soule wilt thou be still following thine owne flesh Let that rather turne and follow thee What ever by her thou hast sense of is but in part and the whole whereof these are parts thou knowest not and yet this little contents thee But had the sense of thy flesh beene capable of comprehending the whole and not for thy punishment beene stinted to a part of the whole thou wouldst have then desired that whatsoever hath existence at this present should passe away that so the whole might better have pleased thee altogether For what wee speake by the same sense of the flesh thou hearest and yet wouldst not thou have the same syllables sound ever but flye away that others may come on and thou mayst heare up the whole sentence Thus are all these things in ever Being which have still any one part of theirs in being and yet all those parts which goe to the making up of that whole Being are never all together in present Being All together surely must needs delight morefully than parts single if the pleasure of all could be felt all at once But farre better than these all is he that made all and he is our God nor does he depart away for that he hath no successor If bodies then please thee praise God for them and turne thy love upon him that made them lest otherwise in those things which please thee thou displease him CHAP. 12. Love of the creatures is not forbidden provided that in those which please us God bee loved 1. IF then soules please thee let them be loved in God for they are mutable but in him are they firmly established or else would they passe and perish In him therefore let them be beloved and draw unto him along with thee as many soules as thou canst and say to them Him let us love let us love him he made all these nor is hee farre from them For he did not once make them and then get him gone But of him and in him they are See where he is even where-ever truth is savoury Hee is within the very heart but yet hath the heart strayed from him 〈◊〉 againe to your owne heart Oâ—â— transgressors and cleave fast â—â— to him that made you 〈◊〉 with him and you shall 〈◊〉 surely Repose your 〈…〉 him and yee shall rest 〈◊〉 Whither goe you iâ— these 〈◊〉 gy passages O whither goe you The good that you love is 〈◊〉 him and in respect of him 〈◊〉 both good and pleasant But it shall justly be turned to bitternesse because whatsoever is from him is unjustly loved if hee be forsaken for it 2. Whither now wander 〈◊〉 further and further over these difficult and troublesome passages There is no rest to be found where you seeke it Seeke what you doe seeke but yet 't is not there where you are seeking for it You seeke a blessed life in the land of death 't is not there for how should there be a happy life where there is at all no life But our Life descended downe hither and tooke away our death and kild him out of the abundance of his owne life and he thundered calling unto us to returne from hence to him into that secret place from whence he came forth to us comming first into the Virgins wombe where the Humanity was marryed unto him even our mortall flesh though not ever to be mortall and thence came he like a Bridegroome out of his chamber rejoycing as a Giant to run his course For hee foreslow'd not but he ranne crying both in words deedes death descent and ascension still crying to us to returne unto him And hee withdrew himselfe from our eyes that we might returne to our owne heart and there finde him 3. He withdrew himselfe and behold he is still here He would not tarry long with us yet hath he not utterly left us for thither is he gone from whence he never parted because the world was made by him And in this world hee was and into this world hee came to save sinners unto whom my soule now confesseth that he may heale it for it hath sinned against him O ye sonnes of men how long will ye be slow of heart will ye not now after that Life is descended downe to you will not you ascend up to it and live But whither ascended you when you were high-conceipted and lifted up your head into heaven Descend againe that you may ascend and ascend to God For descended you are by ascending against him Tell the soules whom thou lovest thus that they may weepe in this valley of teares and so carry them up with thee unto God because by his Spirit thou speakest thus unto them if speak thou doest burning with the fire of charity CHAP. 13. Love whence it comes 1. THese things I as then knew not and I fell in love with these inferior beauties and I was sinking even to the very bottome and unto my friends I said doe wee love any thing that is not beautifull For what is faire and what is beauty what is it that inveigles us thus and that drawes our affections to the things we love for unlesse there were a gracefulnesse and a beauty in them they could by no meanes draw us unto them And I markt narrowly and perceived that in the bodies themselves there was one thing as it were the whole feature which in that respect was beautifull and another thing that did therefore become because it was aptly fitted to some thing as some part of the body in respect of the whole body or a shooe in respect of the foot and the like And this consideration sprang up in my minde even out of the innermost of my very heart and I composed certaine bookes De Pulchro Apto two or three as I thinke Thou knowest it O Lord for 't is out of my memory For I have them not now by me but lost they are and I know not how CHAP. 14. Of his booke of Faire and Fit 1. WHat was the cause O Lord my GOD that moved me to dedicate unto Icherius an Orator of Rome these bookes of mine whom as then I so much as knew not by face but upon love to the man meerely for the fame of his learning which was eminent in him and some words of his that I had heard which very well pleased me But rather did he please me for that they pleased others who highly extold him admiting much that a Syrian borne brought up first in the Greeke Eloquence should afterwards prove so wonderfull a master in the Latine also being above all this a most knowing man in all the studies that pertaine unto Wisdome A man is commended and loved even when hee is absent Doth then this love enter the heart of the hearer immedidiately from the mouth of the prayser Nothing so But by one lover is another inflamed Hence comes it that hee is oft loved who is heard commended when namely his worth
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
growing Corne. And there are some againe that looke like infamous or impudent crimes which yet are no sinnes even for that they neither offend thee O Lord God nor yet any sociable conversation when namely provision is made of somethings fitting for the times and we cannot judge whether it be out of a lust of having or when some actions bee by ordinary authority punished with a desire of correcting and it is uncertaine whether it were out of a desire of hurting Many a fact therefore which seemes worthily disallowed by men is yet well approved of by thy testimony and many a one by men praised are thou being witnesse condemned and all this because the outside of the fact and the minde of the doer and the unknowne secret of the present hint of opportunity are all different from one another 2. But when thou on the sudden commandest any unusuall and unthought-of thing yea notwithstanding thou hast sometime heretofore forbidden this although thou keepest secret for the time the reason of thy command and notwithstanding it bee against the private ordinance of some Society of men who doubts but it is to be obeyed seeing that Society of men is a just Society which serves thee But happy are they who know it was thou that gave the command For all things are done by them that serve thee either for the providing themselves of what is needfull for the present or for the foreshewing of something to come hereafter CHAP. 10. Hee speakes againe of the Fig-tree and derides the Manichees foolish conceits about it 1. I My selfe being at that time ignorant of these things derided heartily those holy servants and Prophets of thine And what gain'd I by scoffing at them but that my selfe should in the meane time be scorned at by thee being sensibly and by little and little drawne on to those toyes as to beleeve that a Fig-tree wept when it were plucked and the Mother of it to shed milkie teares Which Fig notwithstanding pluckt by some other mans boldnesse had some Manichean Saint eaten hee should digest in his guts and breath out of that Fig very Angels yea in his prayer groane and sigh out certaine portions forsooth of the Deity which portions of the most high and true GOD should remaine bound in that Fig unlesse they had beene set at liberty by the teeth or belly of some elect holy one And I beleeved wretch that I was that more mercy was to bee shewne to the fruits of the earth that unto men for whose use they were created For if any man though a hungred should have eaten a bit who were no Manichee that morsell would seeme as it were to be condemned to a capitall punishment should it have been given him CHAP. 11. His mothers Dreame 1. ANd thou stretchedst thine hand from on high and drewest my soule out of that darksome deepenesse when as my mother thy faithfull one wept to thee for me more bitterly than mothers use to doe for the bodily deaths of their children For she evidently fore saw my death by that faith and spirit which thou hadst given her and thou heardest her O Lord thou heardst her despisedst not her teares when flowing downe they watered the very earth under her eyes in every place where she prayed yea thou heardst her For whence else was that dreame of hers by which thou comfortedst her in which shee verily thought mee to live with her and to eate at the same table in house with her which shee already begunne to bee unwilling withall refusing and detesting the blasphemies of my errour For she saw in her sleepe her selfe standing in a certain woodden battlement and a very beautifull young man comming towards her with a cheerefull countenance and smiling upon her herselfe being grieved and farre gone with sorrowfulnesse Which yong man when he had demanded of her the causes of her sadnesse and dayly weepings that he might teach rather as Angels use to doe than learne and shee had answered that it was my perdition that shee bewayled he bad her rest contented and wisht her to observe diligently and behold That where she herselfe was there was I also Who when she lookt aside shee saw mestanding by her in the same battlement How should this chance now but that thine eares were bent towards the requests of her heart 2. O thou Good omnipotent who hast such speciall care of every one of us as if thou hadst care but of one alone and so regardest all as if but single persons How came this about also that when she had told me this Vision and I would have interpreted it That shee should not despaire of being one day of my opinion she presently without any sticking at replyes No saith shee it was not told mee that thou art where he is but where thou art there hee is I confesse to thee O Lord that to the best of my remembrance which I have oft spoken of I was then the more moved at that answer of my vigilant mother that she was not put out of conceipt by the likelyhood of my forced interpretation and that upon the very instant she apprehended as much of it as was truly to be discerned which I my selfe verily had not perceived before she spake I was more moved I say at that than with her dreame it selfe by which the joy of that holy woman to be fulfilled so long after was for the consolation of her present anguish so long before foresignified 3. For nine full yeeres passed after that in all which I tumbled up downe in the mudde of that deepe pit and the darknesse of that false beleefe and when I endeavoured to rise the violentlyer was I slung downe againe All which time that chast godly and sober widdow such thou lovest more cheered up with hope though no whit slackned in weeping and mourning failed not all howres of her set prayers to bewayle my case unto thee And her prayers found entrance then into thy sight yet notwithstanding thou sufferedst mee to be tumbled yet againe and to be all over involved in that mist of Manichisme CHAP. 12. The answer his mother received from a Bishop concerning his conversion 1. ANd thou gavest her another answere in the meane time which I now remember and yet I passe over many a one for that I make hast to those things which more presse me to confesse unto thee and many have I also forgotten Thou affordedst her another answer therefore by a certaine Priest of thine a Bishop brought up in thy Church well studied in thy Bookes Whom when this woman had intreated that he would vouchsafe to have some conference with me as well to un-teach me what was false as to instruct me in what was sound for this office shee ever and anone did for mee as she found men fit for such an undertaking but hee refused it and in truth discreetly too as I better afterwards perceived For his answer was
was very hot upon in that kinde of learning in which at that time being a Rhetoricke-Reader in Carthage I instructed yong Students and I began to reade with him eyther what himselfe desired to heare or such stuffe as I judged fit for such a wit But all my endevour by which I purposed to proceed in that Sect upon knowledge of that man began utterly to faint in me not that I yet brake with them altogether but as one not finding any thing better than that course upon which I had some way or other throwne my selfe I resolved to stay where I was a while untill by some good chance something else might appeare which I should see more cause to make choice of 3. And thus that Faustus who had beene the very snare of death unto divers had now nor willing nor knowing begun to unbinde the snare in which I was fettered For thy hands O my God out of the secret of thy providence did not now forsake my soule and out of the blood of my Mothers heart through her teares night and day powred out hadst thou a Sacrifice offered for me and thou proceededst with me by strange and secret wayes This thou diddest O my God for the steps of a man shall bee directed by the Lord and hee shall dispose his way For how shall we procure salvation but from thy hand that repaires whatsoever thou hast made CHAP. 8. He takes a voyage to Rome against the will of his Mother 1. THou dealtest with me therefore that I should be perswaded to goe to Rome and to teach there rather than at Carthage And how I came to be perswaded to this I will not neglect to confesse unto thee because hereby thy most profound secrets and thy most ready mercie towards us may bee considered upon and professed I had no intent for this cause to goe towards Rome that greater gettings and higher preferments were warranted mee by my friends which perswaded me to the journey though these hopes likewise drew on my minde at that time but there was another great reason for it which was almost the onely reason that I had heard how yong men might follow their studies there more quietly and were kept under a stticter course of discipline that they might not at their pleasures and in insolent manner rush in upon that mans Schoole where their owne Master professed not no nor come within the doores of it unlesse he permitted it 2. But at Carthage on the other side reignes a most uncivill and unruly licentiousnesse amongst the Schollers They breake in audaciously and almost with Bedlam lookes disturbe all order which any Master hath propounded for the good of his Schollers Divers outrages doe they commit with a wonderfull stupidnesse deserving soundly to be punished by the Lawes were not Custome the defendresse of them this declaring them to bee more miserable as if that were lawfull to doe which by thy eternall Law shall never be so and they suppose they escape unpunished all this while whereas they bee enough punished with the blindnesse which they doe it with and that they already suffer things incomparably worse than what they doe These mens manners therefore when I was a Student I would never fashion my selfe unto though when I set up Schoole I was faine to endure them from others and for this cause was I desirous to goe to Rome where all those that knew it assured me that there were no such insolencies committed But thou O my refuge and my portion in the land of the living to force me to change my dwelling for the salvation of my soule didst pricke me forward with goads at Carthage with which I might be driven thence and mad'st proffer of certaine allurements at Rome by which I might be drawne thither even by men who were in love with a dying life now playing mad pranckes then promising vaine hopes and for the reforming of my courses diddest thou make secret use both of their perversenesse and of mine owne too For both they that disturbed my quiet were blinded with a base madnesse and those that invited mee to another course savoured meerely of the Earth And I my selfe who here detested true misery aspired there to a false felicity 3. But the cause why I went from thence and went thither thou knewest O God yet didst thou neither discover it to me nor to my Mother who heavily bewailed my journey and followed me as farre as the Sea side But I deceived her though holding me by force that either I should goe backe with her or she might goe along with me for I feined that I had a friend whom I could not leave till I saw him with a faire wind under saile Thus I made a lye to my Mother and to so good a Mother too and so got away from her But this hast thou mercifully forgiven mee preserving me from the waters of the Sea then full of execrable filthinesse landing me safe at the water of thy Grace with which so soone as I were purged those floods of my Mothers eyes should be dryed up with which for my sake she daily watred the ground under her face in prayer unto thee At last refusing to returne without me I with much adoe perswaded her to stay that night in a place hard by our Ship where there was an Oratory erected in memory of S. Cyprian That night I privily stole aboord but she tarryed behinde in weeping and prayer And what O Lord requested she at thy hands but that thou would'st not suffer me to saile away from her But thou profoundly providing and fearing the maine point of her desire didst not at that time regard her petition that thou mightest bring that to passe in mee which she had alwaies beg'd of thee 4. The wind blew faire and sweld our sailes and the shore withdrew it self from our sights The morrow after she fell into an extreme passion of sorrow and with complaints and lamentation she even fil'd thine eares which did for that time little seeme to regard them even then when through the strength of my owne desires thou didst hurry me away that thou mightest at once put an end to al her cares meane while her carnall affection towards me was justly punished by the scourge of sorrowes For she much doated on my company as Mothers use to doe yea much more fondly than many Mothers for little knew she how great a Ioy thou wert about to worke for her out of my absence She knew nothing of it therfore did she weepe and lament proving herselfe by those tortures to bee guilty of what Eve left behind her with sorrow seeking what shee had brought forth in sorrow But having at last made an end of accusing me of false and hard dealing with her shee betooke her selfe againe to intreat thy favour for me returned home and I went on towards Rome CHAP. 9. Of a shrewd fever that hee fell into 1. BVt loe there
unto thee namely that thou shouldst be rather thought to suffer ill than man to doe ill CHAP. 4. God cannot be compelled 1. IN this sort did I endevour now to finde out the rest as I had already found that what was incorruptible must needs bee better than that which was corruptible and THEE therefore whatsoever thou wert did I acknowledge to bee incorruptible For never yet soule was nor ever shall bee able to thinke upon any thing which may be better than thou who art the soveraigne and the best Good But whereas most truely and certainely that which is incorruptible is to be preferred before what is corruptible like as I did then preferre it I might very well have reached so high in my thoughts as something that should bee better than my God hadst not thou beene incorruptible Where therefore I saw that incorruptible ought to bee preferred before corruptible there ought I to have sought out thee and there to observe Whence evill should come that is even whence corruption comes by which thy substance can by no meanes be infected 2. For Corruption does no waies infect our God by no will by no necessity by no unlookt for chance because he is God and what he wils is good and he himselfe is that Good but to be corrupted is not good Nor all thou O God against thy will constrained to any thing for that thy will is not greater than thy power But greater should it be were thy selfe greater than thy selfe For the Will and Power of God is God himselfe And what chance can surprize thee unlookt for who knowest all things Nor is there any nature of things but thou knowest it And what should wee use more arguments to prove Why that substance which God is should not be corruptible seeing if it were so it should not be God CHAP. 5. Hee pursues his enquirie after the root of sinne 1. AND I sought Whence Evill should be and I sought ill nor did I see that evill which was in this very enquirie of mine I set now before the eyes of my spirit the whole Creation and whatsoever I could discerne of it as the Sea the Earth the Ayre the Starres the Trees the mortall Creatures yea and what-ever else in it wee doe not see as the Firmament of the heaven all the Angels moreover and all the spirituall inhabitants thereof But yet as if all these had beene bodies did my fancy dispose of them in such and such places and I made one great Masse of all thy Creatures distinguished by their severall kindes of bodies both those that were Bodies indeed or which my selfe had feyned instead of Spirits And this Masse I made hugie enough not yet so great as in it selfe it was which I could not come to the knowledge of but as bigge as I thought convenient yet every way finite But thee O Lord I imagined on every part environing and penâ—trating it though every way infinite As if there were supposed to bee a Sea which every where and on every side by a most unmeasurable infinitenesse should bee onely a Sea and that Sea should containe in it some hugie Sponge but yet finite which Sponge must needs bee every where and on every side filled with that unmeasurable Sea So thought I thy whole Creation to bee in it selfe finite filled by thee who art 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 which God being himselfe good created all them good and see how he environeth and full-fils them all 2. Where is Evill then and from whence and how crept it in hither What is the roote and what the seed of it Or hath it at all no being Why then doe wee feare and beware of that which hath no being Or if we feare it in vaine then surely is that feare evill which in vaine so gores and torments the soule Yea and so much a greater evill by how much that wants of being any thing which wee stand in feare of and yet doe feare Therefore is there some evill thing which we feare or else the very act of fearing is evill Whence is evill therefore seeing God who is good hath created all these things good that is the greater and chiefest Good hath created these lesser goods yea and he creating they created are all good Whence now is evill Or of what did God make it Was there any matter evill and as God formed and ordered it did he leave any thing in it which hee did not convert 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But why did he so Was â— not able so to turne and chanâ—e the whole lumpe that no evill should have remained in it seeing he is able to do any thing Lastly why would he make any thing at all of that and did not by the same omnipotency rather cause that there should be no such thing at all Or to say troth was it able to be of it selfe against His will Or if that evill matter had beene so from eternity why suffered hee it so to continue so infinite spaces of times past and was pleased so long while after to make something out of it 3. Or if hee were suddenly pleased now to goe about some worke this rather should the Omnipotent have done have caused namely that this evill matter should not at all have beene and that hee himselfe should have beene alone that soveraigne and infinite Good â—â— Or if it had not beene good 〈…〉 who was good should 〈…〉 and create something also that were not good then that evill matter being first taken away and brought unto nothing should he immediately have taken order for some good matter whereof hee might create all things For he should not bee omnipotent if he were not able to create something that were good of it selfe unlesse hee were assisted by that matter which himselfe had not created These thoughts tossed I up and downe in my miserable heart overcharged with biting Cares through the feare of death and though I had not found out the truth yet did the Faith of thy Christ our Lord and Saviour professed in thy Church firmly continue in my heart though in divers particulars verily not yet throughly perfected and swarving from the right Rule of Doctrine yet did not my minde utterly leave it off but every day tooke in more and more of it CHAP. 6. Divinations made by the Mathematicians are vaine 1. BY this time also had I rejected those deceitfull Divinations and impious dotages of the Astrologers Let thine owne mercies out of the most inward bowels of my soule consesse unto thee for this O my God For thou thou altogether for who else is it that cals us backe from the death of all errours but even that Life which knowes not how to dye and that wisedome which enlightens those mindes that need it it selfe needing no light by which the whole world is governed even to the falling away of
answer thou me And say unto my soule I am thy salvation Who am I and what manner of man What evill have not I been either my deeds evill or if not them yet have my words been evill or if not them yet was my Will evill But thou O LORD art good and mercifull and thy right hand had respect unto the profoundnesse of my death and drew forth of the bottome of my heart that bottomelesse gulfe of corruption which was to nill all that thou willedst and to will all that thou nilledst 2. But where was that right hand so long a time and out of what bottome and deepe secret corner was my Free-will called forth in a moment whereby I submitted my necke to thy easie yoke and my shoulders unto thy light burthen O Iesus Christ my helper and my Redeemer How pleasant was it all on the sudden made unto me to want the sweets of those Toyes Yea what I before feared to lose was now a joy unto me to forgoe For thou didst cast them away from me even thou that true chiefest sweetnesse Thou threwest them out and instead of them camest in thy selfe sweeter than all pleasure though not to flesh and blood brighter than all light yea more privy than all secrets higher than all honour though not to the high in their owne conceipts Now became my soule free from those biting cares of aspiring and getting and weltring in filth and scratching off that itch of lust And I talked more familiarly now with thee my honour and my riches and my health my Lord God CHAP. 2. Hee gives over his teaching of Rhetoricke 1. ANd I resolved in thy sight though not tumultuously to snatch away yet fairely to with-draw the service of my tongue from those marts of lip-labour that young students no students in thy Law nor in thy peace but in lying dotages and law-skirmishes should no longer buy at my mouth the engines for their own madnesse And very seasonably fell it out that it was but a few daies unto the Vacation of the Vintage till when I resolved to endure them that I might then take my leave the more solemnely when being bought off by thee I purposed to returne no more to be their mercenary Our purpose therefore was knowne onely unto thee but to men other than our owne friends was it not known For we had agreed among our selves not to disclose it abroad to any body although us now ascending from the valley of teares and singing that song of degrees hadst thou armed with sharp arrows hot burning coles to destroy such subtle tongues as would crosse us in our purpose by seeming to advise us and make an end of us pretending to love us as men doe with their meat Thou hadst shot thorough our hearts with thy charity and wee carried thy words as it were sticking in our bowels and the examples of thy servants whom of blacke thou hadst made bright and of dead alive Which charity and examples being piled together in the bosome of our thoughts did burne and utterly consume that lumpish slothfulnesse of ours that wee might no more be plung'd into the deepes by it Yea they set us on fire so vehemently as that all the blasts of the subtle tongues of gain-saying might inflame us the more fiercely but never extinguish us 2. Neverthelesse because of thy Name which thou hast sanctified throughout the earth and that our desire and purpose might likewise finde commenders it would I feared looke something too like oftentation for me not to expect the time of vacation now so neere but before-hand to give over my publike Profession which every man had an eye upon and that the mouths of all the beholders being turned upon my fact whereby I should desire to goe off before the time of Vintage so neere approaching would give it out that I did it purposely affecting to appeare some great man And to what end would it have served me to have people censure and dispute upon my purpose and to have our good to be evill spoken of Furthermore for that in the Summer time my lungs began to decay with my over-much paines-taking in my Schoole and to breath with difficulty and by the paine in my breast to signifie themselves to be spending and to refuse too lowd or too long speaking I had been much troubled heretofore at the matter for that namely I was constrained even upon necessity to lay downe that burthen of Teaching of if in case I could possibly be cured and grow sound againe at least for a while to forbeare it But so soone as this full resolution to give my selfe leasure and to see how that thou art the Lord first arose and was afterwards setled in me God thou knowest how I began to rejoyce that I had this and that no unfained excuse which might something take off the offence taken by such parties who for their childrens good would by their good wills that I should never have given over schooling 3. Full therefore of such like joy I held out till that Interim of time were runne I know not well whether there might bee some twenty dayes of it yet I couragiously under-went them But for that covetousnesse which was wont to beare part of the weight of my businesse had now quite left mee I should have utterly been oppressed had not patience stept up in its roome Some of thy servants my brethren may say perchance that I sinned in this for that being with full consent of heart enrold thy souldier I suffered my selfe to sit one houre in the chaire of lying And for my part I cannot defend my selfe But hast not thou O most mercifull Lord both pardoned and remitted this amongst other most horrible and deadly sinnes in the holy water of Baptisme CHAP. 3. Verecundus lends them his Countrey-house 1. VErecundus became leane againe with vexing at himselfe upon this good hap of ours for that being detained by some engagements by which he was most strongly obliged hee saw himselfe likely to lose our company as being not yet a Christian though his wife were indeed baptized And by her as being a clogge that hung closer to him than all the rest was hee chiefly kept from that journey which wee now intended And a Christian he would not as hee said be any other wayes made than by that way which he as yet could not However most courteously in truth did he proffer us that we might freely make use of his Countrey house so long as we meant to stay there Thou O Lord shalt reward him for it in the resurrection of the Iust seeing thou hast already rendered to him the lot of mortality For although it was in our absence as being then at Rome that he was taken with a bodily sicknesse yet departed he this life being both made a Christian and baptized also Thus hadst thou mercy not upon him onely but upon us also lest
therefore to bee deluded For they being high-minded haue sought thee in the pride of their learning strutting out rather then knocking vp on their brests and so by the agreement of their heart haue they drawne vnto themselues the Princes of the Ayre their fellow conspirators in pride by whom through the force of Magick they were decerued euen while they sought for a Mediator by whom they might bee purged but there was none to be found For the diuel it was transfiguring now himselfe into an Angel of light 2. Many wayes therefore was hee able to entice proud flesh for that him selfe was not of any fleshly body For fleshly men were mortall and sinnefulli but thou Lord to whom they this proud way sought to be reconciled art immortall and without sinne A mediator now betweene God and man must haue something like vnto God and something like vnto men lest that being like vnto man in both natures he should be too farre vnlike God or if like vnto God in both natures hee should be too farre vnlike vnto men and so be a Mediator neyther way That deceitfull Mediator therfore by whom in thy secret iudgement mans pride deserued to be deluded hath one thing indeed common with himselfe to men and that 's Sinne and desires to seem to communicate in another thing with God that because hee is not cloathed with any mortality of flesh he might thereby vaunt himselfe to bee immortall But for that the wages of sin is death this hath he common to himselfe with men for which he might together with them â—â— condemned vnto death CHAP. 43. Christ onely in the all-sufficient Intercessor 1. BVt the true Mediator whom out of thy secret mercy thou hast shewed forth vnto the humble and whom thou sentest that by his example they might learne the true humility that Mediator therefore betweene God and man the man Christ Iesus appeared betwixt mortall sinners and the immortall Iust One being mortall as men and iust like God that because the reward of righteousnesse is life and peace hee might by his righteousnesse which was ioyned to God make voyd the death of as many of the wicked as were by him iustified which death his will was to haue common both to them and him Hee was shewed forth vnto Holy men of old to the intent that they might be saued through sayth in his passion to come like as wee are through sayth of it already passed For how farre-forth he was a man so far-forth was hee a Mediator but so farre-forth as he is the Word hee is not meerely midway to God because he is equall vnto God and God with God together with the Holy Ghost one God 2. How hast thou loued vs O good Father that hast not spared thine onely Sonne but hast deliuered him vnto death for vs wicked men how hast thou loued vs for whom Hee that thought it no robbery to bee equall with God was made subiect vnto death euen the death of the crosse hee that was onely free among the dead that had power to lay downe his life and power to take it againe for vs was hee vnto thee both the Conquerour and the Sacrifice yea and therefore the Conquerour because the Sacrifice for vs was hee vnto thee both Priest and Sacrifice and therefore the Priest because the Sacrifice of slaues making vs thy children by being borne of thee and by becomming a seruant vnto vs. Deseruedly therefore is my hope strongly setled vpon him that thou wilt by him cure all my infirmities euen by him that sits at thy right hand and maketh intercession for vs whereas otherwise I should despaire vtterly For many and great are those infirmities of mine yea many they are and great but thy medicine is more soueraigne 3. Imagine we might that thy Word was farre enough from being vnited with man and so despayre of our selues vnlesse It had beene made flesh and dwelt amongst vs. Affrighted thus with mine owne sinnes the burthen of mine owne misery I cast these thoughts in my heart bethinking my selfe of fleeing into the Wildernesse but thou for baddest me and strengthenedst mee saying Therefore Christ dyed for all that they which liue may now no longer liue vnto themselues but vnto him that dyed for them See Lord I hence forth cast all my care vpon thee that I may liue and consider the wonderfull things of thy law Thou knowest both my vnskilfulnesse and my infirmities Oh teach me and heale mee That onely Sonne of thine in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge hath redeemed mee with his blood Let not the proud speake euill of mee now for that I meditate vpon the price of my redemption and do eate drink and giue vnto the poore and being poore my selfe desire to be filled by him amongst those that eate and are satisfied and they shall praise the Lord who seeke him The end of the tenth Booke Saint Augustines Confessions The eleuenth Booke CHAP. 1. Why we confesse vnto God who knowes all CAnst thou that art the Lord of all eternity be ignorant of what I say vnto thee or doest thou see but for a time that which passeth in time To what end then doe I lay in order before thee so many â—arrations not to this end doe I it that thou mightest come to know them vpon my relation but there by to stirre vp mine owne and my Readers deuotions towards thee that wee may say all together Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised Now haue I sayd and againe say it I will For the loue of thy loue make I this Confession For we vse to pray also and yet Truth it selfe hath sayd Your Father knoweth what you haue neede of before you aske T is our affection therefore which wee hereby lay open vnto thee while wee confesse our owne miseries and thy mercies vpon vs that thou mightest thorowly set vs free seeing already thou hast begun to make vs leaue to bee wretched in our selues and to be happy in thee seeing thou hast called vs that wee may become poore in spirit and meeke and mournfull and bungry and thirsty after righteousnesse and mercifull and pure in heart and peace-makers See I haue told thee many things such as I could and such I was desirous to doe because thou desirest first that I should confesse vnto my Lord God For thou art good and that thy mercy endureth for euer CHAP. 2. He sueth to be deliuered from his sinnes and errors and to bee guided vnto the true knowledge 1. BVt when shall I bee able with the pen of my tongue to set forth all thy Exhortations and all thy terrors and comforts and directions by which thou hast brought mee vp to bee a Preacher of thy Werd and a Dispencer of thy Sacrament vnto thy people If I now bee able to declare these things to thee in order the very
Ghost the Creator of all thine owne creatures CHAP. 6. Of the Spirits mouing vpon the waters 1. BVt what was the cause O thou true-speaking light vnto thee lift I vp my heart let it not bee taught vanities dispell thou the darkenesse of it and tell mee by our mother charity I beseech thee tell mee the reason I beseech thee why after the mention of heauen and of the inuisible and shapelesse earth and darknesse vpon the Deepe thy Scriptures should euen then at length make the first mention of thy Spirit Was it because it was meete so to haue Him insinuated as that he should bee sayd to moue vpon and so much could not truely bee sayd vnlesse that were first mentioned vpon which thy Spirit may bee vnderstood to haue moued For verily neyther vpon the Father not vpon the Sonne was hee moued nor could he rightly be sayd to moue vpon if there were nothing yet for him to moue vpon First therefore was that to bee spoken of which He was sayd to moue vpon and then Hee whom it was requisite not to haue named otherwise then a Hee was sayd to moue vpon But wherefore yet was â—â— not fitting to haue Him insinuated otherwayes vnlesse Hee were sayd to moue vpon CHAP. 7. Of the effect or working of the Holy Ghost 1. FRom hence let him that is able follow with his vnderstanding thy Apostle where hee thus speakes Because thy loue is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is giuen vnto vs and where concerning spirituall gifts he teacheth and sheweth vnto vs a more excellent way of charity and where he bowes his knees vnto thee for vs that wee may come to learne that most excellent knowledge of the loue of Christ And therefore euen from the very beginning did the Spirit supereminently moue vpon the waters Whom shall I tell it vnto and in what termes shall I describe how the hugy weight of lustfull desires presses downe into the steepe pit and how charity rayses vs vp againe by thy Spirit which moued vpon the waters Vnto whom shall I speake it and in what language vtter it For they are no certaine places into which wee are plunged and out of which wee are againe lifted What can bee liker and yet what vnlikeer They bee Affections they be Loues they be the vncleannesse of our owne spirits that ouerflow our lower parts with the loue of cares and it is the holynesse of thy Spirit that rayseth vs vpwards againe by the loue of our safeties that wee may lift our harts vp vnto the Lord where thy Spirit is moued vpon the waters and that wee may come at length to that repose which is aboue all rests when namely our soules shall haue escaped ouer these waters where we can find no ground CHAP. 8. How Gods Spirit cherisheth feeble soules 1. THE Angels fell and mans soule fell and all thy Spirituall creatures in generall had shewne the way vnto the deepe which is in that most darkesome bottome hadst not thou sayd Let there be light and there was light and vnlesse euery spirituall creature of thy heauenly City had continued in obedience vnto thee and settled it selfe vpon thy Spirit which moues vnchangeably vpon euery thing that is changeable Otherwise had euen the heauen of heauens it selfe for euer continued a darkesome Deepe whereas now it is light in the Lord. And now by that miserable restlesnesse of the falling spirits and by their discouering of their owne darknesse the garment of thy light being pluckt off them doest thou sufficiently reueale how noble the reasonable creature is which thou hast created vnto which nothing will suffice to settle its happynesse and rest vpon that is any way inferior vnto thy selfe and therefore cannot herselfe giue satisfaction vnto herselfe For t is thou O Lord that shalt lighten our darknesse from thee must grow these our garments and then shall our darknesse be as the noone day 2. Giue thy selfe vnto me O my God yea restore thy selfe vnto me for I loue thee and if it be too little let mee now loue thee more affectionately I am not able to measure my loue that I may so come to know how much there wants of enough that my life may euen runne into thy embracements and not tnrne from them againe vntill I bee wholy hidden in the secret of thy presence This one thing am I sure of that woe is me if I be not in thee yea not so onely if I bee without my selfe but ill will it goe with mee though I be hidden within my selfe yea all other plenty besides my God is meere beggery vnto me CHAP. 9. Why the Spirit onely moued vpon the waters 1. BVT did not the Father also or the Sonne moue vpon the waters And if wee vnderstand mouing as it were in a place like a body then neyther did the Spirit moue But if the excellent highnesse of the diuinity aboue euery changeable creature bee vnderstood then did both Father Sonne and Holy Ghost moue vpon the waters Why therefore is this sayd of thy Spirit onely Why of him onely as if there had beene some place where indeede there is no place for it of which onely it is written that Hee is thy gift Let vs now take vp our rest in this thy gift there let vs enioy thee O our rest and our place 2. Loue preferres vs thither and thy good Spirit aduances our lowlynesse from the very gates of death In thy good pleasure lies our peace our body with his owne lumpishnesse swaies vs towards its owne place Weight makes not downeward onely but to his owne place also The fire mounts vpward a stone sinks downeward All things pressed by their owne weight goe towards their proper places Oyle powred in the bottome of the water yet will swimme on the toppe of it water powred vpon Oyle sinkes to the bottome of the Oyle They are weighed downe by their owne hea-luinesse they go to seeke their owne centers Things a little out of their places become vnquiet put them in their order agayne and they are quieted My weight is my loue that way am I carried whithersoeuer I bee carried Wee are inflamed by thy gift and are carried vpwards wee waxe hot within and we goe forwards Wee ascend thy waies that be in our heart and wee sing a song of degrees inwardly enflamed with thy fite with thy good fire and wee goe euen because we goe vpwards to the peace of Ierusalem for glad I was when as they sayd vnto me We will go vp into the house of God There let thy good pleasure settle vs that wee may desire no other thing but to dwell there for euer CHAP. 10. All is of Gods gift O Happy creature which knowes no other thing but that whenas it selfe was another thing euen by thy Gift which moueth vpon euery mutable thing it was so soone as created and no delay of time betweene taken vp in that
were catled fideles faithful â— symbolo fidei fideles nominantur Ier. 51. 6. Psal 73. 7. Catiline He aliudes to Ionas flight and Gourd Rom. 6 21. Psal 19. 12 Mat. 25. 21. He alludes to the Prodigall childe Luk. 15. 13. He alludes to the Sea of Sodome which is said to bubble out a pitchy slime into which other rivers running are there lost in it And like the lake it self rename unmoveable wherefore 't is called the dead Sea * EVERâ—ORES OVERTVRNERS or VNDOERS These for their boldnesse were like our Roâ—ers and for their itering like the worser sort of those that would be cald The wits Col. 2. 8. * He meanes Ciceroes Hortensius * These were frequent with the Manichees * He alludes to the Manichees Philosophicall Theologie Iam. 1. 17. * Here the Popish Translator patches two sentenses into one losing halfe the force of the Fathers Argument * Nee in summis ruis conditionibus abes Here be hath missed the whole sense turning it And when thou wilt thou canst make nobler than they meaning than the Angels as his margine intimates Iudge Reader Saint Augustine alludes to Act. 17. 27. as may he seene by his following it * Another cobble of the old Translator which he turnes Though with husks I was entertaining my brutish appetite * The Manichees fooleries hee alludes unto * Another mistake Advera elementa transfero I can apply to a true sense saith he So can not I his translation * Compare Prev 7. 10. with Prov. 9. 13 17. ver and you have the meaning * Cui effe moles effet Heb. 11. * Here the old translator bewrayes ignorance enough Thus he renders it Or as when publike justice should command the shops to be shut after noon upon some certaine day one should chafe for not being suffered to sell his wares although the next day he might lawfully doe it Let me helpe him In Romanes had 3. sorts of dayes 1. Festos or Ferias whole holydayes 2. Professos whole working dayes 〈◊〉 Intercisâ—â— halfe holydayes In this lost sort the courts Iustice and shops having beene open the forenoone usu some sudden accident suppose the death or funerall some great personage c. the Bedlâ— proclaim'd a 〈◊〉 on from working and pleading Vpon the same 〈◊〉 have we in our Vniversities a sudden Non Terâ—inus and ceasing of all disputations namely upon the deathe some Master of Arts or Doctor Deut. 6. Mat. 22. * See 1 Ioh. 2. 1. * Psal 33. 2. Acts 9. 5. He alludes in this Chapter to the folly of the Manichees a He alludes bere to that devout manner of the Eastern Ancients who used to lye flat on their faces in prayer b Here the old Translator is mistaken falsly construing the word Crederet c Her vision d In quadam Tegula Lignea and not in regula Linea or Lignea as the printed Coppies read it This Tegula signifies an upper roome next the tiles But in those hot Affricane Countries they used to be much upon the Roâ—fes of their houses which therefore were commanded to be battlemented lest any should fall from thence Deut. 22. 8. so â—e such upper roome gallery or pergula it is likest to have beene a Iust thus doe the Puritanes of our dayes some champions they have that are stil scribling and others bragging in their conventicles how able they are to confute the Adversary but in private houses they pretend sanctity and long Prayers and stillseeme zealous against the pretended imperfections of the Church times and governors temporall and spirituall b It was the old fashion to humme and give low plauditees with the band to their Orators and Preachers as may be seene in Saint Basile and Saint Chrysostome c It was the Roman custome to rebearse upon the stage or in publike their owne composures which they cald Reponere before they set forth copies of them which when they did they were said Edere Thus edere spectaculum edere librum Semper ego auditor tantum nunquamne reponam Pers * He derides at this wicked Sacrament of the Manichees in which they thought to imitate the receiving and benefit of the Lords Supper Here had they a chosen meat consecrated by their elect and they hoped by it to bee purged and as it were united to God * Oh that those Lawyers would learne this who thinke they may undoe any mans life cause or reputation so it be for their Clyent say or unsay any thing for their Clyent * I read it Nodum â—nd not Modum * He alludes to the Manichees errours who thought God and the Angels to be but glorious bodies Hos 12. 1. The old Translator is often mistaken in this Chapter Psal 41. 4. Iob. 5. 14. Rom. 2. 6. Psal 51. 17. * This was part of the Proconsuls Office in the Romane Provinces to be Iudge at these kinde of Exercises and in these lesser Cities so serve from Rome a meane man might bee Proconsul The old Translator turnes Proconsul In place of the Consul ignorantly * I am 4. 6. Rom. 5. 5. Psal 94. 1. * The wonderfull effect of the Sacrament of Baptisme * Ararâ— conceipt * The old Translator confounds these two sentences This conceipt Saint Augustine Retracted afterwards Retract lib. 2. cap. 6. * Conscissam cruentatam not cruentam animam * This passage hath the old Translator rendred very mannerly and I have followed him * Conflare facere Here the Infinitive Mood is put for the Praeter imperfect tense plurall Hee illudes to â—he running or melting of glasse or metals together Ioh. 17. 17 * O most dainty comparison and expression Quonâ—aâ—aâ—â—mâ— ipsa esse vult This he translates for the soule desires to be Short of the sense * Ab initio debito usque ad finem debtum Esay 46. 8. Psal 19. 5. Iohn 1. 1 Tim. 1. 15 Psal 41. 4. * Of Faire and Fit Mat. 10. 29. 30. He alludes to the Manichees errors which had infected him The old Translator jumbles two sentences into one * He alludes to the Manichees foolish Philosophical Divinity which notwithstanding that the soâ—le and 〈◊〉 â—â—culties were created all at once and all good 〈…〉 by the Fall yet they made the Soule onely to be good from which vertue came which they called vnity 〈◊〉 that the soule was but one but the powers of the soule they having an eye onely to the Fall and not to the Creation made to be absolutely and originally Evill and â—â— causes of all Evill Such were those two power of 〈◊〉 Sensitive Appetite the Concupiscible theâ—â—cible â—â—cible of which they made their Duality or Division whereof nature intended the first the Concupiscible or Longing appetite for the conservation of the 〈◊〉 and the pleasant or well being of it and the 〈◊〉 or angry appetite for the defence of the Concupiscible by which we are angry at and resist whatsoever 〈◊〉 our wellbeing The use of both together is to 〈◊〉 good and