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NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

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Consolatory.Letter CI. 2354Consolatory. 2355This is my first letter to you, <strong>and</strong> I could have prayed that its subject were a brighterone. Had it been so, things would have fallen out as I desire, for it is my wish that the lifeof all those who are purposed to live in true religion should be happily spent. But the Lord,Who ordains our course in accordance with His ineffable wisdom, has arranged that allthese things should come about for the advantage of our souls, whereby He has, on the oneh<strong>and</strong>, made your life sorrowful, <strong>and</strong> on the other, roused the sympathy of one who, likemyself, is united to you in godly love. Therefore on my learning from my brothers whathas befallen you it has seemed to me that I could not but give you such comfort as I can.Had it indeed been possible to me to travel to the place in which you are now living I wouldhave made every effort to do so. But my bad health <strong>and</strong> the present business which occupiesme have caused this very journey, which I have undertaken, to be injurious to the interestsof my Church. I have, therefore, determined to address your excellency in writing, to remindyou that these afflictions are not sent by the Lord, Who rules us, to the servants of God tono purpose, but as a test of the genuineness of our love to the divine Creator. Just as athleteswin crowns by their struggles in the arena, so are Christians brought to perfection by thetrial of their temptations, if only we learn to accept what is sent us by the Lord with becomingpatience, with all thanksgiving. All things are ordained by the Lord’s love. We must notaccept anything that befalls us as grievous, even if, for the present, it affects our weakness.We are ignorant, peradventure, of the reasons why each thing that happens to us is sent tous as a blessing by the Lord but we ought to be convinced that all that happens to us is forour good, either for the reward of our patience, or for the soul which we have received, lest,by lingering too long in this life, it be filled with the wickedness to be found in this world.If the hope of Christians is limited to this life, it might rightly have been reckoned a bitterlot to be prematurely parted from the body; but if, to them that love God, the sundering ofthe soul from these bodily fetters is the beginning of our real life, why do we grieve like themwhich have no hope? 2356 Be comforted then, <strong>and</strong> do not fall under your troubles, but showthat you are superior to them <strong>and</strong> can rise above them.1852354 Placed in 372.2355 To the title has been added “to the wife of Arinthæus,” but no manuscript known to the Ben. Ed. containedit.2356 1 Thess. iv. 12.538

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