IX. But I am so old fashioned and such a
philosopher as to believe that one heaven is common to all; and that so
is the revolution of the sun and the moon, and the order and
arrangement of the stars; and that all have in Common an equal share
and profit in day and night, and also change of seasons, rains, fruits,
and quickening power of the air; and that the flowing rivers are a
common and abundant wealth to all; and that one and the same is the
Earth, the mother and the tomb, from which we were taken, and to which
we shall return, none having a greater share than another. And
further, above this, we have in common reason, the Law, the Prophets,
the very Sufferings of Christ, by which we were all without exception
created anew, who partake of the same Adam, and were led astray by the
serpent and slain by sin, and are saved by the heavenly Adam and
brought back by the tree of shame to the tree of life from whence we
had fallen.