I. The Retractations, II, 6 (A.D. 427)
1. My Confessions, in thirteen books, praise the righteous and good
God as they speak either of my evil or good, and they are meant to excite
men’s minds and affections toward him. At least as far as I am concerned, this
is what they did for me when they were being written and they still do this when
read. What some people think of them is their own affair [ipse viderint]; but
I do know that they have given pleasure to many of my brethren and still do so.
The first through the tenth books were written about myself; the other three
about Holy Scripture, from what is written there, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,[1] even
as far as the reference to the Sabbath rest.[2]
2. In Book IV, when I confessed my soul’s misery over the death of a friend and said that our soul had somehow been made one out of two souls, “But it may have been that I was afraid to die, lest he should then die wholly whom I had so greatly loved” (Ch. VI, 11)--this now seems to be more a trivial declamation than a serious confession, although this inept expression may be tempered somewhat by the “may have been” [forte] which I added. And in Book XIII what I said--“The firmament was made between the higher waters (and superior) and the lower (and inferior) waters”--was said without sufficient thought. In any case, the matter is very obscure.
This work begins thus: “Great art thou, O Lord.”
II. De Dono Perseverantiae, XX, 53 (A.D. 428)
Which of my shorter works has been more widely known or given greater
pleasure than the [thirteen] books of my Confessions? And,
although I published them long before the Pelagian heresy had even begun to be,
it is plain that in them I said to my God, again and again, “Give what thou
commandest and command what thou wilt.” When these words of mine were repeated
in Pelagius’ presence at Rome by a certain brother of mine (an episcopal
colleague), he could not bear them and contradicted him so excitedly that they
nearly came to a quarrel. Now what, indeed, does God command, first and
foremost, except that we believe in him? This faith, therefore, he himself
gives; so that it is well said to him, “Give what thou commandest.”
Moreover, in those same books, concerning my account of my conversion when God
turned me to that faith which I was laying waste with a very wretched and wild
verbal assault,[3] do you not
remember how the narration shows that I was given as a gift to the faithful and
daily tears of my mother, who had been promised that I should not perish? I
certainly declared there that God by his grace turns men’s wills to the true
faith when they are not only averse to it, but actually adverse. As for the
other ways in which I sought God’s aid in my growth in perseverance, you
either know or can review them as you wish (PL, 45, c. 1025).
III. Letter to Darius (A.D. 429)
Thus, my son, take the books of my Confessions and use them as a good
man should--not superficially, but as a Christian in Christian charity. Here see
me as I am and do not praise me for more than I am. Here believe nothing else
about me than my own testimony. Here observe what I have been in myself and
through myself. And if something in me pleases you, here praise Him with me--him
whom I desire to be praised on my account and not myself. “For it is he that
hath made us and not we ourselves.”[4]
Indeed, we were ourselves quite lost; but he who made us, remade us [sed qui fecit, refecit].
As, then, you find me in these pages, pray for me that I shall not fail but that
I may go on to be perfected. Pray for me, my son, pray for me! (Epist. CCXXXI, PL, 33,
c. 1025).
[3]Notice the echo here of Acts 9:1.
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