If any one gave you a few acres, you would say that you 
had received a benefit; can you deny that the boundless 
extent of the earth is a benefit? If any one gave you 
money, you would call that a benefit. God has buried 
countless masses of gold and silver in the earth. If a house 
were given you, bright with marble, its roof beautifully 
painted with colours and gilding, you would call it no small 
benefit. God has built for you a mansion that fears no fire 
or ruin... covered with a roof which glitters in one 
fashion by day, and in another by night. ... Whence 
comes the breath you draw; the light by which you 
perform the actions of your life? the blood by which your 
life is maintained? the meat by which your hunger is 
appeased? ... The true God has planted, not a few oxen, 
but all the herds on their pastures throughout the world, 
and furnished food to all the flocks; he has ordained the 
alternation of summer and winter... has invented so 
many arts and varieties of voice, so many notes to make 
music. ... We have implanted in us the seed of all ages, 
of all arts; and God our Master brings forth our intellects 
from obscurity. — SENECA. 
