Christian Theology - Media Sabda Org

desires and wishes; and what can satisfy these wishes must be infinite.
God alone is that GOOD; and in him alone is this happiness to be found.
If it be his will that the happiness lost by sin should be restored to
believers in Christ, then it is his will that they should be made holy.
Misery was never known till sin entered into the world; and happiness
can never be known by any man, till sin be expelled from his soul. No
holiness, no happiness;—and no plenary and permanent happiness,
without plenary and permanent holiness. I repeat it, that to give true and
permanent happiness to believers is the design of that God whose name
is Mercy, and whose nature is love.
True happiness consists in the knowledge of God, and in obedience to
him. A man is not happy because he knows much; but because he
receives much of the divine nature, and is, in all his conduct, conformed
to the divine will.
The happiness of a genuine Christian lies far beyond the reach of
earthly disturbances, and is not affected by the changes and chances to
which mortal things are exposed. The martyrs were more happy in the
flames than their persecutors could be on their beds of down.
God is the centre to which all immortal spirits tend, and in connection
with which alone they can find rest. Every thing separated from its centre
is in a state of violence; and, if intelligent, cannot be happy. All human
souls, while separated from God by sin, are in a state of violence,
agitation, and misery. From God all spirits come; to him all must return,
in order to be finally happy.
I knew a man who is distinguished among many for his writings, and
who is still living, who thought that the saying of Christ, "Love your
enemies," and the practice upon that saying, was the greatest insult that
could be offered to human nature. "What!" said he, "rob men of those
high feelings which are so common to them? No!" And then he
blasphemed, and I shall not repeat his words. We may see whereabouts