{"id":"01KJR8Q6JH08BQH8GGSAYC7JA4","cid":"bafkreieeooq5idtfaiklryyl76nphbqwmvlcmxeepjkrowaul2vxrpicxe","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":556199,"char_start":548200,"chunk_index":77,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":2000,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"Thyself art Thine own Blessedness.\r\n\r\nWhat then could be wanting unto Thy good, which Thou Thyself art,\r\nalthough these things had either never been, or remained without form;\r\nwhich thou madest, not out of any want, but out of the fulness of Thy\r\ngoodness, restraining them and converting them to form, not as though\r\nThy joy were fulfilled by them? For to Thee being perfect, is their\r\nimperfection displeasing, and hence were they perfected by Thee, and\r\nplease Thee; not as wert Thou imperfect, and by their perfecting wert\r\nalso to be perfected. For Thy good Spirit indeed was borne over the\r\nwaters, not borne up by them, as if He rested upon them. For those, on\r\nwhom Thy good Spirit is said to rest, He causes to rest in Himself. But\r\nThy incorruptible and unchangeable will, in itself all-sufficient for\r\nitself, was borne upon that life which Thou hadst created; to which,\r\nliving is not one with happy living, seeing it liveth also, ebbing and\r\nflowing in its own darkness: for which it remaineth to be converted unto\r\nHim, by Whom it was made, and to live more and more by the fountain\r\nof life, and in His light to see light, and to be perfected, and\r\nenlightened, and beautified.\r\n\r\nLo, now the Trinity appears unto me in a glass darkly, which is Thou my\r\nGod, because Thou, O Father, in Him Who is the Beginning of our wisdom,\r\nWhich is Thy Wisdom, born of Thyself, equal unto Thee and coeternal,\r\nthat is, in Thy Son, createdst heaven and earth. Much now have we said\r\nof the Heaven of heavens, and of the earth invisible and without form,\r\nand of the darksome deep, in reference to the wandering instability of\r\nits spiritual deformity, unless it had been converted unto Him, from\r\nWhom it had its then degree of life, and by His enlightening became a\r\nbeauteous life, and the heaven of that heaven, which was afterwards\r\nset between water and water. And under the name of God, I now held the\r\nFather, who made these things, and under the name of Beginning, the Son,\r\nin whom He made these things; and believing, as I did, my God as the\r\nTrinity, I searched further in His holy words, and lo, Thy Spirit moved\r\nupon the waters. Behold the Trinity, my God, Father, and Son, and Holy\r\nGhost, Creator of all creation.\r\n\r\nBut what was the cause, O true-speaking Light?--unto Thee lift I up my\r\nheart, let it not teach me vanities, dispel its darkness; and tell me, I\r\nbeseech Thee, by our mother charity, tell me the reason, I beseech Thee,\r\nwhy after the mention of heaven, and of the earth invisible and without\r\nform, and darkness upon the deep, Thy Scripture should then at length\r\nmention Thy Spirit? Was it because it was meet that the knowledge of Him\r\nshould be conveyed, as being \"borne above\"; and this could not be\r\nsaid, unless that were first mentioned, over which Thy Spirit may\r\nbe understood to have been borne. For neither was He borne above the\r\nFather, nor the Son, nor could He rightly be said to be borne above, if\r\nHe were borne over nothing. First then was that to be spoken of, over\r\nwhich He might be borne; and then He, whom it was meet not otherwise to\r\nbe spoken of than as being borne. But wherefore was it not meet that\r\nthe knowledge of Him should be conveyed otherwise, than as being borne\r\nabove?\r\n\r\nHence let him that is able, follow with his understanding Thy Apostle,\r\nwhere he thus speaks, Because Thy love is shed abroad in our hearts by\r\nthe Holy Ghost which is given unto us: and where concerning spiritual\r\ngifts, he teacheth and showeth unto us a more excellent way of charity;\r\nand where he bows his knee unto Thee for us, that we may know the\r\nsupereminent knowledge of the love of Christ. And therefore from the\r\nbeginning, was He borne supereminent above the waters. To whom shall I\r\nspeak this? how speak of the weight of evil desires, downwards to the\r\nsteep abyss; and how charity raises up again by Thy Spirit which was\r\nborne above the waters? to whom shall I speak it? how speak it? For it\r\nis not in space that we are merged and emerge. What can be more, and yet\r\nwhat less like? They be affections, they be loves; the uncleanness\r\nof our spirit flowing away downwards with the love of cares, and the\r\nholiness of Thine raising us upward by love of unanxious repose; that\r\nwe may lift our hearts unto Thee, where Thy Spirit is borne above the\r\nwaters; and come to that supereminent repose, when our soul shall have\r\npassed through the waters which yield no support.\r\n\r\nAngels fell away, man's soul fell away, and thereby pointed the abyss in\r\nthat dark depth, ready for the whole spiritual creation, hadst not Thou\r\nsaid from the beginning, Let there be light, and there had been light,\r\nand every obedient intelligence of Thy heavenly City had cleaved to\r\nThee, and rested in Thy Spirit, Which is borne unchangeably over every\r\nthing changeable. Otherwise, had even the heaven of heavens been in\r\nitself a darksome deep; but now it is light in the Lord. For even in\r\nthat miserable restlessness of the spirits, who fell away and discovered\r\ntheir own darkness, when bared of the clothing of Thy light, dost Thou\r\nsufficiently reveal how noble Thou madest the reasonable creature; to\r\nwhich nothing will suffice to yield a happy rest, less than Thee; and so\r\nnot even herself. For Thou, O our God, shalt lighten our darkness: from\r\nThee riseth our garment of light; and then shall our darkness be as\r\nthe noon day. Give Thyself unto me, O my God, restore Thyself unto me:\r\nbehold I love, and if it be too little, I would love more strongly. I\r\ncannot measure so as to know, how much love there yet lacketh to me, ere\r\nmy life may run into Thy embracements, nor turn away, until it be hidden\r\nin the hidden place of Thy Presence. This only I know, that woe is\r\nme except in Thee: not only without but within myself also; and all\r\nabundance, which is not my God, is emptiness to me.\r\n\r\nBut was not either the Father, or the Son, borne above the waters? if\r\nthis means, in space, like a body, then neither was the Holy Spirit;\r\nbut if the unchangeable supereminence of Divinity above all things\r\nchangeable, then were both Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost borne upon\r\nthe waters. Why then is this said of Thy Spirit only, why is it said\r\nonly of Him? As if He had been in place, Who is not in place, of Whom\r\nonly it is written, that He is Thy gift? In Thy Gift we rest; there we\r\nenjoy Thee. Our rest is our place. Love lifts us up thither, and Thy\r\ngood Spirit lifts up our lowliness from the gates of death. In Thy good\r\npleasure is our peace. The body by its own weight strives towards its\r\nown place. Weight makes not downward only, but to his own place. Fire\r\ntends upward, a stone downward. They are urged by their own weight,\r\nthey seek their own places. Oil poured below water, is raised above the\r\nwater; water poured upon oil, sinks below the oil. They are urged by\r\ntheir own weights to seek their own places. When out of their order,\r\nthey are restless; restored to order, they are at rest. My weight, is my\r\nlove; thereby am I borne, whithersoever I am borne. We are inflamed, by\r\nThy Gift we are kindled; and are carried upwards; we glow inwardly, and\r\ngo forwards. We ascend Thy ways that be in our heart, and sing a song of\r\ndegrees; we glow inwardly with Thy fire, with Thy good fire, and we go;\r\nbecause we go upwards to the peace of Jerusalem: for gladdened was I in\r\nthose who said unto me, We will go up to the house of the Lord. There\r\nhath Thy good pleasure placed us, that we may desire nothing else, but\r\nto abide there for ever.\r\n\r\nBlessed creature, which being itself other than Thou, has known no\r\nother condition, than that, so soon as it was made, it was, without\r\nany interval, by Thy Gift, Which is borne above every thing changeable,\r\nborne aloft by that calling whereby Thou saidst, Let there be light, and\r\nthere was light. Whereas in us this took place at different times, in\r\nthat we were darkness, and are made light: but of that is only said,\r\nwhat it would have been, had it not been enlightened."},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8R5M8VXDW8Z6YHQTCPK14","peer_label":"god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_being","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:10.776Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SKQ3FT207ZN6SC18CNES","peer_label":"trinity","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"theological_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:10.776Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8SWW43CXFPWN03C0B7JJA","peer_label":"scripture","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"religious_text","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:56:10.776Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8S0VM4YG0WW5A73VP4ZJ7","peer_label":"waters 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