A heavenly treasure of confortable meditations and prayers written by S. Augustin, Bishop of Hyppon in three seuerall treatises of his meditations, soliloquies, and manual. Faithfully translated into English by the R. F. Antony Batt monke, of the holy order of S Bennet of the Congregation of England

Of the desire and thirst of the soule after God. CHAPT. XXXV.

LIke as the harte or stagge desireth the fountaines of water (when he is poursued) euen soe my soule longeth af∣ter thee o God. My soule hath thirsted af∣ter thee my God the liuing fountaine; when shall I come, and appeare before thy face? O fountaine of life, o veine of liuing waters, when shall I come to the waters of thy sweetnes from this deserte, craggie and dry countrie, that I may see thy vertue and glory, & quenche my thirst with the waters of thy mercy?

I thirst o Lord, thou that art the foun∣taine of life, giue me to drinke. I thirst o Lord, I thirst after thee the liuing God. O when shall I come good Lord, and ap∣peare before thy face? And shall I then at length indeed see that day, that day (I say) of ioy and gladnes, that day, which our Lord himselfe hath made, that we might reioyce and be glad in it?

O famous, and faire day, hauing neither euening, nor Sunsetting, in which I shall heare the voyce of praise, mirthe, and thanks-giuinge; in which I shall heare saied: Enter into the ioy of thy Lord. Enter into the euerlasting ioy, into the house of thy Lord God, where there are greate, and vnsearchable, and wonderfull thinges, which cannot be numbred. Enter into that ioy, which is free from heaui∣nes, which containeth euerlasting glad∣•••••• where all goodnes doth abounde, and no ••euill can be found. Where ther shalbe whatsoeuer thou louest, and nothing that thou loathest. There is that vitall life, which is sweete and louely, which like∣wise shall endure euerlastingly. Where there shalbe noe foe to impugne vs, not allurement to entice vs, but soueraigne and certaine assurednes, assured quietnes, and quiet ioyfullnes, ioyfull happines, happie euerlastingnes, & euerlasting bles∣sendes;

where there is the blessed Trinitie, and vnitie of Trinitie, and deitie of vnity, and the blessed sight of the deitie, which is the ioy of thy Lord God.

O ioy surmounting all ioy, o ioy excee∣ding all ioy, besides which there is noe true ioy; when shall I enter into thee, that I may see my God, that dwelleth in thee? I will goe thither, and see that greate sight. What is it, that doth detaine me? Woe is me, for that my abode in this life hath been ouer longe. How long (alas) shall I heare it saied, wher is thy God? how longe shall I heare it saied, stay a while, ex∣pect yet a while▪

Now therfore, what doe I expect? doe we not (o Lord my God) expect our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ, who will re∣forme the body of our humilitie, ma∣kinge it like to his bright and glorious body. We expect our Lord▪ when he will returne from the mariages, that he may vouchsafe to admitt vs to his mariage.

Come o Lord, and doe not stay. Come o Lord Iesus Christ, and ••••sit vs in peace: come and deliuer vs, that lye fettered and bounde in the prison of this mortall body; that with a perfect hart, we may reioyce before thee. Come o sweete Sauiour. Tho•• that of the Gentils art soe much de∣sired,

come, and shewe vs thy face, and we shalbe saued. Come o my light, & my Redeemer, deliuer my soule forthe of pri∣son, to praise and magnifie thy holy name.

How longe shall I poore wretched man, be tossed to and fro in the floudes of this my mortalitie, crying vnto thee (o Lord) and yet thou dost not heare me? Heare me o Lord, crying vnto thee out of this greate sea of miserie, and bring me to the hauen of heauenlie felicitie.

happie are they, who being deliuered from the danger of this tempestuous sea, haue deserued to attaine vnto thee o God, the porte of peace and securitie. Those trulie are trulie happie, who haue arriued from this sorrowfull sea, to the shore of saftie, from this place of banishment to the heauenly countrie, from the prison of this mortalitie, to the pallace of perpetuall felicitie: who hauing obtained the re∣warde of euerlasting glory, by meanes of the manifolde miseries, which heere they sustained, doe now for euermore re∣ioyce with must happy mirth, being nowe blessed by enioyeing that rest, which they soe much desired.

Without doubt they are blessed yea more then a thousand times blessed, who being now fre frō al misery haue deserued to attaine to the kingdome of all bright∣nes

and beauty, being likewse secure of this theire neuer fading and neuer failing glory. O eternall kingdome. o kingdome as long to continue as eternitie it selfe: where there is light euerlasting, and the peace of God, which passeth all vnderstan∣ding: in which kingdome the soules of the Sain••s doe repose, theire heades being ouershadowed with perpetuall gladnes, who shalbe euelastinglie replenished with such excessiue ioy and mitth of minde, as that neither griefe nor groanes, shall eue•• be hearde in those theire confines. O how glorious is that kingdome, in which all thy Saints raigne with thee (o Lord) being cloathed with light as with a gar∣ment, eache one of them hauing on his heade, a crowne adorned with pretious stones? O kingdome of euerlasting blisse, where thou (o Lord) being the hope of the Saints, and the crowne of theire glory, art apparantlie face to face seene of them, making them on all parts to reioyce in thy peace, which surpasseth all vnderstanding.

There there is infinite ioy, mirthe with∣out sadnes, healthe without sicknes, way without wearines, light without darknes, life without deathe, all māner of goodnes free from all māner of wickednes. Where youthe neuer groweth old, where life

knoweth noe end, where beauty neuer fadeth, where charity neuer faileth, where healthe neuer decayeth, where ioy neuer decreaseth, where griefe is neuer felt, where groaning is neuer hearde, where sorrowe is neuer seene or perceiued, where all manner of mirth is alwaies en∣ioyed, where noe euill is feared: because the soueraigne & supreame good is there possessed, which is to contemplate the face of the Lord of all vertues, world without end.

Happy therfore are they, who being es∣caped from the shipwrack of this present life, haue deserued to attaine to soe greate gladnes. But vnhappie (alas) & vnfortunate we, who saile through the tēpestuous stor∣mes, and dangerous gulfes of this greate sea, being ignorant whether we shall euer be able to arriue at the happie hauen of heauenly felicitie. Vnhappie I say, are we▪ whose life is in exile, whose life is in peril, and whose end is doubtfull, not knowing what our end will be, for that all thinges are helde in suspēce vntill our last day. We remaine, as yet tossed to & fro in ••he trou∣blesome floudes of this tempestuous sea, sighing and seeking to attaine to thee (o Lord) the hauen of this sea?

O our countrie; o secure countrie, albeit a farre of, yet we see thee, from this

sorrowfull sea we salute thee, from this vale of miserie we sighe after thee, endea∣uouring euen with teares, that by one meanes or an other we may attaine vnto thee.

O Christ the hope of all mankinde, God of God, our defence and safetie, whose light (like a beame of the starre of the sea) doth enlighten our eies amidst the foggie mists of this tempestuous sea, that therby we may be guided to thee the hauen of securitie. Guide (o Lord) this our shipp with thy right hande, with the sterne of thy crosse, that we perish not in the flou∣des, that the tempest of water doe not drowne vs, that the deepe gulfes doe not deuour vs: but with the crooke of thy crosse, drawe vs out of this sea vnto thee our onely comfort and solace, whom we beholde a farre off standing on the shore of that heauenly country, with teares of tender loue ready to receiue vs, shining as the morning starre, and as the sunne of iustice.

Beholde (o Christ) we call and cry vnto thee from this place of exile, as poore captiues by thee redeemed, whom thou hast redeemed with thy pretious bloude. Heare vs (o God our Sauiour) the hope of all those that dwell in the vttermost partes of the worlde▪ or farre distant in

in the sea, where soeuer.

Beholde we saile in a troublesome and tempestuous sea, thou (o Lord) who stan∣dest on the shore, seest the manifold dan∣gers in which we are: for thy names sake, saue vs we beseeche thee. Graunt vs grace (o Lord) soe to saile, and in sailing soe to keepe the mid-way betweene Scilla and Charybdis, that both those perillous gul∣fes being auoided, we may with safe ship and marchandise, securely arriue at the hauen of heauenly happines.