Confessions, Book X

Book X

• Confessions X.1 — In God Alone is the Hope and Joy of Man. 1. Let me know Thee, O Thou who knowest me; let me know Thee, as I am known. O Thou strength of my soul, enter into it, and prepare it for Thyself, that Thou mayest have and…vatican.va
• Confessions X.2 — Chapter II.—That All Things are Manifest to God. That Confession Unto Him is Not Made by the Words of the Flesh, But of the Soul, and the Cry of Reflection. 2. And from Thee, O Lord, unto whose eyes the depths of…vatican.va
• Confessions X.3 — He Who Confesseth Rightly Unto God Best Knoweth Himself. 3. What then have I to do with men, that they should hear my confessions, as if they were going to cure all my diseases? A people curious to know the lives of…vatican.va
• Confessions X.4 — That in His Confessions He May Do Good, He Considers Others. 5. But for what fruit do they desire this? Do they wish me happiness when they learn how near, by Thy gift, I come unto Thee; and to pray for me, when they…vatican.va
• Confessions X.5 — That Man Knoweth Not Himself Wholly. 7. For it is Thou, Lord, that judgest me; for although no “man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him,” yet is there something of man which “the…vatican.va
• Confessions X.6 — The Love of God, in His Nature Superior to All Creatures, is Acquired by the Knowledge of the Senses and the Exercise of Reason. Chapter VI.—The Love of God, in His Nature Superior to All Creatures, is Acquired by…vatican.va
• Confessions X.7 — That God is to Be Found Neither from the Powers of the Body Nor of the Soul. 11. What then is it that I love when I love my God? Who is He that is above the head of my soul? By my soul itself will I mount up unto…vatican.va
• Confessions X.8 — Of the Nature and the Amazing Power of Memory. 12. I will soar, then, beyond this power of my nature also, ascending by degrees unto Him who made me. And I enter the fields and roomy chambers of memory, where are the…vatican.va
• Confessions X.9 — Not Only Things, But Also Literature and Images, are Taken from the Memory, and are Brought Forth by the Act of Remembering. Chapter IX.—Not Only Things, But Also Literature and Images, are Taken from the Memory, and…vatican.va
• Confessions X.10 — Literature is Not Introduced to the Memory Through the Senses, But is Brought Forth from Its More Secret Places. Chapter X.—Literature is Not Introduced to the Memory Through the Senses, But is Brought Forth from Its…vatican.va
• Confessions X.11 — What It is to Learn and to Think. 18. Wherefore we find that to learn these things, whose images we drink not in by our senses, but perceive within as they are by themselves, without images, is nothing else but by…vatican.va
• Confessions X.12 — On the Recollection of Things Mathematical. 19. The memory containeth also the reasons and innumerable laws of numbers and dimensions, none of which hath any sense of the body impressed, seeing they have neither…vatican.va
• Confessions X.13 — Memory Retains All Things. 20. All these things I retain in my memory, and how I learnt them I retain. I retain also many things which I have heard most falsely objected against them, which though they be false, yet…vatican.va
• Confessions X.14 — Concerning the Manner in Which Joy and Sadness May Be Brought Back to the Mind and Memory. Chapter XIV.—Concerning the Manner in Which Joy and Sadness May Be Brought Back to the Mind and Memory. 21. This same memory…vatican.va
• Confessions X.15 — In Memory There are Also Images of Things Which are Absent. 23. But whether by images or no, who can well affirm? For I name a stone, I name the sun, and the things themselves are not present to my senses, but their…vatican.va
• Confessions X.16 — The Privation of Memory is Forgetfulness. 24. When I name forgetfulness, and know, too, what I name, whence should I know it if I did not remember it? I do not say the sound of the name, but the thing which it…vatican.va
• Confessions X.17 — God Cannot Be Attained Unto by the Power of Memory, Which Beasts and Birds Possess. Chapter XVII.—God Cannot Be Attained Unto by the Power of Memory, Which Beasts and Birds Possess. 26. Great is the power of memory;…vatican.va
• Confessions X.18 — A Thing When Lost Could Not Be Found Unless It Were Retained in the Memory. 27. For the woman who lost her drachma, and searched for it with a lamp, unless she had remembered it, would never have found it. For when…vatican.va
• Confessions X.19 — What It is to Remember. 28. But how is it when the memory itself loses anything, as it happens when we forget anything and try to recall it? Where finally do we search, but in the memory itself? And there, if…vatican.va
• Confessions X.20 — We Should Not Seek for God and the Happy Life Unless We Had Known It. 29. How, then, do I seek Thee, O Lord? For when I seek Thee, my God, I seek a happy life. I will seek Thee, that my soul may live. For my body…vatican.va
• Confessions X.21 — How a Happy Life May Be Retained in the Memory. 30. But is it so as one who has seen Carthage remembers it? No. For a happy life is not visible to the eye, because it is not a body. Is it, then, as we remember…vatican.va
• Confessions X.22 — A Happy Life is to Rejoice in God, and for God. 32. Let it be far, O Lord,—let it be far from the heart of Thy servant who confesseth unto Thee; let it be far from me to think myself happy, be the joy what it may.…vatican.va
• Confessions X.23 — All Wish to Rejoice in the Truth. 33. It is not, then, certain that all men wish to be happy, since those who wish not to rejoice in Thee, which is the only happy life, do not verily desire the happy life. Or do all…vatican.va
• Confessions X.24 — He Who Finds Truth, Finds God. 35. Behold how I have enlarged in my memory seeking Thee, O Lord; and out of it have I not found Thee. Nor have I found aught concerning Thee, but what I have retained in memory from…vatican.va
• Confessions X.25 — He is Glad that God Dwells in His Memory. 36. But where in my memory abidest Thou, O Lord, where dost Thou there abide? What manner of chamber hast Thou there formed for Thyself? What sort of sanctuary hast Thou…vatican.va
• Confessions X.26 — God Everywhere Answers Those Who Take Counsel of Him. 37. Where, then, did I find Thee, so as to be able to learn Thee? For Thou wert not in my memory before I learned Thee. Where, then, did I find Thee, so as to be…vatican.va
• Confessions X.27 — He Grieves that He Was So Long Without God. 38. Too late did I love Thee, O Fairness, so ancient, and yet so new! Too late did I love Thee! For behold, Thou wert within, and I without, and there did I seek Thee; I,…vatican.va
• Confessions X.28 — On the Misery of Human Life. 39. When I shall cleave unto Thee with all my being, then shall I in nothing have pain and labour; and my life shall be a real life, being wholly full of Thee. But now since he whom Thou…vatican.va
• Confessions X.29 — All Hope is in the Mercy of God. 40. And my whole hope is only in Thy exceeding great mercy. Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt. Thou imposest continency upon us, “nevertheless, when I perceived,”…vatican.va
• Confessions X.30 — Of the Perverse Images of Dreams, Which He Wishes to Have Taken Away. 41. Verily, Thou commandest that I should be continent from the “lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Thou hast…vatican.va
• Confessions X.31 — About to Speak of the Temptations of the Lust of the Flesh, He First Complains of the Lust of Eating and Drinking. Chapter XXXI.—About to Speak of the Temptations of the Lust of the Flesh, He First Complains of the…vatican.va
• Confessions X.32 — Of the Charms of Perfumes Which are More Easily Overcome. 48. With the attractions of odours I am not much troubled. When absent I do not seek them; when present I do not refuse them; and am prepared ever to be…vatican.va
• Confessions X.33 — He Overcame the Pleasures of the Ear, Although in the Church He Frequently Delighted in the Song, Not in the Thing Sung. Chapter XXXIII.—He Overcame the Pleasures of the Ear, Although in the Church He Frequently…vatican.va
• Confessions X.34 — Of the Very Dangerous Allurements of the Eyes; On Account of Beauty of Form, God, the Creator, is to Be Praised. Chapter XXXIV.—Of the Very Dangerous Allurements of the Eyes; On Account of Beauty of Form, God, the…vatican.va
• Confessions X.35 — Another Kind of Temptation is Curiosity, Which is Stimulated by the Lust of the Eyes. Chapter XXXV.—Another Kind of Temptation is Curiosity, Which is Stimulated by the Lust of the Eyes. 54. In addition to this there…vatican.va
• Confessions X.36 — A Third Kind is ‘Pride’ Which is Pleasing to Man, Not to God. Chapter XXXVI.—A Third Kind is “Pride” Which is Pleasing to Man, Not to God. 58. Shall we, then, account this too amongst such things as are to be lightly…vatican.va
• Confessions X.37 — He is Forcibly Goaded on by the Love of Praise. 60. By these temptations, O Lord, are we daily tried; yea, unceasingly are we tried. Our daily “furnace” is the human tongue. And in this respect also dost Thou command…vatican.va
• Confessions X.38 — Vain-Glory is the Highest Danger. 63. “I am poor and needy,” yet better am I while in secret groanings I displease myself, and seek for Thy mercy, until what is lacking in me be renewed and made complete, even up to…vatican.va
• Confessions X.39 — Of the Vice of Those Who, While Pleasing Themselves, Displease God. 64. Within also, within is another evil, arising out of the same kind of temptation; whereby they become empty who please themselves in themselves,…vatican.va
• Confessions X.40 — The Only Safe Resting-Place for the Soul is to Be Found in God. 65. Where hast Thou not accompanied me, O Truth, teaching me both what to avoid and what to desire, when I submitted to Thee what I could perceive of…vatican.va
• Confessions X.41 — Having Conquered His Triple Desire, He Arrives at Salvation. 66. And thus have I reflected upon the wearinesses of my sins, in that threefold “lust,” and have invoked Thy right hand to my aid. For with a wounded…vatican.va
• Confessions X.42 — In What Manner Many Sought the Mediator. 67. Whom could I find to reconcile me to Thee? Was I to solicit the angels? By what prayer? By what sacraments? Many striving to return unto Thee, and not able of themselves,…vatican.va
• Confessions X.43 — That Jesus Christ, at the Same Time God and Man, is the True and Most Efficacious Mediator. Chapter XLIII.—That Jesus Christ, at the Same Time God and Man, is the True and Most Efficacious Mediator. 68. But the true…vatican.va