Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 2.pdf/303



N the sacred Scriptures, the merciful Father of our souls has so adapted His instructions to our respective states, that, be our condition what it may, if we are really in the love of good, though it be of the lowest or simplest kind, we are sure to be illuminated by the light of truth, that we may proceed from one degree of knowledge to another, from one degree of goodness to another, and find that according to our day, or state, our strength is. Merely human knowledge must come to desolation. Nothing can exist long, if it be destitute of the vital principle of goodness, which indeed may be compared to, nay really is, life from the Lord. God is in every thing that is good, however lowly or common the good may be. But it is indispensable that man should be grounded in the lowest degree of natural good, before he can know what heavenly good is. Heavenly goodness may be compared to a corn of wheat, the principle of life in which is hidden, and altogether impervious to the closest investigation. Yet if this corn of wheat be placed in the ground, as soon as the outer covering is broken, there springs forth, first the blade; then the ear; after that, the full corn in the ear: first the principle of natural life; then the evidence of spiritual life; and lastly, the confirmation and reality of that life. All the truths of divine revelation, are living, and as one state is perfected, a higher and more