{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>\"After that,\" says John, \"he must be loosed a little season.\"\r\nIf the binding and shutting up of the devil means his being\r\nmade unable to seduce the Church, must his loosing be the\r\nrecovery of this ability? By no means. For the Church predestined\r\nand elected before the foundation of the world, the\r\nChurch of which it is said, \"The Lord knoweth them that are\r\nHis,\" shall never be seduced by him. And yet there shall be\r\na Church in this world even when the devil shall be loosed,\r\nas there has been since the beginning, and shall be always,\r\nthe places of the dying being filled by new believers. For a\r\nlittle after John says that the devil, being loosed, shall draw\r\nthe nations whom he has seduced in the whole world to make\r\nwar against the Church, and that the number of these enemies\r\nshall be as the sand of the sea. \"And they went up on the\r\nbreadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints\r\nabout, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God\r\nout of heaven and devoured them. And the devil who seduced\r\nthem was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the\r\nbeast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and\r\nnight for ever and ever.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_710_710\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_710_710\">[710]</a> This relates to the last judgment,\r\nbut I have thought fit to mention it now, lest any one might\r\nsuppose that in that short time during which the devil shall\r\nbe loose there shall be no Church upon earth, whether because\r\nthe devil finds no Church, or destroys it by manifold persecutions.\r\nThe devil, then, is not bound during the whole time\r\nwhich this book embraces,—that is, from the first coming of\r\nChrist to the end of the world, when He shall come the second\r\ntime,—not bound in this sense, that during this interval, which\r\ngoes by the name of a thousand years, he shall not seduce the\r\nChurch, for not even when loosed shall he seduce it. For certainly\r\nif his being bound means that he is not able or not permitted\r\nto seduce the Church, what can the loosing of him\r\nmean but his being able or permitted to do so? But God\r\nforbid that such should be the case! But the binding of the<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_361\">[Pg 361]</a></span>\r\ndevil is his being prevented from the exercise of his whole\r\npower to seduce men, either by violently forcing or fraudulently\r\ndeceiving them into taking part with him. If he were\r\nduring so long a period permitted to assail the weakness of\r\nmen, very many persons, such as God would not wish to expose\r\nto such temptation, would have their faith overthrown, or\r\nwould be prevented from believing; and that this might not\r\nhappen, he is bound.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK TWENTIETH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-581"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"4dd2911aaf0a583ef68bd4a494c035f80585498c0193dc5914fe95fcf5ec9284","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"REV","chapter":20,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Rev. xx. 9","verse":9,"verse_end":9}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_710_710","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_710_710","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_710_710\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_710_710\"><span class=\"label\">[710]</span></a> Rev. xx. 9, 10.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_710_710","text_sha256":"70a219db26c709950dea5894b4aec3d24741cce4137313e2929a7370bfec968b","verified":false,"work_id":null}