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Since, then, the supreme good of the city of God is perfect and
eternal peace, not such as mortals pass into and out of by birth and
death, but the peace of freedom from all evil, in which the immortals
ever abide; who can deny that that future life is most blessed, or
that, in comparison with it, this life which now we live is most
wretched, be it filled with all blessings of body and soul and external
things? And yet, if any man uses this life with a reference to that
other which he ardently loves and confidently hopes for, he may well be
called even now blessed, though not in reality so much as in hope.
But the actual possession of the happiness of this life, without the
hope of what is beyond, is but a false happiness and profound misery.
For the true blessings of the soul are not now enjoyed; for that is no
true wisdom which does not direct all its prudent observations, manly
actions, virtuous self-restraint, and just arrangements, to that end
in which God shall be all and all in a secure eternity and perfect
peace.
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