{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>This, then, is the universal way of the soul's deliverance,\r\nthe way that is granted by the divine compassion to the\r\nnations universally. And no nation to which the knowledge\r\nof it has already come, or may hereafter come, ought to\r\ndemand, Why so soon? or, Why so late?—for the design of\r\nHim who sends it is impenetrable by human capacity. This\r\nwas felt by Porphyry when he confined himself to saying that\r\nthis gift of God was not yet received, and had not yet come\r\nto his knowledge. For, though this was so, he did not on\r\nthat account pronounce that the way itself had no existence.\r\nThis, I say, is the universal way for the deliverance\r\nof believers, concerning which the faithful Abraham received\r\nthe divine assurance, \"In thy seed shall all nations be\r\nblessed.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_434_434\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_434_434\">[434]</a> He, indeed, was by birth a Chaldæan; but, that\r\nhe might receive these great promises, and that there might\r\nbe propagated from him a seed \"disposed by angels in the\r\nhand of a Mediator,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_435_435\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_435_435\">[435]</a> in whom this universal way, thrown\r\nopen to all nations for the deliverance of the soul, might be\r\nfound, he was ordered to leave his country, and kindred, and\r\nfather's house. Then was he himself, first of all, delivered\r\nfrom the Chaldæan superstitions, and by his obedience worshipped\r\nthe one true God, whose promises he faithfully\r\ntrusted. This is the universal way, of which it is said in\r\nholy prophecy, \"God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and\r\ncause His face to shine upon us; that Thy way may be\r\nknown upon earth, Thy saving health among all nations.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_436_436\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_436_436\">[436]</a>\r\nAnd hence, when our Saviour, so long after, had taken flesh\r\nof the seed of Abraham, He says of Himself, \"I am the way,\r\nthe truth, and the life.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_437_437\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_437_437\">[437]</a> This is the universal way, of which\r\nso long before it had been predicted, \"And it shall come to\r\npass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house\r\nshall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be\r\nexalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.\r\nAnd many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go\r\nup to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of\r\nJacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk\r\nin His paths: for out of Sion shall go forth the law, and the<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_433\">[Pg 433]</a></span>\r\nword of the Lord from Jerusalem.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_438_438\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_438_438\">[438]</a> This way, therefore, is not\r\nthe property of one, but of all nations. The law and the word\r\nof the Lord did not remain in Zion and Jerusalem, but issued\r\nthence to be universally diffused. And therefore the Mediator\r\nHimself, after His resurrection, says to His alarmed disciples,\r\n\"These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet\r\nwith you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written\r\nin the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms,\r\nconcerning me. Then opened He their understandings that\r\nthey might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them,\r\nThus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and\r\nto rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and\r\nremission of sins should be preached in His name among all\r\nnations, beginning at Jerusalem.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_439_439\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_439_439\">[439]</a> This is the universal way\r\nof the soul's deliverance, which the holy angels and the holy\r\nprophets formerly disclosed where they could among the few\r\nmen who found the grace of God, and especially in the Hebrew\r\nnation, whose commonwealth was, as it were, consecrated to\r\nprefigure and fore-announce the city of God which was to be\r\ngathered from all nations, by their tabernacle, and temple, and\r\npriesthood, and sacrifices. In some explicit statements, and\r\nin many obscure foreshadowings, this way was declared; but\r\nlatterly came the Mediator Himself in the flesh, and His\r\nblessed apostles, revealing how the grace of the New Testament\r\nmore openly explained what had been obscurely hinted\r\nto preceding generations, in conformity with the relation of\r\nthe ages of the human race, and as it pleased God in His\r\nwisdom to appoint, who also bore them witness with signs\r\nand miracles, some of which I have cited above. For not\r\nonly were there visions of angels, and words heard from those\r\nheavenly ministrants, but also men of God, armed with the\r\nword of simple piety, cast out unclean spirits from the bodies\r\nand senses of men, and healed deformities and sicknesses;\r\nthe wild beasts of earth and sea, the birds of air, inanimate\r\nthings, the elements, the stars, obeyed their divine commands;\r\nthe powers of hell gave way before them, the dead were restored\r\nto life. I say nothing of the miracles peculiar and\r\nproper to the Saviour's own person, especially the nativity<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_434\">[Pg 434]</a></span>\r\nand the resurrection; in the one of which He wrought only\r\nthe mystery of a virgin maternity, while in the other He\r\nfurnished an instance of the resurrection which all shall at\r\nlast experience. This way purifies the whole man, and prepares\r\nthe mortal in all his parts for immortality. For, to\r\nprevent us from seeking for one purgation for the part which\r\nPorphyry calls intellectual, and another for the part he calls\r\nspiritual, and another for the body itself, our most mighty\r\nand truthful Purifier and Saviour assumed the whole human\r\nnature. Except by this way, which has been present among\r\nmen both during the period of the promises and of the proclamation\r\nof their fulfilment, no man has been delivered, no\r\nman is delivered, no man shall be delivered.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK TENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-750"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"d5b7ca88179c33550ef9e8bb8ba7aef112c18b36adade25e8c1210bd4048e998","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":"GAL","chapter":3,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Gal. iii. 19","verse":19,"verse_end":19}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_435_435","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_435_435","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_435_435\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_435_435\"><span class=\"label\">[435]</span></a> Gal. iii. 19.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_435_435","text_sha256":"ee3fe6608dbae37584312ec2852f1944839463eda177f4f1253370649375bd37","verified":false,"work_id":null}