If it is attainable, then it is worth while to do and to suffer
anything to attain it; if it is not attainable, then the best thing
is simply to be as insensible as possible, not to love, not to
admire, not to desire; for all these emotions are channels along
which the bitter streams of suffering can flow.
Prudence bids one close these channels; meanwhile a fainter and
remoter voice, with sweet and thrilling accents, seems to cry to
one not to be afraid, urges one to fling open every avenue by which
impassioned experiences, uplifting thoughts, noble hopes, unselfish
desires, may flow into the soul.
This peace I have seen, or dream that I have seen, in the faces and
voices of certain gracious spirits whom I have known. It seemed to
consist in an unbounded natural gratitude, a sweet simplicity, a
childlike affectionateness, that recognised in suffering the joy of
which it was the shadow, and in desperate catastrophes the hope
that lay behind them.
Such a peace must not be a surrender of anything, a feeble
acquiescence; it must be a strong and eager energy, a thirst for
experience, a large tolerance, a desire to be convinced, a resolute
patience.
It is this and no less that I ask of God.
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