Human Unrest

“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.” — Ps. xlii. 1.

All things live in their own element — the cattle on the plain, the fish in the sea, the bird in the air. Thy element is God. Thou art the only creature in this universe that art not now in thine element; thou art an anomaly in the order of creation. The sparrow hath an house and the swallow a nest for herself, but thou longest, faintest; thou hast not found a resting-place in all the tabernacles of time. Thou art the least happy of all creatures. The bird carols in the air all the day, but thou hast not a day quite undimmed by tears. Why is it thus with thee? Wherefore art thou less happy than the beast of the field? Is it because thou hast fewer resources? Nay, it is because thy resources are greater, because they are too great for the world that environs thee. It is because thou art not living in thine element, and the element in which thou livest is not adequate to thy powers. Thou hast capacities for boundless flight, and thou art chained within a limited area; thou art made for God, and thou art narrowed to the dust. No wonder thou art not happy; it is thy greatness makes thee unhappy. If thou hadst been a bird of the air thou wouldst have carolled like him, but because thou art more thou hast no unclouded song. And yet thou wert made for song. Thou wert not only made for song in a future world, thou wert designed for it here. Thou art promising thyself joy in regions beyond the grave, but the only element that can give thee joy is on both sides of the grave. Thy ► joy is God, and God is here as well as there. The atmosphere of the Divine surrounds thee now. Thou needst not wait for death to reach it; thou canst soar into it at any moment. Say not that others have their portion here, but that thou hast thy portion hereafter; is not thy portion eternity, and is not eternity now as well as then 1 Thy portion is here, my soul, — on the threshold of thy life, at the door of thy being; it is in the earth, though it is not of the earth. Why shouldst thou pant any more? The river that makes glad the city of God can make glad the cities of men. Thou canst find thine element as easily as the hart findeth the water brooks. “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.”