{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>At present, since I have undertaken to treat of the origin\r\nof the holy city, and first of the holy angels, who constitute\r\na large part of this city, and indeed the more blessed part,\r\nsince they have never been expatriated, I will give myself to\r\nthe task of explaining, by God's help, and as far as seems\r\nsuitable, the Scriptures which relate to this point. Where\r\nScripture speaks of the world's creation, it is not plainly said\r\nwhether or when the angels were created; but if mention of\r\nthem is made, it is implicitly under the name of \"heaven,\"\r\nwhen it is said, \"In the beginning God created the heavens\r\nand the earth,\" or perhaps rather under the name of \"light,\"\r\nof which presently. But that they were wholly omitted, I<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_446\">[Pg 446]</a></span>\r\nam unable to believe, because it is written that God on the\r\nseventh day rested from all His works which He made; and\r\nthis very book itself begins, \"In the beginning God created\r\nthe heavens and the earth,\" so that before heaven and earth\r\nGod seems to have made nothing. Since, therefore, He began\r\nwith the heavens and the earth,—and the earth itself, as Scripture\r\nadds, was at first invisible and formless, light not being\r\nas yet made, and darkness covering the face of the deep (that\r\nis to say, covering an undefined chaos of earth and sea, for\r\nwhere light is not, darkness must needs be),—and then when\r\nall things, which are recorded to have been completed in six\r\ndays, were created and arranged, how should the angels be\r\nomitted, as if they were not among the works of God, from\r\nwhich on the seventh day He rested? Yet, though the fact\r\nthat the angels are the work of God is not omitted here, it is\r\nindeed not explicitly mentioned; but elsewhere Holy Scripture\r\nasserts it in the clearest manner. For in the Hymn of\r\nthe Three Children in the Furnace it was said, \"O all ye works\r\nof the Lord, bless ye the Lord;\"<a id=\"FNanchor_457_457\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_457_457\">[457]</a> and among these works\r\nmentioned afterwards in detail, the angels are named. And\r\nin the psalm it is said, \"Praise ye the Lord from the heavens,\r\npraise Him in the heights. Praise ye Him, all His angels;\r\npraise ye Him, all His hosts. Praise ye Him, sun and moon;\r\npraise Him, all ye stars of light. Praise Him, ye heaven of\r\nheavens; and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them\r\npraise the name of the Lord; for He commanded, and they\r\nwere created.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_458_458\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_458_458\">[458]</a> Here the angels are most expressly and by\r\ndivine authority said to have been made by God, for of them\r\namong the other heavenly things it is said, \"He commanded,\r\nand they were created.\" Who, then, will be bold enough to\r\nsuggest that the angels were made after the six days' creation?\r\nIf any one is so foolish, his folly is disposed of by a scripture\r\nof like authority, where God says, \"When the stars were\r\nmade, the angels praised me with a loud voice.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_459_459\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_459_459\">[459]</a> The angels\r\ntherefore existed before the stars; and the stars were made\r\nthe fourth day. Shall we then say that they were made the\r\nthird day? Far from it; for we know what was made\r\nthat day. The earth was separated from the water, and each<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_447\">[Pg 447]</a></span>\r\nelement took its own distinct form, and the earth produced all\r\nthat grows on it. On the second day, then? Not even on\r\nthis; for on it the firmament was made between the waters\r\nabove and beneath, and was called \"Heaven,\" in which firmament\r\nthe stars were made on the fourth day. There is no\r\nquestion, then, that if the angels are included in the works of\r\nGod during these six days, they are that light which was\r\ncalled \"Day,\" and whose unity Scripture signalizes by calling\r\nthat day not the \"first day,\" but \"one day.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_460_460\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_460_460\">[460]</a> For the second\r\nday, the third, and the rest are not other days; but the same\r\n\"one\" day is repeated to complete the number six or seven,\r\nso that there should be knowledge both of God's works and\r\nof His rest. For when God said, \"Let there be light, and\r\nthere was light,\" if we are justified in understanding in this\r\nlight the creation of the angels, then certainly they were\r\ncreated partakers of the eternal light which is the unchangeable\r\nWisdom of God, by which all things were made, and\r\nwhom we call the only-begotten Son of God; so that they,\r\nbeing illumined by the Light that created them, might themselves\r\nbecome light and be called \"Day,\" in participation of\r\nthat unchangeable Light and Day which is the Word of God,\r\nby whom both themselves and all else were made. \"The true\r\nLight, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_461_461\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_461_461\">[461]</a>—this\r\nLight lighteth also every pure angel, that he may be\r\nlight not in himself, but in God; from whom if an angel\r\nturn away, he becomes impure, as are all those who are called\r\nunclean spirits, and are no longer light in the Lord, but darkness\r\nin themselves, being deprived of the participation of Light\r\neternal. For evil has no positive nature; but the loss of good\r\nhas received the name \"evil.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_462_462\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_462_462\">[462]</a></p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK ELEVENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-772"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"568425ffd155b02393396c23850c2c272d7f6db841bc76179ff938258ec019f1","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_462_462","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_462_462","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_462_462\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_462_462\"><span class=\"label\">[462]</span></a> Mali enim nulla natura est: sed amissio boni, mali nomen accepit.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_462_462","text_sha256":"320ef074524d697f465ff82c7a10094bdaba3283395e404b14384736cde27da3","verified":false,"work_id":null}