I WILL now call to mind my past foulness, and the carnal corruptions
my soul, not because I love them, but that I may love Thee, O my God.
For love of Thy love do I it, recalling, in the very bitterness of my
remembrance, my most vicious ways, that Thou mayest grow sweet to
me, — Thou sweetness without deception! Thou sweetness happy and
assured! and re-collecting myself out of that my dissipation, in which I
was torn to pieces, while, turned away from Thee the One, I lost myself
among many vanities. For I even longed in my youth formerly to be
satisfied with worldly things, and I dared to grow wild again with various
and shadowy loves; my form consumed away, and I became corrupt in
Thine eyes, pleasing myself, and eager to please in the eyes of men. [Augustine]
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