The Confessions of St. Augustine
a righteous man: nor saith He only, He that shall give to drink a cup
of cold water to one of my little ones; but added, in the name of a
disciple: and so concludeth, Verily I say unto you, he shall not lose
his reward. The gift is, to receive a prophet, to receive a righteous
man, to give a cup of cold water to a disciple: but the fruit, to do
this in the name of a prophet, in the name of a righteous man, in the
name of a disciple. With fruit was Elijah fed by the widow that knew
she fed a man of God, and therefore fed him: but by the raven was he fed
with a gift. Nor was the inner man of Elijah so fed, but the outer only;
which might also for want of that food have perished.
I will then speak what is true in Thy sight, O Lord, that when carnal
men and infidels (for the gaining and initiating whom, the initiatory
Sacraments and the mighty workings of miracles are necessary, which we
suppose to be signified by the name of fishes and whales) undertake
the bodily refreshment, or otherwise succour Thy servant with something
useful for this present life; whereas they be ignorant, why this is to
be done, and to what end; neither do they feed these, nor are these
fed by them; because neither do the one do it out of an holy and right
intent; nor do the other rejoice at their gifts, whose fruit they as
yet behold not. For upon that is the mind fed, of which it is glad.
And therefore do not the fishes and whales feed upon such meats, as the
earth brings not forth until after it was separated and divided from the
bitterness of the waves of the sea.
And Thou, O God, sawest every thing that Thou hadst made, and, behold,
it was very good. Yea we also see the same, and behold, all things are
very good. Of the several kinds of Thy works, when Thou hadst said "let
them be," and they were, Thou sawest each that it was good. Seven times
have I counted it to be written, that Thou sawest that that which Thou
madest was good: and this is the eighth, that Thou sawest every thing
that Thou hadst made, and, behold, it was not only good, but also very
good, as being now altogether. For severally, they were only good; but
altogether, both good, and very good. All beautiful bodies express the
same; by reason that a body consisting of members all beautiful, is
far more beautiful than the same members by themselves are, by whose
well-ordered blending the whole is perfected; notwithstanding that the
members severally be also beautiful.
And I looked narrowly to find, whether seven, or eight times Thou sawest
that Thy works were good, when they pleased Thee; but in Thy seeing I
found no times, whereby I might understand that Thou sawest so often,
what Thou madest. And I said, "Lord, is not this Thy Scripture true,
since Thou art true, and being Truth, hast set it forth? why then dost
Thou say unto me, 'that in Thy seeing there be no times'; whereas this
Thy Scripture tells me, that what Thou madest each day, Thou sawest that
it was good: and when I counted them, I found how often." Unto this Thou
answerest me, for Thou art my God, and with a strong voice tellest Thy
servant in his inner ear, breaking through my deafness and crying, "O
man, that which My Scripture saith, I say: and yet doth that speak in
time; but time has no relation to My Word; because My Word exists
in equal eternity with Myself. So the things which ye see through My
Spirit, I see; like as what ye speak by My Spirit, I speak. And so when
ye see those things in time, I see them not in time; as when ye speak in
time, I speak them not in time."
And I heard, O Lord my God, and drank up a drop of sweetness out of Thy
truth, and understood, that certain men there be who mislike Thy works;
and say, that many of them Thou madest, compelled by necessity; such
as the fabric of the heavens, and harmony of the stars; and that Thou
madest them not of what was Thine, but that they were otherwhere and
from other sources created, for Thee to bring together and compact and
combine, when out of Thy conquered enemies Thou raisedst up the walls of
the universe; that they, bound down by the structure, might not again
be able to rebel against Thee. For other things, they say Thou neither
madest them, nor even compactedst them, such as all flesh and all very
minute creatures, and whatsoever hath its root in the earth; but that
a mind at enmity with Thee, and another nature not created by Thee, and
contrary unto Thee, did, in these lower stages of the world, beget and
frame these things. Frenzied are they who say thus, because they see not
Thy works by Thy Spirit, nor recognise Thee in them.
But they who by Thy Spirit see these things, Thou seest in them.
Therefore when they see that these things are good, Thou seest that they
are good; and whatsoever things for Thy sake please, Thou pleasest in
them, and what through Thy Spirit please us, they please Thee in us. For
what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man, which is
in him? even so the things of God knoweth no one, but the Spirit of God.
Now we (saith he) have received, not the spirit of this world, but the
Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. And I am admonished, "Truly the things of God
knoweth no one, but the Spirit of God: how then do we also know, what
things are given us of God?" Answer is made me; "because the things
which we know by His Spirit, even these no one knoweth, but the Spirit
of God. For as it is rightly said unto those that were to speak by the
Spirit of God, it is not ye that speak: so is it rightly said to them
that know through the Spirit of God, 'It is not ye that know.' And no
less then is it rightly said to those that see through the Spirit of
God, 'It is not ye that see'; so whatsoever through the Spirit of God
they see to be good, it is not they, but God that sees that it is good."
It is one thing then for a man to think that to be ill which is good,
as the forenamed do; another, that that which is good, a man should see
that it is good (as Thy creatures be pleasing unto many, because they
be good, whom yet Thou pleasest not in them, when they prefer to enjoy
them, to Thee); and another, that when a man sees a thing that it is
good, God should in him see that it is good, so, namely, that He should
be loved in that which He made, Who cannot be loved, but by the Holy
Ghost which He hath given. Because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost, Which is given unto us: by Whom we see that
whatsoever in any degree is, is good. For from Him it is, who Himself Is
not in degree, but what He Is, Is.
Thanks to Thee, O Lord. We behold the heaven and earth, whether the
corporeal part, superior and inferior, or the spiritual and corporeal
creature; and in the adorning of these parts, whereof the universal pile
of the world, or rather the universal creation, doth consist, we see
light made, and divided from the darkness. We see the firmament of
heaven, whether that primary body of the world, between the spiritual
upper waters and the inferior corporeal waters, or (since this also
is called heaven) this space of air through which wander the fowls of
heaven, betwixt those waters which are in vapours borne above them, and
in clear nights distill down in dew; and those heavier waters which flow
along the earth. We behold a face of waters gathered together in the
fields of the sea; and the dry land both void, and formed so as to be
visible and harmonized, yea and the matter of herbs and trees. We behold
the lights shining from above, the sun to suffice for the day, the moon
and the stars to cheer the night; and that by all these, times should
be marked and signified. We behold on all sides a moist element,
replenished with fishes, beasts, and birds; because the grossness of
the air, which bears up the flights of birds, thickeneth itself by the
exhalation of the waters. We behold the face of the earth decked out
with earthly creatures, and man, created after Thy image and likeness,
even through that Thy very image and likeness (that is the power of
reason and understanding), set over all irrational creatures. And as
in his soul there is one power which has dominion by directing, another
made subject, that it might obey; so was there for the man, corporeally
also, made a woman, who in the mind of her reasonable understanding
should have a parity of nature, but in the sex of her body, should be in
like manner subject to the sex of her husband, as the appetite of doing
is fain to conceive the skill of right-doing from the reason of
the mind. These things we behold, and they are severally good, and
altogether very good.
Let Thy works praise Thee, that we may love Thee; and let us love Thee,
that Thy works may praise Thee, which from time have beginning and
ending, rising and setting, growth and decay, form and privation. They
have then their succession of morning and evening, part secretly, part
apparently; for they were made of nothing, by Thee, not of Thee; not of
any matter not Thine, or that was before, but of matter concreated (that
is, at the same time created by Thee), because to its state without
form, Thou without any interval of time didst give form. For seeing
the matter of heaven and earth is one thing, and the form another, Thou
madest the matter of merely nothing, but the form of the world out of
the matter without form: yet both together, so that the form should
follow the matter, without any interval of delay.
We have also examined what Thou willedst to be shadowed forth, whether
by the creation, or the relation of things in such an order. And we have
seen, that things singly are good, and together very good, in Thy Word,
in Thy Only-Begotten, both heaven and earth, the Head and the body of
the Church, in Thy predestination before all times, without morning
and evening. But when Thou begannest to execute in time the things
predestinated, to the end Thou mightest reveal hidden things, and
rectify our disorders; for our sins hung over us, and we had sunk into
the dark deep; and Thy good Spirit was borne over us, to help us in due
season; and Thou didst justify the ungodly, and dividest them from the
wicked; and Thou madest the firmament of authority of Thy Book between
those placed above, who were to be docile unto Thee, and those under,
who were to be subject to them: and Thou gatheredst together the society
of unbelievers into one conspiracy, that the zeal of the faithful might
appear, and they might bring forth works of mercy, even distributing to
the poor their earthly riches, to obtain heavenly. And after this didst
Thou kindle certain lights in the firmament, Thy Holy ones, having the
word of life; and shining with an eminent authority set on high through
spiritual gifts; after that again, for the initiation of the unbelieving
Gentiles, didst Thou out of corporeal matter produce the Sacraments, and
visible miracles, and forms of words according to the firmament of Thy
Book, by which the faithful should be blessed and multiplied. Next
didst Thou form the living soul of the faithful, through affections well
ordered by the vigour of continency: and after that, the mind subjected
to Thee alone and needing to imitate no human authority, hast Thou
renewed after Thy image and likeness; and didst subject its rational
actions to the excellency of the understanding, as the woman to the man;
and to all Offices of Thy Ministry, necessary for the perfecting of the
faithful in this life, Thou willedst, that for their temporal uses, good
things, fruitful to themselves in time to come, be given by the same
faithful. All these we see, and they are very good, because Thou seest
them in us, Who hast given unto us Thy Spirit, by which we might see
them, and in them love Thee.