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THE LABYRINTH OF THE WORLD

be in the way, yet must they at last disappear. They know also that all this raging of God's foes against Him can but increase the glory of His name. For if some matter begun for God's glory had met with no resistance, it might be thought that it had been begun by men and carried out by the force of man. Now, on the contrary, the more furious is the resistance of the world and all its devils, the clearer does the power of God appear.

(The Sorrows of the Godly can easily be driven away in a Twofold Fashion.)

7. Nay, even if such accidents befell them (and I saw examples of this) that gave them dole within their minds, yet they endured not long with them, and soon vanished, as a little cloud before the sun. For they have a twofold remedy; one is the thought of a happy future, which is of greater value than the troubles of the world, and which awaits them. That which befalls here is but temporary; it appears and again vanishes, is lost, disappears; therefore is it unbeseeming to crave any of these worldly things much, or to grieve much at their loss, for such things are but as the clatter of a moment. The other remedy of the godly is that they have ever a guest in their homes, and if they converse but a little with Him, they are able to drive away every grief, even the greatest. This guest is God, their comforter, to whom they cling with their whole hearts, and to whom they narrate familiarly and openly all that