True life in the Spirit

To love our brethren with a resolution which no obstacles can overcome, so as almost to consent to an anathema on ourselves, if so be we may, save those who hate us, — to labor in God's cause against hope, and in the midst of sufferings, — to read the events of life, as they occur, by the interpretation which Scripture gives them, and that, not as if the language were strange to us, but to do it promptly, — to perform all our relative daily duties most watchfully, — to check every evil thought, and bring the whole mind into captivity to the law of Christ, — to be patient, cheerful, forgiving, meek, honest, and true, — to persevere in this good work till death, making fresh and fresh advances towards perfection — and after all, even to the end, to confess ourselves unprofitable servants, nay, to feel ourselves corrupt and sinful creatures, who (with all our proficiency) would still be lost unless God bestowed on us his mercy in Christ; — these are some of the difficult realities of religious obedience, which we must pursue, and which the Apostles in high measure attained, and which we may well bless God's holy name, if he enables us to make our own.