Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 3.pdf/73

 that their food and raiment may be regularly and abundantly supplied! how ingenious in devising means for their instruction, their amusement, their happiness! All these feelings belong to man, and peculiarly fit him for performing the duties necessary for his own comfort, and the comfort of those who are dependent upon him. Thus is he created capable of loving and serving God, which is his highest duty; capable of loving and being useful to the neighbour, which is his second duty; and capable of supporting and defending himself and his connections, which is his third duty. None of these duties can be neglected without injury to his present peace, and future happiness.

That he can abuse the noblest powers of his mind, is a melancholy truth confirmed by every-day experience. The divine cautions, as set forth in the Holy Word, incontestibly prove this. Our highest duty is to love and serve our Maker; but we must love Him with our hearts, and we must learn to know Him with all our understandings. No other object must divide with Him our affections. Neither things in heaven, nor things on earth, must be loved, or served, or worshipped; we must either give Him our whole hearts, or none, for a divided heart He will not accept. In the exercise of our intellectual faculties, we must ever remember to keep them subservient to the spiritual principle; we must not exalt reason above revelation, nor science above reason, but exercise all our powers for the good of our fellow-creatures, with the devout acknowledgment that every talent and faculty is given to us by the Lord, for use. Lastly, we must be exceedingly watchtul that we abuse not our natural affections. Teachers, young men and women,