Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series • VOLUME 2
Augustine — City of God & Christian Doctrine
SECTION 201
Chapter 10.--Whether It is to Be Believed that Our First Parents in Paradise, Before They Sinned, Were Free from All Perturbation.
Chapter 10.--Whether It is to Be Believed that Our First Parents in Paradise, Before They Sinned, Were Free from All Perturbation. But it is a fair question, whether our first parent or first parents (for there was a marriage of two), before they sinned, experienced in their animal body such emotions as we shall not experience …
1,771 wordsSECTION 202Chapter 12.--Of the Nature of Man's First Sin.
Chapter 12.--Of the Nature of Man's First Sin. If any one finds a difficulty in understanding why other sins do not alter human nature as it was altered by the transgression of those first human beings, so that on account of it this nature is subject to the great corruption we feel and see, and to death, and is distracted and t…
1,385 wordsSECTION 203Chapter 14.--Of the Pride in the Sin, Which Was Worse Than the Sin Itself.
Chapter 14.--Of the Pride in the Sin, Which Was Worse Than the Sin Itself. But it is a worse and more damnable pride which casts about for the shelter of an excuse even in manifest sins, as these our first parents did, of whom the woman said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat;" and the man said, "The woman whom Thou gaves…
1,292 wordsSECTION 204Chapter 16.--Of the Evil of Lust,--A Word Which, Though Applicable to Many Vices, is Specially Appropriated to Sexual Uncleanness.
Chapter 16.--Of the Evil of Lust,--A Word Which, Though Applicable to Many Vices, is Specially Appropriated to Sexual Uncleanness. Although, therefore, lust may have many objects, yet when no object is specified, the word lust usually suggests to the mind the lustful excitement of the organs of generation. And this lust not onl…
1,035 wordsSECTION 205Chapter 18.--Of the Shame Which Attends All Sexual Intercourse.
Chapter 18.--Of the Shame Which Attends All Sexual Intercourse. Lust requires for its consummation darkness and secrecy; and this not only when un lawful intercourse is desired, but even such fornication as the earthly city has legalized. Where there is no fear of punishment, these permitted pleasures still shrink from the publ…
767 wordsSECTION 206Chapter 20.--Of the Foolish Beastliness of the Cynics.
Chapter 20.--Of the Foolish Beastliness of the Cynics. It is this which those canine or cynic [748] philosophers have overlooked, when they have, in violation of the modest instincts of men, boastfully proclaimed their unclean and shameless opinion, worthy indeed of dogs, viz., that as the matrimonial act is legitimate, no one …
757 wordsSECTION 207Chapter 22.--Of the Conjugal Union as It Was Originally Instituted and Blessed by God.
Chapter 22.--Of the Conjugal Union as It Was Originally Instituted and Blessed by God. But we, for our part, have no manner of doubt that to increase and multiply and replenish the earth in virtue of the blessing of God, is a gift of marriage as God instituted it from the beginning before man sinned, when He created them male a…
1,482 wordsSECTION 208Chapter 24.--That If Men Had Remained Innocent and Obedient in Paradise, the Generative Organs Should Have Been in Subjection to the Will as the Other Members are.
Chapter 24.--That If Men Had Remained Innocent and Obedient in Paradise, the Generative Organs Should Have Been in Subjection to the Will as the Other Members are. The man, then, would have sown the seed, and the woman received it, as need required, the generative organs being moved by the will, not excited by lust. For we move…
898 wordsSECTION 209Chapter 25.--Of True Blessedness, Which This Present Life Cannot Enjoy.
Chapter 25.--Of True Blessedness, Which This Present Life Cannot Enjoy. However, if we look at this a little more closely, we see that no one lives as he wishes but the blessed, and that no one is blessed but the righteous. But even the righteous himself does not live as he wishes, until he has arrived where he cannot die, be d…
1,085 wordsSECTION 210Chapter 27.--Of the Angels and Men Who Sinned, and that Their Wickedness Did Not Disturb the Order of God's Providence.
Chapter 27.--Of the Angels and Men Who Sinned, and that Their Wickedness Did Not Disturb the Order of God's Providence. The sins of men and angels do nothing to impede the "great works of the Lord which accomplish His will." [762] For He who by His providence and omnipotence distributes to every one his own portion, is able to …
873 wordsSECTION 211Book XV.
Book XV. ------------------------ Argument--Having treated in the four preceding books of the origin of the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly, Augustin explains their growth and progress in the four books which follow; and, in order to do so, he explains the chief passages of the sacred history which bear upon this subj…
856 wordsSECTION 212Chapter 2.--Of the Children of the Flesh and the Children of the Promise.
Chapter 2.--Of the Children of the Flesh and the Children of the Promise. There was indeed on earth, so long as it was needed, a symbol and foreshadowing image of this city, which served the purpose of reminding men that such a city was to be rather than of making it present; and this image was itself called the holy city, as a…
959 wordsSECTION 213Chapter 4.--Of the Conflict and Peace of the Earthly City.
Chapter 4.--Of the Conflict and Peace of the Earthly City. But the earthly city, which shall not be everlasting (for it will no longer be a city when it has been committed to the extreme penalty), has its good in this world, and rejoices in it with such joy as such things can afford. But as this is not a good which can discharg…
996 wordsSECTION 214Chapter 6.--Of the Weaknesses Which Even the Citizens of the City of God Suffer During This Earthly Pilgrimage in Punishment of Sin, and of Which They are Healed by God's Care.
Chapter 6.--Of the Weaknesses Which Even the Citizens of the City of God Suffer During This Earthly Pilgrimage in Punishment of Sin, and of Which They are Healed by God's Care. This sickliness--that is to say, that disobedience of which we spoke in the fourteenth book--is the punishment of the first disobedience. It is therefor…
2,245 wordsSECTION 215Chapter 8.--What Cain's Reason Was for Building a City So Early in the History of the Human Race.
[785] Gen. iv. 6, 7. [786] Literally, "division." [787] 1 John iii. 12. [788] We alter the pronoun to suit Augustin's interpretation. [789] Gal. v. 17. [790] Rom. vii. 17. [791] Rom. vi. 13. [792] Gen. iii. 16. [793] Eph. v. 28, 29. [794] C. Faustum. Man. xii. c. 9. Chapter 8.--What Cain's Reason Was for Building a Cit…
1,138 wordsSECTION 216Chapter 9.--Of the Long Life and Greater Stature of the Antediluvians.
Chapter 9.--Of the Long Life and Greater Stature of the Antediluvians. Wherefore no one who considerately weighs facts will doubt that Cain might have built a city, and that a large one, when it is observed how prolonged were the lives of men, unless perhaps some sceptic take exception to this very length of years which our aut…
1,109 wordsSECTION 217Chapter 11.--Of Methuselah's Age, Which Seems to Extend Fourteen Years Beyond the Deluge.
Chapter 11.--Of Methuselah's Age, Which Seems to Extend Fourteen Years Beyond the Deluge. From this discrepancy between the Hebrew books and our own arises the well-known question as to the age of Methuselah; [804] for it is computed that he lived for fourteen years after the deluge, though Scripture relates that of all who wer…
1,476 wordsSECTION 218Chapter 13.--Whether, in Computing Years, We Ought to Follow the Hebrew or the Septuagint.
Chapter 13.--Whether, in Computing Years, We Ought to Follow the Hebrew or the Septuagint. But if I say this, I shall presently be answered, It is one of the Jews' lies. This, however, we have disposed of above, showing that it cannot be that men of so just a reputation as the seventy translators should have falsified their ver…
1,251 wordsSECTION 219Chapter 14.--That the Years in Those Ancient Times Were of the Same Length as Our Own.
Chapter 14.--That the Years in Those Ancient Times Were of the Same Length as Our Own. Let us now see how it can be plainly made out that in the enormously protracted lives of those men the years were not so short that ten of their years were equal to only one of ours, but were of as great length as our own, which are measured …
911 wordsSECTION 220Chapter 15.--Whether It is Credible that the Men of the Primitive Age Abstained from Sexual Intercourse Until that Date at Which It is Recorded that They Begat Children.
Chapter 15.--Whether It is Credible that the Men of the Primitive Age Abstained from Sexual Intercourse Until that Date at Which It is Recorded that They Begat Children. Some one, then, will say, Is it to be believed that a man who intended to beget children, and had no intention of continence, abstained from sexual intercourse…
1,118 wordsSECTION 221Chapter 16.--Of Marriage Between Blood-Relations, in Regard to Which the Present Law Could Not Bind the Men of the Earliest Ages.
Chapter 16.--Of Marriage Between Blood-Relations, in Regard to Which the Present Law Could Not Bind the Men of the Earliest Ages. As, therefore, the human race, subsequently to the first marriage of the man who was made of dust, and his wife who was made out of his side, required the union of males and females in order that it …
1,231 wordsSECTION 222Chapter 17.--Of the Two Fathers and Leaders Who Sprang from One Progenitor.
Chapter 17.--Of the Two Fathers and Leaders Who Sprang from One Progenitor. Since, then, Adam was the father of both lines,--the father, that is to say, both of the line which belonged to the earthly, and of that which belonged to the heavenly city,--when Abel was slain, and by his death exhibited a marvellous mystery, there we…
1,196 wordsSECTION 223Chapter 19.--The Significance Of Enoch's Translation.
Chapter 19.--The Significance Of Enoch's Translation. For that line also of which Seth is the father has the name "Dedication" in the seventh generation from Adam, counting Adam. For the seventh from him is Enoch, that is, Dedication. But this is that man who was translated because he pleased God, and who held in the order of t…
2,827 wordsSECTION 224Chapter 22.--Of the Fall of the Sons of God Who Were Captivated by the Daughters of Men, Whereby All, with the Exception of Eight Persons, Deservedly Perished in the Deluge.
[835] Gen. v. 1. [836] Ps. xlix. 11. [837] Ps. lxxiii. 20. [838] Ps. lii. 8. [839] Ps. xl. 4. Chapter 22.--Of the Fall of the Sons of God Who Were Captivated by the Daughters of Men, Whereby All, with the Exception of Eight Persons, Deservedly Perished in the Deluge. When the human race, in the exercise of this freedom of …
2,429 wordsSECTION 225Chapter 24.--How We are to Understand This Which the Lord Said to Those Who Were to Perish in the Flood: "Their Days Shall Be 120 Years."
[843] Ps. civ. 4. [844] On these kinds of devils, see the note of Vives in loc., or Lecky's Hist. of Rationalism, i. 26, who quotes from Maury's Histoire de la Magie, that the Dusii were Celtic spirits, and are the origin of our "Deuce." [845] 2 Pet. ii. 4. [846] Mark i. 2. [847] Mal. ii. 7. [848] Gen. vi. 1-4. Lactantius (…
700 wordsSECTION 226Chapter 26.--That the Ark Which Noah Was Ordered to Make Figures In Every Respect Christ and the Church.
Chapter 26.--That the Ark Which Noah Was Ordered to Make Figures In Every Respect Christ and the Church. Moreover, inasmuch as God commanded Noah, a just man, and, as the truthful Scripture says, a man perfect in his generation,--not indeed with the perfection of the citizens of the city of God in that immortal condition in whi…
2,239 wordsSECTION 227Book XVI.
[855] In his second homily on Genesis. [856] Acts vii. 22. [857] Gen. vi. 19, 20. Book XVI. ------------------------ Argument--In the former part of this book, from the first to the twelfth chapter, the progress of the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly, from Noah to Abraham, is exhibited from Holy Scripture: In the l…
1,697 wordsSECTION 228Chapter 3.--Of the Generations of the Three Sons of Noah.
Chapter 3.--Of the Generations of the Three Sons of Noah. We must therefore introduce into this work an explanation of the generations of the three sons of Noah, in so far as that may illustrate the progress in time of the two cities. Scripture first mentions that of the youngest son, who is called Japheth: he had eight sons, […
1,231 wordsSECTION 229Chapter 4.--Of the Diversity of Languages, and of the Founding of Babylon.
Chapter 4.--Of the Diversity of Languages, and of the Founding of Babylon. But though these nations are said to have been dispersed according to their languages, yet the narrator recurs to that time when all had but one language, and explains how it came to pass that a diversity of languages was introduced. "The whole earth," h…
783 wordsSECTION 230Chapter 5.--Of God's Coming Down to Confound the Languages of the Builders of the City.
Chapter 5.--Of God's Coming Down to Confound the Languages of the Builders of the City. We read, "The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men built:" it was not the sons of God, but that society which lived in a merely human way, and which we call the earthly city. God, who is always wholly everywhere…
947 wordsSECTION 231Chapter 7.--Whether Even the Remotest Islands Received Their Fauna from the Animals Which Were Preserved, Through the Deluge, in the Ark.
Chapter 7.--Whether Even the Remotest Islands Received Their Fauna from the Animals Which Were Preserved, Through the Deluge, in the Ark. There is a question raised about all those kinds of beasts which are not domesticated, nor are produced like frogs from the earth, but are propagated by male and female parents, such as wolve…
1,230 wordsSECTION 232Chapter 9.--Whether We are to Believe in the Antipodes.
Chapter 9.--Whether We are to Believe in the Antipodes. But as to the fable that there are Antipodes, that is to say, men on the opposite side of the earth, where the sun rises when it sets to us, men who walk with their feet opposite ours, that is on no ground credible. And, indeed, it is not affirmed that this has been learne…
2,417 wordsSECTION 233Chapter 12.--Of the Era in Abraham's Life from Which a New Period in the Holy Succession Begins.
[887] Gen. x. 25. Chapter 12.--Of the Era in Abraham's Life from Which a New Period in the Holy Succession Begins. Let us now survey the progress of the city of God from the era of the patriarch Abraham, from whose time it begins to be more conspicuous, and the divine promises which are now fulfilled in Christ are more fully r…
910 wordsSECTION 234Chapter 14.--Of the Years of Terah, Who Completed His Lifetime in Haran.
Chapter 14.--Of the Years of Terah, Who Completed His Lifetime in Haran. On Terah's death in Mesopotamia, where he is said to have lived 205 years, the promises of God made to Abraham now begin to be pointed out; for thus it is written: "And the days of Terah in Haran were two hundred and five years, and he died in Haran." [893…
1,325 wordsSECTION 235Chapter 16.--Of the Order and Nature of the Promises of God Which Were Made to Abraham.
Chapter 16.--Of the Order and Nature of the Promises of God Which Were Made to Abraham. God's promises made to Abraham are now to be considered; for in these the oracles of our God, [901] that is, of the true God, began to appear more openly concerning the godly people, whom prophetic authority foretold. The first of these read…
823 wordsSECTION 236Chapter 18.--Of the Repeated Address of God to Abraham, in Which He Promised the Land of Canaan to Him and to His Seed.
Chapter 18.--Of the Repeated Address of God to Abraham, in Which He Promised the Land of Canaan to Him and to His Seed. Abraham, then, having departed out of Haran in the seventy-fifth year of his own age, and in the hundred and forty-fifth of his father's, went with Lot, his brother's son, and Sarah his wife, into the land of …
1,229 wordsSECTION 237Chapter 22.--Of Abraham's Overcoming the Enemies of Sodom, When He Delivered Lot from Captivity and Was Blessed by Melchizedek the Priest.
Chapter 22.--Of Abraham's Overcoming the Enemies of Sodom, When He Delivered Lot from Captivity and Was Blessed by Melchizedek the Priest. Having received this oracle of promise, Abraham migrated, and remained in another place of the same land, that is, beside the oak of Mamre, which was Hebron. Then on the invasion of Sodom, w…
2,123 wordsSECTION 238Chapter 25.--Of Sarah's Handmaid, Hagar, Whom She Herself Wished to Be Abraham's Concubine.
Chapter 25.--Of Sarah's Handmaid, Hagar, Whom She Herself Wished to Be Abraham's Concubine. And here follow the times of Abraham's sons, the one by Hagar the bond maid, the other by Sarah the free woman, about whom we have already spoken in the previous book. As regards this transaction, Abraham is in no way to be branded as gu…
924 wordsSECTION 239Chapter 27.--Of the Male, Who Was to Lose His Soul If He Was Not Circumcised on the Eighth Day, Because He Had Broken God's Covenant.
Chapter 27.--Of the Male, Who Was to Lose His Soul If He Was Not Circumcised on the Eighth Day, Because He Had Broken God's Covenant. When it is said, "The male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people, because he hath broken my covenant," [922] some may be troubled how tha…
1,178 wordsSECTION 240Chapter 29.--Of the Three Men or Angels, in Whom the Lord is Related to Have Appeared to Abraham at the Oak of Mamre.
Chapter 29.--Of the Three Men or Angels, in Whom the Lord is Related to Have Appeared to Abraham at the Oak of Mamre. God appeared again to Abraham at the oak of Mamre in three men, who it is not to be doubted were angels, although some think that one of them was Christ, and assert that He was visible before He put on flesh. No…
902 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.