*“It appears to me that you are over eager and anxious in the pursuit of perfection.... Now I tell you truthfully, as it is said in the Book of Kings,[14] that God is not in the great and strong wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the gentle movement of an almost imperceptible breeze.... Anxiety and agitation contribute nothing towards success. The desire of success is good, but only if it be not accompanied by solicitude. I expressly forbid you to give way to inquietude, for it is the mother of all imperfections.... Peace is necessary in all things and everywhere. If any trouble come to us, either of an interior or exterior nature, we should receive it peacefully: if joy be ours, it should be received peacefully: have we to flee from evil, we should do it peacefully, otherwise we may fall in our flight and thus give our enemy a chance to kill us. Is there a good work to be done? we must do it peacefully, or else we shall commit many faults by our hastiness: and even as regards penance,—that too must be done peacefully: _Behold_, said the prophet, _in peace is my bitterness most bitter_.”[15]* XV. SADNESS. I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.... Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the Lord with gladness.... Why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou trouble me? (Psalms CXXI., XCIX., XLII.) And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Apoc. C. XXI., v. 4.) 1. Sadness, says Saint Francis de Sales, is the worst thing in the World, sin alone excepted. 2. It is a dangerous error to seek recollection in sadness: it is the spirit of God that produces recollection; sadness is the work of the spirit of darkness. 3. Do not forget the rule given by Saint Francis de Sales for the discernment of spirits: any thought that troubles and disquiets us cannot come from the God of peace, who makes his dwelling-place only in peaceful souls. *“Yes, my daughter, I now tell you in writing what I before said to you in person, always be as happy as you can in well-doing, for it gives a double value to good works to be well done and to be done cheerfully. And when I say, rejoice in well-doing, I do not mean that if you happen to commit some fault you should on that account abandon yourself to sadness. For God’s sake, no; for that would be to add defect to defect. But I mean that you should persevere in the wish to do well, that you return to it the moment you realize you have deviated from it, and that by means of this fidelity you live happily in the Lord.... May God be ever in our heart, my daughter.... Live joyfully and be generous, for this is the will of God, whom we love and to whose service we are consecrated.”—Saint Francis de Sales.* (_Imitation_, B. III., Chap. XLVII.)