Page:TheYoungMansGuide.djvu/38

 gent animal  is  destitute  of  self-consciousness  and reason or  understanding. Every child  knows that "two  and  two  make  four,"  but  no  animal could comprehend  the  fact,  though  it  were  to try  to  do  so  for  a  century  or  more.

4. Upon  us,  however,  there  shines  not  merely the light  of  natural  reason,  but  also  the  sun  of faith. The rays  of  this  sun  enable  us  to  see that our  soul  is  like  unto  God,  an  image  of  God. Holy Scripture  expressly  teaches  us  this,  for  in the  beginning  of  it  we  read  that  God  solemnly pronounced these  words  of  vast  import:  "Let us  make  man  to  our  image  and  likeness." Thus if man  is  like  God,  who  is  a  pure  spirit,  this  likeness can  certainly  not  consist  in  anything  physical or material,  but  in  the  possession  of  a  soul, which is  a  spirit  also,  made  in  God's  image, simple as  God  is,  living  as  God  is,  immortal  as God  is. Wherefore, lay  well  to  heart  the  following verse:

O man,  to  God's  own  image  made, Destined that  God  to  see  in  light  arrayed, Keep thou  His  law,  unto  thy  ways  take  heed; Let love  of  Him  rule  every  word  and  deed.

N THESE  modern  days,  when  faith has grown  cold  or  vanished  altogether, there are  people,  and  even  lads  of  fifteen  or sixteen  years  of  age,  who,  when  they  are  exhorted to  reflect  from  time  to  time  upon  death and eternity,  merely  reply:  "I  am  no  child  to be  frightened  with  nursery  tales;  who  knows whether  death  is  not  annihilation!"