Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>The foremost of the philosophers agree with us about the\r\nspiritual felicity enjoyed by the blessed in the life to come;\r\nit is only the resurrection of the flesh they call in question,\r\nand with all their might deny. But the mass of men, learned\r\nand unlearned, the world's wise men and its fools, have believed,\r\nand have left in meagre isolation the unbelievers, and\r\nhave turned to Christ, who in His own resurrection demonstrated\r\nthe reality of that which seems to our adversaries\r\nabsurd. For the world has believed this which God predicted,\r\nas it was also predicted that the world would believe,—a prediction<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_530\">[Pg 530]</a></span>\r\nnot due to the sorceries of Peter,<a id=\"FNanchor_1024_1024\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_1024_1024\">[1024]</a> since it was uttered\r\nso long before. He who has predicted these things, as I have\r\nalready said, and am not ashamed to repeat, is the God before\r\nwhom all other divinities tremble, as Porphyry himself owns,\r\nand seeks to prove, by testimonies from the oracles of these\r\ngods, and goes so far as to call Him God the Father and King.\r\nFar be it from us to interpret these predictions as they do who\r\nhave not believed, along with the whole world, in that which\r\nit was predicted the world would believe in. For why should\r\nwe not rather understand them as the world does, whose\r\nbelief was predicted, and leave that handful of unbelievers to\r\ntheir idle talk and obstinate and solitary infidelity? For if\r\nthey maintain that they interpret them differently only to\r\navoid charging Scripture with folly, and so doing an injury\r\nto that God to whom they bear so notable a testimony, is it\r\nnot a much greater injury they do Him when they say that\r\nHis predictions must be understood otherwise than the world\r\nbelieved them, though He Himself praised, promised, accomplished\r\nthis belief on the world's part? And why cannot He\r\ncause the body to rise again, and live for ever? or is it not\r\nto be believed that He will do this, because it is an undesirable\r\nthing, and unworthy of God? Of His omnipotence, which\r\neffects so many great miracles, we have already said enough.\r\nIf they wish to know what the Almighty cannot do, I shall\r\ntell them He cannot lie. Let us therefore believe what He\r\ncan do, by refusing to believe what He cannot do. Refusing\r\nto believe that He can lie, let them believe that He will do\r\nwhat He has promised to do; and let them believe it as the\r\nworld has believed it, whose faith He predicted, whose faith\r\nHe praised, whose faith He promised, whose faith He now\r\npoints to. But how do they prove that the resurrection is an\r\nundesirable thing? There shall then be no corruption, which\r\nis the only evil thing about the body. I have already said\r\nenough about the order of the elements, and the other fanciful\r\nobjections men raise; and in the thirteenth book I have, in\r\nmy own judgment, sufficiently illustrated the facility of movement\r\nwhich the incorruptible body shall enjoy, judging from\r\nthe ease and vigour we experience even now, when the body<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_531\">[Pg 531]</a></span>\r\nis in good health. Those who have either not read the former\r\nbooks, or wish to refresh their memory, may read them for\r\nthemselves.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK TWENTY-SECOND.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-833"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"3feca2aa58b9a5108d0f59a895dab633a0655bc4fc52d892c3bbe15b5f8b3db4","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_1024_1024","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_1024_1024","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_1024_1024\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_1024_1024\"><span class=\"label\">[1024]</span></a> <i>Vide</i> Book xviii. c. 53.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_1024_1024","text_sha256":"eaa34c382961e1ca586d816a52631b2ca93fcabdc49ba90b8087aff5aa6e6aa1","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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