Edition Hide
De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXIII: Quod praescierit deus hominem, quem primum condidit, peccaturum simulque praeuiderit, quantum piorum populum ex eius genere in angelicum consortium sua esset gratia translaturus.

Nec ignorabat deus hominem peccaturum et morti iam obnoxium morituros propagaturum eoque progressuros peccandi inmanitate mortales, ut tutius atque pacatius inter se rationalis uoluntatis expertes bestiae sui generis uiuerent, quarum ex aquis et terris plurium pullulauit exordium, quam homines, quorum genus ex uno est ad commendandam concordiam propagatum. neque enim umquam inter se leones aut inter se dracones, qualia homines, bella gesserunt. sed praeuidebat etiam gratia sua populum piorum in adoptionem uocandum remissisque peccatis iustificatum spiritu sancto sanctis angelis in aeterna pace sociandum, nouissima inimica morte destructa; cui populo esset huius rei consideratio profutura, quod ex uno homine deus ad commendandum hominibus, quam ei gratia sit etiam in pluribus unitas, genus instituisset humanum.

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The City of God

Chapter 22.--That God Foreknew that the First Man Would Sin, and that He at the Same Time Foresaw How Large a Multitude of Godly Persons Would by His Grace Be Translated to the Fellowship of the Angels.

And God was not ignorant that man would sin, and that, being himself made subject now to death, he would propagate men doomed to die, and that these mortals would run to such enormities in sin, that even the beasts devoid of rational will, and who were created in numbers from the waters and the earth, would live more securely and peaceably with their own kind than men, who had been propagated from one individual for the very purpose of commending concord. For not even lions or dragons have ever waged with their kind such wars as men have waged with one another. ¹ But God foresaw also that by His grace a people would be called to adoption, and that they, being justified by the remission of their sins, would be united by the Holy Ghost to the holy angels in eternal peace, the last enemy, death, being destroyed; and He knew that this people would derive profit from the consideration that God had caused all men to be derived from one, for the sake of showing how highly He prizes unity in a multitude.