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| Of the Nature of the Two Cities, the Earthly and the Heavenly.
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Chapter 28.—Of the Nature of the
Two Cities, the Earthly and the Heavenly.
Accordingly, two cities have been
formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the
contempt of God; the heavenly by
the love of God, even to the
contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the
latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the
greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience.
The one lifts up its head in its own glory; the other says to its
God, “Thou art my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.”763
In the
one, the princes and the nations it subdues are ruled by the love
of ruling; in the other, the princes and the subjects serve one
another in love, the latter obeying, while the former take thought
for all. The one delights in its own strength, represented in the
persons of its rulers; the other says to its God, “I will love
Thee, O Lord, my strength.”764
And therefore the wise men of the
one city, living according to man, have sought for profit to their
own bodies or souls, or both, and those who have known God
“glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain
in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened;
professing themselves to be wise,”—that is, glorying in their
own wisdom, and being possessed by pride,—“they became fools,
and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made
like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and
creeping things.” For they were either leaders or followers of
the people in adoring images, “and worshipped and served the
creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.”765
But in the
other city there is no human wisdom, but only godliness, which
offers due worship to the true God, and looks for its reward in the
society of the saints, of holy angels as well as holy men, “that
God may be all in all.”766
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