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162 CITY OF GOD
fore his coming and before I was in the world. Thus
those who from now on understand these mysteries and
despise them to their loss, shall be subject to new and
greater punishments.
153. They must also remember in what estimation
they should hold their souls, since I did and am doing so
much every day for them, after they have been redeemed
by the passion and death of my divine Son. This forgetfulness
among men is
very blameworthy and deserves a
fearful chastisement. How unreasonable and how dam
nable is the conduct of a man, who for a momentary sen
sible pleasure, which at most must end with life and
generally lasts only for a short time, labors so much and
still claims to have the faith, while at the same time he
takes no account of his immortal soul, and forgets it, as
if it ended and were consumed with the visible things?
They consider not, that when all comes to an end, the
soul begins to suffer or enjoy the eternal and everlasting
things. As thou knowest this truth and the perversity of
mortals, thou wilt not be astonished at the power of the
dragon in our days for where there is continual combat,
;
he that comes out victorious will gain the strength, which
the vanquished loses. This is especially true of the cruel
and incessant conflict of the demons, where the souls will
gain in strength by victory and the devils will be weak
ened, as happened when my Son conquered them and I
afterwards. But when this serpent finds itself victorious
over men, then it will raise its proud head, gain new
strength from its weakness and a greater sway, as it does
now in the world ;
for the lovers of its vanity have sub
jected themselves and are following the standard and the
fabulations of the devil. In the midst of this ruin hell
has opened maw its and the more it is glutted, the more
insatiable becomes its hunger, seeking to bury in its in
fernal caverns all the rest of mankind.
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