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doubtful value. Again, consider the attempt to improve the spiritual state of our neighbor by profitable and holy words; an attempt which may result in pure mischief, if it is not a manifest overflowing of heart which speaks. The weight of words is not in themselves, but in the speaker; and the lessons which are not intended as lessons, are often the most forcible. If, then, we give our whole effort to be what God would have us, He will provide the ways by which our life shall redound upon others. Not to harm our neighbors' souls is indeed a primary duty; but a majority of us will ordinarily best promote the edification of others, as well as our own, by concentrating effort on our personal improvement.

F. W. Newman.

The more consciousness in our thoughts and words, and the less in our impulses and general actions, the better and more healthful the state both of head and heart. As the flowers from an orange-tree in its time of blossoming, that burgeon forth, expand, fall, and are momently replaced, such is the sequence of hourly and momently charities in a pure and gracious soul. The modern fiction which depictures the son of Cytherea with a bandage round his eyes, is not without a spiritual meaning. There is a sweet and holy blindness in Christian love, even as there is a blindness of life; yea, and of genius, too, in the moment of productive energy.

Sir Thomas Browne.

The mere moral element, the conscience, was in Johnson nobly, but also fearfully predominant. By earnest longing to fulfil the moral law did no man, from Adam to the Baptist, from Paul to Luther, ever yet find peace on earth. Those incapable of self-devouring emotion, and brooding melancholy, may easily find in rules of duty a safeguard against any such wrong doing as would produce consequences very painful to them; but a fervid and meditative spirit carries conscience with it as a divine curse, if this be not transfigured and glorified into the revelation of a good higher than all laws of duty. Sterling.

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Sin be considered in three aspects may as transgression of law as disobedience to God as the manifestation of an inner principle of self-seeking. As transgression of law, sin is moral evil; our whole being has a standard or law, departure from which is regarded as disorder, and attended with suffering. But moral evil is not sin till it is viewed in relation to God.

North British Review.

If man could only understand the unspeakable heinousness of sin, even of one sin, he would sooner plunge into a fiery furnace than commit it. If the sea were made of fire, he would seek the companionship of its burning waves, and dwell in the midst of them, rather than endure the pang, the hidden torment which sooner or later must develop itself from every transgression.

Catharine Adorna.

Sin, no matter how small it may appear in the beginning, touches by way of opposition and conflict, upon every attribute of the divine character.

Thomas C. Upham.

The Idea that the Gods hate and punish the desire of sin as itself a sin, is the germ of all spirituality. Duty, from having been finite, becomes an infinite thing. Sin also enlarges its dimensions proportionably. Newman.

Not only commission makes a sin. A man is guilty of all those sins he hateth not. If I cannot avoid all, yet I will hate all. Bishop Hall.

Morality necessarily includes Religion, and the same Intuition which teaches us disinterested obedience to the Law because it is Right, teaches us also disinterested obedience to that Will which is Righteous. When we have learned by practising goodness to love it, we inevitably love infinite goodness. No sooner does our heart cease to condemn us for any present desire to sin, than we instantly "have confidence towards God," and look to Him for aid in our holy undertaking. Thus starting with Morality we arrive at Religion.

But this is rather the exceptional than the ordinary development of the human soul. In nine cases out of ten men start with Religion, and arrive through it at Morality. That solemn resolution to obey the law of right has sprung from the view of that law personified in God, and

it is the mighty torrent of the awakened religious sentiment which has borne down the opposition of the lower

nature.

It is indeed true that in different constitutions the moral and religious elements develop themselves with very varied relative power, and it is even credible that in some the whole vigor of the latter never becomes manifest in this life. A very interesting chapter it would be in our psychology, to trace the varied developments of Conscience and the Religious Sentiment in persons of different temperament, and placed under different circumstances. But it seems to me a grievous practical error to teach that these distinctions are not to be utterly merged in the normal development of the soul; that we are not to hold out to every one the anticipation of the highest spiritual communion as the natural landmark of his progress.

Abridged from an Essay on Intuitive Morals.

Spirituality is no adequate security for sound moral discernment.

Reli

Morality is the end, Spirituality is the means. gion is the handmaid to Morals; we must be spiritual, in order that we may be in the highest and truest sense moral. The moral man deserves approval or love for all the absolute good that he has attained, though there be a higher good to which he aspires not; and the truly and rightly spiritual is he who aims at an indefinitely high moral excellence, of which GOD is the embodiment to his

heart and soul. If the absolute excellence of morality be denied, there is nothing for spirituality to aspire after. F. W. Newman.

See, then, how powerful Religion is; it commands the heart; it commands the vitals. Morality that comes with a pruning-knife, and cuts off all sproutings, all wild luxuriances; but Religion lays the axe to the root of the tree. Morality looks that the skin of the apple be fair; but Religion searcheth to the very core. Morality chides outward exorbitancies, but Religion checks secret inclinations. Religion requires the very flower and vigor of the spirit, the strength and sinews of the soul, the prime and top of the affections. It is no empty wish, nor languishing endeavor, no stillborn prayer, nor abortive resolution will serve the turn. Nathaniel Culverwel.

The demon of Socrates only suggested to him "to beware," that is to say, only hinted what he should avoid, - but did not point out to him what course of conduct he should adopt. Wright.

Morals can seldom gain living energy, without the impulsive force derived from Spirituals. Other things being equal, (a condition not to be forgotten,) a spiritual man will hold a higher and purer morality than a mere moralist. Not only does Duty manifest itself to him as an everexpanding principle, but, — since a larger and larger part of duty becomes pleasant and easy, when performed under

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