Letter CCXCII.
To Palladius.
The
one-half of my desire has
God fulfilled in the interview He granted me with our fair sister, your
wife. The other half He is able to accomplish; and so with the
sight of your excellency I shall render my full thanks to God.
And I am the more desirous of seeing you, now that I
hear you have been adorned with that great ornament, the clothing of
immortality, which clokes our mortality, and puts out of sight the
death of the flesh; by virtue of which the corruptible is swallowed up
in incorruption.
Thus God of His goodness has now alienated you
from sin, united you to Himself, has opened the doors of Heaven, and
pointed out the paths that lead to heavenly bliss. I entreat you
therefore by that wisdom wherein you excel all other men, that you
receive the divine favour circumspectly, proving a faithful guardian of
this treasure, as the repository of this royal gift, keeping watch over
it with all carefulness. Preserve this seal of righteousness
unsullied, that so you may stand before God, shining in the brightness
of the Saints. Let no spot or wrinkle defile the pure robe of
immortality; but keep holiness in all your members, as having put on
Christ. “For,” it is said, “as many of you as
have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.”
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Wherefore let all your members be holy
as becomes their investment in a raiment of holiness and
light.
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Gal. iii. 27
.