In getting Hannah, he would make himself unworthy of Hannah.

And then there came to him a vision of the supreme value of a true character; how it was better than success, better than to be loved, better than heaven.

And how near he had been to missing it! And how certain he was, when these thoughts should fade, to miss it! He was as one fighting for a great prize who feels his strength failing and is sure of defeat.
This was the real, awful "Struggle in the Dark." A human soul fighting with heaven in sight, but certain of slipping inevitably into hell! It was the same old battle.

The Image of God fought with the Image of the Devil.

It was the same fight that Paul described so dramatically when he represented the Spirit as contending with the Flesh.