would become mad. All created light must fail here. What God is,
passes the comprehension of every creature. But Holy Scripture,
nature, and all the creatures show us that He is. We shall believe
the articles of faith without trying to penetrate them, for that is
impossible while we are here: this is sobriety. The difficult and
subtle teachings of the inspired writings we shall only explain in
accordance with the life of Christ and His saints. Man will study
nature and the Scriptures, and every creature; and will seek to
learn from them only what may be to his own advantage. This is
sobriety of spirit.

A man will maintain sobriety of the senses, and he will subdue by
reason his animal faculties, that the animal pleasure in food and
drink may not delight him too much, but that he may eat and drink as
a sick man takes a potion, because it is his duty to preserve his
strength for the service of God. This is sobriety of body. A man
will preserve moderation in words and actions, in silence and
speech, in eating and drinking, in what he does and abstains from
doing, as Holy Church enjoins and the saints give the example.

By moderation and sobriety of spirit within, a man maintains
constancy and perseverance in the faith, that purity of intelligence
and calmness of reason which are necessary to understand the truth,
readiness to bend to the will of God with regard to every virtue,
peace of heart and serenity of conscience. Thanks to this virtue, he
possesses assured peace in God and in himself.

By moderation and sobriety in the use of the bodily faculties, he
often preserves health and contentment of the bodily nature, his
honour in external relations, and his good name. And thus he is at