Created things and human souls should be loved only in God and for God: if physical objects please us, we must praise God for them lest we displease him by loving them apart from their Maker; if souls please us, we must love them in God and strive to ‘seize’ them for God, since all good is from him and becomes bitter and unjustly loved when he is abandoned.

By Augustin d'Hippone, from Les Confessions

Key Arguments

  • He gives a rule for enjoying physical objects: "If physical objects give you pleasure, praise God for them and return love to their Maker lest, in the things that please you, you displease him."
  • He similarly orders love of souls: "If souls please you, they are being loved in God; for they also are mutable and acquire stability by being established in him. Otherwise they go their way and perish. In him therefore they are loved; so seize what souls you can to take with you to him, and say to them: ‘Him we love; he made these things and is not far distant.’"
  • He emphasizes that God remains present in his creation: "For he did not create and then depart; the things derived from him have their being in him."
  • He locates God wherever there is a ‘taste of truth’ and summons sinners back to their heart: "Look where he is—wherever there is a taste of truth. He is very close to the heart; but the heart has wandered from him. ‘Return, sinners, to your heart’ (Isa. 46: 8 LXX), and adhere to him who made you. Stand with him and you will stand fast. Rest in him and you will be at rest."
  • He warns that all goods become bitter and unjustly loved when severed from God: "The good which you love is from him. But it is only as it is related to him hat it is good and sweet. Otherwise it will justly become bitter; for all that comes from him is unjusdy loved if he has been abandoned."

Source Quotes

But far superior to these things is he who made all things, and he is our God. He does not pass away; nothing succeeds him.22 xii (18) If physical objects give you pleasure, praise God for them and return love to their Maker lest, in the things that please you, you displease him. If souls please you, they are being loved in God; for they also are mutable and acquire stability by being established in him.
He does not pass away; nothing succeeds him.22 xii (18) If physical objects give you pleasure, praise God for them and return love to their Maker lest, in the things that please you, you displease him. If souls please you, they are being loved in God; for they also are mutable and acquire stability by being established in him. Otherwise they go their way and perish.
Otherwise they go their way and perish. In him therefore they are loved; so seize what souls you can to take with you to him, and say to them: ‘Him we love; he made these things and is not far distant.’ For he did not create and then depart; the things derived from him have their being in him.
Look where he is—wherever there is a taste of truth. He is very close to the heart; but the heart has wandered from him. ‘Return, sinners, to your heart’ (Isa. 46: 8 LXX), and adhere to him who made you. Stand with him and you will stand fast.
What is the goal of your journey? The good which you love is from him. But it is only as it is related to him hat it is good and sweet. Otherwise it will justly become bitter; for all that comes from him is unjusdy loved if he has been abandoned. With what end in view do you again and again walk along difficult and

Key Concepts

  • If physical objects give you pleasure, praise God for them and return love to their Maker lest, in the things that please you, you displease him.
  • If souls please you, they are being loved in God; for they also are mutable and acquire stability by being established in him.
  • so seize what souls you can to take with you to him, and say to them: ‘Him we love; he made these things and is not far distant.’
  • He is very close to the heart; but the heart has wandered from him. ‘Return, sinners, to your heart’ (Isa. 46: 8 LXX), and adhere to him who made you.
  • The good which you love is from him. But it is only as it is related to him hat it is good and sweet. Otherwise it will justly become bitter; for all that comes from him is unjusdy loved if he has been abandoned.

Context

Book IV, section xii (18): Drawing his reflections together, Augustine articulates a doctrine of ordered love, specifying how to relate rightly to physical things and souls by loving them in relation to God, their Maker.