The soldier would not be tolerated in an army who made it his business to go up and down the lines in the course of the battle discouraging his fellows. We always feel that there is a peculiar meanness about the man who tries to take the heart out of those about him. We must in these spiritual matters, under pain of sin, be as fair to, and as considerate of, our own souls as of the souls of others, for we have no special rights over ourselves in such matters. Our souls are not our own. "All souls are mine,"[[7]] says God, and we wrong Him when we injure any soul.
It does not acquit us to plead, as silly souls are sometimes heard to do, that we are injuring no one but ourselves. In the first place, this is not true. Every hurt we inflict on our souls, every discouragement into which we lead ourselves, is not only a wrong to God, but inflicts a hurt on every soul that is bound up with us in the Communion of Saints. This is just what the Apostle meant when he said, "Whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it."[[8]]
The care and constant strengthening of our own souls is a part of the obligation laid upon us as our brother's keeper;[[9]] and we know the curse that fell upon Cain not only for his crime of blood, but in punishment for the far greater crime of refusing to recognize the solidarity of humanity, and the duties that arise therefrom. He murdered one man's body, but who can tell how many souls we have been slaying though weakening our own power to help and rescue them in their hour of conflict.
Even were it true that we injure none but ourselves by injustice to our souls, we are in this case injuring that which belongs, not to ourselves, but to another, namely to God, and He will let no such wrong go unavenged.
Although we are not to accuse ourselves in such cases of doubt, it is well to speak of them to a wise spiritual guide.[[10]] This will afford us the opportunity of receiving such counsel as will aid us should the particular form of assault be repeated.
It is also a discouragement to the enemy to see that his schemes are thus understood and exposed. He loves ever to work in the dark, and it is a matter of common experience that he often abandons a plan of temptation when he finds it has been detected and discussed by those against whom he has been plotting.
III. Signs of the Soul's Victory
In the course of the struggle there are many circumstances and conditions by which we can test how the battle is going. We shall consider some of these, choosing certain ones which Satan often uses for our discouragement by presenting them to us in a wrong light. It is a favourite device of his to snatch at the very circumstance which a good God, ever tenderly solicitous of our safety, allows for the consolation of His faithful soldiers, and by presenting it from a false point of view, turn it into an occasion of scruple and unnerving anxiety.
(1) Continuance and increased severity of attack is proof that the will has not yielded to the temptation. An army does not direct its assaults against an enemy who has already surrendered. So rather than be frightened, we should draw comfort from the fact of continued temptation.
"It is a good sign," wrote St. Francis de Sales to Madame de Chantal, "when the enemy storms so lustily at the door; it proves that he is not attaining his end. If he had attained it, he would not clamour any more; he would go in and be satisfied. Keep this in mind so as to avoid scruples."[[11]]