be lost. Happiness is an accumulation of good without admixture of evil, which, as it fills up the measure of man's desires, must be eternal. He who is blessed with its enjoyment must earnestly desire its continuance, and, were it transient and uncertain, should necessarily experience the torture of continual apprehension. [1]
The intensity of the happiness which the just enjoy in their celestial country, and its utter incomprehensibility to all but to themselves alone, are sufficiently conveyed by the very words which are here used to express that happiness. When, to express any idea, we make use of a word common to many others, we do so, because we have no proper term by which to express it clearly and fully. When, therefore, to express happiness, we adopt words which are equally applicable to all who are to live for ever, as to the blessed; we are led to infer that the idea presents to the mind something too great, too exalted, to be expressed fully by a proper term. True, the happiness of heaven is expressed in Scripture by a variety of other words, such as, the "Kingdom of God," [2] " of Christ," [3] " of heaven," [4] " Paradise," [5] "the Holy City," "the New Jerusalem," [6] "my Father's house;" [7] yet it is clear that none of these appellations is sufficient to convey an adequate idea of its greatness.
The pastor, therefore, will not neglect the opportunity which this Article affords, of inviting the faithful to the practice of piety, of justice, and of all the other virtues, by holding out to them such ample rewards as are announced in the words " life everlasting." Amongst the blessings which we instinctively desire, life is, confessedly, esteemed one of the greatest: by it principally, when we say " life everlasting," do we express the happiness of the just. If then, during this short and chequered period of our existence, which is subject to so many and such various vicissitudes, that it may be called death rather than life, there is nothing to which we so fondly cling, nothing which we love so dearly as life; with what ardour of soul, with what earnestness of purpose, should we not seek that eternal happiness, which, without alloy of any sort, presents to us the pure and unmixed enjoyment of every good? The happiness of eternal life is, as defined by the Fathers, " an exemption from all evil, and an enjoyment of all good." [8] That it is an exemption from all evil, the Scriptures declare in the most explicit terms: " they shall no more hunger and thirst," says St. John, " neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat;" [9] and again, " God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes: and death shall be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow, shall be any more, for the former things are passed away." [10] But the glory of
- ↑ Vid. Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. 12. cap. 20. lib. 22. c. 29, & 30. de libero arbit, cap. 25. de verb. Domini, serm. 64, & serm. 37, de Sanctis.
- ↑ Acts xiv. 22.
- ↑ 2 Pet. i. 11.
- ↑ Matt v. 3. 20.
- ↑ Luke xxiii. 43.
- ↑ Apoc. xxi. 10.
- ↑ John xiv. 2.
- ↑ Chrysost. in 30. cap. ad Thood. lapsum. Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. 22. cap. 30. Ansselm. epist 2. et de similit. c. 47. et seq.
- ↑ Apoc. vii. 16.
- ↑ Apoc. xxi. 4.
