I
neither willed entirely, nor nilled entirely. Therefore was I at
strife with myself, and rent asunder by myself. And this rent befell
me against my will, and yet indicated, not the presence of another
mind, but the punishment of my own. Therefore it was no more I that
wrought it, but sin that dwelt in me; the punishment of a sin more
freely committed, in that I was a son of Adam.
For if there he so many contrary natures as there be conflicting
wills, there shall now be not two only, but many. If a man
deliberate whether he should go to their conventicle or to the
theatre, these Manichees cry out, Behold, here are two natures: one
good, draws this way; another bad, draws back that way. For whence
else is this hesitation between conflicting wills? But I say that both
be bad: that which draws to them, as that which draws back to the
theatre. But they believe not that will to be other than good, which
draws to them. What then if one of us should deliberate, and amid
the strife of his two wills be in a strait, whether he should go to
the theatre or to our church? would not these Manichees also be in a
strait what to answer? For either they must confess (which they fain
would not) that the will which leads to our church is good, as well as
theirs, who have received and are held by the mysteries of theirs:
or they must suppose two evil natures, and two evil souls
conflicting in one man, and it will not be true, which they say,
that there is one good and another bad; or they must be converted to
the truth, and no more deny that where one deliberates, one soul
fluctuates between contrary wills.
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