case? tion to convert the knowledge I am about to acquire into any practical application to my own Is it my earnest wish to improve the state of my own heart by comparing it with what I allow to be the only perfect rule of faith and practice? Do I only read to get over my morning's task, the omission of which would make me uneasy, merely to fasten a series of facts on my memory? or do I really desire to make the great truths of the incarnation of the Son of God, of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the necessity of a living faith, a sound repentance, an entire conviction that, of myself I can do no. thing; not merely a speculative system to be recognized at church, but to be transfused into the life? Do I adopt religion as an hereditary, national profession, necessary to my credit, or as a thing in which I have a momentous personal interest? Do I propose to apply what I read to the pulling down those high imaginations, and that false security of which my Bible shows me the danger, and which its doctrines are calculated to subdue? Do I labour after the attainment of those heavenly dispositions, the exhibition of which I have been admiring? Have these vivid declarations of the unsatisfactoriness of the world at all cooled my ardour for its enjoyments? Shall I read here this holy contempt for the littleness of its pursuits, this display of its fallacies and deceits, and yet return this very evening to the participation of diversions, the exposure of whose emptiness I have been approving? Shall I extol the writer who strips off its painted mask from the world, and yet acts as if the morning lecture had brought no such discovery? Nay, perhaps, it may be one of my subjects of conversation to recommend a book, of whose little efficacy in my own case I am giving a practical example. Do I not periodically pray, Make me to be numbered with thy saints in glory everlasting,' and yet am I not as shy of the society of those who are distinguished for more than common sanctity, as if it carried contamination with it? And does not the very term convey to my mind a discreditable idea, compounded of fanaticism and hypocrisy ? After all, I may have been wrong. If respect. ability were security, the young ruler in the Gospel had been in no danger, for his attainments were above the ordinary standard, and his credit was probably high. It is time to come to something like certainty; to inquire, whether I do cordially believe what I should be ashamed not to profess; whether my religion lives in my memory or my heart, on my lips or in my life, in my profession or my practice? It is time to examine, whether I have much more distinct evidences of divine truth than those who do not acknowledge the Gospel to be a revelation from heaven; to inquire, why, if my understanding be somewhat more enlightened, such illumination is not more perceptible on my heart? Why the fruits of the Spirit,' so far from abounding' in me, scarcely appear, if those fruits are indeed love, peace, and joy in believing?' vent your following up your convictions. There is not any thing that is unreasonable, much less any thing that is impossible, required: no degree of zeal, or measure of earnestness, but what you see every day exerted in a worse cause. Take your measure from the world, not in what you shall pursue, but in the energy with which you shall urge the pursuit. Only devote to religion as much time as the worldly devote to dissipation; only set your affections on Heaven as intensely as theirs are set upon earth, and all will be well: or take your measure from your former self; take at least as much pains to secure your eternal interests as you have formerly taken to acquire a language or an art. Read the word of inspiration with the same assiduity with which you have studied a favourite classic; strive with as much energy to acquire a thorough insight into the corruptions of your heart, and the remedy proposed for their cure, as you have exerted in studying the principles of your profession, or the mysteries of your call. ing. Inspect your consciences as accurately as your expences, be as frugal of your time as of your fortune, and as careful of your soul as of your credit. Be neither terrified by terms, nor governed by them. In reading those heart-searching writers, whose principles are drawn from the source of all truth, and who are only to be trusted as they are analagous to it, be not offended with some strong expressions. They expressed forcibly what they felt powerfully. The revolting term of sinner, which has, perhaps, made you throw aside the book, as thinking it addressed only to the perpetrators of great crimes, as fitter language for the prisons and the hulks, than for the polished and the pleasing, is addressed to every one, however profound his knowledge, however decent his life, however amiable his manners, who lives without habitual reference to God Be more than honest, be courageous; boldly ap. ply it to yourself. Though your character is unstained with any disgraceful vice, though you regularly fulfil many relative duties, yet if you are destitute of the prime duty, the love of God in Christ Jesus, you stand in need of such a forcible address as we have been supposing. The discovery will be no dishonour. The dishonour consists in not feeling your state, in not strug. gling against it; in not applying with humble fervour for assistance to the Fountain of graco and mercy. Take comfort that you have great advantages over many others. You have few bad habits to retract; you have no scandalous vices to com. bat; you have already with certain persons ac. quired a degree of influence by your good quali. ties; with others, you have acquired it by your very defects, and, as you are not suspected of enthusiasm, your usefulness will not be im. peded by having that suspicion to repel. You will continue to do, in many respects the same things which you did before. The exterior of your life may be in many points nearly the same. But, even the same actions will be done Let not the fear of labour, or the dread of in another spirit and to another end. Religion pain, prevent you from endeavouring to obtain will not convert you into misanthropes, insensi a clear view of your state. Let not a pusillani. ble to all the dear affections which make life mous apprehension of reproach or ridicule pre-pleasant. It does not wish to send you with the hermits of old to the deserts of Thebais, it only wishes you to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in your own families, and among your own connexions. Not one of the proper forms and harmless habits of polished society will be impaired, they will be rather improved by this mutation of the mind. Christian humility will be aiding all the best purposes of good breeding, while it will furnish a higher principle for its exercise. You may express this change in your character by what name you please, so that the change be but effected.-It is not what you are called, but what you are, which will make the specific distinction between the character you adopt, and that which you have quitted. You read the Bible now, but between reading it mechanically and spiritually, there is as much difference as between pouring a fluid on the ground and distilling it. The one 'cannot be gathered up, afterwards; from the other, we extract drop by drop, a precious and powerful essence. Search, then, diligently, the word of eternal life, enriched and ennobled as it is with the chain and the accomplishment of its prophecies, with the splendor of its miracles; with the attestation of its martyrs, the consistency of its doctrines; the importance of its facts; the plenitude of its precepts; the treasury of its promises; the irradiations of the Spirit; the abundance of its consolations; the peace it bestows; the blessedness it announces; the proportion of its parts; the symmetry of the whole,-altogether presenting such a fund of instruction to the mind, of light to the path, of document to the conduct, of satisfaction to the heart, as demonstrably prove it to be the instrument of God for the salvation of man. CHAP. XIX. On Habits. HABITS are those powers of the mind which arise from a collection or rather a successive course of ordinary actions. As they are formed by a concatenation of those actions, so they may be weakened by frequent and allowed interruptions; and if many contiguous links are wilfully broken, the habits themselves are in danger of being totally demolished. ther we shall improve it by a vigorous exertion in a right bent, or whether we shall turn it against our Maker, and direct the course of our conduct to the offending, instead of pleasing God. Habits are not so frequently formed by vehement incidental efforts on a few great occasions, as by a calm and steady perseverance in the ordinary course of duty. If this were uniformly followed up, we should be spared that occasional violence to our feelings, that agitating resist ance, which, by wasting the spirits, leads more feeble minds to dread the recurrence, of the same necessity which induces a painful feeling, the consequence of negligence, even where there is real rectitude of heart; while the regular adoption of right habits, indented by repetition, establishes such a tranquillity of spirit, as contributes to promote happiness no less than virtue. The mind, like the body, gains robustness and activity by the habitual exercise of its pow. ers. Occasional right actions may be caprice, may be vanity, may be impulse, but hardly deserve the name of virtue, till they proceed from a principle which habit has moulded into a frame; then the right principle which first set them at work continues to keep them at it, and finally becomes so prevalent, that there is a kind of spontaneity in the act, which keeps up the energy, without constant sensible reference to the spring which first set it in motion. Good habits and good dispositions ripened by repetition into virtue, and sanctified by prayer into holiness. If we allow that vicious habits persisted in, lay us more and more open to the dominion of our spiritual adversary, can we doubt that virtuous habits acquire proportional strength from the superinduced aid of the Spirit of God? The more uniform is our conformity to the rules of virtue and purity, the less we may require to be reminded of the particular influence of the motive. We need not, nor indeed can we, recur every moment to the exact source of the action; its flowing from an habitual sense of duty will generally explain the ground on which it is performed. If the heart is kept awake and alive in a cheerful obedience to God, the imme. diate motive of the immediate act is not likely to be a bad one. Many actions, indeed, require to be deliberated on, and whatever requires deliberation before we do it, demands scrutiny why we do it. This will lead to such an inquest into our motive as, if there be any want of sincerity in it, will tend to its detection. If we may be allowed to change the metaphor, we would observe that good habits pro- Notwithstanding what has been urged above duce a sound healthy constitution of mind; they as to the exercise of constant assiduity in preare tonics which gradually, but infallibly, in- ference to mere occasional exertion, we would vigorate the intellectual man.-A silent course be understood to offer this counsel rather to the of habits is a part of our character or rather proficient than to the novice. As the beginnings conduct, which in a great measure depends on are always difficult, especially to ardent spirits, industry and application; on self denial and such spirits would do well, particularly at their watchfulness, on diligence in establishing right entrance on a more correct course, to select for pursuits, and vigilance in checking such as are themselves some single task of painful exertion, pernicious. Habit being an engine put into our which, by bringing their mental vigour into full hands for the noblest and most beneficial pur- play, shall afford them so sensible an evidence poses; and being one, which, having the free of the conquest they have obtained, as will more command of our own faculties, we have a power than repay the labour of the conflict. A friend to use and direct-a power, indeed, derived of the Author was so fully aware of the importfrom God as all our other possessions are-yet ance of thus taming an impatient temper, that having this power, it rests with ourselves whe-she imposed upon herself the habit of beginning be great in proportion to the pertinacity. For who can conceive a more miserable state, than for a man to be goaded on by a long perseverance in habits, which both his conscience and his understanding condemn? Even if upon even any ordinary undertaking with the most difficult part of it, instead of following the usual method of proceeding from the lower to the higher. If a language was to be learnt, she began with a very difficult author. If a scheme of economy was to be improved, she relinquish-conviction he renounces them, he has a long ed at once some prominent indulgence; if a vanity was to be cut off, she fixed on some strong act of self-denial which should appear a little disreputable to others, while it somewhat mortified herself. These incipient trials once got over, she had a large reward in finding all lesser ones in the same class comparatively light. The main victory was gained in the onset, the subsequent skirmishes cost little. If it be said that the effort is too violent, the change too sudden, we apprehend the assertion is a mistake. When we have worked up our selves, or rather are worked up by a superior ageney to a strong measure, it becomes a point of honour, as well as of duty, to persist; we are ashamed of stopping and especially of retreating, though we have no witness but God and our own hearts. Having once persevered, the victory is the reward. A slower change, though desirable, has less stimulus, less animation, is less sensibly marked; we cannot recur, as in the other case, to the hour of conquest, nor have we so clear a consciousness of having obtain ed it. time to spend in backing, with the mortification at last, to find himself only where he ought to have been at setting out. Without insisting on the difficulty of totally subduing long-indulged habits of any gross vice, such as intemperance; we may remark, that it requires a long and painful process-and this even after a man is convinced of its turpitude, after he discovers evident marks of improvement-to conquer the habits of any fault, which, though not so scandalous in the eyes of the world, may be equally inconsistent with real piety.-Take the love of money for instance. How reluctantly, if at all, is covetousness extir. pated from the heart, where it has long been rooted! The imperfect convert has a conviction on his mind, nay he has a feeling in his heart, that there is no such thing as being a Christian without liberality. This he adopts, in common with other just sentiments, and speaks of it as a necessary evidence of sincerity. He has got the whole christian theory by heart, and such parts of it as do not trench upon this long.indulged corruption, he more or less brings into action. But the conquest we have won we must main. But in this tender point, though the profession tain. The fruits of the initiatory victory may is cheap, the practice is costly. An occasion is be lost, if vigilance does not guard that which brought home to him, of exercising the grace he valour subdued. If the relinquishment of evil has been commending. He acknowledges its habits is so difficult, it is not less necessary to force, he does more; he feels it. If taken at the be watchful, lest we should insensibly slide into moment, something considerable might be done; the negligence of such as are good. What we but if any delay intervene, that delay is fatal; neglect, we gradually forget. This guard against for from feeling, he begins to calculate. Now declension is the more requisite, as the human there is a cooling property in calculation, which mind is so limited, that one object quickly ex- freezes the warm current that sensibility had pels another. A new idea takes possession as set in motion. The old habit is too powerful for soon as its predecessor is driven out; and the the young convert, yet he flatters himself that very traces of former habits are effaced, not sud-he has at once exercised charity and discretion, denly, but progressively; no two successive He takes comfort both from the liberal feeling ideas being, perhaps, very dissimilar, while the which had resolved to give the money, and the last in the train will be of a character quite difprudence which had saved it, laying to his heart ferent, not from that which immediately pre- the flattering unction, that he has only spared it ceded, but from that which first began to draw for some more pressing demand, which, when it us off from the right habits; the impression con-occurs, will again set him on feeling, and calcu, tinues to grow fainter, till that which at first lating, and saving. was weakened, is at length obliterated. If we do not establish the habit of the great statesman of Holland, to do only one thing at a time, we shall do nothing well; the whole of our understanding, however highly we may rate it, is not too much to give to any subject which is of sufficient importance to require an investi. gation at all; certainly is not great enough to afford being split into as many parts, as we may choose to take subjects simultaneously in hand. If we allow the different topics which require deliberation to break in on each other; if a second is admitted to a conference, before we had dismissed the first, as neither will be distinctly considered, so neither is likely to obtain a just decision. These desultory pursuits obstruct the establishment of correct habits. Some well-meaning persons unintentionally confirm this kind of error. They are so zealous on the subject of sudden conversion, that they are too ready to pronounce, from certain warm expressions, that this change has taken place in their acquaintance, while evident symptoms of an unchanged nature continue to disfigure the character. They do not always wait till an alteration in the habits has given that best evi, dence of an interior alteration. They dwell so exclusively on miraculous changes, that they leave little to do for the convert, but to consider himself as an inactive recipient of grace; not as one who is to exhibit, by the change in his life, that mutation, which the divine Spirit has produced on his heart. This too common error appears to arise, not only from enthusiasm, but But it requires the firm union of a sound prin- partly from want of insight into the human cha ciple with an impartial judgment to ascertain racter, of which habits are the ground-work, and that the habit is really good, or the mischief will | in which right habits are not less the effect of grace for being gradually produced. We can- who have never been guilty of his irregularities not, indeed, purify ourselves, any more than we in conduct, who have never indulged his disor. can convert ourselves, it being equally the work ders of heart and mind. When we see holy men, of the Holy Spirit to infuse purity, as well as the to whom this cheerful confidence is sometimes other graces, into the heart; but it rests with us denied, or from whom, in the agonies of disto exercise this grace, to reduce this purity to a solving nature, it is withdrawn, shall they whose habit, else the Scriptures would not have been case we have been considering, complain, if so abundant in injunctions to this duty. their's are not all halcyon days, if their closing 'We must hate sin,' says bishop Jeremy Tay-hour is rather contrite than triumphant? But lor, in all its dimensions, in all its distances, this, if it be not a state of joy, may be equally a and in every angle of its reception.' St. Paul state of safety. felt this scrupulousness of Christian delicacy to The duty of keeping up this sense of purity is such an extent, that, in intimating the commis. of great extent. One of the many uses of prayer sion of certain enormities to the church of Ephe- is, that, by the habit of breathing out our inmost sus, he charged that they should not be so much thoughts of God, the sense of his being, the conas named among them. This great master in sciousness of his presence, the idea that his pure the science of human nature, a knowledge per- eye is immediately upon us, imparts a temporary fected by grace, was aware that the very men- purity to the soul, which it vainly aims to main. tion of some sins might be a temptation to com-tain in an equal degree in its intercourse with mit them; he would not have the mind intimate mankind. The beatitude of the promised vision with the expression, nor the tongue familiar with of God is more immediately annexed to this the sound. He who knew all the minuter en-grace; and it is elsewhere said, 'that every one trances, as well as the broader avenues to the corrupt heart of man, knew how much safer it is to avoid than to combat, how much easier the retreat than victory. He was aware, that purity of heart and thought, could alone produce purity of life and conduct. From the unhappy want of this early habit of restraint, many, who are become sincerely pious, find it very difficult to extricate their minds from certain associations established by former habits. Corrupt books and evil communications have at once left a sense of abhorrence on their hearts, with an indelible impression on their memory. They find it almost impossible to get rid of sallies of imagination, which, though they once admired as wit, they now consider as little less than blasphemy. The will rejects them; but they cling to the recollection with fatal pertinacity. Vices, not only of the conduct, but of the imagination, long indulged, leave a train of almost inextinguishable corruptions behind them. These are evils of which even the reformed heart does not easily get clear. He who repents suddenly, will too often be purified slowly. A corrupt practice may be abolished, but a soiled imagination is not easily cleansed. who hath this hope, purifieth himself, as He is pure.' The holy felicity of the creature is thus made to depend on its assimilation with the Creator. There is a beautiful intimation of the pu rity of God in the order of construction in the prayer taught by our Saviour. We pray that his name may be hallowed, that is, that our hearts, and the hearts of all men, may honour his holy name; may be deeply impressed with a sense of his purity and holiness, before we proceed to the subsequent petitions. We thus invest our minds with this preparatory sentiment in order to sanctify what we are about to implore. In addition to the necessity of stated prayer for the promotion of purity, it may be observed, that if, by habitual devotion, we bend our thoughts into that course, they will in time almost voluntarily pursue it. The good effect of prayer will, on our return to society, be much increased by the practice of occasionally darting up to heaven, a short ejaculation, a laudatory sentence, or some brief spontaneous effusion. This will assist to stir up the flame which was kindled by the morning sacrifice, and preserve it from total extinction before that of the evening is offered up. We may learn from the profane practice of some, that an ejaculation takes as little time, and ob trudes less on notice, than an oath or an excla. mation. It implores in as few words, the same divine power for a blessing, whom the other obtests for destruction. One great benefit of science is allowed to be derived from its habituating the mind to shake off its dependance upon sense. Devout medita. tion, in like manner, accustoms it not to fly for support to sensible and material things, but to rest in such as are intellectual and spiritual. By a general neglect of serious thinking, virtue is sometimes withered and decayed; in minds where it is not torn up by the roots, there remains in them that vital sap which may still, upon habitual cultivation, not only vegetate, but We repeat, that these rooted habits, even after the act has been long hated and discontinued, may persist in tormenting him who has long repented of the sin, so as to keep him to the last in a painful and distressing doubt as to his real state; but if this doubt continue to make him more vigilant, and to keep alive his humility, the uneasiness it causes may be more salutary than a greater confidence of his own condition. Many have complained, after years of sincere reformation, that they did not possess that peace and consolation which religion promises; not suspecting, that their long adherence to wrong habits may naturally darken their views and cloud their enjoyments. Surely the man whose mind has abandoned itself for years to improper indulgences has little right to complain, if bit-produce fruit. terness accompany his repentance, if dejection break in on his peace. Surely he has little right to murmur, if those consolations are refused to him, which, in the inscrutable wisdom of Providence, are sometimes withheld from good men, ¦ VOL. II, One great obstacle to habitual meditation must not be passed over. It is the pernicious custom of submitting to the uncontrolled dominion of a roving imagination. This prolific faculty produces such a constant budding of images, fancies, visions, conjectures, and conceits, that she can subsist plentifully on her own independent stock. She is perpetually wander. ing from the point to which she promised to confine herself when she set out; is ever roaming from the spot to which her powerless possessor had threatened to pin her down. We retire with a resolution to reflect: Reason has no sooner marshalled her forces, than this undisciplined run-away escapes from duty, one strag. gler after another joins the enemy, or brings home some foreign impertinence. While we meant to indulge only a harmless reflection, we are brought under subjection to a whole series of reveries of different characters and opposite descriptions. Fresh trains obliterate our first speculations, till the spirit sinks into a sort of deliquium. We have nothing for it, but resolutely to resist the enfeebling despot. Let us stir up some counteracting force: let us fly to some active em. ployment which shall break the charm, and dissolve the pleasant thraldom. No matter what, so it be innocent and opposite. We shall not cure ourselves by the sturdiest resolution not to do this thing which is complained of, unless we compel ourselves to do something else. Courageous exertion is the only conqueror of irresolution: vigorous action the only supplanter of idle speculation. Habits are not arbitrary systems and predetermined schemes. They are not always laid down deliberately as plans to be pursued, but steal upon us insensibly; insinuate themselves into a train of successive repetitions, till we find ourselves in bondage to them, before we are aware they have gotten any fast hold over us. But if rooted bad habits are of such difficult extirpation, that, as we have already observed, they not only destroy the peace of him who continues them, but embitter the very penitence of him who has forsaken them, there is a class of beings in whom they are not yet inveterate. If I could speak with the tongues of men and of angels, never could they be em. ployed to a more important purpose, than in representing to my youthful readers the blessed. ness of avoiding such habits now, as may take a whole life to unlearn. O you to whom opening life is fresh, and gay, and tempting you who have yet your path to choose, whose hearts are ingenuous, and whose manners amiable, in whom, if wrong propensities discover themselves, yet evil habits are not substantially formed-could you be made sensible, at a less costly price than your own experience, that though through the mercy of God, the long-erring heart may hereafter be brought to abhor its own sin, yet the once initiated mind can never be made to unknow its knowledge, nor to unthink its thoughts; can never be brought to separate those combinations which it once too fondly cherished :-how much future regret, how much incurable sorrow might you spare yourselves! If you would but reflect that though in respect of the past, you may become inwardly penitent, you cannot become as you now are, outwardly innocent, and that no repentance can restore your present happy ignorance of practised evil,—you would then keep clear of a bondage from which you perceive the older and the wiser do not, because they cannot, commonly emancipate themselves. But, supposing a young man is so happy as to escape the grosser corruptions, yet, if he have a turn to wit and ridicule, he should be singularly on his guard against the false credit which ludicrous associations will obtain for him in certain societies. An indelicate but pointed jest, a combination of some light thought with some scriptural expression, a parody which makes a serious thing ridiculous, or a sober one absurd,-these are instruments by no means harmless, not only to him who handles them, but also in the hands of subalterns and copyists, who having, perhaps, no faculty but memory and seldom using memory but for mischief, retain with joy, and circulate from vanity, what was at first uttered with mere random thoughtlessness. Profane dunces are the busy echoes of the loose wit of others. With little talent for original mischief, but devoting that little to the worst purposes, they pick up a kind of lite. rary livelihood on the stray sarcasms and fugi. tive bon mots of others, and are maintained on what the witty throw away. If even in the first instance there were nothing wrong in the thing itself, there is mischief in the connexion. Whatever serves to append a light thought to a serious one, is unsafe: both have, by frequent citation, been so accustomed to appear together, that when, in a better frame of mind, the good one is called up, the corrupt associate never fails to present itself unbidden, and, like Pharaoh's blasted corn, devours the wholesome ear. 'Man,' says one of the most sagacious ob servers of man, Dr. Paley, 'is a bundle of ha bits.' The more we attend to them, the more distinctly we shall perceive those which are right, and the more dexterity we shall acquire in estab lishing them. In setting out in our moral course, we can make little progress, unless we suffer our. selves to be governed by certain rules; but when the rules are once worked into habits, they in a manner govern us. We lose the sense of that restraining power, which was at first unpleasant though self-imposed. To illustrate this by an instance ;-The accomplished orator is not fettered by recurring to the laws of the gramma. rian, nor the canons of the dialectician, though it was by being habitually trained in their respective schools, that he aequired both his accuracy and argument. Yet, while he is speaking, it never occurs to him, that there are such things in the world as grammar or logic. The rules are become habits, they have answered their end, and are dismissed. If we cousider the force of habit on amusements: stated diversions enslave us more by the custom of making us feel the want of them, than by any positive pleasure they afford. By being incessantly pursued, they diminish in their power of delighting; yet such is the plastic power of habit and such the yielding substance of our minds, that they become arbitrary wants, absolute articles, not of luxury, but necessity. Strange! that what is enjoyed without pleasure cannot be discontinued without pain! The very hour when, the place where, the sight of those with whom they have been partaken, present associations which we feel a kind of difficulty |