Free Republic

INTRODUCTION. III. CAN WE ATTAIN PERFECT HAPPINESS ON EARTH ? 1. Earthly goods, such as riches, honor, pleasure, cannot by themselves make us happy, for they cannot satisfy our soul; they often only make life bitter, and invariably forsake us in death. Earthly goods deceive us; they are like soap-bubbles, which reflect all the colors of the rainbow but are really only drops of water. Earthly joys are like artificial fruit, beautiful to behold, but disap- pointing to the taste. Earthly pleasures are like drops of water; they do not quench the fire of the passions, but only make...

INTRODUCTION. II. HOW ARE WE TO ATTAIN TO ETERNAL HAPPINESS? Eternal happiness consists in union with God, through the exer- cise of the intellect contemplating God and the will loving Him. If we wish to attain it, we must begin to draw near to it in this life. We must seek to know and love God. But love of God consists in keeping His commandments (John xiv. 23). From this it follows that: We shall attain to eternal happiness by the following means: 1. We must strive to know God by means of faith in the truths He has...

INTRODUCTION. I. FOR WHAT END ARE WE ON THIS EARTH? As the scholar goes to school in order that he may afterwards attain a certain position in life, so man is placed on this earth in order that he may attain to the lofty end of eternal happiness. As the servant serves his master and so earns his bread, so man has to serve God, and through his service attains happiness to some extent in this life, and in its fulness after death. We are upon this earth in order that we may glorify God, and so win for...