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| That Nothing Whatever, Short of God, Can Yield to the Rational Creature a Happy Rest.
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Chapter VIII.—That Nothing
Whatever, Short of God, Can Yield to the Rational Creature a Happy
Rest.
9. The angels fell, the soul of man fell1188
| 1188 We may note here that Augustin maintains the
existence of the relationship between these two events. He says in
his Enchiridion, c. xxix., that “the restored part of
humanity will fill up the gap which the rebellion and fall of the
devils had left in the company of the angels. For this is the
promise to the saints, that at the resurrection they shall be equal
to the angels of God (Luke xx. 36). And thus the Jerusalem which
is above, which is the mother of us all, the City of God, shall not
be spoiled of any of the number of her citizens, shall perhaps
reign over even a more abundant population.” He speaks to the
same effect at the close of ch. 1 of his De Civ. Dei, xxii.
This doctrine was enlarged upon by some of the writers of the
seventeenth century. | and they
have thus indicated the abyss in that dark deep, ready for the
whole spiritual creation, unless Thou hadst said from the
beginning, “Let there be light,” and there had been light, and
every obedient intelligence of Thy celestial City had cleaved to
Thee, and rested in Thy Spirit, which unchangeably is “borne
over” everything changeable. Otherwise, even the heaven of
heavens itself would have been a darksome deep, whereas now it is
light in the Lord. For even in that wretched restlessness of the
spirits who fell away, and, when unclothed of the garments of Thy
light, discovered their own darkness, dost Thou sufficiently
disclose how noble Thou hast made the rational creature; to which
nought which is inferior to Thee will suffice to yield a happy
rest,1189
| 1189 See his De Civ. Dei, xxii. 1, where he
beautifully compares sin to blindness, in that it makes us
miserable in depriving us of the sight of God. Also his De Cat.
Rud. sec. 24, where he shows that the restlessness and
changefulness of the world cannot give rest. Comp. p. 46, note 7,
above. | and so not
even herself. For Thou, O our God, shalt enlighten our darkness;1190
from Thee
are derived our garments of light,1191
and then shall our darkness be as
the noonday.1192
Give
Thyself unto me, O my God, restore Thyself unto me; behold, I love
Thee, and if it be too little, let me love Thee more strongly. I
cannot measure my love, so that I may come to know how much there
is yet wanting in me, ere my life run into Thy embracements, and
not be turned away until it be hidden in the secret place of Thy
Presence.1193
| 1193 Ps. xxxi. 20. “In abscondito vultus
tui,” Old Ver. Augustin in his comment on this passage
(Enarr. 4, sec. 8) gives us his interpretation. He points
out that the refuge of a particular place (e.g. the bosom of
Abraham) is not enough. We must have God with us here as our
refuge, and then we will be hidden in His countenance hereafter; or
in other words, if we receive Him into our heart now, He will
hereafter receive us into His countenance—Ille post hoc
seculum excipiet te vultu suo. For heaven is a prepared place
for a prepared people, and we must be fitted to live with Him there
by going to Him now, and this, to quote from his De Serm. Dom.
in Mon. i. 27, “not with a slow movement of the body, but
with the swift impulse of love.” | This only
I know, that woe is me except in Thee,—not only without, but even
also within myself; and all plenty which is not my God is poverty
to me.1194
| 1194 See p. 133, note 2, above. |
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