Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 3.pdf/154

 spirit. Whatever be the motive that first prompts us to act—whether the desire of reputation from man, or the fear of punishment—we must observe them in the letter; and it is idle to affirm we cannot, for civil law will compel us, or punish us. The external worship of the one true God—reverencing His name and observing His Sabbaths—prepares us for obedience to our parents, prevents rage and vindictiveness, restrains us from incontinence, prevents fraud, theft, false witness, and covetousness. But as we continue in the moral way, and look to the Lord for help, we shall begin to act from higher motives; and from keeping the commandments naturally, shall do so spiritually. The love of personal reputation will give way before the love we shall bear our Lord; and the fear we shall then experience will be the fear to do evil, because it is sin against Him. We shall love Him for His own sake, and keep His commandments because they are just and reasonable, and because in keeping them there is the great reward of entering into the life of His love, and of entering into the life of His wisdom, and thus of being filled with true blessedness. Whatever is good we shall love, because it is of God, who is the only source of good, and because it introduces us into heaven; and whatever is of evil we shall shun, because it has a tendency to bear us downward to the regions of death.