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Bridle All Your Passions

Alma 38. Nice turn of phrase, but not original to the Book of Mormon. Various sermons, tracts, and devotional books interpret James 1 (bridle the tongue) and 3 (bridle the whole body) with the phrase “bridle your passions” or “bridle all your passions” as early as 1803 (“By the girding of our loins Christ requires a temperance so exact, as to bridle all our passions, to mortify our senses, and to restrain them from whatever may be contrary to the law of God. …”), 1807 (“Lastly, in your personal conduct, you are required to keep your bodies in temperance, soberness, and charity, to bridle your passions, and govern your sensual appetites; to be meek and lowly, humble, patient, and resigned; … These are the main of the things undertaken and promised in your name at your baptism …”), 1825 (“Bridle all concupiscence; restrain your passions; tame your rebellious flesh; die to yourselves, that you may live to God. Can you say with St. Paul: ‘With Christ I am nailed to the Cross?’ (Gal. 2.)”).

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