Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>If there is any one whom the sixth book, which I have last\r\nfinished, has not persuaded that this divinity, or, so to speak,\r\ndeity—for this word also our authors do not hesitate to use,\r\nin order to translate more accurately that which the Greeks\r\ncall θεότης;—if there is any one, I say, whom the sixth book\r\nhas not persuaded that this divinity or deity is not to be<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_259\">[Pg 259]</a></span>\r\nfound in that theology which they call civil, and which\r\nMarcus Varro has explained in sixteen books,—that is, that\r\nthe happiness of eternal life is not attainable through the\r\nworship of gods such as states have established to be worshipped,\r\nand that in such a form,—perhaps, when he has read\r\nthis book, he will not have anything further to desire in order\r\nto the clearing up of this question. For it is possible that\r\nsome one may think that at least the select and chief gods,\r\nwhom Varro comprised in his last book, and of whom we have\r\nnot spoken sufficiently, are to be worshipped on account of\r\nthe blessed life, which is none other than eternal. In respect\r\nto which matter I do not say what Tertullian said, perhaps\r\nmore wittily than truly, \"If gods are selected like onions,\r\ncertainly the rest are rejected as bad.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_245_245\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_245_245\">[245]</a> I do not say this,\r\nfor I see that even from among the select, some are selected\r\nfor some greater and more excellent office: as in warfare,\r\nwhen recruits have been elected, there are some again elected\r\nfrom among those for the performance of some greater military\r\nservice; and in the church, when persons are elected to be\r\noverseers, certainly the rest are not rejected, since all good\r\nChristians are deservedly called elect; in the erection of a\r\nbuilding corner stones are elected, though the other stones, which\r\nare destined for other parts of the structure, are not rejected;\r\ngrapes are elected for eating, whilst the others, which we leave\r\nfor drinking, are not rejected. There is no need of adducing\r\nmany illustrations, since the thing is evident. Wherefore the\r\nselection of certain gods from among many affords no proper\r\nreason why either he who wrote on this subject, or the worshippers\r\nof the gods, or the gods themselves, should be spurned.\r\nWe ought rather to seek to know what gods these are, and for\r\nwhat purpose they may appear to have been selected.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK SEVENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-471"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"45ad226a52a97ace4b3527265ec31ea3db4458ee6b7bd4758460239a3a912761","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_245_245","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_245_245","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_245_245\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_245_245\"><span class=\"label\">[245]</span></a> Tert. <i>Apol.</i> 13, \"Nec electio sine reprobatione;\" and <i>Ad Nationes</i>, ii. 9,\r\n\"Si dei ut bulbi seliguntur, qui non seliguntur, reprobi pronuntiantur.\"</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_245_245","text_sha256":"eb0157eca61224d3ba0366de8a28fab0b05581c5d55df8d218adfc68077d9522","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_245_245