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your head are all numbered,” says Our Lord Himself. It is this Provi¬ 
dence which every year covers the earth with harvests, makes the plants to 
grow, loads the trees with fruit, and watches over all the requirements of 
His creatures with a truly paternal care. It feeds the birds of the air, the 
fishes in the sea, and every animal upon the globe. 
But, then, however, let us not suppose that this attention costs God any¬ 
thing, or that His unalterable repose is disturbed. Everything is equally 
easy to an infinite wisdom and power. If a king only busies himself with 
great matters, without going into the details of the smaller things which 
transpire in his kingdom, it is because a king, having but a limited under¬ 
standing, could not occupy himself with smaller matters without neglecting 
the greater. But God’s wisdom, being infinite, embraces all without effort 
or trouble. 
We must, therefore, always submit unreservedly to the guidance of 
this Providence. We should worship it alike in the evil that befalls us as 
in the good; in adversity as in prosperity, in sickness and suffering as in 
health and joy. We should then say, “God wills it, and He only wills it 
for my good; may His Lloly Name be praised!” If, sometimes, He permits 
the good man to be in misery while the wicked enjoys abundance, it is that 
He may test his virtue in order to reward it magnificently in another life. 
It is because Lie knows that this passing affliction is but a means of secur¬ 
ing his Eternal Salvation. 
“I think, if thou could’st know, 
Oh, soul, that will complain, 
What lies concealed below 
Our burden and our pain; 
How just our anguish brings 
Nearer those longed-for things 
We seek for now in vain.— 
I think, thou would’st rejoice and not complain. 
