8. I will not, however, omit to tell you, my dear friend, in what a state I
have been. Last year I suffered from a very violent fever, and came near to the
gates of death. When, by God's mercy, I was restored, I was distressed at coming
back to life, as I bethought me of all the troubles before me. I considered with
myself for what reason, hidden in the depths of the wisdom of God, yet further
clays of life in the flesh had been allowed me. But when I heard of these
matters I concluded that the Lord wished a me to see the Churches at rest after
the storm c which they had previously suffered from the the alienation of the
men in whom, on account of their fictitious gravity of character, every
confidence had been placed. Or peradventure the Lord designed to invigorate my
soul, and to render it more vigilant for the future, to the end that, instead of
giving heed to men, it might be made perfect through those precepts of the
Gospel which do not share in the changes and chances of human seasons and
circumstances, but abide for ever the same, as they were uttered by the blessed
lips that cannot lie.
