Principium sive Fundamentum
Principium sive Fundamentum
Human beings were created for this purpose: to praise and revere their Lord God, and by serving Him, to attain salvation. The rest of creation on earth was made for the sake of humanity, so that it may help them pursue the end of their creation: hence, it follows that they should use these things or abstain from them as they relate to the pursuit of that end. Therefore, we should regard all created things without distinction (as they are subject to our free will and not prohibited): so that (as far as it depends on us) we do not seek health more than sickness, nor wealth over poverty, honor over contempt, or a long life over a short one. But it is fitting to choose and desire, from all these things, those that lead to the end.
Read the original Latin
Creatus est homo ad hunc finem, ut Dominum Deum suum laudet, ac revereatur, eique serviens tandem salvus fiat. Reliqua vero supra terram sita, creata sunt hominis ipsius causa, ut eum ad finem creationis suae prosequendum juvent: unde sequitur utendum illis, vel abstinendum eatenus esse, quatenus ad prosecutionem finis vel conferunt, vel obsunt. Quapropter debemus absque differentia nos habere circa res creatas omnes (prout libertati arbitrii nostri subjectae sunt, et non prohibitae): ita ut (quod in nobis est) non quaeramus sanitatem magis, quam aegritudinem: neque divitias paupertati, honorem contemptui, vitam longam brevi praeferamus. Sed consentaneum est, ex omnibus ea demum, quae ad finem ducunt, eligere, ac desiderare.
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