Walking with Augustine to the City of God.

Book One: Good and Bad Men Suffer Alike

“The patience of God still invite(s) the wicked to repentance, even as the scourge of God educates the good to patience. And so, too, does the mercy of God embrace the good that it may cherish them, as the severity of God arrests the wicked to punish them. To the divine providence it has seemed good to prepare in the world to come for the righteous good things, which the unrighteous shall not enjoy; and for the wicked evil things, which the good shall not be tormented. But as for the good things of this life, and its ills, God has willed that these should be common to both; that we may not too eagerly covet the things which wicked men are seen equally to enjoy, nor shrink with an unseemly fear from the ills which even good men often suffer.”

“ There is, too, a very real difference in the purpose served by both those events which we call adverse and those prosperous. For the good man is neither uplifted with the good things of time, nor broken by its ills; but the wicked man, because he is corrupted by this world’s happiness, feels himself punished by its unhappiness.”

“Wherefore, though good and bad men suffer alike, we must not suppose that there is no difference between the men themselves, because there is no difference in what they both suffer. For even in the likeness of the sufferings, there remains an unlikeness in the sufferers; and though exposed to the same anguish, virtue and vice are not the same thing. For as the same fire causes gold to glow brightly, and chaff to smoke; and under the same flail the straw is beaten small, while the grain is cleansed; and as the lees are not mixed with the oil, though squeezed out of the vat by the same pressure, so the same violence of affliction proves, purges, clarifies the good, but damns, ruins, exterminates the wicked. And thus it is that in the same affliction the wicked detest God and blaspheme, while the good pray and praise. So material a difference does it make, not what ills are suffered, but what kind of man suffers them. For, stirred up with the same movement, mud exhales a horrible stench, and ointment emits a fragrant odor.”

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” ~ Romans 8:28

“These are the considerations which one must keep in view, that he may answer the question whether any evil happens to the faithful and godly which cannot be turned to profit.” ~ Saint Augustine

*The City of God by Saint Augustine Translated by Marcus Dods, D.D. with an introduction by Thomas Merton, pages Book one pages 10-13
1993 Modern Library Edition
Introduction copyright 1950,1978 by Random House, Inc.
ISBN 0-679-60087-6

The City of God and the City of Man

I began reading Saint Augustine’s “The City of God” today; will be posting selections from it as I read. The following excerpt is from the introduction:

“Original sin, an act of spiritual apostasy from the contemplative vision and love of God, severed the union with God that depended on the subjection of Adam’s will to the will of God. Since God is Truth, Adam’s apostasy from Him was a fall into falsehood, unreality. Since God is unity, Adam’s fall was a collapse into division and disharmony. All mankind fell from God in Adam. And just as Adam’s soul was divided against itself by sin, so all men were divided against one another by selfishness. The envy of Cain, which would have been impossible in Eden, bred murder in a world where each self-centered individual had become his own little god, his own judge and standard of good and evil, falsity and truth.”

“The difference between the two cities is the difference between two loves. Those who are united in the City of God are united by the love of God and of one another in God. Those who belong to the other city are indeed not united in any real sense: but it can be said that they have one thing in common besides their opposition to God: each one of them is intent in the love of himself above all else.”

“These two cities were made by two loves: the earthly city by the love of self unto the contempt of God, and the heavenly city by the love of God unto the contempt of self.” ~ Saint Augustine

“The earthly city glories in its own power, the heavenly in the power of God.”

“The love which unites the citizens of the heavenly city is disinterested love, or charity. The other city is built on selfish love, or cupidity. Now there are two reasons why only one of these loves – charity – can serve as the foundation for a happy and peaceful commonwealth.”

“The first reason is metaphysical: charity is a love that leads the will to the possession of true values because it sees all things in their right order. It sees creatures for what they are, means to the possession of God. It uses them only as means and thus arrives successfully at the end, which is God. But cupidity is doomed from the start to frustration because it is based on a false system of values. It takes created things for ends in themselves, which they are not. The will that seeks rest in creatures for their own sake stops on the way to its true end, terminates in a value which does not exist, and thus frustrates all its deepest capacities for happiness and peace.”

“The second reason is psychological and moral. Those who love God love a supreme and infinite good that cannot be eliminated by being shared. Those who place their hopes on the possession of created and limited goods are doomed to conflict with one another and to everlasting fear of losing whatever they may have gained. Hence the city that is united in charity will be the only one to possess true peace, because it is the only one that conforms to the true order of things, the order established by God. The city that is united merely by an alliance of temporal interests cannot promise itself more than a temporary cessation from hostilities and its order will never be anything but makeshift.” ~ Thomas Merton

*The City of God by Saint Augustine Translated by Marcus Dods, D.D. with an introduction by Thomas Merton pages xiv to xvi
1993 Modern Library Edition
Introduction copyright 1950,1978 by Random House, Inc.
ISBN 0-679-60087-6

" It is finished" ~ John 19:30

"What was "finished"?
The work of atonement."

"What is the value of that to us?
This: to the sinner, it is a message of good tidings. All that a holy God requires has been done. Nothing is left for the sinner to add. No works from us are demanded as the price of our salvation. All that is necessary for the sinner is to rest now by faith upon what Christ did. "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). To the believer, the knowledge that the atoning work of Christ is finished brings a sweet relief over against all the defects and imperfections of his services. There is nothing "finished" that we do; all our duties are imperfect. There is much of sin and vanity in the very best of our efforts, but the grand relief is that we are "complete" in Christ (Colossians 2:10)! Christ and his finished work is the ground of all our hopes."

"Upon a life I did not live,
Upon a death I did not die,
Another's death - Another's life
I cast my soul eternally.
Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who aught to my charge can lay?
Fully absolved by Christ I am,
From sins tremendous curse and blame."

*"The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross" by AW Pink page 121

Efficacy of Prayer

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” ~ Luke 23:34

We are here shown the efficacy of prayer. This cross intercession of Christ for his enemies met with a marked and definite answer. The answer is seen in the conversion of the three thousand souls on the Day of Pentecost. I base this conclusion on Acts 3:17 where the apostle Peter says,

“And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.”

 It is to be noted that Peter uses the word “ignorance,” which corresponds with our Lord’s “they know not what they do.” Here, then, is the divine explanation of the three thousand converted under a single sermon. It was not Peter’s eloquence that was the cause but the Saviour’s prayer. And, Christian reader, the same is true of us. Christ prayed for you and me long before we believed in him. Turn to John 17:20 for proof.

“Neither pray I for these alone [the apostles], but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;”

Let us too make intercession for the enemies of God.

In praying for His enemies, not only did Christ set before us a perfect example of how to treat those who wrong and hate us, but He taught us never to regard any as beyond the reach of our prayers. If Christ prayed for His murderers, then surely we have encouragement to pray for the very chief of sinners! Christian reader, never lose hope. Does it seem a waste of time for you to continue praying for that man, that woman, that wayward child of yours? Does their case seem to become more hopeless every day? Does it look as though they had gotten beyond the reach of Divine mercy? Remember then the Cross. Christ prayed for His enemies. Learn then not to look on any as beyond the reach of prayer.” ~ A.W. Pink

• The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross, by A.W. Pink pages 20,21

Who is King?

“How much it doth concern us to enquire and know whose government we are under, and who is king over our souls; whether Christ or Satan be in the throne, and sways the scepter over our souls?”

“Reader, the work I would now engage thy soul in, is the same that Jesus Christ will thoroughly and effectually do in the great day. Then will he gather out of his kingdom everything that offends, separate the tares and the wheat, divide the whole world into two ranks or grand divisions, how many divisions and subdivisions soever there be in it now. It nearly concerns thee to know who is Lord and King in thy soul. To help thee in this great work, make use of the following hints:”

1. “To whom do you yield your obedience? His subjects and servants ye are to whom you obey,” Romans 6:16. It is but a mockery to give Christ the empty titles of Lord and King, whilst ye give your real service to sin and Satan. “Then are ye his disciples, if you do whatsoever he commands you,” John 15:14. Let it be sincere and universal obedience; this will evidence your unfeigned subjection to Christ.”

2. “Have you the power of godliness, or a form of it only? There be many that do but trifle in religion, and play about the skirts and borders of it; spending their time about jejune and barren controversies: but as to the power of religion, and the life of godliness, which consists in communion with God in duties and ordinances, which promote holiness, and mortify their lusts, they concern not themselves about these things. But surely, “the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power,” 1 Corinthians 4:20.”

3. “Have ye the special saving knowledge of Christ? All his subjects are translated out of the kingdom of darkness, Colossians 1:13. Doth this knowledge run into practice, and put you upon lamenting heartily your misery by sin? Thirsting vehemently after Christ and his righteousness? Striving continually for a heart to believe and close with Christ? This will evidence you indeed to be translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of Christ.”

4. “With whom do you delightfully associate yourselves? Who are your chosen companions? You may see to whom you belong by the company you join yourselves to. I know the subjects of both kingdoms are here mingled, and we cannot avoid the company of sinners except we go out of the world, 1 Corinthians 5:10, but yet all your delights should be in the saints and the excellent of the earth, Psalms 16:3.”

5. “Do you live holy and righteous lives? If not, you may claim interest in Christ as your King, but he will never allow your claim. “The scepter of his kingdom is a scepter of righteousness,” Psalms 45:6. If ye oppress, go beyond, and cheat your brethren, and yet call yourselves Christ’s subjects, what greater reproach can ye study to cast upon him? What is Christ the king of cheats? Doth he patronize such things as these? No, no, pull off you vizards, and fall into your own places, you belong to another prince, and not to Christ.”

“Doth Christ exercise such a kingly power over the souls of all them that are subdued by the gospel to him? O then let all that are under Christ’s government walk as the subjects of such a king. Your king hath commanded you not only to take his yoke upon you, but also to learn of him, Matthew 11:29. Yea, and “if a man say that he is Christ’s, let him walk even as Christ walked,” 1 John 2:6.” ~ John Flavel

*Works of John Flavel, volume 1 pages 208-211

The Death of Christ Hath Made a Full Satisfaction to God for All the Sins of the Elect (Part 2).

“Satisfaction is the act of Christ, God-man, presenting himself as our surety in obedience to God and love to us; to do and to suffer all that the law required of us: thereby freeing us from the wrath and curse due to us for sins.”


3. “The internal moving cause of Christ’s satisfaction for us, was his obedience to God, and love to us. That it was an act of obedience is plain from Philippians 2:8 “He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Now obedience respects a command, such a command Christ received to die for us, as himself tells us, John 10:18, “I lay down my life of myself; I have power to lay it down, and power to take it again: this commandment have I received of my Father.” So that is was an act of obedience with respect to God, and yet a most free and spontaneous act with respect to himself. And that he was moved to it out of pity and love to us, himself assures us: Galatians 5:2 “Christ loved us, and gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God.” Upon this Paul sweetly reflected, Galatians 2:20, “who loved me and gave himself for me.” As the external moving cause was our misery, so the internal was his own love and pity for us.”

4. “The matter of Christ’s satisfaction was his active and passive obedience to all the law of God required. This twofold obedience of Christ stands opposed to a twofold obligation that fallen man is under; the one to do what God requires, the other to suffer what he hath threatened for disobedience. We owe him active obedience as his creatures, and passive obedience as his prisoners. Suitably to his double obligation, Christ comes under the commandment of the law to fulfill it actively Matthew 3:15, and under the malediction of the law, to satisfy it passively.

5. The effect and fruit of this his satisfaction, is our freedom, ransom, and deliverance for the wrath and curse due to us for our sins. Such was the dignity, value, and completeness of Christ’s satisfaction, that in strict justice it merited our redemption and full deliverance; not only a possibility that we might be redeemed and pardoned, but a right whereby to be so. If he be made a curse for us, we must then be redeemed from the curse, according to justice; so the gospel argues, Romans 3:25,26 “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness, that God might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.” Mark the design and end of God in exacting satisfaction from Christ, it was to declare his righteousness in the remission of sin to believers; and lest we should lose the emphatical word, he doubles it, to declare, I say, his righteousness. Everyone can see how his mercy is declared in remission: but he would have us take notice, that his justification for believers is an act of justice; and that God, as he is a just God, cannot condemn the believer, since Christ hath satisfied his debts. This attribute seems to be the main bar against remission; but now it is become the very ground and reason why God remits.

“Christ’s satisfaction is real, proper, and full, and as such accepted by God. For his blood is the blood of a Surety, Hebrews 7:22, who came under the same obligations of the law with us, Galatians 4:4, and though he had no sin of his own, yet standing before God as our Surety, the iniquities of us all were laid upon him, Isaiah 53:6, and from him did the Lord, with great severity, exact satisfaction for our sins, Romans 8:32, punish them upon his soul, Matthew 27:46, and upon his body, Acts 2:23, and with this obedience of his Son, is fully pleased and satisfied, Ephesians 5:2, and hath in token thereof raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand, 1 Timothy 3:16, and for his righteousness sake acquitted and discharged believers, who shall never more come into condemnation, Romans 8:1,34. All this is plain in scripture; and our faith in the satisfaction of Christ, is not built on the wisdom of man, but the everlasting sealed truth of God: yet such is the perverse nature of man, and the pride of his heart, that whilst he should be humbly adoring the grace of God, in providing such a Surety for us, he is found accusing the justice, and diminishing the mercy of God, and raising all the objections which Satan and his own heart can invent, to overturn that blessed foundation upon which God hath built his own honour, and his people’s salvation.” ~ John Flavel

*Works of John Flavel, Volume 1, pages 180-182

The Death of Christ Hath Made a Full Satisfaction to God for All the Sins of the Elect.

“Satisfaction is the act of Christ, God-man, presenting himself as our surety in obedience to God and love to us; to do and to suffer all that the law required of us: thereby freeing us from the wrath and curse due to us for sins.”


1. “It is the act of a God-man; no other was capable of giving satisfaction for an infinite wrong done to God. But by reason of the union of the two natures in his wonderful person, he could do it, and hath done it for us. The human nature did what was necessary in its kind; it gave the matter of the sacrifice: the divine nature stamped the dignity and value upon it, which made it an adequate compensation: so it was the act of God-man; yet so, that each nature retained its own properties, not withstanding their joint influence into the effect. “It was God that redeemed the church with his own blood,” Acts 20:18. If God redeems with his own blood, he redeems as God-man, without any dispute.”

2. “If he satisfy God for us, he must present himself before God, as our surety. In our stead, as well as for our good; else his obedience had signified nothing to us; to this end he was “made under the law” Galatians 4:4, comes under the same obligation with us, and that as a surety, for so he is called, Hebrews 7:22. Indeed his obedience and sufferings could be exacted from him upon no other account. It was not for anything he had done that he became a curse. It was prophesied of him Daniel 9:26 “The Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself;” and being dead, the scriptures plainly assert it was for our sins, and upon our account: 1 Corinthians 15:3 “Christ died for our sins “According to the scriptures.”

“And indeed, the very consideration is that which supports the doctrine of imputation of our sins to Christ, and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness unto us, Romans 5:19. For how could our sins be laid on him, but as he stood in our stead? Or his righteousness be imputed to us, but as he was our surety, performing it in our place; so that to deny Christ’s sufferings in our stead is to lose the cornerstone of our justification, and overthrow the very pillar which supports our faith, comfort and salvation. Indeed if this had not been, he would have been the righteous Lord, but not the Lord our righteousness, as he is stiled, Jeremiah 33:16. So it was but a vain discretion to say it was for our good, but not in our stead: for had he not been in our stead, we could not have the good of it.” ~ John Flavel



*Works of John Flavel, Volume 1, pages 178-180

By Word and Spirit

“A double misery lies upon a great part of mankind, viz, Impotency and Pride. They have not only lost the liberty and freedom of their wills, but with it have so far lost their understanding and humility as not to own it. But alas! Man is become a most impotent creature by the fall; so far from being able to open his own heart, that he cannot know the things of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 2:14, cannot believe, John 6:44, cannot obey, Romans 8:7, cannot speak one good word, Matthew 12:34, cannot think one good thought, Corinthians 3:, cannot do one good act, John 15:5.

“There are two principal ways, by which Christ opens the understanding and hearts of men, viz by his Word and Spirit.”

1. “By his Word; to this end was Paul commissioned and sent to preach the gospel, Acts 24:18, “To open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.” The Lord can, if he pleases, accomplish this immediately; but though he can do it, he will not do it ordinarily without means, because he will honour his own institutions. God will keep his ordinances among men: and though he hath not tied himself, yet he hath tied us, to them.”

2. “But the ordinances in themselves cannot do it; and therefore Jesus Christ hath sent forth the Spirit, who is his vice-regent, to carry out this work upon the hearts of his elect. And when the Spirit comes down upon the souls in the administration of the ordinances, he effectually opens the heart to receive the Lord Jesus, by the hearing of faith. He breaks in upon the understanding and conscience by powerful convictions and compunctions so much that the word John 16:8 imports, “He shall convince the world of sin;” convince by clear demonstration, such as enforces assent, so that the soul cannot but yield it to be so; and yet the door of the heart is not opened, till he has also put forth his power upon the will, and, by a sweet and secret efficacy, overcome all its reluctions, and the soul be made willing in the day of his power. When this is done the heart is opened: saving light now shines in it; and this light set up, the Spirit in the soul is,”

1. “A new light, in which all things appear far otherwise than they did before. When he comes to read the same Scriptures, which possibly he had read a hundred times before, he wonders he should be so blind as he was, to overlook such great, weighty, and concerning things as he now beholds in them.”

2. “It is a very affecting light; a light that hath heat and powerful influences with it, which makes deep impressions on the heart. Hence they whose eyes the great Prophet opens, are said to be “brought out of darkness into his marvelous light,” 1 Peter 2:9. The soul is greatly affected with what it sees. The beams of light are contracted and twisted together in the mind; and being reflected on the heart and affections, soon cause them to smoke and burn. “Did not our hearts burn within us, whilst he talked with us, and opened to us the Scriptures?”

3. “And it is a growing light, like the light of the morning which “shines more and more unto the perfect day,” Proverbs 4:18. When the Spirit first opens the understanding, he doth not give it all at once a full insight of all truths, or a full sense of the power, sweetness and goodness of any truth; but the soul in the use of means grows up to a greater clearness day by day: its knowledge grows extensively in measure, and intensively in power and efficacy.”

“And thus the Lord Jesus by his Spirit opens the understanding.” ~ John Flavel

*Taken from The Works of John Flavel, Volume 1 pages 136-138

The Light of Christ

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” ~ 2 Corinthians 3:18

“The light of Christ is powerfully transformative of its subjects, changing the man, in whom it is, into the same image, from glory to glory. But common light leaves the heart as dead, as carnal and sensual, as if no light at all were in it.”

“In a word, All saving light endears Jesus Christ to the soul; and as it could not value him before it saw him, so when once he appears to the soul in his own light, he is appreciated and endeared unspeakably: then none but Christ; all is but dung, that he may win Christ: none in heaven but him, nor in earth desirable in comparison of him. But no such effect flows from natural common knowledge.” ~ John Flavel

*Taken from The Works of John Flavel, Volume 1