Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 2.pdf/48

 and his heaven a dream. There are two ruling principles which, in perfect union, make up and form the church and kingdom of the Lord in the soul of man; these are charity and faith: charity having relation to love and purity of will, and faith to truth and its acknowledgment in the understanding. These two, when pure religion is alive in the soul, are united, and are as brethren dwelling together in unity! they are spiritually the two sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim. The true first-born is charity or love: for this is really the first and the greatest, this is, a name signifying "forgetfulness of toil and of our father's house." Where love rules, there can be no fruitless toil or labour, for all of religion is then done from inward delight or pleasure, and all is peace, tranquillity, and rest. There is a forgetting of toil and of our father's house—of that hereditary proneness to evil in which we are all born. The second principle born in the soul is faith; this involves the understanding and acknowledgment of truth, and is represented by Joseph's second-born, a name signifying fruitfulness in the land of affliction." (Gen. xli. 51, 52.) When these two, love and faith, dwell in the soul together and in unity, then religion is alive in the heart; and the beauty of holiness within gives a brightness and charm to the scene without! where love to God glows in the bosom, wisdom shines bright in the eyes.

Our Lord says, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kindgom of God." (John iii. 3.) This new birth is, in man, an inward change of the quality of his life from evil to good, and from error to truth. This is effected by what the Lord calls being "born