contentment and all the rational enjoyments of life consist in wealth,
and in human greatness. He soon finds himself in possession of as
large a fortune as he first supposed would make him happy. But his
desires for more, having imperceptibly expanded, he finds within an
increased restlessness, and even greater desires for _more_ than when
he first set out. He still believes, according to his original
impression, that happiness lies in gold; and that the only reason why
he has not obtained those solid joys in possession which he first
anticipated, is because he still needs more. But though wealth may
flow upon him in oceans, his cravings for more will ever swell beyond
what earth can give, and leave him a more wretched being than he was
at the commencement of his course. Here is his loss--here is his
punishment. God has not placed happiness in wealth. _"A competence is
all we can enjoy, O, be content where heaven can give no more."_

Or let him rise to that station of honor, which he now believes will
satisfy him, and his ambition would aspire to one more exalted. Let
him govern one kingdom, and he would desire to subjugate another till
the whole world bowed to his nod. And were every star an inhabited
world, and did he possess means to invade them, his ambition would
continue to soar till he ruled the universe, and were there no object
left to which he might still direct his ambition and continue to soar,
he would set down in despair, and, like Alexander the Great, weep and
sigh for more worlds to conquer.

All this restlessness and misery arise from false notions of:
happiness--from not realizing that the Most High rules in the kingdom
of men--and from a want of confidence in his word, which points the
rich and the poor alike to that noble path of virtue and religion,
where true happiness and unbroken peace forever reign. By men