Kant,
5. Hopeless is the state of the man who in his misfortunes reproaches his fate instead of himself, affirming thereby his own self-satisfaction.
"We should be kind and gentle, if we were not irritated. We should be pious, if we were not so busy, I should be
patient, if I were well. I should astonish the world, if I were only known."
If we cannot improve and sanctify the circumstances in which we find ourselves, we shall not improve and sanctify any other circumstances.
The difficulties of our state are given us in order that we may smooth them over and overcome them with our goodness and firmness; the darkness of our state is given us in order that we may lighten it with the divine light of inner spiritual labors; griefs, in order that we may patiently and trustingly bear them; danger, that we may manifest our courage; temptations, that we may overcome them with our faith. Martineau.
6. Man may escape the calamities which are the visita-tion^ of God, but there is no escape from those calamities which he visits upon himself through his evil life.
VI.
The Recognition of the Beneficial Nature of Sufferings
Destroys Their Oppressiveness
1. What are we to do when all things leave us: health, joy, affections, freshness of feelings, memory, capacity for work, when it seems to us that the sun is growing chill and life loses all its charms? What are we to do when hope seems lost? Shall we stupefy ourselves or grow hardened? The answer is always the same: live the life of the spirit without arresting its growth. Let come what may, if you but feel that your conscience is calm, that you are doing that which your spirituality demands. Be what you should be, leave the rest to God. And even if there were no good and holy God, spiritual life would still be the solution of mys-
teries and the pole star for the progress of hmnanity, for it alone gives true happiness. AmieL
2. Seek in sufferings their significance for the growth of your soul and bitterness of sufferings will vanish.
3. Only know and believe that whatever happens to you leads you to your true spiritual happiness, and you will meet sickness, poverty, disgrace—^all that which people regard as misfortunes—^not as misfortunes, but as things necessary for your wellbeing, just as the fanner accepts the rain of which his fields are in need though it drench him to the skin, or as the patient swallows a bitter medicine.
4. Remember that it is the distinguishing characteristic of rational beings to submit to their fate of a free will, but the shameful revolt against it is a characteristic of beasts.
Marcus Aurelius,
5. The very thing that aggrieves us and appears to us as a hindrance to our accomplishing the task of our life, is in itself the task of our life. You are beset with poverty, slanders, humiliation. You need only pity yourself a little, and you will be the most wretched of men. And you need only realize that the task of life to which you are called is to live the best life.possible in spite of poverty, sickness and humiliations, and you will immediately gather courage and confidence in place of despondence and despair.
6. Each one of us has his cross and his yoke, not in the sense of a burden, but in the sense of a purpose in life, and if we do not look upon our cross as a burden, we find it easy to bear; we find it easy to bear of we are meek, obedient, humble of heart. And still more easy if we deny ourselves ; and still more easy if we bear this cross every hour as Qirist teaches us; and still more and more easy if we forget ourselves in spiritual labor, even as people forget themselves
in the cares of the world. The cross that is given to us to bear is the one thing on which we must labor. If the cross be sickness, bear it obediently; if it be the insults of people, know how to render good for evil; if it be humiliation, humble thyself; if it be death, receive it thankfully.
7. The more you repel your cross, the heavier it becomes. Amiel
8. It IS beyond dispute more important how a man receives his fate than what it really is. Humboldt.
9. No sorrow IS as great as the fear of it.
10. An obstreperous horse, instead of pulling the vehicle to which it is harnessed, balks and struggles and is whipped into the bargain, and in the end must do as the driver directs. Even so with man if he declines to bear sorrows as trials and regards them as superfluous ills and balks against them.
11. If you have an enemy and can take advantage of him in order to learn on him how to love your enemies, that which you r^ard an evil will become a great blessing to you.
12. Sickness, loss of limbs, severe disappointments, loss of property, loss of friends—^all these seem at first irreparable losses. But the lapse of years reveals the depth of healing power which lies in such losses.
13. When you regard yourself unhappy, remember the misfortunes of others and also the fact that things might be worse. Also remember the things of which you were guilty in the past and are guilty now; remember also that the things which you call misfortunes were sent you as a trial in order that you might humbly and lovingly bear misfortunes and thus, thanks to misfortunes, become better. And in this growing better is the whole business of life.
14. In the difficult time of sickness, loss and other sor-
rows, more than at any other time, you are in need o£ prayer: not prayer for deliverance, but in recognition of your dependence upon a higher will. "Not my will, but Thine be done, not what I will, but what Thou wilt, nor as I will, but as Thou wilt. My business in the circumstances wherein Thou didst place me is to fulfill Thy will." In difficult times it is most needful to remember that if things be hard, this difficulty is the task which is given me, and that it is just the one opportunity—which may not repeat itself—in which I may show that I really mean to do Thy will and not mine.
15. All that is great in humanity is accomplished only with suffering. Jesus knew that even He had to expect it, and he foresaw all things: the hatred of those whose power he came to destroy, their secret conspiracy and their violence and the ungrateful treason of the very people whose sickness He had healed and whom He had fed with the heavenly bread of His word. He foresaw the cross, and the death, and that His own flock would abandon Him, which was even more grievous than death itself. And this thought never forsakes him, nor for an instant arrests Him. It his physical nature repels the cup. His firmer will receives it unflinchingly. And therein he gives an example that must be forever memorable to all those who would continue His work, to all those who, like Himself, will come to labor for the salvation of the people and for their deliverance from the burden of delusions and ills. If people would reach the goal towards which Christ is leading, they must follow tb same path. Only at such cost can men serve men. Y( would have people truly brotherly, you summon them obey the laws of their common nature, you fight against : oppression, all lawlessness, all hypocrisy. You clamor f the kingdom of justice, duty, truth and love to desce
upon earth, how then should those whose strength is based on things of a contrary nature fail to rise against you? Can they let you, without a struggle, destroy their temple and build another—unlike theirs, not made by the hands of man, but an eternal temple the foundation of which is Truth?
Abandon this hope if you ever have been frivolous enough to cherish it. You will drain the cup to the last drop. You will be seized like thieves; false testimony will be sought against you, and against your own testimony they will rise up with the cry: He blasphemeth I And the judges will say: He is worthy of death. When this happens, rejoice. This last sign is the sign that you have performed the true and needful task. Lamenau.