It is well for us to remember this. Satan cares nothing for venial sin _per se_. He never tempts a soul to it save as a cunningly laid preparation for that deadly sin which follows logically upon a long and reckless course of venial sin; and the soul that deliberately yields to little temptations is knowingly, wilfully, and deliberately aiding and abetting the devil in his plan for the supreme dishonour of our God. So through all these steps the Satanic patience endures. He sees the soul's sensibilities becoming more and more blunted; the conscience less and less sensitive. He sees the little act of sin lightly consented to, then the habit formed. He marks the soul's defences crumbling, and in a well-chosen hour, subtly and in some familiar {41} guise, he presents the temptation to the great offence, and his triumph is complete. (5) The last characteristic we shall consider is his ready adaptability to every circumstance that transpires in the midst of the battle. He cares not how we are tempted, if only our fall can be secured. We, in our self-will, often desire to serve God in some particular way, and lose interest when we have to change our method. Satan gives us an example in this, for he cares not how he fights, if only he can, in some small measure at least, accomplish God's dishonour. He has no pet plans to which he clings in a self-willed way. Utterly devoted to his cause, he feels no reluctance or sense of personal chagrin at having to give up a certain method he has been using to dishonour God in us. He gladly and immediately resigns what he finds is not to the purpose. We see this illustrated in the swiftness with which he shifts the point of attack, often with great readiness and seeming graciousness accepting as his own the point of view from which we reject his first overture. This is vividly illustrated in his temptation of our Lord in the wilderness. In response to the first temptation, our Lord shows that man is not to live by bread alone, not by merely natural means, even though in themselves they may be {42} good, but that he is to be sustained by a trust in God. Instantly Satan changes his front. He takes Him up upon a pinnacle of the temple and delivers the second temptation, which in substance is this: "You are entirely right. God must be trusted implicitly and in all things. Now give an evidence of your trust in Him. Cast yourself down, for it is written--(and here we see how the devil so completely shifts to our Lord's point of view that he begins to quote Scripture himself),--'He shall give His angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." But the Blessed One could not be deceived. Again fell the crushing _Scriptum est_, and again the tempter is vanquished.