BOOK TENTH.
ARGUMENT.
IN THIS BOOK AUGUSTINE TEACHES THAT THE GOOD ANGELS WISH GOD ALONE, WHOM THEY THEMSELVES SERVE, TO RECEIVE THAT DIVINE HONOUR WHICH IS RENDERED BY SACRIFICE, AND WHICH IS CALLED "LATREIA." HE THEN GOES ON TO DISPUTE AGAINST PORPHYRY ABOUT THE PRINCIPLE AND WAY OF THE SOUL'S CLEANSING AND DELIVERANCE.
- 1. That the Platonists themselves have determined that God alone can confer happiness either on angels or men, but that it yet remains a question whether those spirits whom they direct us to worship, that we may obtain happiness, wish sacrifice to be offered to themselves, or to the one God only.
- 2. The opinion of Plotinus the Platonist regarding enlightenment from above.
- 3. That the Platonists, though knowing something of the Creator of the universe, have misunderstood the true worship of God, by giving divine honour to angels, good or bad.
- 4. That sacrifice is due to the true God only.
- 5. Of the sacrifices which God does not require, but wished to be observed for the exhibition of those things which He does require.
- 6. Of the true and perfect sacrifice.
- 7. Of the love of the holy angels, which prompts them to desire that we worship the one true God, and not themselves.
- 8. Of the miracles which God has condescended to adhibit, through the ministry of angels, to His promises for the confirmation of the faith of the godly.
- 9. Of the illicit arts connected with demonolatry, and of which the Platonist Porphyry adopts some, and discards others.
- 10. Concerning theurgy, which promises a delusive purification of the soul by the invocation of demons.
- 11. Of Porphyry's epistle to Anebo, in which he asks for information about the differences among demons.
- 12. Of the miracles wrought by the true God through the ministry of the holy angels.
- 13. Of the invisible God, who has often made Himself visible, not as He really is, but as the beholders could bear the sight.
- 14. That the one God is to be worshipped not only for the sake of eternal blessings, but also in connection with temporal prosperity, because all things are regulated by His providence.
- 15. Of the ministry of the holy angels, by which they fulfil the providence of God.
- 16. Whether those angels who demand that we pay them divine honour, or those who teach us to render holy service, not to themselves, but to God, are to be trusted about the way to life eternal.
- 17. Concerning the ark of the covenant, and the miraculous signs whereby God authenticated the law and the promise.
- 18. Against those who deny that the books of the Church are to be believed about the miracles whereby the people of God were educated.
- 19. On the reasonableness of offering, as the true religion teaches, a visible sacrifice to the one true and invisible God.
- 20. Of the supreme and true sacrifice which was effected by the Mediator between God and men.
- 21. Of the power delegated to demons for the trial and glorification of the saints, who conquer not by propitiating the spirits of the air, but by abiding in God.
- 22. Whence the saints derive power against demons and true purification of heart.
- 23. Of the principles which, according to the Platonists, regulate the purification of the soul.
- 24. Of the one only true principle which alone purifies and renews human nature.
- 25. That all the saints, both under the law and before it, were justified by faith in the mystery of Christ's incarnation.
- 26. Of Porphyry's weakness in wavering between the confession of the true God and the worship of demons.
- 27. Of the impiety of Porphyry, which is worse than even the mistake of Apuleius.
- 28. How it is that Porphyry has been so blind as not to recognise the true wisdom—Christ.
- 29. Of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which the Platonists in their impiety blush to acknowledge.
- 30. Porphyry's emendations and modifications of Platonism.
- 31. Against the arguments on which the Platonists ground their assertion that the human soul is co-eternal with God.
- 32. Of the universal way of the soul's deliverance, which Porphyry did not find because he did not rightly seek it, and which the grace of Christ has alone thrown open.
