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← The Confessions

Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men

The Confessions · Saint Augustine of Hippo

  1. Main text
  2. In God Alone is the Hope and Joy of Man.
  3. That All Things are Manifest to God. That Confession Unto Him is Not Made by the Words of the Flesh, But of the Soul, and the Cry of Reflection.
  4. He Who Confesseth Rightly Unto God Best Knoweth Himself.
  5. That in His Confessions He May Do Good, He Considers Others.
  6. That Man Knoweth Not Himself Wholly.
  7. The Love of God, in His Nature Superior to All Creatures, is Acquired by the Knowledge of the Senses and the Exercise of Reason.
  8. That God is to Be Found Neither from the Powers of the Body Nor of the Soul.
  9. Of the Nature and the Amazing Power of Memory.
  10. Not Only Things, But Also Literature and Images, are Taken from the Memory, and are Brought Forth by the Act of Remembering.
  11. Literature is Not Introduced to the Memory Through the Senses, But is Brought Forth from Its More Secret Places.
  12. What It is to Learn and to Think.
  13. On the Recollection of Things Mathematical.
  14. Memory Retains All Things.
  15. Concerning the Manner in Which Joy and Sadness May Be Brought Back to the Mind and Memory.
  16. In Memory There are Also Images of Things Which are Absent.
  17. The Privation of Memory is Forgetfulness.
  18. God Cannot Be Attained Unto by the Power of Memory, Which Beasts and Birds Possess.
  19. A Thing When Lost Could Not Be Found Unless It Were Retained in the Memory.
  20. What It is to Remember.
  21. We Should Not Seek for God and the Happy Life Unless We Had Known It.
  22. How a Happy Life May Be Retained in the Memory.
  23. A Happy Life is to Rejoice in God, and for God.
  24. All Wish to Rejoice in the Truth.
  25. He Who Finds Truth, Finds God.
  26. He is Glad that God Dwells in His Memory.
  27. God Everywhere Answers Those Who Take Counsel of Him.
  28. He Grieves that He Was So Long Without God.
  29. On the Misery of Human Life.
  30. All Hope is in the Mercy of God.
  31. Of the Perverse Images of Dreams, Which He Wishes to Have Taken Away.
  32. About to Speak of the Temptations of the Lust of the Flesh, He First Complains of the Lust of Eating and Drinking.
  33. Of the Charms of Perfumes Which are More Easily Overcome.
  34. He Overcame the Pleasures of the Ear, Although in the Church He Frequently Delighted in the Song, Not in the Thing Sung.
  35. Of the Very Dangerous Allurements of the Eyes; On Account of Beauty of Form, God, the Creator, is to Be Praised.
  36. Another Kind of Temptation is Curiosity, Which is Stimulated by the Lust of the Eyes.
  37. A Third Kind is ‘Pride’ Which is Pleasing to Man, Not to God.
  38. He is Forcibly Goaded on by the Love of Praise.
  39. Vain-Glory is the Highest Danger.
  40. Of the Vice of Those Who, While Pleasing Themselves, Displease God.
  41. The Only Safe Resting-Place for the Soul is to Be Found in God.
  42. Having Conquered His Triple Desire, He Arrives at Salvation.
  43. In What Manner Many Sought the Mediator.
  44. That Jesus Christ, at the Same Time God and Man, is the True and Most Efficacious Mediator.