PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR.

It has been proposed to me to unfold some of those crafty wiles by which the enemy of the human race lays snares for us in all our works. We may thus learn to humble ourselves under the hand of God; we may procure, at least in a general manner, a knowledge of how ignorant we are in the path of virtue, and we may get to see how helplessly weak we are against all the wicked malice of this foe, unless we put our trust in the assistance of God and of His Saints. For the devil insinuates himself, by deceptive ambushes, into all our thoughts, words, and works. He especially thus attacks those whom he perceives to be very earnestly intent on serving God faithfully; 10and if he can he will turn them to evil, under the specious guise of good.

Like a deceitful robber, when he falls in with the good he offers himself as a companion of the journey, and converses with them. And till a fair opportunity comes of striking and killing the soul, he feigns a most trusty friendship. But when he has bided his time, he strives to defile some holy action by cunningly mingling with it the poison of his malice, so to ruin it, either in the beginning, the middle, or the end.

When the devil cannot prevent a good action, he strives to spoil the intention and make it corrupt, as, e.g., to do the good thing for vain-glory, or some carnal pleasure. If, however, the beginning of the action has eluded his grasp, he then tries to seize it in the middle, or at least in the finish; and even after its completion he still loiters about, 11for he may yet contrive to move a man to a vain gladness at having well performed a virtuous work.

Supposing a man wants to give an alms: when the enemy cannot hinder him, he exhorts him to obtain some worldly praise by it, or to have in view some equivalent advantage from him to whom it is given, some gift, or some service. And if this temptation is overcome, he prepares another more subtle and efficacious, so common to the good, that in this life it is scarce possible, I fancy, to be without; and it is this—he incites a man to think and say with himself: “There, you have done your work well; you have managed well to defeat the enemy; no vain-glory or other vice has been mixed with your good action. Another—this one or that—would not have so done.” So he who had overcome vain-glory before, and pride, now falls headlong to his ruin by the same vices. Yet 12such rash and silly thoughts almost always insinuate themselves into the mind. It is plain then, that unless we take great care, our virtue may become a vice, and pride may spring even from humility.