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It is by true piety that men of God cast out the hostile power of the
air which opposes godliness; it is by exorcising it, not by
propitiating it; and they overcome all the temptations of the adversary
by praying, not to him, but to their own God against him. For the
devil cannot conquer or subdue any but those who are in league with
sin; and therefore he is conquered in the name of Him who assumed
humanity, and that without sin, that Himself being both Priest and
Sacrifice, He might bring about the remission of sins, that is to
say, might bring it about through the Mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus, by whom we are reconciled to God, the
cleansing from sin being accomplished. For men are separated from God
only by sins, from which we are in this life cleansed not by our own
virtue, but by the divine compassion; through His indulgence, not
through our own power. For, whatever virtue we call our own is itself
bestowed upon us by His goodness. And we might attribute too much to
ourselves while in the flesh, unless we lived in the receipt of pardon
until we laid it down. This is the reason why there has been
vouchsafed to us, through the Mediator, this grace, that we who are
polluted by sinful flesh should be cleansed by the likeness of sinful
flesh. By this grace of God, wherein He has shown His great
compassion toward us, we are both governed by faith in this life,
and, after this life, are led onwards to the fullest perfection by the
vision of immutable truth.
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