{"id":"01KJR8Q6BTVQPAHVDQ4QEH13NM","cid":"bafkreicr3bttr6cjkv5mcw5knyuypodslgeirnkstxqywtnygybg3ja5ki","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":235691,"char_start":227812,"chunk_index":32,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":1970,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"same of Esau and Jacob, whereas the same happened not to them. Therefore\r\nhe must speak falsely; or if truly, then, looking into the same figures,\r\nhe must not give the same answer. Not by art, then, but by chance, would\r\nhe speak truly. For Thou, O Lord, most righteous Ruler of the Universe,\r\nwhile consulters and consulted know it not, dost by Thy hidden\r\ninspiration effect that the consulter should hear what, according to the\r\nhidden deservings of souls, he ought to hear, out of the unsearchable\r\ndepth of Thy just judgment, to Whom let no man say, What is this? Why\r\nthat? Let him not so say, for he is man.\r\n\r\nNow then, O my Helper, hadst Thou loosed me from those fetters: and I\r\nsought \"whence is evil,\" and found no way. But Thou sufferedst me not by\r\nany fluctuations of thought to be carried away from the Faith whereby I\r\nbelieved Thee both to be, and Thy substance to be unchangeable, and that\r\nThou hast a care of, and wouldest judge men, and that in Christ, Thy\r\nSon, Our Lord, and the holy Scriptures, which the authority of Thy\r\nCatholic Church pressed upon me, Thou hadst set the way of man's\r\nsalvation, to that life which is to be after this death. These things\r\nbeing safe and immovably settled in my mind, I sought anxiously \"whence\r\nwas evil?\" What were the pangs of my teeming heart, what groans, O my\r\nGod! yet even there were Thine ears open, and I knew it not; and when\r\nin silence I vehemently sought, those silent contritions of my soul were\r\nstrong cries unto Thy mercy. Thou knewest what I suffered, and no man.\r\nFor, what was that which was thence through my tongue distilled into the\r\nears of my most familiar friends? Did the whole tumult of my soul, for\r\nwhich neither time nor utterance sufficed, reach them? Yet went up the\r\nwhole to Thy hearing, all which I roared out from the groanings of my\r\nheart; and my desire was before Thee, and the light of mine eyes was not\r\nwith me: for that was within, I without: nor was that confined to place,\r\nbut I was intent on things contained in place, but there found I no\r\nresting-place, nor did they so receive me, that I could say, \"It is\r\nenough,\" \"it is well\": nor did they yet suffer me to turn back, where\r\nit might be well enough with me. For to these things was I superior, but\r\ninferior to Thee; and Thou art my true joy when subjected to Thee, and\r\nThou hadst subjected to me what Thou createdst below me. And this was\r\nthe true temperament, and middle region of my safety, to remain in\r\nThy Image, and by serving Thee, rule the body. But when I rose proudly\r\nagainst Thee, and ran against the Lord with my neck, with the thick\r\nbosses of my buckler, even these inferior things were set above me, and\r\npressed me down, and no where was there respite or space of breathing.\r\nThey met my sight on all sides by heaps and troops, and in thought the\r\nimages thereof presented themselves unsought, as I would return to\r\nThee, as if they would say unto me, \"Whither goest thou, unworthy\r\nand defiled?\" And these things had grown out of my wound; for Thou\r\n\"humbledst the proud like one that is wounded,\" and through my own\r\nswelling was I separated from Thee; yea, my pride-swollen face closed up\r\nmine eyes.\r\n\r\nBut Thou, Lord, abidest for ever, yet not for ever art Thou angry with\r\nus; because Thou pitiest our dust and ashes, and it was pleasing in Thy\r\nsight to reform my deformities; and by inward goads didst Thou rouse me,\r\nthat I should be ill at ease, until Thou wert manifested to my inward\r\nsight. Thus, by the secret hand of Thy medicining was my swelling\r\nabated, and the troubled and bedimmed eyesight of my mind, by the\r\nsmarting anointings of healthful sorrows, was from day to day healed.\r\n\r\nAnd Thou, willing first to show me how Thou resistest the proud, but\r\ngivest grace unto the humble, and by how great an act of Thy mercy Thou\r\nhadst traced out to men the way of humility, in that Thy Word was made\r\nflesh, and dwelt among men:--Thou procuredst for me, by means of one\r\npuffed up with most unnatural pride, certain books of the Platonists,\r\ntranslated from Greek into Latin. And therein I read, not indeed in the\r\nvery words, but to the very same purpose, enforced by many and divers\r\nreasons, that In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,\r\nand the Word was God: the Same was in the beginning with God: all things\r\nwere made by Him, and without Him was nothing made: that which was made\r\nby Him is life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth\r\nin the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. And that the soul\r\nof man, though it bears witness to the light, yet itself is not that\r\nlight; but the Word of God, being God, is that true light that lighteth\r\nevery man that cometh into the world. And that He was in the world, and\r\nthe world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. But, that He came\r\nunto His own, and His own received Him not; but as many as received Him,\r\nto them gave He power to become the sons of God, as many as believed in\r\nHis name; this I read not there.\r\n\r\nAgain I read there, that God the Word was born not of flesh nor of\r\nblood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God.\r\nBut that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, I read not there.\r\nFor I traced in those books that it was many and divers ways said, that\r\nthe Son was in the form of the Father, and thought it not robbery to be\r\nequal with God, for that naturally He was the Same Substance. But that\r\nHe emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the\r\nlikeness of men, and found in fashion as a man, humbled Himself, and\r\nbecame obedient unto death, and that the death of the cross: wherefore\r\nGod exalted Him from the dead, and gave Him a name above every name,\r\nthat at the name of Jesus every knee should how, of things in heaven,\r\nand things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue\r\nshould confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the\r\nFather; those books have not. For that before all times and above all\r\ntimes Thy Only-Begotten Son remaineth unchangeable, co-eternal with\r\nThee, and that of His fulness souls receive, that they may be blessed;\r\nand that by participation of wisdom abiding in them, they are renewed,\r\nso as to be wise, is there. But that in due time He died for the\r\nungodly; and that Thou sparedst not Thine Only Son, but deliveredst Him\r\nfor us all, is not there. For Thou hiddest these things from the wise,\r\nand revealedst them to babes; that they that labour and are heavy laden\r\nmight come unto Him, and He refresh them, because He is meek and lowly\r\nin heart; and the meek He directeth in judgment, and the gentle He\r\nteacheth His ways, beholding our lowliness and trouble, and forgiving\r\nall our sins. But such as are lifted up in the lofty walk of some\r\nwould-be sublimer learning, hear not Him, saying, Learn of Me, for I am\r\nmeek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls. Although\r\nthey knew God, yet they glorify Him not as God, nor are thankful,\r\nbut wax vain in their thoughts; and their foolish heart is darkened;\r\nprofessing that they were wise, they became fools.\r\n\r\nAnd therefore did I read there also, that they had changed the glory of\r\nThy incorruptible nature into idols and divers shapes, into the likeness\r\nof the image of corruptible man, and birds, and beasts, and creeping\r\nthings; namely, into that Egyptian food for which Esau lost his\r\nbirthright, for that Thy first-born people worshipped the head of a\r\nfour-footed beast instead of Thee; turning in heart back towards Egypt;\r\nand bowing Thy image, their own soul, before the image of a calf that\r\neateth hay. These things found I here, but I fed not on them. For it\r\npleased Thee, O Lord, to take away the reproach of diminution from\r\nJacob, that the elder should serve the younger: and Thou calledst the\r\nGentiles into Thine inheritance."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8S4RKB1SH7PWPEYD7E953","peer_label":"jacob","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"biblical_figure","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:55.929Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8R5M8VXDW8Z6YHQTCPK14","peer_label":"god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:55.929Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SGY41S26D4924TE7FY1Y","peer_label":"jesus christ","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_figure","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:55.929Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RCWCDQ2VA5D55QEMA3EV","peer_label":"catholic 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