60. Conf. 5.1.1 (CCL 27:57); trans. Bourke, FOTC 21:101–2.
can hide himself from Your heat" (Ps 18:7). Rather, let my soul praise You so that it may love You, let it confess to You Your mercies so that it may praise You. Your whole creation never stops or grows silent in praising You—every spirit praises You through the mouth that is turned to You, and all animals and bodily things through the mouth of those who look upon them so that our soul springs up to You from its weakness, supported by those things which You have made, and passing over to You who have made these things so wonderfully (Ps 71:18). There, there is refreshment and true strength.60 (iii) Confession in Writing before Witnesses
From Confessions, Book 10:
(1.1) May I know You who know me. "Let me know You even as I am known" (1 Cor 13:12). O strength of my soul, go deep into it and make it fit for You that You may have it and possess it "without spot or wrinkle" (Eph 5:27). This is my hope and that is why I speak . . . "For behold You have loved truth" (Ps 50:8) since "the one who does the truth comes to the light" (Jn 3:21). I desire to do this in my heart before You in confession and in my writing before many witnesses.
(2.2) . . . Before You, then, O Lord, I stand open, whatever I may be. Of the fruit of confessing to You, I have already spoken. Nor am I doing it with fleshly words and speech, but with the words of the soul and the cry of my mind, words Your ear recognizes. For when I am bad, to confess to You is nothing but to be displeased with myself; when I am good, to confess to You is simply not to attribute this good to myself. For You, O Lord, bless the just, but then You first make the impious just. And so my confession, O my God, is made in silence to You in Your sight, yet not in silence. It may be silent in terms of audible sound, but it cries out loud in inner feeling. Nor do I say anything right to people that You have not first heard from me, nor do You hear any such things which You have not said to me first. 61 (iv) Confession of Faith by Interpreting Scripture
From Confessions, Book 11:
(1.1) Since eternity is Yours, O Lord, . . . why then do I tell You the detailed story of so many things? Certainly, not so that you can learn them through me. Rather, it is to stir up my feeling of love toward You and the feelings of
60. Conf. 5.1.1 (CCL 27:57); trans. Bourke, FOTC 21:101–2. 61. Conf. 10.1.1–2.2 (CCL 27:155); trans. Bourke, FOTC 21:263–64.