Chapter XXIX.—That Human Life is
a Distraction But that Through the Mercy of God He Was Intent on
the Prize of His Heavenly Calling.
39. But “because Thy loving-kindness is
better than life,” behold, my life is but a
distraction, and Thy
right hand upheld me in my Lord, the Son of man, the
Mediator between Thee, The One, and us the many,—in
many distractions amid many things,—that through Him I may
apprehend in whom I have been apprehended, and may be recollected
from my old days, following The One, forgetting the things that are
past; and not distracted, but drawn on, not to those things which shall be
and shall pass away, but to those things which are before, not
distractedly, but intently, I follow on for the prize of my
heavenly calling, where I may hear the voice of Thy
praise, and contemplate Thy delights, neither coming nor passing away. But now are my years spent in mourning. And Thou, O Lord, art my comfort, my Father everlasting. But I have been divided amid times, the order of which I know not; and my thoughts, even the inmost bowels of my soul, are mangled with tumultuous varieties, until I flow together unto Thee, purged and molten in the fire of Thy love.