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| Chapter XVII. How the weaker part of the soul is the first to yield to the devil's temptations.
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Chapter XVII.
How the weaker part of the soul is the first to yield to
the devil’s temptations.
You should then apply to this
member or part of the soul which we have described as particularly
wounded, the remedy of true humility: for as, so far as appears, it is
weaker than the other powers of the soul in you, it is sure to be the
first to yield to the assaults of the devil. As when some injuries come
upon us, which are caused either by toil laid upon us or by a bad
atmosphere, it is generally the case in the bodies of men that those
which are the weaker are the first to give in and yield to those
chances, and when the disease has more particularly laid hold
of them, it affects the sound
parts of the body also with the same mischief, so also, when the
pestilent blast of sin breathes over us the soul of each one of us is
sure to be tempted above all by that passion, in the case of which its
feebler and weaker portion does not make so stubborn a resistance to
the powerful attacks of the foe, and to run the risk of being taken
captive by those, in the case of which a careless watch opens an easier
way to betrayal. For so Balsam2316
gathered that
God’s people could be by a sure method deceived, when he advised,
that in that quarter, wherein he knew that the children of Israel were
weak, the dangerous snares should be set for them, as he had no doubt
that when a supply of women was offered to them, they would at once
fall and be destroyed by fornication, because he was aware that the
parts of their souls which were subject to desire were corrupted. So
then the spiritual wickednesses tempt with crafty malice each one of
us, by particularly laying insidious snares for those affections of the
soul, in which they have seen that it is weak, as for instance, if they
see that the reasonable parts of our soul are affected, they try to
deceive us in the same way that the Scripture tells us that king Ahab
was deceived by those Syrians, who said: “We know that the kings
of Israel are merciful: And so let us put sackcloth upon our loins, and
ropes round our heads, and go out to the king of Israel, and say to
him: Thy servant Benhadad saith: I pray thee, let my soul live.”
And thereby he was affected by no true goodness, but by the empty
praise of his clemency, and said: “If he still liveth, he is my
brother;” and after this fashion they can deceive us also by the
error of that reasonable part, and make us incur the displeasure of God
owing to that from which we were hoping that we might gain a reward and
receive the recompense of goodness, and to us too the same rebuke may
be addressed: “Because thou hast let go from thy hand a man who
was worthy of death, thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for
his people”2317
Or when the
unclean spirit says: “I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit
in the mouth of all his prophets,”2318
he certainly spread the nets of
deception by means of the reasonable feeling which he knew to be
exposed to his deadly wiles. And this also the same spirit expected in
the case of our Lord, when he tempted Him in these three affections of
the soul, wherein he knew that all mankind had been taken captive, but
gained nothing by his crafty wiles. For he approached that portion of
his mind which was subject to desire, when he said: “Command that
these stones be made bread;” the part subject to wrath, when he
tried to incite Him to seek the power of the present life and the
kingdoms of this world; the reasonable part when he said: “If
Thou art the Son of God cast Thyself down from hence.”2319
And in these his deception availed
nothing for this reason because he found that there was nothing damaged
in Him, in accordance with the supposition which he had formed from a
false idea. Wherefore no part of His soul yielded when tempted by the
wiles of the foe, “For lo,” He saith, “the prince of
this world cometh and shall find nothing in Me.”2320
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