{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>This cause, however, of a good creation, namely, the goodness\r\nof God,—this cause, I say, so just and fit, which, when\r\npiously and carefully weighed, terminates all the controversies\r\nof those who inquire into the origin of the world, has not been\r\nrecognised by some heretics,<a id=\"FNanchor_490_490\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_490_490\">[490]</a> because there are, forsooth, many\r\nthings, such as fire, frost, wild beasts, and so forth, which do\r\nnot suit but injure this thin-blooded and frail mortality of our<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_462\">[Pg 462]</a></span>\r\nflesh, which is at present under just punishment. They do\r\nnot consider how admirable these things are in their own\r\nplaces, how excellent in their own natures, how beautifully\r\nadjusted to the rest of creation, and how much grace they\r\ncontribute to the universe by their own contributions as to a\r\ncommonwealth; and how serviceable they are even to ourselves,\r\nif we use them with a knowledge of their fit adaptations,—so\r\nthat even poisons, which are destructive when used\r\ninjudiciously, become wholesome and medicinal when used\r\nin conformity with their qualities and design; just as, on the\r\nother hand, those things which give us pleasure, such as food,\r\ndrink, and the light of the sun, are found to be hurtful when\r\nimmoderately or unseasonably used. And thus divine providence\r\nadmonishes us not foolishly to vituperate things, but to\r\ninvestigate their utility with care; and, where our mental\r\ncapacity or infirmity is at fault, to believe that there is a\r\nutility, though hidden, as we have experienced that there were\r\nother things which we all but failed to discover. For this\r\nconcealment of the use of things is itself either an exercise of\r\nour humility or a levelling of our pride; for no nature at all\r\nis evil, and this is a name for nothing but the want of good.\r\nBut from things earthly to things heavenly, from the visible\r\nto the invisible, there are some things better than others; and\r\nfor this purpose are they unequal, in order that they might\r\nall exist. Now God is in such sort a great worker in great\r\nthings, that He is not less in little things,—for these little\r\nthings are to be measured not by their own greatness (which\r\ndoes not exist), but by the wisdom of their Designer; as, in\r\nthe visible appearance of a man, if one eyebrow be shaved off,\r\nhow nearly nothing is taken from the body, but how much\r\nfrom the beauty!—for that is not constituted by bulk, but by\r\nthe proportion and arrangement of the members. But we\r\ndo not greatly wonder that persons, who suppose that some\r\nevil nature has been generated and propagated by a kind of\r\nopposing principle proper to it, refuse to admit that the cause\r\nof the creation was this, that the good God produced a good\r\ncreation. For they believe that He was driven to this enterprise\r\nof creation by the urgent necessity of repulsing the evil\r\nthat warred against Him, and that He mixed His good nature<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_463\">[Pg 463]</a></span>\r\nwith the evil for the sake of restraining and conquering it;\r\nand that this nature of His, being thus shamefully polluted,\r\nand most cruelly oppressed and held captive, He labours to\r\ncleanse and deliver it, and with all His pains does not wholly\r\nsucceed; but such part of it as could not be cleansed from\r\nthat defilement is to serve as a prison and chain of the conquered\r\nand incarcerated enemy. The Manichæans would not\r\ndrivel, or rather, rave in such a style as this, if they believed\r\nthe nature of God to be, as it is, unchangeable and absolutely\r\nincorruptible, and subject to no injury; and if, moreover, they\r\nheld in Christian sobriety, that the soul which has shown\r\nitself capable of being altered for the worse by its own will,\r\nand of being corrupted by sin, and so, of being deprived of the\r\nlight of eternal truth,—that this soul, I say, is not a part of\r\nGod, nor of the same nature as God, but is created by Him,\r\nand is far different from its Creator.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK ELEVENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-800"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"04e207293c128fa73e2039fd3bc993391aaa4932ce87bde1ec709042dd83cccd","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_490_490","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_490_490","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_490_490\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_490_490\"><span class=\"label\">[490]</span></a> The Manichæans, to wit.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_490_490","text_sha256":"f01d7841fc7fcaeed745f8ae59ec22718bec4167c76b4ad1531446949e8b39ac","verified":false,"work_id":null}