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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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