aught God's holiness, and make him a favorer of sin.
Now to this the doctrine of the atonement, properly understood, is most
completely hostile. That this doctrine _favors_ sin, is one of the false
charges which worldly men bring against vital Christianity, because they
do not understand the principle, nor inquire into the grounds, on which
it is adopted."

"Still, I think you limit the grace of God, as if people must be very
good first, in order to deserve it, and then he will come and add his
grace to their goodness. Whereas grace has been most conspicuous in the
most notorious sinners."

"I allow that the grace of God has never manifested itself more
gloriously than in the conversion of notorious sinners. But it is worth
remarking, that all such, with St. Paul at their head, have ever after
been eminently more afraid than other men of falling again into sin;
they have prayed with the greater earnestness to be delivered from the
power of it, and have continued to lament most deeply the remaining
corruption of their hearts."

In the course of the conversation Mr. Tyrrel said, "he should be
inclined to entertain doubts of that man's state who could not give an
accurate account of the time, and the manner, in which he was first
awakened, and who had had no sensible manifestations of the divine
favor."

"I believe," replied Mr. Stanley, "that my notions of the evidence of
being in the favor of God differ materially from yours. If a man feel in
himself a hatred of all sin, without sparing his favorite corruption; if
he rest for salvation on the promise of the gospel alone; if he maintain
in his mind such a sense of the nearness and immeasurable importance of
eternal things, as shall enable him to use temporal things with
moderation, and anticipate their end without dismay; if he delight in
the worship of God, is zealous for his service, making _his_ glory the
end and aim of all his actions; if he labor to fulfill his allotted
duties conscientiously; if he love his fellow-creatures as the children
of the same common Father, and partakers of the same common hope; if he
feel the same compassion for the immortal interests, as for the worldly
distresses of the unfortunate; forgiving others, as he hopes to be
forgiven; if he endeavor according to his measure and ability, to
diminish the vice and misery with which the world abounds, _that_ man
has a solid ground of peace and hope, though he may not have those
sensible eviden