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QUESTIONS 70-71 179 delight opposed the good will, as is true now. For example, if there is someone who has never taken pleasure in hunting, he is completely free as to whether he wants to hunt or does not want to, nor does the one who forbids him cause him pain. But if, abusing this freedom, he hunts contrary to the order of him who forbids, then pleasure, stealing unawares upon the soul little by little, inflicts death upon it so that if the soul wants to restrain itself, it cannot do so without vexation and anguish, since previously it did not act with full equanimity. Therefore' 'the sting of death is sin," because through sin there has come about a delight which can now resist the good will and be kept back [only] with pain. This delighting we rightly call death, because it is the failing of a soul become degenerate. "But the power of sin is the Law," because what is forbidden by law is done with much more viciousness and shamefulness than if forbidden by no law. Hence death will be swallowed up into victory at that time when carnal delight will be eclipsed through the sanctification of the whole man by a perfect delight in things spiritual. 71. ON THE SCRIPTURE: "BEAR ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS, AND IN THIS WAY WILL YOU FULFILL THE LA W OF CHRIST"l (1) Because obedience in the Old Testament was characterized by fear, there could be no clearer an indication that the gift of the New Testament is love than in this passage where the Apostle says: "Bear one another's burdens, and in this way will you fulfill the law of Christ." For one understands the law of Christ to refer to the fact that the Lord himself commanded us to love one another, placing so much weight on the significance of the maxim that he said: "In this will one know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."2 Moreover, the responsibility of this love is that we bear one another's burdens. But this responsibility, 1 Gal 6.2. 2 Tn 13.34-35. 180 ST. AUGUSTINE which is not an eternal one, leads doubtless to an eternal blessedness in which there will be no burdens for us which we shall be required to bear for one another. Now, however, while we are in this life, i.e., on this journey, let us bear one another's burdens so that we can achieve that life which is free of every burden. Indeed, take the example of deer, whom some people learned in such areas of knowledge have written about. When deer swim across a channel to an island in search of pasture they line themselves up in such a way that the weight of their heads carried in the antlers is borne by one another thus: the one behind, by extending its neck, places its head on the one in front. Moreover, because there must be one deer which is at the head of the others and thus has no one in front of itself to lay its head on, they are said to tak~e the lead by turns, so that the one in front, wearied by the weight of its head, retires to the end of the line, and the one whose head it was supporting while travelling in the lead takes its place. In this way, bearing one another's burdens, they traverse a channel until they come to solid ground. 3 Perhaps Solomon had this characteristic of the deer in mind when he said: "Let the deer of friendship and the foal of your affections converse with yoU."4 For nothing so proves friendship as the bearing of a friend's burden. (2) Nonetheless, we would not bear one another's burdens if the two parties who bear their burdens did so at the same time or had the same kind of weakness. However, different times and different sorts of weakness enable us to bear one another's burdens. For example, you will bear the anger of your brother at a time when you yourself are not angry at him, so that he in turn may support you by his own gentleness and calm at a time when anger will have seized hold of you. This example refers to a case in which both parties bear their burdens at different times, although the weakness itself is not different...

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