{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Isaac also received such an oracle as his father had often\r\nreceived. Of this oracle it is thus written: \"And there was\r\na famine over the land, beside the first famine that was in\r\nthe days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech\r\nking of the Philistines unto Gerar. And the Lord appeared\r\nunto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; but dwell in\r\nthe land which I shall tell thee of. And abide in this land,\r\nand I will be with thee, and will bless thee: unto thee and\r\nunto thy seed I will give all this land; and I will establish\r\nmine oath, which I sware unto Abraham thy father: and I\r\nwill multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give\r\nunto thy seed all this land: and in thy seed shall all the\r\nnations of the earth be blessed; because that Abraham thy\r\nfather obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts, my commandments,\r\nmy righteousness, and my laws.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_318_318\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_318_318\">[318]</a> This patriarch\r\nneither had another wife, nor any concubine, but was content\r\nwith the twin-children begotten by one act of generation.\r\nHe also was afraid, when he lived among strangers, of being\r\nbrought into danger owing to the beauty of his wife, and did\r\nlike his father in calling her his sister, and not telling that\r\nshe was his wife; for she was his near blood-relation by the\r\nfather's and mother's side. She also remained untouched by\r\nthe strangers, when it was known she was his wife. Yet we\r\nought not to prefer him to his father because he knew no\r\nwoman besides his one wife. For beyond doubt the merits\r\nof his father's faith and obedience were greater, inasmuch as\r\nGod says it is for his sake He does Isaac good: \"In thy seed,\"\r\nHe says, \"shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because\r\nthat Abraham thy father obeyed my voice, and kept my precepts,<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_153\">[Pg 153]</a></span>\r\nmy commandments, my statutes, and my laws.\" And\r\nagain in another oracle He says, \"I am the God of Abraham\r\nthy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee,\r\nand multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_319_319\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_319_319\">[319]</a> So\r\nthat we must understand how chastely Abraham acted, because\r\nimprudent men, who seek some support for their own\r\nwickedness in the Holy Scriptures, think he acted through\r\nlust. We may also learn this, not to compare men by single\r\ngood things, but to consider everything in each; for it may\r\nhappen that one man has something in his life and character\r\nin which he excels another, and it may be far more excellent\r\nthan that in which the other excels him. And thus, according\r\nto sound and true judgment, while continence is preferable\r\nto marriage, yet a believing married man is better than\r\na continent unbeliever; for the unbeliever is not only less\r\npraiseworthy, but is even highly detestable. We must conclude,\r\nthen, that both are good; yet so as to hold that the\r\nmarried man who is most faithful and most obedient is certainly\r\nbetter than the continent man whose faith and obedience\r\nare less. But if equal in other things, who would hesitate to\r\nprefer the continent man to the married?</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK SIXTEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-262"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"40367a7f708dfc3e832b0119856bfb2096d3980f13ca9b9bf43e32ecb5901524","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"GEN","chapter":26,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Gen. xxvi. 1-5","verse":1,"verse_end":5}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_318_318","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_318_318","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_318_318\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_318_318\"><span class=\"label\">[318]</span></a> Gen. xxvi. 1-5.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_318_318","text_sha256":"58b8993475eff6fc480378b17e792a44b446eaf5c8763153c2e17f98ed88db84","verified":false,"work_id":null}