{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Nevertheless the bodies of the dead are not on this account\r\nto be despised and left unburied; least of all the bodies\r\nof the righteous and faithful, which have been used by the\r\nHoly Ghost as His organs and instruments for all good works.\r\nFor if the dress of a father, or his ring, or anything he wore,\r\nbe precious to his children, in proportion to the love they\r\nbore him, with how much more reason ought we to care for<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_21\">[Pg 21]</a></span>\r\nthe bodies of those we love, which they wore far more closely\r\nand intimately than any clothing! For the body is not an\r\nextraneous ornament or aid, but a part of man's very nature.\r\nAnd therefore to the righteous of ancient times the last offices\r\nwere piously rendered, and sepulchres provided for them, and\r\nobsequies celebrated;<a id=\"FNanchor_63_63\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_63_63\">[63]</a> and they themselves, while yet alive,\r\ngave commandment to their sons about the burial, and, on\r\noccasion, even about the removal of their bodies to some\r\nfavourite place.<a id=\"FNanchor_64_64\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_64_64\">[64]</a> And Tobit, according to the angel's testimony,\r\nis commended, and is said to have pleased God by\r\nburying the dead.<a id=\"FNanchor_65_65\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_65_65\">[65]</a> Our Lord Himself, too, though He was\r\nto rise again the third day, applauds, and commends to our\r\napplause, the good work of the religious woman who poured\r\nprecious ointment over His limbs, and did it against His burial.<a id=\"FNanchor_66_66\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_66_66\">[66]</a>\r\nAnd the Gospel speaks with commendation of those who were\r\ncareful to take down His body from the cross, and wrap it\r\nlovingly in costly cerements, and see to its burial.<a id=\"FNanchor_67_67\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_67_67\">[67]</a> These\r\ninstances certainly do not prove that corpses have any feeling;\r\nbut they show that God's providence extends even to the\r\nbodies of the dead, and that such pious offices are pleasing to\r\nHim, as cherishing faith in the resurrection. And we may\r\nalso draw from them this wholesome lesson, that if God does\r\nnot forget even any kind office which loving care pays to the\r\nunconscious dead, much more does He reward the charity we\r\nexercise towards the living. Other things, indeed, which the\r\nholy patriarchs said of the burial and removal of their bodies,\r\nthey meant to be taken in a prophetic sense; but of these we\r\nneed not here speak at large, what we have already said being\r\nsufficient. But if the want of those things which are necessary\r\nfor the support of the living, as food and clothing, though\r\npainful and trying, does not break down the fortitude and\r\nvirtuous endurance of good men, nor eradicate piety from their\r\nsouls, but rather renders it more fruitful, how much less can\r\nthe absence of the funeral, and of the other customary attentions\r\npaid to the dead, render those wretched who are already\r\nreposing in the hidden abodes of the blessed! Consequently,\r\nthough in the sack of Rome and of other towns the dead<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_22\">[Pg 22]</a></span>\r\nbodies of the Christians were deprived of these last offices,\r\nthis is neither the fault of the living, for they could not render\r\nthem; nor an infliction to the dead, for they cannot feel the\r\nloss.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK FIRST."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-60"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"8b4ce6e86cd8ccbe1e053b335b7f5ed8fc027442db95de0a68b3ae732055a121","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":"GEN","chapter":25,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Gen. xxv. 9","verse":9,"verse_end":9}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_63_63","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_63_63","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_63_63\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_63_63\"><span class=\"label\">[63]</span></a> Gen. xxv. 9, xxxv. 29, etc.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_63_63","text_sha256":"1545d58f5a52c18c15008ad7cbd3e0a5c4eee3ce5f1f4fbd315b697f24567c36","verified":false,"work_id":null}