Pyrobolia, seu de ignitis Sathanae telis, commonefactio theologica

inhabiting us, and making us one with God the Father: I greatly approve of the saying of Boethius, which exists in his book On Consolation: "We had bestowed upon you such arms that, had you not cast them aside first, they would have protected you with unconquerable strength." He who carries arms of this kind is protected by divine virtue, upon which he primarily relies: because he himself is in God, and God is in him. It is therefore no wonder if he who fights and acts by divine virtue fights strongly and acts manfully. As long as he stands with God and in God, the Devil cannot conquer such a man, nor does he dare to invade him; just as a wolf does not approach a sheep as long as it stands near the shepherd, nor is there anyone who dares to harm, injure, or touch a man as long as he stands near the King. When a child sees that someone wants to beat him, he runs quickly to his mother and hides himself under her wings. Thus, as long as a man wants to stand with God, the Devil cannot attack him; as Vincent has rightly left noted.

Let us therefore accuse ourselves if, having neglected God the Father and wandered off, we feel the whips, blows, and darts of Satan.

And although Gregory of Nazianzus has truly said, "No one knows his own strength in peace; for if wars are absent, the proofs of virtue are absent"; nevertheless, one must not rush rashly toward weapons and battle, but must go with God as leader and protector, and resist the Devil so that he may eventually flee from us.

For what Bernard truly pronounced concerning the contentious, "Despising peace and seeking glory, they lose both peace and glory," the same can be said of those who, not yet brought into the struggle by the Lord, and not yet sufficiently exercised, rashly provoke Satan to a contest, and are treated by him in the worst way.

Just as that master of a thousand arts is not to be rashly provoked by us to a contest