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106 CITY OF GOD
they were all seeking the same grace and eternal life,
equality in other things seemed dangerous to these Chris
tian children of one Father, the inheritors of his goods
and professors of his law. It seemed to them inappro
priate, that, having such a bond of union in the principal
and essential things, some should be rich and others poor,
and that temporal things should not be communicated,
where each one enjoyed those of grace; for all gifts are
from one and the same Father for all of his children.
85. This was the happy beginning and the golden age
of the evangelical Church, where the rushing of the
and the cur
stream rejoiced the city of God (Ps. 45, 5)
rent of grace and the gifts of the Holy Ghost fertilized
this new paradise recently planted by the hands of the
Savior Jesus, while in its midst stood the tree of life,
most holy Mary. Then was faith alive, hope firm, charity
ardent, sincerity pure, humility true, justice most equit
able, when the faithful neither knew avarice nor followed
vanity, when they trod under foot vain pomp, were free
from covetousness, pride, ambition, which later pre
vailed among the professors of the faith, who while con
fessing themselves followers of Christ, denied Him in
their works. We are inclined to object, that those were
the first-fruits of the Church, of the Spirit (Rom. 8, 23),
that the
faithful were few; that now the times are dif
ferent, that in those times the Mother of wisdom and
grace lived in the Church, whose presence, prayers and
protection, defended and encouraged the faithful to bring
forth heroic works of the faith.
86. To this we answer by what will be said in the
course of this history, whence it will appear that none
other than the faithful have permitted so many vices to
creep into the fold of the Church; such as the demon
himself, with all his pride and malice, never expected
in
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