“Lord, make me chaste, but not yet.”
Lord, make me chaste, but not yet.
attributed to Augustine of Hippo
The form in which the prayer of Confessions VIII.7 circulates, and not the sentence Augustine wrote. His own words are "Grant me chastity and continency, but not yet", and they sit inside a sentence explaining that he was afraid of being answered.
How this is known
No volume this project holds carries these words.
What the volume prints at Book VIII chapter vii is “Grant me chastity and continency, but not yet”, inside his own sentence about having entreated chastity of God while dreading to be heard too soon.
Also by
- Augustine of Hippo every saying recorded of this person, and their page