o'2i THE HIDDEN LIFE. 



the handwriting of ordinances that was against us,' to 

 reconcile the world to God, 'not imputing to them their 

 trespasses,' so that I who was some time ' afar off/ may be 

 made nigh by the shedding of the Saviour's blood, while I 

 confess with my tongue and believe with my heart that 

 Jesus is the Son of God, who raised Him from the dead. 

 holy Father, may it come to pass that in the place 

 where it was said unto us, ' Ye are not my people,' there 

 shall we be called ' the children of the living God.' 



"The test, as it seems to me, of a person acting upon, or 

 being actuated by the highest principles, is this, that under 

 similar circumstances we would again follow precisely the 

 same course, altogether irrespective of results. But as I 

 myself would, if I could throw myself back into former 

 times and circumstances, in all probability follow an 

 entirely opposite course from that which I have actually 

 pursued, I conceive there must have formerly been (and 

 may still exist), as great a mixture of pride and folly in 

 the feelings by which I have been regulated, as of true 

 humility and Christian wisdom. 



" Most people in early life «are fond of building castles 

 in the air, and are constitutionally careless at that period 

 of their own interests ; and my poor castles, however fair 

 and glittering to my own fancy, certainly far brighter and 

 more beautiful than anything I can now conjure up, were 

 in no way founded on filthy lucre Alas ! for ' gor- 



