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A22627 Saint Augustines confessions translated: and with some marginall notes illustrated. Wherein, diuers antiquities are explayned; and the marginall notes of a former Popish translation, answered. By William Watts, rector of St. Albanes, Woodstreete; Confessiones. English Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo.; Watts, William, 1590?-1649. 1631 (1631) STC 912; ESTC S100303 327,312 1,035

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part I say of all this doe you at last affirme to befalse Is it because I sayd that the first matter was without for me in which by reason there was no forme there was no order But then where no order was there could bee no interchange of times and yet this almost nothing in as much as it was not altogether nothing was from him certainely from whom is whatsoeuer is in what manner soeuer it is This also say they doe wee not deny CHAP. 16. Against such as contradict diuine truth and of his owne delight in it 1. VVIth these will I now parley a little in thy presence O my God who grant all these things to bee true which thy Truth whispers vnto my soule For as for those praters that deny all let them barke and bawle vnto themselues as much as they please my endeauour shall bee to perswade them to quiet and to giue way for thy word to enter them But if me they shall refuse and giue the repulse vnto do not thou hold thy peace I beseech thee O my God Speake thou truely vnto my heart for onely Thou so speakest and I will let them alone blowing the dust withou doores and raysing it vp into their owne eyes and myselfe will goe into my chamber and sing there a loue-song vnto thee mourning with groanes that cannot bee expressed and remembring Ierusalem with my heart lifted vp towards it Ierusalem my country Ierusalem my mother and thy selfe that rule in ouer it the enlightener the Father the guardian the husband the chast and strong delight and the solid ioy of it and all good things that bee vnspeakeable yea all at once because the onely Soueraigne and true good of it Nor will I bee made giue ouer vntill thou wholy gather all that is of me from the vnsetled and disordred estate I now am in into the peace of that our most deare mother where the first-fruites of my spirit be already whence I am ascertayned of these things and shall both conforme and for euer confirme mee in thy mercy O my God But as for those who no wayes affirme all these truths to bee false which giue all honour vnto thy holy Scriptures set out by Moses estating it as wee did in the top of that authority which is to bee followed and doe yet contradict mee in some thing or other to these I answer thus Be thy selfe Iudge O our God betweene my Confessions and these mens contradictions CHAP. 17. What the names of Heauen and Earth signifie 1. FOr they say Though all this that you say bee true yet did not Moses intend those two when by reuelation of the Spirit hee sayd In the beginning God created Heauen and Earth He did not vnder the name of heauen signifie that Spirituall or intellectuall creature which alwayes beholds the face of God nor vnder the name of earth that vnshap't matter What then That man of God say they meant as we say this was it hee declared by those words What 's that by the name of heauen and earth would hee signifie say they all this visible world in vniuersall and compendious termes first that afterwards in his sorting out the works of the seuerall dayes hee might ioynt by ioynt as it were bring euery thing into his order which it pleased the holy Ghost in such generall termes to expresse For such grosse heads were that rude and carnall people to which he spake as that he thought such workes of God as were visible onely fit to be mentioned vnto them So that this inuisible and vnshap't earth and that darkesome Deepe out of which consequently is shewne all these visible things generally knowne vnto all to haue beene made and disposed of in those sixe daies they doe and that not incongruously agree vpon to be vnderstood to bee this vnshapely first matter 2. What now if another should say That this vnshapelynesse confusednesse of matter was for this reason first insinuated to vs vnder the name of Heauen and earth because that this visible world with all those natures which most manifestly appeare in it which wee oft times vse to call by the name of heauen and earth was both created and fully furnished out of it And what if another should say that the inuisible and visible natures were not indeede absurdly called heauen and earth and consequently that the vniuersall creation which God made in his Wisedome that is In the begininng were comprehended vnder those two words Notwithstanding for that Al these bee not of the substance of God but created out of nothing because they are not the same that God is and that there is a mutable nature in them all whether they stand at a stay as the eternall house of God does or be changed as the soule and body of man are therfore the cōmon matter of all visible and inuisible things though yet vnshap't yet shapeable out of which both heauen and earth was to be created that is both the inuisible and visible creature now newly formed was expressed by the same names which the Earth as yet inuisible and vnshapen and the darknes vpon the deepe were to be called by but with this distinctiou that by the earth inuisible hitherto and vnshapen the corporeall matter be vnderstood before the qualitie of of any forme was introduced and by the darknesse vpon the deepe the spirituall matter bee vnderstood before it suffered any restraynt of its vnlimited fluidenesse and before it receiued any light from wisdome 3. There is yet more libertie for a man to say if hee be so disposed that namely the already perfected and formed natures both visible and inuisible were not comprehended vnder the name of heauen and earth when wee reade In the beginning God made heauen and earth but that the yet vnshapely rough hewing of things that Stuffe apt to receiue shape and making was onely called by these names and that because in it all these were confusedly contained as being not distinguished yet by their proper qualities and formes which being now digested into order are called Heauen and Earth meaning by that all spirituall creatures and by this all corporeall CHAP. 18. Diuers Expositors may vnderstand one Text seuerall wayes 1. ALL which things being heard well considered of I will not striue about words for that is profitable to nothing but the subuersion of the hearers but the law is good to edifie if a man vse it lawfully for that the end of it is charity out of a pure hart good conscience faith vnfained And well did our Master know vpon which two cōmandements he hung all the law and the Prophets And what preiudice does it mee now confessing zealously O my God thou light of my inner eyes if there may bee seuerall meanings gathered out of the same words so that withall both might bee true What hinders it mee I say if I thinke otherwise of the Writers meaning then another man does All wee
to have taught such falsities were not to be detested and utterly rejected But I had not cleerely as yet found out whether the interchanged alterations of the length and shortnesse of dayes and nights yea of the day and night it selfe with the Eclipses and wainings of the greater Lights and other things of the like kind which I had read of in other Bookes might be so expounded as to stand with his determination of them but though peradventure it might so bee yet should it remaine uncertaine to me whether it were so or not however for the great sanctity supposed to be in the man I was forsooth to propound to my selfe his authority which ought to be enough to make mee beleeve him CHAP. 6. Faustus was eloquent by nature rather than by Art 1. ANd by the space almost of those 9 yeeres wherein with an unsettled mind I had beene a Disciple of the Manichees with a desire set upon the Tenter-hookes had I expected the comming of this Faitstus For all the rest of that Sect whom by chance I had light upon and had put to a non plus with my Questions and objections about these things still promised me this Faustus upon whose comming and conference all these and greater difficulties if I had them would most easily and cleerely be satisfied So soone therefore as he was come I quickly tasted him to be a very pleasing-languag'd man and one that could prate a great deale more delightfully of those points that they were wont to talke of But how should a spruce Cup-bearer slake the thirst I had after those precious Cups Mine eares had beene cloyed already with such trash which did not now therefore seeme better to me because better said nor therefore true because eloquent nor seem'd the soule wise because the face had a good garbe and the language a sweet tone As for them who had made such promises of him to me they plainely were no good Iudges of things and therfore to them hee appeared prudent and wise for that he could please them in the speaking 2. Another sort of people I had also met withall who become presently suspicious of the Truth it selfe and refuse to acknowledge it so if delivered in a picked and flue it discourse But thou O my God hadst taught me by wonderfull and secret waies and therefore I beleeve even because thou hast taught me for that is the very truth nor is there besides thee any other teacher of Truth wheresoever or whensoever he may bee famous Of thy selfe therefore had I now learned nor ought any thing seeme to be truely spoken because eloquently set off nor false therefore because delivered with an untuneable pronuntiation Againe nor therefore true because roughly delivered nor therefore false because graced in the speaking but it fares with Wisedome and Folly as it doth with wholsome and unwholsome Dyet and with neate and undrest Phrases as with Courtly or Countrey Vessels either kinde of meats may bee serv'd up in either kinde of dishes That greedinesse therefore of mine with which I had so long expected that man was delighted verily with the carriage and action of his dispute fluently expressing himselfe and in such termes as were very apt to set out his sentences to the best 2. I was therfore much taken with him and with others many yea and more than those many did I both praise and extoll him this I tooke ill from him that in the assembly of his Auditors I might not be suffered to put in now and then and communicate those questions that troubled me by a familiar conferring and exchange of arguments with him Which when I gate opportunity to doe I with other of my friends both began to busie his eares and that at s●●h times too as had not beene undecent for him to have exchanged an argument with me and I opened my selfe in such things as did sway much with mee but the man I found utterly unskilfull in the liberall Sciences five of Grammar onely and but ordinarily in that neither But because he had read some of Tullies Orations some few bookes of Seneca divers of the Poets and those Volumes of his owne Sect which had beene written in the Latine tongue and something hansomly and for that hee was daily practised in speaking upon a subject thence became hee furnished with eloquence which proved the more pleasing and inveigling being govern'd by a good wit and set off with a kind of gracefulnesse that was naturall unto him Is it not thus as I now remember O Lord my God thou Iudge of my conscience Before thee my heart still is and my remembrance too thou who didst at that time direct me by the hiddē secret of thy providence didst turne those shamefull errours of mine before my face that I might see and hate-them CHAP. 7. He fals off from the Manichees 1. FOr after that he had sufficiently appeared to me to be thus ignorant of those Arts in which I thought hee had excelled I began to dispaire that he should ever open and untye these difficulties which so much perplexed me of which though a man were ignorant hee might yet hold fast the truth of Piety provided he were not a Maniches For their Bookes are fraught with farre-fetcht Fables of the Heaven and the Starres of the Sunne and of the Moone which I having compared with the calculations I had read of other where did not hereafter hold him any waies able subtilely to resolve me in which I much desired whether those things should bee rather so as in the Manichees books they were cōtained or that some as sufficient reason might at least bee fetcht out of them Which Quaere's when I had offered to be considered upon and discussed hee modestly to say truth had not the boldnesse to undergoe the burthen being guilty of his owne ignorance in these Arts nor was at last ashamed to confesse as much For none of those prating fellowes he was many of which I had beene troubled withall that would undertake to instruct me in these Arts and at last say nothing to the purpose But this man bare an ingenuous mind though not right towards thee yet not too rash towards himselfe for hee was not altogether ignorant of his owne ignorance nor was hee willing rashly to ingage himselfe in a Dispute whence hee could neither get off nor retire fairely And even for this did I like the better of him for fairer appeares the modesty of a confessing minde than those things which I then desired to bee informed of And at this guard I found him lying in all those more difficult and subtiler questions 2. My edge being thus taken off which I had keenely intended towards the Manichees doctrine and despairing more of the performance of their other Doctors seeing in divers things which had stumbled me this so famous Faustus had appeared so shallow I began with him to take the same course of life according to that study which he
open vnto mee 2 But doe thou O my most private Physicion make apparent vnto mee what fruite I may reape by doing it For the confessions of my passed sinnes which thou hast so giuen and couered that thou mightest make mee happy in thee in changing my life by thy sayth and Sacrament whenas they are read and heard they stirre vp the heart that it may not sleepe in despaire and say I cannot but keepe it selfe wakefull in the loue of thy mercy and the sweetnesse of thy grace by which any weake persons is made strong who is by it made guilty to himselfe of his owne infirmities As for these that are good they take delight to heare of their passed errours those I meane that are now freed from them yet are they not therefore delighted because they are errors but for that they hauing so beene are not so now 3. With what fruit O Lord my God to whom my conscience more secure vpon the hope of thy mercy then in her own inocēcy maketh her daily confession with what fruit I beseech thee doe I by this Booke before Thee also confesse vnto men what at this time I yet am not what I haue beene For as for that fruit I haue both seene spoken of it but as for what I now am behold in the very time of the making of these Cōfessions diuers people both desired to know it both they that personally know mee and those also that did not they that had heard any thing eyther from me or of me but their care ouer-heares not my heart where-euer or what-euer I be They are desirous therefore to heare mee confesse what I am within whither neyther their eye nor eare nor vnderstanding is able to diue yet doe they desire it though they bee tyed to beleeue mee not able to know me because that Clarity by which they are made good sayes vnto them that I would neuer belye my selfe in my Confessions And t is that Charity in them which giues credit to me CHAP. 4. Of the great fruite of Confession 1. BVt to what end would they heare this doe they desire to congratulate with mee when as they shall heare how neere by thy grace I am now come vnto thee and to pray for mee when shall they once heare how much I am cast behind by mine owne heauinesse To such will I discouer my selfe for it is no meane fruite O Lord my God to cause many to me thankes vnto thee and bee intreated for vs by many Let the friendly minde of my brethren loue that in mee which thou teachest is to bee loued and lament in me what thou teachest is to be lamented Let the minde of my brethren not that of the stranger not that of the Strange children whose mouth talketh of vanity and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity but that of my brethren who when they approue of mee doe also reioyce for mee and when they disallow mee are sory for me because that whether they allow or disallow me yet still they loue me To such will I discouer my selfe they will haue a respect to my good deedes and sigh for my ill My good deedes are thine appoyntments and thy gifts my euill ones are my owne faults and thy iudgements Let them receiue comfort by the one and sigh at the other Let now both thanks-giuing and bewailing ascend vp into thy sight out of the hearts of my brethren which are thy Censers 2. And when thou O Lord art once delighted with the Incense of thy holy Temple haue mercy vpon me according to thy great mercy for thine owne names sake and at no hand giuing ouer what thou hast begunne in mee finish vp what is imperfect This is the fruit of my Confessions not of what I haue beene but of what I am namely to confesse this not before thee onely in a secret reioycing mixed with trembling and in a priuate sorrow fulnes allayed with hope but in the cares also of the beleeuing sonnes of men sharers of my ioy and partners in mortality with mee my fellow Citizens and fellow Pilgrimes both those that are gone before and those that are to follow after mee and those too that accompany mee along in this life 3. These are thy seruants my brethren those whom thou willest to be thy sonnes my masters whom thou commandedst mee to serue if I would liue with thee But this thy saying were to little purpose did it giue the command onely by speaking and not goe before mee in performing This therefore I now doe both in deede and word this I doe vnder thy wings and that with too much danger were not my soule sheltred vnder thy wings and my infirmity knowne vnto thee I am but a little one but my Father liueth for euer and my Protector is fit for mee For t is the very same hee that begat me and that defends meet for thou thy selfe art all my goods euen thou O omnipotent who art present with me and that before I am come vnto thee To such therefore will I discouer my selfe whom thou commandest mee to serue not discouering what I haue beene but what I now am and what I am yet But I will not iudge my selfe Thus therefore let mee be heard CHAP. 5. That man knoweth not himselfe throughly and knowes not God but in a glasse darkely 1. BVt thou O Lord doest iudge me because that although No man knowes the things of a man but the spirit of man which is in him Yet is there some thing of man which the very spirit of man that is in him knoweth not But thou knowest all of him who hast made him As for me though in thy sight I despise my selfe accounting my selfe but dust and ashes yet know I something of thee which I know not of my selfe For surely now wee see thorough a glasse darkely not face to face as yet so long therefore as I bee absent from thee I am neerer vnto my selfe then vnto thee and yet know I thee not possible to be any wayes violated whereas for my selfe I neyther know what temptations I am able to resist or what I am not 2. But there is hope because thou art faithfull who wilt not suffer vs to bee tempted aboue that wee are able but wilt with the temptation also make a way to escape that we may be able to beare it I will confesse therfore what I know by my selfe I will confesse yea and what I know not And that because what I doe know by my selfe by thy shewing it mee I come to know it and what I know not by my selfe I am so long ignorant of vntill my darkenesse bee made as the Noone-day in thy sight CHAP. 6. What God is and how knowne 1. NOt out of a doubtfull but with a certayne conscience doe I loue thee O Lord Thou hast strucken my heart with thy word therupon I loued thee Yea also the heauen