Family Religion
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angels. They cast not one lingering look upon the earthly crown. Those
who were in pursuit of the earthly, mocked them, and threw black balls
after them, which did them no injury while their eyes were fixed upon
the heavenly crown. But those who turned their attention to the black
balls were stained with them. The following scripture was presented
before me:
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Matthew 7:19-24
: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through
and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through
nor steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
“The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole
body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be
darkness, how great is that darkness! No man can serve two masters;
for he will either hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold
to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Then that which I had seen was explained to me as follows: The
multitude which were shown me, who were so eagerly striving for
the earthly crown, were those who love this world’s treasure, and are
deceived and flattered with its short-lived attractions. Some, I saw,
who professed to be the followers of Jesus, are so ambitious to obtain
earthly treasures, that they lose their love for Heaven, act like the
world, and are accounted of Heaven as of the world. They profess to
be seeking an immortal crown, a treasure in the Heavens; but their
interest and principal study is to acquire earthly treasures. Those who
have their treasures in this world, and love their riches, cannot love
Jesus. They may think that they are right, and although they cling to
what they have with a miser’s grasp, you cannot make them see it, or
feel that they love money more than the cause of truth, or the heavenly
treasure.
“If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness.”
There was a point of time in the experience of such, when the light
given them was not cherished, and it became darkness. Said the angel,
“Ye cannot love and worship the treasures of earth, and have the true
riches.”
The young man came to Jesus and said unto him,
Matthew 19
,
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“Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal