departed: Thou didst turn Thy face from me, and I was troubled.
In spite whereof he in no wise despaireth, but the more instantly
entreateth God, and saith, Unto Thee, O Lord, will I cry, and
will pray unto my God; and then he receiveth the fruit of his
prayer, and testifieth how he hath been heard, saying, The Lord
heard me and had mercy upon me, the Lord was my helper. But
wherein? Thou hast turned my heaviness into joy, Thou hast put
off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness. If it was thus
with the great saints, we who are poor and needy ought not to
despair if we are sometimes in the warmth and sometimes in the
cold, for the Spirit cometh and goeth according to the good
pleasure of His will. Wherefore holy Job saith, Thou dost visit
him in the morning, and suddenly Thou dost prove him.(2)

6. Whereupon then can I hope, or wherein may I trust, save only
in the great mercy of God, and the hope of heavenly grace? For
whether good men are with me, godly brethren or faithful friends,
whether holy books or beautiful discourses, whether sweet hymns
and songs, all these help but little, and have but little savour
when I am deserted by God's favour and left to mine own poverty.
There is no better remedy, then, than patience and denial of
self, and an abiding in the will of God.

7. I have never found any man so religious and godly, but that he
felt sometimes a withdrawal of the divine favour, and lack of
fervour. No saint was ever so filled with rapture, so
enlightened, but that sooner or later he was tempted. For he is
not worthy of the great vision of God, who, for God's sake, hath
not been exercised by some temptation. For temptation is wont
to go before as a sign of the comfort which shall follow, and