The Letters of Abelard and Heloise by Heloise

Author:Heloise
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.

But if anyone turns his bodily eye to the display of outward abstinence, he would then prefer John and John’s disciples wasting away through excessive fasting, to Christ and his disciples: and indeed, John’s disciples who were apparently still following Jewish custom in outward matters grumbled against Christ and his disciples, and even questioned the Lord himself: ‘Why is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting but yours are not?’48 In examining this passage and determining the difference between virtue and exhibition of virtue, St Augustine concludes that as regards outward matters, works add nothing to merit. In his book On the Good of Marriage he says that:

Continence is a virtue not of the body but of the soul. But the virtues of the spirit are displayed sometimes in works, sometimes in natural habit, as when the virtue of martyrs has been seen in their endurance of suffering. Also, patience was already in Job; the Lord knew this and gave proof of knowing it, but he made it known to men through the ordeal of Job’s testing.49

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