CHAPTER II.
OBLIGATIONS OF PARENTS.
1. Should it enter the mind of any one to inquire why it pleased the Divine Majesty to produce these celestial gems not at once in the full number which He purposed to have for eternity, as He did the angels, such inquirer will discover no other reason than that, in doing so, he honors human kind by making them as it were his coadjutors in multiplying creatures. Not, however, that from that source alone they draw pleasure, but that they may exercise their zeal in rightly educating and training them for eternity.[1]
2. Man accustoms the ox for plowing, the hound for hunting, the horse for riding and driving, because for these uses they were created, and they cannot be applied to other purposes; man, however, being more noble than all those creatures, ought to be educated for the highest objects, so that as far as possible he may correspond in excellences to God, whose image he bears. The body, no doubt, being taken from the earth, is earthy, is conversant with the earth, and must again be turned into earth; whereas the soul, being inspired by God, is from God, and ought to remain in God and elevate itself to God.
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