Let them breathe expansively
at the one and sigh over the other. And let hymns and tears
ascend in thy sight out of their brotherly hearts -- which are thy
censers.[326] And, O Lord, who takest delight in the incense of
thy holy temple, have mercy upon me according to thy great mercy,
for thy name's sake. And do not, on any account whatever, abandon
what thou hast begun in me. Go on, rather, to complete what is
yet imperfect in me.
6. This, then, is the fruit of my confessions (not of what I
was, but of what I am), that I may not confess this before thee
alone, in a secret exultation with trembling and a secret sorrow
with hope, but also in the ears of the believing sons of men --
who are the companions of my joy and sharers of my mortality, my
fellow citizens and fellow pilgrims -- those who have gone before
and those who are to follow after, as well as the comrades of my
present way. These are thy servants, my brothers, whom thou
desirest to be thy sons. They are my masters, whom thou hast
commanded me to serve if I desire to live with and in thee. But
this thy Word would mean little to me if it commanded in words
alone, without thy prevenient action.
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