to introduce to everlasting felicity miserable mortals, from whom they are sev- ered by a twofold distinction. And those others who are mediators, in so far as they have immortality in common with their superiors, and misery in com- mon with their inferiors (for they are justly miserable in punishment of their wickedness), cannot bestow upon us, but rather grudge that we should pos- sess, the blessedness from which they themselves are excluded. And so the friends of the demons have nothing considerable to allege why we should rather worship them as our helpers than avoid them as traitors to our interests. As for those spirits who are good, and who are therefore not only immortal but also blessed, and to whom they suppose we should give the title of gods, and offer worship and sacrifices for the sake of inheriting a future life, we shall, by God’s help, endeavor in the following book to show that these spirits, call them by what name, and ascribe to them what nature you will, desire that religious worship be paid to God alone, by whom they were created, and by whose communications of Himself to them they are blessed.
正文 9.23 That the Name of Gods is Falsely Given to the Gods of the Gentiles, Though Scripture Applies（3 / 3）