pleasures of life and give their hearts and souls to them, and fain would they stem the steady flow of time and earthly things, so anxious are they to enjoy them permanently, so reluctant are they to pass along to God. Christ came to grapple with this evil, to reveal to us our loving Father, alone worthy of our love, to show us that for us there is no treasure here nor permanent abiding-place, but only in the kingdom of our God. And when by His example and His teaching He had exposed the hollowness of earthly things and weaned men from them; when He had weeded out the thorns and thistles from God's field, then He sowed the seeds of love — love of God, our neighbors, and ourselves. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," He says, " with all the powers of thy being, and thy neighbor as thyself." Or, as St. Paul puts it, "Thou shalt live soberly, justly, and godly in this world." A sober life is one in which Nature's law of self-love is kept by grace from becoming inordinate. All creatures of God are for our use, but abuse of them is sinful, for moderation must be exercised in everything but love of God. Sobriety, therefore, is an even balance between our natural inclinations and the restrictions of God's law, and in this golden mean consists a well-ordered love of self. Earthly pleasures, in fact, are to the joys of heaven what an appetizer is to a feast, and whosoever indulges too freely in the antepast is thereby rendered incapable of enjoying the good things that follow. The danger here is not that our self-love will fall far short of what is just, but rather
