'Voices From The Past' Vol. 1 — April 17

This text contains the true judgment of all things under the sun. Our great desire is happiness, and our great folly is to think we can obtain it by the enjoyments of this world. This makes men pursue pleasures, hoard up riches, and court honours and promotions because they believe these can make them truly happy. But this is to seek the living among the dead. They are leaky cisterns that cannot hold living water. In our perverted fancy, we look upon them as stable, permanent, and satisfactory. We consider them as the goal when they should only be used by us in our pilgrimage. We expect much more from them than they can yield, and so the vanity is not so much in the object but in our affection for it. To enjoy something is to cleave to it in love for its own sake. This should only belong to God. We ought to use things of the world only that we might arrive at the Creator. We may use them for our benefit, but we must alone enjoy him. What is gold and silver but diversified earth, and hard and shining clay? The richest perfumes are but the clammy sweat of trees. The softest silks are but the excrement of a vile worm. The most expensive wines are nothing but puddle-water strained through a vine. Our choicest delicacies are but dirt, cooked and served up to us. Fancy and custom have conspired together to cheat us. The truth is, the world is much better in show than in substance. How vain is the world at the hour of death! Nor can these earthy pleasures free us from our cares and crosses. In him alone can be found true rest and satisfaction. Let us cast our cares and burdens upon him who has promised to sustain us. Let us turn the stream of our desires heavenward, where alone we can find permanent and satisfactory good. Let us walk humbly with our God.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Devotional Readings 'Voices From The Past Vol.1.'
Ezekiel Hopkins, Works, I:14-50
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