you in strength and courage to conquer all your enemies? "I will give them," He says, "a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in their bowels; and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My commandments, and keep My judgments and do them, and that they may be My people, and I may be their God."[1] What, then, can arrest you in the path of virtue? Do you fear that the promise will not be fulfilled, or that with the assistance of God's grace you will not be able to keep His law? Your doubts are blasphemous; for, in the first instance, you question the truth of God's words, and, in the second, you represent Him as unable to fulfil what He promises, since you think Him capable of offering you succor insufficient for your needs.
No, doubt not, but be assured that in addition to all this He will give you the necessary strength to overcome the passions which torment you. This is one of the principal benefits purchased for us by the blood of our Saviour, one of the most precious fruits of the tree of life. "Our old man is crucified with Jesus Christ, that the body of sin may be destroyed, and that we may serve sin no longer."[2] By the "old man" and "the body of sin" the Apostle designates our sensual appetite with its evil inclinations. He tells us that it was crucified with Jesus Christ, because the sacrifice of the cross obtained for us grace and strength to overcome it. This is the victory which God
