out trials of some kind, inasmuch as He knows that they are made perfect through the exercises of virtues and patience, will issue in an increase of joy, and therefore in a greater security of mind. You will be happy if you confine yourself within these barriers.
IV.—Rules of an Active Life.
We are born for business, therefore an active life is truly life. Idleness is the sepulchre of a living man. By how much the more excellent any creature is, by so much the more active it is; as is evident in the case of angels, of the sun, and of the heavenly bodies—which are in perpetual motion—so also are the fountains always sending forth waters, and the rivers carrying these waters hither and thither for human uses. On the contrary, by how much the more torpid anything is, by so much the more useless it is; as a stone, clay, ditch, &c.; do you therefore, that you may not be a stone or a useless weight of earth, but an active sun always shining, or an angel always ministering in place of God to men, use all your efforts. What now must be observed in this matter?
1. Whatever you see ought to be done by you, provided you know the means of effecting it, and the prudent use of the means, dare to engage in it. It is better to fail in good attempts, as sometimes happens, than to neglect occasions of increasing any good things.
2. Whatever you are able to expedite yourself, never wait for others. Thus relying more on your own industry than on that of another; for it often happens that before you have related the matter to another, and he has perceived it, deliberated upon it, and prepared himself for it, you yourself might have done it; therefore advance right on without turnings and windings.
