love those most, whose sentiments and dispositions correspond most with our own. But to maintain

peace with the churlish and perverse, the irregular and impatient, and those that most contradict and oppose our opinions and desires, is a heroic and glorious attainment. Some preserve the peace of their own breasts, and live in peace with all about them; and some, having no peace in themselves, are continually employed in disturbing the peace of others: they are the tormentors of their brethren, and still more the tormentors of their own hearts. There are also some, who not only retain their own peace, but make it their business to restore peace to the contentious. After all, the most perfect peace to which we can attain in this miserable life, consists rather in meek and patient suffering, than in an exemption from adversity; and he that has most learned to suffer, will certainly possess the greatest share of peace: he is the conqueror of himself, the lord of the world, the friend of Christ, and the heir of heaven!

CHAPTER IV.

Simplicity and Purity.

SIMPLICITY and purity are the two wings with which man soars above earth and all temporary nature. Simplicity is in the intention: purity is in the affection: simplicity turns to God, purity enjoys him. No good action will be difficult and painful, if

thou art free from inordinate affection: and this internal freedom thou wilt enjoy, when it is the one simple intention of thy mind to obey the will of God, and do good to thy fellow creatures.

If thy heart was rightly disposed, every creature would be a book of divine knowledge: a mirror of life, in which thou mightst contemplate the eternal power and beneficence of the Author of Life; for there is no creature, however small and abject, that is not a monument of the goodness of God. Such as is the frame of the spirit, such is its judgment of outward things. If thou hadst simplicity and purity, thou wouldst be able to comprehend things without error, and behold them without danger: the pure heart safely surveys not only heaven, but hell.

If there be joy in this world, who possesses it more than the pure in heart? And if there be tribulation and anguish, who suffers them more than the wounded spirit?

As iron cast into the fire is purified from its rust, and becomes bright as the fire itself; so the soul that in simplicity and purity adheres to God, is delivered from the corruption of animal nature, and changed into the "new man;" formed "after the image of him that created him.”

Those who suffer the desire of perfection to grow cold and languid, are terrified at the most inconsiderable difficulties, and soon driven back to seek consolation in the enjoyments of sensual life. But those, in whom that desire is kept alive and invigorated by continual self-denial, and a steady perseverance in that narrow path in which Christ has call

ed us to follow him, find every step they take more and more easy, and feel those labors light that were once thought insurmountable.

CHAPTER V.

Consideration of Ourselves.

We ought to place but little confidence in ourselves, because the light we have is small. We are often insensible of our inward darkness; and are impelled by passion, which we mistake for zeal. We severely reprove little failings in our brethren, and pass over enormous sins in ourselves; we quickly feel, and perpetually brood over, the sufferings that are brought upon us by others, but have no thought of what others suffer from us. We should prefer to all other cares, the care of our own improvement; and if strictly watchful over our own conduct, will be silent about the conduct of others. But to the divine life of the spiritual man we will never attain, unless we can withdraw our attention from all persons, and the concerns of all, and fix it upon self.

Tell me, if thou canst, where thou hast been wandering, when thou art absent from thy own breast and after thou hast run about, and taken a hasty view of the actions and affairs of men, what advantage bringest thou home to thy neglected and forsaken self? He that desires peace of heart, must cast irrelevant things behind him, and keep God and

his own spirit in his view. As thy progress to perfection depends much upon thy freedom from the cares and pleasures of the world, it must be proportionably obstructed by whatever degree of value they have in thy affections. Abandon, therefore, all hope of consolation from created things, not only as vain but dangerous; and esteem nothing truly honorable, pleasing, great, and worthy the desire of an immortal spirit, but God, and that which immediately tends to the improvement of thy state in him. The soul that truly loves God, despises all that is inferior to Him. It is God alone, the Infinite and Eternal, who filleth all things, that is the life, light, and peace, of all blessed spirits.

CHAPTER VI.

The Joy of a good Conscience.

THE "rejoicing" of a good man is "the testimony of a good conscience." A pure conscience is the ground of perpetual exultation: it will support us under the severest trials, and enable us to rejoice in the depths of adversity: but an evil conscience, in every state of life, is full of disquietude and fear. Thou wilt enjoy tranquillity, if thy heart condemn thee not. Therefore do not hope to rejoice but when thou hast done well. The wicked cannot have true joy, nor taste of inward peace; for "there is no peace to the wicked," saith the Lord; "but

they are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." If they say, "We are in peace; no evil shall come upon us; and who will dare to hurt us?" believe them not; for the anger of the Lord will suddenly rise up within them; their boasting shall vanish like smoke, and the thoughts of their hearts shall perish.

To "glory in tribulation," is not difficult to him that glories" in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." That glory which is given and received among men comes with fear and envy, and vanishes in disappointment and regret. The glory of the just is proclaimed by the voice of conscience, and not by the mouth of men: their joy is from God, and in God; and their rejoicing is founded in truth. He that aspires after true and eternal glory, values not that which is temporal; and he that seeks after the glory of the earth, proves that he neither loves nor considers the eternal glory of heaven.

He only can have great tranquillity, whose happiness depends not on the praise and dispraise of men. If thy conscience was pure, thou wouldst be contented in every condition, and undisturbed by the opinions and reports of men concerning thee; for their commendations can add nothing to thy holiness, nor their censures take anything from it: what thou art, thou art; nor can the praise of the whole world make thee greater in the sight of God. The more, therefore, thy attention is fixed upon the true state of thy spirit, the less wilt thou regard what is said of thee in the world. Men look only on the face, but "God searcheth the heart;" men consider only