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De civitate Dei (CCSL)
Caput I: De ordine disputationis, qua prius disserendum est de perpetuo supplicio damnatorum cum diabolo quam de aeterna felicitate sanctorum.
Cum per Christum dominum nostrum, iudicem uiuorum atque mortuorum, ad debitos fines ambae peruenerint ciuitates, quarum est una dei, altera diaboli, cuiusmodi supplicium sit futurum diaboli et omnium ad eum pertinentium, in hoc libro nobis, quantum ope diuina ualebimus, diligentius disputandum est. ideo autem hunc tenere ordinem malui, ut postea disseram de felicitate sanctorum, quoniam utrumque cum corporibus erit et incredibilius uidetur esse in aeternis corpora durare cruciatibus quam sine dolore ullo in aeterna beatitudine permanere; ac per hoc cum illam poenam non debere esse incredibilem demonstrauero, adiuuabit me plurimum, ut multo facilius omni carens molestia inmortalitas corporum in sanctis futura credatur. nec a diuinis ordo iste abhorret eloquiis, ubi aliquando quidem bonorum beatitudo prius ponitur, ut est illud: qui bona fecerunt, in resurrectionem uitae; qui autem mala egerunt, in resurrectionem iudicii; sed aliquando et posterius, ut est: mittet filius hominis angelos suos, et colligent de regno eius omnia scandala et mittent in caminum ignis ardentem; illic erit fletus et stridor dentium; tunc iusti fulgebunt sicut sol in regno patris sui, et illud: sic ibunt isti in supplicium aeternum, iusti autem in uitam aeternam; et in prophetis, quod commemorare longum est, nunc ille, nunc iste ordo, si quis inspiciat, inuenitur. sed ego istum qua causa elegerim, dixi.
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The City of God
Chapter 1.--Of the Order of the Discussion, Which Requires that We First Speak of the Eternal Punishment of the Lost in Company with the Devil, and Then of the Eternal Happiness of the Saints.
I Propose, with such ability as God may grant me, to discuss in this book more thoroughly the nature of the punishment which shall be assigned to the devil and all his retainers, when the two cities, the one of God, the other of the devil, shall have reached their proper ends through Jesus Christ our Lord, the Judge of quick and dead. And I have adopted this order, and preferred to speak, first of the punishment of the devils, and afterwards of the blessedness of the saints, because the body partakes of either destiny; and it seems to be more incredible that bodies endure in everlasting torments than that they continue to exist without any pain in everlasting felicity. Consequently, when I shall have demonstrated that that punishment ought not to be incredible, this will materially aid me in proving that which is much more credible, viz., the immortality of the bodies of the saints which are delivered from all pain. Neither is this order out of harmony with the divine writings, in which sometimes, indeed, the blessedness of the good is placed first, as in the words, "They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment;" 1 but sometimes also last, as, "The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things which offend, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth, Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of His Father;" 2 and that, "These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." 3 And though we have not room to cite instances, any one who examines the prophets will find that they adopt now the one arrangement and now the other. My own reason for following the latter order I have given.