APRIL 18
Fortune in only another name for Providence, only it is covered Providence.
Letter, 2nd January, 1781
I distinctly remember that even in my childhood, even when I was at school, I have often said: “They say the life of a schoolboy is the happiest in the world; but I am sure I am not happy.” When I had lived a few years longer, being in the vigour of youth, a stranger to pain and sickness, and particularly to lowness of spirits (which I do not remember to have felt one quarter of an hour ever since I was born), having plenty of all things, in the midst of sensible and amiable friends, who loved me, and I loved them, and being in the way of life which, of all others, suited my inclinations, still I was not happy! I wondered why I was not, and could not imagine what the reason was. The reason certainly was: I did not know God, the source of present as well as eternal happiness.
Spiritual Worship
