For until we fall he can never
hurt us. And therefore saith St. James, "Stand against the devil
and he shall flee from you." For he never runneth upon a man to
seize him with his claws until he see him down on the ground,
willingly fallen himself. For his fashion is to set his servants
against us, and by them to make us fall for fear or for impatience.
And he himself in the meanwhile compasseth us, running and roaring
like a ramping lion about us, looking to see who will fall, that he
may then devour him. "Your adversary the devil," saith St. Peter,
"like a roaring lion, runneth about in circuit, seeking whom he may
devour."
The devil it is, therefore, who, if we will fall for fear of men,
is ready to run upon us and devour us. And is it wisdom, then, to
think so much upon the Turks that we forget the devil? What a
madman would he be who, when a lion were about to devour him, would
vouchsafe to regard the biting of a little fisting cur? Therefore,
when he roareth out upon us by the threats of mortal men, let us
tell him that with our inward eye we see him well enough, and
intend to stand and fight with him, even hand to hand. If he
threaten us that we be too weak, let us tell him that our captain
Christ is with us, and that we shall fight with the strength of him
who hath vanquished him already.
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