As for the
other ways in which I sought God's aid in my growth in
perseverance, you either know or can review them as you wish (PL,
45, c. 1025).
III. Letter to Darius (A.D. 429)
Thus, my son, take the books of my Confessions and use them
as a good man should -- not superficially, but as a Christian in
Christian charity. Here see me as I am and do not praise me for
more than I am. Here believe nothing else about me than my own
testimony. Here observe what I have been in myself and through
myself. And if something in me pleases you, here praise Him with
me -- him whom I desire to be praised on my account and not
myself. "For it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves."[5]
Indeed, we were ourselves quite lost; but he who made us, remade
us [sed qui fecit, refecit]. As, then, you find me in these
pages, pray for me that I shall not fail but that I may go on to
be perfected. Pray for me, my son, pray for me! (Epist. CCXXXI,
PL, 33, c. 1025).
The Confessions of Saint Augustine
BOOK ONE
In God's searching presence, Augustine undertakes to plumb
the depths of his memory to trace the mysterious pilgrimage of
grace which his life has been -- and to praise God for his
constant and omnipotent grace.
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