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| The Uses of Lust, Anger, Grief.
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Chapter
XXI.—The Uses of Lust, Anger, Grief.
And Simon said:1463
| 1463 [With chaps. 21,
22, compare Homily XX. 4.—R.] |
“You were right in saying this; but in the present world does not
man seem to you to be capable of every kind of affection,—as, for
instance, of lust, anger, grief, and the like?” And Peter
said: “Yes, these belong to the things that are accidental,
not to those that always exist, and it will be found that they now
occur with advantage to the soul. For lust has, by the will of
Him who created all things well, been made to arise within the living
being, that, led by it to intercourse, he may increase humanity, from a
selection of which a multitude of superior beings arise who are fit for
eternal life. But if it were not for lust, no one would trouble
himself with intercourse with his wife; but now, for the sake of
pleasure, and, as it were, gratifying himself, man carries out His
will. Now, if a man uses lust for lawful marriage, he does not
act impiously; but if he rushes to adultery, he acts impiously, and he
is punished because he makes a bad use of a good ordinance. And
in the same way, anger has been made by God to be lighted up naturally
within us, in order that we may be induced by it to ward off
injuries. Yet if any one indulges it without restraint, he acts
unjustly; but if he uses it within due bounds, he does what is
right. Moreover, we are capable of grief, that we may be moved
with sympathy at the death of relatives, of a wife, or children, or
brothers, or parents, or friends, or some others, since, if we were not
capable of sympathy, we should be inhuman. In like manner, all
the other affections will be found to be adapted for us, if at least
the reason for their existence1464
| 1464 We have adopted an
emendation of Lagarde’s. | be
considered.”
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