Rules - 3:1-2

Part Three

Concerning Your Works

1.  Do no evil, even if it is in your power to do so.  Take heed not to do anything when you are alone that you would be ashamed of before men.  Remember with Joseph that even if no man sees, God sees all, & that your own conscience will testify against you.  Therefore avoid all sins, not just those which are public, but secret ones as well.  For even as God is righteous, so will He, unless you forthwith repent, bring all your hidden sins to light & set them before your eyes (I Corinthians 4:5, Psalms 50:21).


2.  Especially, though, resist with all strength of soul your bosom sin, or that sin to which your nature is inclined more than to all other sins.  For one person this may be to seek the honor of men, for another a greed for money, a third may tend to drunkenness, a fourth to impurity, a fifth to pride.  Against these evil sins you must above all arm yourself & resist them, for once these are overcome you can also easily master others.  As a fowler can hold a bid by one leg, in this same way wily Satan can possess your soul & keep it in his control by means of a single sin just as well as by many.

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