{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>But if some one oppose our opinion, and say that the\r\nholy angels are not referred to when it is said, \"Let there\r\nbe light, and there was light;\" if he suppose or teach that\r\nsome material light, then first created, was meant, and that\r\nthe angels were created, not only before the firmament dividing\r\nthe waters and named \"the heaven,\" but also before the\r\ntime signified in the words, \"In the beginning God created\r\nthe heaven and the earth;\" if he allege that this phrase, \"In\r\nthe beginning,\" does not mean that nothing was made before\r\n(for the angels were), but that God made all things by His\r\nWisdom or Word, who is named in Scripture \"the Beginning,\"\r\nas He Himself, in the gospel, replied to the Jews when they\r\nasked Him who He was, that He was the Beginning;<a id=\"FNanchor_506_506\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_506_506\">[506]</a>—I will\r\nnot contest the point, chiefly because it gives me the liveliest\r\nsatisfaction to find the Trinity celebrated in the very beginning\r\nof the book of Genesis. For, having said, \"In the Beginning\r\nGod created the heaven and the earth,\" meaning that the\r\nFather made them in the Son (as the psalm testifies where\r\nit says, \"How manifold are Thy works, O Lord! in Wisdom<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_477\">[Pg 477]</a></span>\r\nhast Thou made them all\"<a id=\"FNanchor_507_507\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_507_507\">[507]</a>), a little afterwards mention is\r\nfitly made of the Holy Spirit also. For, when it had been\r\ntold us what kind of earth God created at first, or what the\r\nmass or matter was which God, under the name of \"heaven\r\nand earth,\" had provided for the construction of the world, as\r\nis told in the additional words, \"And the earth was without\r\nform, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the\r\ndeep,\" then, for the sake of completing the mention of the\r\nTrinity, it is immediately added, \"And the Spirit of God\r\nmoved upon the face of the waters.\" Let each one, then,\r\ntake it as he pleases; for it is so profound a passage, that it\r\nmay well suggest, for the exercise of the reader's tact, many\r\nopinions, and none of them widely departing from the rule of\r\nfaith. At the same time, let none doubt that the holy angels in\r\ntheir heavenly abodes are, though not, indeed, co-eternal with\r\nGod, yet secure and certain of eternal and true felicity. To\r\ntheir company the Lord teaches that His little ones belong; and\r\nnot only says, \"They shall be equal to the angels of God,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_508_508\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_508_508\">[508]</a> but\r\nshows, too, what blessed contemplation the angels themselves\r\nenjoy, saying, \"Take heed that ye despise not one of these\r\nlittle ones: for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do\r\nalways behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_509_509\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_509_509\">[509]</a></p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK ELEVENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-822"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"20857b175a59417b8589de2aa8cc182114dfb75d64849581d367f9605c55a531","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":"MAT","chapter":22,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Matt. xxii. 30","verse":30,"verse_end":30}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_508_508","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_508_508","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_508_508\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_508_508\"><span class=\"label\">[508]</span></a> Matt. xxii. 30.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_508_508","text_sha256":"c398ac9d24ad2b0296c82287808a1615d9d3b164b3a73946f22efb72b6186028","verified":false,"work_id":null}