persons can compare their own character with that of others, who have to appearances been similarly circumstanced with themselves, and not perceive each for himself that there are very many respects in which his attainments fall short of his neighbours'. One will find himself less persevering, another less temperate, another less considerate for other people; or less willing to face pain for the sake of honesty, than he sees other people to be, who nevertheless have had no greater advantages than himself. And in many cases this divergence of character is so remarkable, that one can scarcely believe the beings in whom it is observable to belong to the same species. Now what is the cause of all this? Are we to suppose that tempers of mind grow up in us, as it were of their own accord; and that we have nothing to do but to sit still and wait for the event; in short, that nature settles for us what sort of people we shall become?

The difference between man and man cannot be so accounted for, and we must be careful against indulging a delusion in which it would be so pleasing to acquiesce. Nature has not placed so wide a barrier between one person and another, but that all are to be judged by a common rule. The law which is to try Noah, Daniel, and Job, is that by which we too must stand or fall. The Holy Apostles were men of like passions with ourselves. Even our Lord Jesus Christ was tempted in all things like unto us.

We have to acknowledge, and that with shame and confusion, that the great gulph which seems fixed between us and the Saints, who were tried like us, has been fixed by our own carelessness and selfindulgence.

Such are the vast consequences which attend on industry and patience without these we shall make nothing of ourselves, and bury our talent in a napkin; with them, if we persist on resolutely, we may still improve ourselves indefinitely; and if it were not for the time we have already squandered, we might at this moment have been even like the Saints.

It is indeed undoubtedly true that many persons are so constituted that such habits come much easier to them than to others: some have a less difficult task in overcoming one passion, some another: and God undoubtedly will make allowances for each of us, in proportion to the difficulties which we experience. But there is one important habit, that of self-command, which we all must have equal difficulty in attaining. We can only be said to have command over ourselves in proportion as we are able to resist pleasure from a sense of duty. It is then only in proportion as we have temptation to overcome, that we have any means of showing this habit; and it is as absurd to suppose self-command easier to persons who have no passions to contend with, as [to suppose] the acquisition of bodily strength, easier to persons who have no hard work to

do, or sharp exercise to tire them. Upon the whole then we are much more on a footing than we may at first suppose; and those on whom nature has imposed the hardest tasks, have so much more opportunity of disciplining themselves. We are placed in the world with the power of becoming almost what we please; and according to the use we make of the opportunities put in our way, we may attain almost to any degree of virtue or of wickedness.

Every temptation we meet with, is one of those opportunities; for, whether it be great or little, still we know well enough that it is in our power, at the time, either to resist or to yield. And very little observation will teach us, that every victory gained over our inclinations will make the next struggle easier; whereas, every time that we allow ourselves to be overcome, we entail on ourselves a severer contest on the next occasion. Thus it comes to pass, that while those who take every occasion to stand up resolutely and manfully against temptation, are constantly gaining strength themselves, and diminishing the obstacles which they have to contend with: those who allow themselves to indulge the impulse of the moment, find their own powers fail, and those of the enemy increase against them, till at last they give the matter up altogether, and fall into a state of recklessness.

Such as I have described, is the path which God has left open to us, for fitting ourselves to act our part in life; such is the sore travail which He has

given to the sons of men ;-a great part of it they must endure whether they will or no. They must pass from childhood to manhood; they must be dependent on others before they can maintain themselves; they must be governed by others, before they know how to keep themselves out of mischief; they must learn to refrain from many things that they would like, and to do many things that they dislike exceedingly. All this they absolutely must undergo, even in order to get their living and keep out of the hands of justice.

Far more than this must they submit to, if they would ever pass through life with tolerable respectability,—if they would be loved and trusted by their fellow creatures.

Now what is the reason of all this? The wise king tells us it is that we may be "exercised therewith." And when we take into consideration what we all know, that the present state of things is to fit us for another state, into which we are to pass after death, we shall see plainly enough what is the use of this exercise. We shall see, not merely that it is a task which we must submit to, but also why it has been imposed on us; and learn to look on it, not as an instance of God's arbitrary power, but of His considerate benevolence.

Consider then, that as it is absolutely necessary we should become people of a certain sort before we are qualified to fill certain situations here on earth, so even common sense would teach us that,

in order to our being fitted for acting our part in the other world, some acquirements or other, some sort of character, must be necessary. If a man is

to go into a foreign country to transact any important business, how many things has he to attend to, and prepare for! He must acquaint himself with the sort of circumstances in which he shall be placed, the sort of people he shall have to deal with, their manners, their language, the sort of questions he shall have to answer, the sort of difficulties he shall have to contend with. He may have either to endure great fatigue, or to exert great nerve and firmness, or to submit to hunger and cold, such as require long training to bear up against; and, unless he does all this, he must make up his mind to certain failure, or in many cases to death.

Now common sense would tell us to expect something of this sort in the country to which we all have to go. A country far more distant, and more unlike our own, than any traveller has reached in this world. And though we might not be able, by common sense alone, to make out what sort of training would best fit us for living in this country, still even it would teach us that self-command, courage, justice, benevolence, must be of the greatest service to us, under any change of circumstances, and however events turned out.

We have, however, a surer and safer guide to determine this important point for us. God has