On Continence.

 1. It is difficult to treat of the virtue of the soul, which is called Continence, in a manner fully suitable and worthy but He, whose great gift thi

 2. And lest it should seem that necessary Continence was to be hoped for from the Lord only in respect of the lust of the lower parts of the flesh, it

 3. Lastly, to show more plainly the inner mouth, which by these words he meant, after having said, “Set a watch, O Lord, to my mouth, and a door of Co

 4. For which cause our Lord Himself also with His own mouth saith, “Cleanse what are within, and what are without will be clean.” And, also, in anothe

 5. And on this account that, which, the parts that beget being bridled by modesty, is most chiefly and properly to be called Continence, is violated b

 6. But it is one thing to fight well, which now is, when the strife of death is resisted another thing not to have an adversary, which will then be,

 7. This conflict none experience in themselves, save such as war on the side of the virtues, and war down the vices: nor doth any thing storm the evil

 8. Such soldiers the Apostolic trumpet enkindles for battle with that sound, “Therefore let not,” saith he, “sin reign in your mortal body to obey its

 9. And also, when he exhorts us, that we live not after the flesh, lest we die, but that by the Spirit we mortify the deeds of the flesh, that we may

 10. But in order that we fall not away from Continence, we ought to watch specially against those snares of the suggestions of the devil, that we pres

 11. But some one will say to me that it is one thing to live after man, another thing to live after the flesh because man forsooth is a rational crea

 12. When, therefore, you hear it said, “Sin shall not reign over you ” have not thou confidence of thyself, that sin reign not over thee, but of Him,

 13. In this so great conflict, wherein man under Grace lives, and when, being aided, he fights well, rejoices in the Lord with trembling, there yet ar

 14. And some indeed, who are used to excuse their own sins, complain that they are driven to sin by fate, as though the stars had decreed this, and he

 15. And there are also they who in excuse of their sins so accuse God, as to say that sins are pleasing to Him. For, if they were displeasing, say the

 16. But God wanted not power to make man such as that he should not be able to sin: but He chose rather to make him such, as that it should lie in his

 17. Now therefore let us return to that, wherefore we have said what we have. We have need of Continence, and we know it to be a divine gift, that our

 18. All we therefore, who believe in the Living and True God, Whose Nature, being in the highest sense good and incapable of change, neither doth any

 19. For the flesh lusts after nothing save through the soul, but the flesh is said to lust against the spirit, when the soul with fleshly lust wrestle

 20. There are therefore in us evil desires, by consenting not unto which we live not ill: there are in us lusts of sins, by obeying not which we perfe

 21. That, therefore, the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, that there dwelleth not in our flesh good, that the law in our members is opposed to the la

 22. I say not, therefore, with what error, but with what utter madness, do the Manichees attribute our flesh to some, I know not what, fabled “race of

 23. The Apostle has made known to us certain three unions, Christ and the Church, husband and wife, spirit and flesh. Of these the former consult for

 24. If what we have made mention of out of the Apostolic Epistles seem to you to fall short of an answer, hear yet others, if ye have ears. What saith

 25. But, say they, how is the flesh by a certain likeness compared unto the Church? What! doth the Church lust against Christ? whereas the same Apostl

 26. Thus much will suffice to have treated on behalf of true Continence against the Manichees deceitfully continent, lest the fruitful and glorious la

 27. There are also they who, in doing open service to evil demons, contain from pleasures of the body, that, through their means, they may satisfy unl

 28. Far be it therefore that we say of continence, of which Scripture saith. “And this very thing was wisdom, to know whose gift it was,” that even th

 29. Thus the spirit of man, cleaving unto the Spirit of God, lusts against the flesh, that is, against itself: but for itself, in order that those mot

 30. But, after that he had made mention of these evils, he added and said, “On account of which cometh the wrath of God on the sons of unbelief.” Sure

 31. “But now do ye also,” saith he, “put down all ” and he makes mention of several more evils of that sort. But what is it, that it is not enough for

 32. But whether keenly contending, that we be not overcome, or overcoming divers times, or even with unhoped and unlooked for ease, let us give the gl

11. But some one will say to me that it is one thing to live after man, another thing to live after the flesh; because man forsooth is a rational creature, and there is in him a rational soul, whereby he differs from the beast: but the flesh is the lowest and earthly part of man, and thus to live after it is faulty: and for this reason, he who lives after man, assuredly lives not after the flesh, but rather after that part of man, whereby he is man, that is, after the spirit of the mind whereby he excels the beasts. But this discussion is perhaps of some force in the schools of philosophers: but we, in order to understand the Apostle of Christ, ought to observe in what manner the Christian books are used to speak; at any rate it is the belief of all of us, to whom to live is Christ, that Man was taken unto Himself by the Word of God, not surely without a rational soul, as certain heretics will have it; and yet we read, “The Word was made flesh.”33    John i. 14 What is to be here understood by “flesh,” but Man? “And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”34    Luke iii. 6 What can be understood, but all men? “Unto Thee shall all flesh come.”35    Ps. lxv. 2 What is it, but all men? “Thou hast given unto Him power over all flesh.”36    John xvii. 2 What is it, but all men? “Of the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.”37    Rom. iii. 20 What is it, but no man shall be justified? And this the same Apostle in another place confessing more plainly saith, “Man shall not be justified of the works of the Law.”38    Gal. ii. 16 The Corinthians also he rebukes, saying, “Are ye not carnal, and walk after man?”39    1 Cor. iii. 3 After he had called them carnal, he saith not, ye walk after the flesh, but after man, forasmuch as by this also what would he have understood, but after the flesh? For surely if to walk, that is, to live, after the flesh deserved blame, but after man deserved praise, he would not say by way of rebuke, “ye walk after man.” Let man recognize the reproach; let him change his purpose, let him shun destruction. Hear thou man: walk not thou after man, but after Him Who made man. Fall not thou away from Him Who made thee, even unto thyself. For a man said, who yet lived not after man, “Not that we are sufficient to think any thing from ourselves, as though of ourselves: but our sufficiency is of God.”40    1 Cor. iii. 5 Consider if he lived after man, who spake these things with truth. Therefore the Apostle, admonishing man not to live after man, restores man to God. But whoso liveth not after man, but after God, assuredly liveth not even after himself, because himself also is a man. But he is therefore said also to live after the flesh, when he so lives; because also when the flesh alone hath been named, man is understood, as we have already shown: just as when the soul alone hath been named, man is understood: whence it is said, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers,”41    Rom. xiii. 1 that is, every man; and, “Seventy-five souls went down into Egypt with Jacob,”42    Gen. xlvi. 27 that is, seventy-five men. Therefore live thou not after thyself, O man: thou hadst thence perished, but thou wast sought. Live not then, I say, after thyself, O man; thou hadst thence perished, but thou wast found. Accuse not thou the nature of the flesh, when you hear it said, “If ye shall live after the flesh, ye shall die.”43    Rom. viii. 13 For thus could it be said, and most truly could it, If ye shall live after yourselves ye shall die. For the devil hath not flesh, and yet, because he would live after himself, “he abode not in the truth.”44    John viii. 44 What wonder therefore, if, living after himself, “when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own,” which the Truth spake truly of him.

11. Sed quispiam dicturus est mihi aliud esse secundum hominem, aliud secundum carnem vivere: quia homo videlicet rationalis creatura est, et in eo rationalis est animus, quo distat a pecore; caro autem est infima et terrena pars hominis, et ideo secundum eam vivere vitiosum est: propter quod ille qui secundum hominem vivit, non utique secundum carnem, sed potius secundum eam partem hominis vivit qua homo est, hoc est, secundum spiritum mentis, quo pecoribus praeeminet. Verum haec disputatio valet fortassis aliquid in scholis philosophorum: nos autem ut intelligamus Apostolum Christi, libri christiani quemadmodum loqui soleant, debemus advertere. Fides certe omnium nostrum est, quibus Christus vivere est , hominem a Verbo Dei assumptum, 0356 non utique sine anima rationali, sicut quidam haeretici volunt; et tamen legimus, Verbum caro factum est (Joan. I, 14). Quid hic caro intelligenda est, nisi homo? Et videbit omnis caro salutare Dei (Luc. III, 6); quid potest intelligi, nisi, omnis homo? Ad te omnis caro veniet (Psal. LXIV, 3); quid est, nisi, omnis homo? Dedisti ei potestatem omnis carnis (Joan. XVII, 2); quid est, nisi, omnis hominis? Ex operibus legis non justificabitur omnis caro (Rom. III, 20); quid est, nisi, nullus justificabitur homo? Quod idem apostolus alibi exprimens manifestius, Non, inquit, justificabitur homo ex operibus legis (Galat. II, 16). Corinthios quoque increpat dicens: Nonne carnales estis, et secundum hominem ambulatis (I Cor. III, 3)? Cum carnales eos dixisset, non ait, secundum carnem ambulatis; sed, secundum hominem: quia et hoc quid voluit intelligi, nisi, secundum carnem? Nam utique si culpabiliter quidem secundum carnem, laudabiliter autem secundum hominem ambularetur, id est, viveretur, non exprobrans diceret, secundum hominem ambulatis. Agnoscat homo opprobrium , mutet propositum, vitet interitum. Audi, homo; noli ambulare secundum hominem, sed secundum eum qui fecit hominem: ab eo qui fecit te, noli deficere nec ad te. Homo enim dicebat, qui tamen non secundum hominem vivebat: Non quia idonei sumus cogitare aliquid a nobis quasi ex nobismetipsis; sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est (II Cor. III, 5). Vide si secundum hominem vivebat, qui veraciter ista dicebat. Admonens ergo Apostolus hominem, ne vivat secundum hominem, hominem Deo reddit. Qui autem non vivit secundum hominem, sed secundum Deum, profecto non vivit etiam secundum seipsum; quia homo est et ipse. Sed ideo dicitur etiam secundum carnem vivere, cum ita vivit; quia et carne sola nominata intelligitur homo, quod jam ostendimus: sicut sola anima nominata intelligitur homo; unde dictum est, Omnis anima sublimioribus potestatibus subdita sit (Rom. XIII, 1), id est, omnis homo; et, Septuaginta quinque animae descenderunt in Aegyptum cum Jacob (Gen. XLVI, 27), id est, septuaginta quinque homines. Noli ergo vivere secundum te ipsum, o homo: inde perieras, sed quaesitus es. Noli, inquam, vivere secundum te ipsum: inde perieras, et inventus es . Noli carnis accusare naturam, quando audis, Si secundum carnem vixeritis, moriemini. Sic enim dici potuit, et verissime potuit, Si secundum vos vixeritis, moriemini. Nam diabolus non habet carnem, et tamen quia secundum se ipsum vivere voluit, in veritate non stetit. Quid ergo mirum si secundum se ipsum vivens, cum loquitur mendacium, de suo loquitur (Joan. VIII, 44)? quod verum de illo Veritas dixit.