confessions and enchiridion [172]
with an everlasting duration. After all thy works of creation, which were very good, thou didst rest on the seventh day, although thou hadst created them all in unbroken rest -- and this so that the voice of thy Book might speak to us with the prior assurance that after our works -- and they also are very good because thou hast given them to us -- we may find our rest in thee in the Sabbath of life eternal.[653]
CHAPTER XXXVII
52. For then also thou shalt so rest in us as now thou workest in us; and, thus, that will be thy rest through us, as these are thy works through us. But thou, O Lord, workest evermore and art always at rest. Thou seest not in time, thou movest not in time, thou restest not in time. And yet thou makest all those things which are seen in time -- indeed, the very times themselves -- and everything that proceeds in and from time.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
53. We can see all those things which thou hast made because they are -- but they are because thou seest them.[654] And we see with our eyes that they are, and we see with our minds that they are good. But thou sawest them as made when thou sawest that they would be made. And now, in this present time, we have been moved to do well, now that our heart has been quickened by thy Spirit; but in the former time, having forsaken thee, we were moved to do evil.[655] But thou, O the one good God, hast never ceased to do good! And we have accomplished certain good works by thy good gifts, and even though they are not eternal, still we hope, after these things here, to find our rest in thy great sanctification. But thou art the Good, and needest no rest, and art always at rest, because thou thyself art thy own rest. What man will teach men to understand this? And what angel will teach the angels? Or what angels will teach men? We must ask it of thee; we must seek it in thee; we must knock for it at thy door. Only thus shall we receive; only thus shall we find; only thus shall thy door be opened.[656]
NOTES
[1] He had no models before him, for such earlier writings as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and the autobiographical sections in Hilary of Poitiers and Cyprian of Carthage have only to be compared with the Confessions to see how different they are. [2] Gen. 1:1. [3] Gen. 2:2. [4] Notice the echo here of Acts 9:1. [5] Ps. 100:3. [6] Cf. Ps. 145:3 and Ps. 147:5. [7] Rom. 10:14. [8] Ps. 22:26. [9] Matt. 7:7. [10] A reference to Bishop Ambrose of Milan; see Bk. V, Ch. XIII; Bk. VIII, Ch. 11, 3. [11] Ps. 139:8. [12] Jer. 23:24. [13] Cf. Ps. 18:31. [14] Ps. 35:3. [15] Cf. Ps. 19:12, 13. [16] Ps. 116:10. [17] Cf. Ps. 32:5. [18] Cf. Job 9:2. [19] Ps. 130:3. [20] Ps. 102:27. [21] Ps. 102:27. [22] Cf. Ps. 92:1. [23] Cf. Ps. 51:5. [24] In baptism which, Augustine believed, established the effigiem Christi in the human soul. [25] Cf. Ps. 78:39. [26] Cf. Ps. 72:27. [27] Aeneid, VI, 457 [28] Cf. Aeneid, II. [29] Lignum is a common metaphor for the cross; and it was often joined to the figure of Noah's ark, as the means of safe transport from earth to heaven. [30] This apostrophe to "the torrent of human custom" now switches its focus to the poets who celebrated the philanderings of the gods; see De civ. Dei, II, vii-xi; IV, xxvi-xxviii. [31] Probably a contemporary disciple of Cicero (or the Academics) whom Augustine had heard levy a rather common philosopher's complaint against Olympian religion and the poetic myths about it. Cf. De Labriolle, I, 21 (see Bibl.). [32] Terence, Eunuch., 584-591; quoted again in De civ. Dei, II, vii. [33] Aeneid, I, 38. [34] Cf. Ps. 103:8 and Ps. 86:15. [35] Ps. 27:8. [36] An interesting mixed reminiscence of Enneads, I, 5:8 and Luke 15:13-24. [37] Ps. 123:1. [38] Matt. 19:14. [39] Another Plotinian echo; cf. Enneads, III, 8:10. [40] Yet another Plotinian phrase; cf. Enneads, I, 6, 9:1-2. [41] Cf. Gen. 3:18 and De bono conjugali, 8-9, 39-35 (N-PNF, III, 396-413). [42]
CHAPTER XXXVII
52. For then also thou shalt so rest in us as now thou workest in us; and, thus, that will be thy rest through us, as these are thy works through us. But thou, O Lord, workest evermore and art always at rest. Thou seest not in time, thou movest not in time, thou restest not in time. And yet thou makest all those things which are seen in time -- indeed, the very times themselves -- and everything that proceeds in and from time.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
53. We can see all those things which thou hast made because they are -- but they are because thou seest them.[654] And we see with our eyes that they are, and we see with our minds that they are good. But thou sawest them as made when thou sawest that they would be made. And now, in this present time, we have been moved to do well, now that our heart has been quickened by thy Spirit; but in the former time, having forsaken thee, we were moved to do evil.[655] But thou, O the one good God, hast never ceased to do good! And we have accomplished certain good works by thy good gifts, and even though they are not eternal, still we hope, after these things here, to find our rest in thy great sanctification. But thou art the Good, and needest no rest, and art always at rest, because thou thyself art thy own rest. What man will teach men to understand this? And what angel will teach the angels? Or what angels will teach men? We must ask it of thee; we must seek it in thee; we must knock for it at thy door. Only thus shall we receive; only thus shall we find; only thus shall thy door be opened.[656]
NOTES
[1] He had no models before him, for such earlier writings as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and the autobiographical sections in Hilary of Poitiers and Cyprian of Carthage have only to be compared with the Confessions to see how different they are. [2] Gen. 1:1. [3] Gen. 2:2. [4] Notice the echo here of Acts 9:1. [5] Ps. 100:3. [6] Cf. Ps. 145:3 and Ps. 147:5. [7] Rom. 10:14. [8] Ps. 22:26. [9] Matt. 7:7. [10] A reference to Bishop Ambrose of Milan; see Bk. V, Ch. XIII; Bk. VIII, Ch. 11, 3. [11] Ps. 139:8. [12] Jer. 23:24. [13] Cf. Ps. 18:31. [14] Ps. 35:3. [15] Cf. Ps. 19:12, 13. [16] Ps. 116:10. [17] Cf. Ps. 32:5. [18] Cf. Job 9:2. [19] Ps. 130:3. [20] Ps. 102:27. [21] Ps. 102:27. [22] Cf. Ps. 92:1. [23] Cf. Ps. 51:5. [24] In baptism which, Augustine believed, established the effigiem Christi in the human soul. [25] Cf. Ps. 78:39. [26] Cf. Ps. 72:27. [27] Aeneid, VI, 457 [28] Cf. Aeneid, II. [29] Lignum is a common metaphor for the cross; and it was often joined to the figure of Noah's ark, as the means of safe transport from earth to heaven. [30] This apostrophe to "the torrent of human custom" now switches its focus to the poets who celebrated the philanderings of the gods; see De civ. Dei, II, vii-xi; IV, xxvi-xxviii. [31] Probably a contemporary disciple of Cicero (or the Academics) whom Augustine had heard levy a rather common philosopher's complaint against Olympian religion and the poetic myths about it. Cf. De Labriolle, I, 21 (see Bibl.). [32] Terence, Eunuch., 584-591; quoted again in De civ. Dei, II, vii. [33] Aeneid, I, 38. [34] Cf. Ps. 103:8 and Ps. 86:15. [35] Ps. 27:8. [36] An interesting mixed reminiscence of Enneads, I, 5:8 and Luke 15:13-24. [37] Ps. 123:1. [38] Matt. 19:14. [39] Another Plotinian echo; cf. Enneads, III, 8:10. [40] Yet another Plotinian phrase; cf. Enneads, I, 6, 9:1-2. [41] Cf. Gen. 3:18 and De bono conjugali, 8-9, 39-35 (N-PNF, III, 396-413). [42]