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SERENUS: No one who has experienced the conflicts of the inner man, can
doubt that our foes are continually lying in wait for us. But we mean that
they oppose our progress in such a way that we can think of them as only
inciting to evil things and not forcing. But no one could altogether avoid
whatever sin they were inclined to imprint upon our hearts, if a strong
impulse was present to force (evil) upon us, just as it is to suggest it.
Wherefore as there is in them ample power of inciting, so in us there is a
supply of power of rejection, and of liberty of acquiescing. But if we are
afraid of their power and assaults, we may also claim the protection and
assistance of God against them, of which we read: "For greater is He who is
in us than he who is in this world:" and His aid fights on our side with
much greater power than their hosts fight against us; for God is not only
the suggester of what is good, but the maintainer and insister of it, so
that sometimes He draws us towards salvation even against our will and
without our knowing it. It follows then that no one can be deceived by the
devil but one who has chosen to yield to him the consent of his own will:
as Ecclesiastes clearly puts it in these words: "For since there is no
gainsaying by those who do evil speedily, therefore the heart of the
children of men is filled within them to do evil." It is therefore
clear that each man goes wrong from this; viz., that when evil thoughts
assault him he does not immediately meet them with refusal and
contradiction, for it says: "resist him, and he will flee from you."
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