Albert, it is not morality; it is not
consistency of practice with profession; it is not the _doing_ right
that makes a Christian, for if man could have attained to entire
correctness in morals, there would have been no such thing as
Christianity. But it is because of man's wickedness and his
inconsistency, both in theory and in practice, that the Christian
religion is presented as the means of attaining to _salvation_. Christ
makes the Christian--the Christian in Christ and Christ in the
Christian--a loving, affectionate, endearing union--of ignorance with
wisdom, of infirmity with strength, of immorality with virtue. Christ
throws his robe of righteousness over the follies and the wickedness
of the converted soul, and by covering him with himself, gradually
similates him to himself until what is carnal being cast off, the
spiritual remains at death a pure child of God."

"Dear me, Mary, you look lovely as you speak this mysterious theology.
And I really pant after such feelings as I see beaming from your
countenance; but you might just as well speak to me in Arabic for any
understanding I can have of this thing called Christianity. It must be
something good, or it could not thus fill your own soul, intelligent
as you are, with a joy that makes you indifferent to those gaieties
of life which give me pleasure."

"You need," said Mary, "the teachings of God's spirit. You know I took
delight in those things a year ago, but God's spirit taught me that I
was sinning in partaking of them. I was at Fayolle's, dancing, and, in
the midst of a figure in the cotillon, my head became giddy, and I had
to be supported to a seat. I soon recovered, but the thought of a
sudden death distressed me, for it came very forcibly to my mind--I am
a wicked sinner."

"O, Mary, Mary," interrupted Albert, "you did not think yourself a
sinner!"

"Yes, Albert, I did. I had never thought so before, but had rather
prided myself upon being called a good girl by all my acquaintances.
But I now saw things in a different light; and when I went home and
began self-examination, I soon found I had a very wicked heart. I
tried to do better, but the more I tried to live unto God the more I
discovered the proneness of my heart to sin. I tried to think good
thoughts, and evil thoughts came directly in my way to mar my peace.
Day after day I made effort to purify my thoughts. It was all in vain.
A pure thought immediately suggested its opposite, and I found