{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>What, then, let them tell us, is the cause of such a soul not being\r\ncared for from the beginning? Either that it is not worthy (and somehow\r\na care for it comes to it as from repentance), or it is a saved nature,\r\nas he would have it; and this, of necessity, from the beginning,\r\nbeing cared for by reason of its affinity, afforded no entrance to\r\nthe impure spirits, unless by being forced and found feeble. For were\r\nhe to grant that on repentance it preferred what was better, he will\r\nsay this unwillingly, being what the truth we hold teaches; namely,\r\nthat salvation is from a change due to obedience, but not from nature.\r\nFor as the exhalations which arise from the earth, and from marshes,\r\ngather into mists and cloudy masses; so the vapours of fleshly lusts\r\nbring on the soul an evil condition, scattering about the idols of\r\npleasure before the soul. Accordingly they spread darkness over the\r\nlight of intelligence, the spirit attracting the exhalations that arise\r\nfrom lust, and thickening the masses of the passions by persistency\r\nin pleasures. Gold is not taken from the earth in the lump, but is\r\npurified by smelting; then, when made pure, it is called gold, the\r\nearth being purified. For “Ask, and it shall be given you,”<a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_229\" id=\"FNanchor_229\">[229]</a> it is\r\nsaid to those who are able of themselves to choose what is best. And\r\nhow we say that the powers of the devil, and the unclean spirits, sow\r\ninto the sinner’s soul, requires no more words from me, on adducing as\r\na witness the apostolic Barnabas (and he was one of the seventy, and a\r\nfellow-worker of Paul), who speaks in these words: “Before we believed\r\nin God, the dwelling-place of our heart was unstable, truly a temple\r\nbuilt with hands. For it was full of idolatry, and was a house of\r\ndemons, through doing what was opposed to God.”<a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_230\" id=\"FNanchor_230\">[230]</a></p>","headings":["THE WRITINGS OF CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.","BOOK II.","CHAPTER XX. THE TRUE GNOSTIC EXERCISES PATIENCE AND SELF-RESTRAINT."],"marker_anchor":"FNanchor_230","paragraph_id":"pg73020-paragraph-103"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"f4e18f2c0292f92d2eb336fefc951bc776ee603cef7a0c540d746d3d4fc3c5db","edition_title":"The writings of Clement of Alexandria, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["William Wilson"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg73020-Footnote_230","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":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Existing 1869 English translation; translator died 1875. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"Footnote_230","source_ebook":73020,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a class=\"label pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_230\" id=\"Footnote_230\">[230]</a> Barnabas, <i>Epist.</i> chap. xvi.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"c35077683d75abe553cc6ef5d3ef5a1a978f07dfbcf4bad5c3d56302ad03dc19","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/73020/pg73020-images.html#Footnote_230","text_sha256":"67756ea327e1163d4b589ffd29f0d02b307b2f00fd5bd82eba9b6d9a698627e2","verified":false,"work_id":null}