vice, when a man, converted to God,
resists the temptation from which he suffers, by the recollection of
former confusion.

Wonder not if I have kept you longer to-day than my wont is, because
desirous of you, after so long a hunger, I could not be easily
satiated with your presence. Think not, indeed, that even now I am
satiated; I leave off speaking because I am weary, not because I am
satisfied. But I shall be satisfied when the glory of Christ shall
appear, in whom I now embrace you with delight, you, with whom I
hope that I shall be happily found in him, to whom is honor and
glory to ages of ages. Amen.

ON MANLINESS

Fortitude comes next, which is necessary in temptation, since
perfection of sanctity cannot be so uninterruptedly maintained in
this life that its serenity will be disturbed by no temptations. But
as our Lord God seems to us, in times when everything appears
peaceful and tranquil, to be merciful and loving and the giver of
joy, thus when he exposes us either to the temptations of the flesh,
or to the suggestions of demons, or when he afflicts us with the
troubles, or wears us out with the persecutions of this world, he
seems, as it were, a hard and angry master. And happy is he who
becomes valiant in this his anger, now resisting, now fighting, now
flying, so as to be found neither infirm through consenting, nor
weak through despairing. Therefore, brethren, whoever is not found
valiant in his anger cannot exult in his glory. If we have passed
through fire and water, so that neither did the fire consume us, nor
the water drown us, whose is the glory? Is it ours, so that we
should exult in it as if it belonged to us? God forbid! How many
exult, brethren, when they are praised by men, taking the glory of
the gifts of God as if it were their own and not exulting in the
honor of Christ, who, while they seek that which is their own and
not the things of Jesus Christ, both lose that which is their own
and do not gain that which is Christ's! He then exults in Christ's
glory, who seeks not his glory but Christ's, and he understands
that, in ourselves, there is nothing of which we can boast, since we
have nothing that is our own. And this is the way in which, in
individual men, the City of Confusion is overthrown, when chastity
expels luxury, fortitude overthrows temptations, humility excludes
vanity. Furthermore, we have sanctification from the faith and
sacraments of Christ, fortitude from