7405. RESIGNATION, To Divine will.—
The most fortunate of us, in our journey
through life, frequently meet with calamities
and misfortunes which may greatly afflict us;
and, to fortify our minds against the attacks
of these calamities and misfortunes, should
be one of the principal studies and endeavors
of our lives. The only method of doing this
is to assume a perfect resignation to the Divine
will, to consider that whatever does happen,
must happen; and that, by our uneasiness, we
cannot prevent the blow before it does fall, but
we may add to its force after it has fallen.
These considerations, and others such as these,
may enable us in some measure to surmount
the difficulties thrown in our way; to bear up
with a tolerable degree of patience under this
burden of life; and to proceed with a pious
and unshaken resignation, till we arrive at our
journey's end, when we may deliver up our
trust into the hands of Him who gave it, and
receive such reward as to Him shall seem proportioned
to our merit. Such will be the language
of the man who considers his situation
in this life, and such should be the language of
every man who would wish to render that situation
as easy as the nature of it will admit. Few
things will disturb him at all: nothing will
disturb him much.—
To John Page. Washington ed. i, 187.
Ford ed., i, 349.
(S.,
1763)
