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sionnach commented on the word an excusable covetousness
Neither can we call this a begging of misery or a borrowing of misery, as though we are not miserable enough of ourselves but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbors. Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction.
John Donne, Meditation XVII
from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions (1624)
(This is the Meditation from which the famous 'No man is an island' lines are taken; full text here )
September 25, 2009