Volume II, Treatise IV, Chapter XVI

That Prayer Is a Powerful Remedy Against Temptation; Some Short and Fervent Prayers Proper to be Made in Time of Temptation

PRayYeER is another remedy, of which we ought to make great account; and is a general one, recommended by both Scripture and the holy fathers as one of the principal remedies we can use. Our Saviour himself teaches us the same truth in the gospel, not only by these words, “watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation,” (Mat. xxvi. 41), but also by his own example. It was with prayer, he prepared himself in the garden, for all the pains and ignominies of his passion. He prayed, not because he stood in need of prayer; but because he would teach us to have recourse to it in all the attacks we should meet with. The Abbot John said, thata religious person ought to be as a man, who carried fire in one hand, and water in the other, to cast upon it as occasion served; even 80, says he, when the fire of concupiscence begins to kindle in us, we ought presently to extinguish it by prayer. He made use of another comparison also to this purpose, saying, that as a man who lies at the foot of a tree, and sees wild beasts coming towards him to devour him, would presently climb to the top of it, to save himself; so a religious, who perceives himself beset with temptations, ought to climb up to heaven, and retire into the bosom of God, by the help of prayer; and by this means he will be delivered from all the attacks and snares of the devil. “For it is in vain to cast a net in the presence of birds;” (Proverbs 1:17), and the devil will in vain set his snares to take us, if we raise ourselves to heaven upon the wings of prayer. ‘My eyes are always lifted up to the Lord,” says the prophet, “it is he who will free my feet from snares.” (Psalms 24:15)

I have spoken at large in the first part of this work, of the advantage of prayer in temptations. It will therefore suffice at present, to set down here some short and fervent prayers, which upon occasion we may make use of. The holy Scripture is full of passages of this kind, and chiefly the psalms are filled with them. ““Q Lord, I suffer violence, answer for me:” (Isa. xxxviii. 24), “‘ Arise, O Lord, why dost thou sleep, do not always reject me; why dost thou turn thy face from me, and forget my miseries and oppression?” (Psalms 43:23) “Take up thy arms and buckler, arise to help me. Say to my soul, I am thy Saviour.” (Psalms 34:2) “How long, O Lord, wilt thou be forgetful of me? Wilt thou always be so? How long wilt thou, O Lord, hide thy beautiful face from me? How long shall my enemy be too strong for me? Cast thy eyes upon me and hear me, O my Lord, and my God. Illuminate my eyes and permit not the sleep of death to shut them; nor that my enemy should boast that he has prevailed against me.”—(Psalms 12:1,2, &c.) “It is thou, O Lord, who art my help in time of affliction.” (Psalms 9:10) “I will hope under the shadow of thy wings; and when thou shalt-cover me with them, I will rejoice.” —(Ps. Ixii. 8.) St. Austin touched with the idea this figure gave him, said to God, “Lord place me in security under thy wings;” (Ps. Ixvii. 1), because I am still so weak, that if thou dost not defend me, the kite will take me away. The beginning of the sixty-seventh psalm, is above all, of great power in temptation; and St. Athanasius assures us, that many servants of God, have found in themselves miraculous effects of grace, by saying with the prophet, “let God arise and let his enemies be scattered, and let those that hate him fly before his face.’’ (Psalms 10:2) Itis because, we then oppose the devils, not with our own strength, but with that of God, whose help we invoke against them; whereby they presently lose courage, seeing very well that God will not fail to espouse our cause and fight in behalf of his champions.

We may therefore help ourselves with those words which are very efficacious, or with any other like them taken from the Scripture; or with those which our present necessity may dictate to us. But be it as it will, we must never fail in temptation, to have recourse to God, by means of prayer. It is for this reason that Father Avila said, if temptation addresses itself to you, do you address yourself to God, and say, “I lifted up my eyes to the heavenly mountains, whence help will come unto me; my help is from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”—(Psal. cxxix. 1.) But above all, these prayers and cries which we address to God, must come not only from our mouths, but from the bottom of our heart, according to the words of David, ‘“‘O Lord, I addressed my cries unto thee from the bottom of my heart;” (Hom. i. sup.); upon which words St. Chrysostom takes notice, “that the prophet prayed not only with his mouth and tongue,” because we often speak without thinking on what we say, “but he prayed from the bottom of his heart. He prayed with fervour, with joy and confidence, and lastly it was his whole heart, and mind with which he prayed.”—(Psal. cxxix.)

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