Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Accordingly we say that there is no unchangeable good but\r\nthe one, true, blessed God; that the things which He made are\r\nindeed good because from Him, yet mutable because made not\r\nout of Him, but out of nothing. Although, therefore, they are\r\nnot the supreme good, for God is a greater good, yet those\r\nmutable things which can adhere to the immutable good, and\r\nso be blessed, are very good; for so completely is He their\r\ngood, that without Him they cannot but be wretched. And\r\nthe other created things in the universe are not better on this\r\naccount, that they cannot be miserable. For no one would\r\nsay that the other members of the body are superior to the\r\neyes, because they cannot be blind. But as the sentient\r\nnature, even when it feels pain, is superior to the stony, which\r\ncan feel none, so the rational nature, even when wretched, is\r\nmore excellent than that which lacks reason or feeling, and\r\ncan therefore experience no misery. And since this is so,\r\nthen in this nature which has been created so excellent, that\r\nthough it be mutable itself, it can yet secure its blessedness\r\nby adhering to the immutable good, the supreme God; and\r\nsince it is not satisfied unless it be perfectly blessed, and\r\ncannot be thus blessed save in God,—in this nature, I say,\r\nnot to adhere to God, is manifestly a fault.<a id=\"FNanchor_520_520\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_520_520\">[520]</a> Now every fault\r\ninjures the nature, and is consequently contrary to the nature.\r\nThe creature, therefore, which cleaves to God, differs from<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_483\">[Pg 483]</a></span>\r\nthose who do not, not by nature, but by fault; and yet by\r\nthis very fault the nature itself is proved to be very noble\r\nand admirable. For that nature is certainly praised, the fault\r\nof which is justly blamed. For we justly blame the fault\r\nbecause it mars the praiseworthy nature. As, then, when we\r\nsay that blindness is a defect of the eyes, we prove that sight\r\nbelongs to the nature of the eyes; and when we say that\r\ndeafness is a defect of the ears, hearing is thereby proved to\r\nbelong to their nature;—so, when we say that it is a fault of\r\nthe angelic creature that it does not cleave to God, we hereby\r\nmost plainly declare that it pertained to its nature to cleave\r\nto God. And who can worthily conceive or express how\r\ngreat a glory that is, to cleave to God, so as to live to Him,\r\nto draw wisdom from Him, to delight in Him, and to enjoy\r\nthis so great good, without death, error, or grief? And thus,\r\nsince every vice is an injury of the nature, that very vice of\r\nthe wicked angels, their departure from God, is sufficient proof\r\nthat God created their nature so good, that it is an injury to\r\nit not to be with God.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK TWELFTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-831"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"315d09f7a4e87257c2e194a16ddede66da9a4581233d99bf6edeab8edb32b0d6","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_520_520","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_520_520","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_520_520\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_520_520\"><span class=\"label\">[520]</span></a> <i>Vitium</i>: perhaps \"fault\" most nearly embraces all the uses of this word.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_520_520","text_sha256":"c6f626d6784d059636adcfcfb454639eedc663dc6cb02fe15155396e7122f657","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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