Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 2.pdf/44

 of the future life, is the sleep of which Jesus speaks, when he says that then "the enemy comes to sow tares among the wheat." (Matt. xiii. 25.)

How differently does Scripture represent the condition of the good man, with his understanding enlightened by truth, and the doctrine of heaven leading him on to holiness of life! then it is that the Lord's presence is both seen and felt. This is the state or day of the good man's joy and gladness; for "in that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord." (Zech. xiv. 20.) Trust not, reader, to the strength of your unguided understanding! there is no safety in this; in itself it is the blind horse. Truth points to holiness, but in the possession of holiness alone is salvation. Remember that "a horse is a vain thing for safety, neither shall he deliver any by his great strength." (Psalm xxxiii. 17.) Man must be guided in all things by the truths of the Word of God: for these are the bridles to guide correctly the "horse of the people."

Let not, then, thy mind trust to mere scientific or worldly knowledge, to the exclusion of all that is heavenly; for such only connects with the world, leading downward into what Scripture calls Egyptian bondage, where thy life will be made "bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick" (Exod. i. 14), in fabricating what is false and fictitious. "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, but look not unto the Holy One of Israel."

When Virgil was asked by his friend why he studied so much accuracy in the plan of his poem, and the purity of his diction, he replied, I am writing for