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A GLIMPSE OF THE UNCHANGEABLE LIGHT 177

CHAPTER X.

Divine Things become clearer now to Augustine.

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ND thence being admonished to return to myself, I entered into my own inner life, under Thy guidance; and I was enabled to do this, since Thou wert become my Helper. I entered, and with the eye of my soul, such as I then had, I saw above that eye of my soul, above my mind, the Unchangeable Light; not this common light, which is visible to all flesh, nor yet anything greater of the same kind, as though a brightness which grew more and more radiant, and which with its greatness filled all space. Such was not this light, but different, very different from all these. Nor was it above my soul as oil is above water, nor as heaven is above earth; but it was superior to me, as having made me, and I was beneath it, as having been made by it. He Who knows the Truth, knows It; and He Who knows It, knows eternity. Love knows it. O eternal Truth, and true Love, and loving Eternity! Thou art my God; for Thee do I sigh day and night. And when at first I knew Thee, Thou liftedst me up, that I might see what there was which I might see, and that I was not yet the one to see it. And Thou didst, striking my weakened eyes by Thy bright beams of light, beat me back, so that I trembled with love and awe; and I found myself to be far away from Thee in the land of unlikeness, as if I heard Thee saying to me from on high, "I am the Food of those grown up; grow, and you shall feed on Me; neither shalt thou, like bodily food, change Me

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CREATURES EXIST BUT NOT AS GOD

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into thee; but thou shalt be changed into Me.” And I learned, that "Thou for iniquity dost chasten man, and didst make my soul to consume away like a spider." And I said, "Is Truth then nothing, because it is not spread out through finite or infinite space?" And Thou criedst to me from afar, "Verily, I Am that I Am ;”2 and I heard Thy cry as the heart hears, a hearing which leaves no room for doubt; for I could more easily doubt my own existence than the existence of the Truth, which "is clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made." 3

CHAPTER XI.

How Creatures may be said to have being, and yet not to have being.

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ND I regarded the other things which were below Thee, and I saw that they neither altogether exist, nor altogether do not exist: they exist in one way, for they come from Thee; in another way they may be said not to exist, for their being is not like Thine, for that is true Being which remains unchangeably. "It is good, then, for me to hold me fast by God; "4 for if I remain not in Him, I cannot in myself; but He "remaining in Himself, reneweth all things." And "Thou art my God, for my goods Thou hast no need of.""

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SOME GOOD IN EVERYTHING WHICH IS 179

CHAPTER XII.

All Things, which are, are good.

AND it became clear to me, that those things are

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good which yet are corrupted; which neither if they were supremely good, nor unless they were good in some respect, could be corrupted for if supremely good, they would be incorruptible, if not good at all, there would be nothing to be corrupted. For corruption damages, but unless it lessened goodness, it could not damage. Either, then, corruption does not damage, which cannot be; or, which is most certain, all things which are corrupted, are thereby deprived of some good. But if they are deprived of all good, they must altogether cease to exist; for if they continued to exist, and were no longer able to be corrupted, they would be better than they were before, because they would remain in a state of incorruptibility. But what more monstrous, than to affirm that a thing has become better by losing all the good it possessed? Therefore, things deprived of all good cease to exist: and consequently as long as they exist, they are good; and further, therefore, whatever is, is good. That evil, then, the origin of which I had been searching out, had no being of its own, for had it a being it would be good. For either it must be something incorruptible, and so a great good, or something corruptible, and so have some good in it, to be capable of corruption. Thus it became evident and plain to me, that all things which Thou madest are good, nor is there any substance which was not made by Thee. And because Thou didst not make all things

180 CREATED THINGS HARMONISE AS A WHOLE

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equal, therefore all things are; for each is good in itself, and all very good together, because our God made all things very good."

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CHAPTER XIII.

All Things made praise God.

ND there is nothing at all evil to Thee, nor yet to Thy creation as a whole, because there is nothing on the outside of it which can break in upon and corrupt that order which Thou hast established in it. But in parts of it, there are things, which from being out of harmony with certain other things, are reckoned evil; which very things harmonise with others, and therefore are good; and they are good in themselves. And all these things which are out of harmony with one another, are in harmony with this lower part of nature which we call earth, which has its sky with cloud and storm corresponding with it. Far be it, then, from me to say, "These things should not be !" for if I saw but these, I might indeed crave for better; but if only for such things as these, I am bound to praise Thee; for that Thou shouldst be "praised, from the earth,-dragons, and all deeps, fire, hail, snow, ice, and stormy wind, which fulfil Thy word," do show; " mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle, creeping things, and fowls of the air; kings of the earth, and all people, princes, and all judges of the earth; young men and maidens, old men and young, praise Thy Name." But when "from heaven these praise Thee, these praise Thee," our God, "the I Gen. i. Ecclus. xxxix. 21.

EVIL, THE CORRUPTION OF GOOD

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heights, all Thy angels, all Thy hosts, sun and moon, all the stars and light, the heaven of heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens-praise Thy Name;" I did not now desire better things, because I thought of all together, and with a sounder judgment I decided that the things above were better than those below, but that both together were better than the things above alone.

CHAPTER XIV.

To a Man of sound Reason, no Creature of God can appear otherwise than good.

HERE is no soundness in those who are displeased

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with anything that Thou hast made; as there was none in me, when many things which Thou hadst made displeased me. And because my soul dared not to be displeased with my God, it would fain ascribe to another source that which displeased it. Hence my soul had gone into the opinion of two opposite substances, and found no rest in it, and spoke things which were irrelevant. And thence returning, it made for itself a god, extended through infinite spaces of all places, and thought it to be Thee; and placed it in its heart, and again had become the temple of an idol of its own, abominable to Thee. But after Thou hadst soothed my head, when I was unconscious of it, and closed "mine eyes, that they might not behold vanity," my former self began to die out, and my delirium was quieted; and I awoke in Thee, and saw Thee to be infinite in another way,—and this sight was not gained by the eye of flesh.

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Ps. cxlviii. 1-12.

2 Ps. cxix. 37.

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