{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">And indeed, before the cross was erected, he (Satan) was\r\neager that it should be so; and he “wrought” [for this end]\r\n“in the children of disobedience.”<a id=\"r1954\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f1954\"><sup>[1954]</sup></a> He wrought in Judas,\r\nin the Pharisees, in the Sadducees, in the old, in the young,\r\nand in the priests. But when it was just about to be erected,\r\nhe was troubled, and infused repentance into the traitor, and\r\npointed him to a rope to hang himself with, and taught him\r\n[to die by] strangulation. He terrified also the silly woman,\r\ndisturbing her by dreams; and he, who had tried every means\r\nto have the cross prepared, now endeavoured to put a stop to\r\nits erection: not that he was influenced by repentance on\r\naccount of the greatness of his crime (for in that case he\r\nwould not be utterly depraved), but because he perceived his\r\nown destruction [to be at hand]. For the cross of Christ\r\nwas the beginning of his condemnation, the beginning of his\r\ndeath, the beginning of his destruction. Wherefore, also,\r\nhe works in some that they should deny the cross, be ashamed\r\nof the passion, call the death an appearance, mutilate and\r\nexplain away the birth of the Virgin, and calumniate the\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_476\">476</span>[human] nature<a id=\"r1955\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f1955\"><sup>[1955]</sup></a> itself as being abominable. He fights along\r\nwith the Jews to a denial of the cross, and with the Gentiles\r\nto the calumniating of Mary,<a id=\"r1956\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f1956\"><sup>[1956]</sup></a> who are heretical in holding\r\nthat Christ possessed a mere phantasmal body.<a id=\"r1957\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f1957\"><sup>[1957]</sup></a> For the\r\nLeader of all wickedness assumes manifold<a id=\"r1958\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f1958\"><sup>[1958]</sup></a> forms, beguiler\r\nof men as he is, inconsistent, and even contradicting himself,\r\nprojecting one course and then following another. For he\r\nis wise to do evil, but as to what good may be he is totally\r\nignorant. And indeed he is full of ignorance, on account\r\nof his voluntary want of reason: for how can he be deemed\r\nanything else who does not perceive reason when it lies at\r\nhis very feet?</p>","headings":["The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers","APPENDIX. THE SPURIOUS EPISTLES OF IGNATIUS.","THE EPISTLE OF IGNATIUS TO THE PHILIPPIANS.","Chap. iv.—The malignity and folly of Satan."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg77576-paragraph-843"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"4c2d9eada9b9001d41e95ad1e9b8b8cae98cdb3fa3c3ff79f7da1da406e4c5bf","edition_title":"The writings of the Apostolic Fathers","edition_translators":["Alexander Roberts","James Donaldson","Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1870,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg77576-f1956","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":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Historical 1870 English edition; electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f1956","source_ebook":77576,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f1956\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r1956\">1956</a>. </span>The <abbr class=\"spell\"><span class=\"fss\">MS.</span></abbr> has μαγείας, “of magic;” we have followed the emendation\r\nproposed by Faber.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"5cef11d737d7f5d65aa99f44ca2d8e967d725f3bed872960330e88c0905597a9","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/77576/pg77576-images.html#f1956","text_sha256":"e2365ccdf5dc39df79414875aaacefbde9501c6948ad8f1d33f4cc8aebbd398a","verified":false,"work_id":null}