Traduction
Masquer
The Confessions of St. Augustin In Thirteen Books
Chapter XXXI.--How the Knowledge of God Differs from that of Man.
41. O Lord my God, what is that secret place of Thy mystery, and how far thence have the consequences of my transgressions cast me? Heal my eyes, that I may enjoy Thy light. Surely, if there be a mind, so greatly abounding in knowledge and foreknowledge, to which all things past and future are so known as one psalm is well known to me, that mind is exceedingly wonderful, and very astonishing; because whatever is so past, and whatever is to come of after ages, is no more concealed from Him than was it hidden from me when singing that psalm, what and how much of it had been sung from the beginning, what and how much remained unto the end. But far be it that Thou, the Creator of the universe, the Creator of souls and bodies,--far be it that Thou shouldest know all things future and past. Far, far more wonderfully, and far more mysteriously, Thou knowest them. 1 For it is not as the feelings of one singing known things, or hearing a known song, are--through expectation of future words, and in remembrance of those that are past--varied, and his senses divided, that anything happeneth unto Thee, unchangeably eternal, that is, the truly eternal 2 Creator of minds. As, then, Thou in the Beginning knewest the heaven and the earth without any change of Thy knowledge, so in the Beginning didst Thou make heaven and earth without any distraction of Thy action. 3 Let him who understandeth confess unto Thee; and let him who understandeth not, confess unto Thee. Oh, how exalted art Thou, and yet the humble in heart are Thy dwelling-place; for Thou raisest up those that are bowed down, 4 and they whose exaltation Thou art fall not.
-
Dean Mansel's argument, in his Bampton Lectures, as to our knowledge of the Infinite, is well worthy of consideration. He refers to Augustin's views on the subject of this book in note 13 to his third lecture, and in the text itself says: "The limited character of all existence which can be conceived as having a continuous duration, or as made up of successive moments, is so far manifest that it has been assumed almost as an axiom, by philosophical theologians, that in the existence of God there is no distinction between past, present, and future. In the changes of things,' say Augustin, there is a past and a future; in God there is a present, in which neither past nor future can be.' Eternity,' says Beethius, is the perfect possession of interminable life, and of all that life at once;' and Aquinas, accepting the definition, adds, Eternity has no succession, but exists all together.' But whether this assertion be literally true or not (and this we have no means of ascertaining), it is clear that such a mode of existence is altogether inconceivable by us, and that the words in which it is described represent not thought, but the refusal to think at all." See notes to xiii. 12, below. ↩
-
"With God, indeed, all things are arranged and fixed; and when He seemeth to act upon sudden motive, He doth nothing but what He foreknew that He should do from eternity" (Aug. in Ps. cvi. 35). With this passage may well be compared Dean Mansel's remarks (Bampton Lectures, lect. vi., and notes 23-25) on the doctrine, that the world is but a machine and is not under the continual government and direction of God. See also note 4, on p. 80 and note 2 on p. 136, above. ↩
-
See p. 166, note 2. ↩
-
Ps. cxlvi. 8. ↩
Traduction
Masquer
Les confessions de Saint Augustin
CHAPITRE XXXI. DIEU CONNAÎT AUTREMENT QUE LES HOMMES.
41. O Seigneur, ô mon. Dieu, combien est profond l’abîme de votre secret! Combien les tristes suites de mon iniquité m’en ont jeté loin! Guérissez mes yeux; qu’ils s’ouvrent à ta joie de votre lumière. Certes, s’il était un esprit assez grand, assez étendu en science et en prescience, pour avoir du passé et de l’avenir une connaissance aussi présente que l’est à ma pensée celle de ce cantique, notre admiration pour lui ne tiendrait-elle pas de l’épouvante? Rien, en effet, rien qui lui fût inconnu dans la vicissitude des siècles, passés ou à venir tous seraient sous son regard, comme ce cantique, que je chante, est tout entier devant moi; car je sais ce qu’il s’en est écoulé de versets depuis le commencement, et ce qu’il en reste à courir jusqu’à la fin. Mais loin de moi la pensée d’assimiler une telle connaissance à la vôtre, ô Créateur du monde, Créateur des âmes et des corps ! Loin de moi cette pensée! Votre science du passé et de l’avenir est bien autrement admirable et cachée. Le cantique que je chante ou, que j’entends chanter m’affecte de sentiments divers; ma pensée se partage en attente des paroles futures, en souvenir des paroles expirées; mais rien de tel ne survient dans votre immuable éternité; c’est que vous êtes vraiment éternel, ô Créateur des esprits!
Vous avez connu dès le principe le ciel et la terre, sans succession de connaissance, et vous avez créé dès le principe le ciel et la terre sans division d’action. Que l’esprit ouvert, que l’esprit fermé à l’intelligence de ces pensées confessent votre nom! Oh! que vous êtes grand! et. les humbles sont votre famille. Vous les relevez de la poussière (Ps. CXLV, 8); et ils n’ont plus de chute à craindre, car vous êtes leur élévation. (486)