{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>\"And he cast him into the abyss,\"—<i>i.e.</i> cast the devil\r\ninto the abyss. By the <i>abyss</i> is meant the countless multitude\r\nof the wicked whose hearts are unfathomably deep in\r\nmalignity against the Church of God; not that the devil was\r\nnot there before, but he is said to be cast in thither, because,\r\nwhen prevented from harming believers, he takes more complete\r\npossession of the ungodly. For that man is more abundantly\r\npossessed by the devil who is not only alienated from\r\nGod, but also gratuitously hates those who serve God. \"And\r\nshut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive\r\nthe nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled.\"\r\n\"Shut him up,\"—<i>i.e.</i> prohibited him from going out, from doing\r\nwhat was forbidden. And the addition of \"set a seal upon\r\nhim\" seems to me to mean that it was designed to keep it a\r\nsecret who belonged to the devil's party and who did not.\r\nFor in this world this is a secret, for we cannot tell whether\r\neven the man who seems to stand shall fall, or whether he\r\nwho seems to lie shall rise again. But by the chain and\r\nprisonhouse of this interdict the devil is prohibited and restrained\r\nfrom seducing those nations which belong to Christ,\r\nbut which he formerly seduced or held in subjection. For\r\nbefore the foundation of the world God chose to rescue these\r\nfrom the power of darkness, and to translate them into the\r\nkingdom of the Son of His love, as the apostle says.<a id=\"FNanchor_707_707\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_707_707\">[707]</a> For\r\nwhat Christian is not aware that he seduces nations even now,\r\nand draws them with himself to eternal punishment, but not<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_359\">[Pg 359]</a></span>\r\nthose predestined to eternal life? And let no one be dismayed\r\nby the circumstance that the devil often seduces even those\r\nwho have been regenerated in Christ, and begun to walk in\r\nGod's way. For \"the Lord knoweth them that are His,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_708_708\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_708_708\">[708]</a> and\r\nof these the devil seduces none to eternal damnation. For\r\nit is as God, from whom nothing is hid even of things future,\r\nthat the Lord knows them; not as a man, who sees a man at\r\nthe present time (if he can be said to see one whose heart he\r\ndoes not see), but does not see even himself so far as to be\r\nable to know what kind of person he is to be. The devil,\r\nthen, is bound and shut up in the abyss that he may not\r\nseduce the nations from which the Church is gathered, and\r\nwhich he formerly seduced before the Church existed. For\r\nit is not said \"that he should not seduce any man,\" but \"that\r\nhe should not seduce the nations\"—meaning, no doubt, those\r\namong which the Church exists—\"till the thousand years\r\nshould be fulfilled,\"—<i>i.e.</i> either what remains of the sixth day\r\nwhich consists of a thousand years, or all the years which are\r\nto elapse till the end of the world.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK TWENTIETH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-578"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"82227ace47806e9388a82aebda28e5854e2f0a781fba653ec530402ca7488b37","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"COL","chapter":1,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Col. i. 13","verse":13,"verse_end":13}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_707_707","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_707_707","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_707_707\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_707_707\"><span class=\"label\">[707]</span></a> Col. i. 13.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_707_707","text_sha256":"63259e3cd4b679aa988d22f1feb9c9ad80eb6f1beee69e2f0243cc57ce6e6309","verified":false,"work_id":null}