Thou willest,
because thou willest, that my free obedience shall have consequences
in all eternity. The act of thy will I cannot comprehend; I only know
that it is not like to mine. Thou _doest_, and thy will itself is
deed. But thy method of action is directly contrary to that of which,
alone, I can form a conception. Thou _livest_ and _art_, for thou
knowest, and willest, and workest, omnipresent to finite Reason. But
thou art not such as through all eternity I shall alone be able to
conceive of Being.
In the contemplation of these thy relations to me, the finite, I will
be calm and blessed. I know immediately, only what I must do. This
will I perform undisturbed and joyful, and without philosophizing.
For it is thy voice which commands me, it is the ordination of the
spiritual world-plan concerning me, and the power by which I perform
it is thy power. Whatsoever is commanded me by that voice, whatsoever
is accomplished by this power, is surely and truly good in relation to
that plan. I am calm in all the events of this world, for they occur
in thy world. Nothing can deceive, or surprise, or make me afraid, so
surely as thou livest and I behold thy life. For in thee and through
thee, O infinite One, I behold even my present world in another light!
Nature and natural consequences in the destinies and actions of free
beings, in view of thee, are empty, unmeaning words.
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