300 NOV ATI AN THE ROMAN PRESBYTER it by harrying to be God under the influenceof perverse counsel. Still,nevertheless,God indulgentlytempered his punishment by cursing,not so much himself,as his labours upon earth. And, moreover,what isrequireddoes not come without man's knowledge; but He shows forthman's hope of future discovery1 and salvationin Christ. And thathe isprevented from touchingof the wood of the treeof life, isnot caused by the malignant poison of envy, but lest, livingfor ever withoutChrist'spreviouspardon of his sins, he shouldalwaysbear about with him forhispunishment an immortalityof guilt. Neverthelessalso,in higherregions— that is,above even the firmament itself— regionswhich are not now discernibleby our eyes— He previouslyordained angels,He arranged spiritualpowers,He put in command thrones and powers,and founded many otherinfinitespaces of heavens,and unbounded works of His sacraments;so that thisworld,immense as it is,might almost appear ratheras the latest,than the only work of corporealthings. And truly,2what liesbeneath the earth is not itselfvoid of dis tributedand arranged powers. For thereisa placewhither the soulsof the just and the unjust are taken, conscious of the anticipateddooms of future judgment; so thatwe might behold the overflowinggreatnessof God's works in alldirections,not shut up within the bosom of thisworld, however capaciousas we have said,but might alsobe able to conceiveof them beneath both the abyssesand the depths of the world itself; and thus consideringthe greatnessof the works,we might worthilyadmire the Artificerof such a structure. 1 " Inventionis."" Redemptionis" isa reasonableemendation. 2Or probably," Neitherindeedis,"etc.