Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 2.pdf/189

 getting that the present moment is the life of man! There is an old adage—"It is never too late to mend;" and if a holy life leads onwards to heaven, then we may assert that it is never too soon to begin. The Lord, therefore, to shew the danger of delay in commencing the life that leads to heaven, says, "No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Beware, reader, of looking back! Look forward, and look up! Pursue steadily and faithfully the life of true religion, and, even in this world, your pleasures will increase tenfold, and when time shall have consigned your earthly body to the sepulchre, the immortal soul—the true, living, and substantial man in human form, prepared to enjoy eternal possessions, will rise to the realms of bliss, and be perfectly and eternally happy.

Our Lord instructs us in a matter that concerns us all, when he says that the man who putteth his hand to the plough, and looketh back at the same time, is not fit for the kingdom of God; neither are these words to be considered merely in the light of a comparison, for truly is infinite wisdom stamped upon every word. Scripture, when truly explained, is one unbroken series of divine wisdom: it is indeed. Thus, when we read in it of anything connected with the labours of the field, such as the breaking up of fallow ground, the putting of the hand to the plough, the sowing of seed, the reaping of the harvest, and the like, we must consider that all these things give a minute description of the various states through which man has to pass, before he can enter into the full enjoyment of heavenly felicity.

Maz, in his unregenerate state, is called uncultivated