{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>In the succeeding words, \"Remember the law of Moses\r\nmy servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_404\">[Pg 404]</a></span>\r\nIsrael,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_827_827\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_827_827\">[827]</a> the prophet opportunely mentions precepts and statutes,\r\nafter declaring the important distinction hereafter to be\r\nmade between those who observe and those who despise the\r\nlaw. He intends also that they learn to interpret the law\r\nspiritually, and find Christ in it, by whose judgment that\r\nseparation between the good and the bad is to be made. For\r\nit is not without reason that the Lord Himself says to the\r\nJews, \"Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me;\r\nfor he wrote of me.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_828_828\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_828_828\">[828]</a> For by receiving the law carnally,\r\nwithout perceiving that its earthly promises were figures of\r\nthings spiritual, they fell into such murmurings as audaciously\r\nto say, \"It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that\r\nwe have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked suppliantly\r\nbefore the face of the Lord Almighty? And now\r\nwe call aliens happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set\r\nup.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_829_829\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_829_829\">[829]</a> It was these words of theirs which in a manner compelled\r\nthe prophet to announce the last judgment, in which\r\nthe wicked shall not even in appearance be happy, but shall\r\nmanifestly be most miserable; and in which the good shall\r\nbe oppressed with not even a transitory wretchedness, but\r\nshall enjoy unsullied and eternal felicity. For he had previously\r\ncited some similar expressions of those who said,\r\n\"Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord,\r\nand such are pleasing to Him.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_830_830\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_830_830\">[830]</a> It was, I say, by understanding\r\nthe law of Moses carnally that they had come to\r\nmurmur thus against God. And hence, too, the writer of the\r\n73d Psalm says that his feet were almost gone, his steps had\r\nwell-nigh slipped, because he was envious of sinners while he\r\nconsidered their prosperity, so that he said among other things,\r\nHow doth God know, and is there knowledge in the Most\r\nHigh? and again, Have I sanctified my heart in vain, and\r\nwashed my hands in innocency?<a id=\"FNanchor_831_831\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_831_831\">[831]</a> He goes on to say that his\r\nefforts to solve this most difficult problem, which arises when\r\nthe good seem to be wretched and the wicked happy, were in\r\nvain until he went into the sanctuary of God, and understood\r\nthe last things.<a id=\"FNanchor_832_832\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_832_832\">[832]</a> For in the last judgment things shall not be\r\nso; but in the manifest felicity of the righteous and manifest<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_405\">[Pg 405]</a></span>\r\nmisery of the wicked quite another state of things shall\r\nappear.</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK TWENTIETH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-639"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"a590c7823ccc3384930811c0a2b5f7e48c06056dd734045d057fcbc1f8c12c8e","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_829_829","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_829_829","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_829_829\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_829_829\"><span class=\"label\">[829]</span></a> Mal. iii. 14, 15.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_829_829","text_sha256":"b19d53851c9d27b8748e79e5f318609733fc17258ae7df999239f54a91d01a0f","verified":false,"work_id":null}