The Learning Curve/The Learning Curve (Weird Science, 1996).iso/religion/augustine/book11

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     BOOK XI

     Lord, since eternity is Thine, art Thou ignorant of what I say to
   Thee? or dost Thou see in time, what passeth in time? Why then do I
   lay in order before Thee so many relations? Not, of a truth, that Thou
   mightest learn them through me, but to stir up mine own and my
   readers' devotions towards Thee, that we may all say, Great is the
   Lord, and greatly to be praised. I have said already; and again will
   say, for love of Thy love do I this. For we pray also, and yet Truth
   hath said, Your Father knoweth what you have need of, before you
   ask. It is then our affections which we lay open unto Thee, confessing
   our own miseries, and Thy mercies upon us, that Thou mayest free us
   wholly, since Thou hast begun, that we may cease to be wretched in
   ourselves, and be blessed in Thee; seeing Thou hast called us, to
   become poor in spirit, and meek, and mourners, and hungering and
   athirst after righteousness, and merciful, and pure in heart, and
   peace-makers. See, I have told Thee many things, as I could and as I
   would, because Thou first wouldest that I should confess unto Thee, my
   Lord God. For Thou art good, for Thy mercy endureth for ever.
     But how shall I suffice with the tongue of my pen to utter all Thy
   exhortations, and all Thy terrors, and comforts, and guidances,
   whereby Thou broughtest me to preach Thy Word, and dispense Thy
   Sacrament to Thy people? And if I suffice to utter them in order,
   the drops of time are precious with me; and long have I burned to
   meditate in Thy law, and therein to confess to Thee my skill and
   unskilfulness, the daybreak of Thy enlightening, and the remnants of
   my darkness, until infirmity be swallowed up by strength. And I
   would not have aught besides steal away those hours which I find
   free from the necessities of refreshing my body and the powers of my
   mind, and of the service which we owe to men, or which though we owe
   not, we yet pay.
     O Lord my god, give ear unto my prayer, and let Thy mercy hearken
   unto my desire: because it is anxious not for myself alone, but
   would serve brotherly charity; and Thou seest my heart, that so it is.
   I would sacrifice to Thee the service of my thought and tongue; do
   Thou give me, what I may offer Thee. For I am poor and needy, Thou
   rich to all that call upon Thee; Who, inaccessible to care, carest for
   us. Circumcise from all rashness and all lying both my inward and
   outward lips: let Thy Scriptures be my pure delights: let me not be
   deceived in them, nor deceive out of them. Lord, hearken and pity, O
   Lord my God, Light of the blind, and Strength of the weak; yea also
   Light of those that see, and Strength of the strong; hearken unto my
   soul, and hear it crying out of the depths. For if Thine ears be not
   with us in the depths also, whither shall we go? whither cry? The
   day is Thine, and the night is Thine; at Thy beck the moments flee by.
   Grant thereof a space for our meditations in the hidden things of
   Thy law, and close it not against us who knock. For not in vain
   wouldest Thou have the darksome secrets of so many pages written;
   nor are those forests without their harts which retire therein and
   range and walk; feed, lie down, and ruminate. Perfect me, O Lord,
   and reveal them unto me. Behold, Thy voice is my joy; Thy voice
   exceedeth the abundance of pleasures. Give what I love: for I do love;
   and this hast Thou given: forsake not Thy own gifts, nor despise Thy
   green herb that thirsteth. Let me confess unto Thee whatsoever I shall
   find in Thy books, and hear the voice of praise, and drink in Thee,
   and meditate on the wonderful things out of Thy law; even from the
   beginning, wherein Thou madest the heaven and the earth, unto the
   everlasting reigning of Thy holy city with Thee.
     Lord, have mercy on me, and hear my desire. For it is not, I deem,
   of the earth, not of gold and silver, and precious stones, or gorgeous
   apparel, or honours and offices, or the pleasures of the flesh, or
   necessaries for the body and for this life of our pilgrimage: all
   which shall be added unto those that seek Thy kingdom and Thy
   righteousness. Behold, O Lord my God, wherein is my desire. The wicked
   have told me of delights, but not such as Thy law, O Lord. Behold,
   wherein is my desire. Behold, Father, behold, and see and approve; and
   be it pleasing in the sight of Thy mercy, that I may find grace before
   Thee, that the inward parts of Thy words be opened to me knocking. I
   beseech by our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, the Man of Thy right hand,
   the Son of man, whom Thou hast established for Thyself, as Thy
   Mediator and ours, through Whom Thou soughtest us, not seeking Thee,
   but soughtest us, that we might seek Thee,- Thy Word, through Whom
   Thou madest all things, and among them, me also;- Thy Only-Begotten,
   through Whom Thou calledst to adoption the believing people, and
   therein me also;- I beseech Thee by Him, who sitteth at Thy right
   hand, and intercedeth with Thee for us, in Whom are hidden all the
   treasures of wisdom and knowledge. These do I seek in Thy books. Of
   Him did Moses write; this saith Himself; this saith the Truth.
     I would hear and understand, how "In the Beginning Thou madest the
   heaven and earth." Moses wrote this, wrote and departed, passed
   hence from Thee to Thee; nor is he now before me. For if he were, I
   would hold him and ask him, and beseech him by Thee to open these
   things unto me, and would lay the ears of my body to the sounds
   bursting out of his mouth. And should he speak Hebrew, in vain will it
   strike on my senses, nor would aught of it touch my mind; but if
   Latin, I should know what he said. But whence should I know, whether
   he spake truth? Yea, and if I knew this also, should I know it from
   him? Truly within me, within, in the chamber of my thoughts, Truth,
   neither Hebrew, nor Greek, nor Latin, nor barbarian, without organs of
   voice or tongue, or sound of syllables, would say, "It is truth,"
   and I forthwith should say confidently to that man of Thine, "thou
   sayest truly." Whereas then I cannot enquire of him, Thee, Thee I
   beseech, O Truth, full of Whom he spake truth, Thee, my God, I
   beseech, forgive my sins; and Thou, who gavest him Thy servant to
   speak these things, give to me also to understand them.
     Behold, the heavens and the earth are; they proclaim that they
   were created; for they change and vary. Whereas whatsoever hath not
   been made, and yet is, hath nothing in it, which before it had not;
   and this it is, to change and vary. They proclaim also, that they made
   not themselves; "therefore we are, because we have been made; we
   were not therefore, before we were, so as to make ourselves." Now
   the evidence of the thing, is the voice of the speakers. Thou
   therefore, Lord, madest them; who art beautiful, for they are
   beautiful; who art good, for they are good; who art, for they are; yet
   are they not beautiful nor good, nor are they, as Thou their Creator
   art; compared with Whom, they are neither beautiful, nor good, nor
   are. This we know, thanks be to Thee. And our knowledge, compared with
   Thy knowledge, is ignorance.
     But how didst Thou make the heaven and the earth? and what the
   engine of Thy so mighty fabric? For it was not as a human artificer,
   forming one body from another, according to the discretion of his
   mind, which can in some way invest with such a form, as it seeth in
   itself by its inward eye. And whence should he be able to do this,
   unless Thou hadst made that mind? and he invests with a form what
   already existeth, and hath a being, as clay, or stone, or wood, or
   gold, or the like. And whence should they be, hadst not Thou appointed
   them? Thou madest the artificer his body, Thou the mind commanding the
   limbs, Thou the matter whereof he makes any thing; Thou the
   apprehension whereby to take in his art, and see within what he doth
   without; Thou the sense of his body, whereby, as by an interpreter, he
   may from mind to matter, convey that which he doth, and report to
   his mind what is done; that it within may consult the truth, which
   presideth over itself, whether it be well done or no. All these praise
   Thee, the Creator of all. But how dost Thou make them? how, O God,
   didst Thou make heaven and earth? Verily, neither in the heaven, nor
   in the earth, didst Thou make heaven and earth; nor in the air, or
   waters, seeing these also belong to the heaven and the earth; nor in
   the whole world didst Thou make the whole world; because there was
   no place where to make it, before it was made, that it might be. Nor
   didst Thou hold any thing in Thy hand, whereof to make heaven and
   earth. For whence shouldest Thou have this, which Thou hadst not made,
   thereof to make any thing? For what is, but because Thou art?
   Therefore Thou spokest, and they were made, and in Thy Word Thou
   madest them.
     But how didst Thou speak? In the way that the voice came out of
   the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son? For that voice passed by
   and passed away, began and ended; the syllables sounded and passed
   away, the second after the first, the third after the second, and so
   forth in order, until the last after the rest, and silence after the
   last. Whence it is abundantly clear and plain that the motion of a
   creature expressed it, itself temporal, serving Thy eternal will.
   And these Thy words, created for a time, the outward ear reported to
   the intelligent soul, whose inward ear lay listening to Thy Eternal
   Word. But she compared these words sounding in time, with that Thy
   Eternal Word in silence, and said "It is different, far different.
   These words are far beneath me, nor are they, because they flee and
   pass away; but the Word of my Lord abideth above me for ever." If then
   in sounding and passing words Thou saidst that heaven and earth should
   be made, and so madest heaven and earth, there was a corporeal
   creature before heaven and earth, by whose motions in time that
   voice might take his course in time. But there was nought corporeal
   before heaven and earth; or if there were, surely Thou hadst,
   without such a passing voice, created that, whereof to make this
   passing voice, by which to say, Let the heaven and the earth be
   made. For whatsoever that were, whereof such a voice were made, unless
   by Thee it were made, it could not be at all. By what Word then
   didst Thou speak, that a body might be made, whereby these words again
   might be made?
     Thou callest us then to understand the Word, God, with Thee God,
   Which is spoken eternally, and by It are all things spoken
   eternally. For what was spoken was not spoken successively, one
   thing concluded that the next might be spoken, but all things together
   and eternally. Else have we time and change; and not a true eternity
   nor true immortality. This I know, O my God, and give thanks. I
   know, I confess to Thee, O Lord, and with me there knows and blesses
   Thee, whoso is not unthankful to assure Truth. We know, Lord, we know;
   since inasmuch as anything is not which was, and is, which was not, so
   far forth it dieth and ariseth. Nothing then of Thy Word doth give
   place or replace, because It is truly immortal and eternal. And
   therefore unto the Word coeternal with Thee Thou dost at once and
   eternally say all that Thou dost say; and whatever Thou sayest shall
   be made is made; nor dost Thou make, otherwise than by saying; and yet
   are not all things made together, or everlasting, which Thou makest by
   saying.
     Why, I beseech Thee, O Lord my God? I see it in a way; but how to
   express it, I know not, unless it be, that whatsoever begins to be,
   and leaves off to be, begins then, and leaves off then, when in Thy
   eternal Reason it is known, that it ought to begin or leave off; in
   which Reason nothing beginneth or leaveth off. This is Thy Word, which
   is also "the Beginning, because also It speaketh unto us." Thus in the
   Gospel He speaketh through the flesh; and this sounded outwardly in
   the ears of men; that it might be believed and sought inwardly, and
   found in the eternal Verity; where the good and only Master teacheth
   all His disciples. There, Lord, hear I Thy voice speaking unto me;
   because He speaketh us, who teacheth us; but He that teacheth us
   not, though He speaketh, to us He speaketh not. Who now teacheth us,
   but the unchangeable Truth? for even when we are admonished through
   a changeable creature; we are but led to the unchangeable Truth; where
   we learn truly, while we stand and hear Him, and rejoice greatly
   because of the Bridegroom's voice, restoring us to Him, from Whom we
   are. And therefore the Beginning, because unless It abided, there
   should not, when we went astray, be whither to return. But when we
   return from error, it is through knowing; and that we may know, He
   teacheth us, because He is the Beginning, and speaking unto us.
     In this Beginning, O God, hast Thou made heaven and earth, in Thy
   Word, in Thy Son, in Thy Power, in Thy Wisdom, in Thy Truth;
   wondrously speaking, and wondrously making. Who shall comprehend?
   Who declare it? What is that which gleams through me, and strikes my
   heart without hurting it; and I shudder and kindle? I shudder,
   inasmuch as I unlike it; I kindle, inasmuch as I am like it. It is
   Wisdom, Wisdom's self which gleameth through me; severing my
   cloudiness which yet again mantles over me, fainting from it,
   through the darkness which for my punishment gathers upon me. For my
   strength is brought down in need, so that I cannot support my
   blessings, till Thou, Lord, Who hast been gracious to all mine
   iniquities, shalt heal all my infirmities. For Thou shalt also
   redeem my life from corruption, and crown me with loving kindness
   and tender mercies, and shalt satisfy my desire with good things,
   because my youth shall be renewed like an eagle's. For in hope we
   are saved, wherefore we through patience wait for Thy promises. Let
   him that is able, hear Thee inwardly discoursing out of Thy oracle:
   I will boldly cry out, How wonderful are Thy works, O Lord, in
   Wisdom hast Thou made them all; and this Wisdom is the Beginning,
   and in that Beginning didst Thou make heaven and earth.
     Lo, are they not full of their old leaven, who say to us, "What
   was God doing before He made heaven and earth? For if (say they) He
   were unemployed and wrought not, why does He not also henceforth,
   and for ever, as He did heretofore? For did any new motion arise in
   God, and a new will to make a creature, which He had never before
   made, how then would that be a true eternity, where there ariseth a
   will, which was not? For the will of God is not a creature, but before
   the creature; seeing nothing could be created, unless the will of
   the Creator had preceded. The will of God then belongeth to His very
   Substance. And if aught have arisen in God's Substance, which before
   was not, that Substance cannot be truly called eternal. But if the
   will of God has been from eternity that the creature should be, why
   was not the creature also from eternity?"
     Who speak thus, do not yet understand Thee, O Wisdom of God, Light
   of souls, understand not yet how the things be made, which by Thee,
   and in Thee are made: yet they strive to comprehend things eternal,
   whilst their heart fluttereth between the motions of things past and
   to come, and is still unstable. Who shall hold it, and fix it, that it
   be settled awhile, and awhile catch the glory of that everfixed
   Eternity, and compare it with the times which are never fixed, and see
   that it cannot be compared; and that a long time cannot become long,
   but out of many motions passing by, which cannot be prolonged
   altogether; but that in the Eternal nothing passeth, but the whole
   is present; whereas no time is all at once present: and that all
   time past, is driven on by time to come, and all to come followeth
   upon the past; and all past and to come, is created, and flows out
   of that which is ever present? Who shall hold the heart of man, that
   it may stand still, and see how eternity ever still-standing,
   neither past nor to come, uttereth the times past and to come? Can
   my hand do this, or the hand of my mouth by speech bring about a thing
   so great?
     See, I answer him that asketh, "What did God before He made heaven
   and earth?" I answer not as one is said to have done merrily
   (eluding the pressure of the question), "He was preparing hell
   (saith he) for pryers into mysteries." It is one thing to answer
   enquiries, another to make sport of enquirers. So I answer not; for
   rather had I answer, "I know not," what I know not, than so as to
   raise a laugh at him who asketh deep things and gain praise for one
   who answereth false things. But I say that Thou, our God, art the
   Creator of every creature: and if by the name "heaven and earth,"
   every creature be understood; I boldly say, "that before God made
   heaven and earth, He did not make any thing." For if He made, what did
   He make but a creature? And would I knew whatsoever I desire to know
   to my profit, as I know, that no creature was made, before there was
   made any creature.
     But if any excursive brain rove over the images of forepassed times,
   and wonder that Thou the God Almighty and All-creating and
   All-supporting, Maker of heaven and earth, didst for innumerable
   ages forbear from so great a work, before Thou wouldest make it; let
   him awake and consider, that he wonders at false conceits. For
   whence could innumerable ages pass by, which Thou madest not, Thou the
   Author and Creator of all ages? or what times should there be, which
   were not made by Thee? or how should they pass by, if they never were?
   Seeing then Thou art the Creator of all times, if any time was
   before Thou madest heaven and earth, why say they that Thou didst
   forego working? For that very time didst Thou make, nor could times
   pass by, before Thou madest those times. But if before heaven and
   earth there was no time, why is it demanded, what Thou then didst? For
   there was no "then," when there was no time.
     Nor dost Thou by time, precede time: else shouldest Thou not precede
   all times. But Thou precedest all things past, by the sublimity of
   an ever-present eternity; and surpassest all future because they are
   future, and when they come, they shall be past; but Thou art the Same,
   and Thy years fail not. Thy years neither come nor go; whereas ours
   both come and go, that they all may come. Thy years stand together,
   because they do stand; nor are departing thrust out by coming years,
   for they pass not away; but ours shall all be, when they shall no more
   be. Thy years are one day; and Thy day is not daily, but To-day,
   seeing Thy To-day gives not place unto to-morrow, for neither doth
   it replace yesterday. Thy To-day, is Eternity; therefore didst Thou
   beget The Coeternal, to whom Thou saidst, This day have I begotten
   Thee. Thou hast made all things; and before all times Thou art:
   neither in any time was time not.
     At no time then hadst Thou not made any thing, because time itself
   Thou madest. And no times are coeternal with Thee, because Thou
   abidest; but if they abode, they should not be times. For what is
   time? Who can readily and briefly explain this? Who can even in
   thought comprehend it, so as to utter a word about it? But what in
   discourse do we mention more familiarly and knowingly, than time? And,
   we understand, when we speak of it; we understand also, when we hear
   it spoken of by another. What then is time? If no one asks me, I know:
   if I wish to explain it to one that asketh, I know not: yet I say
   boldly that I know, that if nothing passed away, time past were not;
   and if nothing were coming, a time to come were not; and if nothing
   were, time present were not. Those two times then, past and to come,
   how are they, seeing the past now is not, and that to come is not yet?
   But the present, should it always be present, and never pass into time
   past, verily it should not be time, but eternity. If time present
   (if it is to be time) only cometh into existence, because it passeth
   into time past, how can we say that either this is, whose cause of
   being is, that it shall not be; so, namely, that we cannot truly say
   that time is, but because it is tending not to be?
     And yet we say, "a long time" and "a short time"; still, only of
   time past or to come. A long time past (for example) we call an
   hundred years since; and a long time to come, an hundred years
   hence. But a short time past, we call (suppose) often days since;
   and a short time to come, often days hence. But in what sense is
   that long or short, which is not? For the past, is not now; and the
   future, is not yet. Let us not then say, "it is long"; but of the
   past, "it hath been long"; and of the future, "it will be long." O
   my Lord, my Light, shall not here also Thy Truth mock at man? For that
   past time which was long, was it long when it was now past, or when it
   was yet present? For then might it be long, when there was, what could
   be long; but when past, it was no longer; wherefore neither could that
   be long, which was not at all. Let us not then say, "time past hath
   been long": for we shall not find, what hath been long, seeing that
   since it was past, it is no more, but let us say, "that present time
   was long"; because, when it was present, it was long. For it had not
   yet passed away, so as not to be; and therefore there was, what
   could be long; but after it was past, that ceased also to be long,
   which ceased to be.
     Let us see then, thou soul of man, whether present time can be long:
   for to thee it is given to feel and to measure length of time. What
   wilt thou answer me? Are an hundred years, when present, a long
   time? See first, whether an hundred years can be present. For if the
   first of these years be now current, it is present, but the other
   ninety and nine are to come, and therefore are not yet, but if the
   second year be current, one is now past, another present, the rest
   to come. And so if we assume any middle year of this hundred to be
   present, all before it, are past; all after it, to come; wherefore
   an hundred years cannot be present. But see at least whether that
   one which is now current, itself is present; for if the current
   month be its first, the rest are to come; if the second, the first
   is already past, and the rest are not yet. Therefore, neither is the
   year now current present; and if not present as a whole, then is not
   the year present. For twelve months are a year; of which whatever by
   the current month is present; the rest past, or to come. Although
   neither is that current month present; but one day only; the rest
   being to come, if it be the first; past, if the last; if any of the
   middle, then amid past and to come.
     See how the present time, which alone we found could be called long,
   is abridged to the length scarce of one day. But let us examine that
   also; because neither is one day present as a whole. For it is made up
   of four and twenty hours of night and day: of which, the first hath
   the rest to come; the last hath them past; and any of the middle
   hath those before it past, those behind it to come. Yea, that one hour
   passeth away in flying particles. Whatsoever of it hath flown away, is
   past; whatsoever remaineth, is to come. If an instant of time be
   conceived, which cannot be divided into the smallest particles of
   moments, that alone is it, which may be called present. Which yet
   flies with such speed from future to past, as not to be lengthened out
   with the least stay. For if it be, it is divided into past and future.
   The present hath no space. Where then is the time, which we may call
   long? Is it to come? Of it we do not say, "it is long"; because it
   is not yet, so as to be long; but we say, "it will be long." When
   therefore will it be? For if even then, when it is yet to come, it
   shall not be long (because what can be long, as yet is not), and so it
   shall then be long, when from future which as yet is not, it shall
   begin now to be, and have become present, that so there should exist
   what may be long; then does time present cry out in the words above,
   that it cannot be long.
     And yet, Lord, we perceive intervals of times, and compare them, and
   say, some are shorter, and others longer. We measure also, how much
   longer or shorter this time is than that; and we answer, "This is
   double, or treble; and that, but once, or only just so much as
   that." But we measure times as they are passing, by perceiving them;
   but past, which now are not, or the future, which are not yet, who can
   measure? unless a man shall presume to say, that can be measured,
   which is not. When then time is passing, it may be perceived and
   measured; but when it is past, it cannot, because it is not.
     I ask, Father, I affirm not: O my God, rule and guide me. "Who
   will tell me that there are not three times (as we learned when
   boys, and taught boys), past, present, and future; but present only,
   because those two are not? Or are they also; and when from future it
   becometh present, doth it come out of some secret place; and so,
   when retiring, from present it becometh past? For where did they,
   who foretold things to come, see them, if as yet they be not? For that
   which is not, cannot be seen. And they who relate things past, could
   not relate them, if in mind they did not discern them, and if they
   were not, they could no way be discerned. Things then past and to
   come, are."
     Permit me, Lord, to seek further. O my hope, let not my purpose be
   confounded. For if times past and to come be, I would know where
   they be. Which yet if I cannot, yet I know, wherever they be, they are
   not there as future, or past, but present. For if there also they be
   future, they are not yet there; if there also they be past, they are
   no longer there. Wheresoever then is whatsoever is, it is only as
   present. Although when past facts are related, there are drawn out
   of the memory, not the things themselves which are past, but words
   which, conceived by the images of the things, they, in passing, have
   through the senses left as traces in the mind. Thus my childhood,
   which now is not, is in time past, which now is not: but now when I
   recall its image, and tell of it, I behold it in the present,
   because it is still in my memory. Whether there be a like cause of
   foretelling things to come also; that of things which as yet are
   not, the images may be perceived before, already existing, I
   confess, O my God, I know not. This indeed I know, that we generally
   think before on our future actions, and that that forethinking is
   present, but the action whereof we forethink is not yet, because it is
   to come. Which, when we have set upon, and have begun to do what we
   were forethinking, then shall that action be; because then it is no
   longer future, but present.
     Which way soever then this secret fore-perceiving of things to
   come be; that only can be seen, which is. But what now is, is not
   future, but present. When then things to come are said to be seen,
   it is not themselves which as yet are not (that is, which are to
   be), but their causes perchance or signs are seen, which already
   are. Therefore they are not future but present to those who now see
   that, from which the future, being foreconceived in the mind, is
   foretold. Which fore-conceptions again now are; and those who foretell
   those things, do behold the conceptions present before them. Let now
   the numerous variety of things furnish me some example. I behold the
   day-break, I foreshow, that the sun, is about to rise. What I
   behold, is present; what I foresignify, to come; not the sun, which
   already is; but the sun-rising, which is not yet. And yet did I not in
   my mind imagine the sun-rising itself (as now while I speak of it),
   I could not foretell it. But neither is that day-break which I discern
   in the sky, the sun-rising, although it goes before it; nor that
   imagination of my mind; which two are seen now present, that the other
   which is to be may be foretold. Future things then are not yet: and if
   they be not yet, they are not: and if they are not, they cannot be
   seen; yet foretold they may be from things present, which are already,
   and are seen.
     Thou then, Ruler of Thy creation, by what way dost Thou teach
   souls things to come? For Thou didst teach Thy Prophets. By what way
   dost Thou, to whom nothing is to come, teach things to come; or rather
   of the future, dost teach things present? For, what is not, neither
   can it be taught. Too far is this way of my ken: it is too mighty
   for me, I cannot attain unto it; but from Thee I can, when Thou
   shalt vouchsafe it, O sweet light of my hidden eyes.
     What now is clear and plain is, that neither things to come nor past
   are. Nor is it properly said, "there be three times, past, present,
   and to come": yet perchance it might be properly said, "there be three
   times; a present of things past, a present of things present, and a
   present of things future." For these three do exist in some sort, in
   the soul, but otherwhere do I not see them; present of things past,
   memory; present of things present, sight; present of things future,
   expectation. If thus we be permitted to speak, I see three times,
   and I confess there are three. Let it be said too, "there be three
   times, past, present, and to come": in our incorrect way. See, I
   object not, nor gainsay, nor find fault, if what is so said be but
   understood, that neither what is to be, now is, nor what is past.
   For but few things are there, which we speak properly, most things
   improperly; still the things intended are understood.
     I said then even now, we measure times as they pass, in order to
   be able to say, this time is twice so much as that one; or, this is
   just so much as that; and so of any other parts of time, which be
   measurable. Wherefore, as I said, we measure times as they pass. And
   if any should ask me, "How knowest thou?" I might answer, "I know,
   that we do measure, nor can we measure things that are not; and things
   past and to come, are not." But time present how do we measure, seeing
   it hath no space? It is measured while passing, but when it shall have
   passed, it is not measured; for there will be nothing to be
   measured. But whence, by what way, and whither passes it while it is a
   measuring? whence, but from the future? Which way, but through the
   present? whither, but into the past? From that therefore, which is not
   yet, through that, which hath no space, into that, which now is not.
   Yet what do we measure, if not time in some space? For we do not
   say, single, and double, and triple, and equal, or any other like
   way that we speak of time, except of spaces of times. In what space
   then do we measure time passing? In the future, whence it passeth
   through? But what is not yet, we measure not. Or in the present, by
   which it passes? but no space, we do not measure: or in the past, to
   which it passes? But neither do we measure that, which now is not.
     My soul is on fire to know this most intricate enigma. Shut it not
   up, O Lord my God, good Father; through Christ I beseech Thee, do
   not shut up these usual, yet hidden things, from my desire, that it be
   hindered from piercing into them; but let them dawn through Thy
   enlightening mercy, O Lord. Whom shall I enquire of concerning these
   things? and to whom shall I more fruitfully confess my ignorance, than
   to Thee, to Whom these my studies, so vehemently kindled toward Thy
   Scriptures, are not troublesome? Give what I love; for I do love,
   and this hast Thou given me. Give, Father, Who truly knowest to give
   good gifts unto Thy children. Give, because I have taken upon me to
   know, and trouble is before me until Thou openest it. By Christ I
   beseech Thee, in His Name, Holy of holies, let no man disturb me.
   For I believed, and therefore do I speak. This is my hope, for this do
   I live, that I may contemplate the delights of the Lord. Behold,
   Thou hast made my days old, and they pass away, and how, I know not.
   And we talk of time, and time, and times, and times, "How long time is
   it since he said this"; "how long time since he did this"; and "how
   long time since I saw that"; and "this syllable hath double time to
   that single short syllable." These words we speak, and these we
   hear, and are understood, and understand. Most manifest and ordinary
   they are, and the self-same things again are but too deeply hidden,
   and the discovery of them were new.
     I heard once from a learned man, that the motions of the sun,
   moon, and stars, constituted time, and I assented not. For why
   should not the motions of all bodies rather be times? Or, if the
   lights of heaven should cease, and a potter's wheel run round,
   should there be no time by which we might measure those whirlings, and
   say, that either it moved with equal pauses, or if it turned sometimes
   slower, otherwhiles quicker, that some rounds were longer, other
   shorter? Or, while we were saying this, should we not also be speaking
   in time? Or, should there in our words be some syllables short, others
   long, but because those sounded in a shorter time, these in a
   longer? God, grant to men to see in a small thing notices common to
   things great and small. The stars and lights of heaven, are also for
   signs, and for seasons, and for years, and for days; they are; yet
   neither should I say, that the going round of that wooden wheel was
   a day, nor yet he, that it was therefore no time.
     I desire to know the force and nature of time, by which we measure
   the motions of bodies, and say (for example) this motion is twice as
   long as that. For I ask, Seeing "day" denotes not the stay only of the
   sun upon the earth (according to which day is one thing, night
   another); but also its whole circuit from east to east again;
   according to which we say, "there passed so many days," the night
   being included when we say, "so many days," and the nights not
   reckoned apart;- seeing then a day is completed by the motion of the
   sun and by his circuit from east to east again, I ask, does the motion
   alone make the day, or the stay in which that motion is completed,
   or both? For if the first be the day; then should we have a day,
   although the sun should finish that course in so small a space of
   time, as one hour comes to. If the second, then should not that make a
   day, if between one sun-rise and another there were but so short a
   stay, as one hour comes to; but the sun must go four and twenty
   times about, to complete one day. If both, then neither could that
   be called a day; if the sun should run his whole round in the space of
   one hour; nor that, if, while the sun stood still, so much time should
   overpass, as the sun usually makes his whole course in, from morning
   to morning. I will not therefore now ask, what that is which is called
   day; but, what time is, whereby we, measuring the circuit of the
   sun, should say that it was finished in half the time it was wont,
   if so be it was finished in so small a space as twelve hours; and
   comparing both times, should call this a single time, that a double
   time; even supposing the sun to run his round from east to east,
   sometimes in that single, sometimes in that double time. Let no man
   then tell me, that the motions of the heavenly bodies constitute
   times, because, when at the prayer of one, the sun had stood still,
   till he could achieve his victorious battle, the sun stood still,
   but time went on. For in its own allotted space of time was that
   battle waged and ended. I perceive time then to be a certain
   extension. But do I perceive it, or seem to perceive it? Thou, Light
   and Truth, wilt show me.
     Dost Thou bid me assent, if any define time to be "motion of a
   body?" Thou dost not bid me. For that no body is moved, but in time, I
   hear; this Thou sayest; but that the motion of a body is time, I
   hear not; Thou sayest it not. For when a body is moved, I by time
   measure, how long it moveth, from the time it began to move until it
   left off? And if I did not see whence it began; and it continue to
   move so that I see not when it ends, I cannot measure, save
   perchance from the time I began, until I cease to see. And if I look
   long, I can only pronounce it to be a long time, but not how long;
   because when we say "how long," we do it by comparison; as, "this is
   as long as that," or "twice so long as that," or the like. But when we
   can mark the distances of the places, whence and whither goeth the
   body moved, or his parts, if it moved as in a lathe, then can we say
   precisely, in how much time the motion of that body or his part,
   from this place unto that, was finished. Seeing therefore the motion
   of a body is one thing, that by which we measure how long it is,
   another; who sees not, which of the two is rather to be called time?
   For and if a body be sometimes moved, sometimes stands still, then
   we measure, not his motion only, but his standing still too by time;
   and we say, "it stood still, as much as it moved"; or "it stood
   still twice or thrice so long as it moved"; or any other space which
   our measuring hath either ascertained, or guessed; more or less, as we
   use to say. Time then is not the motion of a body.
     And I confess to Thee, O Lord, that I yet know not what time is, and
   again I confess unto Thee, O Lord, that I know that I speak this in
   time, and that having long spoken of time, that very "long" is not
   long, but by the pause of time. How then know I this, seeing I know
   not what time is? or is it perchance that I know not how to express
   what I know? Woe is me, that do not even know, what I know not.
   Behold, O my God, before Thee I lie not; but as I speak, so is my
   heart. Thou shalt light my candle; Thou, O Lord my God, wilt enlighten
   my darkness.
     Does not my soul most truly confess unto Thee, that I do measure
   times? Do I then measure, O my God, and know not what I measure? I
   measure the motion of a body in time; and the time itself do I not
   measure? Or could I indeed measure the motion of a body how long it
   were, and in how long space it could come from this place to that,
   without measuring the time in which it is moved? This same time
   then, how do I measure? do we by a shorter time measure a longer, as
   by the space of a cubit, the space of a rood? for so indeed we seem by
   the space of a short syllable, to measure the space of a long
   syllable, and to say that this is double the other. Thus measure we
   the spaces of stanzas, by the spaces of the verses, and the spaces
   of the verses, by the spaces of the feet, and the spaces of the
   feet, by the spaces of the syllables, and the spaces of long, by the
   space of short syllables; not measuring by pages (for then we
   measure spaces, not times); but when we utter the words and they
   pass by, and we say "it is a long stanza, because composed of so
   many verses; long verses, because consisting of so many feet; long
   feet, because prolonged by so many syllables; a long syllable
   because double to a short one. But neither do we this way obtain any
   certain measure of time; because it may be, that a shorter verse,
   pronounced more fully, may take up more time than a longer, pronounced
   hurriedly. And so for a verse, a foot, a syllable. Whence it seemed to
   me, that time is nothing else than protraction; but of what, I know
   not; and I marvel, if it be not of the mind itself? For what, I
   beseech Thee, O my God, do I measure, when I say, either
   indefinitely "this is a longer time than that," or definitely "this is
   double that"? That I measure time, I know; and yet I measure not
   time to come, for it is not yet; nor present, because it is not
   protracted by any space; nor past, because it now is not. What then do
   I measure? Times passing, not past? for so I said.
     Courage, my mind, and press on mightily. God is our helper, He
   made us, and not we ourselves. Press on where truth begins to dawn.
   Suppose, now, the voice of a body begins to sound, and does sound, and
   sounds on, and list, it ceases; it is silence now, and that voice is
   past, and is no more a voice. Before it sounded, it was to come, and
   could not be measured, because as yet it was not, and now it cannot,
   because it is no longer. Then therefore while it sounded, it might;
   because there then was what might be measured. But yet even then it
   was not at a stay; for it was passing on, and passing away. Could it
   be measured the rather, for that? For while passing, it was being
   extended into some space of time, so that it might be measured,
   since the present hath no space. If therefore then it might, then, to,
   suppose another voice hath begun to sound, and still soundeth in one
   continued tenor without any interruption; let us measure it while it
   sounds; seeing when it hath left sounding, it will then be past, and
   nothing left to be measured; let us measure it verily, and tell how
   much it is. But it sounds still, nor can it be measured but from the
   instant it began in, unto the end it left in. For the very space
   between is the thing we measure, namely, from some beginning unto some
   end. Wherefore, a voice that is not yet ended, cannot be measured,
   so that it may be said how long, or short it is; nor can it be
   called equal to another, or double to a single, or the like. But
   when ended, it no longer is. How may it then be measured? And yet we
   measure times; but yet neither those which are not yet, nor those
   which no longer are, nor those which are not lengthened out by some
   pause, nor those which have no bounds. We measure neither times to
   come, nor past, nor present, nor passing; and yet we do measure times.
     "Deus Creator omnium," this verse of eight syllables alternates
   between short and long syllables. The four short then, the first,
   third, fifth, and seventh, are but single, in respect of the four
   long, the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth. Every one of these to
   every one of those, hath a double time: I pronounce them, report on
   them, and find it so, as one's plain sense perceives. By plain sense
   then, I measure a long syllable by a short, and I sensibly find it
   to have twice so much; but when one sounds after the other, if the
   former be short, the latter long, how shall I detain the short one,
   and how, measuring, shall I apply it to the long, that I may find this
   to have twice so much; seeing the long does not begin to sound, unless
   the short leaves sounding? And that very long one do I measure as
   present, seeing I measure it not till it be ended? Now his ending is
   his passing away. What then is it I measure? where is the short
   syllable by which I measure? where the long which I measure? Both have
   sounded, have flown, passed away, are no more; and yet I measure,
   and confidently answer (so far as is presumed on a practised sense)
   that as to space of time this syllable is but single, that double. And
   yet I could not do this, unless they were already past and ended. It
   is not then themselves, which now are not, that I measure, but
   something in my memory, which there remains fixed.
     It is in thee, my mind, that I measure times. Interrupt me not, that
   is, interrupt not thyself with the tumults of thy impressions. In thee
   I measure times; the impression, which things as they pass by cause in
   thee, remains even when they are gone; this it is which still present,
   I measure, not the things which pass by to make this impression.
   This I measure, when I measure times. Either then this is time, or I
   do not measure times. What when we measure silence, and say that
   this silence hath held as long time as did that voice? do we not
   stretch out our thought to the measure of a voice, as if it sounded,
   that so we may be able to report of the intervals of silence in a
   given space of time? For though both voice and tongue be still, yet in
   thought we go over poems, and verses, and any other discourse, or
   dimensions of motions, and report as to the spaces of times, how
   much this is in respect of that, no otherwise than if vocally we did
   pronounce them. If a man would utter a lengthened sound, and had
   settled in thought how long it should be, he hath in silence already
   gone through a space of time, and committing it to memory, begins to
   utter that speech, which sounds on, until it be brought unto the end
   proposed. Yea it hath sounded, and will sound; for so much of it as is
   finished, hath sounded already, and the rest will sound. And thus
   passeth it on, until the present intent conveys over the future into
   the past; the past increasing by the diminution of the future, until
   by the consumption of the future, all is past.
     But how is that future diminished or consumed, which as yet is
   not? or how that past increased, which is now no longer, save that
   in the mind which enacteth this, there be three things done? For it
   expects, it considers, it remembers; that so that which it
   expecteth, through that which it considereth, passeth into that
   which it remembereth. Who therefore denieth, that things to come are
   not as yet? and yet, there is in the mind an expectation of things
   to come. And who denies past things to be now no longer? and yet is
   there still in the mind a memory of things past. And who denieth the
   present time hath no space, because it passeth away in a moment? and
   yet our consideration continueth, through which that which shall be
   present proceedeth to become absent. It is not then future time,
   that is long, for as yet it is not: but a long future, is "a long
   expectation of the future," nor is it time past, which now is not,
   that is long; but a long past, is "a long memory of the past."
     I am about to repeat a Psalm that I know. Before I begin, my
   expectation is extended over the whole; but when I have begun, how
   much soever of it I shall separate off into the past, is extended
   along my memory; thus the life of this action of mine is divided
   between my memory as to what I have repeated, and expectation as to
   what I am about to repeat; but "consideration" is present with me,
   that through it what was future, may be conveyed over, so as to become
   past. Which the more it is done again and again, so much the more
   the expectation being shortened, is the memory enlarged: till the
   whole expectation be at length exhausted, when that whole action being
   ended, shall have passed into memory. And this which takes place in
   the whole Psalm, the same takes place in each several portion of it,
   and each several syllable; the same holds in that longer action,
   whereof this Psalm may be part; the same holds in the whole life of
   man, whereof all the actions of man are parts; the same holds
   through the whole age of the sons of men, whereof all the lives of men
   are parts.
     But because Thy loving-kindness is better than all lives, behold, my
   life is but a distraction, and Thy right hand upheld me, in my Lord
   the Son of man, the Mediator betwixt Thee, The One, and us many,
   many also through our manifold distractions amid many things, that
   by Him I may apprehend in Whom I have been apprehended, and may be
   re-collected from my old conversation, to follow The One, forgetting
   what is behind, and not distended but extended, not to things which
   shall be and shall pass away, but to those things which are before,
   not distractedly but intently, I follow on for the prize of my
   heavenly calling, where I may hear the voice of Thy praise, and
   contemplate Thy delights, neither to come, nor to pass away. But now
   are my years spent in mourning. And Thou, O Lord, art my comfort, my
   Father everlasting, but I have been severed amid times, whose order
   I know not; and my thoughts, even the inmost bowels of my soul, are
   rent and mangled with tumultuous varieties, until I flow together into
   Thee, purified and molten by the fire of Thy love.
     And now will I stand, and become firm in Thee, in my mould, Thy
   truth; nor will I endure the questions of men, who by a penal
   disease thirst for more than they can contain, and say, "what did
   God before He made heaven and earth?" Or, "How came it into His mind
   to make any thing, having never before made any thing?" Give them, O
   Lord, well to bethink themselves what they say, and to find, that
   "never" cannot be predicated, when "time" is not. This then that He is
   said "never to have made"; what else is it to say, than "in 'no have
   made?" Let them see therefore, that time cannot be without created
   being, and cease to speak that vanity. May they also be extended
   towards those things which are before; and understand Thee before
   all times, the eternal Creator of all times, and that no times be
   coeternal with Thee, nor any creature, even if there be any creature
   before all times.
     O Lord my God, what a depth is that recess of Thy mysteries, and how
   far from it have the consequences of my transgressions cast me! Heal
   mine eyes, that I may share the joy of Thy light. Certainly, if
   there be mind gifted with such vast knowledge and foreknowledge, as to
   know all things past and to come, as I know one well-known Psalm,
   truly that mind is passing wonderful, and fearfully amazing; in that
   nothing past, nothing to come in after-ages, is any more hidden from
   him, than when I sung that Psalm, was hidden from me what, and how
   much of it had passed away from the beginning, what, and how much
   there remained unto the end. But far be it that Thou the Creator of
   the Universe, the Creator of souls and bodies, far be it, that Thou
   shouldest in such wise know all things past and to come. Far, far more
   wonderfully, and far more mysteriously, dost Thou know them. For
   not, as the feelings of one who singeth what he knoweth, or heareth
   some well-known song, are through expectation of the words to come,
   and the remembering of those that are past, varied, and his senses
   divided, -not so doth any thing happen unto Thee, unchangeably
   eternal, that is, the eternal Creator of minds. Like then as Thou in
   the Beginning knewest the heaven and the earth, without any variety of
   Thy knowledge, so madest Thou in the Beginning heaven and earth,
   without any distraction of Thy action. Whoso understandeth, let him
   confess unto Thee; and whoso understandeth not, let him confess unto
   Thee. Oh how high art Thou, and yet the humble in heart are Thy
   dwelling-place; for Thou raisest up those that are bowed down, and
   they fall not, whose elevation Thou art.