For which of you desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
To trust a stranger without investigation invites troubles so endless that even descendants must endure them. To rust a man who has not been tested and to suspect a man who has proven trustworthy lead alike to endless ills.
God created man incorruptible, and made him in the image of his own nature, but through the devil’s envy, death came into the world.
For all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship.
For what can be known about God is plain to all, because God is plain to all, because God has shown it to them. Ever since creation of the world His invisible nature, namely His eternal power has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.
Likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows the mind of the spirit, because the spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
