of soul and body._
Wherefore, as regards bodily death, that is, the separation of the
soul from the body, it is good unto none while it is being endured
by those whom we say are in the article of death. For the very
violence with which body and soul are wrenched asunder, which in
the living had been conjoined and closely intertwined, brings with
it a harsh experience, jarring horridly on nature so long as it
continues, till there comes a total loss of sensation, which arose
from the very interpenetration of spirit and flesh. And all this
anguish is sometimes forestalled by one stroke of the body or sudden
flitting of the soul, the swiftness of which prevents it from being
felt. But whatever that may be in the dying which with violently
painful sensation robs of all sensation, yet, when it is piously
and faithfully borne, it increases the merit of patience, but does
not make the name of punishment inapplicable. Death, proceeding by
ordinary generation from the first man, is the punishment of all who
are born of him, yet, if it be endured for righteousness' sake, it
becomes the glory of those who are born again; and though death be
the award of sin, it sometimes secures that nothing be awarded to sin.