Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>But against this great gift of God, these reasoners, \"whose\r\nthoughts the Lord knows that they are vain,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_984_984\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_984_984\">[984]</a> bring arguments\r\nfrom the weights of the elements; for they have been\r\ntaught by their master Plato that the two greatest elements of\r\nthe world, and the furthest removed from one another, are\r\ncoupled and united by the two intermediate, air and water.\r\nAnd consequently they say, since the earth is the first of the\r\nelements, beginning from the base of the series, the second\r\nthe water above the earth, the third the air above the water,\r\nthe fourth the heaven above the air, it follows that a body of\r\nearth cannot live in the heaven; for each element is poised<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_502\">[Pg 502]</a></span>\r\nby its own weight so as to preserve its own place and rank.\r\nBehold with what arguments human infirmity, possessed with\r\nvanity, contradicts the omnipotence of God! What, then, do\r\nso many earthly bodies do in the air, since the air is the\r\nthird element from the earth? Unless perhaps He who has\r\ngranted to the earthly bodies of birds that they be carried\r\nthrough the air by the lightness of feathers and wings, has\r\nnot been able to confer upon the bodies of men made immortal\r\nthe power to abide in the highest heaven. The earthly\r\nanimals, too, which cannot fly, among which are men, ought\r\non these terms to live under the earth, as fishes, which are\r\nthe animals of the water, live under the water. Why, then,\r\ncan an animal of earth not live in the second element, that is,\r\nin water, while it can in the third? Why, though it belongs\r\nto the earth, is it forthwith suffocated if it is forced to live in\r\nthe second element next above earth, while it lives in the\r\nthird, and cannot live out of it? Is there a mistake here in\r\nthe order of the elements, or is not the mistake rather in their\r\nreasonings, and not in the nature of things? I will not repeat\r\nwhat I said in the thirteenth book,<a id=\"FNanchor_985_985\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_985_985\">[985]</a> that many earthly\r\nbodies, though heavy like lead, receive from the workman's\r\nhand a form which enables them to swim in water; and\r\nyet it is denied that the omnipotent Worker can confer on\r\nthe human body a property which shall enable it to pass into\r\nheaven and dwell there.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK TWENTY-SECOND.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-789"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"779de7c31a283be3c4eb7b3aa25a9a6662b7aa5ce79cb35a8f591a7db1a4ef3d","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_985_985","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_985_985","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_985_985\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_985_985\"><span class=\"label\">[985]</span></a> C. <a class=\"pgexternal\" href=\"file:///public/vhost/g/gutenberg/html/files/45304/45304-h/45304-h.htm#chap1318\" id=\"id-1974952054352449504\">18</a>.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_985_985","text_sha256":"d9edef0c196925a611deabd4ac2347861d723d02f3aab1377104de8a596c15bf","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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