“I seek thee, O Lord, in the faith that you gave me. The time has come to call to mind my past sins. My mother followed Christ, yet I was not baptised. I shunned the path of friendship and pursued the passion of fornication. I, with other young scoundrels, committed the sin of theft in stealing some pears. I was captivated by the vanity of the theatre.
But I chanced upon Cicero’s ‘Hortensius’, and discovered philosophy. I studied, too, thy Holy Scripture, and saw something sublime. I fell among the followers of Mani who spoke of Jesus Christ, yet hung on foolish questions. I lusted after empty fame, and took to the false religion of “liberal arts”. I had a mistress, without lawful marriage. I happily consulted with astrologers.
In those years a dear friend was taken unto thee after a fever. “But do I ever pass away?” asks the Word of God. Thy good bishop Ambrose showed me how parts of the Old Testament were allegorical, where my literal interpretation had killed me spiritually. I resolved to take instruction in the faith of Christ. I sent my old lover back to Africa, leaving with me my son by her. But, slave of lust, I procured another mistress. O Lord, how crooked and sordid, bespotted and ulcerous was I. Here I was, still praying “Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.” I heard the voice of a child from the neighbouring house “Pick it up, read it.” This seemed a divine command to open the Bible. I read “Not in rioting and drunkenness, but in the Lord Jesus Christ.” I had no need to read further. My heart was infused with the light of certainty. So, I was baptised and made free by thy sweet-speaking Church!
What is it that I love when I love my God? I will search the spacious halls of memory to ask. Oh men! Ye marvel at the wonders of the earth, and yet neglect to marvel at yourselves. Where in my memory dost thou abide, O Lord? What sort of lodging hast thou made for thyself? Behold, thou wast within me and I was searching outside. I confess my filthy wickedness- the attractions of surfeithing, perfumes, sounds, sights and the foolish pursuit of knowledge and learning. Such vanities interrupt our prayers. Should I ask the angels? Should I pray? Without thy son, I should utterly despair.
Dost thou hear me from thy infinity O Lord? Dost thou see events in time? Time is thine, but thou art not in time. Yet, in the beginning, Lord God Almighty, through thy Wisdom, which is born of thy substance, thou didst create something from nothing. O God, thou made for us that firmament of thy divine Scripture to be over us.
Let us break our bread with the hungry, let us bring the shelterless poor to our house; let us clothe the naked. What man or what angel can teach men to understand this? We must ask it of thee; we must seek it in thee; we must knock for it at thy door. Only thus shall we find. Only thus shall the door be opened.
Amen”
This is the very squashed version of Augustine’s Confessions