- Jun 26, 2004
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From Richard Baxter's A Christian Directory (Governing the Senses),
"Reason is dethroned by sin; and the will is left unguided and unguarded to the rapes of sensual violence."
"But where reason is sanctified, there sense is ruled to the ends of sanctification, according to the measure of grace."
Philokalia (Gregory Palamas to Nun Xenia),
"The first victim of these passions is the intellect. Because the passions initially spring from the mind, the Lord says that the evil thoughts which defile us proceed from the heart (cf. Matt. 15:18-19). And prior to the Gospel the Law tells us, 'Be attentive to yourself, lest there arise some secret iniquity in your hearts' (Deut. 15:9. LXX). Yet though it is the intellect that initiates evil, none the less the images of sensory bodies that entice the intellect towards these bodies and incite it to misuse them are impressed on it from below, through the senses, and above all through the eyes, for the eyes can embrace a defiling object even from a distance. Eve, our primordial mother, is clear evidence of this: first she saw that the forbidden tree was 'comely to look upon and beautiful to contemplate', and then, assenting in her heart, she plucked and ate its fruit (cf Gen. 3:6)."
Similarities exist between the Eastern Orthodox and Prots especially the Puritans when it comes to personal piety.
Yours in the Lord
"Reason is dethroned by sin; and the will is left unguided and unguarded to the rapes of sensual violence."
"But where reason is sanctified, there sense is ruled to the ends of sanctification, according to the measure of grace."
Philokalia (Gregory Palamas to Nun Xenia),
"The first victim of these passions is the intellect. Because the passions initially spring from the mind, the Lord says that the evil thoughts which defile us proceed from the heart (cf. Matt. 15:18-19). And prior to the Gospel the Law tells us, 'Be attentive to yourself, lest there arise some secret iniquity in your hearts' (Deut. 15:9. LXX). Yet though it is the intellect that initiates evil, none the less the images of sensory bodies that entice the intellect towards these bodies and incite it to misuse them are impressed on it from below, through the senses, and above all through the eyes, for the eyes can embrace a defiling object even from a distance. Eve, our primordial mother, is clear evidence of this: first she saw that the forbidden tree was 'comely to look upon and beautiful to contemplate', and then, assenting in her heart, she plucked and ate its fruit (cf Gen. 3:6)."
Similarities exist between the Eastern Orthodox and Prots especially the Puritans when it comes to personal piety.
Yours in the Lord
