{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>In the third book of this work (c. 5) we made a passing\r\nreference to this question, but did not decide whether angels,\r\ninasmuch as they are spirits, could have bodily intercourse with\r\nwomen. For it is written, \"Who maketh His angels spirits,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_206_206\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_206_206\">[206]</a>\r\nthat is, He makes those who are by nature spirits His angels\r\nby appointing them to the duty of bearing His messages.\r\nFor the Greek word ἄγγελος, which in Latin appears as\r\n\"angelus,\" means a messenger. But whether the Psalmist\r\nspeaks of their bodies when he adds, \"and His ministers a\r\nflaming fire,\" or means that God's ministers ought to blaze\r\nwith love as with a spiritual fire, is doubtful. However, the\r\nsame trustworthy Scripture testifies that angels have appeared\r\nto men in such bodies as could not only be seen, but also\r\ntouched. There is, too, a very general rumour, which many\r\nhave verified by their own experience, or which trustworthy\r\npersons who have heard the experience of others corroborate,\r\nthat sylvans and fauns, who are commonly called \"incubi,\"\r\nhad often made wicked assaults upon women, and satisfied<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_93\">[Pg 93]</a></span>\r\ntheir lust upon them; and that certain devils, called Duses\r\nby the Gauls, are constantly attempting and effecting this impurity\r\nis so generally affirmed, that it were impudent to deny\r\nit.<a id=\"FNanchor_207_207\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_207_207\">[207]</a> From these assertions, indeed, I dare not determine\r\nwhether there be some spirits embodied in an aerial substance\r\n(for this element, even when agitated by a fan, is sensibly felt\r\nby the body), and who are capable of lust and of mingling\r\nsensibly with women; but certainly I could by no means\r\nbelieve that God's holy angels could at that time have so\r\nfallen, nor can I think that it is of them the Apostle Peter\r\nsaid, \"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast\r\nthem down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness,\r\nto be reserved unto judgment.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_208_208\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_208_208\">[208]</a> I think he rather speaks of\r\nthose who first apostatized from God, along with their chief\r\nthe devil, who enviously deceived the first man under the form\r\nof a serpent. But the same holy Scripture affords the most\r\nample testimony that even godly men have been called angels;\r\nfor of John it is written: \"Behold, I send my messenger (angel)\r\nbefore Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_209_209\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_209_209\">[209]</a> And the\r\nprophet Malachi, by a peculiar grace specially communicated\r\nto him, was called an angel.<a id=\"FNanchor_210_210\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_210_210\">[210]</a></p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK FIFTEENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-156"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"e6da7a4a2135fbcd452f70ca3e88e06095f74f2e91a6aaa46f7f0503882c408d","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_210_210","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_210_210","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_210_210\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_210_210\"><span class=\"label\">[210]</span></a> Mal. ii. 7.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_210_210","text_sha256":"ce068b26f63d2617518686803c01d0927d440886a446a39a75b3cb5b17ebc9c0","verified":false,"work_id":null}