rch for Elijah, and by Elijah
himself, who is, meanwhile, at God's right hand. At his right hand are
pleasures forever-more; but some, in the ardor and strength of their
affections, are seeking for that which they will never obtain, and that
is, happiness independent of God. Some tell us that they mean to make
the most of life, and to be happy while they live; therefore, begone,
reflection! religion is not for the spring-tide of youth; mirth and
merry days are for the young; soberness and the russet garb of autumn
belong to the decline of life, which certainly to them, they think, is
far off;--as though every material necessary for their last, long sleep,
may not at this moment be in the warerooms and shops; as though they
could boast themselves even of one to-morrow, and knew what the
to-morrows of many years would bring forth. The Bible is against their
way of thinking and manner of life; and to push aside the Bible in our
search after any thing, is a certain sign of being in the wrong. And all
this with the mistaken belief that to love God, and to be loved of him,
is not the greatest, the only satisfying good,--the God that framed the
voice for that music which charms a circle of friends, and made those
curious fingers, and gave them all that cunning skill which sheds
delight on others, and empowered that heart to swell with such
conceptions of earthly pleasure;--and that to love him, and be loved by
him, is the direst necessity of our being, to be postponed as long as
possible, and then to be accepted as a last resort and the less of two
evils. Where is the Lord God of Elijah, the God of all power and might,
the God of all grace and consolation, the God of our life, and the
length of our days? Banished from the world which these friends have
made for themselves; an intruder into the charmed circle in which the
wand of fancy has enclosed them; a dreaded power standing over them, to
snatch away the only bliss which they ever expect to enjoy. O gilded
butterflies, made for a few days of sunshine, and doomed to perish at
the first touch of frost! had they no souls; were there no hereafter, no
heaven, no hell; if it would not be as desirable to be happy millions of
years from to-day, as now; if they were not including all their hopes
and efforts to be happy within a handbreadth of time, and liable to lose
even that,--the wise man might stop with saying, "Rejoice, O young man,
in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in t