a
welcome, no sweeter a sympathy, than that which He will give to us who
are wearied with the burden of life's warfare, and perplexed with the
problems of the battle.

[1] _Imitation_, I, xiii.

[2] "When the mind ceases to entertain religious anxiety, it becomes at
the same time forgetful of the commandments, and while it thinks itself
advancing, it wanders from the smooth road, and idles on its way."--St.
Macarius, _Institutes of Christian Perfection_, Bk. I, chap. v.

[3] Scupoli, _The Spiritual Combat_, chap. xxv.

[4] _Imitation_, IV, xvii.

[5] 1 St. John iv, 18.

[6] 1 Cor. x, 13.

[7] Ps. xxxvii, 8. The R. V. reads, "Fret not thyself; it tendeth only
to evil-doing."

[8] Archbp. Ullathorne, _Christian Patience_, p. 128.

[9] Deut. xxxiii, 27.

[10] Heb. xiii, 5.

[11] Heb. xi, 11.

[12] Ps. xviii, 16.

[13] St. James iv, 7.

[14] [Greek: _pheugo_], from which our English word _fugitive_ is
derived.

[15] Deut. xxxiii, 25.

[16] Pusey, _Parochial Sermons_, Vol. II, p. 158.

[17] See a remarkable discourse in Dr. Pusey's _Lenten Sermons_ on "The
Losses of the Saved."

[18] _Imitation_, I, x.

{75}

CHAPTER VI

OUR PREPARATION FOR TEMPTATION

I. _A Double Weapon_

If we have the right spirit of solicitude about our temptations, it
will arm us with a double weapon against Satan which he will have no
power to break. We are told that we are to watch in prayer,--_vigilare
in orationibus_.[1] It is the command given by our Lord to his
disciples in the Garden in the hour of the power of darkness: "Watch ye
and pray lest ye enter into temptation."[2]

St. Paul, also, in his exhortation to the Ephesian Christians to "put
on the whole armour of God,"[3] does not regard it as enough to give
the great list of virtues with which they are to be panoplied. The
loins must indeed be girt with truth; the breastplate of righteousness
must be buckled on and the sandals of the preparation of the gospel of
peace; while above all else there must be the shield of faith; and the
great catalogue of {76} the Christian soldier's equipment ends with the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.

But this armour is not sufficient for the warfare. Complete as it
seems, something else is necessary to insure the victory; and so the
great Christian warrior, who himself had "fought a good fight,"[4] adds
something more, namely, watchfulness and prayer,--"_Praying_ always,
with all pray