Fifth Sermon on Psalm XC: On the Inevitableness of Temptation

“ His truth shalt compass thee with a shield; thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night.”

“Watch ye and pray that you enter not into temptation.” Whose words these are you know, my brethren, and the occasion you know. For they were spoken by the Lord on the eve of His passion. But observe that although it was He Himself Who was to suffer and not His disciples, nevertheless it was not for Him He said they should pray, but for themselves. Hence His earlier words, spoken to Peter, “ Behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not : and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren.” But if the apostles had reason to be so much afraid during the passion of the Lord, how great ought our fear to be, my brethren, during our own passion? ‘‘ Watch ye (therefore) and pray that you enter not into temptation,” because you are surrounded by temptations on every side, and, as you have read in Job, “ The life of man upon earth is a temptation.” * Since, then, temptations occupy our life in such multitudes that life itself may be justly us 161 L called a temptation, how much prayer and circumspection do we not stand in need of if we would avoid falling into them! Therefore in the Lord’s Prayer we have the petition, “ Lead us not into temptation.” But because thou art thus encompassed with temptation, “ His truth shall compass thee with a shield,” so that if there are enemies on all sides, on all sides too is protection. These words, “ shall compass thee,” make it manifest that the shield is to be understood spiritually, because only by a spiritual shield can one becompassed. But truth compasses ; for He is truthful Who makes the promise, and what He promises He fulfils. ‘‘ Godis faithful,” says the Apostle, “‘ Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able.”

It is not without reason, my brethren, that the grace of divine protection is likened to a shield. Shields are broad and heavy on top, in order to defend the head and shoulders ; but at the lower extremity they become narrow, so as to be less of an impediment, particularly as the legs are slender and not easy to wound, whilst injuries received in these parts are not usually very dangerous. According to the same principle Christ provides His soldiers with only a scanty and slender allowance of temporal goods for the defence of their inferior parts, that is to say, their bodies. For He does not wish to embarrass them with a multitude of earthly solicitudes, but that, like the apostles, “ having food and wherewith to beclothed, with these (they should be) content.” But for the protection of their higher selves, that is to say, their souls, He bestows on them a wealth and abundance of spiritual grace. For so we read, “ Seek ye first the kingdom of

God and His justice, and all these thingsshall be added unto you.” The Lord said this with reference to food and clothing, concerning which He told us that we ought not to be solicitous, because our Heavenly Father, in His unspeakable charity, will provide them. And He will do so for two reasons: first, lest we should look upon Him as our enemy, and thus fall into despair, if He refused to supply our temporal wants; secondly, lest an excessive anxiety regarding the things of this world should prove an obstacle to the interests of our souls. For without a sufficiency of earthly goods both the service of God and life itself would be impossible. But the less of them we can manage with the better for ourselves.

The Psalmist therefore says, “ His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night ; of the arrow that flieth in the day ; of the business that walketh about in the dark, of invasion, or of the noon-day devil.” These four dangers, my brethren, represent four kinds of temptation by which we are surrounded. Hence we have need to be surrounded also by the shield of the Lord, so that it may protect us on the right side and on the left, in front and behind. I wish you would constantly bear this in mind, that no one can live here below without temptation, and that when one temptation happens to leave us, we may always confidently, or rather fearfully, expect another,* and that we may only so pray to be delivered from them as never to look for or promise ourselves perfect repose and security whilst we abide in “this body of death.” * And in these combats we must admire the merciful dispensation of the divine goodness in our regard. For the Lord often allows us to be troubled for a long time with certain temptations, in order to protect us from more dangerous ones ; and from some He delivers us quickly so that we may be exercised in others which He foresees shall be more profitable to us. But we have to consider (not now, however,) what are the four temptations referred to in the passage just quoted. For it is my belief that these are the principal amongst all temptations, and that they attack those who desire to change their lives, in the order in which they are there set down.