The philosophers who wished us to have the gods for our friends rank the friendship of the holy angels in the fourth circle of society, advancing now from the three circles of society on earth to the universe, and embracing heaven itself.And in this friendship we have indeed no fear that the angels will grieve us by their death or deterioration.But as we cannot mingle with them as familiarly as with men (which itself is one of the grievances of this life), and as Satan, as we read,(4) sometimes transforms himself into an angel of light, to tempt those whom it is necessary to discipline, or just to deceive, there is great need of God's mercy to preserve us from making friends of demons in disguise, while we fancy we have good angels for our friends;for the astuteness and deceitfulness of these wicked spirits is equalled by their hurtfulness.And is this not a great misery of human life, that we are involved in such ignorance as, but for God's mercy, makes us a prey to these demons? And it is very certain that the philosophers of the godless city, who have main-rained that the gods were their friends, had fallen a prey to the malignant demons who rule that city, and whose eternal punishment is to be shared by it.For the nature of these beings is sufficiently evinced by the sacred or rather sacrilegious observances which form their worship, and by the filthy games in which their crimes are celebrated, and which they themselves originated and exacted from their worshippers as a fit propitiation.
CHAP.10.--THE REWARD PREPARED FOR THE SAINTS AFTER THEY HAVE ENDUREDTHE TRIAL OF
THIS LIFE.
But not even the saints and faithful worshippers of the one true and most high God are safe from the manifold temptations and deceits of the demons.For in this abode of weakness, and in these wicked days, this state of anxiety has also its use, stimulating us to seek with keener longing for that security where peace is complete and unassailable.There we shall enjoy the gifts of nature, that is to say, all that God the Creator of all natures has bestowed upon ours,--gifts not only good, but eternal,--not only of the spirit, healed now by wisdom, but also of the body renewed by the resurrection.There the virtues shall no longer be struggling against any vice or evil, but shall enjoy the reward of victory, the eternal peace which no adversary shall disturb.This is the final blessedness, this the ultimate consummation, the unending end.Here, indeed, we are said to be blessed when we have such peace as can be enjoyed in a good life; but such blessedness.is mere misery compared to that final felicity.
When we mortals possess such peace as this mortal life can afford, virtue, if we are living rightly, makes a right use of the advantages of this peaceful condition; and when we have it not, virtue makes a good use even of the evils a man suffers.But this is true virtue when it refers all the advantages it makes a good use of, and all that it does in making good use of good and evil things, and itself also, to that end in which we shall enjoy the best and greatest peace possible.
CHAP.11.--OF THE HAPPINESS OF THE ETERNAL PEACE, WHICH CONSTITUTESTHE END OR TRUE
PERFECTION OF THE SAINTS.
And thus we may say of peace, as we have said of eternal life, that it is the end of our good; and the rather because the Psalmist says of the city of God, the subject of this laborious work, "Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion: for He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; He hath blessed thy children within thee; who hath made thy borders peace."(1)For when the bars of her gates shall be strengthened, none shall go in or come out from her; consequently we ought to understand the peace of her borders as that final peace we are wishing to declare.For even the mystical name of the city itself, that is, Jerusalem, means, as I have already said, "Vision of Peace."But as the word peace is employed in connection with things in this world in which certainly life eternal has no place, we have preferred to call the end or supreme good of this city life eternal rather than peace.Of this end the apostle says, "But now, being freed from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end life eternal."(2) But, on the other hand, as those who are not familiar with Scripture may suppose that the life of the wicked is eternal life, either because of the immortality of the soul, which some of the philosophers even have recognized, or because of the endless punishment of the wicked, which forms a part of our faith, and which seems impossible unless the wicked live for ever, it may therefore be advisable, in order that every one may readily understand what we mean, to say that the end or supreme good of this city is either peace in eternal life, or eternal life in peace.For peace is a good so great, that even in this earthly and mortal life there is no word we hear with such pleasure, nothing we desire with such zest, or find to be more thoroughly gratifying.So that if we dwell for a little longer on this subject, we shall not, in my opinion, be wearisome to our readers, who will attend both for the sake of understanding what is the end of this city of which we speak, and for the sake of the sweetness of peace which is dear to all.
CHAP.12.--THAT EVEN THE FIERCENESS OF WAR AND ALL THE DISQUIETUDE OFMEN MAKE
TOWARDS THIS ONE END OF PEACE, WHICH EVERY NATURE DESIRES.
Whoever gives even moderate attention to human affairs and to our common nature, will recognize that if there is no man who does not wish to be joyful, neither is there any one who does not wish to have peace.For even they who make war desire nothing but victory,--desire, that is to say, to attain to peace with glory.For what else is victory than the conquest of those who resist us? and when this is done there is peace.It is therefore with the desire for peace that wars are waged, even by those who take pleasure in exercising their warlike nature in command and battle.