Save the Jewels

“As men in a great fire and gejieral confiagration will hazard their lumber io preserve their treasure their money, or their jewels, so shotdd we take care, if we must lose one or the other, that the better part be out of hazard. Whatever we lose by the way, let tts make sure that we cojne well to the end of our

See how men throw overboard the lading of the ship when it becomes a question of saving their lives. Reason teaches them that the less precious must go first: they do not throw over first their gold and then their corn, neither do they lose their lives to save their ingots. So let us, above all things, care for our souls and their eternal interests. He whose house was burned to ashes kneeled down and thanked the Lord because his child was safe; and he who loses the whole world but obtains eternal salvation has so much to rejoice in that he would waste his tears if he shed them over his losses. Suppose it were said that Virgil died worth half-a-million of money, it is so long ago that it would be stale intelligence, and if the same were said of a man who died yesterday there would really be no more in it; yet if the soul of Virgil’s slave was saved, though he never owned a single gold coin, heaven has not ceased to ring with joy concerning his salvation. The soul should be our main care. It is our all, for it is ourself. Lord leach men this wisdom; teach me this wisdom.