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| That Man Knoweth Not Himself Wholly.
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Chapter V.—That Man Knoweth Not
Himself Wholly.
7. For it is Thou, Lord, that judgest me;835
for although
no “man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in
him,”836
yet is there
something of man which “the spirit of man which is in him”
itself knoweth not. But Thou, Lord, who hast made him, knowest him
wholly. I indeed, though in Thy sight I despise myself, and reckon
“myself but dust and ashes,”837
yet know something concerning Thee,
which I know not concerning myself. And assuredly “now we see
through a glass darkly,” not yet “face to face.”838
So long,
therefore, as I be “absent” from Thee, I am more “present”
with myself than with Thee;839
and yet know I that Thou canst not
suffer violence;840
| 840 See Nebridius’ argument against the Manichæans,
as to God’s not being violable, in vii. sec. 3, above, and the
note thereon. | but for
myself I know not what temptations I am able to resist, and what I
am not able.841
| 841 See his Enarr. in Ps. lv. 8 and xciii. 19,
where he beautifully describes how the winds and waves of
temptation will be stilled if Christ be present in the ship. See
also Serm. lxiii.; and Eps. cxxx. 22, and clxxvii.
4. | But there is
hope, because Thou art faithful, who wilt not suffer us to be
tempted above that we are able, but wilt with the temptation also
make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it.842
I would
therefore confess what I know concerning myself; I will confess
also what I know not concerning myself. And because what I do know
of myself, I know by Thee enlightening me; and what I know not of
myself, so long I know not until the time when my “darkness be as
the noonday”843
in Thy
sight.
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