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of all disorder, in war, in politics, in economy,
and in the particular body of man. The will is therefore depraved.

If the members of natural and civil communities tend towards the weal of the
body, the communities themselves ought to look to another more general body
of which they are members. We ought, therefore, to look to the whole. We
are, therefore, born unjust and depraved.

478. When we want to think of God, is there nothing which turns us away, and
tempts us to think of something else? All this is bad, and is born in us.

479. If there is a God, we must love Him only and not the creatures of a
day. The reasoning of the ungodly in the Book of Wisdom is only based upon
the nonexistence of God. "On that supposition," say they, "let us take
delight in the creatures." That is the worst that can happen. But if there
were a God to love, they would not have come to this conclusion, but to
quite the contrary. And this is the conclusion of the wise: "There is a God;
let us therefore not take delight in the creatures."

Therefore all that incites us to attach ourselves to the creatures is bad;
since it prevents us from serving God if we know Him, or from seeking Him if
we know Him not. Now we are full of lust. Therefore we are full of evil;
therefore we ought to hate ourselves and all that excited us to attach
ourselves to any other object than God only.

480. To make the members happy, they must have one will and submit it to the
body.

481. The examples of the noble deaths of the Lacedaemonians and others
scarce touch us. For what good is it to us? But the example of the death of
the martyrs touches us; for they are "our members." We have a common tie
with them. Their resolution can form ours, not only by example, but because
it has perhaps deserved ours. There is nothing of this in the examples of
the heathen. We have no tie with them; as we do not become rich by seeing a
stranger who is so, but in fact by seeing a father or a husband who is so.