This I know assuredly, that before God
humbled me, I was like a stone lying sunk in deep mire; but He who is
able came, He raised me in his mercy, and set me on a very high place.
Therefore must I loudly bear witness to this, in order, in some measure,
to repay the Lord for such great blessings in time and eternity, great
beyond the apprehension of human reason. "When I came to Ireland," he
says, "and used daily to keep the cattle, and often every day to pray,
the fear and the love of God were ever more and more enkindled in me, and
my faith increased, so that, in one day, I spoke a hundred times in
prayer, and in the night almost as often; and even when I passed the
night on the mountains, or in the forest, amid snow and ice and rain, I
would awake before daybreak to pray. And I felt no discomfort, there was
then no sloth in me, such as I find in my heart now, for then the Spirit
glowed within me."
After he had passed six years in the service of this prince, he thought
he heard a voice in his sleep which promised him a speedy return to his
native land, and soon afterwards announced to him that a ship was already
prepared to take him. In reliance on this call, he set out, and after a
journey of many days, he found a ship about to set sail.
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