Or let him rise to that station of honor, which he now believes will
satisfy him, and his ambition would aspire to one more exalted. Let
him govern one kingdom, and he would desire to subjugate another till
the whole world bowed to his nod. And were every star an inhabited
world, and did he possess means to invade them, his ambition would
continue to soar till he ruled the universe, and were there no object
left to which he might still direct his ambition and continue to soar,
he would set down in despair, and, like Alexander the Great, weep and
sigh for more worlds to conquer.
All this restlessness and misery arise from false notions of:
happiness--from not realizing that the Most High rules in the kingdom
of men--and from a want of confidence in his word, which points the
rich and the poor alike to that noble path of virtue and religion,
where true happiness and unbroken peace forever reign. By men
embracing virtue, and in their feelings and actions ever acknowledging
the supremacy of Jehovah, inevitably leads to happiness and
contentment. But in doing this we are not to deprive ourselves of the
enjoyment of honest gotten wealth, nor of the rational pursuits and
interchanges of social and domestic life. Religion was not given to
deprive us of the common comforts and conveniences of life, but to
sweeten them. Our Redeemer says, "seek first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Sin
and misery in this world are inseparable: so are righteousness and
happiness. If they are not, then it remains for the advocates for a
future retribution to show how men are to be sufficiently rewarded and
punished in the future world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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