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| Who are Worshippers of God?
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Chapter
XXXIV.—Who are Worshippers of God?
“But some one will say, These passions
sometimes befall even those who worship God. It is not
true. For we say, that he is a worshipper of God, who does the
will of God, and observes the precepts of His law. For in
God’s estimation he is not a Jew who is called a Jew among men
(nor is he a Gentile that is called a Gentile), but he who, believing
in God, fulfils His law and does His will, though he be not
circumcised.771
He is the
true worshipper of God, who not only is himself free from passions, but
also sets others free from them; though they be so heavy that they are
like mountains, he removes them by means of the faith with which he
believes in God. Yea, by faith he truly removes mountains with
their trees, if it be necessary.772
But
he who seems to worship God, but is neither fortified by a full faith,
nor by obedience to the commandments, but is a sinner, has given a
place in himself, by reason of his sins, to passions, which are
appointed of God for the punishment of those who sin, that they may exact from them the
deserts of their sins by means of punishments inflicted, and may bring
them purified to the general judgment of all, provided always that
their faith do not fail them in their chastisement. For the
chastisement of unbelievers in the present life is a judgment, by which
they begin to be separated from future blessings; but the chastisement
of those who worship God, while it is inflicted upon them for sins into
which they have fallen, exacts from them the due of what they have
done, that, preventing the judgment, they may pay the debt of their sin
in the present life, and be freed, at least in half, from the eternal
punishments which are there prepared.
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