“Do you not think that sometimes when matters are at the worst with us, when we appear to have done all which we ourselves can do, yet all has been unavailing, and we have only shown we cannot, not we will not, help ourselves; that often just then something comes, almost as if supernaturally, to settle for us, as if our guardian angel took pity on our perplexities, and then at last obtained leave to help us? And if it be so, then what might only be a coincidence becomes a call of Providence, a voice from Heaven, a command.”

— James Anthony Froude , book The Nemesis of Faith

Letter VI
The Nemesis of Faith (1849)

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James Anthony Froude 111

English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of Fras… 1818–1894

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