{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>It is with reference to the nature, then, and not to the\r\nwickedness of the devil, that we are to understand these\r\nwords, \"This is the beginning of God's handiwork;\"<a id=\"FNanchor_480_480\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_480_480\">[480]</a> for,\r\nwithout doubt, wickedness can be a flaw or vice<a id=\"FNanchor_481_481\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_481_481\">[481]</a> only where\r\nthe nature previously was not vitiated. Vice, too, is so contrary\r\nto nature, that it cannot but damage it. And therefore\r\ndeparture from God would be no vice, unless in a nature\r\nwhose property it was to abide with God. So that even the\r\nwicked will is a strong proof of the goodness of the nature.\r\nBut God, as He is the supremely good Creator of good\r\nnatures, so is He of evil wills the most just Ruler; so that,\r\nwhile they make an ill use of good natures, He makes a good\r\nuse even of evil wills. Accordingly, He caused the devil (good\r\nby God's creation, wicked by his own will) to be cast down\r\nfrom his high position, and to become the mockery of His\r\nangels,—that is, He caused his temptations to benefit those\r\nwhom he wishes to injure by them. And because God, when<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_457\">[Pg 457]</a></span>\r\nHe created him, was certainly not ignorant of his future\r\nmalignity, and foresaw the good which He Himself would\r\nbring out of his evil, therefore says the psalm, \"This leviathan\r\nwhom Thou hast made to be a sport therein,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_482_482\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_482_482\">[482]</a> that we may see\r\nthat, even while God in His goodness created him good, He\r\nyet had already foreseen and arranged how He would make\r\nuse of him when he became wicked.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK ELEVENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-790"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"a90d4990ee5a2263ab1f32e45619f9b6e33eb02399024113e36ea4bdf0adc80b","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":"PSA","chapter":104,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Ps. civ. 26","verse":26,"verse_end":26}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_482_482","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_482_482","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_482_482\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_482_482\"><span class=\"label\">[482]</span></a> Ps. civ. 26.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_482_482","text_sha256":"6c74ef534fc4f137f759b33c5b592997d3b1160f1c24530cd6e002049149e7c6","verified":false,"work_id":null}