Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>The devil, then, would not have ensnared man in the open\r\nand manifest sin of doing what God had forbidden, had man\r\nnot already begun to live for himself. It was this that made\r\nhim listen with pleasure to the words, \"Ye shall be as gods,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_96_96\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_96_96\">[96]</a>\r\nwhich they would much more readily have accomplished by\r\nobediently adhering to their supreme and true end than by\r\nproudly living to themselves. For created gods are gods not\r\nby virtue of what is in themselves, but by a participation of\r\nthe true God. By craving to be more, man becomes less; and\r\nby aspiring to be self-sufficing, he fell away from Him who\r\ntruly suffices him. Accordingly, this wicked desire which\r\nprompts man to please himself as if he were himself light, and\r\nwhich thus turns him away from that light by which, had he\r\nfollowed it, he would himself have become light,—this wicked\r\ndesire, I say, already secretly existed in him, and the open\r\nsin was but its consequence. For that is true which is\r\nwritten, \"Pride goeth before destruction, and before honour\r\nis humility;\"<a id=\"FNanchor_97_97\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_97_97\">[97]</a> that is to say, secret ruin precedes open ruin,\r\nwhile the former is not counted ruin. For who counts exaltation<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_28\">[Pg 28]</a></span>\r\nruin, though no sooner is the Highest forsaken than a\r\nfall is begun? But who does not recognise it as ruin, when\r\nthere occurs an evident and indubitable transgression of the\r\ncommandment? And consequently, God's prohibition had\r\nreference to such an act as, when committed, could not be\r\ndefended on any pretence of doing what was righteous.<a id=\"FNanchor_98_98\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_98_98\">[98]</a> And\r\nI make bold to say that it is useful for the proud to fall into\r\nan open and indisputable transgression, and so displease themselves,\r\nas already, by pleasing themselves, they had fallen.\r\nFor Peter was in a healthier condition when he wept and was\r\ndissatisfied with himself, than when he boldly presumed and\r\nsatisfied himself. And this is averred by the sacred Psalmist\r\nwhen he says, \"Fill their faces with shame, that they may\r\nseek Thy name, O Lord;\"<a id=\"FNanchor_99_99\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_99_99\">[99]</a> that is, that they who have pleased\r\nthemselves in seeking their own glory may be pleased and\r\nsatisfied with Thee in seeking Thy glory.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK FOURTEENTH.[1]","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-59"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"c48da61d7348b0c09973ce7ffeb02403308e92c99678b89570d44ef6b3b50336","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_98_98","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_98_98","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_98_98\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_98_98\"><span class=\"label\">[98]</span></a> That is to say, it was an obvious and indisputable transgression.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_98_98","text_sha256":"54c15883cafaafc6f0be500bca27194567149721e4412a9375a13fb71077929e","verified":false,"work_id":null}

references: [] | work_id: | origin: existing-private-derived-record | source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_98_98