{"id":"01KJR8Q6CZXX4ZSJBR39X1HJ9T","cid":"bafkreiewb755l2kr7wrzmxphvcwcdugg4byuax5vntav5pedyfw2ix4to4","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":271141,"char_start":263177,"chunk_index":37,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":1991,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"be alarmed) to make his profession more privately: but he chose rather\r\nto profess his salvation in the presence of the holy multitude. \"For\r\nit was not salvation that he taught in rhetoric, and yet that he had\r\npublicly professed: how much less then ought he, when pronouncing Thy\r\nword, to dread Thy meek flock, who, when delivering his own words,\r\nhad not feared a mad multitude!\" When, then, he went up to make his\r\nprofession, all, as they knew him, whispered his name one to another\r\nwith the voice of congratulation. And who there knew him not? and there\r\nran a low murmur through all the mouths of the rejoicing multitude,\r\nVictorinus! Victorinus! Sudden was the burst of rapture, that they saw\r\nhim; suddenly were they hushed that they might hear him. He pronounced\r\nthe true faith with an excellent boldness, and all wished to draw him\r\ninto their very heart; yea by their love and joy they drew him thither,\r\nsuch were the hands wherewith they drew him.\r\n\r\nGood God! what takes place in man, that he should more rejoice at the\r\nsalvation of a soul despaired of, and freed from greater peril, than if\r\nthere had always been hope of him, or the danger had been less? For so\r\nThou also, merciful Father, dost more rejoice over one penitent than\r\nover ninety-nine just persons that need no repentance. And with much\r\njoyfulness do we hear, so often as we hear with what joy the sheep which\r\nhad strayed is brought back upon the shepherd's shoulder, and the groat\r\nis restored to Thy treasury, the neighbours rejoicing with the woman\r\nwho found it; and the joy of the solemn service of Thy house forceth\r\nto tears, when in Thy house it is read of Thy younger son, that he was\r\ndead, and liveth again; had been lost, and is found. For Thou rejoicest\r\nin us, and in Thy holy angels, holy through holy charity. For Thou art\r\never the same; for all things which abide not the same nor for ever,\r\nThou for ever knowest in the same way.\r\n\r\nWhat then takes place in the soul, when it is more delighted at finding\r\nor recovering the things it loves, than if it had ever had them? yea,\r\nand other things witness hereunto; and all things are full of witnesses,\r\ncrying out, \"So is it.\" The conquering commander triumpheth; yet had he\r\nnot conquered unless he had fought; and the more peril there was in the\r\nbattle, so much the more joy is there in the triumph. The storm tosses\r\nthe sailors, threatens shipwreck; all wax pale at approaching death;\r\nsky and sea are calmed, and they are exceeding joyed, as having been\r\nexceeding afraid. A friend is sick, and his pulse threatens danger; all\r\nwho long for his recovery are sick in mind with him. He is restored,\r\nthough as yet he walks not with his former strength; yet there is such\r\njoy, as was not, when before he walked sound and strong. Yea, the very\r\npleasures of human life men acquire by difficulties, not those only\r\nwhich fall upon us unlooked for, and against our wills, but even by\r\nself-chosen, and pleasure-seeking trouble. Eating and drinking have no\r\npleasure, unless there precede the pinching of hunger and thirst. Men,\r\ngiven to drink, eat certain salt meats, to procure a troublesome heat,\r\nwhich the drink allaying, causes pleasure. It is also ordered that the\r\naffianced bride should not at once be given, lest as a husband he should\r\nhold cheap whom, as betrothed, he sighed not after.\r\n\r\nThis law holds in foul and accursed joy; this in permitted and lawful\r\njoy; this in the very purest perfection of friendship; this, in him who\r\nwas dead, and lived again; had been lost and was found. Every where the\r\ngreater joy is ushered in by the greater pain. What means this, O Lord\r\nmy God, whereas Thou art everlastingly joy to Thyself, and some things\r\naround Thee evermore rejoice in Thee? What means this, that this portion\r\nof things thus ebbs and flows alternately displeased and reconciled?\r\nIs this their allotted measure? Is this all Thou hast assigned to them,\r\nwhereas from the highest heavens to the lowest earth, from the beginning\r\nof the world to the end of ages, from the angel to the worm, from the\r\nfirst motion to the last, Thou settest each in its place, and realisest\r\neach in their season, every thing good after its kind? Woe is me! how\r\nhigh art Thou in the highest, and how deep in the deepest! and Thou\r\nnever departest, and we scarcely return to Thee.\r\n\r\nUp, Lord, and do; stir us up, and recall us; kindle and draw us;\r\ninflame, grow sweet unto us, let us now love, let us run. Do not many,\r\nout of a deeper hell of blindness than Victorinus, return to Thee,\r\napproach, and are enlightened, receiving that Light, which they who\r\nreceive, receive power from Thee to become Thy sons? But if they be less\r\nknown to the nations, even they that know them, joy less for them. For\r\nwhen many joy together, each also has more exuberant joy for that they\r\nare kindled and inflamed one by the other. Again, because those known to\r\nmany, influence the more towards salvation, and lead the way with many\r\nto follow. And therefore do they also who preceded them much rejoice in\r\nthem, because they rejoice not in them alone. For far be it, that in Thy\r\ntabernacle the persons of the rich should be accepted before the poor,\r\nor the noble before the ignoble; seeing rather Thou hast chosen the weak\r\nthings of the world to confound the strong; and the base things of this\r\nworld, and the things despised hast Thou chosen, and those things which\r\nare not, that Thou mightest bring to nought things that are. And yet\r\neven that least of Thy apostles, by whose tongue Thou soundedst forth\r\nthese words, when through his warfare, Paulus the Proconsul, his pride\r\nconquered, was made to pass under the easy yoke of Thy Christ, and\r\nbecame a provincial of the great King; he also for his former name Saul,\r\nwas pleased to be called Paul, in testimony of so great a victory. For\r\nthe enemy is more overcome in one, of whom he hath more hold; by whom\r\nhe hath hold of more. But the proud he hath more hold of, through their\r\nnobility; and by them, of more through their authority. By how much the\r\nmore welcome then the heart of Victorinus was esteemed, which the devil\r\nhad held as an impregnable possession, the tongue of Victorinus,\r\nwith which mighty and keen weapon he had slain many; so much the more\r\nabundantly ought Thy sons to rejoice, for that our King hath bound the\r\nstrong man, and they saw his vessels taken from him and cleansed, and\r\nmade meet for Thy honour; and become serviceable for the Lord, unto\r\nevery good work.\r\n\r\nBut when that man of Thine, Simplicianus, related to me this of\r\nVictorinus, I was on fire to imitate him; for for this very end had\r\nhe related it. But when he had subjoined also, how in the days of the\r\nEmperor Julian a law was made, whereby Christians were forbidden to\r\nteach the liberal sciences or oratory; and how he, obeying this law,\r\nchose rather to give over the wordy school than Thy Word, by which\r\nThou makest eloquent the tongues of the dumb; he seemed to me not more\r\nresolute than blessed, in having thus found opportunity to wait on Thee\r\nonly. Which thing I was sighing for, bound as I was, not with another's\r\nirons, but by my own iron will. My will the enemy held, and thence had\r\nmade a chain for me, and bound me. For of a forward will, was a lust\r\nmade; and a lust served, became custom; and custom not resisted, became\r\nnecessity. By which links, as it were, joined together (whence I called\r\nit a chain) a hard bondage held me enthralled. But that new will which\r\nhad begun to be in me, freely to serve Thee, and to wish to enjoy Thee,\r\nO God, the only assured pleasantness, was not yet able to overcome my\r\nformer wilfulness, strengthened by age. Thus did my two wills, one new,\r\nand the other old, one carnal, the other spiritual, struggle within me;\r\nand by their discord, undid my soul.\r\n\r\nThus, I understood, by my own experience, what I had read, how the flesh\r\nlusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8RFNWG2X8T00NW85WN134","peer_label":"god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNSX95JMP2Y2HQYRXVTT","peer_label":"victorinus","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RXJ8GZHFHZ3YNXZ62TGA","peer_label":"apostle paul","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RPFFQNGQEAJM7Q3KS2KE","peer_label":"christ","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_figure","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S22MJB0X0Q10RWGZD5JF","peer_label":"devil","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RNKM9MXJJAK8NAEYP988","peer_label":"simplicianus","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RPPKYW47TDNV7M0J1MEJ","peer_label":"augustine","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SHYMBWXCCJQHEZHCC10Q","peer_label":"emperor julian","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJ0BJ50DP8RVJF9MTFRN","peer_label":"holy multitude","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"group","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SHYX0JHKXQ4GWT5X5GQM","peer_label":"salvation","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJ32F2F8ZERA7TGECD8K","peer_label":"true faith","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJS40A4B2RBNBE80B9QD","peer_label":"flesh biblical concept","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJ8BAX03T4JV494RZN3K","peer_label":"julians law","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"law","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJCRKYXX5A7Q9Q1FC6TB","peer_label":"liberal sciences","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"academic_field","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJV8ZVTSN0BT5BMG9QQJ","peer_label":"oratory","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"academic_field","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJWRHCRQDG2FXSWMR15T","peer_label":"chain of sin augustines","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"psychological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SK1DS5PBHDFT527E16WC","peer_label":"spirit biblical concept","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SK0NQKD2P7NCHMVV2EDD","peer_label":"paulus the proconsul","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SJY6EY5TB78PCN8GEEDH","peer_label":"augustines will","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"psychological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SKKQYG43KGB4R20MFF38","peer_label":"saul","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:46.534Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:24.799Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:47.653Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}