TEMPTATIONS 37 



"It is written into every heart by the hand of God 

 that sin is impossible without the cooperation of 

 the will." * The will can excite concupiscence 

 and proceed from desire to act, thus producing 

 sin, as it were, out of itself. The will may also 

 be seduced by outside influences (causae occa- 

 sionales). Of these there are chiefly two, viz.: 

 temptation and occasion. 



I. Temptations. — Temptation, broadly speak- 

 ing, is a testing or trial of the will. Defined 

 more narrowly, it is a direct incitement to evil 

 which stirs up concupiscence and thereby causes 

 a struggle between the good and the evil forces of 

 nature. 



A temptation may be either internal or ex- 

 ternal, and it may proceed from God (tentatio 

 probationis) , or from the devil, or from the 

 world, or from concupiscence. 5 



1. Christ exhorts all men to pray, "Lead us not 

 into temptation." 6 St. Paul says that God suf- 

 fers all to be tempted. 7 Hence there are temp- 

 tations that come from God. Not, of course, as 



est in quodcunque voluerit. Deus c. 13: "Pugna, quae superest cum 



autem non est causa peccati. Re- came, cum mundo, cum diabolo." — 



linquitur ergo, quod nihil aliud sit Cfr. St. Augustine, Serm., 344 (al. 



directe causa peccati humani nisi 31), n. 1: "Hie propositus nobis 



voluntas." agon, haec lucta cum came, haec 



4 De Duab. Anim. c. Manich., c. lucta cum diabolo, haec lucta cum 

 11, n. 15: "Peccatum sine volun- saeculo." (P. L., XXXIX, 1512). 

 tate esse non posse omnis mens apud 6 Matth. VI, 13. 



se divinitus conscriptum legit." 7 1 Cor. X, 13. — Cfr. Gen. XXII, 



(Migne, P. L., XLII, 105.) 1; Deut. XIII, 3; Tob. XII, 13. 



5 Cfr. Cone. Trident., Sess. VI, 



