Chapter XLII. How to resist the Devil when he tries to ensnare us by an indiscreet Zeal

WHEN the Devil, crafty as he is, observes that we are walking straight forward in the path of holiness with lively and well-regulated desires, and that he cannot draw us aside by open allurements, he transforms himself into an angel of light, and by friendly suggestions, quotations from Scripture, and examples of the Saints, importunately urges us to aspire indiscreetly to the height of perfection, that he may presently cause us to fall headlong from it. With this in view he excites us to chastise the body with great harshness, with scourges, fasts, hair-cloths, and other similar mortifications, that he may either tempt us to pride, by thinking we are doing great things (as is especially the case with women), or that he may undermine our health, and so unfit us for doing good works, or else that spiritual exercises may become irksome and distasteful to us through pain and over-fatigue; and thus by degrees we grow lukewarm in the way of godliness, and at last rush with greater avidity than before to the delights and pleasures of the world.

With many this has been the case. They, having been led on by a presumptuous spirit, and by the impulses of an indiscreet zeal, have, in their excessive outward austerities, gone beyond the measure of their own strength, and so have perished in their own inventions, and have become the sport of malicious fiends. This would never have happened if they had laid to heart what we have been saying and considering, which is, that painful acts of this sort, however praiseworthy and profitable to those whose bodily strength and lowliness of spirit are equal to them, must yet ever be limited by the requirements of each man's constitution and temperament.

And if you cannot imitate the Saints in their austerities, you may find other features in their character which you can copy, by strong and effectual desires and fervent prayers, aspiring after the most glorious crowns of Christ's true soldiers; by despising, as they did, the whole world, and themselves also; by giving themselves up to silence and solitude; by humility and gentleness towards all men; by patience under wrongs, and kindness to those who treated them ill; by watchfulness against even the smallest fault, for this is more pleasing to God than all bodily austerities. I counsel you, then, to be sparing in the use of such, so as to be able, if needs be, to increase your mortification, rather than to run the risk of having to give them up altogether because of excesses. I give you this advice, being persuaded that you are not likely to fall into the error of some, who, though they pass for spiritual persons in the world, yet are they deluded and led astray by their deceitful nature into over-carefulness about the preservation of their bodily health. So jealous and anxious over it are they, that for the most trifling matter they live in fear and dread of losing it. There is nothing they think about more, or are more ready to speak of, than the management of their bodily health. Hence they are also planning how to procure food suited rather to their taste than to their digestion, which latter has often been impaired by their indulgence in delicacies. And, although this is done under the pretext of being able to serve God better, it is but a vain attempt to unite two deadly foes, the spirit and the flesh,—an attempt which results in benefiting neither and in injuring both, for this same over-carefulness impairs the health of the one and the devotion of the other.

A certain degree of liberty in these matters is safer and more profitable as a rule; yet it must be accompanied by the discretion of which I have been speaking, and have regard to the differences of constitution and spiritual state, which cannot be subjected to an uniform rule.

Further than this, I would add, that not only in outward things, but also in the pursuit of inward holiness, we should proceed with moderation, as has been shown above, as to the gradual attainment of virtues.