en they think it a very hard thing
that men should not know how well they feel, and in course of time they
learn to speak without feeling. Thus they have learned to "love the
praise of men more than the praise of God."--We have to guard against
another danger, against the mistake of supposing that the world's
despising us is a proof that we are particularly religious; for this,
too, is often supposed. Frequently it happens that we encumber our
religion with extravagances, perversions, or mistakes, with which
religion itself has no necessary connexion, and these, and not
religion, excite the contempt of the world. So much is this the case,
that the censure of numbers, or of the sober-minded, or of various and
distinct classes of men, or censure consistently urged, or continued
consistently, ought always to lead a man to be very watchful as to what
he considers right to say or do in the line of duty, to lead him to
examine his principles; to lead him, however thoroughly he adheres to
these after all, to be unaffectedly humble about himself, and to
convince him in matter of fact (what he might be quite sure of
beforehand, from the nature of the case), that, however good his
principles are in themselves, he is mixing up with them the alloy of
his own frail and corrupt nature.

In conclusion, I would say to those who fear the world's censure,
this:--

1. Recollect you cannot please all parties, you must disagree with some
or other: you have only to choose (if you are determined to look to
man) with which you will disagree. And, further, you may be sure that
those who attempt to please all parties, please fewest; and that the
best way to gain the world's good opinion (even if you were set upon
this, which you must not be) is to show that you prefer the praise of
God. Make up your mind to be occasionally misunderstood, and
undeservedly condemned. You must, in the Apostle's words, go through
evil report, and good report, whether on a contracted or a wider field
of action. And you must not be anxious even for the praise of good
men. To have, indeed, the approbation of those whose hearts are guided
by God's Holy Spirit, is indeed much to be coveted. Still this is a
world of discipline, not of enjoyment; and just as we are sometimes
bound in duty to abstain from indulgences of sense in themselves
innocent, so are we sometimes bound to deny ourselves the satisfaction
derived from the praise even of the religious and cons