228 THE JOURNEYMAN. 



the New Testament, men of the greatest powers of mind 

 and the deepest learning may be taught wisdom. Xor 

 can I deem, as I did once, the scheme of morals which 

 this book contains mean and contemptible. I am con- 

 vinced that, were that scheme universally acted upon, 

 earth would become a heaven, and further, that no one 

 can act upon it unless possessed of the highest and 

 noblest fortitude, a fortitude, indeed, too noble to have 

 any place in the natural human heart, but which God 

 has promised to infuse into the hearts of all such as be- 

 lieve Jesus to be the Christ. As for taste, I cannot 

 help wondering how I could at any time be so very 

 absurd as to think the doctrines of Christianity opposed 

 to this principle, especially when I understood and 

 relished the larger poems of Cowper and Milton. 

 Through the Revelation by which I am taught of all 

 that Christ has done and suffered for sinners, the God 

 whom I would formerly regard with a cold feeling of 

 admiration, I can now love as my God and Father. I 

 feel Him brought near unto me, and that too in a way 

 against which my pride of heart had formerly revolted, 

 and which my reason deemed as unworthy of Divine 

 wisdom to devise as of human to trust to. 



'This is not merely an avowal of a change of opinion. 

 There is implied in it a change of heart. Though still 

 sinful and foolish in a degree I would be ashamed to 

 confess even to my friends, I trust I am now less selfish 

 and possessed of a more affectionate heart than I was 

 before I believed. My friends are dearer to me than 

 they were formerly, and yet I do not now, as I did once, 

 make their approbation the rule of my actions. I am 

 perhaps still too fond of praise from such of my fellow- 

 men as I respect and love, but I find that my desire of 

 avoiding that which is bad and dishonourable follows 



