{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>This is the religion which possesses the universal way for\r\ndelivering the soul; for, except by this way, none can be\r\ndelivered. This is a kind of royal way, which alone leads to\r\na kingdom which does not totter like all temporal dignities,\r\nbut stands firm on eternal foundations. And when Porphyry\r\nsays, towards the end of the first book <i>De Regressu Animæ</i>,\r\nthat no system of doctrine which furnishes the universal way\r\nfor delivering the soul has as yet been received, either from\r\nthe truest philosophy, or from the ideas and practices of the\r\nIndians, or from the reasoning<a id=\"FNanchor_432_432\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_432_432\">[432]</a> of the Chaldæans, or from any\r\nsource whatever, and that no historical reading had made\r\nhim acquainted with that way, he manifestly acknowledges\r\nthat there is such a way, but that as yet he was not acquainted\r\nwith it. Nothing of all that he had so laboriously learned\r\nconcerning the deliverance of the soul, nothing of all that he\r\nseemed to others, if not to himself, to know and believe, satisfied\r\nhim. For he perceived that there was still wanting a\r\ncommanding authority which it might be right to follow in a\r\nmatter of such importance. And when he says that he had\r\nnot learned from any truest philosophy a system which possessed\r\nthe universal way of the soul's deliverance, he shows\r\nplainly enough, as it seems to me, either that the philosophy\r\nof which he was a disciple was not the truest, or that it did\r\nnot comprehend such a way. And how can that be the truest\r\nphilosophy which does not possess this way? For what else\r\nis the universal way of the soul's deliverance than that by<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_431\">[Pg 431]</a></span>\r\nwhich all souls universally are delivered, and without which,\r\ntherefore, no soul is delivered? And when he says, in addition,\r\n\"or from the ideas and practices of the Indians, or from\r\nthe reasoning of the Chaldæans, or from any source whatever,\"\r\nhe declares in the most unequivocal language that this universal\r\nway of the soul's deliverance was not embraced in what\r\nhe had learned either from the Indians or the Chaldæans; and\r\nyet he could not forbear stating that it was from the Chaldæans\r\nhe had derived these divine oracles of which he makes such\r\nfrequent mention. What, therefore, does he mean by this\r\nuniversal way of the soul's deliverance, which had not yet\r\nbeen made known by any truest philosophy, or by the doctrinal\r\nsystems of those nations which were considered to have\r\ngreat insight in things divine, because they indulged more\r\nfreely in a curious and fanciful science and worship of angels?\r\nWhat is this universal way of which he acknowledges his\r\nignorance, if not a way which does not belong to one nation\r\nas its special property, but is common to all, and divinely\r\nbestowed? Porphyry, a man of no mediocre abilities, does\r\nnot question that such a way exists; for he believes that\r\nDivine Providence could not have left men destitute of this\r\nuniversal way of delivering the soul. For he does not say\r\nthat this way does not exist, but that this great boon and\r\nassistance has not yet been discovered, and has not come to\r\nhis knowledge. And no wonder; for Porphyry lived in an age\r\nwhen this universal way of the soul's deliverance,—in other\r\nwords, the Christian religion,—was exposed to the persecutions\r\nof idolaters and demon-worshippers, and earthly rulers,<a id=\"FNanchor_433_433\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_433_433\">[433]</a> that\r\nthe number of martyrs or witnesses for the truth might be\r\ncompleted and consecrated, and that by them proof might be\r\ngiven that we must endure all bodily sufferings in the cause\r\nof the holy faith, and for the commendation of the truth.\r\nPorphyry, being a witness of these persecutions, concluded\r\nthat this way was destined to a speedy extinction, and that it,\r\ntherefore, was not the universal way of the soul's deliverance,\r\nand did not see that the very thing that thus moved him, and\r\ndeterred him from becoming a Christian, contributed to the\r\nconfirmation and more effectual commendation of our religion.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK TENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-749"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"0127f9533032befdc16aa3751eb132768ce84daecf58e866981b87eee22e9894","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_432_432","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_432_432","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_432_432\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_432_432\"><span class=\"label\">[432]</span></a> <i>Inductio.</i></p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_432_432","text_sha256":"f56034d8e1f36943972aacee935299cc493785a2d21a39219584d0afb02e7bc1","verified":false,"work_id":null}