Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series • VOLUME 2
Augustine — City of God & Christian Doctrine
SECTION 281
Chapter 44.--How the Threat of the Destruction of the Ninevites is to Be Understood Which in the Hebrew Extends to Forty Days, While in the Septuagint It is Contracted to Three.
Chapter 44.--How the Threat of the Destruction of the Ninevites is to Be Understood Which in the Hebrew Extends to Forty Days, While in the Septuagint It is Contracted to Three. But some one may say, "How shall I know whether the prophet Jonah said to the Ninevites, Yet three days and Nineveh shall be overthrown,' or forty days…
1,662 wordsSECTION 282Chapter 46.--Of the Birth of Our Saviour, Whereby the Word Was Made Flesh; And of the Dispersion of the Jews Among All Nations, as Had Been Prophesied.
Chapter 46.--Of the Birth of Our Saviour, Whereby the Word Was Made Flesh; And of the Dispersion of the Jews Among All Nations, as Had Been Prophesied. While Herod, therefore, reigned in Judea, and Cæsar Augustus was emperor at Rome, the state of the republic being already changed, and the world being set at peace by him, Chris…
1,837 wordsSECTION 283Chapter 49.--Of the Indiscriminate Increase of the Church, Wherein Many Reprobate are in This World Mixed with the Elect.
Chapter 49.--Of the Indiscriminate Increase of the Church, Wherein Many Reprobate are in This World Mixed with the Elect. In this wicked world, in these evil days, when the Church measures her future loftiness by her present humility, and is exercised by goading fears, tormenting sorrows, disquieting labors, and dangerous tempt…
860 wordsSECTION 284Chapter 51.--That the Catholic Faith May Be Confirmed Even by the Dissensions of the Heretics.
Chapter 51.--That the Catholic Faith May Be Confirmed Even by the Dissensions of the Heretics. But the devil, seeing the temples of the demons deserted, and the human race running to the name of the liberating Mediator, has moved the heretics under the Christian name to resist the Christian doctrine, as if they could be kept in…
1,769 wordsSECTION 285Chapter 53.--Of the Hidden Time of the Final Persecution.
Chapter 53.--Of the Hidden Time of the Final Persecution. Truly Jesus Himself shall extinguish by His presence that last persecution which is to be made by Antichrist. For so it is written, that "He shall slay him with the breath of His mouth, and empty him with the brightness of His presence." [1253] It is customary to ask, Wh…
775 wordsSECTION 286Chapter 54.--Of the Very Foolish Lie of the Pagans, in Feigning that the Christian Religion Was Not to Last Beyond Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Years.
Chapter 54.--Of the Very Foolish Lie of the Pagans, in Feigning that the Christian Religion Was Not to Last Beyond Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Years. I might collect these and many similar arguments, if that year had not already passed by which lying divination has promised, and deceived vanity has believed. But as a few years…
1,197 wordsSECTION 287Book XIX.
Book XIX. ------------------------ Argument--In this book the end of the two cities, the earthly and the heavenly, is discussed. Augustin reviews the opinions of the philosophers regarding the supreme good, and their vain efforts to make for themselves a happiness in this life; and, while he refutes these, he takes occasion to…
2,608 wordsSECTION 288Chapter 3.--Which of the Three Leading Opinions Regarding the Chief Good Should Be Preferred, According to Varro, Who Follows Antiochus and the Old Academy.
Chapter 3.--Which of the Three Leading Opinions Regarding the Chief Good Should Be Preferred, According to Varro, Who Follows Antiochus and the Old Academy. Which of these three is true and to be adopted he attempts to show in the following manner. As it is the supreme good, not of a tree, or of a beast, or of a god, but of man…
1,007 wordsSECTION 289Chapter 4.--What the Christians Believe Regarding the Supreme Good and Evil, in Opposition to the Philosophers, Who Have Maintained that the Supreme Good is in Themselves.
Chapter 4.--What the Christians Believe Regarding the Supreme Good and Evil, in Opposition to the Philosophers, Who Have Maintained that the Supreme Good is in Themselves. If, then, we be asked what the city of God has to say upon these points, and, in the first place, what its opinion regarding the supreme good and evil is, it…
2,589 wordsSECTION 290Chapter 5.--Of the Social Life, Which, Though Most Desirable, is Frequently Disturbed by Many Distresses.
[1263] Hab. ii. 4. [1264] Ps. xciv. 11, and 1 Cor. iii. 20. [1265] Wisdom ix. 15. [1266] Cicero, Tusc. Quæst. iii. 8. [1267] Gal. v. 17. [1268] Rom. viii. 24. Chapter 5.--Of the Social Life, Which, Though Most Desirable, is Frequently Disturbed by Many Distresses. We give a much more unlimited approval to their idea that …
1,206 wordsSECTION 291Chapter 7.--Of the Diversity of Languages, by Which the Intercourse of Men is Prevented; And of the Misery of Wars, Even of Those Called Just.
Chapter 7.--Of the Diversity of Languages, by Which the Intercourse of Men is Prevented; And of the Misery of Wars, Even of Those Called Just. After the state or city comes the world, the third circle of human society,--the first being the house, and the second the city. And the world, as it is larger, so it is fuller of danger…
1,351 wordsSECTION 292Chapter 10.--The Reward Prepared for the Saints After They Have Endured the Trial of This Life.
Chapter 10.--The Reward Prepared for the Saints After They Have Endured the Trial of This Life. But not even the saints and faithful worshippers of the one true and most high God are safe from the manifold temptations and deceits of the demons. For in this abode of weakness, and in these wicked days, this state of anxiety has a…
716 wordsSECTION 293Chapter 12.--That Even the Fierceness of War and All the Disquietude of Men Make Towards This One End of Peace, Which Every Nature Desires.
Chapter 12.--That Even the Fierceness of War and All the Disquietude of Men Make Towards This One End of Peace, Which Every Nature Desires. Whoever gives even moderate attention to human affairs and to our common nature, will recognize that if there is no man who does not wish to be joyful, neither is there any one who does not…
1,708 wordsSECTION 294Chapter 13.--Of the Universal Peace Which the Law of Nature Preserves Through All Disturbances, and by Which Every One Reaches His Desert in a Way Regulated by the Just Judge.
Chapter 13.--Of the Universal Peace Which the Law of Nature Preserves Through All Disturbances, and by Which Every One Reaches His Desert in a Way Regulated by the Just Judge. The peace of the body then consists in the duly proportioned arrangement of its parts. The peace of the irrational soul is the harmonious repose of the a…
1,004 wordsSECTION 295Chapter 14.--Of the Order and Law Which Obtain in Heaven and Earth, Whereby It Comes to Pass that Human Society Is Served by Those Who Rule It.
Chapter 14.--Of the Order and Law Which Obtain in Heaven and Earth, Whereby It Comes to Pass that Human Society Is Served by Those Who Rule It. The whole use, then, of things temporal has a reference to this result of earthly peace in the earthly community, while in the city of God it is connected with eternal peace. And theref…
1,436 wordsSECTION 296Chapter 16.--Of Equitable Rule.
Chapter 16.--Of Equitable Rule. And therefore, although our righteous fathers [1289] had slaves, and administered their domestic affairs so as to distinguish between the condition of slaves and the heirship of sons in regard to the blessings of this life, yet in regard to the worship of God, in whom we hope for eternal blessing…
1,299 wordsSECTION 297Chapter 18.--How Different the Uncertainty of the New Academy is from the Certainty of the Christian Faith.
Chapter 18.--How Different the Uncertainty of the New Academy is from the Certainty of the Christian Faith. As regards the uncertainty about everything which Varro alleges to be the differentiating characteristic of the New Academy, the city of God thoroughly detests such doubt as madness. Regarding matters which it apprehends …
777 wordsSECTION 298Chapter 20.--That the Saints are in This Life Blessed in Hope.
Chapter 20.--That the Saints are in This Life Blessed in Hope. Since, then, the supreme good of the city of God is perfect and eternal peace, not such as mortals pass into and out of by birth and death, but the peace of freedom from all evil, in which the immortals ever abide; who can deny that that future life is most blessed,…
1,199 wordsSECTION 299Chapter 22.--Whether the God Whom the Christians Serve is the True God to Whom Alone Sacrifice Ought to Be Paid.
Chapter 22.--Whether the God Whom the Christians Serve is the True God to Whom Alone Sacrifice Ought to Be Paid. But it may be replied, Who is this God, or what proof is there that He alone is worthy to receive sacrifice from the Romans? One must be very blind to be still asking who this God is. He is the God whose prophets pre…
2,679 wordsSECTION 300Chapter 24.--The Definition Which Must Be Given of a People and a Republic, in Order to Vindicate the Assumption of These Titles by the Romans and by Other Kingdoms.
[1299] Ex. xxii. 20. [1300] Ps. xcvi. 5. [1301] Augustin here warns his readers against a possible misunderstanding of the Latin word for alone (soli), which might be rendered "the sun." [1302] Ps. xvi. 2. Chapter 24.--The Definition Which Must Be Given of a People and a Republic, in Order to Vindicate the Assumption of Thes…
933 wordsSECTION 301Chapter 27.--That the Peace of Those Who Serve God Cannot in This Mortal Life Be Apprehended in Its Perfection.
Chapter 27.--That the Peace of Those Who Serve God Cannot in This Mortal Life Be Apprehended in Its Perfection. But the peace which is peculiar to ourselves we enjoy now with God by faith, and shall hereafter enjoy eternally with Him by sight. But the peace which we enjoy in this life, whether common to all or peculiar to ourse…
950 wordsSECTION 302Book XX.
Book XX. ------------------------ Argument--Concerning the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the old and new testaments. Chapter 1.--That Although God is Always Judging, It is Nevertheless Reasonable to Confine Our Attention in This Book to His Last Judgment. Intending to speak, in dependence on God's grace…
1,361 wordsSECTION 303Chapter 3.--What Solomon, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, Says Regarding the Things Which Happen Alike to Good and Wicked Men.
Chapter 3.--What Solomon, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, Says Regarding the Things Which Happen Alike to Good and Wicked Men. Solomon, the wisest king of Israel, who reigned in Jerusalem, thus commences the book called Ecclesiastes, which the Jews number among their canonical Scriptures: "Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, va…
862 wordsSECTION 304Chapter 5.--The Passages in Which the Saviour Declares that There Shall Be a Divine Judgment in the End of the World.
Chapter 5.--The Passages in Which the Saviour Declares that There Shall Be a Divine Judgment in the End of the World. The Saviour Himself, while reproving the cities in which He had done great works, but which had not believed, and while setting them in unfavorable comparison with foreign cities, says, "But I say unto you, It s…
1,297 wordsSECTION 305Chapter 6.--What is the First Resurrection, and What the Second.
Chapter 6.--What is the First Resurrection, and What the Second. After that He adds the words, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in …
1,131 wordsSECTION 306Chapter 7.--What is Written in the Revelation of John Regarding the Two Resurrections, and the Thousand Years, and What May Reasonably Be Held on These Points.
Chapter 7.--What is Written in the Revelation of John Regarding the Two Resurrections, and the Thousand Years, and What May Reasonably Be Held on These Points. The evangelist John has spoken of these two resurrections in the book which is called the Apocalypse, but in such a way that some Christians do not understand the first …
1,691 wordsSECTION 307Chapter 8.--Of the Binding and Loosing of the Devil.
Chapter 8.--Of the Binding and Loosing of the Devil. "After that," says John, "he must be loosed a little season." If the binding and shutting up of the devil means his being made unable to seduce the Church, must his loosing be the recovery of this ability? By no means. For the Church predestined and elected before the foundat…
1,608 wordsSECTION 308Chapter 9.--What the Reign of the Saints with Christ for a Thousand Years Is, and How It Differs from the Eternal Kingdom.
Chapter 9.--What the Reign of the Saints with Christ for a Thousand Years Is, and How It Differs from the Eternal Kingdom. But while the devil is bound, the saints reign with Christ during the same thousand years, understood in the same way, that is, of the time of His first coming. [1354] For, leaving out of account that kingd…
1,873 wordsSECTION 309Chapter 10.--What is to Be Replied to Those Who Think that Resurrection Pertains Only to Bodies and Not to Souls.
Chapter 10.--What is to Be Replied to Those Who Think that Resurrection Pertains Only to Bodies and Not to Souls. There are some who suppose that resurrection can be predicated only of the body, and therefore they contend that this first resurrection (of the Apocalypse) is a bodily resurrection. For, say they, "to rise again" c…
1,032 wordsSECTION 310Chapter 12.--Whether the Fire that Came Down Out of Heaven and Devoured Them Refers to the Last Punishment of the Wicked.
Chapter 12.--Whether the Fire that Came Down Out of Heaven and Devoured Them Refers to the Last Punishment of the Wicked. The words, "And fire came down out of heaven and devoured them," are not to be understood of the final punishment which shall be inflicted when it is said, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire;"…
1,170 wordsSECTION 311Chapter 14.--Of the Damnation of the Devil and His Adherents; And a Sketch of the Bodily Resurrection of All the Dead, and of the Final Retributive Judgment.
Chapter 14.--Of the Damnation of the Devil and His Adherents; And a Sketch of the Bodily Resurrection of All the Dead, and of the Final Retributive Judgment. After this mention of the closing persecution, he summarily indicates all that the devil, and the city of which he is the prince, shall suffer in the last judgment. For he…
836 wordsSECTION 312Chapter 15.--Who the Dead are Who are Given Up to Judgment by the Sea, and by Death and Hell.
Chapter 15.--Who the Dead are Who are Given Up to Judgment by the Sea, and by Death and Hell. But who are the dead which were in the sea, and which the sea presented? For we cannot suppose that those who die in the sea are not in hell, nor that their bodies are preserved in the sea; nor yet, which is still more absurd, that the…
1,143 wordsSECTION 313Chapter 17.--Of the Endless Glory of the Church.
Chapter 17.--Of the Endless Glory of the Church. "And I saw," he says, "a great city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His pe…
845 wordsSECTION 314Chapter 18.--What the Apostle Peter Predicted Regarding the Last Judgment.
Chapter 18.--What the Apostle Peter Predicted Regarding the Last Judgment. Let us now see what the Apostle Peter predicted concerning this judgment. "There shall come," he says, "in the last days scoffers. . . . Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." [14…
1,836 wordsSECTION 315Chapter 20.--What the Same Apostle Taught in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians Regarding the Resurrection of the Dead.
Chapter 20.--What the Same Apostle Taught in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians Regarding the Resurrection of the Dead. But the apostle has said nothing here regarding the resurrection of the dead; but in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians he says, "We would not have you to be ignorant brethren, concerning them which ar…
1,140 wordsSECTION 316Chapter 21.--Utterances of the Prophet Isaiah Regarding the Resurrection of the Dead and the Retributive Judgment.
Chapter 21.--Utterances of the Prophet Isaiah Regarding the Resurrection of the Dead and the Retributive Judgment. The prophet Isaiah says, "The dead shall rise again, and all who were in the graves shall rise again; and all who are in the earth shall rejoice: for the dew which is from Thee is their health, and the earth of the…
2,239 wordsSECTION 317Chapter 22.--What is Meant by the Good Going Out to See the Punishment of the Wicked.
[1413] Isa. xxvi. 19. [1414] Isa. lxvi. 12, 16. [1415] Gal. iv. 26. [1416] Matt. v. 8. [1417] Isa. lxv. 17-19. [1418] Phil. iii. 19. [1419] Rom. viii. 6. [1420] Gen. vi. 3. [1421] Luke xii. 49. [1422] Acts ii. 3. [1423] Matt. x. 34. [1424] Heb. iv. 12. [1425] Song of Sol. ii. 5. [1426] Isa. lxvi. 18. [1427] Rom. ii…
1,309 wordsSECTION 318Chapter 24.--Passages from the Psalms of David Which Predict the End of the World and the Last Judgment.
Chapter 24.--Passages from the Psalms of David Which Predict the End of the World and the Last Judgment. There are many allusions to the last judgment in the Psalms, but for the most part only casual and slight. I cannot, however, omit to mention what is said there in express terms of the end of this world: "In the beginning ha…
1,784 wordsSECTION 319Chapter 25.--Of Malachi's Prophecy, in Which He Speaks of the Last Judgment, and of a Cleansing Which Some are to Undergo by Purifying Punishments.
Chapter 25.--Of Malachi's Prophecy, in Which He Speaks of the Last Judgment, and of a Cleansing Which Some are to Undergo by Purifying Punishments. The prophet Malachi or Malachias, who is also called Angel, and is by some (for Jerome [1456] tells us that this is the opinion of the Hebrews) identified with Ezra the priest, [145…
1,680 wordsSECTION 320Chapter 27.--Of the Separation of the Good and the Bad, Which Proclaim the Discriminating Influence of the Last Judgment.
Chapter 27.--Of the Separation of the Good and the Bad, Which Proclaim the Discriminating Influence of the Last Judgment. The passage also which I formerly quoted for another purpose from this prophet refers to the last judgment, in which he says, "They shall be mine, saith the Lord Almighty, in the day in which I make up my ga…
2,681 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.