Untitled - Saints' Books

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The
7 "Vinum et siceram non bibet, et Spiritu Saricto replebitur."
INSTR. in.] The Chastity of the Priest. 259
he deceives himself. 1 When the Apostle was molested
with the stings of the flesh he had recourse to bodily
mortifications. /, said he, chastise my body and bring it
into subjection? Unless the flesh be mortified, it will
submit to the spirit only with difficulty. As the lily
among the thorns -,
so is My love among the daughters? As
the lily is
preserved among thorns, so chastity is
guarded by mortifications.
But for him who wishes to practise
this sublime vir
tue, it is, above all, necessary to avoid intemperance as
well in drinking as in eating.
Give not, says the wise man, wine to kings? He who
takes more wine than is
necessary, shall certainly be
molested with many carnal motions, and shall scarcely
be able to rule the flesh and make it obedient to the law
of chastity. body that is inflamed with wine will
overflow with lust," says St. Jerome. 5 For as the prophet
Osee has said, wine deprives man of reason, and reduces
him to the level of a brute. Wine and drunkenness take
away the understanding? Of the Baptist it was foretold.
He shall drink no wine and strong drink, and he shall be
filed with the Holy Ghost? Some will argue in favor of
the necessity of wine, because it is a remedy for the
weakness of the stomach. But, according to the words
of St. Paul to Timothy, a small quantity of wine is suffi-
"
Si quis existimat posse versari in deliciis, et deliciarum vitiis
non teneri, seipsum decipit." Adv. Jovin,
1. 2.
"Castigo corpus meum, et in servitutem redigo." i Cor. ix. 27.
"
Sicut lilium inter spinas, sic arnica mea inter filias." Cant. ii. 2.
"Noli
regibus dare vinum." Prov. xxxi. 4.
"Venter enim mero sestuans despumat in libidinem." Keg.
Monach. de Abst.
6 "Vinum et ebrietas auferunt cor." Os. iv. n.
Luke, i. 15.