12. When, therefore, you hear
it said, “Sin shall not reign over you;”
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have not thou confidence of
thyself, that sin reign not over thee, but of Him, unto Whom a
certain Saint saith in prayer, “Direct my paths after Thy Word,
and let no iniquity have dominion over me.”
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For lest haply, after that we had
heard, “sin shall not reign over you,” we should lift up
ourselves, and lay this to our own strength, straightway the
Apostle saw this, and added, “For ye are not under the Law, but
under Grace.” Therefore, Grace causeth that sin reign not over
you. Do not thou, therefore, have confidence of thyself, lest it
thence reign much more over thee. And, when we hear it said, “If
by the Spirit ye shall mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall
live,”
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let us not
lay this so great good unto our own spirit, as though of itself it
can do this. For, in order that we should not entertain that carnal
sense, the spirit being dead rather than that which putteth others
to death, straightway he added, “For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
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Therefore that by our spirit we
may mortify the works of the flesh, we are led by the Spirit of
God, Who gives Continence, whereby to curb, tame, overcome
lust.
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Rom. vi. 14
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Ps. cxix. 133
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Rom. viii. 13
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Rom. viii. 14