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Conversion and precious employment. |
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Satisfaction in God's presence. |
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Faith our duty. |
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Resignation the fruit of watchfulness. |
The first time I saw Brother Lawrence was upon the 3rd of August,
1666. He told me that God had done him a singular favor in his
conversion at the age of eighteen. During that winter, upon seeing
a tree stripped of its leaves and considering that within a little
time the leaves would be renewed and after that the flowers and
fruit appear, Brother Lawrence received a high view of the
Providence and Power of God which has never since been effaced
from his soul. This view had perfectly set him loose from the
world and kindled in him such a love for God, that he could not
tell whether it had increased in the forty years that he had lived
since.
Brother Lawrence said he had been footman to M. Fieubert, the
treasurer, and that he was a great awkward fellow who broke
everything. He finally decided to enter a monastery thinking that
he would there be made to smart for his awkwardness and the faults
he would commit, and so he would sacrifice his life with its
pleasures to God. But Brother Lawrence said that God had surprised
him because he met with nothing but satisfaction in that state.
Brother Lawrence related that we should establish ourselves in a
sense of God's Presence by continually conversing with Him. It was
a shameful thing to quit His conversation to think of trifles and
fooleries. We should feed and nourish our souls with high notions
of God which would yield us great joy in being devoted to Him.
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