If I may not search out and pierce my thought, so much
the more may my living praise thee. At whatever price, I must be
alone with thee; this must be the demand I make. These _duties_ are
not the life, but the means which enable us to show forth the life.
So must I take up this cross, and bear it willingly. Why should I
feel reproved when a busy one enters the room? I am not idle though
I sit with folded hands; but instantly I must seek some cover. For
that shame I reprove myself. Are they only the valuable members of
society who labor to dress and feed it? Shall we never ask the aim
of all this hurry and foam, of this aimless activity? Let the
purpose for which I live be always before me; let every thought and
word go to confirm and illuminate that end; namely, that I must
become near and dear to thee; that now I am beyond the reach of all
but thee.
"How can we not be reconciled to thy will? I will know the joy
of giving to my friend the dearest treasure I have. I know that
sorrow comes not at once only. We cannot meet it, and say, now it is
overcome, but again, and yet again its flood pours over us, and as
full as at first.
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