Nor are we simply in danger of looking at a few weeds on the surface, and of forgetting the source from which they spring; but we are likewise disposed to give only a partial inspection. We possess, perhaps from nature, some quality which we vainly imagine is superior; we pride ourselves on its exercise, we conceive that this will hide a multitude of defects, and atone for the errors and the follies of our daily life; and it is to this part of our conduct that we most readily turn the inquiring eye, while we fondly strive to forget all our faults in the complacent satisfaction we derive from the conscious exercise of this one virtue. We must be divested of partiality before we can be prepared to investigate our conduct; and we must distinctly remember that it is to the whole, and not to the exercise of one insulated principle, that our attention must be directed.

It will be generally found, that this is not a pleasant duty, that it brings to our view so much that affords matter for sorrow, as to divest us of all our self-complacency. But if we are sinful and estranged from God, this is the very effect intended to be produced; and why should we hesitate to employ the means? The end designed by affliction is the sanctification of its subject. And how can this be accomplished, but by the discovery of error, by repentance and turning

to God, and by the exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only Mediator? We cannot mortify sin, unless we know and trace its existance and its power; nor resist temptation, unless we are acquainted with its influence. We cannot grow in conformity with the image of Christ, unless we seek diligently to destroy the reigning power of mortal corruption; nor become acquainted with the heart, unless we commune with ourselves, and examine its inmost recesses. We shall not justly appreciate the littleness of the events of this life, and the magnitude and importance of the concerns of eternity, until we know our own hearts, their aversion from all that is good, their tendency to evil, their attachment to the earth and all its vanities, and their entire unfitness for heaven.

We cannot indulge security, unless we are satisfied of our advancement in the divine life. and how can we be satisfied with our puny attainments, when the great apostle of the Gentiles declares that he acts not as though he had already attained, either were already perfect, but exclaims, "I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."* Let us then be active and diligent; let us not be slothful, but followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises.

It is then our duty to examine ourselves with sincerity, entreating the presence and assistance of the Holy Spirit of Truth. For we are feeble, guilty creatures; we cannot think a good thought, nor do a good action; and it is only through strengthening grace that we shall be able to perform this duty aright. We must do our part; but God alone can bless our feeble efforts; he only can thoroughly know the heart and disclose its secrets to us, can lead and guide us into the way of truth, enable us to walk in the light of his countenance, and teach us to profit by his word and by his dispensations. With earnest solicitude, then, shall we adopt the prayer of the Psalmist: "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting," with the delightful confidence that the prayer of faith will be heard and answered.

*Phil. iii. 12-14.

+ Psa. exxxix. 23, 24.

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CHAPTER VI.

ON THE DUTY OF RESIGNATION.

SUBMISSION to the will of God under the afflic tive events with which he is pleased to visit his children, is a lesson of the first importance, and a paramount duty of the Christian mourner. The sacrifice of a contrite, obedient spirit, is well pleasing to God. The exercise of cheerful resignation to his will is, perhaps, a duty the most difficult to perform; but it involves a principle which, when it originates from a heart-felt conviction of the power and wisdom of Jehovah, regulated and characterized by his mercy and love, from a persuasion of his right to do with us as seemeth good in his sight, and of his inflexible justice and matchless purity; when it is strengthened by the recollection of His faithfulness, who has promised that all things shall work together for the eventual good of those who love, and serve, and fear him; when it is founded on the propriety of our obedience to Him whose we are; and when it is sanctioned by an abiding sense of our own sinfulness and exposure to the

wrath of God, with just views of the great good to be accomplished in us, is at once the most delightful and the highest attainment of the Christian temper on earth.

However plausible and easy this may appear to be in theory, however much it may seem to be the natural result of the Christian character, it is quite certain, that to feel the chastening hand of God, and at the same time to exercise a cheerful acquiescence in the divine appointment, is so contrary to human nature, that it is extremely difficult to bear suffering with that meekness, humility, patience, submission, and sorrow for sin, which are included in this grace. Hence the necessity of becoming familiar with the duty, and striving most earnestly not only to know, but to feel and practise it.

Resignation presupposes a decided preference of doing what God commands, and undergoing what he inflicts, to the enjoyment of our own pleasures and desires. Before the human mind can cheerfully bear its inclinations to be thwarted, and its affections nipped in their kindliest growth, it must be deeply imbued with the righteousness of Jehovah's character and government, and with the infinite value of the soul: it must have been taught the vanity of seeking happiness in the creature, and the superior nature of religious joys. Naturally self-willed, attached to the pre