“The commandments of God are irreproachable, because they contain nothing impossible. To one having charity the commandments of God are easy and sweet, but to one not having charity they seem difficult. Augustine gives the example of a bird having feathers and a bird without feathers: for a bird having feathers it is easy to fly, but for a bird not having feathers it is difficult. Similarly, to a man of perverse will the commandments seem difficult, which to one having charity are easy. Whence it is said in Deuteronomy: "This commandment which I command you today is not above you nor placed far off nor set in heaven nor placed beyond the sea, but the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it."”

“But consider if perhaps all people participate in him insofar as he is Word. This is why the apostle teaches us that he is sought within the seekers by those who choose to find him. He says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who shall ascend into heaven?' that is, to bring Christ down; or, 'Who shall descend into the deep?' that is, to bring Christ up again from the dead. But what does the Scripture say? The Word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart." This is as though Christ and the Word which is sought are the same.”

“Let us ponder the nature of life and of death. Life is the enjoyment of the gift of breath, death the deprivation of it. Further, this gift of breath is considered by most people as a good. And so life is this, the enjoyment of goods, but death is the divestiture of them. And Scripture says, "Behold, I have set before your face life and death, good and evil," for it calls life good and death evil and attributes to each its proper deserts.”

“It is now clear that there are ten precepts of the sacred decalogue. In the first three, right ordering toward God is commanded; in the fourth, right ordering and beneficence toward parents; in the other six, right ordering and innocence toward one's neighbor is commanded. Although certain precepts are called affirmative and certain negative, nevertheless all contain both affirmation and negation within themselves. When God prohibits something in a certain commandment, He commands its contrary; and conversely, when He commands something, He prohibits its contrary. For in the first commandment, humble adoration of the divine majesty is commanded, and idolatry is prohibited. In the second, faithful assertion of the divine truth is commanded, and perjury is prohibited. In the third, devout love of the divine goodness is commanded, and lack of devotion is prohibited. In the fourth, piety toward parents is commanded, and dishonor is prohibited. In the fifth, meekness is commanded, and wrath is prohibited. In the sixth, chastity is commanded, and adultery is prohibited. In the seventh, generosity is commanded, and theft is prohibited. In the eighth, truthfulness is commanded, and lying is prohibited. In the ninth, liberality of heart is commanded, and concupiscence for temporal things is prohibited. In the tenth, purity of mind is commanded, and concupiscence of the flesh is prohibited. See that all the precepts contain within themselves affirmation and negation, and that in every precept there is life and good, death and evil. In the observance of the commandments there is life and good, and in transgression there is death and evil. And from the observance of the law follows blessing, and from transgression, cursing. For from the observance of the law a man becomes reverent, faithful, devout, pious, meek, chaste, generous, truthful, content with his own possessions — that is, liberal in heart and undefiled in mind. On the contrary, from the transgression of the law a man becomes an idolater, a blasphemer, undevout, impious, a murderer, an adulterer, a thief, a liar, covetous, and carnal. Therefore the transgressor of the law and the observer are more distant from one another than hell is from paradise, because the one is at the center and the other is at the circumference; nor can the God of heaven do otherwise, because He is just and "cannot deny Himself."”

“For since, as it is written, man is confronted equally with life and death and stretches out his hand toward what he wants, it is necessary that whatever a man grasps with his hands in time he must possess forever in eternity. What here he cleaves to in affection, he must in the future cleave to forever, with his will and mind wholly fixed upon it.”

“As he himself said … "Behold before you are fire and water, death and life. Choose life, that you may live." Everything we mentioned above, that is, good and evil, is contained in these two. For heaven and hell, Christ and the devil, height and depth are proposed to us in them. Through his grace God has put it into the power of each one to choose and to stretch out his hand to whatever he wishes.”