Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 2.pdf/308

 treasury, from which the more he takes, the greater is the amount Ieft him to spend. This treasury is the Word of Divine Truth, or Sacred Scriptures. Every truth which he draws therefrom, and which he expends in making known, multiplies itself as it passes from hand to hand, and increases in value as it pursues its course. It is a most important property of this truth, to take from the man all idea of his own merit. The more it enlightens its receiver, the more humble he becomes. It levels all desire of worldly aggrandizement; it brings the man to so much poverty of spirit, that, surrendering all he has to the guidance of Infinite Wisdom, he is content to follow in the order of providence, and feels that, guided by this, he must ultimately become wealthy. He, at the same time, while in this lowly state, has very aspiring wishes; his high imaginings are for a crown, but it is a crown which fadeth not away, a crown of immortal glory. With these aspiring desires, his own life, his merely natural affections and worldly enjoyments, find a very low place indeed. In truth, his mind is so intent upon the true elixir vitæ, the true water of life, that what he enjoys or engages in here, are only the results of his connexion with the world of causes. The effects belong to this life or to the body, and must be performed as acts of use, but they are swallowed up in the more important uses which devolve on the soul. All which uses originate in love to the Lord above all things, and charity towards the neighbour. Whoever gives up all that he has, receives a hundredfold in return; and whoever loses his life, shall save it unto eternal life.