{"id":"01KJR8Q69Y34B0NPHM06QPQBAC","cid":"bafkreicfvc6ggvrrsex2m6epfhd7lwkcsxdwwqqe4cll4bece7tsdofoam","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":86053,"char_start":78216,"chunk_index":11,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":1960,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"it presides, flow not evenly, because they are times. But men whose days\r\nare few upon the earth, for that by their senses they cannot harmonise\r\nthe causes of things in former ages and other nations, which they had\r\nnot experience of, with these which they have experience of, whereas in\r\none and the same body, day, or family, they easily see what is fitting\r\nfor each member, and season, part, and person; to the one they take\r\nexceptions, to the other they submit.\r\n\r\nThese things I then knew not, nor observed; they struck my sight on all\r\nsides, and I saw them not. I indited verses, in which I might not place\r\nevery foot every where, but differently in different metres; nor even in\r\nany one metre the self-same foot in all places. Yet the art itself, by\r\nwhich I indited, had not different principles for these different cases,\r\nbut comprised all in one. Still I saw not how that righteousness, which\r\ngood and holy men obeyed, did far more excellently and sublimely contain\r\nin one all those things which God commanded, and in no part varied;\r\nalthough in varying times it prescribed not every thing at once, but\r\napportioned and enjoined what was fit for each. And I in my blindness,\r\ncensured the holy Fathers, not only wherein they made use of things\r\npresent as God commanded and inspired them, but also wherein they were\r\nforetelling things to come, as God was revealing in them.\r\n\r\nCan it at any time or place be unjust to love God with all his heart,\r\nwith all his soul, and with all his mind; and his neighbour as himself?\r\nTherefore are those foul offences which be against nature, to be every\r\nwhere and at all times detested and punished; such as were those of the\r\nmen of Sodom: which should all nations commit, they should all stand\r\nguilty of the same crime, by the law of God, which hath not so made men\r\nthat they should so abuse one another. For even that intercourse which\r\nshould be between God and us is violated, when that same nature, of\r\nwhich He is Author, is polluted by perversity of lust. But those\r\nactions which are offences against the customs of men, are to be avoided\r\naccording to the customs severally prevailing; so that a thing agreed\r\nupon, and confirmed, by custom or law of any city or nation, may not be\r\nviolated at the lawless pleasure of any, whether native or foreigner.\r\nFor any part which harmoniseth not with its whole, is offensive. But\r\nwhen God commands a thing to be done, against the customs or compact of\r\nany people, though it were never by them done heretofore, it is to be\r\ndone; and if intermitted, it is to be restored; and if never ordained,\r\nis now to be ordained. For lawful if it be for a king, in the state\r\nwhich he reigns over, to command that which no one before him, nor he\r\nhimself heretofore, had commanded, and to obey him cannot be against the\r\ncommon weal of the state (nay, it were against it if he were not obeyed,\r\nfor to obey princes is a general compact of human society); how much\r\nmore unhesitatingly ought we to obey God, in all which He commands, the\r\nRuler of all His creatures! For as among the powers in man's society,\r\nthe greater authority is obeyed in preference to the lesser, so must God\r\nabove all.\r\n\r\nSo in acts of violence, where there is a wish to hurt, whether by\r\nreproach or injury; and these either for revenge, as one enemy against\r\nanother; or for some profit belonging to another, as the robber to\r\nthe traveller; or to avoid some evil, as towards one who is feared; or\r\nthrough envy, as one less fortunate to one more so, or one well thriven\r\nin any thing, to him whose being on a par with himself he fears, or\r\ngrieves at, or for the mere pleasure at another's pain, as spectators\r\nof gladiators, or deriders and mockers of others. These be the heads\r\nof iniquity which spring from the lust of the flesh, of the eye, or of\r\nrule, either singly, or two combined, or all together; and so do men\r\nlive ill against the three, and seven, that psaltery of ten strings,\r\nThy Ten Commandments, O God, most high, and most sweet. But what foul\r\noffences can there be against Thee, who canst not be defiled? or\r\nwhat acts of violence against Thee, who canst not be harmed? But Thou\r\navengest what men commit against themselves, seeing also when they sin\r\nagainst Thee, they do wickedly against their own souls, and iniquity\r\ngives itself the lie, by corrupting and perverting their nature, which\r\nThou hast created and ordained, or by an immoderate use of things\r\nallowed, or in burning in things unallowed, to that use which is against\r\nnature; or are found guilty, raging with heart and tongue against Thee,\r\nkicking against the pricks; or when, bursting the pale of human society,\r\nthey boldly joy in self-willed combinations or divisions, according as\r\nthey have any object to gain or subject of offence. And these things are\r\ndone when Thou art forsaken, O Fountain of Life, who art the only and\r\ntrue Creator and Governor of the Universe, and by a self-willed pride,\r\nany one false thing is selected therefrom and loved. So then by a\r\nhumble devoutness we return to Thee; and Thou cleansest us from our\r\nevil habits, and art merciful to their sins who confess, and hearest the\r\ngroaning of the prisoner, and loosest us from the chains which we made\r\nfor ourselves, if we lift not up against Thee the horns of an unreal\r\nliberty, suffering the loss of all, through covetousness of more, by\r\nloving more our own private good than Thee, the Good of all.\r\n\r\nAmidst these offences of foulness and violence, and so many iniquities,\r\nare sins of men, who are on the whole making proficiency; which by those\r\nthat judge rightly, are, after the rule of perfection, discommended, yet\r\nthe persons commended, upon hope of future fruit, as in the green blade\r\nof growing corn. And there are some, resembling offences of foulness or\r\nviolence, which yet are no sins; because they offend neither Thee, our\r\nLord God, nor human society; when, namely, things fitting for a given\r\nperiod are obtained for the service of life, and we know not whether out\r\nof a lust of having; or when things are, for the sake of correction, by\r\nconstituted authority punished, and we know not whether out of a lust of\r\nhurting. Many an action then which in men's sight is disapproved, is\r\nby Thy testimony approved; and many, by men praised, are (Thou being\r\nwitness) condemned: because the show of the action, and the mind of the\r\ndoer, and the unknown exigency of the period, severally vary. But when\r\nThou on a sudden commandest an unwonted and unthought of thing, yea,\r\nalthough Thou hast sometime forbidden it, and still for the time hidest\r\nthe reason of Thy command, and it be against the ordinance of some\r\nsociety of men, who doubts but it is to be done, seeing that society\r\nof men is just which serves Thee? But blessed are they who know Thy\r\ncommands! For all things were done by Thy servants; either to show forth\r\nsomething needful for the present, or to foreshow things to come.\r\n\r\nThese things I being ignorant of, scoffed at those Thy holy servants and\r\nprophets. And what gained I by scoffing at them, but to be scoffed at by\r\nThee, being insensibly and step by step drawn on to those follies, as\r\nto believe that a fig-tree wept when it was plucked, and the tree, its\r\nmother, shed milky tears? Which fig notwithstanding (plucked by some\r\nother's, not his own, guilt) had some Manichaean saint eaten, and\r\nmingled with his bowels, he should breathe out of it angels, yea, there\r\nshall burst forth particles of divinity, at every moan or groan in his\r\nprayer, which particles of the most high and true God had remained bound\r\nin that fig, unless they had been set at liberty by the teeth or belly\r\nof some \"Elect\" saint! And I, miserable, believed that more mercy was\r\nto be shown to the fruits of the earth than men, for whom they were\r\ncreated."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8RBE420Z52P5C5FRBHSX6","peer_label":"god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"deity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:16.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RCXDKK4JMV2E4EDZVF16","peer_label":"augustine of hippo","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:16.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFBTHDF01QNNJ6J1PYKE","peer_label":"holy fathers","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_group","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:16.889Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFMBQ9MM6JWG5VGBV1SK","peer_label":"customs of 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