this state of mind only through the comfort of the Scriptures,
which call us, in the day of evil, to the contemplation of good
things, either present or to come, and, in the day of good, to
the contemplation of evil things.

But let us, for our better understanding of these two series of
pictures or images, divide each of them into seven parts. The
first series will treat of the evils, and we shall consider (1)
the evil within us, (2) the evil before us, (3) the evil behind
us, (4) the evil on our left hand, (5) the evil on our right
hand, (6) the evil beneath us, and (7) the evil above us.[9]

CHAPTER I

THE FIRST IMAGE

THE EVIL WITHIN US

This is most certain and true--we may believe it or not--that no
suffering in a man's experience, be it never so severe, can be
the greatest of the evils that are within him. So many more and
far greater evils are there within him than any that he feels.
And if he were to feel those evils, he would feel the pains of
hell; for he holds a hell within himself. Do you ask how this can
be? The Prophet says, "All men are liars" [Ps. 116:11] and again,
"Every man at his best state is altogether vanity." [Ps. 39:6]
But to be a liar and vanity, is to be without truth and reality;
and to be without truth and reality, is to be without God and to
be nothing; and this is to be in hell and damned. Therefore, when
God in His mercy chastens us, He reveals to us and lays upon us
only the lighter evils; for if He were to lead us to the full
knowledge of our evil, we should straightway perish. Yet even
this He has given some to taste, and of them it is written, "He
bringeth down to hell, and bringeth up." [1 Sam. 2:6] Therefore
they say well who call our bodily sufferings the monitors of the
evil within. And the Apostle, in Hebrews xii, calls them God's
fatherly chastenings, when he says, "He scourgeth every son whom
He receiveth." [Heb. 12:6] And He does this, in order by such
scourgings and lesser evils to drive out those great evils, that
we may never need to feel them; as it is written, "Foolishness is
bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall
drive it far from him." [Prov. 33:15] Do not loving parents
grieve more for their sons when they turn out thieves and
evil-doers than when they receive a wound? Nay, they themselves
beat them until the blood flows, to keep them from becoming
evil-doers.[10]

What is it, then, that prevents us from feeling this our true
evil?