the
service of Satan.

The will, like our other faculties, does most readily that which it is
accustomed to do. The law of habit holds good here as elsewhere, and
habit is mostly acquired by the repeated performance of little acts.
We do not ordinarily perform great deeds of love as a means of
training; {122} rather do we perform them because we are already
trained. Some great act of love may confirm the will in its tendency
Godward, but it is not in high and lofty things that we are to seek our
training. Therefore in training the will so that it may acquire the
habit of spontaneously choosing God in all things, it must be taught to
acquiesce constantly in the little hourly leadings towards Him. If we
make a habit of consenting to another person, after a time it is
difficult to refuse consent. This holds equally good with the sweet
and happy rule of the Holy Spirit when we have aligned our wills with
His, and with the horrid slavery of hell when we have committed our
wills to Satan.

In fitting the will for the great warfare, it must be taught little by
little, in numberless minor things, to consent to God's Will. So after
a time the habit will be formed; God's Voice will become the signal for
prompt action, and the voice of Satan will be as the voice of a
stranger whom the will, like the sheep in the parable, will not follow.

Surely then it will be worthy to be called the Royal Faculty, for as a
king indeed will it reign, one with the Will of Him Who is the King of
kings.

{123}

IV. _The Fatal Consent_

We see that there is no power that can compel the will, unless it be
that the will has, by its own act, delivered itself to be bound by
Satan. This brings us to the third stage--Consent. The suggestion to
evil may be strong, the pleasure that follows may be keen; and yet
there is no sin until the will has yielded consent; until its denial,
its hesitation, have been beaten down, and it has cried, "I yield."

It is around this point that the conflict centres. The suggestion may
count for nothing; it is often but a random shot that the enemy fires
on the chance of striking a vital point, "just as a besieging army
sends rockets here and there into a city to try for the powder
magazines."[15] The pleasure that follows, great as it may be, is not
in itself sinful, and may be the occasion of greater merit and grace to
the soul that feels it and, instead of yielding, beats it down
ruthlessly. But if Sa