Schaff - History of the Christian Church Vol. 8 - Media Sabda Org

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brutal herds, whose condition would not be at all inferior to ours, unless
there remained to us a hope of eternity after death. But if you examine the
designs, pursuits, and actions of every individual, you will find nothing in
them but what is terrestrial. Hence that stupidity, that the mental eyes,
dazzled with the vain splendor of riches, powers, and honors, cannot see to
any considerable distance. The heart also, occupied and oppressed with
avarice, ambition, and other inordinate desires, cannot rise to any
eminence. In a word, the whole soul, fascinated by carnal allurements,
seeks its felicity on earth.
“To oppose this evil, the Lord, by continual lessons of miseries, teaches his
children the vanity of the present life. That they may not promise
themselves profound and secure peace in it, therefore he permits them to
be frequently disquieted and infested with wars or tumults, with robberies
or other injuries. That they may not aspire with too much avidity after
transient and uncertain riches, or depend on those which they possess,
sometimes by exile, sometimes by the sterility of the land, sometimes by a
conflagration, sometimes by other means, he reduces them to indigence, or
at least confines them within the limits of mediocrity. That they may not be
too complacently delighted with conjugal blessings, he either causes them
to be distressed with the wickedness of their wives, or humbles them with a
wicked offspring, or afflicts them with want or loss of children. But if in all
these things he is more indulgent to them, yet that they may not be inflated
with vainglory, or improper confidence, he shows them by diseases and
dangers the unstable and transitory nature of all mortal blessings. We
therefore truly derive advantages from the discipline of the cross, only
when we learn that this life, considered in itself, is unquiet, turbulent,
miserable in numberless instances, and in no respect altogether happy; and
that all its reputed blessings are uncertain, transient, vain, and adulterated
with a mixture of many evils; and in consequence of this at once conclude
that nothing can be sought or expected on earth but conflict, and that when
we think of a crown we must raise our eyes toward heaven. For it must be
admitted that the mind is never seriously excited to desire and meditate on
the future life, without having previously imbibed a contempt of the present
....
3. “But the faithful should accustom themselves to such a contempt of the
present life, as may not generate either hatred of life or ingratitude towards
God himself. For this life, though it is replete with innumerable miseries, is
yet deservedly reckoned among the divine blessings which must not be