n the seven first books of the
Bible, he has left us seven treatises. "An Explanation of the Psalms," a
correspondence with St. Jerome on the Epistle to the Galatians, four
books on the agreement of the Evangelists, two on Gospel questions, and
a book on "Things That are not Seen," should not be unknown to Biblical
students.

Nor was the Pagan attitude toward Catholic Truth forgotten. He had
passed through the phase, and knew the Pagan mind. He put down their
difficulties, reasoned away their doubts, threw light on their darkness,
led them on in truth, in "The True Religion," "Eighty-three Questions,"
"The Christian Doctrine," and an early treatise on the "Immortality of
the Soul."

But by far his greatest and most enduring works are his "Confessions"
and "The City of God." The former, at once a poem, a history, and a
treatise of philosophy, beautifully expresses the trials and efforts of
a human soul striving for truth and happiness away from God, and the
ecstatic sentiments of the same soul on the attainment of both truth and
happiness in the faith and virtues of Jesus Christ and in His Gospel.
The other, in eloquent and philosophical vein, discourses on the Church
of God on earth and in heaven; shows the hollowness of all opinions,
thoughts, and efforts contrary to the eternal order which is God; is, as
it were, an encyclopedia of all that he had written before, an
exhaustless summary of refutation against heresy and paganism, and an
analysis of the glories and benefits of Christianity. St. Augustine in
its composition occupied all the time from 413 to 426--the period of his
momentous struggle against Pelagianism.

The lines of intellectual and religious thought which called forth the
just mentioned and other productions of St. Augustine's brilliant
genius, have continued all along the centuries even till now. The same
movements exist; the same tendencies, though more intense in their
working, actuate men toward truth; and the same obstacles impede their
progress; objections, in other forms perhaps, yet substantially the
same, are urged against the very points against which the sainted
pontiff wrote and struggled--God, Creation, the Bible, Christ, human
infirmity or human strength, man's power to attain truth unaided, and
his freedom from any supernatural dependence. No wonder that Augustine,
who had passed through all these phases of action, should have always
been called upon for effective weapons in the warfare