confessions and enchiridion [182]
of sacramenta in the Old Testament in the Exposition of the Psalms, LXXIV, 2: "The sacraments of the Old Testament promised a Saviour; the sacraments of the New Testament give salvation." [594] Cf. 1 Cor. 3:1; 2:6. [595] Isa. 1:16. [596] Isa. 1:17. [597] Isa. 1:18. [598] Cf. for this syntaxis, Matt. 19:16-22 and Ex. 20:13-16. [599] Cf. Matt. 6:21. [600] I.e., the rich young ruler. [601] Cf. Matt. 13:7. [602] Cf. Matt. 97 Reading here, with Knoll and the Sessorianus, in firmamento mundi. [603] Cf. Isa. 52:7. [604] Perfectorum. Is this a conscious use, in a Christian context, of the distinction he had known so well among the Manicheans -- between the perfecti and the auditores? [605] Ps. 19:2. [606] Cf. Acts 2:2, 3. [607] Cf. Matt. 5:14, 15. [608] Cf. Gen. 1:20. [609] Cf. Jer. 15:19. [610] Ps. 19:4. [611] That is, the Church. [612] An allegorical ideal type of the perfecti in the Church. [613] 1 Cor. 14:22. [614] The fish was an early Christian rebus for "Jesus Christ." The Greek word for fish, was arranged acrostically to make the phrase Jesus Christ, God?s Son, Saviour; cf. Smith and Cheetham, Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, pp. 673f.; see also Cabrol, Dictionnaire d'archeologie chretienne, Vol. 14, cols. 1246-1252, for a full account of the symbolism and pictures of early examples. [615] Cf. Ps. 69:32. [616] Cf. Rom. 12:2. [617] Cf. 1 Tim. 6:20. [618] Gal. 4:12. [619] Cf. Ecclus. 3:19. [620] Rom. 1:20. [621] Rom. 12:2. [622] Gen. 1:26. [623] Rom. 12:2 (mixed text). [624] Cf. 1 Cor. 2:15. [625] 1 Cor. 2:14. [626] Cf. Ps. 49:20. [627] Cf. James 4:11. [628] See above, Ch. XXI, 30. [629] I.e., the Church. [630] Cf. 1 Cor. 14:16. [631] Another reminder that, ideally, knowledge is immediate and direct. [632] Here, again, as in a coda, Augustine restates his central theme and motif in the whole of his "confessions": the primacy of God, His constant creativity, his mysterious, unwearied, unfrustrated redemptive love. All are summed up in this mystery of creation in which the purposes of God are announced and from which all Christian hope takes its premise. [633] That is, from basic and essentially simple ideas, they proliferate multiple -- and valid -- implications and corollaries. [634] Cf. Rom. 3:4. [635] Cf. Gen. 1:29, 30. [636] Cf. 2 Tim. 1:16. [637] 2 Tim. 4:16. [638] Cf. Ps. 19:4. [639] Phil. 4:10 (mixed text). [640] Phil. 4:11-13. [641] Phil. 4:14. [642] Phil. 4:15-17. [643] Phil. 4:17., [644] Cf. Matt. 10:41, 42. [645] Idiotae: there is some evidence that this term was used to designate pagans who had a nominal connection with the Christian community but had not formally enrolled as catechumens. See Th. Zahn in Neue kirkliche Zeitschrift (1899), pp. 42-43. [646] Gen. 1:31. [647] A reference to the Manichean cosmogony and similar dualistic doctrines of "creation." [648] 1 Cor. 2:11, 12. [649] Rom. 5:5. [650] Sed quod est, est. Note the variant text in Skutella, op. cit.: sed est, est. This is obviously an echo of the Vulgate Ex. 3:14: ego sum qui sum. [651] Augustine himself had misgivings about this passage. In the Retractations, he says that this statement was made "without due consideration." But he then adds, with great justice: "However, the point in question is very obscure" (res autem in abdito est valde); cf. Retract., 2:6. [652] See above, amaricantes, Ch. XVII, 20. [653] Cf. this requiescamus in te with the requiescat in te in Bk. I, Ch. I. [654] Cf. The City of God, XI, 10, on Augustine's notion that the world exists as a thought in the mind of God. [655] Another conscious connection between Bk. XIII and Bks. I-X. [656] This final ending is an antiphon to Bk. XII, Ch. I, 1 above.
Enchiridion On Faith, Hope, and Love
by
Saint Augustine
CHAPTER I The Occasion and Purpose of this "Manual" 1. I cannot say, my dearest son Laurence, how much your learning pleases me, and
Enchiridion On Faith, Hope, and Love
by
Saint Augustine
CHAPTER I The Occasion and Purpose of this "Manual" 1. I cannot say, my dearest son Laurence, how much your learning pleases me, and