Page:TheYoungMansGuide.djvu/102

 "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.  He  who  relies  upon  God  becomes by  this  very  reliance  as  powerful  and  as invincible  as  God,  and  created  powers  can  no more  prevail  against  him  than  against  God Himself.  This  confidence  in  the  fatherly  providence of  God  can  not,  evidently,  dispense  us from  doing  all  that  is  in  our  power  to  accomplish His designs;  but,  after  having  done  all  that depends upon  our  efforts,  we  will  abandon  ourselves completely  to  God  for  the  rest."

"When we  will  what  God  wills,"  says  St. Alphonsus,  "it  is  our  own  greatest  good  that  we will;  for  God  desires  what  is  for  our  greatest