To-day my health is better, and I find myself able to reply to your
letter. Let the view of yourself that God gives you, be accepted,
whether it relates to your fallen condition in general, or to
particular faults; but add nothing to this view by your own
reflections. These continual reflex acts of the mind, do not help you;
they do not remove the faults. I am not surprised, that you find in
yourself so many evils; evils which render you almost insupportable to
yourself. When God accomplishes the work of purification, he removes
all that is opposed to the divine inflowing life.
These evils of your nature, which are now apparent, and which were
deeply concealed, are perceived by you, only because they are passing
out from their hiding-places. All persons do not have so deep a
knowledge of themselves; therefore do not suffer so much, because all
are not destined to so profound a death and burial while in the body.
Be silent, and drink the bitter cup. These humiliations will endure
until your state is in some degree perfected; after which they will
become more and more slight, and only at intervals, until the death and
burial is consummated.