Wesley Corpus

I looked about for happiness, but could not find it. Then I thought, “O, if I had but such a person with me, I should surely be happy.” I mused with myself, “How lovely is her look How agreeably she talks !” I thought of Sappho’s words:-- “Bless'd as the immortal gods is he, The youth that fondly sits by thee; And hears and sees thee all the while Softly speak and sweetly smile.” “Surely, this is the very thing I want; and could I attain it, I should then no more be solitary ! For,-- Thou from all shades the darkness wouldst exclude, And from a desert banish solitude : Therefore, with her I can be happy; without her I never can.” 4. Perhaps your case is something like mine. Let me then ask you a few questions. Were you ever convinced of sin? of your lost, undone state? Did you feel the wrath of God abiding on you? If so, what did you then want to make you happy? “To know, my God is reconciled.” You had your wish. You were enabled to say boldly, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” And were not you then happy? “Indeed I was.” In what? In the knowledge and love of God. 5. And if you have now the same knowledge and love of God, does it not answer the same end? Will not the same cause still produce the same effect? If, therefore, you are not happy now, is it not because you have not that intercourse with God which you then had? And are you seeking to supply the want of that intercourse by the enjoyment of a creature? You imagine that near connexion with a woman will make amends for distance from God! Have you so learned Christ? Has your expe rience taught you no better than this? 6. You were happy once; you knew you were; happy in God, without being beholden to any creature. You did not need Love's all-sufficient sea to raise With drops of creature-happiness. And is it wise to seek it now anywhere else than where you found it before? You have not the same excuse with those who never were happy in God. And how little is the seeking it in any creature better than idolatry ! Is it not, in effect, loving the creature more than the Creator?