confessions and enchiridion [178]
Introduction a l'etude de Saint Augustin, pp. 74- 87. [334] Rom. 1:20. [335] Reading videnti (with De Labriolle) instead of vident (as in Skutella). [336] Ps. 32:9. [337] The notion of the soul's immediate self-knowledge is a basic conception in Augustine's psychology and epistemology; cf. the refutation of skepticism, Si fallor, sum in On Free Will, II, 3:7; see also the City of God, XI, 26. [338] Again, the mind-body dualism typical of the Augustinian tradition. Cf. E. Gilson, The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1940), pp. 173-188; and E. Gilson, The Philosophy of Saint Bonaventure (Sheed & Ward, New York, 1938), ch. XI. [339] Luke 15:8. [340] Cf. Isa. 55:3. [341] Cf. the early dialogue "On the Happy Life" in Vol. I of The Fathers of the Church (New York, 1948). [342] Gal. 5:17. [343] Ps. 42:11. [344] Cf. Enchiridion, VI, 19ff. [345] When he is known at all, God is known as the Self-evident. This is, of course, not a doctrine of innate ideas but rather of the necessity, and reality, of divine illumination as the dynamic source of all our knowledge of divine reality. Cf. Coplestone, op. cit., ch. IV, and Cushman, op. cit. [346] Cf. Wis. 8:21. [347] Cf. Enneads, VI, 9:4. [348] 1 John 2:16. [349] Eph. 3:20. [350] 1 Cor. 15:54. [351] Cf. Matt. 6:34. [352] 1 Cor. 9:27. [353] Cf. Luke 21:34. [354] Cf. Wis. 8:21. [355] Ecclus. 18:30. [356] 1 Cor. 8:8. [357] Phil. 4:11-13. [358] Ps. 103:14. [359] Cf. Gen. 3:19. [360] Luke 15:24. [361] Ecclus. 23:6. [362] Titus 1:15. [363] Rom. 14:20. [364] 1 Tim. 4:4. [365] 1 Cor. 8:8. [366] Cf. Col. 2:16. [367] Rom. 14:3. [368] Luke 5:8. [369] John 16:33. [370] Cf. Ps. 139:16. [371] Cf. the evidence for Augustine's interest and proficiency in music in his essay De musica, written a decade earlier. [372] Cf. 2 Cor. 5:2. [373] Cf. Tobit, chs. 2 to 4. [374] Gen. 27:1; cf. Augustine's Sermon IV, 20:21f. [375] Cf. Gen., ch. 48. [376] Again, Ambrose, Deus, creator omnium, an obvious favorite of Augustine's. See above, Bk. IX, Ch. XII, 32. [377] Ps. 25:15. [378] Ps. 121:4. [379] Ps. 26:3. [380] 1 John 2:16. [381] Cf. Ps. 103:3-5. [382] Cf. Matt. 11:30. [383] 1 Peter 5:5. [384] Cf. Ps. 18:7, 13. [385] Cf. Isa. 14:12-14. [386] Cf. Prov. 27:21. [387] Cf. Ps. 19:12. [388] Cf. Ps. 141:5. [389] Ps. 109:22. [390] Ps. 31:22. [391] Cf. the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, Luke 18:9- 14. [392] Cf. Eph. 2:2. [393] 2 Cor. 11:14. [394] Rom. 6:23. [395] 1 Tim. 2:5. [396] Cf. Rom. 8:32. [397] Phil. 2:6-8. [398] Cf. Ps. 88:5; see Ps. 87:6 (Vulgate). [399] Ps. 103:3. [400] Cf. Rom. 8:34. [401] John 1:14. [402] 2 Cor. 5:15. [403] Ps. 119:18. [404] Col. 2:3. [405] Cf. Ps. 21:27 (Vulgate). [406] In the very first sentence of Confessions, Bk. I, Ch. I. Here we have a basic and recurrent motif of the Confessions from beginning to end: the celebration and praise of the greatness and goodness of God -- Creator and Redeemer. The repetition of it here connects this concluding section of the Confessions, Bks. XI- XIII, with the preceding part. [407] Matt. 6:8. [408] The "virtues" of the Beatitudes, the reward for which is blessedness; cf. Matt. 5:1-11. [409] Ps. 118:1; cf. Ps. 136. [410] An interesting symbol of time's ceaseless passage; the reference is to a water clock (clepsydra). [411] Cf. Ps. 130:1, De profundis. [412] Ps. 74:16. [413] This metaphor is probably from Ps. 29:9. [414] A repetition of the metaphor above, Bk. IX, Ch. VII, 16. [415] Ps. 26:7. [416] Ps. 119:18. [417] Cf. Matt. 6:33. [418] Col. 2:3. [419] Augustine was profoundly stirred, in mind and heart, by the great mystery of creation and the Scriptural testimony about it. In addition to this long and involved analysis of time and creation which follows here, he returned to the story in Genesis repeatedly: e.g., De Genesi contra Manicheos; De Genesi ad litteram, liber imperfectus (both written _before_ the Confessions ); De Genesi ad litteram, libri XII and De civitate Dei, XI-XII (both written _after_ the Confessions ). [420] The final test of truth, for Augustine, is self-evidence