THE DESIGN OF HIS CONFESSIONS BEING DECLARED, HE SEEKS FROM GOD THE
KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, AND BEGINS TO EXPOUND THE WORDS OF GENESIS
I. I, CONCERNING THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. THE QUESTIONS OF RASH DISPUTERS
BEING REFUTED, "WHAT DID GOD BEFORE HE CREATED THE WORLD ?" THAT HE MIGHT
THE BETTER OVERCOME HIS OPPONENTS, HE ADDS A COPIOUS DISQUISITION CONCERNING
TIME.
CHAP. I. THE REASON FOR WRITING THIS BOOK
1. Eternity is Thine, art Thou ignorant of the things which I say unto
Thee ? Or seest Thou at the time that which cometh to pass in time? Why,
therefore, do I place before Thee so many relations of things ? Not surely
that Thou mightest know them through me, but that I may awaken my own
love and that of my readers towards Thee, that we may all say, "Great
is the Lord, and greatly to be praised." t I have already said, and shall
say, for the love of Thy love do I this. For we also pray, and yet Truth
says, "Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask Him."(2)
Therefore do we make known unto Thee our love, in confessing unto Thee
our own miseries and Thy mercies upon us, that Thou mayest free us altogether,
since Thou hast begun, that we may cease to be wretched in ourselves,
and that we may be blessed in Thee; since Thou hast called us, that we
may be poor in spirit, and meek, and mourners, and hungering and athirst
after righteousness, and merciful, and pure in heart, and peacemakers?
Behold, I have told unto Thee many things, which I could and which I would,
for Thou first wouldest that I should confess unto Thee, the Lord my God,
for Thou art good, since Thy "mercy endureth for ever." *
CHAP. II. HE BEGS OF GOD THAT THROUGH THE HOLY SCRIPTURES HE MAY BE
LED TO TRUTH.
2. But when shall I suffice with the tongue of my pen to express all
Thy exhortations, and all Thy terrors, and comforts, and guidances, whereby
Thou hast led me to preach Thy Word and to dispense Thy Sacrament (5)
unto Thy people ? And if I suffice to utter these things in order, the
drops (6) of time are dear to me. Long time have I burned to meditate
in Thy law, and in it to confess to Thee my knowledge and ignorance, the
beginning of Thine enlightening, and the remains of thy darkness, until
infirmity be swallowed up by strength. And I would not that to aught else
those hours should flow away, which I find free from the necessities of
refreshing my body, and the care of my mind, and of the service which
we owe to men, and which, though we owe not, even yet we pay.'
3. O Lord my God, hear my prayer, and let Thy mercy regard my longing,
since it bums not for myself alone, but because it desires to benefit
brotherly charity; and Thou seest into my heart, that so it is. I would
sacrifice to Thee the service of my thought and tongue; and do Thou give
what I may offer unto Thee. For "I am poor and needy," Thou rich unto
all that call upon Thee? who free from care carest for us. Circumcise
from all rashness and from all lying my inward and outward lips. (1) Let
Thy Scriptures be my chaste delights. Neither let me be deceived in them,
nor deceive out of them. (2) Lord, hear and pity, O Lord my God, light
of the blind, and strength of the weak; even also light of those that
see, and strength of the strong, hearken unto my soul, and hear it crying
"out of the depths." a For unless Thine ears be present in the depths
also, whither shall we go ? whither shall we cry ? "The day is Thine,
and the night also is Thine."(4) At Thy nod the moments flee by. Grant
thereof space for our meditations amongst the hidden things of Thy law,
nor close it against us who knock. For not in vain hast Thou willed that
the obscure secret of so many pages should be written. Nor is it that
those forests have not their harts, (5) betaking themselves therein, and
ranging, and walking, and feeding, lying down, and ruminating. Perfect
me, O Lord, and reveal them unto me. Behold, Thy voice is my joy, Thy
voice surpasseth the abundance of pleasures. Give that which I love, for
I do love; and this hast Thou given. Abandon not Thine own gifts, nor
despise Thy grass that thirsteth. Let me confess unto Thee whatsoever
I shall have found in Thy books, and let me hear the voice of praise,
and let me imbibe Thee, and reflect on the wonderful things of Thy law;
(6) even from the beginning, wherein Thou madest the heaven and the earth,
unto the everlasting kingdom of Thy holy city that is with Thee.
4. Lord, have mercy on me and hear my desire. For I think that it is
not of the earth, nor of gold and silver, and precious stones, nor gorgeous
apparel, nor honours and powers, nor the pleasures of the flesh, nor necessaries
for the body, and this life of our pilgrimage i all which are added to
those that seek Thy kingdom and Thy righteousness.(7) Behold, O Lord my
God, whence is my desire. The unrighteous have told me of delights, but
not such as Thy law, O Lord. Behold whence is my desire. Behold, Father,
look and see, and approve; and let it be pleasing in the sight of Thy
mercy, that I may find grace before Thee, that the secret things of Thy
Word may be opened unto me when I knock? I beseech, by our Lord Jesus
Christ, Thy Son, "the Man of Thy right hand, the Son of man, whom Thou
madest strong for Thyself,"(10) as Thy Mediator and ours, through whom
Thou hast sought us, although not seeking Thee, but didst seek us that
we might seek Thee,n Thy Word through whom Thou hast made all things,(12)
and amongst them me also,Thy Only-begotten, through whom Thou hast called
to adoption the believing people, and therein me also. I beseech Thee
through Him, who sitteth at Thy right hand, and "maketh intercession for
us,"(13) "in whom are hid all treasures of wisdom and knowledge."(14)
Him (15) do I seek in Thy books. Of Him did Moses write;(16) this saith
Himself; this saith the Truth.
CHAP. III. HE BEGINS FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD NOT UNDERSTANDING
THE HEBREW TEXT.
5. Let me hear and understand how in the beginning Thou didst make the
heaven and the earth.(17)Moses wrote this; he wrote and departed,
passed hence from Thee to Thee. Nor now is he before me; for if he were
I would hold him, and ask him, and would adjure him by Thee that he would
open unto me these things, and I would lend the ears of my body to the
sounds bursting forth from his mouth. And should he speak in the Hebrew
tongue, in vain would it beat on my senses, nor would aught touch my mind;
but if in Latin, I should know what he said. But whence should I know
whether he said what was true ? But if I knew this even, should I know
it from him ? Verily within me, within in the chamber of my thought, Truth,
neither Hebrew, nor Greek, nor Latin, nor barbarian, without the organs
of voice and tongue, without the sound of syllables, would say, "He speaks
the truth," and I, forthwith assured of it, confidently would say unto
that man of Thine, "Thou speakest the truth." As, then, I cannot inquire
of him, I beseech Thee, Thee, O Truth, full of whom he spake truth,
Thee, my God, I beseech, forgive my sins; and do Thou, who didst
give to that Thy servant to speak these things, grant to me also to understand
them.
CHAP. IV. HEAVEN AND EARTH CRY OUT THAT THEY HAVE BEEN CREATED BY GOD.
6. Behold, the heaven and earth are; they proclaim that they were made,
for they are changed and varied. Whereas whatsoever hath not been made,
and yet hath being, hath nothing in it which there was not before; this
is what it is to be changed and varied. They also proclaim that they made
not themselves; "therefore we are, because we have been made; we were
not therefore before we were, so that we could have made ourselves." And
the voice of those that speak is in itself an evidence. Thou, therefore,
Lord, didst make these things; Thou who art beautiful, for they are beautiful;
Thou who art good, for they are good; Thou who art, for they are. Nor
even so are they beautiful, nor good, nor are they, as Thou their Creator
art; compared with whom they are neither beautiful, nor good, nor are
at all. These things we know, thanks be to Thee. And our knowledge, compared
with Thy knowledge, is ignorance.
CHAP. V. GOD CREATED THE WORLD NOT FROM ANY CERTAIN MATTER, BUT IN HIS
OWN WORD.
7. But how didst Thou make the heaven and the earth, and what was the
instrument of Thy so mighty work? For it was not as a human worker fashioning
body from body, according to the fancy of his mind, in somewise able to
assign a form which it perceives in itself by its inner eye. And whence
should he be able to do this, hadst not Thou made that mind? And he assigns
to it already existing, and as it were having a being, a form, as clay,
or stone, or wood, or gold, or such like. And whence should these things
be, hadst not Thou appointed them? Thou didst make for the workman his
body, Thou the mind commanding the limbs, Thou the matter
whereof he makes anything, Thou the capacity whereby he may apprehend
his art, and see within what he may do without, Thou the sense
of his body, by which, as by an interpreter, he may from mind unto matter
convey that which he doeth, and report to his mind what may have been
done, that it within may consult the truth, presiding over itself, whether
it be well done. All these things praise Thee, the Creator of all. But
how dost Thou make them? How, O God, didst Thou make heaven and earth?
Truly, neither in the heaven nor in the earth didst Thou make heaven and
earth; nor in the air, nor in the waters, since these also belong to the
heaven and the earth; nor in the whole world didst Thou make the whole
world; because there was no place wherein it could be made before it was
made, that it might be; nor didst Thou hold anything in Thy hand wherewith
to make heaven and earth. For whence couldest Thou have what Thou hadst
not made, whereof to make anything? For what is, save because Thou art?
Therefore Thou didst speak and they were made, and in Thy Word Thou madest
these things.
CHAP. VI. HE DID NOT, HOWEVER, CREATE IT BY A SOUNDING AND PASSING WORD.
8. But how didst Thou speak? Was it in that manner in which the voice
came from the cloud, saying, "This is my beloved Son"? For that voice
was uttered and passed away, began and ended. The syllables sounded and
passed by, the second after the first, the third after the second, and
thence in order, until the last after the rest, and silence after the
last. Hence it is clear and plain that the motion of a creature expressed
it, itself temporal, obeying Thy Eternal will. And these thy words formed
at the time, the outer ear conveyed to the intelligent mind, whose inner
ear lay attentive to Thy eternal word. But it compared these words sounding
in time with Thy eternal word in silence, and said, "It is different,
very different. These words are far beneath me, nor are they, since they
flee and pass away; but the Word of my Lord remaineth above me for ever."
If, then, in sounding and fleeting words Thou didst say that heaven and
earth should be made, and didst thus make heaven and earth, there was
already a corporeal creature before heaven and earth by whose temporal
motions that voice might take its course in time. But there was nothing
corporeal before heaven and earth; or if there were, certainly Thou without
a transitory voice hadst created that whence Thou wouldest make the passing
voice, by which to say that the heaven and the earth should be made. For
whatsoever that were of which such a voice was made, unless it were made
by Thee, it could not be at all. By what word of Thine was it decreed
that a body might be made, whereby these words might be made?
CHAP. VII. BY HIS CO- ETERNAL WORD HE SPEAKS, AND ALL THINGS ARE DONE.
9. Thou callest us, therefore, to understand the Word, God with Thee,
God, which is spoken eternally, and by it are all things spoken eternally.
For what was spoken was not finished, and another spoken until all were
spoken; but all things at once and for ever. For otherwise have we time
and change, and not a true eternity, nor a true immortality. This I know,
O my God, and give thanks. I know, I confess to Thee, O Lord, and whosoever
is not unthankful to certain truth, knows and blesses Thee with me. We
know, O Lord, we know; since in proportion as anything is not what it
was, and is what it was not, in that proportion does it die and arise.
Not anything, therefore, of Thy Word giveth place and cometh into place
again, because it is truly immortal and eternal. And, therefore, unto
the Word co- eternal with Thee, Thou dost at once and for ever say all
that Thou dost say; and whatever Thou sayest shall be made, is made; nor
dost Thou make otherwise than by speaking; yet all things are not made
both together and everlasting which Thou makest by speaking
CHAP. VIII. THAT WORD ITSELF IS THE BEGINNING OF ALL THINGS, IN THE
WHICH WE ARE INSTRUCTED AS TO EVANGELICAL TRUTH.
10. Why is this, I beseech Thee, O Lord my God? I see it, however; but
how I shall express it, I know not, unless that everything which begins
to be and ceases to be, then begins and ceases when in Thy eternal Reason
it is known that it ought to begin or cease where nothing beginneth or
ceaseth. The same is Thy Word, which is also "the Beginning," because
also It speaketh unto us. Thus, in the gospel He speaketh through the
flesh; and this sounded outwardly in the ears of men, that it might be
believed and sought inwardly, and that it might be found in the eternal
Truth, where the good and only Master teacheth all His disciples. There,
O Lord, I hear Thy voice, the voice of one speaking unto me, since He
speaketh unto us who teacheth us. But He that teachth us not, although
He speaketh, speaketh not to us. Moreover, who teacheth us, unless it
be the immutable Truth? For even when we are admonished through a changeable
creature, we are led to the Truth immutable. There we learn truly while
we stand and hear Him, and rejoice greatly "because of the Bridegroom's
voice," restoring us to that whence we are. And, therefore, the Beginning,
because unless It remained, there would not, where we strayed, be whither
to return. But when we return from error, it is by knowing that we return.
But that we may know, He teacheth us, because He is the Beginning and
speaketh unto us.
CHAP. IX. WISDOM AND THE BEGINNING.
11. In this Beginning, O God, hast Thou made heaven and earth,
in Thy Word, in Thy Son, in Thy Power, in Thy Wisdom, in Thy Truth, wondrously
speaking and wondrously making. Who shall comprehend? who shall relate
it? What is that which shines through me, and strikes my heart without
injury, and I both shudder and burn? I shudder inasmuch as I am unlike
it; and I burn inasmuch as I am like it. It is Wisdom itself that shines
through me, clearing my cloudiness, which again overwhelms me, fainting
from it, in the darkness and amount of my punishment. For my strength
is brought down in need, so that I cannot endure my blessings, until Thou,
O Lord, who hast been gracious to all mine iniquities, heal also all mine
infirmities; because Thou shalt also redeem my life from corruption, and
crown me with Thy loving-kindness and mercy, and shalt satisfy my desire
with good things, because my youth shall be renewed like the eagle's.
For by hope we are saved; and through patience we await Thy promises.
Let him that is able hear Thee discoursing within. I will with confidence
cry out from Thy oracle, How wonderful are Thy works, O Lord, in Wisdom
hast Thou made them all. And this Wisdom is the Beginning, and in that
Beginning hast Thou made heaven and earth.
CHAP. X. THE RASHNESS OF THOSE WHO INQUIRE WHAT GOD DID BEFORE HE CREATED
HEAVEN AND EARTH.
12. Lo, are they not full of their ancient way, who say to us, "What
was God doing before He made heaven and earth? For if," say they, "He
were unoccupied, and did nothing, why does He not for ever also, and from
henceforth, cease from working, as in times past He did? For if any new
motion has arisen in God, and a new will, to form a creature which He
had never before formed, however can that be a true eternity where there
ariseth a will which was not before? For the will of God is not a creature,
but before the creature; because nothing could be created unless the will
of the Creator were before it. The will of God, therefore, pertaineth
to His very Substance. But if anything hath arisen in the Substance of
God which was not before, that Substance is not truly called eternal.
But if it was the eternal will of God that the creature should be, why
was not the creature also from eternity?"
CHAP. XI. THEY WHO ASK THIS HAVE NOT AS YET KNOWN THE ETERNITY OF GOD,
WHICH IS EXEMPT FROM THE RELATION OF TIME.
13. Those who say these things do not as yet understand Thee, O Thou
Wisdom of God, Thou light of souls; not as yet do they understand how
these things be made which are made by and in Thee. They even endeavour
to comprehend things eternal; but as yet their heart flieth about in the
past and future motions of things, and is still wavering. Who shall hold
it and fix it, that it may rest a little, and by degrees catch the glory
of that everstanding eternity, and compare it with the times which never
stand, and see that it is incomparable; and that a long time cannot become
long, save from the many motions that pass by, which cannot at the same
instant be prolonged; but that in the Eternal nothing passeth away, but
that the whole is present; but no time is wholly present; and let him
see that all time past is forced on by the future, and that all the future
followeth from the past, and that all, both past and future, is created
and issues from that which is always present? Who will hold the heart
of man, that it may stand still, and see how the still- standing eternity,
itself neither future nor past, uttereth the times future and past? Can
my hand accomplish this, or the hand of my mouth by persuasion bring about
a thing so great?(4)
CHAP. XII. WHAT GOD DID BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
14. Behold, I answer to him who asks, "What was God doing before He
made heaven and earth?" I answer not, as a certain person is reported
to have done facetiously (avoiding the pressure of the question), "He
was preparing hell," saith he, "for those who pry into mysteries." It
is one thing to perceive, another to laugh, these things I answer
not. For more willingly would I have answered, "I know not what I know
not," than that I should make him a laughing-stock who asketh deep things,
and gain praise as one who answereth false things. But I say that Thou,
our God, art the Creator of every creature; and if by the term "heaven
and earth" every creature is understood, I boldly say, "That before God
made heaven and earth, He made not anything. For if He did, what did He
make unless the creature?" And would that I knew whatever I desire to
know to my advantage, as I know that no creature was made before any creature
was made.
CHAP. XIII. BEFORE THE TIMES CREATED BY GOD, TIMES WERE NOT.
15. But if the roving thought of any one should wander through the images
of bygone time, and wonder that Thou, the God Almighty, and All-creating,
and All-sustaining, the Architect of heaven and earth, didst for innumerable
ages refrain from so great a work before Thou wouldst make it, let him
awake and consider that he wonders at false things. For whence could innumerable
ages pass by which Thou didst not make, since Thou art the Author and
Creator of all ages? Or what times should those be which were not made
by Thee? Or how should they pass by if they had not been? Since, therefore,
Thou art the Creator of all times, if any time was before Thou madest
heaven and earth, why is it said that Thou didst refrain from working?
For that very time Thou madest, nor could times pass by before Thou madest
times. But if before heaven and earth there was no time, why is it asked,
What didst Thou then? For there was no "then" when time was not.
16. Nor dost Thou by time precede time; else wouldest not Thou precede
all times. But in the excellency of an ever-present eternity, Thou precedest
all times past, and survivest all future times, because they are future,
and when they have come they will be past; but "Thou art the same, and
Thy years shall have no end." Thy years neither go nor come; but ours
both go and come, that all may come. All Thy years stand at once since
they do stand; nor were they when departing excluded by coming years,
because they pass not away; but all these of ours shall be when all shall
cease to be. Thy years are one day, and Thy day is not daily, but today;
because Thy today yields not with tomorrow, for neither doth it follow
yesterday. Thy today is eternity; therefore didst Thou beget the Co-eternal,
to whom Thou saidst, "This day have I begotten Thee." Thou hast made all
time; and before all times Thou art, nor in any time was there not time.
CHAP. XIV. NEITHER TIME PAST NOR FUTURE, BUT THE PRESENT ONLY, REALLY
IS.
17. At no time, therefore, hadst Thou not made anything, because Thou
hadst made time itself. And no times are co-eternal with Thee, because
Thou remainest for ever; but should these continue, they would not be
times. For what is time? Who can easily and briefly explain it? Who even
in thought can comprehend it, even to the pronouncing of a word concerning
it? But what in speaking do we refer to more familiarly and knowingly
than time? And certainly we understand when we speak of it; we understand
also when we hear it spoken of by another. What, then, is time? If no
one ask of me, I know; if I wish to explain to him who asks, I know not.
Yet I say with confidence, that I know that if nothing passed away, there
would not be past time; and if nothing were coming, there would not be
future time; and if nothing were, there would not be present time. Those
two times, therefore, past and future, how are they, when even the past
now is not; and the future is not as yet? But should the present be always
present, and should it not pass into time past, time truly it could not
be, but eternity. If, then, time present if it be time only
comes into existence because it passes into time past, how do we say that
even this is, whose cause of being is that it shall not be namely,
so that we cannot truly say that time is, unless because it tends not
to be?
CHAP. XV. THERE IS ONLY A MOMENT OF PRESENT TIME.
18. And yet we say that "time is long and time is short;" nor do we
speak of this save of time past and future. A long time past, for example,
we call a hundred years ago; in like manner a long time to come, a hundred
years hence. But a short time past we call, say, ten days ago: and a short
time to come, ten days hence. But in what sense is that long or short
which is not? For the past is not now, and the future is not yet. Therefore
let us not say, "It is long;" but let us say of the past, "It hath been
long," and of the future, "It will be long." O my Lord, my light, shall
not even here Thy truth deride man? For that past time which was long,
was it long when it was already past, or when it was as yet present? For
then it might be long when there was that which could be long, but when
past it no longer was; wherefore that could not be long which was not
at all. Let us not, therefore, say, "Time past hath been long;" for we
shall not find what may have been long, seeing that since it was past
it is not; but let us say "that present time was long, because when it
was present it was long." For it had not as yet passed away so as not
to be, and therefore there was that which could be long. But after it
passed, that ceased also to be long which ceased to be.
19. Let us therefore see, O human soul, whether present time can be
long; for to thee is it given to perceive and to measure periods of time.
What wilt thou reply to me? Is a hundred years when present a long time?
See, first, whether a hundred years can be present. For if the first year
of these is current, that is present, but the other ninety and nine are
future, and therefore they are not as yet. But if the second year is current,
one is already past, the other present, the rest future. And thus, if
we fix on any middle year of this hundred as present, those before it
are past, those after it are future; wherefore a hundred years cannot
be present. See at least whether that year itself which is current can
be present. For if its first month be current, the rest are future; if
the second, the first hath already passed, and the remainder are not yet.
Therefore neither is the year which is current as a whole present; and
if it is not present as a whole, then the year is not present. For twelve
months make the year, of which each individual month which is current
is itself present, but the rest are either past or future. Although neither
is that month which is current present, but one day only: if the first,
the rest being to come, if the last, the rest being past; if any of the
middle, then between past and future.
20. Behold, the present time, which alone we found could be called long,
is abridged to the space scarcely of one day. But let us discuss even
that, for there is not one day present as a whole. For it is made up of
four-and-twenty hours of night and day, whereof the first hath the rest
future, the last hath them past, but any one of the intervening hath those
before it past, those after it future. And that one hour passeth away
in fleeting particles. Whatever of it hath flown away is past, whatever
remaineth is future. If any portion of time be conceived which cannot
now be divided into even the minutest particles of moments, this only
is that which may be called present; which, however, flies so rapidly
from future to past, that it cannot be extended by any delay. For if it
be extended, it is divided into the past and future; but the present hath
no space. Where, therefore, is the time which we may call long? Is it
nature? Indeed we do not say, "It is long," because it is not yet, so
as to be long; but we say, "It will be long." When, then, will it be?
For if even then, since as yet it is future, it will not be long, because
what may be long is not as yet; but it shall be long, when from the future,
which as yet is not, it shall already have begun to be, and will have
become present, so that there could be that which may be long; then doth
the present time cry out in the words above that it cannot be long.
CHAP. XVI. TIME CAN ONLY BE PERCEIVED OR MEASURED WHILE IT IS PASSING.
21. And yet, O Lord, we perceive intervals of times, and we compare
them with themselves, and we say some are longer, others shorter. We even
measure by how much shorter or longer this time may be than that; and
we answer, "That this is double or treble, while that is but once, or
only as much as that." But we measure times passing when we measure them
by perceiving them; but past times, which now are not, or future times,
which as yet are not, who can measure them? Unless, perchance, any one
will dare to say, that that can be measured which is not. When, therefore,
time is passing, it can be perceived and measured; but when it has passed,
it cannot, since it is not.
CHAP. XVII. NEVERTHELESS THERE IS TIME PAST AND FUTURE.
22. I ask, Father, I do not affirm. O my God, rule and guide me. "Who
is there who can say to me that there are not three times (as we learned
when boys, and as we have taught boys), the past, present, and future,
but only present, because these two are not? Or are they also; but when
from future it becometh present, cometh it forth from some secret place,
and when from the present it becometh past, doth it retire into anything
secret? For where have they, who have foretold future things, seen these
things, if as yet they are not? For that which is not cannot be seen.
And they who relate things past could not relate them as true, did they
not perceive them in their mind. Which things, if they were not, they
could in no wise be discerned. There are therefore things both future
and past.
CHAP. XVIII. PAST AND FUTURE TIMES CANNOT BE THOUGHT OF BUT AS PRESENT.
23. Suffer me, O Lord, to seek further; O my Hope, let not my purpose
be confounded. For if there are times past and future, I desire to know
where they are. But if as yet I do not succeed, I still know, wherever
they are, that they are not there as future or past, but as present. For
if there also they be future, they are not as yet there; if even there
they be past, they are no longer there. Wheresoever, therefore, they are,
whatsoever they are, they are only so as present. Although past things
are related as true, they are drawn out from the memory, not the
things themselves, which have passed, but the words conceived from the
images of the things which they have formed in the mind as footprints
in their passage through the senses. My childhood, indeed, which no longer
is, is in time past, which now is not; but when I call to mind its image,
and speak of it, I behold it in the present, because it is as yet in my
memory. Whether there be a like cause of foretelling future things, that
of things which as yet are not the images may be perceived as already
existing, I confess, my God, I know not. This certainly I know, that we
generally think before on our future actions, and that this premeditation
is present; but that the action whereon we premeditate is not yet, because
it is future; which when we shall have entered upon, and have begun to
do that which we were premeditating, then shall that action be, because
then it is not future, but present.
24. In whatever manner, therefore, this secret preconception of future
things may be, nothing can be seen, save what is. But what now is is not
future, but present. When, therefore, they say that things future are
seen, it is not themselves, which as yet are not (that is, which are future);
but their causes or their signs perhaps are seen, the which already are.
Therefore, to those already beholding them, they are not future, but present,
from which future things conceived in the mind are foretold. Which conceptions
again now are, and they who foretell those things behold these conceptions
present before them. Let now so multitudinous a variety of things afford
me some example. I behold daybreak; I foretell that the sun is about to
rise. That which I behold is present; what I foretell is future,
not that the sun is future, which already is; but his rising, which is
not yet. Yet even its rising I could not predict unless I had an image
of it in my mind, as now I have while I speak. But that dawn which I see
in the sky is not the rising of the sun, although it may go before it,
nor that imagination in my mind; which two are seen as present, that the
other which is future may be foretold. Future things, therefore, are not
as yet; and if they are not as yet, they are not. And if they are not,
they cannot be seen at all; but they can be foretold from things present
which now are, and are seen.
CHAP. XIX. WE ARE IGNORANT IN WHAT MANNER GOD TEACHES FUTURE THINGS.
25. Thou, therefore, Ruler of Thy creatures, what is the method by which
Thou teachest souls those things which are future? For Thou hast taught
Thy prophets. What is that way by which Thou, to whom nothing is future,
dost teach future things; or rather of future things dost teach present?
For what is not, of a certainty cannot be taught. Too far is this way
from my view; it is too mighty for me, I cannot attain unto it; but by
Thee I shall be enabled, when Thou shalt have granted it, sweet light
of my hidden eyes.
CHAP. XX. IN WHAT MANNER TIME MAY PROPERLY BE DESIGNATED.
26. But what now is manifest and clear is, that neither are there future
nor past things. Nor is it fitly said, "There are three times, past, present
and future;" but perchance it might be fitly said, "There are three times;
a present of things past, a present of things present, and a present of
things future." For these three do somehow exist in the soul, and otherwise
I see them not: present of things past, memory; present of things present,
sight; present of things future, expectation. If of these things we are
permitted to speak, I see three times, and I grant there are three. It
may also be said, "There are three times, past, present and future," as
usage falsely has it. See, I trouble not, nor gainsay, nor reprove; provided
always that which is said may be understood, that neither the future,
nor that which is past, now is. For there are but few things which we
speak properly, many things improperly; but what we may wish to say is
understood.
CHAP. XXI. HOW TIME MAY BE MEASURED.
27. I have just now said, then, that we measure times as they pass,
that we may be able to say that this time is twice as much as that one,
or that this is only as much as that, and so of any other of the parts
of time which we are able to tell by measuring. Wherefore, as I said,
we measure times as they pass. And if any one should ask me, "Whence dost
thou know?" I can answer, "I know, because we measure; nor can we measure
things that are not; and things past and future are not." But how do we
measure present time, since it hath not space? It is measured while it
passeth; but when it shall have passed, it is not measured; for there
will not be aught that can be measured. But whence, in what way, and whither
doth it pass while it is being measured? Whence, but from the future?
Which way, save through the present? Whither, but into the past? From
that, therefore, which as yet is not, through that which hath no space,
into that which now is not. But what do we measure, unless time in some
space? For we say not single, and double, and triple, and equal, or in
any other way in which we speak of time, unless with respect to the spaces
of times. In what space, then, do we measure passing time? Is it in the
future, whence it passeth over? But what yet we measure not, is not. Or
is it in the present, by which it passeth? But no space, we do not measure.
Or in the past, whither it passeth? But that which is not now, we measure
not.
CHAP. XXII. HE PRAYS GOD THAT HE WOULD EXPLAIN THIS MOST ENTANGLED ENIGMA.
28. My soul yearns to know this most entangled enigma. Forbear to shut
up, O Lord my God, good Father, through Christ I beseech Thee,
forbear to shut up these things, both usual and hidden, from my
desire, that it may be hindered from penetrating them; but let them dawn
through Thy enlightening mercy, O Lord. Of whom shall I inquire concerning
these things? And to whom shall I with more advantage confess my ignorance
than to Thee, to whom these my studies, so vehemently kindled towards
Thy Scriptures, are not troublesome? Give that which I love; for I do
love, and this hast Thou given me. Give, Father, who truly knowest to
give good gifts unto Thy children. Give, since I have undertaken to know,
and trouble is before me until Thou dost open it. Through Christ, I beseech
Thee, in His name, Holy of Holies, let no man interrupt me. For I believed,
and therefore do I speak. This is my hope; for this do I live, that I
may contemplate the delights of the Lord. Behold, Thou hast made my days
old, and they pass away, and in what manner I know not. And we speak as
to time and time, times and times, "How long is the time since
he said this?" "How long the time since he did this?" and, "How long the
time since I saw that?" and, "This syllable hath double the time of that
single short syllable." These words we speak, and these we hear; and we
are understood, and we understand. They are most manifest and most usual,
and the same things again lie hid too deeply, and the discovery of them
is new.
CHAP. XXIII. THAT TIME iS A CERTAIN EXTENSION.
29. I have heard from a learned man that the motions of the sun, moon,
and stars constituted time, and I assented not. For why should not rather
the motions of all bodies be time? What if the lights of heaven should
cease, and a potter's wheel run round, would there be no time by which
we might measure those revolutions, and say either that it turned with
equal pauses, or, if it were moved at one time more slowly, at another
more quickly, that some revolutions were longer, others less so? Or while
we were saying this, should we not also be speaking in time? Or should
there in our words be some syllables long, others short, but because those
sounded in a longer time, these in a shorter? God grant to men to see
in a small thing ideas common to things great and small. Both the stars
and luminaries of heaven are "for signs and for seasons, and for days
and years." No doubt they are; but neither should I say that the circuit
of that wooden wheel was a day, nor yet should he say that therefore there
was no time.
30. I desire to know the power and nature of time, by which we measure
the motions of bodies, and say (for example) that this motion is twice
as long as that. For, I ask, since "day" declares not the stay only of
the sun upon the earth, according to which day is one thing, night another,
but also its entire circuit from east even to east, according to
which we say, "So many days have passed" (the nights being included when
we say "so many days," and their spaces not counted apart), since,
then, the day is finished by the motion of the sun, and by his circuit
from east to east, I ask, whether the motion itself is the day, or the
period in which that motion is completed, or both? For if the first be
the day, then would there be a day although the sun should finish that
course in so small a space of time as an hour. If the second, then that
would not be a day if from one sunrise to another there were but so short
a period as an hour, but the sun must go round four-and-twenty times to
complete a day. If both, neither could that be called a day if the sun
should run his entire round in the space of an hour; nor that, if, while
the sun stood still, so much time should pass as the sun is accustomed
to accomplish his whole course in from morning to morning. I shall not
therefore now ask, what that is which is called day, but what time is,
by which we, measuring the circuit of the sun, should say that it was
accomplished in half the space of time it was wont, if it had been completed
in so small a space as twelve hours; and comparing both times, we should
call that single, this double time, although the sun should run his course
from east to east sometimes in that single, sometimes in that double time.
Let no man then tell me that the motions of the heavenly bodies are times,
because, when at the prayer of one the sun stood still in order that he
might achieve his victorious battle, the sun stood still, but time went
on. For in such space of time as was sufficient was that battle fought
and ended. I see that time, then, is a certain extension. But do I see
it, or do I seem to see it? Thou, O Light and Truth, wilt show me.
CHAP. XXIV. THAT TIME IS NOT A MOTION OF A BODY WHICH WE MEASURE BY
TIME.
31. Dost Thou command that I should assent, if any one should say that
time is "the motion of a body?" Thou dost not command me. For I hear that
no body is moved but in time. This Thou sayest; but that the very motion
of a body is time, I hear not; Thou sayest it not. For when a body is
moved, I by time measure how long it may be moving from the time in which
it began to be moved till it left off. And if I saw not whence it began,
and it continued to be moved, so that I see not when it leaves off, I
cannot measure unless, perchance, from the time I began until I cease
to see. But if I look long, I only proclaim that the time is long, but
not how long it may be because when we say, "How long," we speak by comparison,
as, "This is as long as that," or, "This is double as long as that," or
any other thing of the kind. But if we were able to note down the distances
of places whence and whither cometh the body which is moved, or its parts,
if it moved as in a wheel, we can say in how much time the motion of the
body or its part, from this place unto that, was performed. Since, then,
the motion of a body is one thing, that by which we measure how long it
is another, who cannot see which of these is rather to be called time?
For, although a body be sometimes moved, sometimes stand still, we measure
not its motion only, but also its standing still, by time; and we say,
"It stood still as much as it moved;" or, "It stood still twice or thrice
as long as it moved;" and if any other space which our measuring hath
either determined or imagined, more or less, as we are accustomed to say.
Time, therefore, is not the motion of a body.
CHAP. XXV. HE CALLS ON GOD TO ENLIGHTEN HIS MIND.
32. And I confess unto Thee, O Lord, that I am as yet ignorant as to
what time is, and again I confess unto Thee, O Lord, that I know that
I speak these things in time, and that I have already long spoken of time,
and that very "long" is not long save by the stay of time. How, then,
know I this, when I know not what time is? Or is it, perchance, that I
know not in what wise I may express what I know? Alas for me, that I do
not at least know the extent of my own ignorance! Behold, O my God, before
Thee I lie not. As I speak, so is my heart. Thou shalt light my candle;
Thou, O Lord my God, wilt enlighten my darkness.
CHAP. XXVI. WE MEASURE LONGER EVENTS BY SHORTER IN TIME.
33. Doth not my soul pour out unto Thee truly in confession that I do
measure times? But do I thus measure, O my God, and know not what I measure?
I measure the motion of a body by time; and the time itself do I not measure?
But, in truth, could I measure the motion of a body, how long it is, and
how long it is in coming from this place to that, unless I should measure
the time in which it is moved? How, therefore, do I measure this very
time itself? Or do we by a shorter time measure a longer, as by the space
of a cubit the space of a crossbeam? For thus, indeed, we seem by the
space of a short syllable to measure the space of a long syllable, and
to say that this is double. Thus we measure the spaces of stanzas by the
spaces of the verses, and the spaces of the verses by the spaces of the
feet, and the spaces of the feet by the spaces of the syllables, and the
spaces of long by the spaces of short syllables; not measuring by pages
(for in that manner we measure spaces, not times), but when in uttering
the words they pass by, and we say, "It is a long stanza because it is
made up of so many verses; long verses, because they consist of so many
feet; long feet, because they are prolonged by so many syllables; a long
syllable, because double a short one." But neither thus is any certain
measure of time obtained; since it is possible that a shorter verse, if
it be pronounced more fully, may take up more time than a longer one,
if pronounced more hurriedly. Thus for a stanzas, thus for a foot, thus
for a syllable. Whence it appeared to me that time is nothing else than
protraction; but of what I know not. It is wonderful to me, if it be not
of the mind itself. For what do I measure, I beseech Thee, O my God, even
when I say either indefinitely, "This time is longer than that;" or even
definitely, "This is double that?" That I measure time, I know. But I
measure not the future, for it is not yet; nor do I measure the present,
because it is extended by no space; nor do I measure the past, because
it no longer is. What, therefore, do I measure? Is it times passing, not
past? For thus had I said.
CHAP. XXVII. TIMES ARE MEASURED IN PROPORTION AS THEY PASS BY.
34. Persevere, O my mind, and give earnest heed. God is our helper;
He made us, and not we ourselves. Give heed, where truth dawns. Lo, suppose
the voice of a body begins to sound, and does sound, and sounds on, and
lo! it ceases, it is now silence, and that voice is past and is
no longer a voice. It was future before it sounded, and could not be measured,
because as yet it was not; and now it cannot, because it longer is. Then,
therefore, while it was sounding, it might, because there was then that
which might be measured. But even then it did not stand still, for it
was going and passing away. Could it, then, on that account be measured
the more? For, while passing, it was being extended into some space of
time, in which it might be measured, since the present hath no space.
If, therefore, then it might be measured, lo! suppose another voice hath
begun to sound, and still soundeth, in a continued tenor without any interruption,
we can measure it while it is sounding; for when it shall have ceased
to sound, it will be already past, and there will not be that which can
be measured. Let us measure it truly, and let us say how much it is. But
as yet it sounds, nor can it be measured, save from that instant in which
it began to sound, even to the end in which it left off. For the interval
itself we measure from some beginning unto some end. On which account,
a voice which is not yet ended cannot be measured, so that it may be said
how long or how short it may be; nor can it be said to be equal to another,
or single or double in respect of it, or the like. But when it is ended,
it no longer is. In what manner, therefore, may it be measured? And yet
we measure times; still not those which as yet are not, nor those which
no longer are, nor those which are protracted by some delay, nor those
which have no limits. We, therefore, measure neither future times, nor
past, nor present, nor those passing by; and yet we do measure times.
35. Deus Creator omnium; this verse of eight syllables alternates between
short and long syllables. The four short, then, the first, third, fifth
and seventh, are single in respect of the four long, the second, fourth,
sixth, and eighth. Each of these hath a double time to every one of those.
I pronounce them, report on them, and thus it is, as is perceived by common
sense. By common sense, then, I measure a long by a short syllable, and
I find that it has twice as much. But when one sounds after another, if
the former be short the latter long, how shall I hold the short one, and
how measuring shall I apply it to the long, so that I may find out that
this has twice as much, when indeed the long does not begin to sound unless
the short leaves off sounding? That very long one I measure not as present,
since I measure it not save when ended. But its ending is its passing
away. What, then, is it that I can measure? Where is the short syllable
by which I measure? Where is the long one which I measure? Both have sounded,
have flown, have passed away, and are no longer; and still I measure,
and I confidently answer (so far as is trusted to a practised sense),
that as to space of time this syllable is single, that double. Nor could
I do this, unless because they have past, and are ended. Therefore do
I not measure themselves, which now are not, but something in my memory,
which remains fixed.
36. In thee, O my mind, I measure times. Do not overwhelm me with thy
clamour. That is, do not overwhelm thyself with the multitude of thy impressions.
In thee, I say, I measure times; the impression which things as they pass
by make on Thee, and which, when they have passed by, remains, that I
measure as time present, not those things which have passed by, that the
impression should be made. This I measure when I measure times. Either,
then, these are times, or I do not measure times. What when we measure
silence, and say that this silence hath lasted as long as that voice lasts?
Do we not extend our thought to the measure of a voice, as if it sounded,
so that we may be able to declare something concerning the intervals of
silence in a given space of time? For when both the voice and tongue are
still, we go over in thought poems and verses, and any discourse, or dimensions
of motions; and declare concerning the spaces of times, how much this
may be in respect of that, not otherwise than if uttering them we should
pronounce them. Should any one wish to utter a lengthened sound, and had
with forethought determined how long it should be, that man hath in silence
verily gone through a space of time, and, committing it to memory, he
begins to utter that speech, which sounds until it be extended to the
end proposed; truly it hath sounded, and will sound. For what of it is
already finished hath verily sounded, but what remains will sound; and
thus does it pass on, until the present intention carry over the future
into the past; the past increasing by the diminution of the future, until,
by the consumption of the future, all be past.
CHAP. XXVIII. TIME IN THE HUMAN MIND, WHICH EXPECTS, CONSIDERS, AND
REMEMBERS.
37. But how is that future diminished or consumed which as yet is not?
Or how doth the past, which is no longer, increase, unless in the mind
which enacteth this there are three things done? For it both expects,
and considers, and remembers, that that which it expecteth, through that
which it considereth, may pass into that which it remembereth. Who, therefore,
denieth that future things as yet are not? But yet there is already in
the mind the expectation of things future. And who denies that past things
are now no longer? But, however, there is still in the mind the memory
of things past. And who denies that time present wants space, because
it passeth away in a moment? But yet our consideration endureth, through
which that which may be present may proceed to become absent. Future time,
which is not, is not therefore long; but a "long future" is "a long expectation
of the future." Nor is time past, which is now no longer, long; but a
long past is "a long memory of the past."
38. I am about to repeat a psalm that I know. Before I begin, my attention
is extended to the whole; but when I have begun, as much of it as becomes
past by my saying it is extended in my memory; and the life of this action
of mine is divided between my memory, on account of what I have repeated,
and my expectation, on account of what I am about to repeat; yet my consideration
is present with me, through which that which was future may be carried
over so that it may become past. Which the more it is done and repeated,
by so much (expectation being shortened) the memory is enlarged, until
the whole expectation be exhausted, when that whole action being ended
shall have passed into memory. And what takes place in the entire psalm,
takes place also in each individual part of it, and in each individual
syllable: this holds in the longer action, of which that psalm is perchance
a portion; the same holds in the whole life of man, of which all the actions
of man are parts; the same holds in the whole age of the sons of men,
of which all the lives of men are parts.
CHAP. XXIX. THAT HUMAN LIFE IS A DISTRACTION BUT THAT THROUGH THE MERCY
OF GOD HE WAS INTENT ON THE PRIZE OF HIS HEAVENLY CALLING.
39. But "because Thy loving-kindness is better than life," behold, my
life is but a distraction, and Thy right hand upheld me in my Lord, the
Son of man, the Mediator between Thee, The One, and us the many,
in many distractions amid many things, that through Him I may apprehend
in whom I have been apprehended, and may be re-collected from my old days,
following The One, forgetting the things that are past; and not distracted,
but drawn on, not to those things which shall be and shall pass away,
but to those things which are before, not distractedly, but intently,
I follow on for the prize of my heavenly calling, where I may hear the
voice of Thy praise, and contemplate Thy delights, neither coming nor
passing away. But now are my years spent in mourning. And Thou, O Lord,
art my comfort, my Father everlasting. But I have been divided amid times,
the order of which I know not; and my thoughts, even the inmost bowels
of my soul, are mangled with tumultuous varieties, until I flow together
unto Thee, purged and molten in the fire of Thy love.
CHAP. XXX. AGAIN HE REFUTES THE EMPTY QUESTION, "WHAT DID GOD BEFORE
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD?"
40. And I will be immoveable, and fixed in Thee, in my mould, Thy truth;
nor will I endure the questions of men, who by a penal disease thirst
for more than they can hold, and say, "What did God make before He made
heaven and earth?" Or, "How came it into His mind to make anything, when
He never before made anything?" Grant to them, O Lord, to think well what
they say, and to see that where there is no time, they cannot say "never."
What, therefore, He is said "never to have made," what else is it but
to say, that in no time was it made? Let them therefore see that there
could be no time without a created being, and let them cease to speak
that vanity. Let them also be extended unto those things which are before,
and understand that thou, the eternal Creator of all times, art before
all times, and that no times are co-eternal with Thee, nor any creature,
even if there be any creature beyond all times.
CHAP. 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?
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.
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