Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions

16. Or who but Thou, our God, made for us that firmament1140 Gen. i. 6. of authority over us in Thy divine Scripture?1141 See sec. 33, below, and references there given. As it is said, For heaven shall be folded up like a scroll;1142 Isa. xxxiv. 4, and Rev. vi. 14. and now it is extended over us like a skin.1143 Ps. civ. 2; in the Vulg. being, “extendens cælum sicut pellem.” The LXX. agrees with the Vulg. in translating כַּיְרִיעָה, “as a curtain,” by “as a skin.” For Thy divine Scripture is of more sublime authority, since those mortals through whom Thou didst dispense it unto us underwent mortality. And Thou knowest, O Lord, Thou knowest, how Thou with skins didst clothe men1144 Gen. iii. 21. Skins he makes the emblems of mortality, as being taken from dead animals. See p. 112, note 8, above. when by sin they became mortal. Whence as a skin hast Thou stretched out the firmament of Thy Book;1145 That is, the firmament of Scripture was after man’s sin stretched over him as a parchment scroll,—stretched over him for his enlightenment by the ministry of mortal men. This idea is enlarged on in Ps. viii. 4, sec. 7, etc., xviii. sec. 2, xxxii. 6, 7, and cxlvi. 8, sec. 15. that is to say, Thy harmonious words, which by the ministry of mortals Thou hast spread over us. For by their very death is that solid firmament of authority in Thy discourses set forth by them more sublimely extended above all things that are under it, the which, while they were living here, was not so eminently extended.1146 We have the same idea in Ps. ciii. sec. 8: “Cum enim viverent nondum erat extenta pellis, nondum erat extentum cælum, ut tegeret orbem terrarum.” Thou hadst not as yet spread abroad the heaven like a skin; Thou hadst not as yet noised everywhere the report of their deaths.

17. Let us look, O Lord, “upon the heavens, the work of Thy fingers;”1147 Ps. viii. 3. clear from our eyes that mist with which Thou hast covered them. There is that testimony of Thine which giveth wisdom unto the little ones.1148 Ps. xix. 7. See p. 62, note 6, above. Perfect, O my God, Thy praise out of the mouth of babes and sucklings.1149 Ps. viii. 2. Nor have we known any other books so destructive to pride, so destructive to the enemy and the defender,1150 He alludes to the Manichæans. See notes, pp. 67, 81, and 87. who resisteth Thy reconciliation in defence of his own sins.1151 See part 2 of note 8 on p. 76, above. I know not, O Lord, I know not other such “pure”1152 Ps. xix. 8. words which so persuade me to confession, and make my neck submissive to Thy yoke, and invite me to serve Thee for nought. Let me understand these things, good Father. Grant this to me, placed under them; because Thou hast established these things for those placed under them.

18. Other “waters” there be “above” this “firmament,” I believe immortal, and removed from earthly corruption. Let them praise Thy Name,—those super-celestial people, Thine angels, who have no need to look up at this firmament, or by reading to attain the knowledge of Thy Word,—let them praise Thee. For they always behold Thy face,1153 Matt. xviii. 10. and therein read without any syllables in time what Thy eternal will willeth. They read, they choose, they love.1154 “Legunt, eligunt, et diligunt.” They are always reading; and that which they read never passeth away. For, by choosing and by loving, they read the very unchangeableness of Thy counsel. Their book is not closed, nor is the scroll folded up,1155 Isa. xxxiv. 4. because Thou Thyself art this to them, yea, and art so eternally; because Thou hast appointed them above this firmament, which Thou hast made firm over the weakness of the lower people, where they might look up and learn Thy mercy, announcing in time Thee who hast made times. “For Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.”1156 Ps. xxxvi. 5. The clouds pass away, but the heaven remaineth. The preachers of Thy Word pass away from this life into another; but Thy Scripture is spread abroad over the people, even to the end of the world. Yea, both heaven and earth shall pass away, but Thy Words shall not pass away.1157 Matt. xxiv. 35. Because the scroll shall be rolled together,1158 Isa. xxxiv. 4. and the grass over which it was spread shall with its goodliness pass away; but Thy Word remaineth for ever,1159 Isa. xl. 6–8. The law of storms, and that which regulates the motions of the stars or the ebbing and flowing of the tides, may change at the “end of the world.” But the moral law can know no change, for while the first is arbitrary, the second is absolute. On the difference between moral and natural law, see Candlish, Reason and Revelation, “Conscience and the Bible.” which now appeareth unto us in the dark image of the clouds, and through the glass of the heavens, not as it is;1160 1 Cor. xiii. 12. because we also, although we be the well-beloved of Thy Son, yet it hath not yet appeared what we shall be.1161 1 John iii. 2. He looketh through the lattice1162 Cant. ii. 9. of our flesh, and He is fair-speaking, and hath inflamed us, and we run after His odours.1163 Cant. i. 3. But “when He shall appear, then shall we be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”1164 1 John iii. 2. As He is, O Lord, shall we see Him, although the time be not yet.

CAPUT XV. Fiat firmamentum, etc., Gen. 1, 6. Quid firmamentum, quid superiores aquae.

16. Aut quis, nisi tu, Deus noster, fecisti nobis firmamentum auctoritatis super nos in Scriptura tua divina? Coelum enim plicabitur ut liber (Isai. XXIV, 4), 0852 et nunc sicut pellis extenditur super nos (Psal. CIII, 2). Sublimioris enim auctoritatis est tua divina Scriptura, cum jam obierunt istam mortem illi mortales, per quos eam dispensasti nobis. Et tu scis, Domine, tu scis quemadmodum pellibus indueris homines, cum peccato mortales fierent (Gen. III, 21). Unde sicut pellem extendisti firmamentum Libri tui, concordes utique sermones tuos, quos per mortalium ministerium superposuisti nobis. Namque ipsa eorum morte, solidamentum auctoritatis in eloquiis tuis per eos editis sublimiter extenditur super omnia quae subter sunt: quod cum hic viverent, non ita sublimiter extentum erat. Nondum sicut pellem coelum extenderas, nondum mortis eorum famam usquequaque dilataveras.

17. Videamus, Domine, coelos opera digitorum tuorum; disserena oculis nostris nubilum quo subtexisti eos. Ibi est testimonium tuum, sapientiam praestans parvulis (Psal. XVIII, 8). Perfice, Deus meus, laudem tuam ex ore infantium et lactentium. Neque enim novimus alios libros ita destruentes superbiam, ita destruentes inimicum et defensorem (Psal. VIII, 4, 3), resistentem reconciliationi tuae defendendo peccata sua. Non novi, Domine, non novi alia tam casta eloquia, quae sic mihi persuaderent confessionem, et lenirent cervicem meam jugo tuo, et invitarent colere te gratis. Intelligam ea, Pater bone; da mihi haec subterposito, quia subterpositis solidasti ea.

18. Sunt aliae aquae super hoc firmamentum, credo, immortales, et a terrena corruptione secretae. Laudent nomen tuum, laudent te supercoelestes populi Angelorum tuorum, qui non opus habent suspicere firmamentum hoc, et legendo cognoscere verbum tuum. Vident enim faciem tuam semper (Matth. XVIII, 10), et ibi legunt sine syllabis temporum, quid velit aeterna voluntas tua. Legunt, eligunt et diligunt; semper legunt, et nunquam praeterit quod legunt. Eligendo enim et diligendo legunt ipsam incommutabilitatem consilii tui. Non clauditur codex eorum, nec plicatur liber eorum; quia tu ipse illis hoc es, et es in aeternum: quia super hoc firmamentum ordinasti eos, quod firmasti super infirmitatem inferiorum populorum, ubi suspicerent et cognoscerent misericordiam tuam, temporaliter enuntiantem te, qui fecisti tempora. In coelo enim, Domine, misericordia tua, et veritas tua usque ad nubes (Psal. XXXV, 6). Transeunt nubes, coelum autem manet. Transeunt praedicatores verbi tui ex hac vita in aliam vitam; Scriptura vero tua usque in finem saeculi super populos extenditur. Sed et coelum et terra transibunt; sermones autem tui non transibunt (Matth. XXIV, 35): quoniam et pellis plicabitur, et fenum super quod extendebatur, cum claritate sua praeteriet; verbum autem tuum manet in aeternum (Isai. XL, 6); quod nunc in aenigmate nubium et per speculum coeli (I Cor. XIII, 12), non sicuti est apparet nobis; quia et nos quamvis 0853 Filio tuo dilecti simus, nondum apparuit quod erimus. Attendit per retia carnis, et blanditus est, et inflammavit, et cucurrimus post odorem ejus. Sed cum apparuerit, similes ei erimus, quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est (I Joan. III, 2): sicuti est, Domine, videre nostrum, quod nondum est nobis .