{"author":"Historical editor/translator (individual note author unspecified)","date_end":1885,"date_label":"1885 (historical English edition; transcription printing date uncertain)","date_start":1885,"edition_year":1885,"edition_year_basis":"Original ANF II title and imprint 1885; physical transcription printing date uncertain; original credit allocation and transcription differences remain qualified","id":"ws-library-full-note:df486eac2fb8911ff1f8:cite_note-133","is_genuine_commentary_verified":false,"license_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource:Reusing_Wikisource_content","public_import_allowed":true,"publication_location":"source-library","record_type":"editorial-footnote","references":[],"rights_approved":true,"section":"Chapter X.—Answer to the Objection of the Heathen, that It Was Not Right to Abandon the Customs of Their Fathers., editorial note cite_note-133","semantic_kind_reviewed":false,"source_context":["Then, he that is uninstructed in the word, has ignorance as the excuse of his error; but as for him into whose ears instruction has been poured, and who deliberately maintains his incredulity in his soul, the wiser he appears to be, the more harm will his understanding do him; for he has his own sense as his accuser for not having chosen the best part. For man has been otherwise constituted by nature, so as to have fellowship with God. As, then, we do not compel the horse to plough, or the bull to hunt, but set each animal to that for which it is by nature fitted; so, placing our finger on what is man’s peculiar and distinguishing characteristic above other creatures, we invite him—born, as he is, for the contemplation of heaven, and being, as he is, a truly heavenly plant—to the knowledge of God, counselling him to furnish himself with what is his sufficient provision for eternity, namely piety. Practise husbandry, we say, if you are a husbandman; but while you till your fields, know God. Sail the sea, you who are devoted to navigation, yet call the whilst on the heavenly Pilot. Has knowledge taken hold of you while engaged in military service? Listen to the commander, who orders what is right. As those, then, who have been overpowered with sleep and drunkenness, do ye awake; and using your eyes a little, consider what mean those stones which you worship, and the expenditure you frivolously lavish on matter. Your means and substance you squander on ignorance, even as you throw away your lives to death, having found no other end of your vain hope than this. Not only unable to pity yourselves, you are incapable even of yielding to the persuasions of those who commiserate you; enslaved as you are to evil custom, and, clinging to it voluntarily till your last breath, you are hurried to destruction: “because light is come into the world, and men have loved the darkness rather than the light,” while they could sweep away those hindrances to salvation, pride, and wealth, and fear, repeating this poetic utterance:—"],"source_library_url":"/library/df486eac2fb8911ff1f8/#ws-library-full-note:df486eac2fb8911ff1f8:cite_note-133","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_II/Exhortation_to_the_Heathen#cite_note-133","translator":"William Wilson (original ANF II translator credit), Alexander Roberts (Edinburgh series editor), James Donaldson (Edinburgh series editor), Arthur Cleveland Coxe (American revision with prefaces and notes), Jesse Ames Spencer (typographical and Scripture-reference corrections)","verification":{"proof_file":"raw/review/source-library-note-batch-0056/proof-records.jsonl","proof_file_sha256":"e0df170d421dcd73bd0a76f61768b09f25dd2e36668f01c873ba3f2300ffa8a2","proof_record_id":"ws-library-full-note:df486eac2fb8911ff1f8:cite_note-133"},"verified":true,"work":"Exhortation to the Heathen","work_id":"ws-anf2-remaining-1885-df486eac2fb8911ff1f8"}