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BUT that even the powers above are, as we said, subject to change is
shown by those who fell from their ranks through the fault of a corrupt
will. Wherefore we ought not to think that the nature of those is
unchangeable, who remain in the blessed condition in which they were
created, simply because they were not in like manner led astray to choose
the worse part. For it is one thing to have a nature incapable of change,
and another thing for a man through the efforts of his virtue, and by
guarding what is good through the grace of the unchangeable God, to be kept
from change. For everything that is secured or preserved by care, can also
be lost by carelessness. And so we read: "Call no man blessed before his
death," because so long as a man is still engaged in the struggle, and
if I may use the expression, still wrestling--even though he generally
conquers and carries off many prizes of victory,--yet he can never be free
from fear, and from the suspicion of an uncertain issue. And therefore God
alone is called unchangeable and good, as His goodness is not the result of
effort, but a natural possession, and so He cannot be anything but good. No
virtue then can be acquired by man without the possibility of change, but
in order that when it once exists it may be continually preserved, it must
be watched over with the same care and diligence with which it was
acquired.
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