MADAME,--I have not leisure to write at such length as I willingly
would, on account of the state in which we are. The present letter
shall be solely to praise our good Lord for the trust which he has
bestowed on you, enlarging your heart in the midst of anxieties, by
which it might have been tried, without your having his comfort from
on high. Whatsoever may happen, if we have the patience to hearken
to our Saviour, he will always give us wherewithal to rejoice our
spirits, and will make us taste and feel, in a lively way, that
it is not in vain that he has promised to make us unconquerable
in tribulations. Now, then, learn in reality what that beautiful
promise is worth, that we are indeed happy, when all the world shall
speak ill of us, and shall hate us, and shall persecute us for his
name's sake. Therefore it is, that he has prepared you, long before
exposing you to danger. To this truth it is that you must now recur,
that you may acquiesce in it; and, indeed, he is actually leading
you thither by the hand.
Wherefore are we not together, to provoke Satan, by meditating upon
the things which may well cause us spiritual rejoicing, and give
us matter for glorying more than ever, even when we are utterly
discomfited according to the world's estimation? But I am aware
that you have no need of my fellowship in that; and besides, I say
so, more to content myself than because of your necessity. Above
all, understand that now the hour is come when you must shew what a
helpmeet you are to Monseigneur your husband, in such a sort that
he may always have occasion to bless God, as he has had hitherto,
for having provided him with such a support. I say this, because
I consider that it is the principal one that God has left him as
regards the creature, without having deprived him of all. I see
clearly, though absent, by what zeal you are urged forward to acquit
yourself of duty, and what trouble you take to employ yourself
therein. For which reason, what I now speak is not so much by way
of exhortation as, while congratulating, to uphold you in that good
courage which God has given.
I address to your care some reply which I have made to the sister
of Monseigneur, who is at Mons, to a communication which she sent
lately to the wife of Saint-André. If it seem good to you, you can
cause forward it to her, with this which I send to the sister of
Monsieur David. I submit the whole to your good discretion.
To conclude, Madame and very honoured sister, after having
affectionately commended me to your kind favour, and having also
presented to you the humble commendations of my wife, who lies sick
in bed, I entreat our good Lord to fill you with all grace, daily
to increase his glory in you, and to triumph in your constancy, in
order that finally we may be also partakers of his glory which he
has promised us.
Your servant and humble brother,