Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>The same most acute and learned author also says, that\r\nthose alone seem to him to have perceived what God is, who\r\nhave believed Him to be the soul of the world, governing it\r\nby design and reason.<a id=\"FNanchor_181_181\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_181_181\">[181]</a> And by this, it appears, that although\r\nhe did not attain to the truth,—for the true God is not a\r\nsoul, but the maker and author of the soul,—yet if he could\r\nhave been free to go against the prejudices of custom, he could\r\nhave confessed and counselled others that the one God ought\r\nto be worshipped, who governs the world by design and\r\nreason; so that on this subject only this point would remain\r\nto be debated with him, that he had called Him a soul, and\r\nnot rather the creator of the soul. He says, also, that the\r\nancient Romans, for more than a hundred and seventy years,\r\nworshipped the gods without an image.<a id=\"FNanchor_182_182\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_182_182\">[182]</a> \"And if this\r\ncustom,\" he says, \"could have remained till now, the gods\r\nwould have been more purely worshipped.\" In favour of\r\nthis opinion, he cites as a witness among others the Jewish\r\nnation; nor does he hesitate to conclude that passage by\r\nsaying of those who first consecrated images for the people,\r\nthat they have both taken away religious fear from their\r\nfellow-citizens, and increased error, wisely thinking that the\r\ngods easily fall into contempt when exhibited under the\r\nstolidity of images. But as he does not say they have\r\ntransmitted error, but that they have increased it, he therefore\r\nwishes it to be understood that there was error already\r\nwhen there were no images. Wherefore, when he says they\r\nalone have perceived what God is who have believed Him to\r\nbe the governing soul of the world, and thinks that the rites\r\nof religion would have been more purely observed without\r\nimages, who fails to see how near he has come to the truth?<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_174\">[Pg 174]</a></span>\r\nFor if he had been able to do anything against so inveterate\r\nan error, he would certainly have given it as his opinion both\r\nthat the one God should be worshipped, and that He should\r\nbe worshipped without an image; and having so nearly discovered\r\nthe truth, perhaps he might easily have been put in\r\nmind of the mutability of the soul, and might thus have perceived\r\nthat the true God is that immutable nature which\r\nmade the soul itself. Since these things are so, whatever\r\nridicule such men have poured in their writings against the\r\nplurality of the gods, they have done so rather as compelled\r\nby the secret will of God to confess them, than as trying to\r\npersuade others. If, therefore, any testimonies are adduced\r\nby us from these writings, they are adduced for the confutation\r\nof those who are unwilling to consider from how great\r\nand malignant a power of the demons the singular sacrifice\r\nof the shedding of the most holy blood, and the gift of the\r\nimparted Spirit, can set us free.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK FOURTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-336"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"67c9429aa8fc76a57cd9e6a4f4fe9fb2adc316343ada66eb87c97bccad77d05c","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_181_181","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_181_181","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_181_181\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_181_181\"><span class=\"label\">[181]</span></a> See Cicero, <i>De Nat. Deor.</i> i. 2.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_181_181","text_sha256":"2c795a700d4cd11d4c1c407e3e5eb2d8c4d74067ff98da78b14f8ed6284dd55e","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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