First, Thou must abhor his turning thee out of the way; and thine own consenting thereunto: because this is to reject the counsel of God for the sake of the counsel of a Worldly Wiseman.
The Lord says, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate" [Luke 13:24], the gate to which I sent thee; for "strait is the gate that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." [Matt. 7:14] From this little wicket-gate, and from the way thereto, hath this wicked man turned thee, to the bringing of thee almost to destruction; hate, therefore, his turning thee out of the way, and abhor thyself for hearkening to him.
Nay, hold, let us consider of one at once. I think you should rather say, It shows itself by inclining the soul to abhor its sin.
"Thus I relieve thee, my creator," he said, and placed his hated hands before my eyes, which I flung from me with violence; "thus I take from thee a sight which you abhor.
My vices are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor, and my virtues will necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal.
How they would, each and all, abhor me and hunt me from the world did they know my unhallowed acts and the crimes which had their source in me!
