Page:Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church.djvu/277

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LATER PERIOD OF LIFE: CONCLUSION

the cause of his lamentation, he said, 'God be praised! it is over now. You must not trouble yourselves about me; for whatever happens to me is permitted by the Lord, and He does not suffer me to be tempted more than He sees that I can bear.'

"Once it was very remarkable that after such a lamentation he lay down and did not rise from his bed for several days and nights. This caused his people much uneasiness; they talked with one another and supposed that he had died from some great fright. They thought of having the door forced open, or of calling in his intimate friends. At last the man went to the window, and to his great joy saw that his master was still alive, for he turned himself in bed. The next day he rang the bell, and then the housekeeper went in and told him of her own and her husband's uneasiness at his condition; whereupon he said with a cheerful countenance that he was doing well, and that he did not need anything. She was satisfied with this answer, for neither of his servants dared to interrogate him, since they had the same opinion of him as the old clergyman in my parish; and they added that such a wise and learned man

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