It starts with a vindication of the Christians against the imputation that to them was due the destruction of Rome by Alaric in 410. Augustine shows (Bk. I) that such evils happen to all; and that actually in the sack of Rome Christianity was the means of saving many, through the respect of the Goths for the Churches. He then points out (Bk. II, III) that the Romans had constantly suffered in a similar way during the prevalence of paganism: that the true causes of their prosperity had been (Bk. IV, V) the will and providence of God and the virtues with which He had endowed them. He then shows (Bk. VI-X) the absurdities and immorality of the old Roman religion. In the Eleventh Book Augustine comes to the origin, course, and end of the two Civitates, the earthly and the heavenly. He asserts that they originated in the good and bad angels, and speaks in Books XI to XIV of the Creation and the Fall, and the effects of Adam's sin. In the next four Books he traces the progress of the two Civitates, following the account of the Old Testament as the training of men for the heavenly state, and then describing very shortly the coming of Christ, the preaching of the Gospel, and the persecutions. At length in Book XIX the subject of the future of the Church is reached. But it is not a picture of an ideal state of society under earthly conditions. The opinions of philosophers are discussed as to the summum bonum, in contrast to which the Christian ideal is given as that of Peace, which is mainly an anticipation of a heavenly state: 'Pax coelestis Civitatis, ordinatissima et concordissima societas fruendi Deo et invicem in Deo' (Ch. xiii.) The last three Books consist of an interpretation of the last chapters of the Revelation. The 1000 years' reign of Christ is the existence of the Church in its present conditions till the final judgment, when the wicked will be sent into a literal fire, the physical world will be changed by a vast conflagration, and the eternal state will begin (Bk. XX. ch. xvi). The work closes with a description of the heavenly world.

It will be seen from this that only one of the twenty-two Books, the nineteenth, deals with the prospective condition of the City of God. I subjoin two passages which most nearly approach

the task of working out an ideal of the Christian Church, that is of a social state influenced by Christian principles. It will be seen that St. Augustine turns away from the task of elaborating such an ideal. It is not worth his while to do this. The Church is glad to see peace and right relations among men, but only so that it may the better pass on to the heavenly state. It has no vocation for the redemption of human society.

Bk. XIX. cap. 14. De ordine ac lege, sive coelesti sive terrenâ, per quam societati humanae etiam dominando consulitur cui et consulendo servitur.

Omnis igitur usus rerum temporalium refertur ad fructum terrenae pacis in Civitate terrenâ: in coelesti autem Civitate refertur ad fructum pacis aeternae.

:

Et quoniam [anima] quamdiu est in isto mortali corpore, peregrinatur a Domino; ambulat per fidem, non per speciem ac per hoc omnem pacem vel corporis, vel animae, vel simul corporis et animae, refert ad illam pacem, quae homini mortali est cum Deo immortali; ut ei sit ordinata in fide sub aeterna lege obedientia. Iam vero quia duo praecipua praecepta, hoc est, dilectionem Dei et dilectionem proximi, docet magister Deus, in quibus tria invenit homo quae diligat, Deum, se ipsum, et proximum; atque ille in se diligendo non errat qui diligit Deum consequens est ut etiam proximo ad diligendum Deum consulat, quem iubetur sicut se ipsum diligere. Sic uxori, sic filiis, sic domesticis, sic caeteris quibus potuerit hominibus; et ad hoc sibi a proximo, si forte indiget, consuli velit ac per hoc erit pacatus, quantum in ipso est, omni homini, pace hominum, id est, ordinatâ concordiâ: cuius hic ordo est, primum ut nulli noceat, deinde ut etiam prosit cui potuerit. Primitus ergo inest ei suorum cura: ad eos quippe habet opportuniorem facilioremque aditum consulendi, vel naturae ordine, vel ipsius societatis humanae. Unde Apostolus dicit, Quisquis autem suis et maxime domesticis non providet, fidem denegat, et est infideli deterior. Hinc itaque etiam pax domestica oritur, id est, ordinata imperandi obediendique concordia cohabitantium. Imperant enim qui consulunt: sicut vir uxori, parentes filiis, domini servis. Obediunt autem quibus consulitur, sicut mulieres maritis, filii parentibus,

servi dominis. Sed in domo iusti viventis ex fide, et adhuc ab illâ coelesti Civitate peregrinantis, etiam qui imperant, serviunt eis, quibus videntur imperare. Neque enim dominandi cupiditate imperant, sed officio consulendi; nec principandi superbiâ, sed providendi misericordiâ.

Cap. 16. Quia igitur hominis domus initium sive particula debet esse civitatis, omne autem initium ad aliquem sui generis finem, et omnis pars ad universi cuius pars est, integritatem refertur; satis apparet esse consequens, ut ad pacem civicam pax domestica referatur, id est, ut ordinata imperandi obediendique concordia cohabitantium referatur ad ordinatam imperandi obediendique concordiam civium. Ita fit, ut ex lege civitatis praecepta sumere patrem familias oporteat, quibus domum suam sic regat, ut sit paci accommodata civitatis.

Cap. 17. Sed domus hominum qui non vivunt ex fide, pacem terrenam ex huius temporalis vitae rebus commodisque sectatur, domus autem hominum ex fide viventium expectat ea quae in futurum aeterna promissa sunt, terrenisque rebus ac temporalibus tanquam peregrina utitur, non quibus capiatur et avertatur quo tendit in Deum, sed quibus sustentetur ad facilius toleranda minimeque augenda onera corporis corruptibilis, quod aggravat animam. Idcirco rerum vitae huic mortali necessariarum utrisque hominibus (fidelibus et infidelibus) et utrique domui communis est usus; sed finis utendi cuique suus proprius multumque diversus. Ita etiam terrena Civitas, quae non vivit ex fide, terrenam pacem appetit; in eoque defigit imperandi obediendique concordiam civium, ut sit eis de rebus ad mortalem vitam pertinentibus humanarum quaedam compositio voluntatum. Civitas autem coelestis, vel potius pars eius, quae in hac mortalitate peregrinatur, et vivit ex fide, etiam istâ pace necesse est utatur, donec ipsa, cui talis pax necessaria est, mortalitas transeat. Ac per hoc dum apud terrenam Civitatem, velut captivam suae peregrinationis, agit, iam promissione redemptionis et dono spiritali tanquam pignore accepto, legibus terrenae Civitatis, quibus haec administrantur, quae sustentandae mortali vitae accommodata sunt, obtemperare non dubitat: ut quoniam communis est ipsa mortalitas, servetur in rebus ad eam

pertinentibus inter Civitatem utramque concordia. Verum quia
terrena Civitas habuit quosdam suos sapientes, quos divina im-
probat disciplina, qui vel suspicati vel decepti a daemonibus
crederent multos deos conciliandos esse rebus humanis:
factum est, ut religionis leges cum terrenâ Civitate non posset
habere communes, proque his ab ea dissentire haberet necesse, at-
que oneri esse diversa sentientibus, eorumque iras et odia et per-
secutionum impetus sustinere, nisi cum animos adversantium
aliquando terrore suae multitudinis, et semper divino adiutorio
propulsaret. Haec ergo coelestis Civitas dum peregrinatur in
terra ex omnibus gentibus cives evocat, atque in omnibus linguis
peregrinam colligit societatem ; non curans quicquid in moribus,
legibus, institutisque diversum est, quibus pax terrena vel con-
quiritur, vel tenetur; nihil eorum rescindens, nec destruens, imo
etiam servans ac sequens: quod licet diversum sit in diversis
nationibus, ad unum tamen eundemque finem terrenae pacis
intenditur, si religionem quâ unus summus et verus Deus
colendus docetur non impedit. Utitur ergo etiam coelestis
Civitas in hac suâ peregrinatione pace terrenâ, et de rebus ad
mortalem hominum naturam pertinentibus, humanarum volun-
tatum compositionem, quantum salvâ pietate ac religione con-
ceditur, tuetur atque appetit, eamque terrenam pacem refert ad
coelestem pacem: quae verè ita pax est, ut rationalis duntaxat
creaturae sola pax habenda atque dicenda sit, ordinatissima
scilicet et concordissima societas fruendi Deo, et invicem in
Deo; quo cum ventum fuerit, non erit vita mortalis sed planè
(plenè) certèque vitalis; nec corpus animale, quod dum cor-
rumpitur, aggravat animam, sed spiritale sine ullâ indigentiâ
ex omni parte subditum voluntati. Hanc pacem, dum pere-
grinatur in fide, habet atque ex hac fide iustè vivit; cum ad
illam pacem adipiscendam refert quicquid bonarum actionum
gerit erga Deum et proximum, quoniam vita civitatis utique
socialis est.

SHOWING THE PROPER USE OF THE WORDS RELIGION, WOR-
SHIP, CHURCH AND CHURCHES.

This idea of the Church as a universal polity in contrast to the Churches' as bodies organised only for public worship is well worked out in the remarkable work entitled 'La Mission Actuelle des Souverains' (Dentu, 1882), pp. 28, 29:

'La Différence entre la Religion et le Culte est facile à sentir. Le nom de religion indique le lien par excellence, celui qui réunit ou tend à réunir tous les hommes indistinctement, tous les peuples, toutes les races, toutes les Sociétés humaines, dans un même principe et dans une même fin.

'Le Culte, au contraire, indique une chose particulière, un système de culture devant se prêter aux exigences de son propre champ d'activité.

'La Religion est une dans son essence, les cultes sont et doivent demeurer différents dans leurs formes.

'L'Eglise, pour les Chrétiens, exprime dans son acception la plus générale la Religion de J. C., ou du moins la Société de tous les individus et de tous les peuples chrétiens.

'Les églises, au contraire, correspondent à la définition que nous avons donnée des cultes.'

NOTE V.

EXTRACTS FROM ARISTOTLE SHOWING THE USE IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORDS IMPORTING PRIORITY OF BEING.

17. Aristotle, Metaphysics, i. 3. 1: Teráptηv dè (airíav paμèv) τὸ οὗ ἕνεκα καὶ τἀγαθόν· τέλος γὰρ γενέσεως καὶ κινήσεως πάσης τοῦτ ̓ ἐστίν.

4. 3. Εἴπερ τὸ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἁπάντων αἴτιον αὐτὸ τἀγαθόν ἐστι. 8. 7. Εἰ δ ̓ ἔστι τὸ τῇ γενέσει ὕστερον τῇ φύσει πρότερον, τὸ δὲ πεπεμμένον καὶ συγκεκριμένον ὕστερον τῇ γενέσει.

ce