20. The Temptations of The Evil Spirits

I. In nature, God allows all creatures to exercise their proper activities without interference. They may be contradictory to others and may produce catastrophes, but out of it all there proceeds harmony and a higher good. So all spiritual beings are allowed to use their powers according to their free will, whether rightly or perversely. Wrong-doing is not visited straightway with extinction, or with restraint of activity or liberty; it plays its part, and is controlled by God to a good end. The forces of right and wrong are allowed to wage an unending strife until the time comes to separate them eternally. As bad men are allowed to live out their full course unhindered, so Satan and his followers remain in the universe where they still are to have acted as ministers of God, and there they carry on a work of their own, according to their desires and capacities. Hatred of the supreme good, envy of men who are one day to occupy their places in heaven, fierce pride, malicious love of evil for its own sake, these are their motive forces. They endeavour to thwart the designs of God, to establish a reign of falsehood and vice, to deceive and corrupt men, to turn them against their Creator and lead them to eternal misery. It is fearful to think of our being exposed to conflicts with spirits so malicious and so superior to us. But it is for our advantage; and some day we shall see how much good God has educed from that evil.

II. Almighty Wisdom has balanced all things so justly in the universe that no excess in any force is able to destroy the due order of things. In the spiritual universe also there are laws and limitations, beyond the reach of our investigation, which prevent the terrible power of the devils from destroying us by forcing us to sin. Human liberty is sacred and is amply safeguarded. The Omnipotent Himself will not infringe it, even for His glory and our eternal advantage; still less would He permit us to be overborne against our will, and made the sport of Satan, and hurried, unwilling victims, to destruction. The devils can suggest evil to us, can present error in the guise of truth, and wickedness as beautiful and refined; they may even induce us in sheer ignorance to do that which is, in itself, sinful; but they cannot force us to commit sin in a responsible way. The mind and will are always supreme and free, even when man has weakened their dominion by subjecting himself to habits of sin. For anything that man does without full advertence of the intelligence and full adhesion of the will to evil, there is no sin, no responsibility, no punishment. Thank God for thus securing your liberty against the assaults of your deadly enemies.

III. God counterbalances evil by the forces which He has placed at our disposition, His own presence, our faith, prayer and the command of grace, and the special guardianship of good angels. We have within our grasp the certain means of securing the victory over all the temptations of Satan. If we do our best, however little that be, we secure the omnipotence of God on our side, and our weakness becomes stronger than all the craft and violence of Satan, whether exercised through men or devils. Our first requirement in this struggle is humility; this involves distrust of ourselves and confidence in God. It is necessary also to avoid and fly from the occasions of sin; otherwise our confidence becomes a tempting of God. We must resist the first approaches of temptation, so as to give no foothold to the tempter. Finally, persevering prayer obtains a continual supply of powerful graces. Observing these conditions you may rely absolutely on the promise: “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able; but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. x. 13). Meet temptation courageously and joyfully. It is thus you bear your part in the great conflict of good with evil.