Augustine in His Own Words (continued)
(26) Meanwhile, it is to our advantage that there be such peace in this life. For as long as the two cities are mingled together, we can make use of the peace of Babylon, but our pilgrim status, for the time being, makes us neighbors. All of this was in St. Paul's mind when he advised the Church to pray for this world's kings and high authorities in order that "we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all piety and worthy behavior" (1 Tm 2:2). Jeremiah, too, predicting the Babylonian captivity to the ancient People of God, gave them orders from God to go submissively and serve their God by such sufferings and meanwhile to pray for Babylon. "For in its peace," he said, "shall be your peace" (Jer 29:7)—referring, of course, to the peace of this world which the good and bad share in common.
(27) The City of God, however, has a peace of its own, namely, peace with God in this world by faith, and in the world to come, by sight (2 Cor 5:7). Still, any peace we have on earth, whether the peace we share with Babylon or our own peace through faith, is more like a solace for unhappiness than the joy of beatitude.69
The Heavenly City (Book 22)
Our Faith Praises the Body
The final book of On the City of God focuses on heaven and especially on the resurrection of the body. In his ordinary sermons, Augustine offered simplified versions of ideas that appear at length in erudite works such as On the City of God. One year, during Easter Week, Augustine gave a lecture series on the resurrection of the body (Sermons 240– 242), covering topics that parallel those in Book 22. His concern, as he notes, was not only to bolster his congregation's faith but to equip them to get out into city squares and evangelize educated pagans. In this passage, he spells out the centrality of the doctrine of the resurrection. From Sermon 241:
(1) The belief in the resurrection is the distinctive belief of Christians. Christ our Head in his own person revealed this to us, that is, the resurrection of the dead, and He furnished us an example of this belief, so that His members might hope for themselves in regard to that which had already happened to their Head. Yesterday I informed you that wise men of the pagans whom they call "philosophers," and who were outstanding among their own people, had made a thorough investigation of nature and had come to know the Creator from His works. . . .
69. Civ. Dei 19.17–27 (CCL 48:683–97); trans. Walsh and Honan, FOTC 24:226–29 (modified).