Chapter 4
4. For to enjoy a thing is to rest with satisfaction in it for its own sake.
To use, on the other hand, is to employ whatever means are at one's disposal
to obtain what one desires, if it is a proper object of desire; for an
unlawful use ought rather to be called an abuse. Suppose, then, we were
wanderers in a strange country, and could not live happily away from our
fatherland, and that we felt wretched in our wandering, and wishing to put an
end to our misery, determined to return home. We find, however, that we must
make use of some mode of conveyance, either by land or water, in order to
reach that fatherland where our enjoyment is to commence. But the beauty of
the country through which we pass, and the very pleasure of the motion, charm
our hearts, and turning these things which we ought to use into objects of
enjoyment, we become unwilling to hasten the end of our journey; and becoming
engrossed in a factitious delight, our thoughts are diverted from that home
whose delights would make us truly happy. Such is a picture of our condition
in this life of mortality. We have wandered far from God; and if we wish to
return to our Father's home, this world must be used, not enjoyed, that so the
invisible things of God may be clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made,—that is, that by means of what is material and temporary we
may lay hold upon that which is spiritual and eternal.
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