Page:TheYoungMansGuide.djvu/110

 seek the  things  that  are  above,  where  Christ is sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  God:  Mind  the things that  are  above,  not  the  things  that  are upon the  earth. For you  are  dead  and  your life is  hid  with  Christ  in  God"  (Col.  iii.  1-3).

St. Peter  admonishes  us:  "Dearly  beloved, I  beseech  you  as  strangers  and  pilgrims  (on earth)  to  refrain  yourselves  from  carnal  desires, which  war  against  the  soul"  (1  Peter  ii.  11).

"Blessed be  the  God  and  Father  of  our Lord  Jesus  Christ  who  according  to  His great  mercy  hath  regenerated  us  unto  a lively  hope,  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus Christ  from  the  dead — unto  an  inheritance incorruptible  and  undefiled,  and  that  cannot fade  —  reserved  in  heaven  for  you"  (1  Peter i. 3, 4).

4. Let  us  quit  the  polluted  realms  of  the terrestrial heaven  and  raise  our  eyes  to  the true heaven. And why  ought  we  to  do  this? Because the  world  and  its  pleasures  pass away. The happiness  which  it  offers  us, in its  honors  and  riches  and  pleasures  will never satisfy  our  hearts,  which  are  made  for the enjoyment  of  higher  and  better  things.

Hear the  testimony  of  a  man  who  had enjoyed a  very  wide  experience  and  had drained the  cup  of  earthly  pleasures  to  its very dregs  —  I  mean  Solomon. As he  himself plainly states,  he  had  left  nothing  untried. What was  the  result? Was he  satisfied? No, the  refrain  of  his  song  is  ever  the  same: "Vanity of  vanities,  and  all  things  are  vanity."