Augustine of Hippo

But because you disregard the interior battle and delight in exterior battles, therefore you do not wish to belong to the new song, where it is said: "He teaches my hands to fight and my fingers to battle." For there is a battle that a man wages against himself, fighting against evil desires, restraining greed, crushing pride, suffocating ambition, slaughtering lust. These battles you wage in secret and are not defeated in the open. For this reason, your hands are taught to fight, and your fingers to battle. This is not in your spectacles. In those spectacles, the hunter is not the same as the harpist; the hunter does one thing, the harpist another. In God's spectacle, it is one and the same. Strum the same ten strings, and you will slay beasts. You do both at the same time. You strike the first string by which one God is worshipped; the beast of superstition falls. You strike the second string by which you do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; the beast of the error of wicked heresies, which thought otherwise, falls. You strike the third string where you do whatever you do for the hope of future rest; the cruelest of all beasts, the love of this world, is slain. For because of the love of this world, men labor in all endeavors. But you labor in all your good works, not for the love of this world, but for the eternal rest that God promises. See how you do both at the same time. You strike the strings and slay the beasts. That is, you are both a harpist and a hunter. Do such spectacles not delight you, where we do not gain the eyes of the editor, but the eyes of the Redeemer? "Honor your father and your mother"; you strike the fourth string so you honor your parents, the beast of impiety is slain. "You shall not commit adultery"; you strike the fifth string, the beast of lust falls. "You shall not kill"; you strike the sixth string, the beast of cruelty falls. "You shall not steal"; you strike the seventh string, the beast of rapacity falls. "You shall not bear false witness"; you strike the eighth string, the beast of falsehood falls. "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife"; you strike the ninth string, the beast of adulterous thoughts falls. For it is one thing not to do something outside of marriage, another not to desire another's wife. Therefore, there are two commandments: "You shall not commit adultery," and "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife." "You shall not covet your neighbor's goods"; you strike the tenth string, the beast of covetousness falls. Thus, with all these beasts falling, you safely and innocently dwell in God's love and human society. Striking the ten strings, how many beasts do you slay! For there are many heads beneath these heads. On each string, you do not kill single beasts, but flocks of beasts. Thus, you will sing the new song with love, not with fear.