Tho I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and tho I give my
body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
In so giving and so doing, I would be acting merely in a way
analogous to the jackdaw that would expect to be turned into
a peacock by sticking a few peacock’s feathers into its black
coat. This maneuver would not convert the jackdaw into a
peacock; it would be still a jackdaw even after it had covered
itself all over with peacock’s feathers. Let it first turn,
if possible, into a peacock, and then peacock’s feathers
will grow naturally upon it; its black coat will then soon
be radically changed. To adopt the simile of our Lord, first
make the tree good, and then its fruit will be good; you can
not produce heaven’s fruit until the tree be first planted in
heaven.--ALEXANDER MILLER, “Heaven and Hell Here.”
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