18. All we therefore, who believe in the Living and True God, Whose Nature, being in the highest sense good and incapable of change, neither doth any evil, nor suffers any evil, from Whom is every good, even that which admits of decrease, and Who admits not at all of decrease in His own Good, Which is Himself, when we hear the Apostle saying, “Walk in the Spirit, and perform ye not the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: For these are opposed one to another, that ye do not what ye would.”58    Gal. v. 16, 17 Far be it from us to believe, what the madness of the Manichees believes, that there are here shown two natures or principles contrary one to another at strife, the one nature of good, the other of evil. Altogether these two are both good; both the Spirit is a good, and the flesh a good: and man, who is composed of both, one ruling, the other obeying, is assuredly a good, but a good capable of change, which yet could not be made save by a Good incapable of change, by Whom was created every good, whether small or great; but how small soever, yet made by What is Great; and how great soever, yet no way to be compared with the greatness of the Maker. But in this nature of man, that is good, and well formed and ordered by One That is Good, there is now war, since there is not yet health. Let the sickness be healed, there is peace. But that sickness fault hath deserved, not nature hath had. And this fault indeed through the laver of regeneration the grace of God hath already remitted unto the faithful; but under the hands of the same Physician nature as yet striveth with its sickness. But in such a conflict victory will be entire soundness; and that, soundness not for a time, but for ever: wherein not only this sickness is to come to an end, but also none to arise after it. Wherefore the just man addresseth his soul and saith, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His returns: Who becometh propitious to all thy iniquities, Who healeth all thy sicknesses.”59    Ps. ciii. 2, 3 He becometh propitious to our iniquities, when He pardons sins: He heals sicknesses when He restrains evil desires. He becometh propitious unto iniquities by the grant of forgiveness: He heals sicknesses, by the grant of continence. The one was done in Baptism to persons confessing; the other is done in the strife to persons contending; wherein through His help we are to overcome our disease. Even now the one is done, when we are heard, saying, “Forgive us our debts;”60    Matt. vi. 12, 13 but the other, when we are heard, saying, “Lead us not into temptation. For every one is tempted,” saith the Apostle James, “being drawn away and enticed by his own lust.”61    James i. 14 And against this fault there is sought the help of medicine from Him, Who can heal all such sicknesses, not by the removal of a nature that is alien from us, but in the renewal of our own nature. Whence also the above-mentioned Apostle saith not, “Every one is tempted” by lust, but added, “by his own:” that he who hears this may understand, how he ought to cry, “I said, Lord, have mercy upon me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee.”62    Ps. xli. 4 For it would not have needed healing, had it not corrupted63    Vitiasset itself by sinning, so that its own flesh should lust against it, that is, itself should be opposed to itself, on that side, wherein in the flesh it was made sick.

18. Omnes ergo qui credimus in Deum vivum et verum, cujus summe bona immutabilisque natura nec mali aliquid facit, nec mali aliquid patitur, a quo est omne bonum, quod etiam minui potest , et qui suo bono quod ipse est omnino minui non potest, cum audimus Apostolum dicentem, Spiritu ambulate, et concupiscentias carnis ne perfeceritis: caro enim concupiscit adversus spiritum, spiritus autem adversus carnem; haec enim invicem sibi adversantur, ut non ea quae vultis faciatis (Galat. V, 16, 17); absit ut credamus, quod Manichaeorum credit insania, duas hic demonstratas esse naturas ex contrariis inter se principiis confligentes, unam boni, alteram mali. Prorsus ista duo ambo sunt bona: et spiritus bonum est, et caro bonum; et homo qui ex utroque constat, uno imperante, alio serviente, utique bonum est, sed mutabile bonum: quod tamen fieri non posset , nisi ab incommutabili bono, a quo est omne bonum creatum, sive parvum, sive magnum; sed quamlibet parvum, a magno tamen factum; et quamlibet magnum, nullo modo tamen factoris magnitudini comparandum. Verum in hac bona hominis et bene a bono condita institutaque natura nunc bellum est, quoniam salus nondum est. Languor sanetur, pax est. Languorem autem istum culpa meruit, natura non habuit. Quam sane culpam per lavacrum regenerationis Dei gratia fidelibus jam remisit; sed sub ejusdem medici manibus adhuc natura cum suo languore confligit. In tali autem pugna sanitas erit tota victoria: nec temporaria sanitas, sed aeterna; ubi non solum finiatur hic languor, verum etiam deinceps nullus oriatur. Propter quod alloquitur animam suam justus, et dicit: Benedic, anima mea, Dominum, et noli oblivisci omnes retributiones ejus: qui propitius fit omnibus iniquitatibus 0361 tuis, qui sanat omnes languores tuos (Psal. CII, 2 et 3). Propitius fit iniquitatibus, cum peccata dimittit: sanat languores, cum desideria prava compescit. Propitius fit iniquitatibus, dando indulgentiam: sanat languores, dando continentiam. Illud factum est in Baptismate confitentibus, hoc fit in agone certantibus; in quo a nobis noster per ejus adjutorium vincendus est morbus. Etiam nunc illud fit, cum exaudimur dicentes, Dimitte nobis debita nostra: hoc autem, cum exaudimur dicentes, Ne nos inferas in tentationem (Matth. VI, 12, 13). Unusquisque enim tentatur, sicut ait apostolus Jacobus, a concupiscentia sua abstractus et illectus (Jacobi I, 14). Contra quod vitium medicinale poscitur adjutorium ab illo qui potest omnes hujuscemodi sanare languores, non a nobis alienae separatione , sed in nostrae reparatione naturae. Unde et praedictus apostolus non ait, Unusquisque tentatur a concupiscentia; sed addidit, sua: ut qui hoc audit intelligat quomodo clamare debeat, Ego dixi, Domine, miserere mei; sana animam meam, quoniam peccavi tibi (Psal. XL, 5). Non enim sanatione indiguisset, nisi se ipsa peccando vitiasset, ut adversus eam caro sua concupisceret, id est, ipsa sibimetipsi ex ea parte qua in carne infirmata est repugnaret.