Unpublished: St Agustin

CHAPTER VI To overcome the devil and the world have to submit the body

6. The same Apostle teaches us when he says, I do not fight like one who whips the air but punishing my body and reduce it to servitude, lest while I preach to others, be found reprobate. And he also says: Be imitators, as I am of Christ. So we have to understand that the Apostle triumphed in itself, the powers of this world, as I promised the Lord, whose imitator is declared. Let us imitate him, because we, as he exhorts us and punish our bodies and reduzcámoslo servitude if we overcome the world. For the world can dominate with his illicit pleasures, with its pomp and morbid curiosity. Since pernicious pleasures of this world enslave lovers temporal things, and require them to serve the devil and his angels. But if we have given up all those things, we reduce to slavery to our own body.

CHAPTER VII To subject our body must submit to God, to whom all served willy-nilly

7. But perhaps someone will ask how to reduce our body to servitude. This can be easily understood and done if first we submit to God with sincere goodwill and charity. Truth is that every creature, like it or not, is subject to the one God and Lord. But we are admonished to serve the Lord our God with full commitment. Because the right freely used, necessarily unfair, but all serve to Divine Providence. Some obey as children and so do what is good, others work in chains as slaves and do with them what is right.

Thus the Almighty God, Lord of all creation, which, as written, made all good things, so ordered that do well by hook or by crook. Indeed, what is done fairly well it has done. Justice are blessed with good and bad just suffer punishment. God does good to the good and the bad because everything is done fairly. Are good with all his will serve God and those who serve evil necessity, but no one escapes the law of the Almighty. However, one thing is to do what the law requires and other developing what the law requires. So good act according to the laws, and ill suffer according to the laws.

8. We are not impressed that the just tolerate many serious and harsh sufferings in this life they carry in their mortal flesh. Well suffer no ill who can say what it preaches and praises that spiritual man who was the Apostle, when he says: We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, patience test, the test hope, and hope is not disappointed, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given us. Then, in this life, where so many storms, just and good men can not only tolerate with quiet mood when suffering, but can also boast about the love of God.

For what are we to think of the life that is promised us, in which we feel no discomfort in the body? For different destination will raise the body of the righteous and the wicked body, as it is written all be resurrected, but not all will be changed. And lest anyone think that this transformation is not promised to the righteous, but, rather, the unjust considering that this change is for punishment continues, and the dead shall rise incorruptible and we shall be changed. All the bad that there have been sorted like this: each is harmful to himself, and all are harmful to everyone. They crave what you can not love without ruin itself and you can easily remove them, and so they take it off each other when they chase each other. And because they love temporal goods, suffer those who were removed, but that the snatch rejoice.

That joy is total blindness and misery, and enslaving the soul and draws her greatest torments. As the fish is also rejoices when, without seeing the hook, you throw the bait, but when the fisherman starts to pull, first feel the torment in her womb, and then pass the joy to death with the same bait that excited him. Thus all who are happy with temporal goods have swallowed the bait and live with him capsizing, but there will come a time when they feel severe torments, so avidly, have devoured. And so, anything is damaged to the good when they take away what you do not love, because what they love and what they are happy, nobody can take it away.

For body aches afflict miserably poor souls, while purified with vigor to good. So it is that the bad man and the bad angel fighting for divine providence, but do not know the good that God works through them. Therefore, they will not pay to merit the service but with the reward of malice.