Of Other Remedies against Impure Temptations

THE blessed St. Gregory says that sometimes impure temptations and the molestations of evil thoughts and motions are apt to be remnants and remains of an evil past life, and a punishment and chastisement of former license and evil habits; and that then that fire has to be put out with tears, weeping copiously over the past.

St. Bonaventure says that it is a very good remedy in temptations to judge oneself deserving of this affliction and distress, to recognize that the faults and license of your past life quite merit such a chastisement, and suffer the same with patience and humility, saying with Joseph’s brethren: We deservedly suffer these things because we have sinned against our brother (Gen. xlii. 21). In this way, says St. Bonaventure, you will more readily appease God, and the temptation will turn to your profit and advantage. This recognition of oneself as worthy of chastisement calls down the tender mercies of God; thus we read in Holy Scripture that the people of Israel made great use of it to obtain God’s pardon (Dan. iii. 28; ix. 5).

Another very efficacious means to gain the favor and aid of the Lord, and come out victorious and triumphant over our enemies in all temptations and particularly in this, is to distrust ourselves and put our whole trust in God, of which we have treated largely elsewhere, and shall say something afterwards in speaking of the fear of God. It will be enough here to say in general that humility is the great remedy against temptations. The revelation is well known that was given to St. Anthony. Rapt in spirit one day, he saw the whole world full of nets, and cried out in tears: ‘Who shall escape, O Lord, so many nets as these?” And he heard a voice which said to him: ‘“‘The humble man, Anthony.” Be you, then, humble, and God will deliver you from these nets and temptations. The Lord hath care of little ones; I humbled myself, and he saved me (Psalm cxiv. 6). High mountains are stricken with storms and thunderbolts; it is the tall trees that the wind tears up; but reeds, osiers, and lowly shrubs, that bow and bend and sway from side to side, remain standing after the storm is over. In accordance with this it will also be a good and useful thing to gather humility and self-knowledge out of these impure temptations, seeing that such things come over us. We might say: “Thou seest here, O Lord, what I am. What was to be expected of this dunghill but the like odors? What can be expected of the earth that Thou hast cursed but thistles and thorns? This is the fruit that our earth is capable of yielding if Thou dost not cleanse it.” These temptations and bad inclinations that we have furnish good ground for humbling ourselves. If poor and mean clothes aid a man to humble himself, as the saints say, how much more should we be helped to humility by such vile and filthy thoughts coming over us! Holy Brother Giles used to say that our flesh was like the unclean animal that with great eagerness rushes into the mud and takes its delight there; or like the beetle, whose life it is to wallow in dung. This consideration will greatly help us not to let ourselves be carried away by these thoughts.

And generally, in any temptation whatsoever, it is well not to take any account of that to which the temptation moves you, but to turn in at once upon oneself, humbling oneself, and saying: “How wicked I must be, that such things come into my head!” Thus you steal away bodily from the temptation, and the devil is left in the lurch. It is also a great help to enter into sentiments of confusion over the temptation and those bad thoughts and motions, as if they were your own fault, though you are very far from consenting to them. The devil rages and is devoured with pain at seeing such humility; and, proud creature that he is, cannot endure it. You cannot give him a greater slap in the face, or take any better means to make him sooner cease to tempt you, than to let him see that you will make capital out of what he contrived for your ruin. And, besides, this shows how far your will is from offending God, which is a thing that affords great satisfaction and sense of security. It will be also well at times to insult and mock the devil, as by saying: “Aroint thee, unclean spirit, thou shameful wretch! oe ame thing thou art to bring such things into my memory.” Proud creature that he is, he cannot bear being despised and affronted and taken for what he is worth, so he makes off.

St. Gregory relates of Dacius, Bishop of Milan, that on his way to the city of Constantinople he came to the city of Corinth. There were no lodgings for him except in a house that was deserted, and had been so for many years, because it was haunted by evil spirits. The holy man said, “Let us go there.” They went; and about midnight, when the holy man was in bed, the devils began to make a great rout, in the guise of various animals, baying like sheep, roaring like lions, grunting like pigs, hissing like snakes. The holy man awoke with the noise and, getting angry with the fiends, said to them: “Oh, how well has come in and well has gone out your levy of forces! You wished to be like God, and you have been turned into beasts, dragons, and serpents; you make a very good imitation of what you in reality are.” The evil spirits felt this insult so deeply, St. Gregory says, that they at once disappeared, and never again returned to that house, so that it could ever after be inhabited by all.

St. Athanasius relates of the blessed St. Anthony that he was much troubled by impure temptations, and one day there threw himself at his feet a little black man, filthy and dirty, lamenting how he had overcome many, and “by you alone I am rejected with scorn.” The saint asked him: “Who art thou?” “I am,” he said, ‘‘the spirit of fornication.” ‘Henceforth, then,” replied the saint, “I shall make little account of thee, since thou art such a vile and forlorn thing,” and the vision at once disappeared. Christ our Redeemer, in the holy Gospel, calls the spirit of fornication the unclean spirit (Luke xi. 24). In this way we may affront and insult the devil, treating him for what he is, and making game of him. And sometimes this may be done by giving him a gesture of scorn, without saying anything or bandying reasons with him. Hereby, while nothing is said, much is meant.