Volume III, Treatise IV, Chapter XI

The Preceding Doctrine Confirmed by Examples

In the Spiritual Meadow,—tom., ii., Bibl. SS., P. P.,—it is recounted that an hermit of Thebais, who was the son of a heathen priest, related one day to several fathers of the same desert, that when young he used always to go along with his father to the temple, and see him offer sacrifice. But one day in particular, said he, having got privately into the temple, I saw the Devil seated upon a high throne, with the whole infernal court around him; and I saw moreover, that one of the principal devils approached and adored him. And Satan said to him, from whence come you? He answered, from such a province, where I have raised sedition, kindled war, put all to fire and’ sword, and now I come to give you an account of it. Satan asked him how much time he had spent in the performance of this enterprise;.the other told him a month. Whereupon he judged him to have spent too much time in so small a matter, and therefore commanded him to be scourged most severely on the spot. After this another devil presented himself at his throne, and likewise adored; to him he put the same questions as to the former, viz., from whence he came, and what he had been doing. I am ‘come from sea, says he, where I raised violent storms, in which many vessels and men were lost, and I am come to acquaint you of it. How much time have you employed in this? said Satan; twenty days replied the other; whereupon he was also condemned to the same punishment as the former, and for the same reason. A third then presented himself, to whom the same questions were put. This devil told him he came from such a city, where he had made several marriages, been the author of several quarrels, in which some were murdered, and amongst others even the bridegroom himself; and that in ten days he had done all this. Notwithstanding, he was likewise condemned as the others, for having done so little in so long a time as ten days. Lastly, in comes a fourth, who, having paid his adoration, was asked the same questions as the former; to which be thus replied: - am come from the desert, where, after having tempted an hermit these forty years in vain, I this very night have brought about my design, and made him commit a sin of the flesh. Upon these words the Prince of Darkness rose from his throne, embraced him, put a crown upon his head, made him sit dawn by him, and then highly commended this his action. When I saw this, says the hermit of Thebais, I concluded with myself that a solitary life had something very extraordinary in it, and that hermits very much excelled other men; and therefore, at that very time I resolved to quit my father’s house and retire into the desert. Here you may observe, by the by, that the hermit’s fall was the occasion why this young man set such a value upon a solitary life, and afterwards embraced it; whereas, now-a-days, the world views the failings of religious in such a light, that from hence they take occasion to condemn not only themselves but their institute also. St. Gregory has a story in his dialogues-Lib. ili., Dial., c. 7,—much like this I have now related to you. We read in the lives of the fathers, that a holy hermit being brought into a monastery where there were many religious, had a certain vision, in which be saw many devils who did nothing but pass and repass through all the apartments of the house. The angel that had conducted him thither, carried him also into a city not far from this monastery, where he was very much struck to see only one devil, and to see him sitting still at one of the gates, as if he had little or nothing to do. The hermit wondering at this ditterence, asked the angel the reason of it: he told him that in the city every one • did what the Devil put him upon, so that one was sufficient to work mischief amongst the citizens; but in the monastery, all the religious used their best endeavours to resist tempations, and therefore a great number of devils was necessary to tempt and ’draw them into sin. allads in lies a strange story is al. in the ires ac, c fathers. It is this: an hermit after a long practice of all sorts of mortification, when he was come to a high pitch in virtue, grew hereupon so proud that God permitted him to fall into a most dreadful sin. It was as follows: whilst this hermit was mightily puffed up, and swelled with a great opinion of his sanctity, the Devil appeared to him in the shape of a very handsome woman, who pretended she had lost her way in the desert. He received her into his cell, where he entertained her, and giving himself up to wicked desires, he put all things in readiness to accomplish them, when at the same instant this woman, with a horrid outcry, broke from his arms and disappeared. After this, different voices were heard in the air; some laughed at him, others insulted him with these bitter taunts: O brave hermit, you who were just now at Heaven’s gates, are fallen as lowas Hell; know henceforward that he that exalts himself shall be humbled. But this unhappy man did not stop here; for though he passed all that night and the following day in mourning and tears for his sin, yet despair at last so far overcame him, as to make him leave his solitude and return to the world, where he led a most lewd life, in all manner of debauchery.

The fall of that other hermit, whom we spoke of in the ninth chapter, is also very remarkable. His virtue was so admirable that even the wild beasts acknowledged it by obeying him; yet he fell, and it is probable St. Anthony foresaw his fall; for, one day speaking of him, he compared him to a rich vessel at sea, adding, God grant that he arrive safe to harbour; and soon after, the unhappy man struck upon a rock and was lost. He who before had commanded wild beasts, says St. John Climacus, is now become a prey to his own passions, more fierce and cruel than the wildest savage. -He that fed upon the bread of angels, now lives upon filth and ordure. After his fall, whilst he was yet lamenting it, some other hermits came and visited him, and he conjured them to desire their father St. Anthony to obtain of God ten days of him to do farther penance. And now it was that the saint cried out, as we have already told you, This very day, brethren, one of the greatest pillars of religion is fallen. He said — no more, being unwilling to particularize the fault, for he knew it was a sin of impurity. The hermit died five days after, leaving behind him a lively example of the frailty of those who depend too much upon theirown strength, and an admirable lesson of humility for proud men.,

Father Avila says, that a certain hermit to whom God had revealed the great danger he was exposed to in this life, was interiorly so moved with it, that ever after he used to cover his face and head in such a manner that he could not see anything but the ground, nor would he speak to any one, but continually bemoaned the dangers of human life. Those who occasionally paid him a visit, were extremely surprised to find him in this condition; and when they asked him the reason of so sudden a change, and of such an extraordinary way of living, he would never answer more than this, Pray let me alone, for I am a man. Another saint deploring the unhappy condition of mankind, had a custom of crying out: Alas! O how unfortunate am I! since I am still capable of offending God mortally!

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