will be attempting every now and then to lift up its head. Self-righteousness adheres so close to us all, that it requires constant applications to divine grace to keep it under. You will find that you will not be able to perform any duty, to engage in any good work, to bear any difficulty for the sake of Christ, but what this spirit will corrupt it all; especially when you feel yourself comfortable, your utterance in prayer enlarged, your zeal for God inflamed, or you have done any thing which has pleased others, will this evil arise. Yes! strange as it may seem, your best moments, your moments of humiliation, of communion with God, of abstraction from the world, will be taken advantage of by the pride of the heart, and the suggestions of Satan, to make you think more highly than you ought to think. It is a great work indeed, and must be the business of our whole lives, to learn how to be abased, to maintain right views of ourselves, to keep at the foot of the cross, and feel as we ought. It is easy to use scripture phrases, to declaim against pride, to confess that we are vile, to tell others that we are unworthy, the least of all, the chief of sinners; but to enter into these sentiments, actually and constantly to abhor ourselves, to feel indignation at the pride and vanity of our hearts, to mourn under a sense of our imperfections; this is not the spirit, the feeling congenial to our proud naYet something of this must be maintained by every christian; for in porportion as pride rises, God is insulted, Christ dishonoured, the Holy Spirit grieved. Perhaps you have superior endowments, a fine understanding, a good memory, a vivid imagination, a strong judgment: then

tures.

you are still in greater danger. It is difficult to possess such powers without being conceited; though at the same time it may be truly said, that a humble spirit outweighs them all. You may have received applause from some unthinking person, which has had a tendency to elate you. But remember that such people, if they knew every thing about you, would be ashamed of such unqualified praise which they have given you. But it may be, that your conversion was more singular than others: then you have the more reason to be humbled, that God should make use of extraordinary methods for the calling of such an unworthy creature as you. Or, since your change, you have been enabled to do some great thing that has astonished those of longer standing. But, perhaps, if every circumstance be considered minutely, if we draw near and inspect the object with care, we shall see, after all, that this is not in reality the case. my dear reader, it is a mortifying reflection, that many things which appear great and splendid, even in the religious world, when they come to be analysed, are found to be not altogether what they appear. Faith, perhaps, has been attended with some degree of presumption. Insensibility has been substituted for patience; natural courage for christian fortitude; and a warm temperament for true zeal; so that we have all just cause for suspecting our own hearts. Study, therefore, to maintain lowly views of yourself: think of your former aggravated transgressions, your sins since conversion, your forgetfulness of God, and yet his wonderful compassion, notwithstanding the infinite holiness of his nature and the inflexi

Alas!

bility of his justice. Think what a poor insignificant mortal you are before him; how you have insulted him; and what an everlasting wonder that he did not suffer you to perish in your sin ! Remember that you have not the least excellency in you but what is his, an emanation from him; and that without his grace you would have been in the most abandoned and forlorn condition. Consider, too, how little it is as yet that you know; what vast depths there are in scripture; what mysteries in the divine dispensations; what glories in the grand scheme of redemption that you have never yet understood. Reflect also on the consequence of the spirit of pride. There is not a greater source of misery than this: it is a kind of intoxication, which renders a man liable to stumble at every little thing before him; blinds his eyes, or causes him to see things different to what they are; to talk incoherently, and imagine at the same time all is well. O look up to God, therefore, for grace to keep you from this greatest of all evils, and that you may be blessed with a humble spirit: then, indeed, will you be safe and happy. As there is hardly an evil which pride does not draw after it, so, on the contrary, there is hardly a blessing which humility does not either produce or attend. If you are humble, you will be dependent on God for every thing, and say with the apostle, "When I am weak, then am I strong."* You will be convinced of your ignorance, and consequently be excited to the attainment of greater knowledge. You will

* 2d Cor. xii. 10.

be drawn out in love to God for his great condescension and abundant goodness towards you. You will be patient under his hand when he smites you, and acknowledge the wisdom of his providence, however dark and mysterious. You will be contented with what he has given you, and refrain from murmuring because you are not like others. You will be grateful to him for the little you may have, and sing his praises over the smallest portion, confessing you are not worthy of any thing from his hand. This will influence you to be docile, to conceal your own excellencies, to acknowledge mistakes, to exercise moderation in all things, and never to aim at any thing above your strength; and, as it respects your fellow-creatures, it will teach you to honour, love, bear, forgive, and be active for their best interests.

Again, beware of a volatile, loquacious, forward disposition. I do not mean that you should not be cheerful. To put on a melancholy gloom, to indulge a sadness of spirit, as if there were no comfort in religion, or as if we were going to the regions of darkness rather than light, is highly injudicious, both as it respects ourselves and the cause in which we are engaged. God loves to see his servants happy, or, as an old writer* expresses it, "He delights to have his mercy seen in the cheerful countenance of his servants while they are at his work." But cheerfulness is dif ferent from volatility. The former is reasonable, evidential of gratitude and satisfaction: the latter,

* Gurnall.

unmeaning, empty, foolish, and injurious. Maintain, therefore, a proper gravity that shall not degenerate into the austerity of a hermit, and a wise cheerfulness, that shall not rise into a noisy mirth "While cheerfulness is the sail, let seriousness be the ballast of the vessel: if we want ballast, we may move too swiftly; and if we want sail, we shall move too slowly."*

There are seasons, indeed, when we may be called to more than ordinary lamentation and sorrow; such as national calamities, the loss of our friends, and particularly when the church of God is in a state of great opposition and suffering. Among the Romans, when any man was accused for his life, all his relations put on mourning apparel, and followed him to his trial in mourning; thereby to shew their love to the party in danger. Thus, it does not become us to rejoice when the church is under a cloud, but to mourn and pray, and wait for her deliverance.

Again, it will be well to avoid a talkative disposition. Not that you are to be distant, cold, and reserved, or imagine that every thing pleasantly spoken is sinful: but it is better to listen to others of more wisdom and experience, than to speak much ourselves. It is seldom that in much speaking there is much edification. Even among professors of religion, it is to be lamented that the noble faculty of speech is not always used for the best of purposes; and many, instead of coming to the point, of entering into profitable conversation, dwell more upon the surface. The place,

* Bradbury.