Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Let us omit, then, the fables of those scriptures which are\r\ncalled apocryphal, because their obscure origin was unknown\r\nto the fathers from whom the authority of the true Scriptures\r\nhas been transmitted to us by a most certain and well-ascertained<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_96\">[Pg 96]</a></span>\r\nsuccession. For though there is some truth in these\r\napocryphal writings, yet they contain so many false statements,\r\nthat they have no canonical authority. We cannot\r\ndeny that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, left some divine\r\nwritings, for this is asserted by the Apostle Jude in his canonical\r\nepistle. But it is not without reason that these writings\r\nhave no place in that canon of Scripture which was preserved\r\nin the temple of the Hebrew people by the diligence of successive\r\npriests; for their antiquity brought them under suspicion,\r\nand it was impossible to ascertain whether these were\r\nhis genuine writings, and they were not brought forward as\r\ngenuine by the persons who were found to have carefully preserved\r\nthe canonical books by a successive transmission. So\r\nthat the writings which are produced under his name, and\r\nwhich contain these fables about the giants, saying that their\r\nfathers were not men, are properly judged by prudent men to\r\nbe not genuine; just as many writings are produced by\r\nheretics under the names both of other prophets, and, more\r\nrecently, under the names of the apostles, all of which, after\r\ncareful examination, have been set apart from canonical authority\r\nunder the title of Apocrypha. There is therefore no\r\ndoubt that, according to the Hebrew and Christian canonical\r\nScriptures, there were many giants before the deluge, and that\r\nthese were citizens of the earthly society of men, and that the\r\nsons of God, who were according to the flesh the sons of Seth,\r\nsunk into this community when they forsook righteousness.\r\nNor need we wonder that giants should be born even from\r\nthese. For all of their children were not giants; but there\r\nwere more then than in the remaining periods since the\r\ndeluge. And it pleased the Creator to produce them, that it\r\nmight thus be demonstrated that neither beauty, nor yet size\r\nand strength, are of much moment to the wise man, whose\r\nblessedness lies in spiritual and immortal blessings, in far better\r\nand more enduring gifts, in the good things that are the peculiar\r\nproperty of the good, and are not shared by good and bad\r\nalike. It is this which another prophet confirms when he\r\nsays, \"These were the giants, famous from the beginning,\r\nthat were of so great stature, and so expert in war. Those\r\ndid not the Lord choose, neither gave He the way of knowledge<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_97\">[Pg 97]</a></span>\r\nunto them; but they were destroyed because they had\r\nno wisdom, and perished through their own foolishness.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_214_214\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_214_214\">[214]</a></p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK FIFTEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-159"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"e4284505b387245039aa57fd040dd88689d38706a6c181d1094b8db8b10d2d76","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_214_214","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_214_214","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_214_214\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_214_214\"><span class=\"label\">[214]</span></a> Baruch iii. 26-28.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_214_214","text_sha256":"abcff4226f563bcf274dd25243ede04cfb515bf84e286e041661014c2a054be9","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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