Читать книгу The Warfare of the Soul: Practical Studies in the Life of Temptation - Shirley Carter Hughson - Страница 24

When we speak of temptation being a solicitation to violate the known will of God, it is necessary for us to understand that conformity to God's will is not in every case required of us under penalty of sin. His will is revealed to us in two ways, in precept and in counsel. To violate a precept is in every case sin; to reject a counsel is, in itself, never a sin. God may set before us two alternatives, both of them being good, but one a higher and better thing than the other. In such a case, we are often—in fact, generally—tempted to accept the lower. For example, a young man may have set before him, at some particular time of his life, the alternative of serving God in work in his home parish, or of giving himself, by one great and final act of sacrifice and dedication, to the service of God in the monastic life. The former alternative is thoroughly good and holy, but none will deny that the latter is better. But the monastic life is a call of such a nature that compliance is never required under pain of sin; and one may even feel entirely sure that the call is directly from God, and yet be at liberty to refuse it because it is a form of service that belongs to counsel and not to precept.

While the soul is weighing the question, strong temptation invariably comes to choose the lower service. Not that the tempter is interested in our serving God in any sphere whatever, but he hopes that if he can induce us to choose the lower now, he may be able later on still further to lower our ideals, and so in the end induce us to reject the divine will in some matter that belongs to the precepts of God's law. With this hope he even strives earnestly to induce us to do a good thing in order to dissuade us from choosing that which is better.

So while it is entirely true, as we said above, that the rejection of a counsel is never, in itself, sinful, yet there is great peril always in refusing the known will of God, even when He does not bind us to that will under the penalty of sin. The soul that truly loves is ever alert to perform the entire will of the beloved.

"The noble love of Jesus forceth man to work great things, and stirreth him up always to desire the most perfect. Love wills to be aloft and will not be kept down by any lesser thing."[21]

[1] St. Matt. x, 34.

[2] Exod. xxxii, 18.

[3] Rev. ii and iii.

[4] 1 Pet. ii, 11.

[5] Rom. vii, 23.

[6] Eph. vi, 11. See also Rom. xiii, 12; 2 Cor. vi, 7, and 1 Thes. v, 8.

[7] 1 Tim. i, 18.

[8] 1 Tim. vi, 12.

[9] 2 Tim. ii, 3.

[10] 2 Tim. iv, 7.

[11] See Pusey, Parochial Sermons, Vol. II, pp. 113-114.

[12] 1 Cor. x, 13.

[13] 2 St. Pet. iii, 9.

[14] Eccles. viii, 8.

[15] Eph. v, 30.

[16] 1 Cor. ii, 16.

[17] Gen. xxii, 1.

[18] 1 Cor. x, 13.

[19] St. James i, 13.

[20] Jer. v, 31.

[21] Imitation, III, v. (Bigg's Trans.)