8. For God seeks nothing else from us, save a good purpose. Say not, How are my sins blotted out? I tell thee, By willing, by believing  37  Rufinus, in the Exposition of the Creed, on the Remission of sins: “The Pagans are wont to say in derision of us, that we deceive ourselves in thinking that crimes which have been committed in deed can be washed out by words.” . What can be shorter than this? But if, while thy lips declare thee willing, thy heart be silent, He knoweth the heart, who judgeth thee. Cease from this day from every evil deed. Let not thy tongue speak unseemly words, let thine eye abstain from sin, and from roving  38  The reading in the Benedictine Edition, μηδὲ ὁ νοῦς σου ῥεμβέσθω, has little authority, and is quite unsuitable. See below, τὸ βλέμμα ῥεμβόμενον. after things unprofitable.

Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄλλο παρ' ἡμῶν ζητεῖ ὁ Θεὸς, εἰ μὴ προαίρεσιν ἀγαθήν: μὴ λέγε: Πῶς μου ἐξαλείφονται αἱ ἁμαρτίαι; Ἐγώ σοι λέγω, τῷ θέλειν, τῷ πιστεύειν: τί τούτου συντομώτερον; Ἐὰν δὲ τὰ μὲν χείλη σου λέγῃ τὸ θέλειν, ἡ δὲ καρδία μὴ λέγῃ, καρδιογνώστης ὁ κρίνων. Ἄργησον ἀπὸ τῆς σήμερον ἀπὸ παντὸς φαύλου πράγματος: μή σου λαλησάτω ἡ γλῶσσα ἄσεμνα ῥήματα: μή σου τὸ βλέμμα ἁμαρτανέτω, μηδὲ ῥεμβέσθω τὰ μὴ χρήσιμα.