{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/101/1010118.htm","path":"chr/ecf/101/1010118.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/101/1010118.htm","text":"Chapter X.\u2014Divine Things are the More Clearly Manifested to Him Who Withdraws into the Recesses of His Heart.\n16. And being thence warned to return to myself, I entered into my inward self, Thou leading me on; and I was able to do it, for Thou wert become my helper. And I entered, and with the eye of my soul (such as it was) saw above the same eye of my soul, above my mind, the Unchangeable Light. 529 Not this common light, which all flesh may look upon, nor, as it were, a greater one of the same kind, as though the brightness of this should be much more resplendent, and with its greatness fill up all things. Not like this was that light, but different, yea, very different from all these. Nor was it above my mind as oil is above water, nor as heaven above earth; but above it was, because it made me, and I below it, because I was made by it. He who knows the Truth knows that Light; and he that knows it knoweth eternity. Love knoweth it. O Eternal Truth, and true Love, and loved Eternity! 530 Thou art my God; to Thee do I sigh both night and day. When I first knew Thee, Thou liftedst me up, that I might see there was that which I might see, and that yet it was not I that did see. And Thou didst beat back the infirmity of my sight, pouring forth upon me most strongly Thy beams of light, and I trembled with love and fear; and I found myself to be far off from Thee, in the region of dissimilarity, as if I heard this voice of Thine from on high: \u201cI am the food of strong men; grow, and thou shalt feed upon me; nor shall thou convert me, like the food of thy flesh, into thee, but thou shall be converted into me.\u201d And I learned that Thou for iniquity dost correct man, and Thou dost make my soul to consume away like a spider. 531 And I said, \u201cIs Truth, therefore, nothing because it is neither diffused through space, finite, nor infinite?\u201d And Thou criedst to me from afar, \u201cYea, verily, \u2018I Am that I Am.\u2019\u201d 532 And I heard this, as things p. 110 are heard in the heart, nor was there room for doubt; and I should more readily doubt that I live than that Truth is not, which is \u201cclearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.\u201d 533\nNot the \u201ccorporeal brightness\u201d which as a Manichee he had believed in, and to which reference has been made in iii. secs. 10, 12, iv. sec. 3, and sec. 2, above. The Christian belief he indicates in his De Trin. viii. 2: \u201cGod is Light (1 John 1.5), not in such way that these eyes see, but in such way as the heart sees when it is said, \u2018He is Truth.\u2019\u201d See also note 1, sec. 23, above.\n109:530\nIf we knew not God, he says, we could not love Him (De Trin. viii. 12); but in language very similar to that above, he tells us \u201cwe are men, created in the image of our Creator, whose eternity is true, and whose truth is eternal; whose love is eternal and true, and who Himself is the eternal, true, and adorable Trinity, without confusion, without separation\u201d, (De Civ. Dei, xi. 28); God, then, as even the Platonists hold, being the principle of all knowledge. \u201cLet Him,\u201d he concludes, in his De Civ. Dei (viii. 4), \u201cbe sought in whom all things are secured to us, let Him be discovered in whom all truth becomes certain to us, let Him be loved in whom all becomes right to us.\u201d\n109:531\nPs. 39.11, Vulg.\n109:532\nEx. 3.14. Augustin, when in his De Civ. Dei (viii. 11, 12) he makes reference to this text, leans to the belief, from certain parallels between Plato\u2019s doctrines and those of the word of God, that he may have derived information concerning the Old Testament Scriptures from an interpreter when in Egypt. He says: \u201cThe most striking thing in this connection, and that which most of all inclines me almost to assent to the opinion that Plato was not ignorant of those writings, is the answer which was given to the question elicited from the holy Moses when the words of God were conveyed to him by the angel; for when he asked what was the name of that God who was commanding him to go and deliver the Hebrew people out of Egypt, this answer was given: \u2018I am who am; and thou shalt say to the children of Israel, He who is sent me unto you;\u2019 as though, compared with Him that truly is, because He is unchangeable, those things which have been created mutable are not,\u2014a truth which Plato vehemently held, and most diligently commended. And I know not whether this sentiment is anywhere to be found in the books of those who were before Plato, unless in that book where it is said, \u2018I am who am; and thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Who is sent me unto you.\u2019 But we need not determine from what source he learned these things,\u2014whether it was from the books of the ancients who preceded him or, as is more likely, from the words of the apostle (Rom. 1.20), \u2018Because that which is known of God has been manifested among them, for God hath manifested it to them. For His invisible things from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by those thing which have been made, also His eternal power and Godhead.\u2019\u201d\u2014De Civ. Dei, viii. 11, 12.\n110:533","title":"Nicene and Post Nicene-Fathers, Vol. I: The Confessions: ...","type":"page"}