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Wu Ting
How would you explain this sentence?
To be ignorant of evils to come, and forgetfull of evils past, is a mercifull provision in nature, whereby we digest the mixture of our few and evil dayes, and our delivered senses not relapsing into cutting remembrances, our sorrows are not kept raw by the edge of repetitions.—Sir Thomas Browne
May 18, 2013 12:50 PM
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Answers · 1
This is a very literary passage from the 17th century, from some 350 years ago now. In plain English, it means:
To not know the evils (bad things) that have not yet occurred, and to forget (easily) the evils (bad things) that have already been committed, is God's way to be merciful and to deliver us from recurrent pain (so that when we feel the mixture of our rare and evil moments, our senses (that we feel) will not fall back into painful memories and our sadness will not be kept sore by the sharp cuts of repeated occurrences).
May 19, 2013
