One of the chief duties in the spiritual life is to deny itself. But the spirit which is of God is as generous as the spirit of the world is sordid. That generosity of sentiment which expands the soul that charming sensibility of heart which makes us glow for the good of others that diffusive benevolence, reduced to a principle of action, which makes the human nature approach to the Divine, he considers as the dreams of a visionary head, as the figments of a romantic mind that knows not the world. The man of the earth has no feeling but for himself. The spirit of the world is an interested spirit the spirit which is of God is a generous spirit. He despises a fool, though he were possessed of all the gold of Ophir, and scorns a vile man, though a minister of state.Ĥ. With God for his protector, and with innocence for his shield, he walks through the world with a face that looks upwards. On the other hand, the righteous is bold as a lion. There is a dignity in virtue which keeps him at a distance he feels how awful goodness is, and in the presence of a virtuous man he shrinks into his own insignificance. Wickedness, condemned by its own vileness, is timorous, and forecasteth grievous things. He is timid because he has reason to be so. He is a mere creature of the times a mirror to reflect every vice of the vicious, and every vanity of the vain. He accommodates himself to the manners that prevail, and courts the favour of the world by the most insinuating of all kinds of flattery by following its example. Actuated by selfish principles, and pursuing his own interest, the man of fine earth is afraid to offend. The spirit of the world is a timid spirit the spirit which is of God is a bold and manly spirit. He expresseth with his tongue what he thinketh with his heart.ģ. He needs no chosen confidents to whom he may impart his favourite notions. He has no secret doctrines to communicate. The citizen of heaven esteems truth as sacred, and holds sincerity to be the first of the virtues. Show without substance appearance without reality professions of friendship which signify nothing and promises which are never meant to be performed, fill up a life which is all outside. The life which the man of the earth leads is a scene of imposture and delusion. The spirit of the world is a spirit of falsehood, dissimulation, and hypocrisy: the spirit that is of God is a spirit of truth, sincerity, and openness. But there is a difference between condescending and descending from the dignity of character. He condescends, indeed, to every gentle office of kindness and humanity. The citizen of heaven scorns the vile arts, and the low cunning, employed by the man of the earth. The man of the earth, making himself the object of all his actions, and having his own interest perpetually in view, conducts his life by maxims of utility alone. The spirit of the world is mean and grovelling the spirit which is of God is noble and elevated. One of these spirits actuates all mankind.ġ. The spirit of the world is that principle which gives a determination to the character, and a form to the life of the man of the earth the spirit which is of God is that vital principle which gives a determination to the character, and a form to the life of the citizen of heaven. The spirit of anything is that vital principle which sets it a-going which keeps it in motion which gives it its form and distinguishing qualities. For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man…
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