78 Fals in loue p. 100 Haunts stage playes p. 101 Conuerses with young Lawyers p. 106 Begins to be conuerted by reading of Ciceroes Hortensius p. 109 Is ensnared by the Manichees p. 114 Describes their doctrine 121 He derides it p. 136 His mothers dreams p. 138 A Bishops answer to her p. 142 He teaches Rhetoricke p. 149 His answer to a wizard p. 151 Is reclaymed from Astrology p. 152 Laments his friends death p. 158 Baptisme the wonderfull effects p. 160 He writes a Book of Fayre and Fit p. 186 His incompareable wit p. 199 Faustus the Manichee described p 211. 220. 225. Austen falls from the Manichees p. 230 Sayles to Rome p 234 Recouers of a feauer p. 141 The Manichees opinions 253 Goes to Millaine p. 257 Begins to be conuerted by Saint Ambrose p. 261 Is neyther Manichee nor good Catholicke p. 265 His Mother conuerted from her country superstition p. 269. Saint Ambroses imployments p. 274 Alipius disswaded from Chariot races p. 295 Doates after sword-playes p. 301 Apprehended vpon suspition of the euery p. 305 His integrity p. 311 Disputes with Austen against-marriage p. 322 Nebridins comming p. 311 He confutes the Manich eâ— p 345 Austen layes out for a wife p. 327 His concubines 150. 332 His disputes about euill and its cause p. 348 God discouers some things to him p. 381 Begins to reflect vpon Christ p. 398 Studies the Platonists p. 374 404 Goes