Those material possessions that JL men deem of greatest value, which they seek and cling to, despite loss and disillusionment, continue to influence and sometimes wholly absorb their lives. To the child, his treasures—so transitory, so fiercely held, so quickly outgrown—are, while they last, his primary concern, and to him their loss or dissolution spells tragedy. To the grown man, his treasures seem less transitory, and when held in personal devotion, or as the result of labor and sacrifice, often irreplaceable.
How profound were the words of Christ Jesus, who, because he knew that where men love, fear is likely to enter in, warned them to lay up treasures not on earth, "where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal," but in heaven, where there is no marauder, no devastation.
Mortal man, selecting and cherishing that which, based on human premises, must sooner or later fall apart, be broken in upon, or perish, builds in uncertainty and fear. The earthly, the impermanent, even though conscientiously come by and faithfully guarded, remain at the mercy of dissolution; they have no fastnesses, no walled fortresses through which rust cannot penetrate and which the thief cannot break through to steal. There is no remedy for the heart's preservation from the decay and the robbery of its treasures, except in their right allocation.
