Chapter 30.—Of the Eternal Felicity of the City of God, and of the Perpetual Sabbath.

How great shall be that felicity, which shall be tainted with no evil, which shall lack no good, and which shall afford leisure for the praises of God, who shall be all in all!  For I know not what other employment there can be where no lassitude shall slacken activity, nor any want stimulate to labor.  I am admonished also by the sacred song, in which I read or hear the words, “Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, O Lord; they will be still praising Thee.”1663    Ps. lxxxiv. 4.  All the members and organs of the incorruptible body, which now we see to be suited to various necessary uses, shall contribute to the praises of God; for in that life necessity shall have no place, but full, certain, secure, everlasting felicity.  For all those parts1664    Numbers. of the bodily harmony, which are distributed through the whole body, within and without, and of which I have just been saying that they at present elude our observation, shall then be discerned; and, along with the other great and marvellous discoveries which shall then kindle rational minds in praise of the great Artificer, there shall be the enjoyment of a beauty which appeals to the reason.  What power of movement such bodies shall possess, I have not the audacity rashly to define, as I have not the ability to conceive.  Nevertheless I will say that in any case, both in motion and at rest, they shall be, as in their appearance, seemly; for into that state nothing which is unseemly shall be admitted.  One thing is certain, the body shall forthwith be wherever the spirit wills, and the spirit shall will nothing which is unbecoming either to the spirit or to the body.  True honor shall be there, for it shall be denied to none who is worthy, nor yielded to any unworthy; neither shall any unworthy person so much as sue for it, for none but the worthy shall be there.  True peace shall be there, where no one shall suffer opposition either from himself or any other.  God Himself, who is the Author of virtue, shall there be its reward; for, as there is nothing greater or better, He has promised Himself.  What else was meant by His word through the prophet, “I will be your God, and ye shall be my people,”1665    Lev. xxvi. 12. than, I shall be their satisfaction, I shall be all that men honorably desire,—life, and health, and nourishment, and plenty, and glory, and honor, and peace, and all good things?  This, too, is the right interpretation of the saying of the apostle, “That God may be all in all.”1666    1 Cor. xv. 28.  He shall be the end of our desires who shall be seen without end, loved without cloy, praised without weariness.  This outgoing of affection, this employment, shall certainly be, like eternal life itself, common to all.

But who can conceive, not to say describe, what degrees of honor and glory shall be awarded to the various degrees of merit?  Yet it cannot be doubted that there shall be degrees.  And in that blessed city there shall be this great blessing, that no inferior shall envy any superior, as now the archangels are not envied by the angels, because no one will wish to be what he has not received, though bound in strictest concord with him who has received; as in the body the finger does not seek to be the eye, though both members are harmoniously included in the complete structure of the body.  And thus, along with his gift, greater or less, each shall receive this further gift of contentment to desire no more than he has.

Neither are we to suppose that because sin shall have no power to delight them, free will must be withdrawn.  It will, on the contrary, be all the more truly free, because set free from delight in sinning to take unfailing delight in not sinning.  For the first freedom of will which man received when he was created upright consisted in an ability not to sin, but also in an ability to sin; whereas this last freedom of will shall be superior, inasmuch as it shall not be able to sin.  This, indeed, shall not be a natural ability, but the gift of God.  For it is one thing to be God, another thing to be a partaker of God.  God by nature cannot sin, but the partaker of God receives this inability from God.  And in this divine gift there was to be observed this gradation, that man should first receive a free will by which he was able not to sin, and at last a free will by which he was not able to sin,—the former being adapted to the acquiring of merit, the latter to the enjoying of the reward.1667    Or, the former to a state of probation, the latter to a state of reward.  But the nature thus constituted, having sinned when it had the ability to do so, it is by a more abundant grace that it is delivered so as to reach that freedom in which it cannot sin.  For as the first immortality which Adam lost by sinning consisted in his being able not to die, while the last shall consist in his not being able to die; so the first free will consisted in his being able not to sin, the last in his not being able to sin.  And thus piety and justice shall be as indefeasible as happiness.  For certainly by sinning we lost both piety and happiness; but when we lost happiness, we did not lose the love of it.  Are we to say that God Himself is not free because He cannot sin?  In that city, then, there shall be free will, one in all the citizens, and indivisible in each, delivered from all ill, filled with all good, enjoying indefeasibly the delights of eternal joys, oblivious of sins, oblivious of sufferings, and yet not so oblivious of its deliverance as to be ungrateful to its Deliverer.

The soul, then, shall have an intellectual remembrance of its past ills; but, so far as regards sensible experience, they shall be quite forgotten.  For a skillful physician knows, indeed, professionally almost all diseases; but experimentally he is ignorant of a great number which he himself has never suffered from.  As, therefore, there are two ways of knowing evil things,—one by mental insight, the other by sensible experience, for it is one thing to understand all vices by the wisdom of a cultivated mind, another to understand them by the foolishness of an abandoned life,—so also there are two ways of forgetting evils.  For a well-instructed and learned man forgets them one way, and he who has experimentally suffered from them forgets them another,—the former by neglecting what he has learned, the latter by escaping what he has suffered.  And in this latter way the saints shall forget their past ills, for they shall have so thoroughly escaped them all, that they shall be quite blotted out of their experience.  But their intellectual knowledge, which shall be great, shall keep them acquainted not only with their own past woes, but with the eternal sufferings of the lost.  For if they were not to know that they had been miserable, how could they, as the Psalmist says, for ever sing the mercies of God?  Certainly that city shall have no greater joy than the celebration of the grace of Christ, who redeemed us by His blood.  There shall be accomplished the words of the psalm, “Be still, and know that I am God.”1668    Ps. xlvi. 10.  There shall be the great Sabbath which has no evening, which God celebrated among His first works, as it is written, “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works which He had made.  And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God began to make.”1669    Gen. ii. 2, 3.  For we shall ourselves be the seventh day, when we shall be filled and replenished with God’s blessing and sanctification.  There shall we be still, and know that He is God; that He is that which we ourselves aspired to be when we fell away from Him, and listened to the voice of the seducer, “Ye shall be as gods,”1670    Gen. iii. 5. and so abandoned God, who would have made us as gods, not by deserting Him, but by participating in Him.  For without Him what have we accomplished, save to perish in His anger?  But when we are restored by Him, and perfected with greater grace, we shall have eternal leisure to see that He is God, for we shall be full of Him when He shall be all in all.  For even our good works, when they are understood to be rather His than ours, are imputed to us that we may enjoy this Sabbath rest.  For if we attribute them to ourselves, they shall be servile; for it is said of the Sabbath, “Ye shall do no servile work in it.”1671    Deut. v. 14.  Wherefore also it is said by Ezekiel the prophet, “And I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctify them.”1672    Ezek. xx. 12.  This knowledge shall be perfected when we shall be perfectly at rest, and shall perfectly know that He is God.

This Sabbath shall appear still more clearly if we count the ages as days, in accordance with the periods of time defined in Scripture, for that period will be found to be the seventh.  The first age, as the first day, extends from Adam to the deluge; the second from the deluge to Abraham, equalling the first, not in length of time, but in the number of generations, there being ten in each.  From Abraham to the advent of Christ there are, as the evangelist Matthew calculates, three periods, in each of which are fourteen generations,—one period from Abraham to David, a second from David to the captivity, a third from the captivity to the birth of Christ in the flesh.  There are thus five ages in all.  The sixth is now passing, and cannot be measured by any number of generations, as it has been said, “It is not for you to know the times, which the Father hath put in His own power.”1673    Acts. i. 7.  After this period God shall rest as on the seventh day, when He shall give us (who shall be the seventh day) rest in Himself.1674    [On Augustin’s view of the millennium and the first resurrection, see Bk. xx. 6–10.—P.S.]  But there is not now space to treat of these ages; suffice it to say that the seventh shall be our Sabbath, which shall be brought to a close, not by an evening, but by the Lord’s day, as an eighth and eternal day, consecrated by the resurrection of Christ, and prefiguring the eternal repose not only of the spirit, but also of the body.  There we shall rest and see, see and love, love and praise.  This is what shall be in the end without end.  For what other end do we propose to ourselves than to attain to the kingdom of which there is no end?

I think I have now, by God’s help, discharged my obligation in writing this large work.  Let those who think I have said too little, or those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let those who think I have said just enough join me in giving thanks to God.  Amen.

CAPUT XXX. De aeterna felicitate civitatis Dei, sabbatoque perpetuo.

1. Quanta erit illa felicitas, ubi nullum erit malum, nullum latebit bonum, vacabitur Dei laudibus, qui erit omnia in omnibus! Nam quid aliud agatur, ubi neque ulla desidia cessabitur, neque ulla indigentia laborabitur, nescio. Admoneor etiam sancto Cantico, ubi lego, vel audio, Beati qui habitant in domo tua, Domine, in saecula saeculorum laudabunt te (Psal. LXXXIII, 5). Omnia membra et viscera incorruptibilis corporis, quae nunc videmus per usus necessitatis varios distributa, quoniam tunc non erit ipsa necessitas, sed plena, certa, secura, sempiterna felicitas, proficient in laudibus Dei. Omnes quippe illi, de quibus jam sum locutus, qui nunc latent, harmoniae corporalis numeri non latebunt, intrinsecus et extrinsecus per corporis cuncta dispositi; et cum caeteris rebus, quae ibi magnae atque mirabiles videbuntur, rationales mentes in tanti artificis laudem rationabilis pulchritudinis delectatione succendent. Qui motus illic talium corporum sint futuri temere definire non audeo, quod excogitare non valeo. Tamen et motus et status, sicut ipsa species, decens erit, quicumque erit, ubi quod non decebit, non erit. Certe ubi volet spiritus, ibi protinus erit corpus: nec volet aliquid spiritus, quod nec spiritum possit decere, nec corpus. Vera ibi gloria erit, ubi laudantis nec errore quisquam, nec adulatione laudabitur. Verus honor, qui nulli negabitur digno, nulli deferetur indigno: sed nec ad eum ambiet ullus indignus, ubi nullus permittetur esse nisi dignus. Vera pax , ubi nihil adversi, nec a se ipso, nec ab alio quisquam patietur. Praemium virtutis erit ipse qui virtutem dedit, eique se ipsum, quo melius et majus nihil possit esse, promisit. Quid est enim aliud quod per Prophetam dixit, Ero illorum Deus, et ipsi erunt mihi plebs (Levit. XXVI, 12); nisi, Ego ero unde satientur, ego ero quaecumque ab hominibus honeste desiderantur, et vita, et salus, et victus, et copia, et gloria, et honor, et pax, et omnia bona? Sic enim et illud recte 0802 intelligitur, quod ait Apostolus, ut sit Deus omnia in omnibus (I Cor. XV, 28). Ipse finis erit desideriorum nostrorum, qui sine fine videbitur, sine fastidio amabitur, sine fatigatione laudabitur. Hoc munus, hic affectus, hic actus profecto erit omnibus, sicut ipsa vita aeterna, communis.

2. Caeterum qui futuri sint pro meritis praemiorum etiam gradus honorum atque gloriarum, quis est idoneus cogitare, quanto magis dicere? Quod tamen futuri sint, non est ambigendum. Atque id etiam beata civitas illa magnum in se bonum videbit, quod nulli superiori ullus inferior invidebit, sicut nunc non invident Archangelis Angeli caeteri: tamque nolet esse unusquisque quod non accepit, quamvis sit pacatissimo concordiae vinculo ei qui accepit obstrictus, quam nec in corpore vult oculus esse qui est digitus, cum membrum utrumque contineat totius carnis pacata compago. Sic itaque habebit donum alius alio minus, ut hoc quoque donum habeat, ne velit amplius.

3. Nec ideo liberum arbitrium non habebunt, quia peccata eos delectare non poterunt. Magis quippe erit liberum, a delectatione peccandi usque ad delectationem non peccandi indeclinabilem liberatum. Nam primum liberum arbitrium, quod homini datum est, quando primum creatus est rectus, potuit non peccare, sed potuit et peccare: hoc autem novissimum eo potentius erit, quo peccare non poterit. Verum hoc quoque Dei munere, non suae possibilitate naturae. Aliud est enim, esse Deum; aliud, participem Dei. Deus natura peccare non potest; particeps vero Dei ab illo accipit, ut peccare non possit. Servandi autem gradus erant divini muneris, ut primum daretur liberum arbitrium, quo non peccare posset homo; novissimum, quo peccare non posset: atque illud ad comparandum meritum, hoc ad recipiendum praemium pertineret. Sed quia peccavit ista natura cum peccare potuit, largiore gratia liberatur, ut ad eam perducatur libertatem, in qua peccare non possit . Sicut enim prima immortalitas fuit, quam peccando Adam perdidit, posse non mori, novissima erit non posse mori: ita primum liberum arbitrium posse non peccare, novissimum non posse peccare. Sic enim erit inamissibilis voluntas pietatis et aequitatis, quomodo est felicitatis. Nam utique peccando nec pietatem nec felicitatem tenuimus, voluntatem vero felicitatis nec perdita felicitate perdidimus. Certe Deus ipse numquid, quoniam peccare non potest, ideo liberum arbitrium habere negandus est? Erit ergo illius civitatis et una in omnibus, et inseparabilis in singulis voluntas libera, ab omni malo liberata, et impleta omni bono, fruens indeficienter aeternorum jucunditate gaudiorum, oblita culparum, oblita poenarum; nec tamen ideo suae liberationis oblita, ut liberatori suo non sit grata .

0803 4. Quantum ergo attinet ad scientiam rationalem, memor praeteritorum etiam malorum suorum; quantum autem ad experientis sensum, prorsus immemor. Nam et peritissimus medicus, sicut arte sciuntur, omnes fere morbos corporis novit: sicut autem corpore sentiuntur, plurimos nescit, quos ipse non passus est. Ut ergo scientiae malorum duae sunt; una, qua potentiam mentis non latent; altera, qua experientis sensibus inhaerent (aliter quippe sciuntur omnia vitia per sapientiae doctrinam, aliter per insipientis pessimam vitam): ita et obliviones malorum duae sunt. Aliter ea namque obliviscitur eruditus et doctus, aliter expertus et passus: ille, si peritiam negligat; iste, si miseria careat. Secundum hanc oblivionem quam posteriore loco posui, non erunt memores sancti praeteritorum malorum: carebunt enim omnibus, ita ut penitus deleantur de sensibus eorum. Ea tamen potentia scientiae, quae magna in eis erit, non solum sua praeterita, sed etiam damnatorum eos sempiterna miseria non latebit. Alioquin si se fuisse miseros nescituri sunt, quomodo, sicut ait Psalmus, misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabunt (Psal. LXXXVIII, 2)? Quo cantico in gloriam gratiae Christi, cujus sanguine liberati sumus, nihil erit profecto illi jucundius civitati. Ibi perficietur, Vacate, et videte quoniam ego sum Deus (Psal. XLV, 11). Quod erit vere maximum sabbatum non habens vesperam, quod commendavit Dominus in primis operibus mundi, ubi legitur: Et requievit Deus die septimo ab omnibus operibus suis, quae fecit: et benedixit Deus diem septimum, et sanctificavit eum, quia in eo requievit ab omnibus operibus suis, quae inchoavit Deus facere (Gen. II, 2, 3). Dies enim septimus etiam nos ipsi erimus, quando ejus fuerimus benedictione et sanctificatione pleni atque refecti . Ibi vacantes videbimus quoniam ipse est Deus: quod nobis ipsi esse voluimus, quando ab illo cecidimus, audientes a seductore, Eritis sicut dii (Id. III, 5,); et recedentes a vero Deo, quo faciente dii essemus ejus participatione, non desertione. Quid enim sine illo fecimus, nisi quod in ira ejus defecimus (Psal. LXXXIX, 9)? A quo refecti, et gratia majore perfecti, vacabimus in aeternum, videntes quia ipse est Deus, quo pleni erimus, quando ipse erit omnia in omnibus. Nam et ipsa 0804 bona opera nostra, quando ipsius potius intelliguntur esse quam nostra, tunc nobis ad hoc sabbatum adipiscendum imputantur. Quia si nobis ea tribuerimus, servilia erunt; cum de sabbato dicatur, Omne opus servile in eo non facietis (Deut. V, 14). Propter quod et per Ezechielem prophetam dicitur, Et sabbata mea dedi eis in signum inter me et inter eos, ut scirent quia ego Dominus qui sanctifico eos (Ezech. XX, 12). Hoc perfecte tunc sciemus, quando perfecte vacabimus, et perfecte videbimus quia ipse est Deus.

5. Ipse etiam numerus aetatum, veluti dierum, si secundum eos articulos temporis computetur, qui in Scripturis videntur expressi, iste sabbatismus evidentius apparebit, quoniam septimus invenitur: ut prima aetas tanquam dies primus sit ab Adam usque ad diluvium, secunda inde usque ad Abraham, non aequalitate temporum, sed numero generationum: denas quippe habere reperiuntur. Hinc jam, sicut Matthaeus evangelista determinat, tres aetates usque ad Christi subsequuntur adventum, quae singulae denis et quaternis generationibus explicantur: ab Abraham usque ad David una, altera inde usque ad transmigrationem in Babyloniam, tertia inde usque ad Christi carnalem nativitatem. Fiunt itaque omnes quinque. Sexta nunc agitur, nullo generationum numero metienda, propter id quod dictum est, Non est vestrum scire tempora, quae Pater posuit in sua potestate (Act. I, 7). Post hanc tanquam in die septimo requiescet Deus, cum eumdem septimum diem, quod nos erimus, in se ipso Deo faciet requiescere. De istis porro aetatibus singulis nunc diligenter longum est disputare. Haec tamen septima erit sabbatum nostrum, cujus finis non erit vespera, sed dominicus dies velut octavus aeternus, qui Christi resurrectione sacratus est, aeternam non solum spiritus, verum etiam corporis requiem praefigurans. Ibi vacabimus, et videbimus; videbimus, et amabimus; amabimus, et laudabimus. Ecce quod erit in fine sine fine. Nam quis alius noster est finis, nisi pervenire ad regnum, cujus nullus est finis?

6. Videor mihi debitum ingentis hujus operis, adjuvante Domino, reddidisse. Quibus parum, vel quibus nimium est, mihi ignoscant: quibus autem satis est, non mihi, sed Deo mecum gratias congratulantes agant. Amen.