Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 3.pdf/189

 To enable both masters and servants faithfully to do their duty, each should remember that they have, individually, two sets of servants to superintend and direct. The human mind may be said to be divided into three great regions. From the highest of these he should regard his God, from the second his neighbour, and from the lowest himself. His principal duty is, therefore, so to elevate his thoughts and affections to the Lord, by keeping the channels of his mind open, that the Divine influence may flow into the supreme region, and be able to keep in subservience all the other powers. The supreme and governing principle of the soul ought to be spiritual. All the inferior affections and thoughts are to be guided, directed, and controlled by this. The spiritual principle is to be the master. Who, then, are the servants we have individually to watch over? They are the inferior propensities, the scientific and the intellectual faculties; all are to be rendered obedient to the spiritual principle: we are to glorify God in our bodies as well as in our spirits. We are to be watchful over our propensities, restraining our tempers, avoiding everything that has a tendency to promote strife or animosity, to employ all our talents and faculties in the service of the Lord, and for the good of our fellow-creatures. In all things the spiritual principle must exercise control, It is Israel that must be the blessing in the midst or inmost of our land. Egypt and Assyria—the scientific and rational principles—are eminently useful in their position as servants to the spiritual, and our duty is so to act, that the prophecy may be individually fulfilled in ourselves; every talent and every faculty we possess being hallowed by the