Augustine in His Own Words
The Philosopher 59 meditation. I have translated here only about 1/3 of the Soliloquies prayer, which continues on in the same vein for some pages. Augustine was, at the time, still unbaptized, still a catechumen, and poured out, he admits, long prayers with great tears.46 From Soliloquies, Book 1:
(1.2) O God, founder of the universe, grant me, first, that I may pray well to you; next, that I may act worthily that you hear my plea; finally, that you may set me free. O God, through whom all things, which would not be in and of themselves, come into being; O God, who does not permit to perish even what is itself self-destructive; O God, who has created out of nothing this world, a world that every eye sees to be extraordinarily beautiful; O God, who does not do evil and does not let evil become the worst sort; O God, who, to those few who make their refuge in what truly is, shows that evil is nothing; O God, through whom the universe, even with its sinister side, is perfect; O God, by whose command the farthest discord is as nothing, since less perfect things harmonize with more perfect ones; O God, whom every being capable of loving, whether knowingly or unknowingly, loves; O God, in whom exist all things, yet the baseness of creatures does not debase You, nor does their wickedness harm You, nor their error deceive You; O God, who has willed that no one but the pure may know the truth; O God, Father of truth, Father of wisdom, Father of the true and highest life, Father of blessed happiness, Father of the good and the beautiful, Father of intelligible light, Father of our wakeful vigil and of our illumination, Father of the pledge by which we are admonished to return to You;
(1.3) You I invoke, O God the Truth in whom and by whom and through whom things that are true are true; O God the Wisdom in whom and by whom and through whom all those who are wise are wise; O God the True and Highest Life in whom and by whom and through whom all things that live truly and loftily live; O God the Blessed Happiness in whom and by whom and through whom all things that are blessedly happy are blessedly happy; O God the Good and Beautiful in whom and by whom and through whom all things that are good and beautiful are good and beautiful; O God, Intelligible Light in whom and by whom and through whom all those things that have intelligible light have intelligible light; O God, whose kingdom is a whole world unknown to sense; O God, from whose kingdom law is promulgated even into these [earthly] realms; O God, from whom to turn away is to fall, to whom to turn is to rise back up, in whom to abide is to stand firm; O God, from whom to depart is to die, to whom to return is to be revived, in whom to dwell is to live; O God, whom no one loses unless deceived,
46. De ordine 1.10.29 (CCL 29:104).