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OF FAULTS AND INFIRMITIES
303

CHAPTER XIV.

Of the Remedy which we ought to use, so as not to be disquieted under Faults and Infirmities.

IF sometimes you should fall into some sin or negligence in word or deed, such as disturbing yourself at any thing which happens to you, or murmuring, or listening to murmuring, or falling into some dispute or irritation, or curiosity, or suspicion of others, or into any other fault, whether it be one or many falls; in a certain way you ought not to be disturbed nor disheartened nor saddened at the thought of what has happened, nor be confounded within yourself; at one time, believing that you will never be free from such infirmities; at another, that your faults and irresolution are the cause of them; or again, imagining that you are not walking in the spirit and way of the Lord; and thus with a thousand other fears, pressing down your soul at every step with discontent and cowardice. Hence it follows, that you feel ashamed to present yourself before God, or you do so in a spirit of distrust, as though you had not preserved that faith in Him which is His due; and, as a remedy, you waste time in pondering over these things, scrutinizing how much you harboured the thought, and whether