But what the child
could not understand was that his guardian should now be tender and
gracious, and at another time hard and cruel, explaining nothing to
him. And thus the child said in himself, "I am in his power, and he
must do his will upon me; but I neither trust nor love him, for I
cannot see the reason of what he does; though if he would but tell
me the reason, I could obey him and submit to him joyfully." These
hard thoughts he nourished and fed upon; and his guardian came no
more to him for good or for evil; and the child, much broken by his
hard usage and his angry thoughts, crept about neglected and
spiritless, with nothing but fear and dismay in his heart.
So the imagination shaped itself in my mind, a parable of the sad,
strange life of man.
"Perfect Love!" If it were indeed that? Yet God does many things to
His frail children, which if a man did, I could not believe him to
be loving; though if He would but give us the assurance that it was
all leading us to happiness, we could endure His fiercest stroke,
His bitterest decree. But He smites us, and departs; He turns away
in a rage, because we have broken a law that we knew not of. And
again, when we seem most tranquil and blest, most inclined to trust
Him utterly, He smites us down again without a word.
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