The Precepts of Temperance

The Ten Commandments are precepts of temperance inasmuch asthey make for moderation and right order in human conduct.Inspecial, the sixth and ninth commandments are precepts oftemperance, for they forbid inordinateness of sex in deed anddesire, and this is something directly pertinent to temperance.

The precepts of the virtues allied to temperance as itsparts are also found in the Decalogue. For, though theparts of temperance refer directly to a man’s selfrather than to God and neighbor, as the Ten Commandments do, yettheir effects reach out to others, and this fact bringsthem under the preceptive force of the commandments. Thus anger,for instance, may lead to murder; pride may lead to the dishonoringof parents, and to sins directly against God. Thus the effects ofsins opposed to the parts of temperance may come under thecommandments directly.