{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>For if he had only said, without mentioning the cause, that\r\nhis forefathers had discovered the art of making gods, it would\r\nhave been our duty, if we paid any regard to what is right\r\nand pious, to consider and to see that they could never have\r\nattained to this art if they had not erred from the truth, if\r\nthey had believed those things which are worthy of God, if\r\nthey had attended to divine worship and service. However,<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_344\">[Pg 344]</a></span>\r\nif we alone should say that the causes of this art were to be\r\nfound in the great error and incredulity of men, and aversion\r\nof the mind erring from and unfaithful to divine religion, the\r\nimpudence of those who resist the truth were in some way\r\nto be borne with; but when he who admires in man, above\r\nall other things, this power which it has been granted him to\r\npractise, and sorrows because a time is coming when all those\r\nfigments of gods invented by men shall even be commanded\r\nby the laws to be taken away,—when even this man confesses\r\nnevertheless, and explains the causes which led to the\r\ndiscovery of this art, saying that their ancestors, through great\r\nerror and incredulity, and through not attending to the worship\r\nand service of the gods, invented this art of making gods,—what\r\nought we to say, or rather to do, but to give to the\r\nLord our God all the thanks we are able, because He has\r\ntaken away those things by causes the contrary of those\r\nwhich led to their institution? For that which the prevalence\r\nof error instituted, the way of truth took away; that\r\nwhich incredulity instituted, faith took away; that which\r\naversion from divine worship and service instituted, conversion\r\nto the one true and holy God took away. Nor was this\r\nthe case only in Egypt, for which country alone the spirit of\r\nthe demons lamented in Hermes, but in all the earth, which\r\nsings to the Lord a new song,<a id=\"FNanchor_322_322\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_322_322\">[322]</a> as the truly holy and truly\r\nprophetic Scriptures have predicted, in which it is written,\r\n\"Sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, all the\r\nearth.\" For the title of this psalm is, \"When the house\r\nwas built after the captivity.\" For a house is being built\r\nto the Lord in all the earth, even the city of God, which\r\nis the holy Church, after that captivity in which demons\r\nheld captive those men who, through faith in God, became\r\nliving stones in the house. For although man made gods, it\r\ndid not follow that he who made them was not held captive\r\nby them, when, by worshipping them, he was drawn into\r\nfellowship with them,—into the fellowship not of stolid idols,\r\nbut of cunning demons; for what are idols but what they\r\nare represented to be in the same Scriptures, \"They have eyes,\r\nbut they do not see,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_323_323\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_323_323\">[323]</a> and, though artistically fashioned, are<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_345\">[Pg 345]</a></span>\r\nstill without life and sensation? But unclean spirits, associated\r\nthrough that wicked art with these same idols, have\r\nmiserably taken captive the souls of their worshippers, by\r\nbringing them down into fellowship with themselves. Whence\r\nthe apostle says, \"We know that an idol is nothing, but\r\nthose things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to\r\ndemons, and not to God; and I would not ye should have\r\nfellowship with demons.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_324_324\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_324_324\">[324]</a> After this captivity, therefore, in\r\nwhich men were held by malign demons, the house of God\r\nis being built in all the earth; whence the title of that psalm\r\nin which it is said, \"Sing unto the Lord a new song; sing\r\nunto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless His\r\nname; declare well His salvation from day to day. Declare\r\nHis glory among the nations, among all people His wonderful\r\nthings. For great is the Lord, and much to be praised: He is\r\nterrible above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are\r\ndemons: but the Lord made the heavens.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_325_325\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_325_325\">[325]</a></p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK EIGHTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-615"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"d345ef84cf42e234c4e391b5ff5080e740ce5621c4f0648802246c0831804541","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":[{"book":"PSA","chapter":96,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Ps. xcvi. 1-5","verse":1,"verse_end":5}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_325_325","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_325_325","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_325_325\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_325_325\"><span class=\"label\">[325]</span></a> Ps. xcvi. 1-5.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_325_325","text_sha256":"4782152b752293a12ba4516308a4b46d47c1e647ed5d0d762cd4afa505110fa6","verified":false,"work_id":null}