Therefore he says: I said to myself: Come now, I will make a test of pleasure, that is, “I wanted to measure it by manners and rules, but this was nothing but vanity.” Here again it is appropriate to warn that we should not stray from the theme, as Jerome did when he foolishly boasted that from this book he had learned contempt for the world and for all things. He was then followed by monks and sophists, who did not know what it was to flee the world—in fact, did not know what the world was. For this is in fact to teach a contempt for the good creatures of God and to forbid their use, contrary to the clear words of Holy Scripture. Fleeing the world, therefore, does not mean abstaining from things, but it means abstaining from one’s own counsels. This would have been the right way for Jerome to teach his disciple Blesilla: “Do not despise things, but rather despise the strivings, plans, affections, and concerns by which you seek to obtain everything for yourself by your own exertions. It is not honor and desire for things that is evil, but an anxiety about things and your schemes to obtain them are to be despised. Nor is a contempt for the world the same as wearing dirty clothes, wearying your flesh with vigils, growing weak through fasting, and the like, but using these very things as they come. If God has given you food, eat it; if fasting, bear it; if honor, accept it; if condemnation, suffer it; if He casts you into prison, put up with it; if He wants you to be king, obey Him when He calls; if He casts you down, do not worry.” So David was a real despiser of the world when with equanimity he administered his kingdom and bore his exile. The real despisers of the world are those who accept everything as God sends it to them, using everything with thanksgiving while it is present and freely doing without it if the Lord takes it away. (Luther’s Works, v.15 p.31)

In sum, we should not find enjoyment in happiness, goods, our own counsels, or any other thing; only as God has given them should we use them. One should let God have His way. It is not up to us to prescribe the place, the person, or the manner; if we do, we shall go wrong. This does not mean that happiness is condemned as something evil or vain. What is condemned is human striving and planning, when we ourselves want or try to create happiness without respect to the will of God. But as both come from God, so let us use them. As it is a sin to invite anxiety and sorrow by our own counsels and also a sin to refuse to suffer them when they are imposed on us by God, so it is also to be condemned if we run away from happiness and do not accept it when it is given by God. This is what those sanctimonious killjoys do when they “disfigure their faces” (Matt. 6:16). They seek out places, times, and persons that are gloomy, and they prescribe strict regulations, which is hypocritical and vain. They want us to weep with those who weep, but they themselves refuse to rejoice with those who rejoice (cf. Rom. 12:15). Sorrow, happiness, and all such things, whether external or internal, must not be measured on the basis of places, times, etc.; but as they come from God in His complete freedom, so one should use them in complete freedom. (Luther’s Works, v.15 p.30)