Every one is his own enemy. Man urges and precipitates himself into evil in such a way, that if he would only keep his own hands from suicide, he need fear the violence of no one else. Who can harm you, says St. Peter, if you have no desire except to do good ?
Your own consent to evil is the only hand which can wound and kill you. If when the devil suggests evil to you, or the world invites you to it, you withhold your consent, no misfortune can befall you. The devil may push you, but he cannot throw you down, if you refuse him your consent. How plain it is then that man is his own principal and most dangerous enemy!
For we often attribute to the Spirit of God, and often also to the spirits of the devil, that which really comes only from the dispositions and impressions of nature. Every one therefore ought carefully to examine his heart, so that he may not be deceived by his own spirit, which St. Gregory calls a spirit of pride.
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