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Confessiones (PL)

CAPUT XI. Quid a Deo didicerit.

11. Jam dixisti mihi, Domine, voce forti in aurem interiorem, quia tu aeternus es, solus habens immortalitatem ¹; quoniam ex nulla specie motuve mutaris, nec temporibus variatur voluntas tua; quia non est immortalis voluntas, quae alia et alia est. Hoc in conspectu tuo claret mihi, et magis magisque clarescat, oro te, atque in ea manifestatione persistam sobrius sub alis tuis. Item dixisti mihi, Domine, voce forti in aurem interiorem, quod omnes naturas atque substantias quae non sunt quod tu es, et tamen sunt, tu fecisti: et hoc solum a te non est quod non est, motusque voluntatis a te, qui es, ad id quod minus est; quia talis motus delictum atque peccatum est: et quod nullius peccatum aut tibi nocet, aut perturbat ordinem imperii tui vel in primo vel in imo. Hoc in conspectu tuo claret mihi, et magis magisque clarescat, oro te, atque in ea manifestatione persistam sobrius sub alis tuis.

12. Item dixisti mihi voce forti in aurem interiorem, quod nec illa creatura tibi coaeterna est, cujus voluntas tu solus es, teque perseverantissima castitate hauriens mutabilitatem suam nunquam et nusquam exserit, et te sibi semper praesente ad quem toto affectu se tenet, non habens quod exspectet futurum, nec in praeteritum trajiciens quod meminerit, nulla vice variatur, nec in tempora ulla distenditur. O beata, si qua ista est, inhaerendo beatitudini tuae; beata sempiterno inhabitatore te, atque illustratore suo! Nec invenio quid libentius appellandum existimem Coelum coeli Domino, quam domum tuam, contemplantem delectationem tuam sine ullo defectu egrediendi in aliud; mentem puram, concordissime unam stabilimento pacis sanctorum spirituum, civium civitatis tuae in coelestibus super ista coelestia.

13. Unde intelligat anima cujus peregrinatio [Col. 0831] longinqua facta est, si jam sitit tibi; si jam factae sunt ei lacrymae suae panis, dum dicitur ei per singulos dies, Ubi est Deus tuus ²? si jam petit a te unam et hanc requirit, ut inhabitet in domo tua per omnes dies vitae suae

14. Ecce nescio quid informe in istis mutationibus rerum extremarum atque infirmarum. Et quis dicet mihi, nisi quisquis per inania cordis sui cum suis phantasmatibus vagatur et volvitur; quis nisi talis dicet mihi, quod diminuta atque consumpta omni specie, si sola remaneat informitas, per quam de specie in speciem res mutabatur et vertebatur, possit exhibere vices temporum? Omnino enim non potest, quia sine varietate motionum non sunt tempora: et nulla varietas, ubi nulla species.

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The Confessions of St. Augustin In Thirteen Books

Chapter XI.--What May Be Discovered to Him by God.

11. Already hast Thou told me, O Lord, with a strong voice, in my inner ear, that Thou art eternal, having alone immortality. ¹ Since Thou art not changed by any shape or motion, nor is Thy will altered by times, because no will which changes is immortal. This in Thy sight is clear to me, and let it become more and more clear, I beseech Thee; and in that manifestation let me abide more soberly under Thy wings. Likewise hast Thou said to me, O Lord, with a strong voice, in my inner ear, that Thou hast made all natures and substances, which are not what Thou Thyself art, and yet they are; and that only is not from Thee which is not, and the motion of the will from Thee who art, to that which in a less degree is, because such motion is guilt and sin; ² and that no one's sin doth either hurt Thee, or disturb the order of Thy rule, ³ either first or last. This, in Thy sight, is clear to me and let it become more and more clear, I beseech Thee; and in that manifestation let me abide more soberly under Thy wings.

12. Likewise hast Thou said to me, with a strong voice, in my inner ear, that that creature, whose will Thou alone art, is not co-eternal unto Thee, and which, with a most persevering purity ⁴ drawing its support from Thee, doth, in place and at no time, put forth its own mutability; ⁵ and Thyself being ever present with it, unto whom with its entire affection it holds itself, having no future to expect nor conveying into the past what it remembereth, is varied by no change, nor extended into any times. ⁶ O blessed one,--if any such there be,--in clinging unto Thy Blessedness; blest in Thee, its everlasting Inhabitant and its Enlightener! Nor do I find what the heaven of heavens, which is the Lord's, can be better called than Thine house, which contemplateth Thy delight without any defection of going forth to another; a pure mind, most peacefully one, by that stability of peace of holy spirits, ⁷ the citizens of Thy city "in the heavenly places," above these heavenly places which are seen. ⁸

13. Whence the soul, whose wandering has been made far away, may understand, if now she thirsts for Thee, if now her tears have become bread to her, while it is daily said unto her "Where is thy God?" ⁹ if she now seeketh of Thee one thing, and desireth that she may dwell in Thy house all the days of her life. ¹⁰ And what is her life but Thee? And what are Thy days but Thy eternity, as Thy years which fail not, because Thou art the same? Hence, therefore, can the soul, which is able, understand how far beyond all times Thou art eternal; when Thy house, which has not wandered from Thee, although it be not co-eternal with Thee, yet by continually and unfailingly clinging unto Thee, suffers no vicissitude of times. This in Thy sight is clear unto me, and may it become more and more clear unto me, I beseech Thee; and in this manifestation may I abide more soberly under Thy wings.

14. Behold, I know not what shapelessness there is in those changes of these last and lowest creatures. And who shall tell me, unless it be some one who, through the emptiness of his own heart, wanders and is staggered by his own fancies? Who, unless such a one, would tell me that (all figure being diminished and consumed), if the formlessness only remain, through which the thing was changed and was turned from one figure into another, that that can exhibit the changes of times? For surely it could not be, because without the change of motions times are not, and there is no change where there is no figure.