- THE CITY OF GOD - THE OMNIPOTENCE OF THE CREATOR - BY SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO -
- That everything which the grace of God does in the way of rescuing us from the inveterate evils in which we are sunk, pertains to the future world, in which all things are made new - - P A G E 4 -
Nevertheless, in the "heavy yoke that is laid upon the sons of Adam, from the day that they go out of their mother's womb to the day that they return to the mother of all things" there is found an admirable though painful monitor teaching us to be sober-minded, and convincing us that this life has become penal in consequence of that outrageous wickedness which was perpetrated in Paradise, and that all to which the New Testament invites belongs to that future inheritance which awaits us in the world to come and is offered for our acceptance, as the earnest that we may in its own due time, obtain that of which it is the pledge. Now, therefore let us walk in hope, and let us by the spirit mortify the deeds of the flesh and so make progress from day to day. For "the Lord know them that are His" - 2 Timothy 2:19 - and "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are sons of God" - Romans 8:14 - but the grace, not by nature. For there is but one Son of God by nature, who in His compassion became Son of Man for our sakes that we by nature sons of men, might by grace become through Him sons of God. For he, abiding unchangeable, took upon Him our nature, that thereby He might take us to Himself; and holding fast His own divinity, He became partaker of our infinity, that we, being changed into some better thing, might by participating in His righteousness and immortality, lose our own properties of sin and mortality, and preserve whatever good quality He had implanted in our nature, perfected now by sharing in the goodness of His nature. For as by the sin of one man we have fallen into a misery so deplorable, so by the righteousness of one Man, who also is God, shall we come to a blessedness inconceivably exalted. Nor ought anyone to trust that he has passed from the one man to the other until he shall have reached that place where there is no temptation and have entered into the peace which he seeks in the many and various conflicts of this war, in which "the flesh lust against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh."
Now such a war as this would have had no existence, if human nature had, in the exercise of free will, continued steadfast, in the uprightness in which it was created. But now in its misery it makes war upon itself, because in its blessedness it would not continue at peace with God; and this, though it be miserable calamity, is better than the earlier stages of this life which do not recognise that a war is to be maintained. For better is it to contend with vices than without conflict to be subdued by them. Better, I say, is war with the hope of peace everlasting than captivity without any thought of deliverance. We long, indeed, for the cessation of this war, and kindled by the flame of divine love, we burn for entrance on that well-ordered peace in which whatever is inferior is forever subordinated to what is above it. But if (which God forbid) there had been no hope of so blessed a consummation, we should still have preferred to endure the hardness of this conflict, rather than, by our non-resistance, to yield ourselves to the dominion of vice.
- The laws of grace, which extend to all the epochs of the life of the regenerate -
But such is God's mercy towards the vessels of mercy which He has prepared for glory, that even the first age of man, that is, infancy, which submits without any resistance to the flesh, and the second age which is called boyhood and which has not yet understanding enough to undertake this warfare, and therefore yields to almost every vicious pleasure (became though this age has the power of speech - "Fari." - and may therefore seem to have passed infancy, the mind is still too weak to comprehend the commandment) yet if either of these ages has received the sacraments of the Mediator. then, although the present life be immediately brought to an end, the child, having been translated from the power of darkness to the kingdom of Christ, shall not only be saved from eternal punishments, but shall not even suffer purgatorial torments after death. For spiritual regeneration of itself suffices to prevent any evil consequences resulting after death from the connection with death which carnal generation forms. - Aug. Ep. 98, ad Bonifacium - But when we reach that age which can now comprehend the commandment and submit to the dominion of law, we must declare war upon vices, and wage this war keenly, lest we be landed in damnable sins. And if vices have not gathered strength by habitual victory they are more easily overcome and subdued; but if they have been used to conquer and rule, it is only with difficulty and labour they are mastered. And indeed this victory cannot be sincerely and truly gained but by delighting in true righteousness and it is faith in Christ that gives this. For if the law be present with its command, and the Spirit be absent with His help, the presence of the prohibition serves only to increase the desire sin and adds the guilt of transgression. Sometimes, indeed, patent vices are overcome by other and hidden vices, which are reckoned virtues, though pride and a kind of ruinous self-sufficiency are their informing principles. According vices are then only to be considered overcome when they are conquered by the love of God, which God Himself alone gives and which He gives only through the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who became a partaker of our mortally that He might make us partakers of His divinity. But few indeed are they who are so happy as to have passed their youth without committing any damnable sins, either by dissolute or violent conduct, or by following some godless and unlawful opinions, but have subdued by their greatness of soul everything in them which could make them the slaves of carnal pleasures. The greater number having first become transgressors of the law that they have received and having allowed vice to have the ascendency in them, then flee to grace for help, and so by a penitence more bitter and a struggle more violent than it would otherwise have been, they subdue the soul to God, and thus give it its lawful authority over the flesh and become victors. Whoever, therefore, desires to escape eternal punishment, let him not only be baptised, but also justified in Christ, and so let him in truth pass from the devil to Christ. And let him not fancy that there are any purgatorial pains except before that final and dreadful judgement. We must not, however, deny that even the eternal fire will be proportioned to the deserts of the wicked, so that to some it will be more and to others less painful, whether this result be accomplished by a variation in the temperature of the fire itself, graduated according to everyone merit, or whether it be that the heat remains the same but that all do not feel it with equal intensity of torment.
- Of those who fancy that no men shall be punished eternally -
I must now, I see the lists of amicable controversy with those tender-hearted Christians who decline to believe that any or that all of those whom the infallibly just Judge may pronounce worthy of the punishment of hell, shall suffer eternally and who suppose that they shall be delivered after a fixed term of punishment, longer or shorter according to the amount of each man's sin. In respect of this matter, Origen was even more indulgent; for he believed that even the devil himself and his angels, after suffering those more severe and prolonged pains which their sins deserved, should be delivered from their torments and associated with the body angels. But the Church, not without reason, condemned him for this and other errors, especially for his theory of the ceaseless alternation of happiness and misery, and the interminable transitions from the one state to the other at fixed periods of ages; for in this theory he lost even the credit of being merciful, by allotting to the saints real miseries for the expiation of their sins, and false happiness which brought them no true and secure joy, that is, no fearless assurance of eternal blessedness. Very different, however, is the error we speak of which is dictated by the tenderness of these Christians who suppose that the sufferings of those who are condemned in the judgement will be temporary, while blessedness of all who are sooner or later set free will be eternal. Which opinion, if it is good and true in proportion as it becomes more merciful. let, then, this fountain of mercy be extended and flow forth even to the lost angels, and let them also be set free, at least after as many and long ages as seem fit! Why does this stream of mercy flow to all the human race, and dry up as soon as it reaches the angelic? And yet they dare not extend their pity further and propose the deliverance of the devil himself. Or if anyone is bold enough to do so, he does indeed put to shame their charity, but is himself convicted of error that is more unsightly and a wresting of God's truth that is more perverse, in proportion as his clemency of sentiment seems to be greater. -
- Of those who fancy that, on account of the saint's intercession, no man shall be damned in the last judgment - P A G E 5 -
- WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY -
Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!
If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function, so the body grows until it has built itself up, in love. - Ephesians 4:15-16 -
