{"id":"01KJR8Q6CNYCSGM5Q7ZTFF6YDB","cid":"bafkreigfyisdg2rqfbu3fqvwn4dqb6arehq5zqyvs73itu2kkw5untbvua","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":221299,"char_start":213467,"chunk_index":30,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":1958,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"refused to fight with it? For, if they answered, 'it would have\r\ndone Thee some hurt,' then shouldest Thou be subject to injury and\r\ncorruption: but it could do Thee no hurt,' then was no reason brought\r\nfor Thy fighting with it; and fighting in such wise, as that a certain\r\nportion or member of Thee, or offspring of Thy very Substance, should be\r\nmingled with opposed powers, and natures not created by Thee, and be\r\nby them so far corrupted and changed to the worse, as to be turned\r\nfrom happiness into misery, and need assistance, whereby it might be\r\nextricated and purified; and that this offspring of Thy Substance was\r\nthe soul, which being enthralled, defiled, corrupted, Thy Word, free,\r\npure, and whole, might relieve; that Word itself being still corruptible\r\nbecause it was of one and the same Substance. So then, should they\r\naffirm Thee, whatsoever Thou art, that is, Thy Substance whereby\r\nThou art, to be incorruptible, then were all these sayings false and\r\nexecrable; but if corruptible, the very statement showed it to be false\r\nand revolting.\" This argument then of Nebridius sufficed against those\r\nwho deserved wholly to be vomited out of the overcharged stomach; for\r\nthey had no escape, without horrible blasphemy of heart and tongue, thus\r\nthinking and speaking of Thee.\r\n\r\nBut I also as yet, although I held and was firmly persuaded that Thou\r\nour Lord the true God, who madest not only our souls, but our bodies,\r\nand not only our souls and bodies, but all beings, and all things, wert\r\nundefilable and unalterable, and in no degree mutable; yet understood I\r\nnot, clearly and without difficulty, the cause of evil. And yet whatever\r\nit were, I perceived it was in such wise to be sought out, as should not\r\nconstrain me to believe the immutable God to be mutable, lest I should\r\nbecome that evil I was seeking out. I sought it out then, thus far free\r\nfrom anxiety, certain of the untruth of what these held, from whom I\r\nshrunk with my whole heart: for I saw, that through enquiring the origin\r\nof evil, they were filled with evil, in that they preferred to think\r\nthat Thy substance did suffer ill than their own did commit it.\r\n\r\nAnd I strained to perceive what I now heard, that free-will was the\r\ncause of our doing ill, and Thy just judgment of our suffering ill. But\r\nI was not able clearly to discern it. So then endeavouring to draw my\r\nsoul's vision out of that deep pit, I was again plunged therein, and\r\nendeavouring often, I was plunged back as often. But this raised me a\r\nlittle into Thy light, that I knew as well that I had a will, as that I\r\nlived: when then I did will or nill any thing, I was most sure that no\r\nother than myself did will and nill: and I all but saw that there\r\nwas the cause of my sin. But what I did against my will, I saw that\r\nI suffered rather than did, and I judged not to be my fault, but my\r\npunishment; whereby, however, holding Thee to be just, I speedily\r\nconfessed myself to be not unjustly punished. But again I said, Who made\r\nme? Did not my God, Who is not only good, but goodness itself? Whence\r\nthen came I to will evil and nill good, so that I am thus justly\r\npunished? who set this in me, and ingrafted into me this plant of\r\nbitterness, seeing I was wholly formed by my most sweet God? If the\r\ndevil were the author, whence is that same devil? And if he also by his\r\nown perverse will, of a good angel became a devil, whence, again, came\r\nin him that evil will whereby he became a devil, seeing the whole nature\r\nof angels was made by that most good Creator? By these thoughts I was\r\nagain sunk down and choked; yet not brought down to that hell of error\r\n(where no man confesseth unto Thee), to think rather that Thou dost\r\nsuffer ill, than that man doth it.\r\n\r\nFor I was in such wise striving to find out the rest, as one who had\r\nalready found that the incorruptible must needs be better than the\r\ncorruptible: and Thee therefore, whatsoever Thou wert, I confessed to\r\nbe incorruptible. For never soul was, nor shall be, able to conceive any\r\nthing which may be better than Thou, who art the sovereign and the\r\nbest good. But since most truly and certainly, the incorruptible is\r\npreferable to the corruptible (as I did now prefer it), then, wert Thou\r\nnot incorruptible, I could in thought have arrived at something better\r\nthan my God. Where then I saw the incorruptible to be preferable to the\r\ncorruptible, there ought I to seek for Thee, and there observe \"wherein\r\nevil itself was\"; that is, whence corruption comes, by which Thy\r\nsubstance can by no means be impaired. For corruption does no ways\r\nimpair our God; by no will, by no necessity, by no unlooked-for chance:\r\nbecause He is God, and what He wills is good, and Himself is that\r\ngood; but to be corrupted is not good. Nor art Thou against Thy will\r\nconstrained to any thing, since Thy will is not greater than Thy power.\r\nBut greater should it be, were Thyself greater than Thyself. For the\r\nwill and power of God is God Himself. And what can be unlooked-for by\r\nThee, Who knowest all things? Nor is there any nature in things, but\r\nThou knowest it. And what should we more say, \"why that substance which\r\nGod is should not be corruptible,\" seeing if it were so, it should not\r\nbe God?\r\n\r\nAnd I sought \"whence is evil,\" and sought in an evil way; and saw not\r\nthe evil in my very search. I set now before the sight of my spirit\r\nthe whole creation, whatsoever we can see therein (as sea, earth, air,\r\nstars, trees, mortal creatures); yea, and whatever in it we do not see,\r\nas the firmament of heaven, all angels moreover, and all the spiritual\r\ninhabitants thereof. But these very beings, as though they were\r\nbodies, did my fancy dispose in place, and I made one great mass of Thy\r\ncreation, distinguished as to the kinds of bodies; some, real bodies,\r\nsome, what myself had feigned for spirits. And this mass I made huge,\r\nnot as it was (which I could not know), but as I thought convenient, yet\r\nevery way finite. But Thee, O Lord, I imagined on every part environing\r\nand penetrating it, though every way infinite: as if there were a sea,\r\nevery where, and on every side, through unmeasured space, one only\r\nboundless sea, and it contained within it some sponge, huge, but\r\nbounded; that sponge must needs, in all its parts, be filled from that\r\nunmeasurable sea: so conceived I Thy creation, itself finite, full of\r\nThee, the Infinite; and I said, Behold God, and behold what God hath\r\ncreated; and God is good, yea, most mightily and incomparably better\r\nthan all these: but yet He, the Good, created them good; and see how\r\nHe environeth and fulfils them. Where is evil then, and whence, and how\r\ncrept it in hither? What is its root, and what its seed? Or hath it no\r\nbeing? Why then fear we and avoid what is not? Or if we fear it idly,\r\nthen is that very fear evil, whereby the soul is thus idly goaded and\r\nracked. Yea, and so much a greater evil, as we have nothing to fear, and\r\nyet do fear. Therefore either is that evil which we fear, or else evil\r\nis, that we fear. Whence is it then? seeing God, the Good, hath created\r\nall these things good. He indeed, the greater and chiefest Good, hath\r\ncreated these lesser goods; still both Creator and created, all are\r\ngood. Whence is evil? Or, was there some evil matter of which He made,\r\nand formed, and ordered it, yet left something in it which He did not\r\nconvert into good? Why so then? Had He no might to turn and change the\r\nwhole, so that no evil should remain in it, seeing He is All-mighty?\r\nLastly, why would He make any thing at all of it, and not rather by\r\nthe same All-mightiness cause it not to be at all? Or, could it then be\r\nagainst His will? Or if it were from eternity, why suffered He it so to\r\nbe for infinite spaces of times past, and was pleased so long after to\r\nmake something out of it?"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8RB14M0H2QPE7EC4PSWPY","peer_label":"nebridius","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8R5M8VXDW8Z6YHQTCPK14","peer_label":"god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RPQ9SKEPEPA0ENEEP7VB","peer_label":"augustine narrator","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RZP88GZRQP1M2GGE1BNM","peer_label":"soul","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNB3KJ5T6Y46235RVC1C","peer_label":"evil","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RCZ80BDH8YD7FT3DGK6T","peer_label":"sin","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S6JG8VSCT5YMGTTQ4HE8","peer_label":"punishment","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S6FR136SY0K18745BKKT","peer_label":"argument of nebridius","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_argument","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S6GTVB2C8YXN26G9WCF2","peer_label":"thy word","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S9R85RN90H62CH0A1N4Y","peer_label":"creation","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"cosmological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S6RDFJ32N0PW75MYZGPN","peer_label":"good angel","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S6GZZAXB7C6C950M1K2X","peer_label":"free-will","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S6Q1KRVVN6Z3NSC5MJ77","peer_label":"devil","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S9SGEYYQYVEKKNFEGXRG","peer_label":"those who believe god is corruptible","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group_of_people","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S9S2PP7E7ZD7M817KWF6","peer_label":"corruption","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SA8DE3D1NPQP1SCJNHT7","peer_label":"incorruptibility","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_attribute","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SAEXVJF3T8XJG9MND3A0","peer_label":"all-mightiness","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SBFWR4GM45PDDR51NPQ3","peer_label":"corruptibility","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_attribute","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:40.730Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:24.789Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:42.075Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}