Sixth Sermon on Psalm XC: On the Four Temptations Which Have to be Encountered by Every Soul Aiming at Perfection

“ Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night, of the arrow that fiteth in the day, of the business that walketh about in the dark, of invasion, or of the noon-day devil.”

The word night, my brethren, is often used in Holy Scripture to designate adversity. And we know that, as a rule, the first obstacle which has to be surmounted by those who desire to return to God, is the difficulty of bodily mortification. For the flesh, hitherto unrestrained, does not suffer itself to be chastised and brought into subjection without a struggle ; but, being still mindful of its recently lost liberty, it violently “lusteth against the spirit,” especially in those austerities in which you die daily, in which you are slain the whole day long, which are contrary to human custom, above the power of human nature, beyond human strength. What wonder, then, if such hardships and privations weigh heavy upon you, and most of all upon those who are not yet inured to them, who have not yet acquired the habit of turning promptly to prayer, of having recourse to pious meditation, in order to obtain relief from the “ burden of the day and the heat” ? Very necessary to us, therefore, at the beginning of our conversion is the shield of the Lord, so that we may “ not be afraid of the terror of the night.” Observe that the Psalmist does not say,

“ Thou shalt not be afraid of the night,” but, “ Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night.” And very properly, because the temptation is not in the affliction itself, but only in the fear of it. For we all endure the same hardships, yet not all are tempted therein. And they that are tempted, are more troubled by the fear of future sufferings than by their present tribulation.

Therefore, since fear is itself a temptation, it is rightly said to him whom the Lord encompasses with the shield of truth, that he shall not be afraid of this temptation. He may be attacked, he may be tempted, he may be afraid of the night, but this fear shall not hurt him. On the contrary, he will sing with the Psalmist, “if it shall have no dominion over me, then shall I be without spot, and I shall be cleansed.” For those that are “ affrighted shall. purify themselves,” as it is written in Job. This fear, my brethren, is a furnace; but by the power of truth it is prevented from consuming and only suffered to cleanse. Fear is indeed night and darkness, yet the sun of truth shall easily dispel it. For this sun at one time reveals to the eyes of our heart the sins we have committed, so that, as the Psalmist says of himself, we are “ ready for scourges,”’ we “declare our iniquity and take thought for our sins ” ; at another, it shows us the everlasting punishment we have deserved, so that all our present sufferings appear to us as so many pleasures in comparison with what we have escaped; now it exhibits to our gaze the heavenly reward towards which we are advancing, and we often recall the words of the Apostle, that “ the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come which shall be revealed in us ” ; and now it brings before us all that Christ endured for our sakes, so that, pondering on the sufferings borne by the Divine Majesty, in order to redeem His worthless servants, we may feel ashamed not to suffer even a little for our own sakes.

‘But perhaps truth, especially truth so manifold and so encompassing, has prevailed so far-as not only to resist the assaults of this fear, but even to drive it away altogether. If this be so, for thee “ the night is passed.” Therefore as a son of light and day “ walk honestly”: but fear the flying arrow. This arrow speeds lightly and lightly penetrates; but not light, I can assure thee, is the wound it inflicts, for it quickly slays. It is, in fact, nothing else but vainglory. Consequently, the lukewarm and the pusillanimous have no need to be afraid of it. But such as appear to be fervent and devout, they have good cause to fear this arrow, and to be always on their guard, and to be particularly careful never to lay aside the shield of truth which renders them invulnerable. For what is so contrary to vanity as truth? I do not require thee to oppose to this arrow of vainglory any recondite and mysterious truth: only let thy soul know herself, and hold the truth which concerns herself. Unless I mistake, it will certainly be a difficult thing for any man in this life to be so deceived by the words of flatterers as to become high-minded, if he carefully examines and scrutinises his interior by the light of truth. Surely, the man who realises the wretchedness of his condition, will say to himself in the words of Wisdom, “ Why is earth and ashes proud ? ” Surely he who considers his own corruption shall be forced to acknowledge that

“there dwelleth not in him that which is good.” But if perchance he seems to possess something of good, at any rate, he shall not be able (as I think) to find an answer to the Apostle’s question, “What hast thou that thou hast not received ? ” And elsewhere in the same Epistle we read, “ He that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall.” Finally, if he sincerely examines the matter, he will understand without difficulty that he will not “ be able with ten thousand to meet him that with twenty thousand cometh against him,” and that “all our justices are as a filthy rag.” It is this same shield of truth that must be opposed to the other temptations which follow. For the ancient enemy will not give up, even now, when thwarted in his second attempt, but will probably have recourse to more cunning devices. He has found the castle of the soul strongly defended on both sides. It were useless to continue any longer his efforts to shake it, either on the left side by pusillanimity and fear, or on the right by human applause, since such means have proved inefficacious So he says to himself: “ It is plain to me now that I cannot succeed by open force ; but perhaps I may be able to gain my object by craft, with the traitor to help me.” Who do you think is this traitor? The traitor, my brethren, is cupidity, the root of all wickedness: the traitor is ambition, that subtle evil, that secret poison, that hidden pest, that deviser of mischief, that mother of hypocrisy, that parent of envy, that fountain of sin, that instigator of crime, that rust of the virtues, that moth of sanctity, that blindness of hearts, that vice which changes even remedies into maladies, and uses medicine to produce disease. “He has despised vainglory,’ says the tempter, “ because it is vain. Perhaps he will accept | something more solid, perhaps he will accept honours or pleasures.” Oh, how many has not this “ business that walketh about in the dark” caused to be cast into the “ exterior darkness ’’ of hell, having first deprived them of their “ wedding garment,” and robbed their virtuous practices of all the fruits of piety! What numbers has not this pest wickedly supplanted and shamefully cast down, so that ell others, who had not suspected the presence of the secret sapper, were struck with terror at their sudden fall! But what else supplies nourishment to this canker-worm except the mind’s estrangement from and forgetfulness of truth ? Or what else but truth can discover and unmask the traitor, and expose the “ business that walketh about in the dark”? For it is truth that says to us, “ What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul ? ” And also, “ The mighty shall be mightily tormented.” It is truth which by its constant suggestions represents to our minds how empty is the consolation of earthly honours, how heavy the judgment that awaits them, how short is the time they will remain with us, and how uncertain their ending.

These three temptations, namely, the ‘terror of the night,” the “ arrow flying in the day,” and the “business that walketh about in the dark,” Satan tried against the Lord. But he did not care to attack Him with the fourth, the noon-day devil, which can be a temptation only for ignorance. For he saw that Christ possessed extraordinary wisdom, by which His answers were so regulated that in none of them was he given the information he wanted.* In the first temptation he suggested to the Lord to provide the means of satisfying His hunger by changing stones into bread. But without telling him whether He had this power or not, the Lord spoke of another kind of bread, saying, “ Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.” In the second temptation he urged Him to cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, promising that if He were the Son of God He should receive no hurt, and the whole city, witnessing the miracle, would praise and magnify Him. Yet here again the Lord’s answer did not inform him whether or not He was the Son of God. The third was a temptation to ambition, when the devil promised to give Him “all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them if falling down” He would adore him. Do you not see, my brethren, that the way of ambition is adoration of the devil, since he promises his adorers that they shall attain to the honours and glory of this world? As for the fourth temptation, he did not presume, as I have said, to bring that against Christ, Whose wisdom he ascertained from the prudence of His answers.

But how does he act in the case of all others who appear to him to love justice and to hate iniquity ? In this way: he endeavours to cover vice with the semblance of virtue. For those whom he recognises to be perfect lovers of good he will attempt to seduce by putting before them evil under the appearance of a perfect good, so that their very love of virtue will lead them to consent the more quickly, and they shall fall the more easily, the more rapidly they are advancing. In this temptation, therefore, Satan appears not only as a demon of the day, but even of the noon-day. Was it not through fear of this noon-day devil that Mary was “troubled” at the Angel’s salutation? Does not the Apostle refer to the same where he says, “we are not ignorant of his (Satan’s) devices ” ? And in another place he tells us that “ Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light.” The disciples also feared this noon-day devil when, seeing Jesus walking upon the waves, they supposed it was an “apparition,” and cried out in alarm. And notice how significantly the Evangelist states that it was the fourth watch of the night when the disciples began to look out for the fourth temptation. That it is truth alone which can strip falsity of its disguises, is, I think, so evident a proposition as not to need proof. Diligent consideration will easily discover these four temptations exercising the Church herself. For whilst yet in her infancy, was she not attacked by the “terror of the night,” when everyone who slew the disciples of Christ thought he was rendering service to God? Then, when the persecution ceased and the morning broke, she was more grievously troubled and distressed by the “ arrow that flieth in the day ” ; because some going forth from her, puffed up with the spirit of the flesh and desirous of vain and transient glory, sought to make a name for themselves by magnifying their own tongues and devising various and perverse doctrines. Now, however, she has peace from the pagans, she has peace from the heretics, but she has no peace from her own false children. O Lord, “ Thou hast multiplied the nation, but hast not multiplied the joy,” because although “ many are called, few are chosen.” All are Christians, and nevertheless almost “ all seek the things that are their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ’s.” Even ecclesiastical offices and dignities have been converted into sources of filthy lucre and given over to the “ business that walketh about in the dark ” : they are no longer made the means of saving souls, but rather of procuring luxury and wealth. It is for this many have themselves tonsured, for this they frequent the churches, for this they celebrate Mass, for this they sing psalms. Nowadays we have candidates contending openly for episcopal, arch-diaconal, abbatial, and other ecclesiastical offices, in order to squander the revenues of the Church on vanities and superfluities. It only remains now that “ the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,” the devil,* not alone of the day, but of the noon-day, who “ transformed himself into an angel of light ” and even “is lifted up above all that is called God or that is worshipped.” For he shall lie in wait for the heel of mother Church with all the greater cruelty because he christ is to be understood as signifying the whole body of Christ’s opponents (De Civ. Dei, 1. xx. c. xix.).—(Translator.)

remembers with bitterness how she has crushed his head. This, my brethren, shall be a most terrible invasion, but even from this, Christ, Who is the subsisting Truth, will deliver the Church of the elect, shortening, for their sakes, the days of tribulation (as He has promised) and destroying the noon-day devil “with the brightness of His coming.” Let so much suffice on the subject of these temptations, which I remember to have treated similarly in one of my sermons on the Canticle of Canticles.* For there also we had question of the noon-day devil, suggested by the noon-day repose of the Bridegroom, the place of which the Bride besought Him to make known to her.