Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Now, when Abraham and Lot had separated, and dwelt\r\napart, owing to the necessity of supporting their families, and\r\nnot to vile discord, and Abraham was in the land of Canaan,\r\nbut Lot in Sodom, the Lord said to Abraham in a third oracle,\r\n\"Lift up thine eyes, and look from the place where thou now\r\nart, to the north, and to Africa, and to the east, and to the\r\nsea; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it,\r\nand to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the\r\ndust of the earth: if any one can number the dust of the earth,\r\nthy seed shall also be numbered. Arise, and walk through\r\nthe land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it; for unto\r\nthee will I give it.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_269_269\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_269_269\">[269]</a> It does not clearly appear whether in\r\nthis promise that also is contained by which he is made the\r\nfather of all nations. For the clause, \"And I will make thy\r\nseed as the dust of the earth,\" may seem to refer to this, being\r\nspoken by that figure the Greeks call hyperbole, which indeed\r\nis figurative, not literal. But no person of understanding can\r\ndoubt in what manner the Scripture uses this and other\r\nfigures. For that figure (that is, way of speaking) is used\r\nwhen what is said is far larger than what is meant by it;\r\nfor who does not see how incomparably larger the number of\r\nthe dust must be than that of all men can be from Adam\r\nhimself down to the end of the world? How much greater,\r\nthen, must it be than the seed of Abraham,—not only that\r\npertaining to the nation of Israel, but also that which is and\r\nshall be according to the imitation of faith in all nations of the\r\nwhole wide world! For that seed is indeed very small in<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_134\">[Pg 134]</a></span>\r\ncomparison with the multitude of the wicked, although even\r\nthose few of themselves make an innumerable multitude,\r\nwhich by a hyperbole is compared to the dust of the earth.\r\nTruly that multitude which was promised to Abraham is not\r\ninnumerable to God, although to man; but to God not even\r\nthe dust of the earth is so. Further, the promise here made\r\nmay be understood not only of the nation of Israel, but of the\r\nwhole seed of Abraham, which may be fitly compared to the dust\r\nfor multitude, because regarding it also there is the promise<a id=\"FNanchor_270_270\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_270_270\">[270]</a> of\r\nmany children, not according to the flesh, but according to the\r\nspirit. But we have therefore said that this does not clearly\r\nappear, because the multitude even of that one nation, which\r\nwas born according to the flesh of Abraham through his\r\ngrandson Jacob, has increased so much as to fill almost all\r\nparts of the world. Consequently, even it might by hyperbole\r\nbe compared to the dust for multitude, because even it alone\r\nis innumerable by man. Certainly no one questions that only\r\nthat land is meant which is called Canaan. But that saying,\r\n\"To thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever,\" may move\r\nsome, if by \"for ever\" they understand \"to eternity.\" But if\r\nin this passage they take \"for ever\" thus, as we firmly hold\r\nit means, that the beginning of the world to come is to be\r\nordered from the end of the present, there is still no difficulty,\r\nbecause, although the Israelites are expelled from Jerusalem,\r\nthey still remain in other cities in the land of Canaan, and\r\nshall remain even to the end; and when that whole land is inhabited\r\nby Christians, they also are the very seed of Abraham.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK SIXTEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-226"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"e2c50a2799b9145c643eb8894d7ed23759be06a6d079ceb934e81b747c192a2c","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_270_270","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_270_270","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_270_270\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_270_270\"><span class=\"label\">[270]</span></a> Various reading, \"the express promise.\"</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_270_270","text_sha256":"34ba9713c619db05ddd5a72345fc93726ceb16f1df564e3965bbb43bd36d5d56","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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