{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>The apostle, wishing to show how hurtful a thing sin is,\r\nwhen grace does not aid us, has not hesitated to say that the\r\nstrength of sin is that very law by which sin is prohibited.\r\n\"The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_578_578\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_578_578\">[578]</a>\r\nMost certainly true; for prohibition increases the desire of\r\nillicit action, if righteousness is not so loved that the desire of<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_526\">[Pg 526]</a></span>\r\nsin is conquered by that love. But unless divine grace aid\r\nus, we cannot love nor delight in true righteousness. But lest\r\nthe law should be thought to be an evil, since it is called the\r\nstrength of sin, the apostle, when treating a similar question in\r\nanother place, says, \"The law indeed is holy, and the commandment\r\nholy, and just, and good. Was then that which is holy\r\nmade death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear\r\nsin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin\r\nby the commandment might become exceeding sinful.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_579_579\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_579_579\">[579]</a> <i>Exceeding</i>,\r\nhe says, because the transgression is more heinous when\r\nthrough the increasing lust of sin the law itself also is despised.\r\nWhy have we thought it worth while to mention this? For\r\nthis reason, because, as the law is not an evil when it increases\r\nthe lust of those who sin, so neither is death a good thing\r\nwhen it increases the glory of those who suffer it, since either\r\nthe former is abandoned wickedly, and makes transgressors, or\r\nthe latter is embraced for the truth's sake, and makes martyrs.\r\nAnd thus the law is indeed good, because it is prohibition of\r\nsin, and death is evil because it is the wages of sin; but as\r\nwicked men make an evil use not only of evil, but also of good\r\nthings, so the righteous make a good use not only of good, but\r\nalso of evil things. Whence it comes to pass that the wicked\r\nmake an ill use of the law, though the law is good; and that\r\nthe good die well, though death is an evil.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK THIRTEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-902"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"d3e6d3c0c9709836be682a2bbbd11b61ea8aa3934fe00f839eb689d1868ecc17","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":"1CO","chapter":15,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"1 Cor. xv. 56","verse":56,"verse_end":56}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_578_578","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_578_578","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_578_578\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_578_578\"><span class=\"label\">[578]</span></a> 1 Cor. xv. 56.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_578_578","text_sha256":"cd2445c7c172133fa6de0adc4ec6d6d48207f3b8354ec947351701091e261a8e","verified":false,"work_id":null}