and give us one of the blessed secrets of brave, true holy living.
9.— Abandonment
Two principles form the unalterable basis of the virtue of abandonment or absolute surrender to divine providence.
First Principle: Nothing is done, nothing happens, either in the material or in the moral world, which God has not foreseen from all eternity, and which He has not willed, or at least permitted.
Second Principle: God can will nothing, He can permit nothing, but in view of the end He proposed to Himself in creating the world; i.e., in view of His glory and the glory of the Man-God, Jesus Christ, His only Son.
To these two principles we shall add a third, which will complete the elucidation of this whole subject, viz.: As long as man lives upon earth, God desires to be glorified through the happiness of this privileged creature; and consequently in God's designs the interest of man's sanctification and happiness is inseparable from the interest of the divine glory.
If we do not lose sight of these principles, which no Christian can question, we shall understand that our confidence in the providence of Our Father in heaven can not be too great, too absolute, too childlike. If nothing but what He permits happens, and if He can permit nothing but what is for our happiness, then we have nothing to fear, except not being sufficiently submissive to God. As long as we keep ourselves united with Him and we walk after His designs, were all creatures to turn against us they could not harm us.
