er pattern than that model of perfection,--the
character of the Messiah. These acquirements, indeed, are looked upon,
not as a ground of acceptance, but a test of moral condition; not as, in
any degree, usurping the place of the great principle of faith, but as
its fruits and evidences. As these, then, are the only proofs of the
reality of this principle, so they are the only basis on which a man can
rest any sound conviction of his moral aspect in the sight of the
Deity;--and that system is founded on delusion and falsehood, which, in
this respect, holds out any other ground of confidence than the
purification of the heart, and a corresponding harmony of the whole
character. Such attainment, indeed, is not made at once, nor is it ever
made in a full and perfect manner in the present state of being; but,
where the great principle has been fixed within, there is a persevering
effort, and a uniform contest, and a continual aspiration after
conformity to the great model of perfection. Each step that a man gains
in this progress serves to extend his view of the high pattern to which
his eye is steadily directed; and, as his knowledge of it is thus
enlarged, he is led by comparison to feel more and more deeply his own
deficiency. It thus produces increasing humility, and an increasing
sense of his own imperfection, and causes him continually to feel, that,
in this warfare, he requires a power which is not in man. But he knows
also that this is provided, as an essential part of the great system on
which his hope is established. Amid much weakness, therefore, and many
infirmities, his moral improvement goes forward. Faint and feeble at
first, as the earliest dawn of the morning, it becomes brighter and
steadier as it proceeds in its course, and, "as the shining light,
shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

THE END.

EDINBURGH: Printed by Balfour and Jack, Niddry Street.

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John Abercrombie

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