a society
holding and maintaining many errors, and countenancing many bad
practices. Evil ever floats at the top. And if we inquire why it is
that the good in Christians is seen less than the bad? I answer,
first, because there is less of it; and secondly, because evil forces
itself upon general notice, and good does not. So that in a large body
of men, each contributing his portion, evil displays itself on the
whole conspicuously, and in all its diversified shapes. And thirdly,
from the nature of things, the soul cannot be understood by any but
God, and a religious spirit is in St. Peter's words, "the hidden man of
the heart." It is only the actions of others which we see for the most
part, and since there are numberless ways of doing wrong, and but one
of doing right, and numberless ways too of regarding and judging the
conduct of others, no wonder that even the better sort of men, much
more the generality, are, and seem to be, so sinful. God only sees the
circumstances under which a man acts, and why he acts in this way and
not in that. God only sees perfectly the train of thought which
preceded his action, the motive, and the reasons. And God alone (if
aught is ill done, or sinfully) sees the deep contrition
afterwards,--the habitual lowliness, then bursting forth into special
self-reproach,--and the meek faith casting itself wholly upon God's
mercy. Think for a moment, how many hours in the day every man is left
wholly to himself and his God, or rather how few minutes he is in
intercourse with others--consider this, and you will perceive how it is
that the life of the Church is hid with God, and how it is that the
outward conduct of the Church must necessarily look like the world,
even far more than it really is like it, and how vain, in consequence,
the attempt is (which, some make) of separating the world distinctly
from the Church. Consider, moreover, how much there is, while we are
in the body, to stand in the way of one mind communicating with
another. We are imprisoned in the body, and our intercourse is by
means of words, which feebly represent our real feelings. Hence the
best motives and truest opinions are misunderstood, and the most sound
rules of conduct misapplied by others. And Christians are necessarily
more or less strange to each other; nay, and as far as the appearance
of things is concerned, almost mislead each other, and are, as I have
said, the world one to another. It is long, i