and get at the substance of the thing, so as to ascertain what fundamental precept of God is violated by the habit in question. That precept we should make our study; and then there is more hope of a permanent amendment.

Infinite toil would not enable you to sweep away a mist; but by ascending a little, you may often look over it altogether. So it is with our moral improvement; we wrestle fiercely with a vicious habit, which would have no hold upon us if we ascended into a higher moral atmosphere.

It is by adding to our good purposes, and nourishing the affections which are rightly placed, that we shall best be able to combat the bad ones. By adopting such a course you will not have yielded to your enemy, but will have gone in all humility, to form new alliances you will then resist an evil habit with the strength which you have gained in carrying out a good one. You will find too that when you set your heart upon the things that are worthy of it, the small selfish ends, which used to be so dear to it, will appear almost disgusting: you will wonder that they could have had such hold upon you.

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In the same way, if you extend and deepen your sympathies, the prejudices which have hitherto clung obstinately to you, will fall away; your former uncharitableness will seem absolutely distasteful; you will have brought home to it feelings and opinions with which it cannot live.

Man, a creature of twofold nature, body and soul, should have both parts of that nature engaged in any

8

THE CURE OF FAULTS.

matter in which he is concerned; spirit and form must both enter into it. It is idol worship to substitute the form for the spirit; but it is a vain philosophy which seeks to dispense with the form. All this applies to selfdiscipline.

See how most persons love to connect some outward circumstance with their good resolutions; they resolve on commencing the new year with a surrender of this bad habit; they will alter their conduct as soon as they are at such a place. The mind thus shows its feebleness; but we must not conclude that the support it naturally seeks is useless. At the same time that we are to turn our chief attention to the attainment of right principles, we cannot safely neglect any assistance which may strengthen us in contending against bad habits; far is it from the spirit of true humility to look down upon such assistance. Still these auxiliaries partake of a mechanical nature; we must not expect more from them than they can give; they may serve as aids to memory; they may form landmarks, as it were, of our progress; but they cannot, of themselves, maintain that progress. Helps.

The exercise of purging or cleansing the Soul cannot end but with our Life; let us not then afflict ourselves with our imperfections, for our perfection consists in resisting them; and we cannot resist them without seeing them; nor vanquish them without encountering them. Our Victory lies not in being not sensible of them, but in not consenting to them. But to be disturbed by them, is not

A LIFE-LONG EXERCISE.

to consent to them; nay, it is necessary for the exercise of our Humility, that we be sometimes wounded in this Spiritual Combat. But we are never to be accounted Conquered, unless we lose either our Life or our Courage. Now Natural Imperfections cannot deprive us of Spiritual Life; for that is not lost but by wilful Sin. It then only remains that they daunt not our courage. It is a happy condition for us in this War, that we may be always Conquerors, if we will fight. De Sales.

Whosoever will arrive at a new life must pass by the death of the old. Ib.

I would rather feel compunction than give the best possible definition of it. Imitation of Christ.

In counteracting our defects, we should be cautious not

to blunder by imitation of others. we find where our character fails, not attempt to become another man.

We should search till and then amend it Cecil.

Tenderness of conscience is always to be distinguished from scrupulousness. The conscience can not be kept too sensible and tender; but scrupulousness arises from bodily or mental infirmity, and discovers itself in a multitude of ridiculous and superstitious and painful feelings. Ib.

One forgives every thing to him who forgives himself nothing. Chinese Proverb.

10

FIDELITY IN LITTLE THINGS.

As it takes a diamond to cut and shape a diamond, so there are faults so obstinate that they are worn away only by life-long contact with similar faults in those we love.

Great virtues are rare; the occasions for them are very rare; and when they do occur, we are prepared for them, we are excited by the grandeur of the sacrifice, we are supported either by the splendor of the deed in the eyes of the world, or by the self-complacency that we experience from the performance of an uncommon action. Little things are unforeseen; they return every moment; they come in contact with our pride, our indolence, our haughtiness, our readiness to take offence; they contradict our inclinations perpetually. We would much rather make certain great sacrifices to God, however violent and painful they might be, upon condition that we should be rewarded by liberty to follow our own desires and habits in the details of life. It is, however, only by fidelity in little things, that a true and constant love to God can be distinguished from a passing fervor of spirit.

Let us remember that God looks in our actions only for the motive. The world judges us by appearance; God counts for nothing what is most dazzling to men. What he desires is a pure intention, true docility, and a sincere self-renunciation. All this is exercised more frequently, and in a way that tries us more severely, on common than on great occasions. Sometimes we cling more tenaciously to a trifle than to a great interest. It would give us more pain to relinquish an amusement than

FIDELITY IN LITTLE THINGS.

11

;

to bestow a great sum in charity. We are more easily led away by little things, because we believe them more innocent, and imagine that we are less attached to them nevertheless, when God deprives us of them, we soon discover from the pain of privation, how excessive and inexcusable was our attachment to them. The sincerity of our piety is also impeached by the neglect of minor duties. What probability is there, that we should not hesitate to make great sacrifices, when we shrink from slight ones?

But what is most dangerous to the mind, is the habit it acquires of unfaithfulness. True love to God thinks nothing small. All that can please or displease him is great. It does not produce constraint and weak scruples, but it places no limits to its fidelity; it acts with simplicity, and as it is not embarrassed with things that God has not commanded, it never hesitates a moment about what he does command, whether it be great or small.

Those persons who are naturally less exact ought to make an inviolable law with themselves about trifles. They are tempted to despise them; they have a habit of thinking them of no consequence; they are not aware of the insensible growth of the passions; they forget even their own most fatal experience. They trust to a delusive courage, though it has before failed them, for the support of their fidelity.

"It is a trifle," they say, "it is nothing." True; but it is a nothing that will be every thing to you, a trifle that you prefer to the will of God, a trifle that will be your