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23. With such as grant that all these things which Thy truth
indicates to my mind are true, I desire to confer a little before
Thee, 0 my God. For let those who deny these things bark and drown
their own voices with their clamour as much as they please; I will
endeavour to persuade them to be quiet, and to suffer Thy word to
reach them. But should they be unwilling, and should they repel me,
I beseech, O my God, that Thou "be not silent to me." Do Thou
speak truly in my heart, for Thou only so speakest, and I will send
them away blowing upon the dust from without, and raising it up into
their own eyes; and will myself enter into my chamber, and sing there
unto Thee songs of love, groaning with groaning unutterable. in my
pilgrimage, and remembering Jerusalem, with heart raised up towards
it,
Jerusalem my country, Jerusalem my mother, and Thyself, the Ruler
over it, the Enlightener, the Father, the Guardian, the
Husband, the chaste and strong delight,' the solid joy, and all
good things ineffable, even all at the same time, because the one
supreme and true Good. And I will not be turned away until Thou
collect all that I am, from this dispersio. and deformity, into the
peace of that very dear mother, where are the first-fruits of my
spirit, whence these things are assured to me, and Thou conform and
confirm it for ever, my God, my Mercy. But with reference to those
who say not that all these things which are true and false, who honour
Thy Holy Scripture set forth by holy Moses, placing it, as with
us, on the summit of an authority. to be followed, and yet who
contradict us in some particulars, I thus speak: Be Thou, O,our
God, judge between my confessions and their contradictions.
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