{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>But with these more estimable philosophers we have no\r\ndispute in this matter. For they perceived, and in various\r\nforms abundantly expressed in their writings, that these spirits\r\nhave the same source of happiness as ourselves,—a certain\r\nintelligible light, which is their God, and is different from\r\nthemselves, and illumines them that they may be penetrated\r\nwith light, and enjoy perfect happiness in the participation of\r\nGod. Plotinus, commenting on Plato, repeatedly and strongly\r\nasserts that not even the soul which they believe to be the\r\nsoul of the world, derives its blessedness from any other\r\nsource than we do, viz. from that Light which is distinct from\r\nit and created it, and by whose intelligible illumination it\r\nenjoys light in things intelligible. He also compares those\r\nspiritual things to the vast and conspicuous heavenly bodies,\r\nas if God were the sun, and the soul the moon; for they\r\nsuppose that the moon derives its light from the sun. That\r\ngreat Platonist, therefore, says that the rational soul, or rather\r\nthe intellectual soul,—in which class he comprehends the\r\nsouls of the blessed immortals who inhabit heaven,—has no\r\nnature superior to it save God, the Creator of the world and\r\nthe soul itself, and that these heavenly spirits derive their\r\nblessed life, and the light of truth, from the same source as\r\nourselves, agreeing with the gospel where we read, \"There was\r\na man sent from God whose name was John; the same came\r\nfor a witness to bear witness of that Light, that through Him<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_386\">[Pg 386]</a></span>\r\nall might believe. He was not that Light, but that he might\r\nbear witness of the Light. That was the true Light which\r\nlighteth every man that cometh into the world;\"<a id=\"FNanchor_371_371\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_371_371\">[371]</a>—a distinction\r\nwhich sufficiently proves that the rational or intellectual\r\nsoul such as John had cannot be its own light, but\r\nneeds to receive illumination from another, the true Light.\r\nThis John himself avows when he delivers his witness: \"We\r\nhave all received of His fulness.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_372_372\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_372_372\">[372]</a></p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK TENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-683"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"e3cedf21d3124686961ffdff724e0b7fd38787597e09339a272235f7ec1fbb81","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_372_372","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_372_372","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_372_372\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_372_372\"><span class=\"label\">[372]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 16.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_372_372","text_sha256":"858769dca9c15ce4856c67c84e8b983ccd4ecc3bc4a25d7fec6b8c602b1e15bd","verified":false,"work_id":null}