who had led pure lives, and a voice said to him: "Can you not do what so many others have done? Was their strength in themselves? Was it not God Who enabled them to do what they did? While yon continue to rely upon yourself you must necessarily fall. Cast yourself without fear upon God; He will not abandon you." In the midst of this struggle the Saint tells us that he began to weep bitterly, and, throwing himself upon the ground, he cried from the depth of his heart: "How long, O Lord how long wilt Thou be angry? Remember not my past iniquities. How long shall I continue to repeat, To-morrow, to-morrow? Why not now? Why should not this very hour witness the end of my disorders?"[1]
No sooner had Augustine taken this resolution than his heart was changed, so that he ceased to feel the stings of the flesh or any affection for the pleasures of the world. He was entirely freed from all the irregular desires which formerly tormented him, and broke forth into thanksgiving for the liberty which had been restored to him: "O Lord! I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant and the son of Thy handmaid. Thou hast broken my bonds. I will sacrifice to Thee a sacrifice of praise."[2] "Let my heart and my tongue praise Thee. Let all my bones say: Who is like unto Thee, O Lord? Where was my free-will all these years, O Jesus, my Redeemer and Helper, that it did not return to Thee? From what an abyss hast Thou suddenly drawn it, causing me to
