{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>I must now, I see, enter the lists of amicable controversy\r\nwith those tender-hearted Christians who decline to believe\r\nthat any, or that all of those whom the infallibly just Judge\r\nmay pronounce worthy of the punishment of hell, shall suffer\r\neternally, and who suppose that they shall be delivered after\r\na fixed term of punishment, longer or shorter according to\r\nthe amount of each man's sin. In respect of this matter,\r\nOrigen was even more indulgent; for he believed that even\r\nthe devil himself and his angels, after suffering those more\r\nsevere and prolonged pains which their sins deserved, should\r\nbe delivered from their torments, and associated with the holy\r\nangels. But the Church, not without reason, condemned him\r\nfor this and other errors, especially for his theory of the ceaseless\r\nalternation of happiness and misery, and the interminable\r\ntransitions from the one state to the other at fixed periods of\r\nages; for in this theory he lost even the credit of being merciful,\r\nby allotting to the saints real miseries for the expiation\r\nof their sins, and false happiness, which brought them no true\r\nand secure joy, that is, no fearless assurance of eternal blessedness.\r\nVery different, however, is the error we speak of, which<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_445\">[Pg 445]</a></span>\r\nis dictated by the tenderness of these Christians who suppose\r\nthat the sufferings of those who are condemned in the judgment\r\nwill be temporary, while the blessedness of all who are\r\nsooner or later set free will be eternal. Which opinion, if it\r\nis good and true because it is merciful, will be so much the\r\nbetter and truer in proportion as it becomes more merciful.\r\nLet, then, this fountain of mercy be extended, and flow forth\r\neven to the lost angels, and let them also be set free, at least\r\nafter as many and long ages as seem fit! Why does this stream\r\nof mercy flow to all the human race, and dry up as soon as\r\nit reaches the angelic? And yet they dare not extend their\r\npity further, and propose the deliverance of the devil himself.\r\nOr if any one is bold enough to do so, he does indeed put to\r\nshame their charity, but is himself convicted of error that is more\r\nunsightly, and a wresting of God's truth that is more perverse,\r\nin proportion as his clemency of sentiment seems to be greater.<a id=\"FNanchor_888_888\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_888_888\">[888]</a></p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK TWENTY-FIRST.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-701"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"0a004aab61f32dcdd4843cb1e7bfd170b46da01b9870bab5d6e7d4e97e1d1f19","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_888_888","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_888_888","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_888_888\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_888_888\"><span class=\"label\">[888]</span></a> On the heresy of Origen, see Epiphanius (<i>Epistola ad Joannem Hierosol.</i>);\r\nJerome (<i>Epistola</i> 61, <i>ad Pammachium</i>); and Augustine (<i>De Hæres.</i> 43). Origen's\r\nopinion was condemned by Anastasius (Jerome, <i>Apologia adv. Ruffinum</i>,\r\nand <i>Epistola</i> 78, <i>ad Pammachium</i>), and after Augustine's death by Vigilius and\r\nthe Emperor Justinian, in the Fifth Œcumenical Council (Nicephorus Callistus,\r\nxvii. 27, and the <i>Acts of the Council</i>, iv. 11).—<span class=\"smcap\">Coquæus.</span></p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_888_888","text_sha256":"1ceb203d069e021b332473ca188269fa66052f8925e8352602a1896e48a55ca2","verified":false,"work_id":null}