are wrong, brother, you
are wrong if you think there is ever a time when the Christian does
not suffer persecution. For our adversary goes about as a roaring
lion seeking what he may devour, and do you still think of peace?
Nay, he lieth in ambush among the rich."

Inspired by those records and examples, we should endure our
persecutions all the more steadfastly the more bitterly they harm
us. We should not doubt that even if they are not according to our
deserts, at least they serve for the purifying of our soul. And
since all things are done in accordance with the divine ordering,
let every one of true faith console himself amid all his
afflictions with the thought that the great goodness of God permits
nothing to be done without reason, and brings to a good end
whatsoever may seem to happen wrongfully. Wherefore rightly do all
men say: "Thy will be done." And great is the consolation to all
lovers of God in the word of the Apostle when he says: "We know
that all things work together for good to them that love God"
(Rom. viii, 28). The wise man of old had this in mind when he said
in his Proverbs: "There shall no evil happen to the just"
(Prov. xii, 21). By this he clearly shows that whosoever grows
wrathful for any reason against his sufferings has therein departed
from the way of the just, because he may not doubt that these
things have happened to him by divine dispensation. Even such are
those who yield to their own rather than to the divine purpose, and
with hidden desires resist the spirit which echoes in the words,
"Thy will be done," thus placing their own will ahead of the will
of God. Farewell.

APPENDIX

PIERRE ABELARD

Petrus Abaelardus (or Abailardus) was born in the year 1079 at
Palets, a Breton town not far from Nantes. His father, Berengarius,
was a nobleman of some local importance; his mother, Lucia, was
likewise of noble family. The name "Abaelardus" is said to be a
corruption of "Habelardus," which, in turn, was substituted by
himself for the nickname "Bajolardus" given to him in his student
days. However the name may have arisen, the famous scholar
certainly adopted it very early in his career, and it went over
into the vernacular as "Abelard" or "Abailard," though with a
multiplicity of variations (in Villon's famous poem, for example,
it appears as "Esbaillart").

For the main facts of Abelard's life his own writings remain the
best authority, but through his frequent contact with