Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 2.pdf/305



CCORDING to the quality of his affections, and thoughts, man's natural life becomes embodied in corresponding forms, and every form was, according to its quality, originally good. From this circumstance, the first man, as a type of the whole race, gives to each animal its name, according to its real quality; and whatsoever was the quality, that was the name thereof; hence, as the apostle (Jas. iii. 7) has truly declared, "Every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind;" and this by reason that the passions and propensities of man are all, by looking to the Lord for assistance, subject to his control, and he may control them if he will; but in the same proportion as he becomes lax in his government, his passions and propensities become formidable, like the animals named, and end in entirely subduing him. The principles of man's life previous to reformation and regeneration, however excellent they may become, have to be trained, guided, and subjected to the government of Divine truth, which alone can impart to them their true value and importance. Every good quality he possesses is not properly his own, but a Divine gift. When this acknowledgment is made from the heart, then that which was pronounced in the first instance by the Creator good, becomes ; more acceptable to the Supreme Being, and