The Confessions of St. Augustine

The house of my soul is narrow; enlarge it, that you may enter in. It is in ruins! Repair it! It has in it that which must offend your eyes. I confess and know it. But who shall cleanse it, or to whom shall I cry, but to you?

Evil then, the origin of which I sought, is not a substance at all. For if it were a substance, it would be good. For either it would be an incorruptible substance, and so a chief good, or a corruptible substance, which could not be corrupted unless it were good.

If you havenot been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will committo your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithfulin that which is another man’s, who shall give you that whichis your own

O Lord our God, under the shadow of your wings let us hope. Protect us, and carry us. You will carry us when we are little, and even down to our gray hairs you will carry us; for when you are our strength, then is it strength indeed; but when it is our own, then it is weakness. Our good lives only with you; when we are averted we are perverted. Let us now, O Lord, return, that we may not be overturned; because with you good lives without any decay, for you are that good. We need not fear that because we fell away from it we will find no place to which we can return; for when we left it, our home, your eternity, did not fall.

Our true Life came down to this earth, and bore our death and killed it out of the abundance of his own life. Thundering loudly, he called to us to return to him into that secret place from which he came forth to us—coming first into the Virgin’s womb, where humanity was joined to him, our mortal flesh, that it might not be forever mortal, and from there, like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoicing as a strong manto run a race. For he did not delay, but ran, calling loudly by words, deeds, death, life, descent, ascension, crying loudly for us to return to him. And he departed from our sight, so that we might return to our heart and find him there. For he departed, and lo, he is here! He would not remain with us, yet he did not leave us; for he went back to that place he never left, because the world was made by him. He was in this world, and he cameinto the world to save sinners. My soul confesses to him and he heals it, for it has sinned against him. O you children of men, how long will you be so slow of heart? Even now, after Life has descended to you, will you not ascend and live? But to where will you ascend, since you are already in a high place, and have set your mouth against the heavens? First come down, that you may ascend, and ascend to God. For you have fallen by rising against him.”

And your law is truth, and you are truth yourself.

Behold, you are made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thingcomeuponyou.

Thus all who separate themselves far from you and raise themselves up against you, imitate you. But even by imitating you in these ways, they acknowledge that you are the Creator of all nature, and that there is no place where they can flee from you altogether

Curiosity pretends to be a right desire for knowledge, but it is you who understand all things supremely

The life we live here has its own attractiveness through a certain measure of beauty of its own and its correspondence with all beautiful things here below. Human friendship is endeared with a sweet tie in a unity formed of many souls. On account of this, sin is committed when through an immoderate appetite for these goods of the lowest order, we forsake the better and higher ones—yourself, our Lord God, your truth and your law