sunday's "decline an empire"

[nicholas]

pgs 412-413: minus the thes [as you like to]& punctuations[add wherever you'd wish]becomes [the] object of universe feelings of nature and the interest in proportion to the smallness of society may be affected by the virtue opensities which we may distinguish pose it and every member is engagedispositions the love of pleasure and attention over his own behaviour ar is refined by art and learning im as he must expect to incur a part intercourse and corrected by a just hope to enjoy a share of the commond to reputation it is productive of the of Bithynia were brought before private life the love of action is a they assured the proconsul that far more doubtful nature it often leads ful conspiracy they were bound by avenge but when it is guided by the the commission of those crimes whnce it becomes the parent of every peace of society from theft robber accompanied with equal abilities a near a century afterwards Tertullia y be indebted for their safety and that very few Christians had sufferege of a single man to the love of except on account of their religion most of the agreeable to the love life averse to the gay luxury of the of the useful and respectable quali-perance economy and all the sob both the one and the other should greater number were of some trade seem to constitute the most perfect them by the strictest integrity and sible and inactive disposition which suspicions which the profane are to of both would be rejected by the pearances of sanctity the contempt utterly incapable of procuring any the habits of humility meekness any public benefit to the world but persecuted the more closely they adl primitive Christians were desirous of charity and unsuspecting confidence le or usefulwas too often abused by perfidious the exercise of our reason and fancy it is a very honorable circumstarded conversation may employ the Christians that even their faults or amusements however were rejected an excess of virtue the bishops the utmost caution by the severity of evidence attests and whose authoritowledge that was not useful to salva-the principles and even the practy of discourse as a criminal abuse of studied the Scriptures with less skint state of existence the body is so received in the most literal sense thooul that it seems to be our interest apostles to which the prudence of ration the enjoyments of which that plied a looser and more figurative n very different was the reasoning to exalt the perfection of the Gospel aspiring to imitate the perfection the zealous fathers have carried th affected to disdain every earthly and purity and of patience to a height senses indeed are necessary for our tain and much less to perserve in stence and others again for our in-corruption a doctrine so extraordimpossible to reject the use of them command the veneration of the pes marked as the first moment of their obtain the suffrage of those worldly for heaven was instructed not only this transitory life consult only the taste or smell but even to shut society there are two very natural ny of sounds and to view with indif-in the most virtuous and liberal tions of human art Gay apparel