AUG 



AUG 



the oppofition, and he at Iraft mcJilaleJ riW\Wt. We can ing the fermons of Ambrofc, biOiop of this city, wliich led 



only judge of the charaftcr of this apollle by his aftions, 

 iiiip'crfeiSily recorded; for noiie of his writings remain." 

 Biog. Brit. Gen. Biog. 



AUGUSTINE, Saint, a celebrated Chriaian divine 

 of the catholic church, the foil of Patritius, a citizen of 

 mean rank, and Monica, celebrated for her piety, was born 



him to waver between Maiiicheifm and the Catholic faith. 

 In this Itate of hefitation his mother came to Milan, and 

 renewed her intrcaties that he would forfake the Manichecs, , 

 and quit his irrep;ular courfe of life. The iiUreaties of his ■ 

 mother were enforced by the converfatioii of two worthy 

 men, Siniplician and Fatilian ; and he was thus prepared fur 



Ta"-alle, a fmall town of Africa, in the year 354- His the change whicli foon followed, both in his fcnliments and 



conduft. Whilll he v as in a ftate of deliberation and 

 fufpence, praying to God for illumination, he heard, as he 

 fays, or imagined that he heard, a voice like that of a 

 finging-boy, addrefiing him in thefe words, " Tolle, lege ; 

 tolle, lege;" or ♦' Take, read; takt, read;" and opening 

 the New Teftament, he turned to this paffagc; " Not in 

 rioting and drunkennefs, not in chambering and wantonnefs, 

 &c." Accordinc!;ly, he immediately refolved to become a 

 member of the Catholic church, and entered himfelf among 

 the catechumens; and further to tellify the fmcerity of his 

 converfion, he yielded to the perfuafion of his mother, and 

 determined to marry. But before he had an opportunity of 



at „ . 



mother, anxious for his imbibing the principles of the Chril- 

 tian religion, placed him among the catechumens; and dur- 

 ing a dangerous illnefs, he exprefTed a defire of being bap- 

 tiied ; but upon his recovery, he poftponcd the ceremony, 

 from a fuperllitions notion that fins committed afterbaptifm 

 were more heinous than thofe committed before. By his 

 father he was fcnt for claffical learning, much againll his own 

 inclination, firft to a fchool in the place of iiis nativity, and 

 afterwards to Madaura. But he was idle and difTipated; 

 and guilty of deceiving his matters, and of pilfering from 

 his parents. To the Itndy of Greek he was at this time 

 particularly averfe; nor does he feem in mature hfe to have 



made any great proficiency in it, a^- he confeffes that he read executing this purpofe, his charafter was reproached by an- 

 the Platonifts in a Latin veHlon. At the age of fixteen, other connedion of an illicit nature. (Confefl". 1. vi. c. 15.) 

 and in the year 371, he was removed to the fchools of At the clofe of the year 386, Anguftine relinqiiilhed his 

 Carthage; but, in the mean while, notwithftanding the profcifion, devoted himfelf to the ftudy o( theology, and era- 

 counfel and remonftrances of his mother, he acquired habits ployed the interval previous to his baptifm, in explaining the 

 of incontinence, which were not foon abandoned, and.which fcriptures, and vindicating the Catholic faith. In compli- 

 he ingennou/ly aeknov>ledges and laments, in a boek of ance with the advice of father Ambrofe, he dedicated him- 

 " Confeffions," written by him at a fubfcquent period, felf to the miniftry; and having difmiffed his new miftrefs, 

 when he became fenfible of his folly. At Carthage he and abandoned his intended wife, and having received bap- 

 devoted himfelf to the ftudy of rhetoric and pohle litera- tifm with his illegitimate fon, and his friend Alypius, on 

 ture; and ftill poffeffing fentiments not wholly depraved, he Eaifer-eve, in the yeaj- 387, he confecrated the remainder of 

 found great pleafure in perufing the philofophical writings 

 of Cicero, particularly his Hortenfius, or " An exhortation 

 to the ftudy of Philofophy," not now extant. Having been 

 betimes infl;ru<fted in religion, he occafionally read the fcrip- 

 tures; but not finding in them that kind of eloquence which 

 he met with in Pagan writers, he difliked their fimplicity, 

 and threw them afide. However, during his continuance 

 at Carthage, he attached himfelf to the Manichees, and 

 from the nineteenth to the twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth 

 year of his age, he was a dilciple and advocate of this feft. 

 When he was about eighteen, his mother, who was then 

 become a widow, vifited him at Carthage, and made eveiy 



effort in her power for reclaiming him from debauchery and 

 hcrefy ; and (he perfuaded him to return to Tagafte, where 



he opened a fchool of grammar and rhetoric. Notwith- 

 ftanding the reputation he acquired, his mother had ftill 



reafon to bewail his con Juft ; and Auguftine himfelf, in his 



" Confefliojis," (1. iii.) expreffcs, with great tendcrnefs, his 



fenfe of the prayers which ftie prefentcd, and the tears which 



Jhe (lied, on his account. About the clofe of the year 379, 



Auguftine removed to Carthage, and taught rhetoric in that 



city. He was alio at this time a ftrenuous advocate for the 



Manichean f)fttm. But his love of pleafure, whatever were 



his other engagements, continued to be his predominant 



pafTion; and he formed a connexion with a miftrefs, by 



whom he had a child, and to whom he remained conftant. 



Regardlefs of decorum, he named this child " Adeodatna," 



the gift of God ; and he fpcaks of him, at the age of fifteen, 



as a young perfon ol extraordinary talents. Provoked by 



the infolence of his fcholars at Carthage, Auguftine re- 

 moved with his miftrefs and child to Rome, and taught 



grammar and rhetoric in that city; but liaving reafon to be 



diffatisfied with his fituation, he fought a new fetllement; 



and, by the recommendation of Symmachus, prefect of 



Rome, he was appointed, in the year 383, profeftbr of 



rjiftorjc at Milan. Here he had an opportunity of attend- 



his life to religion. In the year 388, his mother died at 

 Oftia; and Auguftine returned to Africa. Having fpent 

 three years in his native city, where he exhibited an example 

 of abftinence and piety, and of diligent application to the 

 ftudy of the fcriptures, he vifited Hippo; and by the re- 

 commendation of Valerius, the bidiop, he was elefted and 

 ordained preftjyter in the year 391. Here he founded a re- 

 ligious fociety, compofed of perfons who were required to 

 throw their property into a common ftock, and to devote 

 themfelves to the exercife of piety. In 395, he was ap- 

 pointed coadjutor, or joint biftiop with Valerius, to the 

 church at Hippo. After his advancement to the epifcopal 

 office, he diftinguilhed himfelf, on various occafions, bv the 

 ardour of his zeal againft heretics of ever)- denomination ; 

 and againft the Manichees, Donatifts, and Pelagians, he 

 waged a perpetual controvcrfy. From the time of his con- 

 verfion to that of his death, his manners were, in general, 

 pure and auftere ; although from one of his confeflions (1. x. 

 c. 31.) there is reafon to infer, that he was addicted to 

 hard drinking. His encomiafts have indeed extolled his 

 moderation and urbanity; and the following infcription on 

 his table deferves being recorded: 



" Qiiifquis amct didlis abfentem rodere vitam, 



Hanc menlam indignam noverit efle lilii." 

 •' Far from this table be the worthlcfs gueft, 



Who wounds another's fame, though but in jcft." 

 After a life of varied fortune and mixed charafter, Au 

 guftine died in the year 430, at the age of 76 years; having 

 been harafled, at the clofe of his days, by feeing his country 

 invaded by the Vandals, and the city of which he was biftiop 

 befieged. The Vandals, however, who took Hippo, and 

 burnt it, faved his library, which contained his voluminous 

 writings, confiiling of 232 feparate treatifcs on theological 

 fubjefts, befidcs a complete expofition of the pfalter and the 

 gofpel, and a copious magazine of epiftles and homihes. 

 They arc collcd'ted together in the Ccnediftke edition, 



printed 



