Hunolt Sermons/Volume 10/Sermon 62

1. On the way to heaven we have no worse or greater enemy than the devil. 2. And yet if we are only firmly determined, there is no enemy we need fear less than the devil.—Preached on the feast of St. Michael the Archangel.

Factum est prœlium magnum in cœlo: Michael et angeli ejus prœliabantur cum dracone.—Apoc. xii. 7.

“And there was a great battle in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon.”

What? Is then heaven, the dwelling-place of God, not free from those rebellious spirits? Have they then the audacity to attack their Almighty Creator and His heavenly princes? Alas! if so, how will it be with me, and other poor, weak mortals like me? You have misled us on that other occasion, when you told us always to rejoice and be glad in the Lord, because we are on the right road to heaven, and can with childlike confidence abandon the care of our salvation to the Providence of God. But how could you speak of rejoicing, as if the devil were not there to rob us of all? Such, pious servants of God, will probably be your thoughts. But I repeat again the words of St. Paul: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice.”^[1] “Serve ye the Lord with gladness,”^[2] and do not let the devil disturb you in this respect. And I mean to show in this sermon that you need not fear him.

It is true that we have no worse or greater enemy on the way to heaven than the devil; this I shall show in the first part. ​And yet, if we are only firmly determined, there is no enemy on the way to heaven we need fear less than the devil, as we shall see in the second part. Let us only keep faithful to God with constancy and humility, such shall be the conclusion and the fruit of this sermon.

Help us thereto by Thy grace, O Lord Jesus! through the intercession of Thy Mother Mary and of all the holy angels.

If God allowed the devil to have his way with men, hardly one would be saved. If we consider, on the one hand, what man is in himself, and, on the other, the devil as he is in himself, and set the two against one another in imagination, without helping the one, or hindering the other, then indeed we should have cause to tremble with fear, to give up all hope of salvation, for hardly one would gain heaven. For consider how unequal the two combatants are. The devil, embittered with an irreconcilable hatred towards the human race: man, careless and forgetful in the affair of his salvation; the devil, a daring and at the same time a powerful spirit: man, a cowardly, weak, miserable creature; the devil, a most crafty, cunning, and experienced deceiver: man, stupid and ignorant, who is easily and willingly deceived and duped. Alas! how could the latter dare to promise himself the victory! He could not entertain the least hope of it.

For the devil has the bitterest hatred against men. In the first place, the envy and hatred of the devil towards men come from the fact that he, hurled from heaven by the Almighty, cannot bear to see man created by God to fill the places formerly occupied by himself and his companions in heaven. This fierce envy and hatred are constantly urging him to compass our ruin in every way possible. Our Lord, in the Gospel of St. John, calls him a murderer and ringleader of all murderers: “He was a murderer from the beginning;”^[3] he goes about like a highway robber, nay, a public assassin, to hurl souls into eternal death; and the more of them he slays, the more bloodthirsty does he become, and his desire for slaughtering souls is whetted still more acutely. Theologians teach that for every soul condemned to hell the pains and torments of the devil receive an accidental increase for all eternity; yet his envy and hatred are so great that he prefers the increase of torment, as long as he can thereby bring man into the place of torture with himself. But he is not satisfied with bringing the souls of men to eternal ruin, and making them unhappy forever.

He acts He cannot even bear to see their bodies enjoying a moderate ​cruelly to all whom he gets into his power. degree of happiness, that now and then might come in their way lawfully during this life. How cruelly he acted towards the innocent Job when he was allowed to hurt his body! How he tortures and plagues the possessed, in whose bodies God has permitted him to dwell! Nay, his most intimate friends, witches and sorcerers, after they have signed with their blood a document giving themselves over to him forever, and he is thus sure of them for eternity, even they must in this life experience his rage and tyranny. Instead of a fancied pleasure that he impresses on their imaginations, he sometimes allows them no rest day or night; no despot in the world is so cruel to his slaves as the devil is to his sworn servants, as these latter have often confessed when put on their trial. In the unhappy times of heathenism he forced those who adored him as god and showed him the highest honor to sacrifice to him with their own hands their first-born and most beloved children, and to burn them alive, as I have on a former occasion shown by many examples. So great and bitter is his hatred against the human race, so insatiable his desire to bring all men to temporal as well as to eternal ruin.

He is very strong and daring. “Vain is anger without strength,”^[4] says the old proverb. But this hellish foe is not wanting in this particular. The prophet Job, who had had experience of his strength, says of him: “There is no power upon earth that can be compared with him who was made to fear no one.”^[5] There are many men who would injure others if they only had the power; they have hatred and envy enough for the purpose, but they restrain their anger through fear of God or men. The pious dare not do it, because they fear to offend their Father who is in heaven; the imperfect are kept back by the fear of hell; the wicked restrain themselves lest they should be made amenable to the laws of the land, and be punished by them. Has the enemy of our soul any of these to fear? Not at all. His power to injure men has not its like on earth, and besides, he is so daring and malicious that he fears no one. He does not fear creatures, because the whole of them together are far weaker than he; he does not fear God; although he always feels the sword of divine vengeance, it cannot keep within bounds the rage he is always eager to pour forth on men every moment, without intermission. Therefore the apostle St. Paul warns us most earnestly: My dear brethren, he says, be on your guard, and ​clothe yourselves with the fear of God: “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil; for our wrestling is not against flesh and blood,” that is, against men made up of weak flesh and blood, “but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness;”^[6] against the hellish spirits, whose power is far greater than any earthly might.

He is very subtle and crafty. And finally, what is most of all to be feared in this enemy of souls, there is no one more crafty, subtle, or cunning than he. Even if I have to deal with a powerful enemy, it does not matter much, provided I can find out when, how, where, and in what manner he means to attack me; for then I may seek help from some quarter or other, and defend myself as best I can; but if he falls upon me unawares, behind my back, like a thief or an assassin, or plants a dagger in my heart while professing friendship for me, what am I to do then? Who could protect himself against a foe of that kind? The devil is a robber and murderer when he tempts us. He is called in Holy Writ the old serpent, and we are warned to be on our guard against him: “That old serpent, who is called the devil and satan, who seduceth the whole world.”^[7] Why does the Scripture call him the old serpent? Would it not be more suitable to give him some other name; for instance, a fiery dragon, a roaring lion, a ravening wolf? No; these fierce animals we are apt to shun the moment we see them; but the crafty serpent manages to keep out of sight until the moment when it is about to spring on you; it does not approach in a straight line, but crawls along with a sinuous motion, concealing itself on the ground under grass and leaves, so that before one is aware of its approach it has given the deadly bite.

He betrays souls by craft, as he tried to betray Christ. Such is the way in which the hellish serpent acts. He does not attack men openly in the beginning, with arms displayed, and violent demeanor, when he wishes to lead them into sin; he does not come straight towards us, but creeps along by hidden paths and circuitous ways; he acts with his suggestions as if he were our best friend and counsellor, although in truth he is inspiring evil under the appearance of good. He rarely proposes sins that ​are evidently grievous, unless to one whom he has already in his power, but uses all sorts of pretexts and excuses, says St. Chrysostom, with which he tries to make us believe that sins are lawful, nay, holy and necessary. We have in the Gospel a proof of his cunning. He wishes to tempt Our Lord to the sin of gluttony, that He might break His fast of forty days. How did he act? Did he bring food, and say: here, eat and fast no longer? No; he went to work far more cunningly than that. “Command that these stones be made bread,” said he to Our Lord, apparently desiring Him to work a miracle. For, he thought, if the hungry man has bread in his hand, he will soon begin to eat of his own accord. In the same crafty manner he tried to excite in Our Lord the passions of vainglory and avarice, when he asked Him to let Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, that the Scripture might be verified: “He hath given His angels charge over Thee, and in their hands shall they bear Thee up, lest perhaps Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.” And again, when he showed Him from afar all the kingdoms of earth and their glory, and said: “All these will I give Thee.”^[8]

He does the same daily with most men. The same cunning he uses nowadays against us mortals. For instance, if he desires to persuade a Catholic to break the law of fasting, how does ho set to work? Does he say perhaps: go and eat meat! eat as much as you want in the evening; never mind the commandments of God? Not at all; but he puts forward various pretexts to excuse the person from fasting, pretexts that seem reasonable enough. Does he perhaps say to the insulted man: revenge yourself; do not forgive your enemy or say a kind word to him? No; but he puts forward all sorts of reasons to show that he must and cannot forgive; that his rights, his honor, his justice require, nay, that even the divine honor sometimes requires that he should not bear such an insult. Does he perhaps say to another: give no alms; do not go to church; remain away from the sermon; do not abolish that abuse? No; but he has a hundred excuses ready to help the man to form a false conscience; he is not bound to give alms; this or that custom is not bad; he must remain away from church, from the sermon, because his health requires a longer sleep, or the inclement weather might injure it. But the crafty spirit is far from suggesting those excuses to the same man, when the latter spends a great ​part of the night, nay, sometimes the whole night, in gambling, drinking, dancing; then he does not want a long sleep. Nor does the man get so anxious about his health when he has to go out to some agreeable company; then the cold air cannot hurt him. This is a clear proof that the cunning tempter has deceived him. In the same way he betrays many under an appearance of piety, by persuading them, for instance, that they cannot go to the sermon, because they must prepare for confession and holy Communion, which are of more importance than the sermon, etc. Thus, although he has not actually led them into sin, he has at least succeeded in keeping them away from instructions and exhortations that would have benefited their souls, and helped materially to make them steadfastly pious. And so he acts in all other temptations.

He has countless ways of betraying men’s souls. Moreover, to bring out his cunning in clearer colors, he does not attack all men in the same manner; he knows well that the same bait will not bring every fish into his net; that one bait is required for a fish, another for a bird, another again for a wild animal. Therefore he studies the nature and qualities, the inclinations and passions of each one, finds out what passion is the most violent in each individual, and to foster this he directs all his suggestions and temptations. He leaves the avaricious man at rest as far as pleasures, gluttony, and drunkenness, vain pomp and gaudy apparel are concerned; but he instructs him in all sorts of tricks and dodges to make money. He does not plague the unchaste man with temptations to ambition; the bait he holds out to him consists rather of pleasant and dangerous company, agreeable objects, impure imaginations, occasions of sin, and so forth. He fills the mind of the proud man with thoughts of honorable offices and dignities, great exploits, reputation, a great name before the world. The simple-minded man he encourages to laziness, cowardice, inordinate sadness, which becomes the occasion of many sins. Another, who is otherwise not bad, he leads into the habit of excessive drinking, from which he knows that many sins will come. In the case of pious servants of God, he is satisfied if he can induce them to commit even a deliberate venial sin. “O most subtle cunning!”^[9] cries out St. Leo. Who can be sufficiently on his guard against it, for he actually enlists our own nature and inclinations against us? Truly he does so! And hence the Apostle warns us in the ​text already quoted: “Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil.” He does not warn us against battles or combats that we have to sustain from the evil one, but against his insidious wiles and snares, that are more to be dreaded than all his power and cruelty.

So that we have no greater foe than the devil and we must always walk with humility and the fear of God. Imagine now, my dear brethren, an enemy of that kind, fierce, embittered against us, daring and powerful, crafty, cunning, and treacherous, attacking a poor, weak, timid, ignorant, improvident man who is already naturally inclined to evil. Could there well be a greater inequality between the two sides? That enemy attacks that man to rob him of an eternal heaven, and to drag him down to everlasting flames; could the subject of contention be of more importance? And again: it is not merely one demon who struggles with one man, although one evil spirit is cunning and powerful enough to conquer and bring to ruin all the men on earth taken together. No; “our wrestling is against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness.” They are powerful and great, and have a great army, says St. Thomas of Aquin. Whole armies of demons sometimes assail one soul. Oh, unhappy and lost mortals should we be if we were left to ourselves! Who should not fear? who should not tremble at the thought of such a terrible foe always lying in wait for us? And yet in such dangerous circumstances we do not hesitate to expose ourselves deliberately to be attacked, as I have shown elsewhere; we force our way wantonly into dangerous company and occasions; we throw wide open the doors of eyes, ears, and other senses; we place all sorts of dangerous objects before ourselves and others, as if we were invincible, and by our cursing and swearing we even call upon the devil and incite him against us. What wonder is it that most souls fall into the jaws of the hellish dragon, and only few gain heaven? Ah, Christians! we have good reason to be humble and to keep always in the fear of God; to pray without ceasing and implore the aid of our heavenly Father; “lead us not into temptation,” that we may not lose Thy heaven, and become the prey of the hellish vulture!

Then we need not fear him. If we do that, then I change my tone and say: pious Christians, who fear and love God, be not anxious, do not fear the devil. Cruel, strong, and crafty as he is, if he came against us with all the legions of hell, he cannot close the gates of heaven on us if we are determined to enter them, as we shall see in the

The devil can tempt no one unless when and how God permits. First, we must know that the devil can tempt no man unless God allows him; nor can he tempt unless in the way permitted by God, nor for a longer time than God allows. If he were at liberty to deal with us as he wishes, then we should fare badly indeed; but his power is limited. “He is kept in prison,” says St. Gregory, “because he is forbidden to tempt the just as much as he wishes.” He is tied fast to a chain like a dog; he is confined in a dungeon, where he can storm and gnash his teeth through envy and the desire to injure us; but he is not allowed out until the door is opened to him, and his chain taken off; nor even then can he attack or vent his anger on any one, unless on the person and in the manner allowed by God. We read in the Gospel of St. Matthew that when Our Lord cast a legion of devils out of a poor man whom they possessed, they begged and prayed: “If Thou cast us out hence,” and we have to leave this dwelling, “send us into the herd of swine.”^[10] Why did they wish to enter into the swine? That, says Theophilactus, they might teach us that no power is granted them even against such filthy animals as swine, unless with the divine permission. Much less, then, can they vent their anger on the image of God that we all bear about with us. Alas! how often the devil is called on in curses and imprecations to injure men! And how willingly, if God permitted, he would answer those calls, and kill and carry off with him to hell the person who curses, as well as him against whom the curse is uttered! But the good God has restrained his power. And that was the subject of the bitter complaint made to Pachomius by the hellish spirits: O unfortunate potentates that we are! they cried out; all our power is taken from us by the Crucified One! If we were permitted to act according to our wish and ability, we would in a short time overturn the whole world and fill hell with souls; but we are not allowed to attack all men, nor to put forth all our strength against any one. Mark, my dear brethren, the advantage we have against our hereditary foe. He may not attack us unless when and as God permits.

God does not allow him to tempt men above their strength. Again, God often gives him great liberty, but never to tempt a man above his strength. We have the assurance of that from St. Paul: “God is faithful, who will not suffer yon to be tempted above that which you are able, but will make also with temptation ​issue, that you may be able to bear it,”^[11] and to overcome it. He measures the temptation according to the strength of each one, like a loving father who sometimes covers the servant’s head with a cloth in order to frighten his child; but if he sees the little one too much terrified, and beginning to shriek and cry out, he at once orders the disguised ghost to go away, and takes the child in his lap to console it.

He gives men angels to help them in temptations. And although God gives the devil permission to tempt man, yet He sends the latter such powerful help that he is in the end mightier and stronger than all the demons of hell. “Alas, alas, alas! my lord, what shall we do?” cried out the servant of the prophet Eliseus, full of fear and terror when the king of Syria was about to apprehend his master, and the servant saw the city besieged by soldiers and chariots. What are we to do? We are lost. By no means, answered Eliseus, calmly; what are you afraid of? Is it of the numerous enemies you see arrayed against us? But have courage; “fear not;” look up, and then he pointed to a high mountain filled with soldiers clad in brilliant armor, and driving with horses and chariots of fire to defend the prophet. “Fear not; for there are more with us than with them.”^[12] Who were the soldiers? They were angels from the host of heaven, whom God had sent to the help of His faithful servant. The same happens in the spiritual combat, Bays St. Thomas of Aquin; many demons sometimes violently attack a single soul; through fear of offending God it grows terrified, cowardly, and desponding at the abominable imaginations, blasphemous thoughts, impure ideas that God has permitted the evil spirit to suggest; but fear not, says the angelic doctor, if you are only firmly resolved to remain faithful to God: “Fear not; for there are more with us than with them.” Far greater is the number of angels that hasten to your assistance than that of the demons that hell sends against you. “He hath given His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways;” and if you only accept their help, “in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.”^[13] From this we can see what I have often reminded you of, my dear brethren, ​the great reason we have to hold our holy guardian angels in high honor, and to call upon them in all temptations with childlike confidence; and my reason for mentioning the holy angels in the beginning of all my sermons is to keep this fresh in your minds.

God Himself helps us, so that we need not fear the devil. But we have also on our side not only the angels, but the Lord of the angels, God Himself, if we are only united with Him, and humbly implore His assistance. God does not witness our combat as earthly princes sometimes do in the world when they look on at a tournament from a window of their palace; they see all that passes, and encourage the combatants, but give none of them any help to win the victory. The Almighty, on the other hand, is like an experienced general, who, while looking on at a battle, knows how to send help to his soldiers in their need. “He exhorts you to fight,” says St. Chrysostom, “and He helps you to conquer.”^[14] “Servants of Christ! do not fear the ministers of Satan!” such are the words in which St. Cyprian exhorted the martyrs to endure their torments, and us to endure temptation: “for the Lord is stronger to protect than the devil to attack.”^[15] Servants of Christ, God is with us; God is in us; who can harm us if we do not accept the harm with our own free will? God fights for us; shall we then fear the devil and his temptations? What! fear? We should rather laugh at him, and treat him as the young David did the proud giant Goliath. This huge mountain of flesh came on armed with a heavy lance and began to revile David: “Come to me,” he said, “and I will give thy flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth.” David, a poor shepherd boy, had no armor but his staff and sling; but he was as little discomposed as if he had to deal with a weak child. And where did he get such courage? Yes, he said to the giant: “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.” I do not fear your huge size, for I have on my side a God who is greater than you, and in whose name I fight; your strength and your armor do not terrify me, for I have with me a mightier Lord, who will this day put your people to shame, and give them to the birds of prey. “The Lord will deliver thee into my hand, and I will slay thee, and take away thy head from thee: and I will give the carcasses of ​the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”^[16] By Goliath we are to understand the devil, and by David a weak soul that is tempted and puts its confidence in the help of God: for it too can treat its enemy with scorn and say: “I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts;” I do not fear you, foul spirit, for you must know that God is with me to fight for me.

Shown by an example. The Abbot Theodosius, before beginning the solitary life, was once brought in spirit to a vast battle-field, where a huge blackamoor, whose head seemed to reach the stars, advanced against him. Theodosius was terrified at the sight; he trembled over his whole body, and could hardly lift his feet to take to flight, and therefore he remained where he was, as he feared to move. A youth of amiable appearance who had brought him there encouraged him, saying: “As soon as you attack him, I will help you to gain the victory.” Hardly had I begun to take courage (in these terms the Abbot related the incident to his holy Father, Anthony) when the young man came at once to my side, and fought with me against the giant, and when the latter was overcome, brought me the promised crown of victory. Fear had kept Theodosius back from resolving to serve God in the wilderness; but the Lord strengthened him by this vision in which he gave him the assurance of His powerful help that he might find it easy to conquer the hellish foe. Such, too, shall be our experience in temptations, if we only call upon God with confidence, so that, as we have seen already, we shall be able to laugh at the devil.

Nay, we can drive him off with scorn, as the servants of God are wont to do. In the same way the saints often treated the devil with scorn and contempt. To say nothing of many other instances, when St. Dunstan was still a young man, the devil tried to disturb him at prayer by appearing to him, sometimes in the shape of a black dog, sometimes in that of a wild bear; but the holy youth merely looked around, and taking up a big stick, beat the howling demon with it until it broke into three pieces. Afterwards, when he became a religious, he was engaged in some work, and the devil again came to him in the shape of a man, and asked his ad​vice. Dunstan listened to the supposed man good-humoredly enough, but when he noticed the questions asked, and saw how his visitor changed color so often, he suspected who he was; wait a little, said he; and commanding him in the name of God to remain where he was, Dunstan went out and brought back a red-hot iron, with which he tweaked the devil by the nose until the evil spirit began to howl for mercy, and so he had to depart in confusion. Simeon Metaphrastes writes in the life of the holy virgin Juliana that the devil appeared to her like an angel, while she was chained in prison on account of her faith, and tried to persuade her to offer homage to the gods that she might prolong her life. The virgin, terrified at this wicked counsel, saw at once that it could not be a good angel who gave it; she called on her heavenly Bridegroom for help, and taking the chains that fell at once from her hands and feet, bound the foul spirit therewith and led him thus through all the streets and lanes of the city as a public laughing-stock. Unhappy me! cried the demon; what have I come to? must I now be led about like a slave by a weak maiden? St. Antoninus tells us that as St. Dominic was once preaching, the devil, who cannot bear the word of God, since it rescues so many from his hands, came into the church in the form of a sparrow, and tried to distract the attention of the people. Dominic told one of the congregation to catch the bird and bring it to him, which was done. The holy man seized him, to the great amusement of all present, plucked all his feathers out, one by one, and then threw him down on the ground: Go, you poor fool, he said; go to your comrades in hell, and do not dare to interrupt the sermon any longer.

Conclusion and exhortation to despise the devil, and to serve God always with confidence. See, my dear brethren, how little the devil can harm us; we can even afford to laugh at and despise him if we only humbly trust in God; and therefore no one has any reason to dread this robber on the way to heaven; and it is useless to try to excuse our sins by appealing to the violence of the temptations we have to endure. Oh, no! the only thing I need fear in that way is my own wicked will; if I do not go to heaven, it is simply because I do not wish to go; but if I am in earnest about saving my soul, no man on earth, no demon in hell can hinder me. So it is, wretched spirit of hell! I laugh at you and all your suggestions! You may burst with envy and hatred; I will, in spite of you, serve my God and make daily more and more progress on the road to heaven. If I am only a poor, weak, frail mortal, yet with the help ​and grace of my Lord I am powerful enough to withstand you and your temptations. I place my trust in God, whom I shall daily and humbly call upon, acknowledging my weakness with the prophet David: “When my strength shall fail, do not Thou forsake me.”^[17] For my part I shall be careful not to run into temptation without necessity, nor to give occasion to it; and when the evil one attacks me with temptations that I cannot avoid, “do not Thou forsake me!” Strengthen my weakness, that the hellish foe may not have to boast that he has stolen my soul out of Thy hands, that I may never again have cause for regret through having offended Thee by mortal sin, and that I may remain faithful to Thy service with joy of heart here on earth, until I shall love Thee forever in heaven. Amen.

Ut tentaretur a diabolo.—Matt. iv. 1.

“To be tempted by the devil.”

What! and could not even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, be free from the devil? Has that hellish serpent dared to attack his almighty Creator, to appear before the Son of God with temptations to sin? Alas! how will it then be with me? etc. Continues as above.