CITY OF GOD
St. Augustine
EXPLAINING HIS DESIGN IN
UNDERTAKING THIS WORK.
The glorious city of God
is my theme
in this work,
which you, my
dearest son Marcellinus, suggested, and which is
due to you by my promise. I have undertaken its defence against those who
prefer their own gods to the Founder of this city, --a city surpassingly
glorious, whether we view it as
it still lives
by faith in
this fleeting course
of time, and
sojourns as a
stranger in the midst
of the ungodly,
or as it
shall dwell in the fixed
stability of its eternal
seat, which it now
with patience waits for, expecting until "righteousness shall return unto
judgment,'' and it obtain, by virtue of its excellence, final victory and
perfect peace. A great work this, and an arduous; but God is my helper. For I
am aware what ability isrequisite to persuade the proud how great is the virtue
of humility, which raises us, not by a quite human arrogance, but by a divine
grace, above all earthly dignities
that totter on
this shifting scene.
For the King
and Founder of
this city of which we speak, has in Scripture uttered
to His people a dictum of the divine law in these words: "God resisteth the
proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." But this, which is God's
prerogative, the inflated ambition of a proud spirit also affects, and dearly
loves that this be numbered among its attributes, to "Show pity to the
humbled soul, And crush the sons of pride." And therefore, as the plan of
this work we have undertaken requires, and as occasion offers, we must speak
also of the earthly city, which, though it be mistress of the nations, is
itself ruled by its lust of rule.
