Choose a topic from Part 2A:
1. Since love is the tendency experienced by its subject to have or to do good, and since good thus stirs love to action, it is manifest that good or the good is the proper cause of love.
2. Good, which is the goal as well as the cause of love, must, in sentient and rational beings, be known before it can exercise its appeal. Hence knowledge is a cause of love.
3. Likeness or similarity is a cause of love between and among creatures, for like attracts like. A creature necessarily loves itself; hence it has a natural tendency to love what is like itself.
4. None of the other passions, singly or together, can be regarded as the universal cause of love. A particular passion, such as desire, may cause a particular act of love, for one good can cause another good. But in general it must be said that the other passions presuppose love; they are products, rather than causes, of love.
"Men should often renew their good resolutions, and not lose heart because they are tempted against them."
St Philip Neri
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"What good does it do to speak learnedly about the Trinity if, lacking humility, you displease the Trinity? Indeed it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. "
Thomas á Kempis
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"We must not be behind time in doing good; for death will not be behind his time. "
St Phillip Neri
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