stream and cease not to revile it, would the spring stop pouring forth
its refreshing waters? Nay, if such an one should even cast into the
stream mud and mire, would not the stream quickly scatter it, and so
bear it away that not even a trace would remain? How then wilt thou be
able to have within thee not a mere well that may fail thee, but a
fountain that shall never cease to flow? By wonting thyself every moment
to independence in judgment, joined together with serenity of thought
and simplicity in act and bearing. (Book viii., §51.)


THE HARMONY AND UNITY OF THE UNIVERSE

O divine Spirit of the Universe, Thy will, Thy wish is mine! Calmly I
wait Thy appointed times, which cannot come too early or too late! Thy
providences are all fruitful to me! Thou art the source, Thou art the
stay, Thou art the end of all things. The poet says of his native city,
"Dear city of Cecrops"; and shall I not say of the Universe, "Beloved
City of God"? (Book iv., §23.)

Either there is a predestined order in the Universe, or else it is mere
aggregation, fortuitous yet not without a certain kind of order. For how
within thyself can a certain system exist and yet the entire Universe be
chaos? And especially when in the Universe all things, though separate
and divided, yet work together in unity? (Book iv., §27.)

Think always of the Universe as one living organism, composed of one
material substance and one soul. Observe how all things are the product
of a single conception--the conception of a living organism. Observe how
one force is the cause of the motion of all things: that all existing
things are the concurrent causes of all that is to be--the eternal warp