Commandment Twelfth. On the Twofold Desire. The Commandments of God Can Be Kept, and Believers Ought Not to Fear the Devil. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
225 [Concupiscence is here shown to have the nature of
sin.]
and will rein yourself in even as you wish. For wicked
desire is wild, and is with difficulty tamed. For it is terrible, and
consumes men exceedingly by its wildness. Especially is the servant
of God terribly consumed by it, if he falls into it and is devoid
of understanding. Moreover, it consumes all such as have not on them
the garment of good desire, but are entangled and mixed up with this
world. These it delivers up to death.” “What then, sir,”
say I, “are the deeds of wicked desire which deliver men over
to death? Make them known to me, and I will refrain from them.”
“Listen, then, to the works in which evil desire slays the servants
of God.”226
226 [See the Greek
of Athanasius, and Grabe’s transposition, in Wake’s version
of the Eleventh and Twelfth Commandments.]
227For … God. This desire, therefore, is wicked and destructive,
bringing death on the servants of God. Whoever, therefore, shall abstain
from evil desire, shall live to God.—Vat.
But
as many as are mastered by them, and do not resist them, will perish
at last, for these desires are fatal. Put you on, then, the desire of
righteousness; and arming yourself with the fear of the Lord,
resist them. For the fear of the
Lord dwells in good desire. But if evil desire see you armed with the
fear of God,228
and resisting it, it will fleefar from
you, and it will no longer appear to you, for it fears your armour. Go,
then, garlanded with the crown which you have gained for victory over it,
to the desire of righteousness, and, delivering up to it the prize which
you have received, serve it even as it wishes.229
229Go … wishes. And you will obtain the
victory, and will be crowned on account of it, and you will arrive
at good desire, and you will deliver up the victory which you have
obtained to God, and you will serve Him by acting even as you yourself
wish to act.—Vat.
If you serve good desire,
and be subject to it, you will gain the mastery over evil desire, and
make it subject to you even as you wish.”230
230 Chapters third, fourth, and a part of fifth, are omitted
in the Palatine. [This chapter seems based on Heb. v. 14.]
and you will live to Him; and every
one who shall serve good desire, shall live to God.”
He concluded the twelve commandments, and said to
me, “You have now these commandments. Walk in them, and exhort
your hearers that their repentance may be pure during the remainder of
their life. Fulfil carefully this ministry which I now entrust to you,
and you will accomplish much.232
232
[Here is the commission to be a prophet, and to speak prophesyings
in the congregation. If the Montanists resisted these teachings, they
were self-condemned. Such is the idea here conveyed. 1 Cor. xiv. 32;
37.]
For you will find favour among those who are to repent,
and they will give heed to your words; for I will be with you, and
will compel them to obey you.” I say to him, “Sir, these
commandments are great, and good, and glorious, and fitted to gladden
the heart of the man who can perform them. But I do not know if these
commandments can be kept by man, because they are exceeding hard.”
He answered and said to me, “If you lay it down as certain that
they can be kept,233
233If
… kept, omitted in Vat.
then you will easily keep
them, and they will not be hard. But if you come to imagine that they
cannot be kept by man, then you will not keep them. Now I say to you,
If you do not keep them, but neglect them, you will not be saved, nor
your children, nor your house, since you have already determined for
yourself that these commandments cannot be kept by man.”
Chap. IV.
These things he said to me in tones of the deepest
anger, so that I was confounded and exceedingly afraid of him, for his
figure was altered so that a man could not endure his anger. But seeing me
altogether agitated and confused, he began to speak to me in more gentle
tones; and he said: “O fool, senseless and doubting, do you not
perceive how great is the glory of God, and how strong and marvellous, in
that He created the world for the sake of man,234
234 [Boyle beautifully reconciles “those two current
assertions, that (1) God made all things for His own glory, and that (2)
He made all things for man.” See Usefulness of Nat. Philos.,
part i., essay 3, or Leighton’s Works, vol. iii. p. 235, London,
1870.]
and subjected all creation to him, and gave him power to
rule over everything under heaven? If, then, man is lord of the creatures
of God, and rules over all, is he not able to be lord also of these
commandments? For,” says he, “the man who has the Lord in his
heart can also be lord of all, and of every one of these commandments. But
to those who have the Lord only on their lips,235
then he comes to
the jars, and does not look at the full jars, for he knows that they
are full; but he looks at the empty, being afraid lest they have become
sour. For empty jars quickly become sour, and the goodness of the wine
is gone. So also the devil goes to all
the servants of God to try them.
As many, then, as are full in the faith, resist him strongly, and he
withdraws from them, having no way by which he might enter them. He goes,
then, to the empty, and finding a way of entrance, into them, he produces
in them whatever he wishes, and they become his servants.”239
240TrustGod. Believe ye, then, who on account of your sins have
forgotten God.—Vat.
then, ye who on account of
your sins have despaired of life, and who add to your sins and weigh
down your life; for if ye return to the Lord with all your heart, and
practicerighteousness the rest of your days,241
241Practise … days, omitted in Vat.
and serve Him according to His will, He will heal your former sins,
and you will have power to hold sway over the works of the devil. But as
to the threats of the devil, fear them not at all, for he is powerless
as the sinews of a dead man. Give ear to me, then, and fear Him who
has all power, both to save and destroy,242
and keep
His commandments, and ye will live to God.” I say to him,
“Sir, I am now made strong in all the ordinances of the Lord,
because you are with me; and I know that you will crush all the power
of the devil, and we shall have rule over him, and shall prevail
against all his works. And I hope, sir, to be able to keep all these
commandments243
which you have
enjoined upon me, the Lord strengthening me.” “You will keep
them,” says he, “if your heart be pure towards the Lord;
and all will keep them who cleanse their hearts from the vain desires
of this world, and they will live to God.”
