This was what Moses said to the Israelites; for setting before their eyes that their chief care ought to be to fear God and observe his law, he represented to them, that for forty years they had been fed with heavenly bread in the desert, where they could find no food; and that one never wants what is necessary whilst he is faithful to God, who can, when he pleases, preserve men's lives, without the help of ordinary aliment. Christ answered the devil in the same sense, that he had no need of that miracle, since God had already supported him so long without bread. From whence

we must conclude, that it is unworthy of a heart, capable of possessing God and his eternal blessings, to depend more on corporal things than on the Divine providence, who governs and nourishes all creatures.

V. The two other temptations tended also to overthrow the foundations of perfect charity: for the devil, believing our Saviour was but a mere man, carried him up to the pinnacle of the temple, pretended that he was edified with so great a confidence in God, exhorted him to persevere therein, telling him that the servants and children of God had nothing to fear, and that no evil could befal him since it is written: he hath given his angels charge over thee: to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone (Ps. xc. 11, 12); and that, therefore, he might cast himself from the top of the temple, and he should be supported in his fall, as he had been in coming up. It is not credible that the devil had assumed any strange body, or that he transported Christ by touching him; but carried him up by an invisible virtue, and by a natural power which spirits have over bodies. Now the particular design of that temptation was, to inspire our Saviour with the esteem of himself, and with a confidence in his own virtue, in an occasion wholly rash, from whence no glory could accrue to God, and, in which, on the contrary, his power was tempted.

The devil had learned by his own chastisement, that nothing displeases God more than self-esteem: he was provoked to find so much resistance, and could scarce dissemble any longer, as it always happens to him, when he is repulsed courageously, and his artifices are discovered. But though he had suppressed, for fear of being known, the following words of the same Psalm, thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk: thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon; yet he was not the better concealed thereby: for Christ confounded him, by saying, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God; and showed us, at the same time, how far that perfect confidence inspired by pure love ought to extend: for when pure love is once well established in the heart, man resigns himself entirely to the conduct of the divine spirit; but with so much diffidence and contempt of himself, that all the glory thereof

redounds to God. He obeys humbly, without presumption or rashness, and accommodates himself to all the vicissitudes which providence ordains, without dissipation, or losing interior attention, which keeps him united to God. The devil endeavours always to trouble that order, by withdrawing the soul from its union with God, to possess it with the esteem of itself.

VI. Then, full of rage and pride, he took off the mask, and all his dissimulation was changed into impudence. God so permitted it, to confound that proud spirit, and to teach us, that having in vain consumed all his wiles against a man constant and faithful in temptation, he no longer observes any measures but assaults him openly at last. Which shows how much more prudent an humble servant of God is, than his enemy; who, by discovering himself, loses his advantage, and becomes most easy to be overcome.

He, therefore, transported Christ into a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, probably by a view of imagination, and said to him: all these will I give thee, if, falling down, thou wilt adore me. I am the master of them; no person is more worthy of them than you, and it is unreasonable that, being capable of governing the whole world, you should remain in obscurity. The devil thereby designed to inspire Christ with some motion of pride. Weak effort of an enemy discovered, who, despairing of victory, makes use of anything without order that comes in his way! But that very temptation often assaults the servants of God in a more hidden manner, when, seeing the corruption of the world, they think themselves capable of remedying it, set themselves about the same without any vocation, and thus lose, without profiting others, the interior peace they possessed.

True virtue never allows good people to think themselves proper for those employments to which God does not call them; and, even when he calls them thereto, they judge themselves capable thereof, only so far as they are governed, instructed, and supported by the spirit of God.

Christ suffered no longer the devil's impudence! he commanded him to retire, saying to him: Begone, Satan, for it is written, the Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve. Afterwards the angels approached to serve him, and to congratulate with him upon his victory. The devil knew not even then, that Christ was truly the Son of God; because that manner of overcoming temptation was common, and such as virtuous persons daily practise.

VII. But the words our Saviour made use of for driving away the devil, clearly show how efficacious a firm and resolute will is for destroying all the attempts of an enemy, who cannot overcome us, unless he be in league with our own will. Hence it is, that he employs so many artifices for gaining it: for he begins by desiring

to be heard; then he fixes us upon the thoughts he suggests, that we may take pleasure therein: after that we have more difficulty to forsake the occasion which produces them; the strength of the soul is weakened by degrees; the consideration and respect of God being present is taken away; the will totally consents at last, and the devil leaves it not till the action be accomplished. The experience of sin makes us more earnestly desire the acts thereof; repeated acts form a habit of it, which is that fatal chain so difficult to be broken, which the devil makes use of for dragging us into hell. But when he finds a will resolved to fight against him, deaf to his first suggestions, and that immediately repels him with courage, that cowardly enemy is soon repulsed, and never gains any advantage.

Since a heart determined to serve God is so strong against temptation, it follows, that if it increases, it is commonly our own fault: for God, who always supports by his grace those who beg it of him with humility, knows that the temptation is never above our strength but when the will is weakened, and we neglect to resist it in the beginning.

St. Luke (iv. 13) adds, that the devil departed from Jesus for a time; to make us understand, that afterwards, by Judas and the Jews, who were the ministers of his fury, he assaulted him whom he durst not attack by himself; because he could find no entrance into a soul so pure, and entirely free from the revolt of the flesh; which is the most common means he employs for making us fall. Thus temptation, in regard to our Saviour, was neither dangerous as to its consequences, nor difficult for him to resist; but what he wanted from that quarter, was abundantly supplied by the extreme humiliation of venturing himself with the most contemptible of his creatures. Thus has he left to his servants the consolation of having him as a companion even in their temptations: and by an admirable invention of his love, he was pleased to teach us himself the manner of combating our enemies, and to merit for us the strength of overcoming them.

VIII. God seems to have three views in permitting men to be tempted; one to try their virtue, another to exercise it, and the third to weaken our enemy.

For first, God often permits his servants to be tempted; that their virtue, which remained hidden in the midst of peace, might appear in the combat; and that each of them might discover their strength or weakness. A peaceable state commonly conceals the want as well as perfection of virtue, and temptation discovers both. Thus it was that Abraham's obedience shone resplendently on the command he received to sacrifice his own son; Job's constancy on the loss of all he possessed; Tobias's patience on his blindness, and St. Peter's cowardice on the occasion of not declaring himself

Christ's disciple. Thus also, it was, that our Saviour's humility appeared in affronts, his meekness in contradictions, his fortitude in labours, his love in torments, and all the other virtues in the occasions of practising them; not for his own necessities, but for the example and sanctification of men.

Secondly, Temptation exercises virtue in us in order to augment it, and in Jesus Christ in order to teach us the purity and perfection thereof; for as it could not increase in him, he practised it in us. So whenever the devil sees us intent in forming ourselves according to that model, he loses courage; because he discovers in that imitation the arms that overcame him. But if he perceives we are negligent, if he finds us cold in the exercise of virtue, he lays hold of our weakness, and attacks us with advantage.

Thirdly, Our Saviour was pleased to be tempted in order to weaken our enemy, not by depriving him of the power of tempting us, but by lessening of the right he had acquired over us, to attack us with all his strength. He was stript of that right, not by violence, according to St. Leo's observation (Serm. i. de Quadr.), but by justice; for by procuring the Son of God, who was innocent, the punishment of the cross, he deserved, by so great a crime, to lose his right over the guilty: who being delivered thereby from his tyranny, and become again the lawful heirs of the eternal kingdom, from which he was excluded, now defend their inheritance against that usurper. So that all the wiles and combats that men suffered before, as a just punishment of their sin, are at present a seed of glory to them.

This made St. Eusebius, bishop of Ephesus, say, that the condition of the devil is very miserable, since all his hatred becomes, to the servants of God, a sure means of obtaining what he would deprive them of, and since the violence he exercises against them enriches the Church with merits, perfects souls in virtue, crowns the labours of the just, and fills heaven with martyrs and confesBut it must also be owned, that those are still more miserable than he, who suffer themselves to be overcome by a disarmed enemy, who voluntarily resume the yoke from which they were delivered, who furnish him, against themselves, with those arms which Christ had taken from him, who give him occasion to triumph over their fall, and lose at last all those eternal blessings which our Saviour had purchased for them with his blood.

sors.

CONTEMPLATION.-On Christ's temptation in the desert.—I. O Almighty God! whose infinite power chiefly appears in pardoning sinners, whom thou hast created after thy own image, have mercy on me, according to thy great mercy. Grant our earthly hearts may love thee above all things, and that we may obtain those great recompenses thou hast promised us: for since they surpass all our desires, they deserve our whole heart. It is the greatest effort of

thy power to produce such nothings as we are, or to punish such weak creatures? Nothing in nature opposes thy will; thou canst reduce us to the number of those things which are not, and justly destroy those who have so unjustly offended thee, without meeting with any resistance. But to soften the hardness of my ungrateful heart, to stop the just complaints which thy justice makes against me, and to pardon with mercy him who is unworthy thereof, requires an infinite power; and because thine is such, thou canst do in me whatever thou pleasest, without prejudicing thy justice, or destroying thy creature.

O God of Majesty, before whom the angels tremble with respect; who is so great, so powerful, so just, and so merciful as thou art? Be thou for ever blessed for the faith thou hast given me, whereby I acknowledge thee for my God; for the hope which thou inspirest me, whereby thou obligest me to expect eternal blessings from thee; and for the charity which thou art willing to kindle in my heart, whereby thou wilt have me to love thee with all my strength.

II. But it depends on thee, O Lord! who canst do whatever thou pleasest, to make my soul sensible of the infinite greatness which is in thee. Thou canst, if thou wilt, enlighten my blindness, fortify my weakness, replenish me with thy grace, subject me entirely to thee, and elevate my meanness even to the participation of thy essence. Speak then, O omnipotent and most merciful Jesus! speak to this leper, to this wretch, to this sinner. Make thyself be heard by my heart, O eternal Father! say only I will, and I shall be healed; I shall be strong; I shall love thee; and I shall imitate thee perfectly; for thou canst do whatever thou pleasest.

The great things that thou hast done for me, only because thou wouldst do so, teach me that I ought to hope for everything that I have need of from thy love. Thou wast pleased to become man for me; and thou wast so because thou wouldst be so. Thou wouldst take the form of a slave and of a sinner, and resemble me in all things except sin. Thou wouldst take my debts upon thee, and satisfy them by thy love. Thou wouldst instruct my ignorance by thy heavenly doctrine. Thou hast overcome my enemies. Thou hast taught me the manner of fighting against them. Thou hast abased the majesty of thy divine person so far as to suffer thyself to be tempted by a cursed creature, whom thou hast rejected for ever, and who will always hate thee. Thou didst permit his infernal malice to attack thy sovereign purity. Thou didst allow that spirit of darkness to transport thee whither he would, and to go so far as even to ask thee to adore him. It is true he knew thee not; but thou, O my God! who sufferedst him to do it, thou perfectly knewest thy own greatness and his base

ness.

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