Give to
me, or take away from me, only conform my will to yours. I know
but one thing, Lord, that it is good to follow you, and bad to
offend you. Apart from that, I know not what is good or bad in
anything. I know not which is most profitable to me, health or
sickness, wealth or poverty, nor anything else in the world.
That discernment is beyond the power of men or angels, and is
hidden among the secrets of your Providence, which I adore, but
do not seek to fathom."[170]
[170] B. Pascal: Prieres pour les Maladies, Sections xiii.,
xiv., abridged.
When we reach more optimistic temperaments, the resignation grows
less passive. Examples are sown so broadcast throughout history
that I might well pass on without citation. As it is, I snatch
at the first that occurs to my mind. Madame Guyon, a frail
creature physically, was yet of a happy native disposition. She
went through many perils with admirable serenity of soul. After
being sent to prison for heresy--
"Some of my friends," she writes, "wept bitterly at the hearing
of it, but such was my state of acquiescence and resignation that
it failed to draw any tears from me.
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