593. Adversity; Diligence; Equanimity;
Misfortune; Patience; Perseverance
"Patience and submission are very carefully to be distinguished
from cowardice and indolence. We are not to repine, but we may
lawfully struggle; for the calamities of life, like the
necessities of nature, are calls to labour and diligence. When
we feel any pressure of distress, we are not to conclude that we
can only obey the will of Heaven by languishing under it, any
more than when we perceive the pain of thirst, we are to imagine
that water is prohibited."
Johnson: Rambler #32 (July 7, 1750)
Link
594. Misfortune
"Of misfortune it can never be certainly known whether, as
proceeding from the hand of God, it is an act of favour or
punishment: but since all the ordinary dispensations from
Providence are to be interpreted according to the general analogy
of things, we may conclude that we have a right to remove one
inconvenience as well as another; that we are only to take care
lest we purchase ease with guilt; and that our Maker's purpose,
whether of reward or severity, will be answered by the labours
which he lays us under the necessity of performing."
Johnson: Rambler #32 (July 7, 1750)
Link
