The Conscience - Adversary and Guardian

"Let us stand firm in the fear of God, rigorously practicing the virtues and not giving our conscience cause to stumble. In the fear of God let us keep our attention fixed within ourselves, until our conscience achieves its freedom. Then there will be a union between it and us, and thereafter it will be our guardian, showing us each thing that we must uproot. But if we do not obey our conscience, it will abandon us and we shall fall into the hands of our enemies, who will never let us go. This is what our Lord taught us when He said:

Come to an agreement with your adversary quickly while you are with him in the road, lest he hand your over to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer and you are cast into prison. (Matt. 5:25).

The conscience is called an 'adversary' because it opposes us when we try to carry out the desires of the flesh; and if we do not listen to our conscience, it delivers us into the hands of our enemies."

--St. Isaiah the Solitary

St. Isaiah the Solitary was a monk in Scetis (Northern Egypt) who lived around 370 and was a contemporary of St. Macarius the Great. He moved to Palestine after 431 and died there in great old age around 491 as a hermit near Gaza. He is known for 27 "texts" on guarding the intellect