Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series • VOLUME 2
Augustine — City of God & Christian Doctrine
SECTION 121
Chapter 25.--Concerning Those Things Which May Be Common to the Holy Angels and to Men.
Chapter 25.--Concerning Those Things Which May Be Common to the Holy Angels and to Men. Wherefore we must by no means seek, through the supposed mediation of demons, to avail ourselves of the benevolence or beneficence of the gods, or rather of the good angels, but through resembling them in the possession of a good will, throu…
1,277 wordsSECTION 122Chapter 27.--Concerning the Nature of the Honor Which the Christians Pay to Their Martyrs.
Chapter 27.--Concerning the Nature of the Honor Which the Christians Pay to Their Martyrs. But, nevertheless, we do not build temples, and ordain priests, rites, and sacrifices for these same martyrs; for they are not our gods, but their God is our God. Certainly we honor their reliquaries, as the memorials of holy men of God w…
864 wordsSECTION 123Book IX.
Book IX. ------------------------ Argument--Having in the preceding book shown that the worship of demons must be abjured, since they in a thousand ways proclaim themselves to be wicked spirits, Augustin in this book meets those who allege a distinction among demons, some being evil, while others are good; and, having exploded…
1,076 wordsSECTION 124Chapter 4.--The Opinion of the Peripatetics and Stoics About Mental Emotions.
Chapter 4.--The Opinion of the Peripatetics and Stoics About Mental Emotions. Among the philosophers there are two opinions about these mental emotions, which the Greeks call pathe, while some of our own writers, as Cicero, call them perturbations, [336] some affections, and some, to render the Greek word more accurately, passi…
1,310 wordsSECTION 125Chapter 5.--That the Passions Which Assail the Souls of Christians Do Not Seduce Them to Vice, But Exercise Their Virtue.
Chapter 5.--That the Passions Which Assail the Souls of Christians Do Not Seduce Them to Vice, But Exercise Their Virtue. We need not at present give a careful and copious exposition of the doctrine of Scripture, the sum of Christian knowledge, regarding these passions. It subjects the mind itself to God, that He may rule and a…
802 wordsSECTION 126Chapter 7.--That the Platonists Maintain that the Poets Wrong the Gods by Representing Them as Distracted by Party Feeling, to Which the Demons and Not the Gods, are Subject.
Chapter 7.--That the Platonists Maintain that the Poets Wrong the Gods by Representing Them as Distracted by Party Feeling, to Which the Demons and Not the Gods, are Subject. But if any one says that it is not of all the demons, but only of the wicked, that the poets, not without truth, say that they violently love or hate cert…
1,086 wordsSECTION 127Chapter 9.--Whether the Intercession of the Demons Can Secure for Men the Friendship of the Celestial Gods.
Chapter 9.--Whether the Intercession of the Demons Can Secure for Men the Friendship of the Celestial Gods. How, then, can men hope for a favorable introduction to the friendship of the gods by such mediators as these, who are, like men, defective in that which is the better part of every living creature, viz., the soul, and wh…
705 wordsSECTION 128Chapter 11.--Of the Opinion of the Platonists, that the Souls of Men Become Demons When Disembodied.
Chapter 11.--Of the Opinion of the Platonists, that the Souls of Men Become Demons When Disembodied. He [350] says, indeed, that the souls of men are demons, and that men become Lares if they are good, Lemures or Larvæ if they are bad, and Manes if it is uncertain whether they de serve well or ill. Who does not see at a glance …
1,510 wordsSECTION 129Chapter 14.--Whether Men, Though Mortal, Can Enjoy True Blessedness.
Chapter 14.--Whether Men, Though Mortal, Can Enjoy True Blessedness. It is a great question among men, whether man can be mortal and blessed. Some, taking the humbler view of his condition, have denied that he is capable of blessedness so long as he continues in this mortal life; others, again, have spurned this idea, and have …
1,939 wordsSECTION 130Chapter 17.--That to Obtain the Blessed Life, Which Consists in Partaking of the Supreme Good, Man Needs Such Mediation as is Furnished Not by a Demon, But by Christ Alone.
Chapter 17.--That to Obtain the Blessed Life, Which Consists in Partaking of the Supreme Good, Man Needs Such Mediation as is Furnished Not by a Demon, But by Christ Alone. I am considerably surprised that such learned men, men who pronounce all material and sensible things to be altogether inferior to those that are spiritual …
924 wordsSECTION 131Chapter 20.--Of the Kind of Knowledge Which Puffs Up the Demons.
Chapter 20.--Of the Kind of Knowledge Which Puffs Up the Demons. However, the very origin of the name suggests something worthy of consideration, if we compare it with the divine books. They are called demons from a Greek word meaning knowledge. [358] Now the apostle, speaking with the Holy Spirit, says, "Knowledge puffeth up, …
929 wordsSECTION 132Chapter 23.--That the Name of Gods is Falsely Given to the Gods of the Gentiles, Though Scripture Applies It Both to the Holy Angels and Just Men.
Chapter 23.--That the Name of Gods is Falsely Given to the Gods of the Gentiles, Though Scripture Applies It Both to the Holy Angels and Just Men. If the Platonists prefer to call these angels gods rather than demons, and to reckon them with those whom Plato, their founder and master, maintains were created by the supreme God, …
1,069 wordsSECTION 133Book X.
Book X. ------------------------ Argument--In this book Augustin teaches that the good angels wish God alone, whom they themselves serve, to receive that divine honor which is rendered by sacrifice, and which is called "latreia." He then goes on to dispute against Porphyry about the principle and way of the soul's cleansing an…
1,263 wordsSECTION 134Chapter 2.--The Opinion of Plotinus the Platonist Regarding Enlightenment from Above.
Chapter 2.--The Opinion of Plotinus the Platonist Regarding Enlightenment from Above. But with these more estimable philosophers we have no dispute in this matter. For they perceived, and in various forms abundantly expressed in their writings, that these spirits have the same source of happiness as ourselves,--a certain intell…
1,106 wordsSECTION 135Chapter 4.--That Sacrifice is Due to the True God Only.
Chapter 4.--That Sacrifice is Due to the True God Only. But, putting aside for the present the other religious services with which God is worshipped, certainly no man would dare to say that sacrifice is due to any but God. Many parts, indeed, of divine worship are unduly used in showing honor to men, whether through an excessiv…
987 wordsSECTION 136Chapter 6.--Of the True and Perfect Sacrifice.
Chapter 6.--Of the True and Perfect Sacrifice. Thus a true sacrifice is every work which is done that we may be united to God in holy fellowship, and which has a reference to that supreme good and end in which alone we can be truly blessed. [390] And therefore even the mercy we show to men, if it is not shown for God's sake, is…
751 wordsSECTION 137Chapter 7.--Of the Love of the Holy Angels, Which Prompts Them to Desire that We Worship the One True God, and Not Themselves.
Chapter 7.--Of the Love of the Holy Angels, Which Prompts Them to Desire that We Worship the One True God, and Not Themselves. It is very right that these blessed and immortal spirits, who inhabit celestial dwellings, and rejoice in the communications of their Creator's fullness, firm in His eternity, assured in His truth, holy…
948 wordsSECTION 138Chapter 9.--Of the Illicit Arts Connected with Demonolatry, and of Which the Platonist Porphyry Adopts Some, and Discards Others.
Chapter 9.--Of the Illicit Arts Connected with Demonolatry, and of Which the Platonist Porphyry Adopts Some, and Discards Others. These miracles, and many others of the same nature, which it were tedious to mention, were wrought for the purpose of commending the worship of the one true God, and prohibiting the worship of a mult…
746 wordsSECTION 139Chapter 10.--Concerning Theurgy, Which Promises a Delusive Purification of the Soul by the Invocation of Demons.
Chapter 10.--Concerning Theurgy, Which Promises a Delusive Purification of the Soul by the Invocation of Demons. But here we have another and a much more learned Platonist than Apuleius, Porphyry, to wit, asserting that, by I know not what theurgy, even the gods themselves are subjected to passions and perturbations; for by adj…
1,851 wordsSECTION 140Chapter 12.--Of the Miracles Wrought by the True God Through the Ministry of the Holy Angels.
Chapter 12.--Of the Miracles Wrought by the True God Through the Ministry of the Holy Angels. Since by means of these arts wonders are done which quite surpass human power, what choice have we but to believe that these predictions and operations, which seem to be miraculous and divine, and which at the same time form no part of…
1,137 wordsSECTION 141Chapter 15.--Of the Ministry of the Holy Angels, by Which They Fulfill the Providence of God.
Chapter 15.--Of the Ministry of the Holy Angels, by Which They Fulfill the Providence of God. And so it has pleased Divine Providence, as I have said, and as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, [409] that the law enjoining the worship of one God should be given by the disposition of angels. But among them the person of God Him…
1,443 wordsSECTION 142Chapter 17.--Concerning the Ark of the Covenant, and the Miraculous Signs Whereby God Authenticated the Law and the Promise.
Chapter 17.--Concerning the Ark of the Covenant, and the Miraculous Signs Whereby God Authenticated the Law and the Promise. On this account it was that the law of God, given by the disposition of angels, and which commanded that the one God of gods alone receive sacred worship, to the exclusion of all others, was deposited in …
1,144 wordsSECTION 143Chapter 19.--On the Reasonableness of Offering, as the True Religion Teaches, a Visible Sacrifice to the One True and Invisible God.
Chapter 19.--On the Reasonableness of Offering, as the True Religion Teaches, a Visible Sacrifice to the One True and Invisible God. As to those who think that these visible sacrifices are suitably offered to other gods, but that invisible sacrifices, the graces of purity of mind and holiness of will, should be offered, as grea…
1,158 wordsSECTION 144Chapter 22.--Whence the Saints Derive Power Against Demons and True Purification of Heart.
Chapter 22.--Whence the Saints Derive Power Against Demons and True Purification of Heart. It is by true piety that men of God cast out the hostile power of the air which opposes godliness; it is by exorcising it, not by propitiating it; and they overcome all the temptations of the adversary by praying, not to him, but to their…
746 wordsSECTION 145Chapter 24.--Of the One Only True Principle Which Alone Purifies and Renews Human Nature.
Chapter 24.--Of the One Only True Principle Which Alone Purifies and Renews Human Nature. Accordingly, when we speak of God, we do not affirm two or three principles, no more than we are at liberty to affirm two or three gods; although, speaking of each, of the Father, or of the Son, or of the Holy Ghost, we confess that each i…
1,768 wordsSECTION 146Chapter 26.--Of Porphyry's Weakness in Wavering Between the Confession of the True God and the Worship of Demons.
Chapter 26.--Of Porphyry's Weakness in Wavering Between the Confession of the True God and the Worship of Demons. I know not how it is so, but it seems to me that Porphyry blushed for his friends the theurgists; for he knew all that I have adduced, but did not frankly condemn polytheistic worship. He said, in fact, that there a…
1,381 wordsSECTION 147Chapter 28.--How It is that Porphyry Has Been So Blind as Not to Recognize the True Wisdom--Christ.
Chapter 28.--How It is that Porphyry Has Been So Blind as Not to Recognize the True Wisdom--Christ. You drive men, therefore, into the most palpable error. And yet you are not ashamed of doing so much harm, though you call yourself a lover of virtue and wisdom. Had you been true and faithful in this profession, you would have r…
2,004 wordsSECTION 148Chapter 30.--Porphyry's Emendations and Modifications of Platonism.
Chapter 30.--Porphyry's Emendations and Modifications of Platonism. If it is considered unseemly to emend anything which Plato has touched, why did Porphyry himself make emendations, and these not a few? for it is very certain that Plato wrote that the souls of men return after death to the bodies of beasts. [434] Plotinus also…
887 wordsSECTION 149Chapter 31.--Against the Arguments on Which the Platonists Ground Their Assertion that the Human Soul is Co-Eternal with God.
Chapter 31.--Against the Arguments on Which the Platonists Ground Their Assertion that the Human Soul is Co-Eternal with God. Why, then, do we not rather believe the divinity in those matters, which human talent cannot fathom? Why do we not credit the assertion of divinity, that the soul is not co-eternal with God, but is creat…
2,609 wordsSECTION 150Book XI.
And therefore, in these ten books, though not meeting, I dare say, the expectation of some, yet I have, as the true God and Lord has vouchsafed to aid me, satisfied the desire of certain persons, by refuting the objections of the ungodly, who prefer their own gods to the Founder of the holy city, about which we undertook to spea…
748 wordsSECTION 151Chapter 2.--Of the Knowledge of God, to Which No Man Can Attain Save Through the Mediator Between God and Men, the Man Christ Jesus.
Chapter 2.--Of the Knowledge of God, to Which No Man Can Attain Save Through the Mediator Between God and Men, the Man Christ Jesus. It is a great and very rare thing for a man, after he has contemplated the whole creation, corporeal and incorporeal, and has discerned its mutability, to pass beyond it, and, by the continued soa…
744 wordsSECTION 152Chapter 4.--That the World is Neither Without Beginning, Nor Yet Created by a New Decree of God, by Which He Afterwards Willed What He Had Not Before Willed.
Chapter 4.--That the World is Neither Without Beginning, Nor Yet Created by a New Decree of God, by Which He Afterwards Willed What He Had Not Before Willed. Of all visible things, the world is the greatest; of all invisible, the greatest is God. But, that the world is, we see; that God is, we believe. That God made the world, …
901 wordsSECTION 153Chapter 5.--That We Ought Not to Seek to Comprehend the Infinite Ages of Time Before the World, Nor the Infinite Realms of Space.
Chapter 5.--That We Ought Not to Seek to Comprehend the Infinite Ages of Time Before the World, Nor the Infinite Realms of Space. Next, we must see what reply can be made to those who agree that God is the Creator of the world, but have difficulties about the time of its creation, and what reply, also, they can make to difficul…
966 wordsSECTION 154Chapter 7.--Of the Nature of the First Days, Which are Said to Have Had Morning and Evening, Before There Was a Sun.
Chapter 7.--Of the Nature of the First Days, Which are Said to Have Had Morning and Evening, Before There Was a Sun. We see, indeed, that our ordinary days have no evening but by the setting, and no morning but by the rising, of the sun; but the first three days of all were passed without sun, since it is reported to have been …
873 wordsSECTION 155Chapter 9.--What the Scriptures Teach Us to Believe Concerning the Creation of the Angels.
Chapter 9.--What the Scriptures Teach Us to Believe Concerning the Creation of the Angels. At present, since I have undertaken to treat of the origin of the holy city, and first of the holy angels, who constitute a large part of this city, and indeed the more blessed part, since they have never been expatriated, I will give mys…
964 wordsSECTION 156Chapter 10.--Of the Simple and Unchangeable Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, One God, in Whom Substance and Quality are Identical.
Chapter 10.--Of the Simple and Unchangeable Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, One God, in Whom Substance and Quality are Identical. There is, accordingly, a good which is alone simple, and therefore alone unchangeable, and this is God. By this Good have all others been created, but not simple, and therefore not unchangeable…
1,063 wordsSECTION 157Chapter 11.--Whether the Angels that Fell Partook of the Blessedness Which the Holy Angels Have Always Enjoyed from the Time of Their Creation.
Chapter 11.--Whether the Angels that Fell Partook of the Blessedness Which the Holy Angels Have Always Enjoyed from the Time of Their Creation. And since these things are so, those spirits whom we call angels were never at any time or in any way darkness, but, as soon as they were made, were made light; yet they were not so cre…
1,562 wordsSECTION 158Chapter 14.--An Explanation of What is Said of the Devil, that He Did Not Abide in the Truth, Because the Truth Was Not in Him.
Chapter 14.--An Explanation of What is Said of the Devil, that He Did Not Abide in the Truth, Because the Truth Was Not in Him. Moreover, as if we had been inquiring why the devil did not abide in the truth, our Lord subjoins the reason, saying, "because the truth is not in him." Now, it would be in him had he abode in it. But …
1,010 wordsSECTION 159Chapter 17.--That the Flaw of Wickedness is Not Nature, But Contrary to Nature, and Has Its Origin, Not in the Creator, But in the Will.
Chapter 17.--That the Flaw of Wickedness is Not Nature, But Contrary to Nature, and Has Its Origin, Not in the Creator, But in the Will. It is with reference to the nature, then, and not to the wickedness of the devil, that we are to understand these words, "This is the beginning of God's handiwork;" [485] for, without doubt, w…
1,052 wordsSECTION 160Chapter 20.--Of the Words Which Follow the Separation of Light and Darkness, "And God Saw the Light that It Was Good."
Chapter 20.--Of the Words Which Follow the Separation of Light and Darkness, "And God Saw the Light that It Was Good." Then, we must not pass from this passage of Scripture without noticing that when God said, "Let there be light, and there was light," it was immediately added, "And God saw the light that it was good." No such …
1,210 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.