Page:On The Spiritual Battle.pdf/33

 with evil thoughts. Therefore, the very parts or senses of our bodies are the clothing of sin, the evil heart’s messengers and its gateways, so that the whole world moves into the heart through those senses.

For this reason, the person who wants to fight in battle must tuck this all up, watch over it prudently, and guard the parts of his body with fear so that he does not look about, listen all over the place, and attach himself to everything, but instead turn away from detrimental things. He must also be alert, minding everything in understanding (most of all that evil heart) so that he does not fall asleep, watching out for what is beginning to be dreamt up in it. He must also be alert and assess the devil’s approaches–from whom or when some such danger would be–since the heart could fall into such depravity through sight, hearing, speaking, touching, or enormous attachment to something. That must all be tucked up, placing emphasis on being awake and taking everything into consideration with forethought (which things proceed from where and what they are born from). One then immediately resists them so that, growing stronger, those destructive things do not ensnare the heart and create unrest or some evil root in temptation, because it would not be so easily remedied later, even with remorse. That is why he commands us to tuck up the loins of our minds in truth, watching over and carrying everything out in truth–so that we are not careless, evilly negligent, unrestrained and spread out in this way, involving ourselves in, fraternizing with, and getting our noses stuck in everything, forgetting ourselves and falling into harm. Otherwise we will not make it in this battle when we let our minds loose everywhere.

Then the apostle commands:

“Having put on the breastplate of righteousness,” which is necessary in battle, the whole body is protected from the blows of the enemy. That must be the righteousness that surrounds the entire body with good works and protects every empty place. However, there is not enough time to talk at length now about that because the apostle includes all virtues in that word righteousness. Even though the fulfillment of the law is love, it is easier for us to understand it when he distinctly explains that sometimes we speak about patience, humility, mercy, silence, being peaceable, exertion, carefulness, faithfulness, restraint, and purity. We also call it righteousness when such things are in people, because a person is righteous through those virtues. Wherever there are such virtues, they cover a person from all sides so that the enemy is unable to strike, for the devil has a place to strike at a person wherever righteousness does not cover. But I cannot explain those virtues in this discourse because they are sparse in me according to my works.

Nevertheless, I will touch on righteousness a little bit. It is said that righteousness is given to each person as is fitting for him, and also to one’s neighbor. Though it would be fitting to give a lot to God, a poor person cannot give much when he himself needs to be comforted by His wealth and take nourishment from His hand. But still, the righteousness that is fitting is when He receives what we have, because it is righteous when we meditate on all of the goodness we have received from Him, give Him praise and thanks, and return it all to Him again. We are created by Him and redeemed by the precious blood of his dear Son so that we are His peculiar people for His honor. We are redeemed by His holy blood from the falsehood of life so that we no longer serve sin but the living God with a pure conscience, being washed from our evil consciences in the blood of His Son. We therefore abolish that mortality within us which defames God, exalts itself, and corrupts the power of the Holy Spirit in us and the spiritual life in the inner man. We ought to lean on that righteousness most of all, so that we do not despise the purchase of His Son’s blood because of the corruption of our flesh, properly identifying the ways of the flesh so that we take all care to put that corruption to death within us. But, because we often