Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>But here we have another and a much more learned Platonist\r\nthan Apuleius, Porphyry, to wit, asserting that, by I know\r\nnot what theurgy, even the gods themselves are subjected to\r\npassions and perturbations; for by adjurations they were so\r\nbound and terrified that they could not confer purity of soul,—were\r\nso terrified by him who imposed on them a wicked\r\ncommand, that they could not by the same theurgy be freed\r\nfrom that terror, and fulfil the righteous behest of him who\r\nprayed to them, or do the good he sought. Who does not see\r\nthat all these things are fictions of deceiving demons, unless\r\nhe be a wretched slave of theirs, and an alien from the grace of\r\nthe true Liberator? For if the Chaldæan had been dealing\r\nwith good gods, certainly a well-disposed man, who sought to\r\npurify his own soul, would have had more influence with them\r\nthan an evil-disposed man seeking to hinder him. Or, if the\r\ngods were just, and considered the man unworthy of the\r\npurification he sought, at all events they should not have been\r\nterrified by an envious person, nor hindered, as Porphyry avows,\r\nby the fear of a stronger deity, but should have simply denied\r\nthe boon on their own free judgment. And it is surprising\r\nthat that well-disposed Chaldæan, who desired to purify his\r\nsoul by theurgical rites, found no superior deity who could\r\neither terrify the frightened gods still more, and force them to\r\nconfer the boon, or compose their fears, and so enable them to\r\ndo good without compulsion,—even supposing that the good\r\ntheurgist had no rites by which he himself might purge away\r\nthe taint of fear from the gods whom he invoked for the purification\r\nof his own soul. And why is it that there is a god\r\nwho has power to terrify the inferior gods, and none who has<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_397\">[Pg 397]</a></span>\r\npower to free them from fear? Is there found a god who listens\r\nto the envious man, and frightens the gods from doing good?\r\nand is there not found a god who listens to the well-disposed\r\nman, and removes the fear of the gods that they may do him\r\ngood? O excellent theurgy! O admirable purification of the\r\nsoul!—a theurgy in which the violence of an impure envy has\r\nmore influence than the entreaty of purity and holiness.\r\nRather let us abominate and avoid the deceit of such wicked\r\nspirits, and listen to sound doctrine. As to those who perform\r\nthese filthy cleansings by sacrilegious rites, and see in\r\ntheir initiated state (as he further tells us, though we may\r\nquestion this vision) certain wonderfully lovely appearances\r\nof angels or gods, this is what the apostle refers to when he\r\nspeaks of \"Satan transforming himself into an angel of light.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_399_399\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_399_399\">[399]</a>\r\nFor these are the delusive appearances of that spirit who longs\r\nto entangle wretched souls in the deceptive worship of many\r\nand false gods, and to turn them aside from the true worship\r\nof the true God, by whom alone they are cleansed and healed,\r\nand who, as was said of Proteus, \"turns himself into all\r\nshapes,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_400_400\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_400_400\">[400]</a> equally hurtful, whether he assaults us as an enemy,\r\nor assumes the disguise of a friend.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK TENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-700"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"e453e64ecbb51dbd03486e73b48f690095cb4314fa09fdb2e69f2884abf498ca","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume I","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Book IV)","J. J. Smith (Books V-VIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_400_400","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_400_400","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_400_400\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_400_400\"><span class=\"label\">[400]</span></a> Virgil, <i>Georg.</i> iv. 411.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_400_400","text_sha256":"150b6daa67119b234c22189cc556a2425f1fb39e0b08305b62768471ca9c2ac8","verified":false,"work_id":null}

references: [] | work_id: | origin: existing-private-derived-record | source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_400_400