Chapter XXXV.
How the fear of the Lord is our cross.
The
fear of the Lord is our
cross. As then one who is crucified no longer has the power of moving
or turning his limbs in any direc
tion as he pleases, so we also ought to
affix our wishes and desires—not in accordance with what is
pleasant and delightful to us now, but in accordance with the law of
the Lord, where it constrains us. And as he who is fastened to the wood
of the cross no longer considers things present, nor thinks about his
likings, nor is perplexed by anxiety and care for the morrow, nor
disturbed by any desire of possession, nor inflamed by any pride or
strife or rivalry, grieves not at present injuries, remembers not past
ones, and while he is still breathing in the body considers that he is
dead to all earthly things,
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sending the thoughts
of his heart on before to that place whither he doubts not that he is
shortly to come: so we also, when crucified by the fear of the Lord
ought to be dead indeed to all these things, i.e. not only to carnal
vices but also to all earthly things,
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having the eye
of our minds fixed there whither we hope at each moment that we are
soon to pass. For in this way we can have all our desires and carnal
affections mortified.
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Elementa
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Elementa
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