“put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ” ((Romans 13:14)

The Holy Ghost so powerfully convicted Augustine, that he was driven to tears and intense soul searching as he sought peace with God Seeking refuge under a fig tree in a quiet garden he heard a child sing a simple rhyme from a neighbouring garden – Tolle lege, Tolle lege – meaning Take up and read.

Believing this to be God’s providential prompting, Augustine picked up a copy of the Scriptures and opened Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. His eyes fell upon these words:

Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Romans 13:13-14

In that moment Augustine experienced what we would today describe as an evangelical conversion. In his own words, he received “the light of full certainty,” and “all the gloom of doubt vanished away.” He turned from the old life of hedonistic and sensual pleasure embracing a new life in Christ.

He immediately sought out Monica, his mother, who had never given up on him. For over thirty years she had prayed for his soul and now her prayers were answered above anything she could have anticipated.

Augustine reflected upon the happy impact that his conversion had upon Monica:

“And so thou didst turn her grief into gladness more plentiful than she had ventured to desire”

A praying mother could not convert Augustine. A faithful preacher could not convert Augustine. But God, by His Spirit through His Word, accomplished in a moment what decades of tears and pleading could never achieve alone.

Ye children of men, attend to the word
So solemnly uttered by Jesus, the Lord,
And let not this message to you be in vain:
You must be born again.”
(William True Sleeper)