He has not got this or that fine thing, it may be, for which he longed:
but he has at least his life, at least his reason, at least his
conscience, at least his God. Are not they enough to possess? Are not
they enough wherewith to lie down at night in peace, and rise to-morrow
to take what comes to-morrow, even as he took what came to-day? And will
he not be most fit to take what comes to-morrow like a Christian man,
whether it be good or evil, with his spirit braced and yet chastened, by
honest and patient labour, instead of being weakened and irritated by
idling over to-day, while he dreamed and fretted about to-morrow?
Ah! I fancy that I hear some one say--perhaps a woman--"So easy to
preach, but so difficult to practise. So difficult to think of one thing
at a time. So difficult not to plot, not to fret, with a whole family of
children dependent on you! What does the preacher know of a woman's
troubles? How many things she has to think of, day by day, not one of
which she dares forget--and yet can seldom or never, for all her
recollecting, contrive to get them all done? How can she help being
distracted by the thought of to-morrow? Can he feel for frail me? Does
he know what I go through?" Yes.
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