Castigans castigauit me Dominus & morti non tradidit me, _Chastiment qui m'a esté d'autant plus sensible que le naufrage a estè accompagné de la mort du R.P. Noyrot & de nostre frere Louys, deux hõmes qui deuoient, ce me semble grandem[~e]t seruir à nostre Seminaire. Or neantmoins puis que Dieu a disposé de la sorte, il nous faut chercher nos contentements dans ses sainctes volontez, hors desquelles il n'y eut iamais esprit solide ny content, & ie m'asseure que l'experience aura fait voir à vostre reuerence que l'amertume de nos ressentiments détrempée dans la douceur du bon plaisir de Dieu, auquel vne ame s'attache inseparablement, perd (ou le tout) ou la meilleure partie de son fiel; Si que s'il reste encore quelques souspirs pour les souffrances, ou passées ou presentes, ce n'est que pour aspirer dauantage vers le Ciel, & perfectionner auec merite ceste conformité dans laquelle l'ame a pris resolution de passer le reste de ses iours; De quatre des nostres que nous estions dans la barque, Dieu partageant à l'esgal, en a pris deux, & a laissé les deux autres. Ces deux bons Religieux tresbien disposez & resignez à la mort, seruiront de victime pour appaiser la colere de Dieu iustement iettée contre nous pour nos deffauts, & pour nous rendre deformais sa bonté fauorable au succeds du dessein entrepris._ [276] MY REVEREND FATHER, The peace of Christ be with you. Castigans castigavit me Dominus & morti non tradidit me, _a Chastisement all the more keenly felt by me, as the shipwreck was accompanied by the death of the Reverend Father Noyrot and of our brother Louys,[20] two men who were destined, it seems to me, to be of great service to our Seminary. But nevertheless, since God has so ordained, we must seek our consolation in his holy will, outside of which there never was a peaceful or contented mind; and I feel sure that experience will have shown your reverence that the bitterness of our grief, tempered with the sweetness of doing the will of God, to whom a soul is inseparably attached, loses (either all) or the greater part of its sting. And yet, if there still remain some sighs for the sufferings either of the past or of the present, it is only to make us aspire more earnestly to Heaven, and to perfect with merit this harmony in which the soul is determined to pass the rest of its days. Of the four of us who were in the barque, God equally divided them, taking two and leaving two. These two good Religious, who were thoroughly prepared and resigned to die, will serve as victims to appease the wrath of God, justly provoked against us for our shortcomings, and to cause him to grant in the future his goodness, that it may be favorable to the success of the project undertaken._