p. 91 | Where the Trouble Was

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 7, 1871

Where the Trouble Was.

THE following pleasant story is told by a pious minister about a monk of former days. He resolved to leave his monastery on the ground that he there too frequently met with causes of provocation, and was betrayed into anger and other sins. Accordingly, he retired into the desert, in the hope that solitude would enable him to serve God with an easier mind. One day, his pitcher happened to upset, and, when lifted up, fell a second time, which kindled his anger to such a pitch that he dashed it to the ground and broke it into a thousand pieces. When he came to himself, he said: “I now see that I cannot be at peace even in solitude, and that the fault lies not in others, but in myself.” He then returned to the monastery, and, after many strenuous efforts, succeeded in subduing his passion, not by flight, but by self-denial.