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AND so one who wishes to go along the King's highway by means of the
"arms of righteousness which are on the right hand and on the left," ought
by the teaching of the Apostle to pass through "honour and dishonour, evil
report and good report," and with such care to direct his virtuous
course amid the swelling waves of temptation, with discretion at the helm,
and the Spirit of the Lord breathing on us, since we know that if we
deviate ever so little to the right hand or to the left, we shall presently
be dashed against most dangerous crags. And so we are warned by Solomon,
the wisest of men: "Turn not aside to the right hand or to the left;"
i.e., do not flatter yourself on your virtues and be puffed up by your
spiritual achievements on the right hand; nor, swerving to the path of
vices on the left hand, seek from them for yourself (to use the words of
the Apostle) "glory in your shame." For where the devil cannot create
vainglory in a man by means of his well-fitting and neat dress, he tries to
introduce it by means of a dirty, cheap, and uncared-for style. If he
cannot drag a man down by honour, he overthrows him by humility. If he
cannot make him puffed up by the grace of knowledge and eloquence, he pulls
him down by the weight of silence. If a man fasts openly, he is attacked by
the pride of vanity. If he conceals it for the sake of despising the glory
of it, he is assailed by the same sin of pride. In order that he may not be
defiled by the stains of vainglory he avoids making long prayers in the
sight of the brethren; and yet because he offers them secretly and has no
one who is conscious of it, he does not escape the pride of vanity.
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