22. To turn however to the ends in view in
each of these forms of healing, for this point is still left to be
considered, the one preserves, if it already exists, the health and
good habit of the flesh, or if absent, recalls it; though it is not yet
clear whether or not these will be for the advantage of those who
possess them, since their opposites very often confer a greater benefit
on those who have them, just as poverty and wealth, renown or disgrace,
a low or brilliant position, and all other circumstances, which are
naturally indifferent, and do not incline in one direction more than in
another, produce a good or bad effect according to the will of, and the
manner in which they are used by the persons who experience them.
But the scope of our art is to provide the soul with wings, to rescue
it from the world and give it to God, and to watch over that which is
in His image, Gen. i. 26. if it abides, to
take it by the hand, if it is in danger, or restore it, if ruined, to
make Christ to dwell in the heart Eph. iii. 17. by the
Spirit: and, in short, to deify, and bestow heavenly bliss upon,
one who belongs to the heavenly host.