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GERMANUS: We say that this does not apply to the persons either of
those who are involved in capital offences, or of an Apostle and those who
have advanced to his measure, but we think that it ought properly to be
taken of those who after receiving the grace of God and the knowledge of
the truth, are anxious to keep themselves from carnal sins but, as ancient
custom like a natural law rules most forcibly in their members, they are
carried away to the ingrained lust of their passions. For the custom and
frequency of sinning becomes like a natural law, which, implanted in the
man's weak members, leads the feelings of the soul that is not yet
instructed in all the pursuits of virtue, but is still, if I may say so, of
an uninstructed and tender chastity, captive to sin and subjecting them by
an ancient law to death, brings them under the yoke of sin that rules over
them, not suffering them to obtain the good of purity which they love, but
rather forcing them to do the evil which they hate.
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