Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>I should seem tedious were I to recount all the ancient\r\nmiracles, which were wrought in attestation of God's promises\r\nwhich He made to Abraham thousands of years ago,\r\nthat in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed.<a id=\"FNanchor_395_395\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_395_395\">[395]</a>\r\nFor who can but marvel that Abraham's barren wife should\r\nhave given birth to a son at an age when not even a prolific\r\nwoman could bear children; or, again, that when Abraham\r\nsacrificed, a flame from heaven should have run between the\r\ndivided parts;<a id=\"FNanchor_396_396\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_396_396\">[396]</a> or that the angels in human form, whom he\r\nhad hospitably entertained, and who had renewed God's promise<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_393\">[Pg 393]</a></span>\r\nof offspring, should also have predicted the destruction\r\nof Sodom by fire from heaven;<a id=\"FNanchor_397_397\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_397_397\">[397]</a> and that his nephew Lot\r\nshould have been rescued from Sodom by the angels as the\r\nfire was just descending, while his wife, who looked back as\r\nshe went, and was immediately turned into salt, stood as a\r\nsacred beacon warning us that no one who is being saved\r\nshould long for what he is leaving? How striking also were\r\nthe wonders done by Moses to rescue God's people from the\r\nyoke of slavery in Egypt, when the magi of the Pharaoh, that\r\nis, the king of Egypt, who tyrannized over this people, were\r\nsuffered to do some wonderful things that they might be\r\nvanquished all the more signally! They did these things by\r\nthe magical arts and incantations to which the evil spirits or\r\ndemons are addicted; while Moses, having as much greater\r\npower as he had right on his side, and having the aid of\r\nangels, easily conquered them in the name of the Lord who\r\nmade heaven and earth. And, in fact, the magicians failed\r\nat the third plague; whereas Moses, dealing out the miracles\r\ndelegated to him, brought ten plagues upon the land, so that\r\nthe hard hearts of Pharaoh and the Egyptians yielded, and\r\nthe people were let go. But, quickly repenting, and essaying\r\nto overtake the departing Hebrews, who had crossed the\r\nsea on dry ground, they were covered and overwhelmed in\r\nthe returning waters. What shall I say of those frequent\r\nand stupendous exhibitions of divine power, while the people\r\nwere conducted through the wilderness?—of the waters which\r\ncould not be drunk, but lost their bitterness, and quenched\r\nthe thirsty, when at God's command a piece of wood was cast\r\ninto them? of the manna that descended from heaven to\r\nappease their hunger, and which begat worms and putrefied\r\nwhen any one collected more than the appointed quantity,\r\nand yet, though double was gathered on the day before the\r\nSabbath (it not being lawful to gather it on that day), remained\r\nfresh? of the birds which filled the camp, and turned\r\nappetite into satiety when they longed for flesh, which it\r\nseemed impossible to supply to so vast a population? of the\r\nenemies who met them, and opposed their passage with arms,\r\nand were defeated without the loss of a single Hebrew, when<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_394\">[Pg 394]</a></span>\r\nMoses prayed with his hands extended in the form of a cross?\r\nof the seditious persons who arose among God's people, and\r\nseparated themselves from the divinely-ordered community,\r\nand were swallowed up alive by the earth, a visible token of\r\nan invisible punishment? of the rock struck with the rod,\r\nand pouring out waters more than enough for all the host? of\r\nthe deadly serpents' bites, sent in just punishment of sin, but\r\nhealed by looking at the lifted brazen serpent, so that not only\r\nwere the tormented people healed, but a symbol of the crucifixion\r\nof death set before them in this destruction of death by\r\ndeath? It was this serpent which was preserved in memory\r\nof this event, and was afterwards worshipped by the mistaken\r\npeople as an idol, and was destroyed by the pious and God-fearing\r\nking Hezekiah, much to his credit.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK TENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-695"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"4e55857a473b39e8eca6849ac13a3eb2c10b8229bd9ea29996943b582fe3055e","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_397_397","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_397_397","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_397_397\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_397_397\"><span class=\"label\">[397]</span></a> Gen. xviii.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_397_397","text_sha256":"d0dc2c617b168bda84fa24a7213270927bc25735528c32d56a8bebbd23acad0d","verified":false,"work_id":null}

references: [] | work_id: | origin: existing-private-derived-record | source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_397_397