AUGUSTINUS

AUGUSTINUS

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Although there is in them no act of the willopposing itself to the reception of that gift ? Iteven sometimes happens that the parents of achild eagerly long to have him baptized, and yetthe child does not receive the sacrament, becauseGod, not willing that he should, causes him todie before baptism is administered. It is evident,therefore, that those who resist so clear a will donot understand the meaning of the expression,

‘ God will have all men to be saved,* since thereare so many men who remain unsaved, not be-cause they refuse to be saved, but because Godwills not that they should** (. Epist. ad Vital.5 , 6 ).

By these assertions Augustine attained theextreme point of reaction against Pelagianism :he could go no farther. He had stripped man ofeverything; and we are led to ask ourselveswhether on such a system man himself exists asa moral creature; though we must add thatSt. Augustine stopped short of the idea of a posi-tive decree of perdition. (On the controversywith Pelagius and his followers, see, in addition tothe works already named, the Vita Foss id. 18.)

St. Augustine was not satisfied with attackingheresy and schism: he also wrote the De CivitateDei , one of the noblest apologetical works whichthe ancient Church can boast of. It was com-menced about 413, and was not finished before 426.That treatise was composed, if we may so say, inthe glare of the conflagration kindled by the bar-barians in the midst of the Roman world. Romehad already been once taken; and the end hadcome to that vigorous society which, after aperiod of the most extraordinary development,was now falling to pieces, eaten up by inwardcorruption, and also shaken to its foundations bythe violent attacks of the Teutonic tribes. Allhearts were agitated with unutterable anxiety ;every one felt that the scenes he had witnessedwere nothing as compared with those which wereto take place. Society was moving towards anunknown goal, unknown and yet but too clearlyforeseen. Christians themselves ran the risk ofbeing discouraged by the gloomy future, so muchthe more so because the heathens accused themof having brought about all these disasters byrenouncing the time-honoured deities of theircountry.

Augustine wrote the De Civitate Dei with theintention of refuting these absurd calumnies,and also of giving fresh courage to his fellowChristians. Every page bears the stamp of hisfervent piety. His eloquence and his indignationare unequalled when he exposes that corruptpaganism which, after bringing down upon Ro-man society evils of every kind, dared to laythese woes to the charge of the Christian faith,which was alone capable of saving the world.Taking a rapid survey of the history of Rome, heasks what the gods of heathenism had ever donefor the prosperity of the state and for publicmorality. All the riches of learning are enlistedin the service of truth. Sometimes the sharpestirony is introduced ; sometimes the entreaties oftrue charity give a new character to the reason-ing, and the author’s style becomes, so. to say,transfigured by reflecting the rays of divinetruth. We fancy we can hear Augustine himselfaddressing the people in the Forum, and there,sunounded by the smoking ruins of the city ofmen, declaring the stability of the city of God.

The effect which his eloquence produces is allthe greater, because we feel that, Christian as heis, he remains still a citizen. Christianity hasnot inspired him with a selfish contempt ofhuman sufferings, under the pretext that theyform part of the plan mapped out in prophecy.He mourns over the calamities of Rome; but histears do not conceal from him the destinies ofthe City of God, which appear to him so much themore glorious, as the city of men is more degradedand corrupt.

We must not think, he argues, that Godplaces in complete opposition to each other thecity of God and the city of men, society andthe church. The Christian, he acknowledges,must discharge his duties as a citizen, and societyis the sphere within which our moral activityfinds its appointed scope for exertion. Peace,security, the respect of rights, obedience to thelaws, every element of the prosperity of society,are in St. Augustine’s eyes of paramount im-portance. It follows that, according to him, wemay belong to the City of God, and at the sametime take an active interest in the prosperity ofour country, even when only the material im-provement of our fellow-citizens is concerned;for, to quote his own expressions, “ A certainamount of ease in our circumstances enables usto bear more easily, and to feel less, the weightof that mortal body which oppresses the soul.’*In short, the city of men, in St. Augustine’sjudgment, is not society, which is of God’s ap-pointment, but the world, which wages waragainst God. He opposes the destinies of theworld to those of the Church; and the cityof men, such as it appeared to him four cen-turies after Christ, formed a dismal picture,which unfortunately has lost none of its re-ality even at the present day. And if we look,for instance, at the description he gives us of thecorrupt state of Roman society, we cannot imagineAugustine speaking to us in different language(De Civit. Dei , ii. 20).

What hope could he still retain ? He hadseen the Roman citizens who had flocked toCarthage for the purpose of avoiding danger,immediately after the siege of Rome, hurrying tothe games of the circus and the dramatic per-formances ; thus exhibiting the saddest sight inthe world, because it was the mark of irreme-diable wickedness ( De Civit. i. 33).

There was another sign, still more distressing,to which St. Augustine draws our attention,—that hypocrisy which at the hour of danger hadcrowded the churches with impious men or pro-fessed heathens, who, after the peril was passed,had began again to blaspheme the Saviour ( DeCivit. i. 1). It is in the presence of those ruinsthat St. Augustine describes the glory of theCity of God, and foretels its progress; a societyspiritual in its character, and whose native coun-try is an abiding one, “ eternal in the heavens ’*(De Civit. preface). And it is precisely thataspiration towards the eternal and the immutablewhich distinguishes the city of God from the cityof men (De Civit. xix. 14). There alone is truewisdom; for we cannot apply the qualificationof true to that wisdom which, with the utmostprudence and vigour, the greatest firmness andmoderation, does not aim at that end where Godis to be all in all in the certainty of eternity andthe enjoyment of perfect peace (idem). True