What have we more than the ancient savages had who lived in trees and caves for the seasons? Theirs was no less a life of necessity than our own. But all things were there to them, as all things are now to us, and the want of them they felt as we do now. For they found what they wanted where they wanted it. The spring opened the buds, the summer grew them, the autumn mowed them, and the winter brought them down. We have no use for winter now, the summer is our harvest, and we have to ask of spring to renew our life and of autumn to sow it. In the great cities where we want more than country life can supply, there are no flowers, no fruits, no fountains, and therefore no living spring.
Of the genius of the ancients, we are not able to lift the mill-wheels of their invention and knowledge. And the old truth, that we have had no experience and can only guess at all the arts and mysteries, will not be dispensed with. What is called science is the knowledge of what we do not know; and it goes without saying that we shall not know as much as that. But we are happy in our ignorance; or if we are not, we are at least in a better fortune than is common.
For, if we could have all the learning we could wish for now, we should get no more now than we have got before. There are so many sciences that they would not come into one head now. For as soon as one gets to the end of anything, there are ten thousand fresh things to come in its place. To a mind that is tired of everything, all this would be weariness of all things. It is the same with our bodily strength. What do we gain by all the exercise we can take? What strength would our bodies have if we did not sustain it by eating and drinking? What would the world do for want of the light we have? And for want of the light what do we do for want of the earth and of the air and of fire? And for want of fire what do we do for want of the mind?
The lives of all the beasts are the same; for they are one life, and one life is all their lives. And if you want to know what a beast or anything else wants, consider what it does. The beast wants to breathe and eat and drink, and its pleasure is in this. When it has eaten, and drunk, and lain down to sleep, it has then done its best. Then it says ‘What is to come is best’, and the next day it does the same. So when it lies down to sleep, it has done its best.
Whatsoever things are done with pleasure and with good hope, this is a life.
This is that happiness and prosperity which the Greeks call eudaimonia, and which the Indians call moksha.
Aristotle says of the Greek philosophers that they seek their highest good in wisdom. But we say that the highest good is in action. And in action, what is most to be desired? Is it pleasure, or is it virtue? A great king who heard a great teacher speak thus addressed him. And the great teacher went to the king and made the following speech. ‘You, O king, are a learned man. You know that this is the highest good. You know that the highest good is virtue, and that virtue is knowledge. You know that knowledge is in action. Therefore it is in action that the supreme good is to be found.’
But then comes this miserable doubt:—what comes after death? If there be any state of happiness, it is past this doubt.
The only real, the only permanent objects of this world are—God, and virtue;—not property, and reputation, and the applause of friends, and the love of friends; not the pleasures of the body, nor the enjoyments of the mind. The soul is its own place; society the narrow limits of its action; and God the boundless horizon of its being. The highest aim of human life is to find out God, and that truly and deeply. I know that for many, who have thought as they ought to think, and have reasoned as they ought to reason, this aim is in a great degree present to them. They love their fellow-men, because they find that the same Lord of love and truth, that is in them, is in all; and they love the God of love and truth, because they find that that divine Being is a divine God, a Being that is just, just as they are; one and the same Being that is everywhere, and at every time; one and the same Being who is, and who fills and sustains all existence; that One from whom, at every stage of history, the children of men have ever drawn the most exalted ideas of goodness and holiness; of the supreme power and dignity; and the highest love; that One to whom, in every age of the world, when the darkness of ignorance prevailed, the great names of love and beauty were given; who was always near the heart and head of mankind; who has ever stood revealed in all the acts and thoughts and aspirations of the soul; who is present to us in the stillness of night, in the silent depths of life, in the joys of childhood, in the dreams and hopes and longings of youth, in the struggles, temptations, and struggles of manhood, and of old age; who is in heaven, and on earth, and in hell, and above hell; in earth, in air, in fire, and in water; in the light, in the darkness, in the light again.
This divine Being is God: all the attributes of divine Being are the attributes of this God: and if the heart of man is not capable of comprehending this most incomprehensible of all beings; and if his intellect is not capable of comprehending his own nature; still, in an infinitely higher degree, man’s soul must know God: that is, in the measure in which the divinity dwells in him; he must, in truth, have a divine nature. And whoever has the divinity of God within him, will, from that source, see what is his destiny, and see that it is impossible for him to fall. But how shall we describe that divine Being, who is the Creator of heaven and earth, and all therein? Who made the sun, and the moon, and all the stars, with all their courses and revolutions, in their due times and seasons; and who fills them all with light and glory? Who created man, and, as the Father of mankind, made his home in him, and his dwelling place upon the earth; and who sent the Holy Spirit of God to dwell in him, to give him grace, holiness, and immortality; who filled his heart with the greatest love, and wisdom, and joy; who is now our Father in heaven, and who is now our Holy Guide on earth; who has ever been in every age the eternal Love, Wisdom, and Power of God?
The world, then, was created by God; it is now a part of his spiritual creation, or family; and its inhabitants are in a state of probation, and must die and rise again. These, then, are the things which the New Testament states concerning the Church and all other human societies; and which are, at once, a source of peace and joy, as well as of great solicitude.
But, while we are thus occupied with these things, how shall we ever make acquaintance with the spirit of God, and feel that we are really happy in so doing? We may be very apt and skilled in the outward duties of religion; we may even be highly educated in them; we may even be very eloquent in the language of piety; but, while we are thus occupied, will God know us? Will he know us while we are looking merely for an external holiness, and a state of heavenly calmness? Will he know us when we are occupied merely with the idea of a pure conscience? Will he know us when we are seeking only for the enjoyment of some kind of heavenly life? Will he know us when we are only following after some heavenly, and purely spiritual, state? Will he know us when we are only seeking the enjoyment of some of those beautiful images which he has placed before us, in the word of the promise, in the word of his gospel? And shall we trust him at all, in so far as we are thus occupied, or shall we put our trust in him and in the truth of our religion, not merely when we are actually fulfilling those duties of religion, and actually seeking a state of enjoyment; not merely when we are seeking a state of enjoyment, and thinking about the duties of our religion?
Let us then, with all our earnestness and faith, desire to approach God, not with some of those ideas and notions of religion, as though we were not interested in the truth at all, and merely interested in some spiritual enjoyments; but let us seek to approach God in the true Christian way, by a real trust in him; by the knowledge of our dependence on him, for every good gift and grace; by knowing the true God and the true object of our religion; by knowing him as he is, and by seeing the necessity and the need of religion. And let us love our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength, not merely because we desire to be religious, not merely because we wish to be united with him in a state of eternal life; but let us love him because he has made us in his image; because he has redeemed us by his own blood; because he has revealed himself to us, not only in his word, but in himself.