Eternal happiness

“ In heaven, the heart will stand still, and in the fulness of its joy remain transfixed for ever.
Then why is it that we give way under our sufferings, our daily trials and crosses? Why do so many grow faint-hearted, and think that there is no rest, no peace, for them? Why do people despair of ever being happy? It is because they forget the very object for which they were created. They lose sight of the eternal joy and the unending happiness that God has prepared for those who love Him. ”

“ Suffice it, that it suits the mortal Now,
And leads our thoughts to the eternal Then,
When darkness shall be light, to ransom'd men,
When dreams of bliss, with glad fruition crown'd,
And happiness, untold by prophet's pen,
Shall fill the hearts of those who sought and found
That peace, which lighted up, and cheer'd life's weary
round. ”

“ Regard this world as the place to sow seed for eternity, and after taking such a portion from this world as may give you strength to take the journey to the other world, turn away from whatever is more than this. Realize that the future world is the place for enjoyment and happiness which is eternal, and the land to behold the excellence and beauty of the Lord; and make it your purpose, divine and omniscient grace assisting you, never to cease from the pursuit of them, but to secure as your prey, the phœnix of felicity and happiness. ”

“ He now gives to His faithful the waters of eternal life, the life of union with Him in the Beatific Vision.
7, 8. Eternal happiness is for those alone who over come in the conflict with temptation and sin. ”

“ Eternal sweetness to those who love Thee, joy surpassing all joy and all desire, salvation and hope of all sinners, Thou Who hast proved that Thou hast no greater desire than to be amongst men even to assuming human nature during the course of time for love of men, recall all the sufferings that Thou hast endured from the first moment of Thy conception, and especially during Thy Passion, as it was decreed and ordained from all eternity in the Divine plan. ”

“ I know now what is written on the eternal tablets—to live one’s own life as it is given, in honor, charity, without malice; to seek happiness where it is offered; to share it when possible; to uplift. But, most of all, to be happy and accept happiness as a heavenly gift that is to be shared with as many as possible. ”

“ His will is that man should be happy in heaven to eternity. This is his will, because the Lord's essential nature is Love; and love wishes the happiness of its object; and Divine love can look to nothing less than the eternal happiness of its object; and man, as an intelligent being, is the chief object towards which the love of the Creator is directed. Therefore, the happiness of man to eternity is the end, or supreme desire, or, in other words, the will, of the Lord. ”

“ You will be told by theologians that eternal life means eternal happiness --not eternal living existence. It is true that all who shall be accounted worthy of eternal living existence will, as a necessary result, enjoy eternal happiness. Hence by obtaining the former we enjoy the latter: but "eternal life" means to live without end; and "eternal happiness" means to be always happy.
Now if the wicked live without end, it matters not where they live; they have eternal life. If you ask theologians, Will the life of the wicked ever end? ”

“ But if his heart was untrammeled by these delights, and was inclined towards the future world and was always awaiting death, if the enjoyments of the world were distasteful to him, while he was always occupied with the wants of the soul, which are to find out God—then, in the event of death, he will have attained his longing and his love, and have reached rest, joy and happiness.
Call to mind now, that the spirit of a man is eternal: It has not perished at death. ”

“ Can we conceive this eternal happiness?
No; the happiness in Heaven is so great that it exceeds all that can be said or imagined.
For 'eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him' (1 Cor. ii. 9) . ”

“ Rise, therefore, above the clinging to and the craving for impermanent things, and you will then enter into a consciousness of the Eternal, and as, rising above self, and by growing more and more into the spirit of purity, self-sacrifice and universal Love, you become centered in that consciousness, you will realize that happiness which has no reaction, and which can never be taken from you.
The heart that has reached utter self-forgetfulness in its love for others has not only become possessed of the highest happiness but has entered into immortality, for it has realized the Divine. ”

“ That is the way to gain that happiness which all mankind are seeking, and no other course can satisfy the noble, Godlike spirit placed in man, who is formed for the express purpose of preserving his identity to all eternity, Without strict observance to the laws by which worlds were and are created—to the words of the Eternal, no being can inherit eternal lives. ”

“ The life which had been concentrated in the soul alone, overflows to the body, giving to it life, beauty, and glory, and causing it to thrill with inexpressible pleasure. The Beatific Vision, which was the essential happiness of the soul before the resurrection, is now the essential happiness of man. ”

“ Hereby we secure to ourselves lasting happiness: " Hear, and your soul shall live; you shall not only be saved from perishing eternally, but you shall be eternally blessed:" for less than that cannot be the life of an immortal soul. ”

“ A new life seemed to be infused into my heart, soul, and mind, which had grown frivolous in the atmosphere of the world, and I felt, as it were, entranced. Those who have felt themselves thus die and rise again to a new life will understand the feeling of joy I experienced. In all the blessings hitherto vouchsafed me, even in the love itself that had been, so to speak, the sun of my happiness, there had been one element wanting, without which everything seemed dark, unsatisfactory, wearisome, and depressing—an element which my soul had an imperious, irresistible, undeniable need of! ”

“ It is ten heavens of joy, o Well-beloved, to know that thy love is unchangeable; and that these that are united to thee, by faith, in time, and immediate beholding, in eternity, shall never be disjoined from thee; but shall ever remain close locked in the arms of eternal love. ”

“ Consider, that what renders all the joys of heaven, and the felicity of the blessed completely great, is the eternity of this bliss, and that infallible certainty and security which they enjoy, that their happiness is ever linked with God's eternity; that as long as God shall be God, they shall be with him in his blessed kingdom. ”

“ The present life shall be succeeded by one wherein is no variation, but a permanence and eternity of blessing. We shall unceasingly behold God in his majesty where dwells no darkness, no death, plague nor infirmity, but pure light, joy and happiness. ”

“ When that life should come to which I secretly looked forward,—when my soul should bound into a more radiant atmosphere, where the clouds, if any were, should be all gold- and silver-tinted, and where my sorrows, love-colored, were to be sweeter than other people's joys,—in that life, there would be moments of sweet abandonment to the simple sense of happiness. ”

“ Now, could I only believe as you believe,—that there is a loving heavenly Father, who watches over his children; that the trials of this life are intended to form our characters for endless happiness; that beyond the grave there is immortality, happy realms where the sorrows of earth are never known; that provision is made for the forgiveness of all my sins; and that, after a few more days here, I could enter golden gates, and be forever in heaven with the loved ones who have gone before me,—I should indeed be the happiest man in the world. ”

“ What are all the pleasures this world can offer, yea, even the choicest ones, compared to one hour's real joy in fellowship and communion with Him who is the Fount of every Blessing, and in whose presence there is fulness of joy? Would that the poor souls hungering for rest and happiness, dissatisfied with the worldly pleasures, tired of their empty show, might turn to Him who is the source of all true and lasting joy. ”

“ It is the last triumph of affection and magnanimity, when a loving heart can respect the suffering silence of its beloved, and allow that lonely liberty in which only some natures can find comfort.
Joy in endurance.
And, as he sang and prayed, that strange joy arose within him, which, like the sweetness of night flowers, is born of darkness and tribulation. The soul has in it [45] somewhat of the divine, in that it can have joy in endurance beyond the joy of indulgence.
They mistake who suppose that the highest happiness lies in wishes accomplished—in prosperity, wealth, favor, and success. ”

“ Faithful hearts they truly were, and faithful we know they will ever remain; and there in their happiness and love we will leave them, bidding them a long farewell, trusting that the lives of each and all may be a succession of blessings, so bright that they will never fade until the greater brightness and glory of heaven and eternity shall burst upon them, enveloping them in endless bliss. ”

“ This love we believe to be the medicine of life, the never-failing remedy, for all the evils of a disordered world, for all the miseries and vices of men. Wherever this is, there are virtue and happiness, going hand in hand. There is humbleness of mind, gentleness, long suffering, the whole image of God, and at the same time a peace that passeth all understanding, and joy unspeakable and full of glory. ”

“ If your reply is favorable I change my
life, I bid adieu to all the irksome pleasures which we have the
folly to call happiness. Happiness, my dear and beautiful unknown,
is what you dream it to be,—a fusion of feelings, a perfect
accordance of souls, the imprint of a noble ideal (such as God
does permit us to form in this low world) upon the trivial round
of daily life whose habits we must needs obey, a constancy of
heart more precious far than what we call fidelity. ”

“ Our life is one of blessed contentment. Our home is a heaven and our happiness is complete. Even as we write, the waves of glory roll over our soul until we are made to shout praises to our God. We have never a care nor a sorrow, but a faith and trust in God that keeps us above every wave of trouble. We are dead to the world and living alone for his glory. His great heart's love sweetens and tenders every fiber of our soul, and bids us wait in brighter hope the happy day when he shall call us to our home. ”

“ We think at first that God is without—at last we look for Him within. We come from the happiness of the Father's House making our great journey, but our Soul's quest continually is for the happiness again. ”

“ The natural laws speak within, and draw irresistibly two hearts to be mated. Whoever obeys the impulse find a Heaven on earth. Others, falsely-mated, may not find absolute misery, but, it is equally certain, true happiness is never theirs. ”

“ It never rejoiceth but through sufferings; for with the world's joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken; I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens and desolate places in the earth; who through death obtained their resurrection, and eternal, holy life. ”

“ The mere mention of this word makes our heart beat more quickly, and stirs our being to its inmost depths This craving for happiness, this intense longing, must be destined to be satisfied at some future period. But where? Where is this endless and complete happiness for which we long so ardently — where is it to be found? ”

“ If the first, you have, or will soon have, a peace which the world can neither give nor take away; if the last, the Saviour stands at the door of your heart and knocks, soliciting that heart which has too long been hunting shadows and vanity. If your soul is dissatisfied with the things of the world, and tired with disappointment, cast a longing eye to the fountain of happiness. ”

“ Instead of thinking of the pursuit, why not fix our thoughts upon the moments, the hours, perhaps the days, of this divine peace, this merriment of body and mind, that can be repeated and perhaps indefinitely extended by the simplest of all means, namely, a disposition to make the best of whatever comes to us? Perhaps the Latin poet was right in saying that no man can count himself happy while in this life, that is, in a continuous state of happiness ”

“ There is a sublimity in conscious rectitude, a pleasure in the approval of one's own mind, in comparison with which the treasures of earth are not worth mentioning. The peace and happiness arising from this are above all change and beyond all decay. Disappointment and trials do but improve them; they go with us into all places and attend us through every changing scene of life. They sustain and delight at home and abroad, by day and by night, in solitude and in society, in sickness and in health, in time and eternity. ”

“ Is it not enough to have a whole eternity of happiness? If God throws in the comforts of this life too, I would not have you throw them back again, or despise the goodness of the Lord: but I would, that you should use this world, as not abusing it, that you should be crucified to the world, and the world to you; that you should declare plainly that you seek a better country, which is an heavenly. Ah! my dear brethren, I beseech you carry it like pilgrims and strangers; abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your souls ”

“ If we accept His teaching we must believe that men are not wrong in wishing for happiness, but wrong in their way of seeking it. Earthly happiness,—pleasure that belongs to the senses and perishes with them,—earthly happiness is a dream and a delusion. But happiness on earth,—spiritual joy and peace, blossoming here, fruiting hereafter,—immortal happiness, is the keynote of life in Christ. ”