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2. And from Thee, O Lord, unto whose eyes the depths of man's
conscience are naked. what in me could be hidden though I were
unwilling to confess to Thee? For so should I hide Thee from
myself, not myself from Thee. But now, because my groaning
witnesseth that I am dissatisfied with myself, Thou shinest forth,
and satisfiest, and art beloved and desired; that I may blush for
myself, and renounce myself, and choose Thee, and may neither please
Thee nor myself, except in Thee. To Thee, then, O Lord, am I
manifest, whatever I am, and with what fruit I may confess unto
Thee I have spoken. Nor do I it with words and sounds of the
flesh, but with the words of the soul, and that cry of reflection
which Thine ear knoweth.
For when I am wicked, to confess to Thee is naught but to be
dissatisfied with myself; but when I am truly devout, it is naught
but not to attribute it to myself, because Thou, O Lord, dost
"bless the righteous;, but first Thou justifiest him "ungodly."
My confession, therefore, O my God, in Thy sight, is made unto
Thee silently, and yet not silently. For m noise it is silent, in
affection it cries aloud. For neither do I give utterance to anything
that is right unto men which Thou hast not heard from me before, nor
dost Thou hear anything of the kind from me which Thyself saidst not
first unto me.
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