{"id":"01KJR8Q6E2T3NFNDQ3T9BCW0W5","cid":"bafkreibyxane6ii6khh5brvamuuw77fvaieldoljobn75luoqq7alym3gy","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":356736,"char_start":348813,"chunk_index":49,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":1981,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"the more they are sorrowed for; and the more to be sorrowed for, the\r\nless men sorrow for them. For behold, Thou lovest the truth, and he that\r\ndoth it, cometh to the light. This would I do in my heart before Thee in\r\nconfession: and in my writing, before many witnesses.\r\n\r\nAnd from Thee, O Lord, unto whose eyes the abyss of man's conscience is\r\nnaked, what could be hidden in me though I would not confess it? For\r\nI should hide Thee from me, not me from Thee. But now, for that my\r\ngroaning is witness, that I am displeased with myself, Thou shinest out,\r\nand art pleasing, and beloved, and longed for; that I may be ashamed of\r\nmyself, and renounce myself, and choose Thee, and neither please Thee\r\nnor myself, but in Thee. To Thee therefore, O Lord, am I open, whatever\r\nI am; and with what fruit I confess unto Thee, I have said. Nor do I it\r\nwith words and sounds of the flesh, but with the words of my soul, and\r\nthe cry of the thought which Thy ear knoweth. For when I am evil, then\r\nto confess to Thee is nothing else than to be displeased with myself;\r\nbut when holy, nothing else than not to ascribe it to myself: because\r\nThou, O Lord, blessest the godly, but first Thou justifieth him when\r\nungodly. My confession then, O my God, in Thy sight, is made silently,\r\nand not silently. For in sound, it is silent; in affection, it cries\r\naloud. For neither do I utter any thing right unto men, which Thou hast\r\nnot before heard from me; nor dost Thou hear any such thing from me,\r\nwhich Thou hast not first said unto me.\r\n\r\nWhat then have I to do with men, that they should hear my\r\nconfessions--as if they could heal all my infirmities--a race, curious\r\nto know the lives of others, slothful to amend their own? Why seek they\r\nto hear from me what I am; who will not hear from Thee what themselves\r\nare? And how know they, when from myself they hear of myself, whether\r\nI say true; seeing no man knows what is in man, but the spirit of man\r\nwhich is in him? But if they hear from Thee of themselves, they cannot\r\nsay, \"The Lord lieth.\" For what is it to hear from Thee of themselves,\r\nbut to know themselves? and who knoweth and saith, \"It is false,\" unless\r\nhimself lieth? But because charity believeth all things (that is, among\r\nthose whom knitting unto itself it maketh one), I also, O Lord, will\r\nin such wise confess unto Thee, that men may hear, to whom I cannot\r\ndemonstrate whether I confess truly; yet they believe me, whose ears\r\ncharity openeth unto me.\r\n\r\nBut do Thou, my inmost Physician, make plain unto me what fruit I may\r\nreap by doing it. For the confessions of my past sins, which Thou hast\r\nforgiven and covered, that Thou mightest bless me in Thee, changing my\r\nsoul by Faith and Thy Sacrament, when read and heard, stir up the heart,\r\nthat it sleep not in despair and say \"I cannot,\" but awake in the love\r\nof Thy mercy and the sweetness of Thy grace, whereby whoso is weak, is\r\nstrong, when by it he became conscious of his own weakness. And the good\r\ndelight to hear of the past evils of such as are now freed from them,\r\nnot because they are evils, but because they have been and are not. With\r\nwhat fruit then, O Lord my God, to Whom my conscience daily confesseth,\r\ntrusting more in the hope of Thy mercy than in her own innocency,\r\nwith what fruit, I pray, do I by this book confess to men also in Thy\r\npresence what I now am, not what I have been? For that other fruit I\r\nhave seen and spoken of. But what I now am, at the very time of making\r\nthese confessions, divers desire to know, who have or have not known me,\r\nwho have heard from me or of me; but their ear is not at my heart where\r\nI am, whatever I am. They wish then to hear me confess what I am within;\r\nwhither neither their eye, nor ear, nor understanding can reach; they\r\nwish it, as ready to believe--but will they know? For charity, whereby\r\nthey are good, telleth them that in my confessions I lie not; and she in\r\nthem, believeth me.\r\n\r\nBut for what fruit would they hear this? Do they desire to joy with me,\r\nwhen they hear how near, by Thy gift, I approach unto Thee? and to pray\r\nfor me, when they shall hear how much I am held back by my own weight?\r\nTo such will I discover myself. For it is no mean fruit, O Lord my God,\r\nthat by many thanks should be given to Thee on our behalf, and Thou be\r\nby many entreated for us. Let the brotherly mind love in me what Thou\r\nteachest is to be loved, and lament in me what Thou teachest is to be\r\nlamented. Let a brotherly, not a stranger, mind, not that of the strange\r\nchildren, whose mouth talketh of vanity, and their right hand is a\r\nright hand of iniquity, but that brotherly mind which when it approveth,\r\nrejoiceth for me, and when it disapproveth me, is sorry for me; because\r\nwhether it approveth or disapproveth, it loveth me. To such will I\r\ndiscover myself: they will breathe freely at my good deeds, sigh for my\r\nill. My good deeds are Thine appointments, and Thy gifts; my evil ones\r\nare my offences, and Thy judgments. Let them breathe freely at the one,\r\nsigh at the other; and let hymns and weeping go up into Thy sight,\r\nout of the hearts of my brethren, Thy censers. And do Thou, O Lord,\r\nbe pleased with the incense of Thy holy temple, have mercy upon me\r\naccording to Thy great mercy for Thine own name's sake; and no ways\r\nforsaking what Thou hast begun, perfect my imperfections.\r\n\r\nThis is the fruit of my confessions of what I am, not of what I have\r\nbeen, to confess this, not before Thee only, in a secret exultation with\r\ntrembling, and a secret sorrow with hope; but in the ears also of the\r\nbelieving sons of men, sharers of my joy, and partners in my mortality,\r\nmy fellow-citizens, and fellow-pilgrims, who are gone before, or are to\r\nfollow on, companions of my way. These are Thy servants, my brethren,\r\nwhom Thou willest to be Thy sons; my masters, whom Thou commandest me to\r\nserve, if I would live with Thee, of Thee. But this Thy Word were little\r\ndid it only command by speaking, and not go before in performing. This\r\nthen I do in deed and word, this I do under Thy wings; in over great\r\nperil, were not my soul subdued unto Thee under Thy wings, and my\r\ninfirmity known unto Thee. I am a little one, but my Father ever liveth,\r\nand my Guardian is sufficient for me. For He is the same who begat me,\r\nand defends me: and Thou Thyself art all my good; Thou, Almighty,\r\nWho are with me, yea, before I am with Thee. To such then whom Thou\r\ncommandest me to serve will I discover, not what I have been, but what I\r\nnow am and what I yet am. But neither do I judge myself. Thus therefore\r\nI would be heard.\r\n\r\nFor Thou, Lord, dost judge me: because, although no man knoweth the\r\nthings of a man, but the spirit of a man which is in him, yet is there\r\nsomething of man, which neither the spirit of man that is in him, itself\r\nknoweth. But Thou, Lord, knowest all of him, Who hast made him. Yet I,\r\nthough in Thy sight I despise myself, and account myself dust and ashes;\r\nyet know I something of Thee, which I know not of myself. And truly,\r\nnow we see through a glass darkly, not face to face as yet. So long\r\ntherefore as I be absent from Thee, I am more present with myself than\r\nwith Thee; and yet know I Thee that Thou art in no ways passible; but I,\r\nwhat temptations I can resist, what I cannot, I know not. And there is\r\nhope, because Thou art faithful, Who wilt not suffer us to be tempted\r\nabove that we are able; but wilt with the temptation also make a way to\r\nescape, that we may be able to bear it. I will confess then what I\r\nknow of myself, I will confess also what I know not of myself. And that\r\nbecause what I do know of myself, I know by Thy shining upon me; and\r\nwhat I know not of myself, so long know I not it, until my darkness be\r\nmade as the noon-day in Thy countenance.\r\n\r\nNot with doubting, but with assured consciousness, do I love Thee, Lord.\r\nThou hast stricken my heart with Thy word, and I loved Thee."},"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":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RD2NFT9YY9Y8DW1AWFFS","peer_label":"narrator","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"person","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RX93WCBCRTYZX7SCWFCT","peer_label":"truth","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RB8F36T4GP3PAQ1X32AD","peer_label":"faith","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S06D5E294VEBMMG62QF1","peer_label":"charity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_virtue","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S04X3EA9FZA7CZCHZJ1R","peer_label":"confession spiritual practice","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_practice","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S04QZ5QX52K480016KQH","peer_label":"spirit of man","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S04A4TFH1QY8GM6M8VDR","peer_label":"mans conscience","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S04M7H8Y1BY6AK4W8PQW","peer_label":"humanity general","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"social_group","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S0TXX2ZM3QZHFR9210KR","peer_label":"sacrament","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_rite","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S07KSMX54HCDRRS1FMZM","peer_label":"past sins","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S0WQXH042C6APNYXNQB9","peer_label":"the confessions literary work","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"literary_work","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S0XZHCNBMM1V91ARGVCT","peer_label":"community of believers","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"spiritual_community","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S0Z3D5E17BP3SBMB9YE5","peer_label":"gods word","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:27.216Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:24.834Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:28.364Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}