Chapter 4.—Difference of Use and
Enjoyment.
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,
1722
—that is, that by means of what
is material and temporary we may lay hold upon that which is
spiritual and eternal.
1722
Rom. i. 20
.