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Wherefore, as regards bodily death, that is, the separation of the
soul from the body, it is good unto none while it is being endured by
those whom we say are in the article of death. For the very violence
with which body and soul are wrenched asunder, which in the living had
been conjoined and closely intertwined, brings with it a harsh
experience, jarring horridly on nature so long as it continues, till
there comes a total loss of sensation, which arose from the very
interpenetration of spirit and flesh. And all this anguish is
sometimes forestalled by one stroke of the body or sudden flitting of
the soul, the swiftness of which prevents it from being felt. But
whatever that may be in the dying which with violently painful sensation
robs of all sensation, yet, when it is piously and faithfully borne,
it increases the merit of patience, but does not make the name of
punishment inapplicable. Death, proceeding by ordinary generation
from the first man, is the punishment of all who are born of him,
yet, if it be endured for righteousness' sake, it becomes the glory
of those who are born again; and though death be the award of sin, it
sometimes secures that nothing be awarded to sin.
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