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thereforo has an eiid; but this heavenly one is as tho aoul, and thorosore has no limit. WE received tho firat whon me
it virtus. Tho chiet good is not containod in this bovilylise, since, as it Was oven in us is divino necessiu, so it willagain be destroyed by divine necessity. Thus that which has an end does not contain the clites mod. But the chist modis containod in that spiritual life Which mo acquiro is ou
selves, becaum it cannot contain evit, or have an ond; to .hicli subjeci natum and the system of the bois afford an am mant. For other animais incline in arta the ground, becauso
mortalitri then, is not the consequence' os nature, but tho Ward and recompense of Virtue. Laatly, man does notimmediately upon his blath Walh upright, but at sint on allia s,' becauso the naturo of his body and of this prosent lissis common to us With the dunab animati ; after ards, when his
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atrengin is confirmed, lis raises himself, and his longue isi sened so that lio spealis plainly, and he ce ea in be a dumbanimal. And this argument leaehes stat man is born mortat; but that ho astemarda comes immortal, when he beons tolivo in consormi mith tho mill δ os God, that is, in solio. justice, Which is comprised in the worship os God, sines Godmised man is a view of tho heaven and of Himmis. And thistines place When man, purified in tho heavenly laver, laysasido' his insaney together mith ait tho pollution of his pastilla, and having received an increaso os divine vigour, becomes a perfeci and complete man. Therefore, becauso God has set forth virtuo besore man, althono tha fovi and the body are connected together, yetthv are contram, and oppose one another. The thinga whichare good for the foui ars evit to the bois, that is, the avoldingos riches, the prohibiting of plemures, the contempt of pianand death. In liho manner, tho things Which are good for thobody ars evit to the foui, that is, destre and lusi, by Which
λ Ex Deo. Exponit. . Enervatus exstinguitur. In terram dejecerit. y i.ε. in diacoinor V Ii te to the evila of thia lus.
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sentenco os God to eternat punishment, becauso lis has pr
ferred earthly to heavenly goods. On this account, theresere, God seelis in bo morshipped, and to be honoured by man as a Father, that iis may havs virtuo and wisdom, Which Mons produce immortali . For bocauso no Othor but Himself is ablo to conser that immortality, since ΗΒ alone possesses it,
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contest, and oen Viriue is nothing. How many are tho mutuat contests of men, and with What various aris are they carried
heroaster livo in the exerciso of good only This question isto be examined by us, sor in tho former boota I omitted ii, that I might here fili vp the subiret. Wo havo said a vo that
the nature os man is made up os opposing elementa; sor thebodn because it is emth, is capable of being grasped, os temporam duration, sensetera, and dark. But the foui, because itis hom heaven, is una stantiat,' evertasting, endued mitti sensibili , and fuit os lustre ς' and because these qualities are Opposed to one another, it sollows os necessio that man is subject to good and evit. Good is ascribed to the foui,
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evit; and that first author of the human race, as long as heWas conversant With good onin lived as an infant, ignorant of good and ovil. But, indeed, hereaster man must be both Wisoand happy Without any evit; but this cannot talis place as longas the foui is clothed with the abodo of the bob.
and good permanent. Then man, haVing received tho ga mont of immortali , mill be Wiso and Deo imm erit, as Godis. He, theresore, Who Wishes that κε ahould bo conversant
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anco With reason Was not established on account of somereason os importance, What reason can there bo in these erroreos depraved religions, and in this persuasion os philosophera, is Whicli they imagine that Quis perishl Assuredly them is nono; sor What havo they to su Why the gods so regularly supply to men everything in ira season Is it stat me may
present in them corn and Wine, and the odour of incense, and
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of which the main potnt itaeis consista. But different personabrought forward ali theso things, and in different Waya, notconnecting the causes of things, nor the consequences, nor thctreasons, so that they might join together and completo that main potnt Whieli comprises the whole. But it is easy to fho. that almost the wholo truth has been divided by philosophersand secta. For Me do not overthrow philosophy, as tho Academica are accustomed to do, Whose plan Was to reply to Everything, Which is rather in calumniate and moch; but weshon that no sect was so much out os the way, and no philos pher so Vain, as not is see something of the truth. But .hilothey aro mad mith the destro os contradicting, While they defendtheir oWn argumenta even though false, and overthrow thom ofothera even though true, not only has the truth escaped homthem, Whicli they protended that they Were seehing, but theythemselves tost it chiiny through their own sauit. But ii there had been any one to collect together tho truth which was dispersed amongst individuals and scatisred amongst secta, andio reduce it to a body, hs assuredly Would not disagree With us.
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approus of thoso Whicli are truo; but ii even is chance hostiould effect this, he would most snrely aci tho part of the philosopher; and though ho could not defend those things is divine testimontes, yet tho truth would explain iissis is ita omlight. Where oro the error of those is incredibie, Who, Whenthey have approved of any seci, and have devoted themselveato it, condemn ali othera as false and vain, and arm themselvessor batile, netther knowing What they ought to deland nor Whatto refute; and mahe attacks eveUWhere, Without distinction, upon ali things Whicli are brought for ard by thoso who di agreo mitti them. on account of these most obstinato contentions of theirs, nophilosophy existed which mado a nearer approach to the truth, for tho wholo truth has been comprised by these in separate portions ' Plato sald that the world was mado is God: thopropheta ' speah tho fame; and tho fame is apparent from thaverses of the Sibyl. They there ore aro in error, Who havs
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Om tho propheta. Theresors Aristippus is deceived, .ho mademan subject to pleasure, that is, to erit, as though ho merea beast. Pherecydes and Plato contendod that fouis mere immortal; but this is a peculiar doctrino in Our religion. Theresoro Dicaearchus Was mistahen, together With Democritus, ho argued that fouis perished with tho body and wero di solved. Zeno tho Stoic taught that thero Were infernal regions, and that tho abodes of tho good Were separated irom the
and in dreadsul abysses of miro: tho propheta sho the samething. Theretore Epicurus Was mistisen, Who thought thatthat Was an invention Τ os the poets, and explained thoso punishments of the infernal regions, which are spolien os, as happening in this lila. Thereforo tho philosophera touched upon the Wholo truth, and every secret os our holy religion; but Whenothera dented it, they Were unable to desend that whicli they had Mund, becauso the system did not agres with the particulare; nor Were they able is reduce to a summary those things Whichthv had perceived to bo true, as Ws hava dono above. CHAP. VIII.- of the immortalis of the fouLThe one clites good, theretare, is immortali ty, for the reception of which we were originalty formed and born. To this πεdirect our conras; human nature regards this; to this virtve
exalts us. And becausa me have discovered this good, it remains that we shonld also speah of immortaliu itself. The argumenta os Plato, although they contribute much to the subjeci, have lituo strength to prove and fili up the truth, sinco he had netther summed up and collected into one the plan os the whole os this great mystery, nox had lis comprehended the chies good. Foralthough lis perceived the truth respecting the immortaliu of the foui, yet he did not speah respecting it M though it Werellis clitet good. We, theresore, are abis to elicit the truth is more certain signs; sor Ws havo not collectod it by doubisulsurmise,' but havo known it by divine instruction. No. Plato thus reasoned, that Whatever has perception is lineis, and HWays moves, is immortal; for that that Whicli has no begin- ning of motion is not abo ut to have an End, hecause it cannot