14. In this calm assurance of safety did my soul gladly and hopefully take its rest, and feared so little the interruption of death, that death seemed only a name for eternal life. And the life of this present body was so far from seeming a burden or affliction that it was regarded as children regard their alphabet, sick men their draught, shipwrecked sailors their swim, young men the training for their profession, future commanders their first campaign; that is, as an endurable submission to present necessities, bearing the promise of a blissful immortality. And further, I began to proclaim those truths in which my soul had a personal faith, as a duty of the episcopate which had been laid upon me, employing my office to promote the salvation of all men.
14. Christi fides et mortis metum et vitae tollit taedium.0036A ---In hoc ergo conscio securitatis suae otio mens spebus suis laeta requieverat: intercessionem mortis hujus usque eo non metuens, 12 ut etiam reputaret in vitam aeternitatis. Vitam autem hujus corporis sui non modo non molestam sibi aut aegram arbitrabatur, ut eam quod pueritiae litteras, quod aegris medicinam, quod naufragis natatum, quod adolescentibus disciplinam, quod militiam esse crederet imperaturis: rerum scilicet praesentium tolerantiam, ad praemium beatae immortalitatis proficientem. Quin etiam id, quod sibi credebat, tamen per ministerium impositi sacerdotii etiam caeteris praedicabat, munus suum ad officium publicae salutis extendens.