h is
(though it is so difficult for us to admit it heartily), our nature is
not at first in a state to enjoy happiness, even if we had it offered to
us. We seek for it, and we feel we need it; but (strange though it is to
say, still so it is) we are not fitted to be happy. If then at once we
rush forward to seek enjoyment, it will be like a child's attempting to
walk before his strength is come. If we would gain true bliss, we must
cease to seek it as an end; we must postpone the prospect of enjoying it.
For we are by nature in an unnatural state; we must be changed from what
we are when born, before we can receive our greatest good. And as in
sickness sharp remedies are often used, or irksome treatment, so it is
with our souls; we must go through pain, we must practise self-denial, we
must curb our wills, and purify our hearts, before we are capable of any
lasting solid peace. To attempt to gain happiness, except in this
apparently tedious and circuitous way, is a labour lost; it is building
on the sand; the foundation will soon give way, though the house looks
fair for a time. To be gay and thoughtless, to be self-indulgent and
self-willed, is quite out of character with our real state. We must
learn to know ourselves, and to have thoughts and feelings becoming
ourselves. Impetuous hope and undisciplined mirth ill-suit a sinner.
Should he shrink from low notions of himself, and sharp pain, and
mortification of natural wishes, whose guilt called down the Son of God
from heaven to die upon the cross for him? May he live in pleasure here,
and call this world his home, while he reads in the Gospel of his
Saviour's life-long affliction and disappointment?

It cannot be; let us prepare for suffering and disappointment, which
befit us as sinners, and which are necessary for us as saints. Let us
not turn away from trial when God brings it on us, or play the coward in
the fight of faith. "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like
men, be strong[23];" such is St. Paul's exhortation. When affliction
overtakes you, remember to accept it as a means of improving your hearts,
and pray God for His grace that it may do so. Look disappointment in the
face. "Take . . . the Prophets . . . for an example of suffering
affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy who endure."
Give not over your attempts to serve God, though you see nothing come of
them. Watch and pray, and obey your conscience, though you c