To be near unto God - pagina 269

not at fault, for there was wealth in and there is nothing but wealth in the Fatherhouse above, but that sin in our heart poisons our wealth, and creates a power that is itself

is

Paradise,

hostile to God. In this way God becomes more spiritual to him, and in God, who is a spirit, he learns by

contrast

to

understand better than before the

price, the sig:nificance and the worth of the treasure of the spiritual life. There have been men

and women among the saints of God who in the midst of wealth have become richer in God, and have been merely stewards of the goods entrusted to their care in his Name, for the good of his church and of his poor. The impulse to do good sprang not infrequently from the fear, lest their wealth should draw them away from God. But greater is the knowledge of God which is learned in times of deep sorrow, when there was previous spiritual knowledge of God in the heart. Grievous

affliction

breaks the highness of

self.

makes us realize that there are powers over which we have no control, and which can violently It

attack our strength, our lot in life, our family, our prospects of the future, and the loves of our heart. We may call these powers death, sickness, slander, anger, hatred, or what we like. But when they come upon us, and succeed in threatening or in breaking up our happiness, we feel that they stand before us as powers in hostile array, that they are independent of us, and that they have far more power over us than we over them. And this revelation of power is a revelation of the real power, which God has over us and over the world. As long as life runs a smooth course we know 261

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