Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series • VOLUME 3
Augustine — Trinity, Doctrinal & Moral Treatises
SECTION 161
Chapter 57.--The Condition of the Church in Heaven.
Chapter 57.--The Condition of the Church in Heaven. But of that part of the Church which is in heaven what can we say, except that no wicked one is found in it, and that no one has fallen from it, or shall ever fall from it, since the time that "God spared not the angels that sinned," as the Apostle Peter writes, "but cast them…
885 wordsSECTION 162Chapter 61.--The Church on Earth Has Been Redeemed from Sin by the Blood of a Mediator.
Chapter 61.--The Church on Earth Has Been Redeemed from Sin by the Blood of a Mediator. This part of the Church, then, which is made up of the holy angels and the hosts of God, shall become known to us in its true nature, when, at the end of the world, we shall be united with it in the common possession of everlasting happiness…
790 wordsSECTION 163Chapter 64.--Pardon of Sin Extends Over the Whole Mortal Life of the Saints, Which, Though Free from Crime, is Not Free from Sin.
Chapter 64.--Pardon of Sin Extends Over the Whole Mortal Life of the Saints, Which, Though Free from Crime, is Not Free from Sin. But the angels even now are at peace with us when our sins are pardoned. Hence, in the order of the Creed, after the mention of the Holy Church is placed the remission of sins. For it is by this that…
878 wordsSECTION 164Chapter 67.--Faith Without Works is Dead, and Cannot Save a Man.
Chapter 67.--Faith Without Works is Dead, and Cannot Save a Man. It is believed, moreover, by some, that men who do not abandon the name of Christ, and who have been baptized in the Church by His baptism, and who have never been cut off from the Church by any schism or heresy, though they should live in the grossest sin and nev…
1,069 wordsSECTION 165Chapter 69.--It is Not Impossible that Some Believers May Pass Through a Purgatorial Fire in the Future Life.
Chapter 69.--It is Not Impossible that Some Believers May Pass Through a Purgatorial Fire in the Future Life. And it is not impossible that something of the same kind may take place even after this life. It is a matter that may be inquired into, and either ascertained or left doubtful, whether some believers shall pass through …
836 wordsSECTION 166Chapter 73.--The Greatest of All Alms is to Forgive Our Debtors and to Love Our Enemies.
Chapter 73.--The Greatest of All Alms is to Forgive Our Debtors and to Love Our Enemies. But none of those is greater than to forgive from the heart a sin that has been committed against us. For it is a comparatively small thing to wish well to, or even to do good to, a man who has done no evil to you. It is a much higher thing…
926 wordsSECTION 167Chapter 76.--To Give Alms Aright, We Should Begin with Ourselves, and Have Pity Upon Our Own Souls.
Chapter 76.--To Give Alms Aright, We Should Begin with Ourselves, and Have Pity Upon Our Own Souls. For the man who wishes to give aims as he ought, should begin with himself, and give to himself first. For almsgiving is a work of mercy; and most truly is it said, "To have mercy on thy soul is pleasing to God." [1241] And for t…
793 wordsSECTION 168Chapter 78.--What Sins are Trivial and What Heinous is a Matter for God's Judgment.
Chapter 78.--What Sins are Trivial and What Heinous is a Matter for God's Judgment. Now, what sins are trivial and what heinous is not a matter to be decided by man's judgment, but by the judgment of God. For it is plain that the apostles themselves have given an indulgence in the case of certain sins: take, for example, what t…
706 wordsSECTION 169Chapter 79.--Sins Which Appear Very Trifling, are Sometimes in Reality Very Serious.
Chapter 79.--Sins Which Appear Very Trifling, are Sometimes in Reality Very Serious. Again, there are some sins which would be considered very trifling, if the Scriptures did not show that they are really very serious. For who would suppose that the man who says to his brother, "Thou fool," is in danger of hell-fire, did not He…
891 wordsSECTION 170Chapter 82.--The Mercy of God is Necessary to True Repentance.
Chapter 82.--The Mercy of God is Necessary to True Repentance. Now even penance itself, when by the law of the Church there is sufficient reason for its being gone through, is frequently evaded through infirmity; for shame is the fear of losing pleasure when the good opinion of men gives more pleasure than the righteousness whi…
704 wordsSECTION 171Chapter 87.--The Case of Monstrous Births.
Chapter 87.--The Case of Monstrous Births. We are not justified in affirming even of monstrosities, which are born and live, however quickly they may die, that they shall not rise again, nor that they shall rise again in their deformity, and not rather with an amended and perfected body. God forbid that the double limbed man wh…
875 wordsSECTION 172Chapter 91.--The Bodies of the Saints Shall at The Resurrection Be Spiritual Bodies.
Chapter 91.--The Bodies of the Saints Shall at The Resurrection Be Spiritual Bodies. The bodies of the saints, then, shall rise again free from every defect, from every blemish, as from all corruption, weight, and impediment. For their ease of movement shall be as complete as their happiness. Whence their bodies have been calle…
761 wordsSECTION 173Chapter 95.--God's Judgments Shall Then Be Explained.
Chapter 95.--God's Judgments Shall Then Be Explained. Then shall be made clear much that is now dark. For example, when of two infants, whose cases seem in all respects alike, one by the mercy of God chosen to Himself, and the other is by His justice abandoned (wherein the one who is chosen may recognize what was of justice due…
858 wordsSECTION 174Chapter 98.--Predestination to Eternal Life is Wholly of God's Free Grace.
Chapter 98.--Predestination to Eternal Life is Wholly of God's Free Grace. And, moreover, who will be so foolish and blasphemous as to say that God cannot change the evil wills of men, whichever, whenever, and wheresoever He chooses, and direct them to what is good? But when He does this He does it of mercy; when He does it not…
1,219 wordsSECTION 175Chapter 100.--The Will of God is Never Defeated, Though Much is Done that is Contrary to His Will.
Chapter 100.--The Will of God is Never Defeated, Though Much is Done that is Contrary to His Will. These are the great works of the Lord, sought out according to all His pleasure, [1291] and so wisely sought out, that when the intelligent creation, both angelic and human, sinned, doing not His will but their own, He used the ve…
816 wordsSECTION 176Chapter 103.--Interpretation of the Expression in I Tim. II. 4: "Who Will Have All Men to Be Saved."
Chapter 103.--Interpretation of the Expression in I Tim. II. 4: "Who Will Have All Men to Be Saved." Accordingly, when we hear and read in Scripture that He "will have all men to be saved," [1294] although we know well that all men are not saved, we are not on that account to restrict the omnipotence of God, but are rather to u…
704 wordsSECTION 177Chapter 104.--God, Foreknowing the Sin of the First Man, Ordered His Own Purposes Accordingly.
Chapter 104.--God, Foreknowing the Sin of the First Man, Ordered His Own Purposes Accordingly. Wherefore, God would have been willing to preserve even the first man in that state of salvation in which he was created, and after he had begotten sons to remove him at a fit time, without the intervention of death, to a better place…
741 wordsSECTION 178Chapter 107.--Eternal Life, Though the Reward of Good Works, is Itself the Gift of God.
Chapter 107.--Eternal Life, Though the Reward of Good Works, is Itself the Gift of God. Wherefore, even eternal life itself, which is surely the reward of good works, the apostle calls the gift of God. "For the wages of sin," he says, "is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." [1300] Wages (s…
1,011 wordsSECTION 179Chapter 111.--After the Resurrection There Shall Be Two Distinct Kingdoms, One of Eternal Happiness, the Other of Eternal Misery.
Chapter 111.--After the Resurrection There Shall Be Two Distinct Kingdoms, One of Eternal Happiness, the Other of Eternal Misery. After the resurrection, however, when the final, universal judgment has been completed, there shall be two kingdoms, each with its own distinct boundaries, the one Christ's, the other the devil's; th…
767 wordsSECTION 180Chapter 114.--Having Dealt with Faith, We Now Come to Speak of Hope. Everything that Pertains to Hope is Embraced in the Lord's Prayer.
Chapter 114.--Having Dealt with Faith, We Now Come to Speak of Hope. Everything that Pertains to Hope is Embraced in the Lord's Prayer. Out of this confession of faith, which is briefly comprehended in the Creed, and which, carnally understood, is milk for babes, but, spiritually apprehended and studied, is meat for strong men,…
723 wordsSECTION 181Chapter 117.--Love, Which is Greater Than Faith and Hope, is Shed Abroad in Our Hearts by the Holy Ghost.
Chapter 117.--Love, Which is Greater Than Faith and Hope, is Shed Abroad in Our Hearts by the Holy Ghost. And now as to love, which the apostle declares to be greater than the other two graces, that is, than faith and hope, [1315] the greater the measure in which it dwells in a man, the better is the man in whom it dwells. For …
838 wordsSECTION 182Chapter 119.--The Grace of Regeneration Washes Away All Past Sin and All Original Guilt.
Chapter 119.--The Grace of Regeneration Washes Away All Past Sin and All Original Guilt. Now in whichever of these four stages (as we may call them) the grace of regeneration finds any particular man, all his past sins are there and then pardoned, and the guilt which he contracted in his birth is removed in his new birth; and s…
1,263 wordsSECTION 183Chapter 1.--How Augustin Writes in Answer to a Favor Asked by a Deacon of Carthage.
Chapter 1.--How Augustin Writes in Answer to a Favor Asked by a Deacon of Carthage. 1. You have requested me, brother Deogratias, to send you in writing something which might be of service to you in the matter of catechising the uninstructed. For you have informed me that in Carthage, where you hold the position of a deacon, pe…
1,950 wordsSECTION 184Chapter 3.--Of the Full Narration to Be Employed in Catechising.
Chapter 3.--Of the Full Narration to Be Employed in Catechising. 5. The narration is full when each person is catechised in the first instance from what is written in the text, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," [1343] on to the present times of the Church. This does not imply, however, either that we ough…
1,149 wordsSECTION 185Chapter 4.--That the Great Reason for the Advent of Christ Was the Commendation of Love.
Chapter 4.--That the Great Reason for the Advent of Christ Was the Commendation of Love. 7. Moreover, what greater reason is apparent for the advent of the Lord than that God might show His love in us, commending it powerfully, inasmuch as "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"? [1358] And furthermore, this is with the…
1,404 wordsSECTION 186Chapter 5.--That the Person Who Comes for Catechetical Instruction is to Be Examined with Respect to His Views, on Desiring to Become a Christian.
Chapter 5.--That the Person Who Comes for Catechetical Instruction is to Be Examined with Respect to His Views, on Desiring to Become a Christian. 9. Moreover, it is on the gound of that very severity of God, [1370] by which the hearts of mortals are agitated with a most wholesome terror, that love is to be built up; so that, r…
842 wordsSECTION 187Chapter 6.--Of the Way to Commence the Catechetical Instruction, and of the Narration of Facts from the History of the World's Creation on to the Present Times of the Church.
Chapter 6.--Of the Way to Commence the Catechetical Instruction, and of the Narration of Facts from the History of the World's Creation on to the Present Times of the Church. 10. But if it happens that his answer is to the effect that he has met with some divine warning, or with some divine terror, prompting him to become a Chr…
1,438 wordsSECTION 188Chapter 8.--Of the Method to Be Pursued in Catechising Those Who Have Had a Liberal Education.
Chapter 8.--Of the Method to Be Pursued in Catechising Those Who Have Had a Liberal Education. 12. But there is another case which evidently must not be overlooked. I mean the case of one coming to you to receive catchetical instruction who has cultivated the field of liberal studies, who has already made up his mind to be a Ch…
1,172 wordsSECTION 189Chapter 9.--Of the Method in Which Grammarians and Professional Speakers are to Be Dealt with.
Chapter 9.--Of the Method in Which Grammarians and Professional Speakers are to Be Dealt with. 13. There are also some who come from the commonest schools of the grammarians and professional speakers, whom you may not venture to reckon either among the uneducated or among those very learned classes whose minds have been exercis…
704 wordsSECTION 190Chapter 10.--Of the Attainment of Cheerfulness in the Duty of Catechising, and of Various Causes Producing Weariness in the Catechumen.
Chapter 10.--Of the Attainment of Cheerfulness in the Duty of Catechising, and of Various Causes Producing Weariness in the Catechumen. 14. At this point you perhaps desiderate some example of the kind of discourse intended, so that I may show you by an actual instance how the things which I have recommended are to be done. Thi…
1,667 wordsSECTION 191Chapter 11.--Of the Remedy for the Second Source of Weariness.
Chapter 11.--Of the Remedy for the Second Source of Weariness. 16. If, however, it is rather our desire to read or hear such things as are already prepared for our use and expressed in a superior style, and if the consequence is that we feel it irksome to put together, at the time and with an uncertain issue, the terms of disco…
1,038 wordsSECTION 192Chapter 12.--Of the Remedy for the Third Source of Weariness.
Chapter 12.--Of the Remedy for the Third Source of Weariness. 17. Once more, however, we often feel it very wearisome to go over repeatedly matters which are thoroughly familiar, and adapted (rather) to children. If this is the case with us, then we should endeavor to meet them with a brother's, a father's, and a mother's love;…
2,063 wordsSECTION 193Chapter 14.--Of the Remedy Against the Fifth and Sixth Sources of Weariness.
Chapter 14.--Of the Remedy Against the Fifth and Sixth Sources of Weariness. 20. If, again, your spirit has been broken by the necessity of giving up some other employment, on which, as the more requisite, you were now bent; and if the sadness caused by that constraint makes you catechise in no pleasant mood, you ought to ponde…
1,369 wordsSECTION 194Chapter 15.--Of the Method in Which Our Address Should Be Adapted to Different Classes of Hearers.
Chapter 15.--Of the Method in Which Our Address Should Be Adapted to Different Classes of Hearers. 23. But now, perhaps, you also demand of me as a debt that which, previous to the promise which I made, I was under no obligation to give, namely, that I should not count it burdensome to unfold some sort of example of the discour…
877 wordsSECTION 195Chapter 16.--A Specimen of a Catechetical Address; And First, the Case of a Catechumen with Worthy Views.
Chapter 16.--A Specimen of a Catechetical Address; And First, the Case of a Catechumen with Worthy Views. 24. Nevertheless, however that may be, let us here suppose that some one has come to us who desires to be made a Christian, and who belongs indeed to the order of private persons, [1428] and yet not to the class of rustics,…
1,334 wordsSECTION 196Chapter 17.--The Specimen of Catechetical Discourse Continued, in Reference Specially to the Reproval of False Aims on the Catechumen's Part.
Chapter 17.--The Specimen of Catechetical Discourse Continued, in Reference Specially to the Reproval of False Aims on the Catechumen's Part. 26. "For there are some whose reason for desiring to become Christians is either that they may gain the favor of men from whom they look for temporal advantages, or that they are reluctan…
1,022 wordsSECTION 197Chapter 18.--Of What is to Be Believed on the Subject of the Creation of Man and Other Objects.
Chapter 18.--Of What is to Be Believed on the Subject of the Creation of Man and Other Objects. 29. "Whereas, then, the omnipotent God, who is also good and just and merciful, who made all things,--whether they be great or small, whether they be highest or lowest, whether they be things which are seen, such as are the heavens a…
919 wordsSECTION 198Chapter 19.--Of the Co-Existence of Good and Evil in the Church, and Their Final Separation.
Chapter 19.--Of the Co-Existence of Good and Evil in the Church, and Their Final Separation. 31. "Neither ought we to be moved by the consideration that many consent unto the devil, and few follow God; for the grain, too, in comparison with the chaff, has greatly the defect in number. But even as the husbandman knows what to do…
1,346 wordsSECTION 199Chapter 20.--Of Israel's Bondage in Egypt, Their Deliverance, and Their Passage Through the Red Sea.
Chapter 20.--Of Israel's Bondage in Egypt, Their Deliverance, and Their Passage Through the Red Sea. 34. "That people, then, having been brought down into Egypt, were in bondage to the harshest of kings; and, taught by the most oppressive labors, they sought their deliverer in God; and there was sent to them one belonging to th…
1,065 wordsSECTION 200Chapter 21.--Of the Babylonish Captivity, and the Things Signified Thereby.
Chapter 21.--Of the Babylonish Captivity, and the Things Signified Thereby. 37. "Howbeit, after the lapse of some generations, another type was presented, which bears very emphatically on the matter in hand. For that city [1451] was brought into captivity, and a large section of the people were carried off into Babylonia. Now, …
1,101 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.