December 8
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings.--EPH. i. 3.
As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing.--2 COR. vi. 10.
It is not happiness I seek,
Its name I hardly dare to speak;
It is not made for man or earth,
And Heaven alone can give it birth.
There is a something sweet and pure,
Through life, through death it may endure;
With steady foot I onward press,
And long to win that Blessedness.
LOUISA J. HALL.
The elements of _happiness_ in this present life no man can command, even
if he could command himself, for they depend on the action of many wills,
on the purity of many hearts, and by the highest law of God the holiest
must ever bear the sins and sorrows of the rest; but over the _blessedness_
of his own spirit circumstance need have no control; God has therein given
an unlimited power to the means of preservation, of grace and growth, at
every man's command.
J. H. THOM.
There is in man a higher than love of happiness: he can do without
happiness, and instead thereof find blessedness!
T. CARLYLE.