ly, and by the power of God gain the mastery over the
temptation.

Satan seems never to have realized this truth, or else for the
maintenance of his own kingdom he would refrain from his assaults on
God's {61} people. So has sin blinded the very Prince of Sin. He
assaults the Saints of God. In a strength not their own they drive him
back baffled and defeated, and the turrets of the infernal citadel
topple and crash. In the age-long conflict with God, he has never
learned how the divine purpose is using him and his malice, nay, giving
direct permission for its exercise against Himself, in order that the
eternal Kingdom may be the more surely built up among men.

[1] Job vii, 1. (Septuagint Version.)

[2] _Imitation_, I, xiii.

[3] Ecclus. ii, 1.

[4] St. Matt. vi, 13.

[5] St. Matt. xxvi, 41.

[6] St. Matt. xiii.

[7] 1 Cor. x, 13.

[8] Heb. ii, 18.

[9] Heb. iv, 15.

[10] St. James i, 2.

[11] 1 St. Peter i, 7.

[12] 2 St. John 8.

[13] Rev. iii, 11.

[14] Office of Holy Baptism.

[15] 1 Pet. v, 4.

[16] 2 Sam. xi, 11.

[17] 2 Cor. ii, 7.

[18] 2 Cor. xii, 9. "Weakness is the guardian of our
strength."--Pusey, _Parochial Sermons_, II, 337, quoting St. Greg. Mag.

[19] Ps. xx, 2.

[20] _Imitation_, III, xxxv. "It happens sometimes that men's souls
are shipwrecked through evil thoughts, but also it is by the entering
in of such thoughts that we become worthy of being crowned."--_Verba
Seniarum_, x, 86. Quoted by Hannay in _The Wisdom of the Desert_, p.
221.

[21] _Imitation_, I, xiii.

[22] Andrewes, _Sermons_, Vol. V, p. 501.

[23] Archbishop Leighton, _Commentary_, in loc.

[24] Andrewes, _Sermons_, Vol. V, p. 501-502.

[25] Rom. xiv, 17.

[26] Phil. iv, 7.

[27] _Imitation_, I, xiii.

[28] St. Matt. x, 24.

[29] St. James iv, 8.

[30] Ps. lxxxv, 8.

[31] Ps. xxix, 4.

[32] Ps. cxlviii, 5.

[33] St. Francis de Sales, _Spiritual Conferences_, p. 138.

[34] Hilton, _The Scale of Perfection_, Bk. II, Pt. I, ch. viii.

"A certain brother came to the Abbot Pastor, and said, 'Many evil
thoughts come into my mind, and I am in danger through them.' The old
man led him out into the air, and said to him, 'Stretch yourself out,
and stop the wind from blowing.' The brother, wondering at his words,
replied, 'I cannot do that.' Then the old man said to him, 'If you
cannot stop the wind from blowing, neither can you prevent evil
thoughts from entering your mind. Th