The City of God, Volume IIAugustine, of Hippo, Saint
ReligionChristian
The City of God, Volume II
Augustine, of Hippo, Saint
Apologetics -- Early works to 1800; Kingdom of God -- Early works to 1800
We read, "The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the
sons of men built:" it was not the sons of God, but that society
which lived in a merely human way, and which we call the earthly
city. God, who is always wholly everywhere, does not move locally;
but He is said to descend when He does anything in the earth out of
the usual course, which, as it were, makes His presence felt. And
in the same way, He does not by "seeing" learn some new thing, for
He cannot ever be ignorant of anything; but He is said to see and
recognise, in time, that which He causes others to see and recognise.
And therefore that city was not previously being seen as God made
it be seen when He showed how offensive it was to Him. We might,
indeed, interpret God's descending to the city of the descent of
His angels in whom He dwells; so that the following words, "And the
Lord God said, Behold, they are all one race and of one language,"
and also what follows, "Come, and let us go down and confound
their speech," are a recapitulation, explaining how the previously
intimated "descent of the Lord" was accomplished. For if He had
already gone down, why does He say, "Come, and let us go down and
confound?"--words which seem to be addressed to the angels, and to
intimate that He who was in the angels descended in their descent.
And the words most appropriately are, not, "Go ye down and confound,"
but, "Let us confound their speech;" showing that He so works by His
servants, that they are themselves also fellow-labourers with God, as
the apostle says, "For we are fellow-labourers with God."[240]
6. _What we are to understand by God's speaking to the angels._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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