out;
he
is
only
drowned
when
that
strength
fails.
It
is
thus
with
Christians.
They
endeavour
as
long
as
possible
to
prevent
their
death
;
it
is
only
the
failure
of
all
power
which
makes
them
die.
God,
who
wishes
to
hasten
this
death,
and
who
has
compassion
upon
them,
cuts
off
the
hands
with
which
they
cling
to
a
support,
and
thus
obliges
them
to
sink
into
the
deep.
Crosses
become
mul-tiplied,
and
the
more
they
increase,
the
greater
is
the
helplessness
to
bear
them,
so
that
they
seem
as
though
they
never
could
be
borne.
The
most
pain-ful
part
of
this
condition
is,
that
the
trouble
always
begins
by
some
fault
in
the
sufferer,
who
believes
he
has
brought
it
upon
himself.
At
last
the
soul
is
reduced
to
utter
self-despair.
It
consents
that
God
should
deprive
it
of
the
joy
of
His
gifts,
and
admits
that
He
is
just
in
doing
it.
It
does
not
even
hope
to
possess
these
gifts
again.
When
those
who
are
in
this
condition
see
others
who
are
manifestly
living
in
communion
with
God,
their
anguish
is
redoubled,
and
they
sink
in
the
sense
of
their
own
nothingness.
They
long
to
be
able
to
imitate
them,
but
finding
all
their
efforts
