The King of Syria commanded the captains of his cavalry to kill the King of Israel only, and not to mind the others. ” Fight ye not with small or great, but with the King of Israel only." (2 Paral. xviii. 30.) They obeyed the order, slew King Achab, and gained the victory.
10. We must imitate the captains of Syria: unless we kill the king that is, the predominant passion we shall never be able to obtain salvation. The passion which brings man under its sway, first blinds him and prevents him from seeing his danger. Now, how can a blind man, led by a blind guide, such as passion, which follows not reason, but sensual pleasures, possibly avoid falling into some abyss? ” If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit." (Matt. xv. 14.) St. Gregory says that it is a common artifice of the devil to inflame daily more and more our predominant passion, and thus he brings us into many horrible excesses. Through passion for a kingdom, Herod spilled the blood of so many innocent infants. Through love for a woman, Henry the Eighth was the cause of so many frightful spiritual evils, put to death several most worthy individuals, and, in the end, lost the faith. No wonder: for he who is under the domination of any passion no longer sees what he does. Therefore he disregards corrections, excommunications, and even his own damnation: he seeks only his own pleasures, and says: ” Come what will, I must satisfy this passion. And, as eminent virtue is accompanied by other virtues, so an enormous vice brings in its train other vices. ” In catena iniquitatis," says St. Lawrence Justinian, ” foederata sunt vitia."
11. It is necessary, then, as soon as we perceive any passion beginning to reign within us, to beat it down instantly, before it acquires strength. ” Let cupidity gain strength," says St. Augustine, ” strike it down while it is small." (In Ps. cxxxvi.) St. Ephrem gives the same advice: ” Unless you quickly destroy passions, they cause an ulcer." (De Perfect.) A wound, if it be not closed up, will soon become an incurable ulcer. To illustrate this by an example, a certain monk, as St. Dorotheus relates (Serm. xi.), commanded one of his disciples to pluck up a small cypress. The disciple
