is described as a universal city that includes God, the obedient angels, the saints in heaven and the righteous on earth. Those on earth who pertain to that heavenly city are considered as pilgrims until God’s kingdom comes. So Augustine says: “These we mystically call two cities or societies, the one predestined to reign eternally with God, the other condemned to perpetual torment with the Devil.”¹²

In the latter part of his work the church emerges in a powerful, ruling position. Augustine said that ever since the spreading of the church beyond Judea the binding of Satan had taken place, restraining him from the full power of temptation. During this same time Christ is said to reign with his saints. “And so,” he contends, “the Church now on earth is both the kingdom of Christ, and the kingdom of heaven,” while an eternal reign lies beyond.¹³

True Christians may admire the clear insight Augustine had into many basic Bible truths, but they cannot accept the teachings that result from his attempts to fuse the Bible with pagan mythology and Platonic philosophy. Bible Christians do not look to any religious system on earth as the “kingdom of heaven,” but continue to put their confidence in the “new heavens” that God creates as his means for bestowing endless blessings on obedient mankind.—Isa. 65:17, AS; 2 Pet. 3:13.

REFERENCES QUOTED

¹ The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 91.

² Id., p. 103.

³ The City of God, by St. Augustine, translated by John Healey, Everyman’s Library, Vol. 1, pp. 313, 314.

⁴ The City of God, Vol. 2, p. 91.

⁵ Id., p. 230.

⁶ Retractationes, by St. Augustine, I, 21, 1. Quotation taken from The Church, An Introduction to the Theology of St. Augustine, by S. J. Grabowski, a priest of the archdiocese of Detroit, p. 124.

⁷ The City of God, Vol. 1, pp. 3, 16, 252.

⁸ The City of God, Vol. 2, pp. 256, 224.

⁹ The City of God, Vol. 1, p. 224.

¹⁰ The City of God, Vol. 2, pp. 2, 13, 17, 213, 214.

¹¹ The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 85.

¹² The City of God, Vol. 2, p. 60.

¹³ Id., p. 283.

French-Canadian Nun Takes Stand for Jehovah

Miss Lucie Lacasse was a young Oblate nun, teaching school in the D’Alembert district, where two young witnesses of Jehovah are students. In November, 1956, she sent literature home with the younger of these boys, attacking Jehovah’s witnesses. The mother wrote a kind letter, suggesting that the nun learn the other side of the story, and sent along some copies of The Watchtower. The nun read the magazines and kept questioning the lad daily. She was so impressed by his knowledge of his religion that by the time of the Christmas holidays she sent a note to his mother telling that she was convinced that Jehovah’s witnesses had the truth and that she was leaving her order. True to her word she did not return to school. However, because letters sent her by the mother of the lad failed to reach her, she felt she had been deserted by her newly found friend and so went to work as cook at an agricultural college operated by the Oblate fathers. There she eventually received the letters and began expressing her joy at the knowledge she was gaining from “This Means Everlasting Life”. Finding it increasingly difficult to remain at this institution, she talked to others about what she was learning, and some of the witnesses arranged to find her work on the outside pending her leaving the place. This proved easier than was expected as, due to her witnessing to others, some had become interested and so the one in charge was glad to let her go. She now attends all meetings of the witnesses, continues with her personal study and is taking training in the field ministry. She is also learning English, with the goal of the full-time service as a missionary in view.