Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 2.pdf/187

 will follow thee: but let me first go and bid them farewell which are at home at my house." To this request, the Lord answered, "No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." The request to be allowed to go and bid them that were at home farewell, before he followed the Lord, in its literal sense appears very natural and reasonable; but, when viewed spiritually, will be found to be opposed to that holiness which is called following the Lord.

In reading Holy Writ, we must remember that it is THE WORD OF GOD—and that within the humble garments of natural language is contained the very wisdom of the Most High—the truths relating to the soul of man, and to the laws of the spiritual and eternal world. We should therefore elevate our understandings into the light of heaven; that is, let the word of truth lead us, and the Lord, as the divine householder, will bring forth out of his treasures things new and old.

Now, in Scripture, the mind of man is uniformly called a house. Thus, the heavenly mind, containing the purified affections and thoughts, is called the "House of God;" and the "habitation of the Lord of Hosts." In this way every sincere follower of Jesus may be considered a church and heavenly kingdom in its least form; while the mind, filled with evil affections and perverted thoughts, is called the "house of evil-doers" (Isa. xxxi. 2), and the "cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Prior to the commencement of regeneration, the mind is the house full of evils of different kinds, and which are opposite to the nature of heaven and its joys. These are called the unre-