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YOU should then apply to this member or part of the soul which we have
described as particularly wounded, the remedy of true humility: for as, so
far as appears, it is weaker than the other powers of the soul in you, it
is sure to be the first to yield to the assaults of the devil. As when some
injuries come upon us, which are caused either by toil laid upon us or by a
bad atmosphere, it is generally the case in the bodies of men that those
which are the weaker are the first to give in and yield to those chances,
and when the disease has more particularly laid hold of them, it affects
the sound parts of the body also with the same mischief, so also, when the
pestilent blast of sin breathes over us the soul of each one of us is sure
to be tempted above all by that passion, in the case of which its feebler
and weaker portion does not make so stubborn a resistance to the powerful
attacks of the foe, and to run the risk of being taken captive by those, in
the case of which a careless watch opens an easier way to betrayal. For so
Balsam gathered that God's people could be by a sure method deceived,
when he advised, that m that quarter, wherein he knew that the children of
Israel were weak, the dangerous snares should be set for them, as he had no
doubt that when a supply of women was offered to them, they would at once
fall and be destroyed by fornication, because he was aware that the parts
of their souls which were subject to desire were corrupted. So then the
spiritual wickednesses tempt with crafty malice each one of us, by
particularly laying insidious snares for those affections of the soul, in
which they have seen that it is weak, as for instance, if they see that the
reasonable parts of our soul are affected, they try to deceive us in the
same way that the Scripture tells us that king Ahab was deceived by those
Syrians, who said: "We know that the kings of Israel are merciful: And so
let us put sackcloth upon our loins, and ropes round our heads, and go out
to the king of Israel, and say to him: Thy servant Benhadad saith: I pray
thee, let my soul live." And thereby he was affected by no true goodness,
but by the empty praise of his clemency, and said: "If he still liveth, he
is my brother;" and after this fashion they can deceive us also by the
error of that reasonable part, and make us incur the displeasure of God
owing to that from which we were hoping that we might gain a reward and
receive the recompense of goodness, and to us too the same rebuke may be
addressed: "Because thou hast let go from thy hand a man who was worthy of
death, thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people" Or
when the unclean spirit says: "I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit
in the mouth of all his prophets," he certainly spread the nets of
deception by means of the reasonable feeling which he knew to be exposed to
his deadly wiles. And this also the same spirit expected in the case of our
Lord, when he tempted Him in these three affections of the soul, wherein he
knew that all mankind had been taken captive, but gained nothing by his
crafty wiles. For he approached that portion of his mind which was subject
to desire, when he said: "Command that these stones be made bread;" the
part subject to wrath, when he tried to incite Him to seek the power of the
present life and the kingdoms of this world; the reasonable part when he
said: "If Thou art the Son of God cast Thyself down from hence." And in
these his deception availed nothing for this reason because he found that
there was nothing damaged in Him, in accordance with the supposition which
he had formed from a false idea. Wherefore no part of His soul yielded when
tempted by the wiles of the foe, "For lo," He saith, "the prince of this
world cometh and shall find nothing in Me."
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