8. Else thou wilt be a devil to thyself, and tempt thyself when thou hast none else to tempt thee, and wilt make thy solitude as provoking as if thou wert in company. 9. Draw the curtain of night upon injuries, shut them up in the tower of oblivion, and let them be as though they had not been. 10. To forgive our enemies, yet hope that God will punish them, is not to forgive them enough. MEET HATRED WITH SERVICE 11. Instead of exacting or vindicating thine utmost right, set light by thy sufferings and wrongs, and study and labour with all thy power to excel in charity, and to do good to all, 12. And to stoop to any service to another, and humble thyself, and exercise patience, and give and lend according to thy abilities; and pretend not justice against the great duties of charity and patience. 13. For never in this world does hatred cease by hatred; Hatred ceases by love; this is always its nature. 14. Then does men's life become one vast disease, When once they seek their ills by ills to cure. 15. It costs more to revenge injuries than to bear them. 16. When thou forgivest, the man who has pierced thy heart stands to thee in the relation of the sea-worm that perforates the shell of the oyster, which straightway closes the wound with a pearl. 17. Revenge, at first though sweet, 18. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 19. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying: I repent; thou shalt forgive him. 20. "The power that I have over you is to spare you; The malice toward you, to forgive you." THE MINISTRY OF SUFFERING IS FOR THE CHASTENING OF THE SOUL 1. How strange, that all The terrors, pains, and early miseries, And that a needful part-in making up THROUGH SORROW ΤΟ SYMPATHY 2. But it would be a poor result of all our anguish and our wrestling, if we won nothing but our old selves at the end of it; if we could return to the same blind loves, the same self-confident blame, the same light thoughts of human suffering. 3. Let us be thankful that our sorrow lives in us as an indestructible force, only changing its form, as forces do, and passing from pain to sympathy. 4. To have suffered much is like knowing many languages. Thou hast learned to understand all, and to make thyself intelligible to all. 5. Let us own, the sharpest smart Which human patience may endure, Pays light for that which leaves the heart 6. Do not cheat thy heart and tell her: Hope for fairer times in future 7. Bid her not seek other pleasures, Rather nurse her caged sorrow RULES 8. Impatience relieves no ill; on the contrary it is a sharp additional pang added to all the rest. But resignation soothes and lightens all we suffer by showing the gain that is behind. FOR THE DISCIPLINE OF PATIENCE 9. Be thou therefore of such courage and so patient in hope, that when comfort is withdrawn, thou mayest prepare thy heart to suffer even greater things: and do not justify thyself, as though thou oughtest not to suffer these afflictions. 10. Thou shalt more easily endure suffering if by habit thou art diligently prepared thereunto. 11. For this reason often call to mind the more heavy sufferings of others, that so thou mayest the easier bear thine own very small troubles. 12. And if they seem unto thee not very small, then beware lest thy impatience be the cause thereof. 13. For the checking of impatience, ask thyself: Will this then which has happened, prevent me from being just, magnanimous, temperate, prudent, secure against inconsiderate opinions and falsehood? 14. Remember too, on every occasion which leads thee to vexation, to apply this principle: That though this be a misfortune, to bear it nobly is good fortune. SELFKNOWLEDGE BY 15. For there is many a deep corruption in the heart, which affliction nobly borne openeth and discovereth, which deceitfulness hid in the time of prosperity; and the detecting of these is no small benefit to the soul. AFFLICTION 16. When thou comest to part with wealth and honour, thou shalt better know how much thou lovedst them, than thou couldst before. 17. Mark therefore what corruptions appear in thine affliction, and how the heart discloseth its deceits, that thou mayest know what to repent of and reform. RESIGNA 18. Bear in mind also that the bee while making its honey lives upon a bitter food, and in like manner we can never do acts of gentleness and patience better than while eating the bread of bitterness and enduring hardness. TION BEAUTIFIES THE SPIRIT 19. And just as the best honey is that made from thyme, a small and bitter herb, so that virtue which is practised amid bitterness and lowly sorrow is the best of all virtues. 20. Well to suffer is divine: 21. Pass the watchword down the line, Pass the countersign "Endure!" Not to him who rashly dares, But to him who nobly bears, Is the victor's garland sure. The best of men That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer, N |