Propound to thyself (if thou beest in a capacity) a constant rule of living, of eating and drinking: which though it may not be fit to observe scrupulously, lest it become a snare to thy conscience, or endanger thy health upon every accidental violence; yet let not thy rule be broken often nor much, but upon great necessity and in small degrees.
—Rev. Jeremy Taylor, On Christian Sobriety – Rules for obtaining temperance., The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, Volume 3. THE RULE AND EXERCISES OF HOLY LIVING AND DYING….: The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living and Dying
Category: TEMPERANCE
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Be severe in your judgment concerning your proportions, and let no occasion make you enlarge far beyond your ordinary. For a man is surprised by parts; and while he thinks one glass more will not make him drunk, that one glass hath disabled him from well discerning his present condition and neighbour danger.
—Rev. Jeremy Taylor, On Christian Sobriety – Rules for obtaining temperance., The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, Volume 3. THE RULE AND EXERCISES OF HOLY LIVING AND DYING….: The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living and Dying
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Take example the person who fasts. In his fast he may perhaps abstain from many foods, yet he cannot abstain for one particular food, which he desires. What does such a person gain from his fast so long as he is weak and lacks the power to control himself at the point when he is being attached with the desire of food? Do we not say that if he abstains from this food in particular, he will be successful in his fast and in his spirituality? However, if he falls in this, then he has fallen in all. The Bible reminds us of this, saying: “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2.10). What is the meaning of this statement by the apostle? How should we understand it? You will understand by answering the following question: Do you love God, so that nothing can keep you away from Him? If you find anything at al, then this is the problem in your life; it is your point of weakness.
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Repentance and Purity -
Imagine a person who has been and is addicted to a passion. There comes a moment (as it does to everyone, perhaps many times – alas, perhaps many times in vain!), a moment he seems to be brought to a halt: a good resolution is awakening. Imagine that one morning he said to himself (let us suppose him to be a gambler), “I solemnly vow that I will nevermore have anything to do with gambling, never – tonight will be the last time” – ah, my friend, he’s lost! I would rather bet on the opposite, however strange that may seem. If there was a gambler who said to himself, “Well, now, you may gamble every blessed day all the rest of your life – but tonight you are going to leave it alone,” and he did – ah, my friend, he is saved for sure! The first gambler’s resolution is a trick by the craving, and the second gambler’s is to fool the craving.
SO GOOD QUOTES 