Wesley Corpus

7. Are not you a living proof of this Do not you still wander to and fro, seeking rest, but finding none -- pursuing happiness, but never overtaking it And who can blame you for pursuing it It is the very end of your being. The great Creator made nothing to be miserable, but every creature to be happy in its kind. And upon a general review of the works of his hands he pronounced them all very good; which they would not have been, had not every intelligent creature, yea, everyone capable of pleasure and pain, been happy in answering the end of its creation. If you are now unhappy, it is because you are in an unnatural state: And shall you not sigh for deliverance from it "The whole creation," being now "subject to vanity," "groaneth and travaileth in pain together." I blame you only, or pity you rather, for taking a wrong way to a right end; for seeking happiness where it never was, and never can be, found. You seek happiness in your fellow-creatures, instead of your Creator. But these can no more make you happy than they can make you immortal. If you have ears to hear, every creature cries aloud, "Happiness is not in me." All these are, in truth, "broken cisterns, that can hold no water." O turn unto your rest! Turn to Him in whom are hid all the treasures of happiness! Turn unto him "who giveth liberally unto all men;" and he will give you "to drink of the water of life freely." 8. You cannot find your long-sought happiness in all the pleasures of the world. Are they not "deceitful upon the weights" Are they not lighter than vanity itself How long will ye "feed upon that which is not bread" -- which may amuse, but cannot satisfy You cannot find it in the religion of the world; either in opinions or a mere round of outward duties. Vain labour! Is not God a spirit, and therefore to be "worshipped in spirit and in truth" In this alone can you find the happiness you seek; in the union of your spirit with the Father of spirits; in the knowledge and love of Him who is the fountain of happiness, sufficient for all the souls he has made.