it is true, gives His permission, but man is the guilty cause.
3. The visible world itself, from whatever point of view we regard it, bears witness that it has been created for no other end than that it may serve for the progeneration, the nutrition, and the training of the human race. For as it pleased God not to create all men at the same moment, as was done with the angels, but only a male and a female who should increase by generation; and, as a sufficient length of time was necessary for this purpose, He granted some thousands of yea And in order that this period might not be confused, silent, and dark, He spread forth the heavens and placed in them the sun, the moon, and the stars, and commanded these, by circling round, to measure out the hours, the days, the months, and the years. Further, because the beings whose birth was contemplated were corporeal and needed a place to dwell in, space to breathe and move in, food to nourish them, and clothing to adorn them, He constructed in the lowest part of the firmament a solid substratum, the earth. Around this He poured the air, He irrigated it with waters, and bade plants and animals of various kinds to spring forth; and this not only to supply necessary wants, but also to promote enjoyment. And because He had made man in His own image and had given him a mind, in order that its proper nutrition might not be wanting to that mind, He divided each class of creatures into many species, that this visible universe might be a continual mirror of the infinite power, wisdom, and goodness of God, and that by its contemplation man might be compelled to marvel at the Creator, moved to recognise Him, and enticed to love Him, when the might, the beauty, and the sweetness that lie invisible in the abyss of eternity shone out on all sides through these visible manifestations, and suffered themselves to be handled, seen, and tasted. Thus the world is nothing but our nursery, our nurturing place, and our school, and there is, therefore, a place beyond, whither we shall be transferred when we are
