Volume II, Treatise IV, Chapter II

That Some Are Tempted at the Beginning of Their Conversion and Others Afterwards

St. Greaory. observes, there are some persons, who are never so sharply assaulted by temptations, as in the beginning of their conversion. He says that our Saviour has been pleased by a wonderful providence to give us an example thereof in himself, by not having permitted the devil to tempt him till he retired, after his baptism, into the wilderness, to fast and pray. He intended thereby, adds the same saint, to teach his children, _ that when they retire from the world to apply themselves wholly to virtue, they must be prepared to withstand strong attacks; because it is then usually, that the devil makes his greatest attempts upon them. As soon as the children were gone out of Egypt, Pharao got his army together to follow them. When Laban saw that Jacob had gone finally away from him, then it was that he persued him, with all the people he had about him. And when the devil went out of the man, whom the gospel speaks of, he did, like one who arms against a rebel to bring him back to a sense of duty; “he took seven other spirits more wicked than himself,” (Luke 11:26), to return to the place whence he was driven. Thus it is, when the devil sees a man rebelling against him, and shaking off his yoke, he becomes more enraged, and attacks him with the greater fury. When our Saviour cast out the foul spirit which was deaf and dumb, “it came out of him crying,” says the gospel, “‘ and tearing him with great violence.” (Mark 9:25) And St. Gregory well observes upon this occasion, ‘“‘that when the devil possessed this man, he did not thus tear him; but when by the divine power, he was forced to quit him, then it was, that he more cruelly tormented him;” (Greg. ubi. sup.) to make us comprehend, says the same father, that when we forsake the devil, it is then we ought to expect our being assaulted by the most violent temptations. He says also, that one of the reasons why God permits us to be tempted at the beginning of our conversion, is, to hinder us from yielding too easily to thoughts of presumption; and from looking on ourselves as saints, immediately on our leaving the road of perdition, and entering into the right way. And as he further adds, “security being the mother of negligence,” it is to hinder this security from making us fall into negligence and remissness, God permits temptations to come upon us, to let us see the continual danger we are exposed to in this life, and to oblige us to watch over ourselves with greater care and application. St. John Climachus says, that the beginning of a holy and regular life seems ordinarily troublesome to him who has been accustomed to a licentious one: and that as a bird perceives not that it is taken in the net, till it wishes to get out; so it is not till we renounce vice, that we are most sensible of our unhappy engagements, and feel the greatest strife within ourselves. We must not, therefore, be astonished or lose courage, whatever difficulties may be met with in the beginning, and whatever temptations may assault us; for they who apply themselves to God’s service are usually exposed to these trials. _ St. Gregory adds, that it sometimes happens, that a man who has renounced the world, to give himself wholly to the service of God, feels then much more violent temptations, than all those that he had undergone before his conversion. Not, says he, that he had not then in him the root of all these temptations; but the truth is, it did not then appear, but it shewed itself afterwards. Thus it is, that a person distracted with many cares and thoughts, is not thoroughly acquainted with himself. He scarce knows what passes in his interior; but when he comes to recollect and enter into himself, he then feels the disorder of his heart. Temptations, as the same St. Gregory moreover shews, are like thistles which grow on the highway, but scarce appear; because every body that passes treads them down; the roots notwithstanding remain still on the ground, though the prickles shew not themselves; but as soon as they are no more trampled upon they begin to shoot up. The roots of temptations, continues he, hidden thus in worldly people; a variety of thoughts, cares, and business, produce in them, the same effect, that passengers do on thistles, which grow in the highway. But when they reject all other occupations to employ their thoughts entirely in the service of God, then as no one treads upon the. thistles, to prevent them from springing freely up, they begin to feel the thorns of temptations, the roots of which lay before covered in their hearts. This also is the reason, why some feel greater temptations in time of retreat and prayer, than when they are busied in exterior-employments. Hence, though sometimes we feel them more violent in a religious life than before our conversion, yet we are not therefore in a worse state, than when we lived in the world; the reason of our feeling them is, because we are not so well acquainted with ourselves then, and because we now begin to discover the evil that before lurked in us. Wherefore we ought to be careful not barely to cover the root of our bad inclinations, but to pluck it up entirely.

Those who feel a great deal of comfort and delight in the beginning of their conversion, and whom God tries not with temptations till afterwards, are indebted for this, says St. Gregory, to divine providence, which would not have the path of virtue seem at first so rough and troublesome, as to discourage them and make them turn back. And thus God dealt with his own people, when he delivered them from the bondage of Egypt. He led them not through the land of the Philistines, which was the nearest to the country they left, “lest,” says the Scripture, “the people repent when they see war, and return back to Egypt;” (Exodus 13:17) but when they had passed the Red Sea, and entered the wilderness, whence there was no apprehension of their return, God tried them with many sufferings and temptations, before he put them in possession of the land of promise. He deals sometimes after the same manner with those who forsake the world. He hinders temptations from making war against them, lest being yet but weak in virtue they should be frightened, and return to the world. And in the beginning, he leads them through pleasant and comfortable ways, that after having tasted what God is, and known how much he deserves to be loved and served, they may, with so much the more ease and courage, support the temptations which war against the inward man. Nor did he suffer St. Peter to be tempted by a woman, who asked him whether he was not one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, till after he had shewn him the majesty of his glory in his transfiguration; that when he had been humbled by temptation, he might, amidst his sighs of sorrow and tenderness, make use of what he had seen upon mount Thabor; and that as the fear of man had made him fall, so the consideration of the bounty of God, which he had already experienced, might help to raise him up again.

This may shew, says St. Gregory, how much they are mistaken, who, beginning to serve God, and seeing that they find a great deal of pleasure therein, that God is pleased to give them fervour in prayer, and that all the exercises of virtue, and mortification become easy to them, presently imagine that they have already attained perfection; whereas they ought to think, that these favours are only marks of Almighty God’s kindness, which he shews to them, as to children who begin to be weaned, and as persons whom he intends to sever wholly from the things of this world.

It is sometimes, continues the same holy father, to the less perfect, and to those who have made the smallest progress in virtue, that God communicates himself more abundantly; not because they merit more; but because they have the greatest need thereof. In this he acts like a father, who having many children, and loving them all most tenderly, seems not much to mind those who are well; but if any one of them falls sick, he does not only take all care to restore him to his health, but seeks to caress and regale him with an hundred things. He acts also like a gardener who is extremely careful to water continually the young plants, but as soon as they are strong and have taken root, he no longer waters them so constantly, nor takes so much pains about them.

Holy writers farther observe, that God sometimes sends more comforts to converted sinners, and bestows in appearance more special favours upon them, than upon those who have always lived as they ought. And this he does that the first may not fall into despair, nor the others yield to vanity. This conduct is perfectly well explained to us in the parable of the prodigal son. His father receives him with all expressions of joy, gives him a new garment, and sends for musicians; and this very father, though he never received anything but what was satisfactory from his eldest son, “had never given him a kid to eat with his friends,” (Luke 15:29) yet he prepares a great feast, and orders a fatted calf to be killed for the return of a son, who had been disobedient to him all his life. The reason is, “because they who are well,” says our

Saviour, “want not a physician, but the sick have need of one.”— (Mat. ix. 12.)

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