{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Hermes then follows out at great length the statements of\r\nthis passage, in which he seems to predict the present time, in\r\nwhich the Christian religion is overthrowing all lying figments\r\nwith a vehemence and liberty proportioned to its superior truth\r\nand holiness, in order that the grace of the true Saviour may\r\ndeliver men from those gods which man has made, and subject\r\nthem to that God by whom man was made. But when\r\nHermes predicts these things, he speaks as one who is a\r\nfriend to these same mockeries of demons, and does not\r\nclearly express the name of Christ. On the contrary, he\r\ndeplores, as if it had already taken place, the future abolition\r\nof those things by the observance of which there was maintained<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_341\">[Pg 341]</a></span>\r\nin Egypt a resemblance of heaven,—he bears witness to\r\nChristianity by a kind of mournful prophecy. Now it was\r\nwith reference to such that the apostle said, that \"knowing\r\nGod, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful,\r\nbut became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart\r\nwas darkened; professing themselves to be wise, they became\r\nfools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the\r\nlikeness of the image of corruptible man,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_316_316\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_316_316\">[316]</a> and so on, for the\r\nwhole passage is too long to quote. For Hermes makes many\r\nsuch statements agreeable to the truth concerning the one\r\ntrue God who fashioned this world. And I know not how\r\nhe has become so bewildered by that \"darkening of the heart\"\r\nas to stumble into the expression of a desire that men should\r\nalways continue in subjection to those gods which he confesses\r\nto be made by men, and to bewail their future removal;\r\nas if there could be anything more wretched than mankind\r\ntyrannized over by the work of his own hands, since man,\r\nby worshipping the works of his own hands, may more easily\r\ncease to be man, than the works of his hands can, through his\r\nworship of them, become gods. For it can sooner happen\r\nthat man, who has received an honourable position, may,\r\nthrough lack of understanding, become comparable to the\r\nbeasts, than that the works of man may become preferable to\r\nthe work of God, made in His own image, that is, to man\r\nhimself. Wherefore deservedly is man left to fall away from\r\nHim who made him, when he prefers to himself that which\r\nhe himself has made.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK EIGHTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-611"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"2a807690a4e23c8d74551c0953da942d2a27c70de15c1e60f1e78be3a120e53c","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":"ROM","chapter":1,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Rom. i. 21","verse":21,"verse_end":21}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_316_316","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_316_316","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_316_316\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_316_316\"><span class=\"label\">[316]</span></a> Rom. i. 21.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_316_316","text_sha256":"7df923a52a428c3af3ca687deaa011b3c063344076c0d3d14e644c339bea902f","verified":false,"work_id":null}