The end of two cities

THE END OF TWO CITIES

                                               

 Introduction

The City of God is the most important work of Augustine’s intellectual legacy and one of the foundational works of western thought. It is written in the early 5^th century AD. It deals with issues concerning God, suffering, the problem of evil, end times, martyrdom, Jews and many aspects of Christian Philosophy. The book is divided into 22 books. The first part is polemic (Books I-X), and its goal is to refute paganism by revealing its deficiencies concerning Christianity. The other part is expository with the purpose of presenting and defending Christian doctrine by introducing and discussing the history of salvation (Books XI-XXII). Augustine speaks of two cities on the basis of love. The doctrines of two cities are divided into heavenly and earthly. The city of God is characterized by the love of God and praising God all the times. The earthly city was characterized by the love towards one’s own self  and praising others on in its existence. The members of the city of God respects its own citizens, loves one another, considers God as the supreme power, lives a life of humility and justice etc. The members of the city of earth try to capture power and to have domination over others. They are the people with pride, power, injustice and love of oneself. The ultimate aim of city of God is eternal happiness in God and the ultimate aim of city of earth is eternal damnation. Here I would like to present the end of the two cities proposed by Augustine in his book City of God.

 The finale of the two cities

The books XIX to XXII discusse end of the two cities. After explaining the origin and progress of the two cities, Augustine concludes with end of the cities. Cities can be distinguished principally  by their own ends. The end for Augustine is terminus, stopping place and the final stage of the city. In the end of the city of God, the pilgrims attains heaven, the very perfection of the angels. Heaven can be considered for the city of God to its de facto terminus, destiny, aim and its goal. Heaven is something that they strive for and they aim for. The word ‘end’ also has a theological value. The two questions emerge in our mind is; “where do we go” and “what are we here for?

Augustine considers end as final stage. The earthly pilgrims will be rewarded with eternal happiness, eternal life and blessedness in heaven in its eternal way. At the end times they will be having victory, truth, holiness, happiness, life and peace. They also will be rewarded with love, joy, freedom from fear and envy too. They will be able to experience the same happiness that angels enjoy. They will be as perfect as angles. They will be with Christ in its eternity. End also is the aim of their lives. It is there hope and their inspiration to live. City of God subordinates everything into the hope with the final destiny. This hope leads to peace. The peace they enjoy at the end is different from what they enjoy on the earth. The end of the earthly city eternity of pain and eternal damnation according to one’s own behaviors on earth. The reason for the damnation is nothing but their dedication and devotion to the earthly projects and earthly wishes. They will according to bad will and according to the whims and fancies of the flesh. The peace they enjoy is merely earthly. It is achieved only through human laws.  What they enjoy on earth is something imperfect. But the peace that they are going to enjoy in heaven is something perfect. The earthly peace is springing from the natural harmony and with the observance of law. The peace of the city of God is shalom which includes peace and well-being or welfare. Peace on earth is something temporary but peace in heaven is eternal. Peace of the earth is subordinate to the peace of heaven. The presence of justice also is part of peace. No virtue can exist without power of God and peace is the part of eternal life. The word peace is not merely  minimal absence of conflict, but it is human wellbeing, as we see in  Jeremiah chapter 29: "Seek the shalom of the city" - peace + welfare. Peace also tells human good is social. Peace is termed by Augustine as the supreme good of city of God at the end.

            Augustine had explained peace that results at the end of cities  as follows;

<<We may therefore say that peace is our final good, as we said of life eternal. Because the Psalm says unto that city, whereof we write this laborious work: "Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, praise thy Lord, O Zion; for He hath made fast the bars of thy gates and blessed thy children within thee; He gives peace in thy borders." When the bars of the gates are fast, as none can come in, so none can go out. And therefore this peace which we call final is the borders and bounds of this city; for the mystical name hereof, Jerusalem, signifies a vision of peace. But because the name of peace is ordinary in this world where eternity is not resident, therefore we choose rather to call the bound, wherein the chief good of this city lies, "life eternal." . . . The good of peace is generally the greatest wish of the world, and the most welcome when it comes. Whereof I think one may take leave of our reader, to have a word or two more, both because of the city's end, whereof we now speak, and of the sweetness of peace, which all men do love>> (Book XIX).

His understanding of the end of the two cities leads our thoughts into the effects that people of two cities going to enjoy at the end.

The two judgments proposed by Augustine

The whole Church of the true God holds and professes as its creed, that Christ shall come from heaven to judge quick and dead, this we call the last day, or last time, of the divine judgment. Judgment is to take place, and that it is to take place at the resurrection of the dead. Augustine spoke of two types of the judgments. 

A)    Individual judgment

B)    Last Judgment

Even though many of the church fathers like Clement of Rome, Justine, Ireneus, Terthullian and Jerome had spoken of individual judgment and last judgment, Augustine’s views are broadened with Jerome’s concepts of individual and last judgment. Jerome’s basic idea regarding these is that individual judgment comes right after death whereas the general judgment comes on the last day judgment. During the time of Augustine, Plato’s idea about soul and body was popular and well accepted. According to Plato, soul does not remain in a state for long time, it is incarnated into another body. What Augustine had done through his concept was to reject the idea of Plato that soul had incarnated into another body. According to Augustine, right after the death and until resurrection, the human soul leaves the body and undergoes a judgment. That is the individual judgment for Augustine. Augustine argues that soul abides in secret place and they undergo what they have earned as an individual soul. The souls are rewarded by the way they lived their earthly lives. Even though Augustine’s understanding of Individual judgment is not clear, but by summarizing his deliberation about the individual judgment, some basic conclusions can be made. Augustine absolutely rejected the re-incarnation of souls and the hibernation of the soul. Augustine says, when the soul leaves the body, it does not enters into another body. It abides in its own state and the soul will be rewarded only after the last judgment. In short, we can say, the soul waits in a partial bliss or curse for the final resurrection into eternal life or into eternal death.

Augustine calls the last judgment as judgment day or day of the Lord because is  the day  or time where Christ judges each soul and each soul inherits either heave or hell. Augustine’s teaching on the Last judgment expressed in his own words:

 <<Thus, no one will deny or doubt that the Last judgment will be by Jesus Christ, exactly as it was foretold in the Holy Scripture, besides someone who does not believe, out of arrogance or blindness, in the actual holy writings which had proved its own authenticity to the whole world. Thus, on the judgment, or in connection to it, Elijah the Tishbite will come, the Jews will believe, the Antichrist will persecute, Christ will judge, the dead will rise, the good and the evil will be separated, the world will burn out and be renewed. It should be believed that this will happen; but on what way or by which order, we will learn more then by the experience itself, than even the perfect human understanding can bear now. But I think, however, that the things will happen according to the order I just mentioned>> (Book XX).

  In Augustine’s view, at the end of time, all people would come together for judgment but not for the condemnation. In the last judgment, the eternal destination is offered to each soul depending on their deeds on earthly life. In the last judgment, the devils and his followers also will be condemned on eternal prediction. After the last judgment, new heaven and new earth will appear. God’s city and its citizens will descend on new earth and live together with those who have resurrected in their bodies. Augustine argued that the first resurrection has already taken place in the conversion of sinners to Christ.

 Time or place of temporal punishment

            Augustine believed in the time of temporal punishment and he called it as purgatory. He is one who gives a clear teaching on purgatory. Augustine says;

<<And it is not impossible that something of the same kind may take place even after this life. It is a matter that may be inquired into, and either ascertained or left doubtful, whether some believers shall pass through a kind of purgatorial fire, and in proportion as they have loved with more or less devotion the goods that perish, be less or more quickly delivered from it. This cannot, however, be the case of any of those of whom it is said, that they ‘shall not inherit the kingdom of God,’ unless after suitable repentance their sins be forgiven them. When I say ‘suitable,’ I mean that they are not to be unfruitful in almsgiving; for Holy Scripture lays so much stress on this virtue, that our Lord tells us beforehand, that He will ascribe no merit to those on His right hand but that they abound in it, and no defect to those on His left hand but their want of it, when He shall say to the former, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom,” and to the latter, ‘Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire>> (Book XXI).

Even though he believed in the existence of purgatory, he was not certain about how one understands the idea of purgatory and where that place was. Purgatory is the place or time that takes place between individual and last judgment. Augustine clearly states that there are temporal punishments which a person must suffer after death. He argues that by the grace of God, people who are in small sins will not suffer an eternal punishment. The purpose of the punishment is purgatory is not healing for the sinner but they avenge God’s wrath, because God’s righteousness is offended by committing sin against Him. Though Augustine speaks of purgatory as a purifying fire, he is not sure about whether this pertains to a real physical fire or just representation of fire. He does not exclude the possibility that fire might represent redemption from purgatory. Augustine believed that the souls of the deceased might relate to the piety of their living relatives. By this, the deceased may acquire a complete remission of the punishment. He categorize the deceased souls into particular groups. Those souls led quiet good life need not be advocated upon death and those souls whose life was evil life on earth, will not get any help and at the same time living can help them by praying, sacrificing,  having charity and having pious acts too. Augustine’s this concept had influenced a lot our catholic church’s teachings on purgatory.

 Resurrection as a doorstep to eternity

The resurrection has a central place in Augustine’s theological thought. For him, resurrection is more important than anything because Christian faith is built upon it. It is through resurrection one finds final blessing or curse. Until the time of  resurrection there is time for salvation. But after the resurrection person enters into eternity. For Augustine, the resurrection is doorstep into eternity. Augustine differentiates two types of resurrection.

a)      The resurrection of the soul

b)      The resurrection of the body

The resurrection of the soul takes place now where one has got the knowledge of one’s own sinfulness and live a God-pleasing life. It is actually conversion of sinners into Lord. The resurrection of the body will happen after the Last judgment, upon which some go to eternal death, and some to eternal life. Thus, all those who will not “resurrect” into new life during their lifetimes, during “the whole time when the first resurrection is taking place, will, in the second resurrection, pass over into the second death (Book XX). Augustine holds that in the second resurrection the souls have their death in the impureness and sinfulness. Those who believe in the resurrection of the Christ who died for our sins will participate in the first resurrection. The second resurrection happens according to the example of the Lord who had resurrected in his body three days after his death and descended into heaven. This resurrection is for those who passed into life by the first resurrection and those who have not resurrected in the first resurrection, the second resurrection will be eternal death. According to Augustine’s view, the soul which is dead in sins need to wait for Lord’s call and resurrect in life. So that in the second resurrection the body and soul might live forever. Augustine strongly advocated that the resurrection of body and soul must be every person’s ultimate goal and core ambition. It will actually sanction the eternal meaning to a person.

Eternal Punishment for all evil acts

The concept of eternal punishment is not his invention. The Book XXI itself is subtitled “Eternal punishment of the damned, and the arguments which unbelief brings against it”. Augustine says, But eternal punishment seems hard and unjust to human perceptions, because in the weakness of our mortal condition there is wanting that highest and purest wisdom by which it can be perceived how great a wickedness was committed in that first transgression.. For as by the sin of one man we have fallen into a misery so deplorable (Book XXI). By all these Augustine held the view that hell exists. It is given for the evil earthly lives and it is considered to be the worst and eternal punishment. But Augustine is not certain when hell is given upon evil soul. In his writings, it seems that the condemned go the hell right after death, but their punishment begin after the last judgment.

Augustine argued that the unbaptized go to hell because of their original sin which separates them from God. Even those who are baptized and living in severe sinful life, will not get eternal life. They also go to hell because they could not make a bond with God. That is why Augustine warned Christians to live a serious and pure Christian life. Augustine maintained that every person in hell gets different levels of suffering according to the gravity of their sin. For them hell is eternal. Augustine’s conception of death too is repeated here. Augustine’s speaks about two kinds of death. The first death is that which happens, when the soul leaves the body. The second death happens when God leaves the soul. It is nothing but hell. It is impossible to avoid first death but the second death can be avoided if one leads a good life.

 Eternal blessedness or Eternal Happiness

Augustine deals with the sublime spiritual  vision  of  God  that  the  souls  in Paradise enjoy. According to Augustine, a blessed observance of God can be called as heaven. Augustine divided human history into seven ages: 1) from Adam to the flood, 2) from the flood to Abraham, 3) from Abraham to David, 4) from David to the Babylonian exile, 5) from the Babylonian exile to the birth of Christ, 6) from the birth of Christ to the present and 7) a rest in the blessed awaiting of the resurrection. The seventh day ends with the Day of the Lord by which all pass into the eternal rest of the soul and the body. Augustine also says,

<< therefore it may very well be and it is perfectly credible that in eternity  we  shall  see  the  material  forms of the world of new heavens and of new earth in such a way that we will see God with  luminous  clarity,  wherever  we  turn  our eyes, through the body that we will have and through the bodies that we will observe. In eternity  wherever  we  will  direct  the  spiritual luminosity  of  our  bodies,  also  with  our bodies we shall contemplate God, Who is incorporeal and directs everything to its own  end. God  will  be  so  known  by  us  with  such  a  clarity  that  we  shall  see  Him  by  the spirit  in  ourselves,  in  one  another,  in Himself,  in  the  new  heavens  and  in  the new earth and in every creature that will exist  in  eternity,  and  also  by  the  means  of  the  body  we  shall  see  God  in  everybody, in every direction where the sharp vision  of  the  spiritual  body  shall  reach >> (Book XXII).   

Augustine  is not certain of when this blessed observance takes place. It may be after the individual judgment or after last judgment. For Augustine, eternal life is nothing other than giving thanks to God and praising His mercy and goodness. In this state, everyone will be happy and peaceful. Even in this bliss, there is a gradation and it is conditioned by the smaller and greater merits of the earthly life. Augustine implies a kind of blessed observance of God in the state of the soul after the individual judgment which will be completely enjoyed only after the Last judgment. Thus, it can be said that Augustine’s understanding of eternal life (the observation of God) extends from partial bliss in awaiting the Last judgment to the eternity that takes place with the resurrection of the body.

Augustine also tells that the saints will experience the resurrection of the body - not just their earthly bodies, but bodies made new, bodies with all blemishes that marred human beauty removed.

a)      The saints will be clothed in immortal and spiritual bodies and they will be there by  praising and worshipping God. They will be in ultimate happiness and their main activity will be nothing but to sing songs for the Lord

b)      The saints want nothing here. They will not be discontent with what they have. Even though there are gradations according good deeds done, no inferior shall envy any superior. Here they will be given a  gift of contentment to desire no more than what they have.

c)      They will have an experience of abundant freewill. In the birth we were provided with free will to do good and evil. The free will given in the last times will be totally different and superior. They will not be able to sin anymore. It is actually a gift given by God.

d)      They will not be worried of their past guilt. They will forget their past sins and they only experience Lord’s love in their life.  They will be having a life in the grace of Christ. They know the Lord and experience Him as all.

 Conclusion

Augustine’s explanations on the end of the two cities give basis for many of the church doctrines too. It is essential to Augustine that Christ, the first and eternal, whose hand founded the earth and whose right hand established the heavens, encompasses all times. It is through Him that all world time is directed towards a final goal. Just as the Creation was a cosmic event through Him, so also is its regeneration. Hence, Christ creates a new world after the old one is destroyed by a global fire. In the regenerated world, the New Jerusalem will descend and the earthly part of the City of God will be added to her. The last trial of the City of God’s earthly part will function as its purification. One final battle must be fought with Satan, who will be let loose at the end of time. An abundant increase in wickedness will be a characteristic feature of the end times. At the end good will be enjoy the eternal happiness and the bad will be thrown for the eternal damnation. Many of the ideas proposed by Augustine may be certain Utopias. He himself is not certain of many of the concepts he proposed. In his all concepts he does not consider non-Christians. He believes that all those non-Christians will be thrown into eternal damnation. His concepts are moderate, steady, profound and nearly complete. He presented everything on the basis of scriptures and the teachings of the Church fathers. What he tried was to present a perfect society based on Christian philosophy. He enlightened old concepts with Christian doctrine to underline his point that only through scripture man can receive instructions regarding highest form of good and evil. Human life without the guidance of Bible is purposeless. Everything is  according to God’s plan and is an attempt to cultivate City of God  filled with worthy citizens.

Prepared by Shebin Joseph Cheeramvelil 

References

-AUGUSTINE, City of God, Books XIX-XXII

-JAMES WETZEL, Augustine: A Guide for the Perplexed (New York: Continum,2010)

-JAMES WETZEL, Augustine’s City of God: A Critical Approach (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012)