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But let not this seem superfluous or objectionable to any one. For
unless the different kinds of sins are first explained, and the origin and
causes of diseases traced out, the proper healing remedies cannot be
applied to the sick, nor can the preservation of perfect health be secured
by the strong. For both these matters and many others besides these are
generally put forward for the instruction of the younger brethren by the
elders in their conferences, as they have had experience of numberless
falls and the ruin of all sorts of people. And often recognizing in
ourselves many of these things, when the elders explained and showed them,
as men who were themselves disquieted by the same passions, we were
cured without any shame or confusion on our part, since without saying
anything we learnt both the remedies and the causes of the sins which beset
us, which we have passed over and said nothing about, not from fear of the
brethren, but lest our book should chance to fall into the hands of some
who have had no instruction in this way of life, and might disclose to
inexperienced persons what ought to be known only to those who are toiling
and striving to reach the heights of perfection.
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