till by habit it has become as unyielding as a rock. The latter has
learnt to be brave. So we should learn to be soldiers in the war
with selfishness, by perseveringly girding our minds to the deadly
conflict.--Has depraved man such energy of will in spreading devastation
and death; and shall not Christians exhibit as great force of resolution
in diffusing the blessings of salvation? Who dare say, I cannot, or will
not, exercise it? Let us be mindful of our obligations. If our minds
may be wrought up to such invincible firmness and energy of resolution
to do evil; surely, God assisting, they may not only be inspired with a
lofty enthusiasm to resist the solicitations of selfishness, but also
roused to a sublimity of generous emotions, to engage, like a Mills or a
Howard, in disinterested and self-denying efforts for the good of
others.

III. We are now ready to take the last step in erecting a general
system of beneficence, viz.: the carrying into effect right principles
and well-directed resolutions. While, on the one hand, the intellectual
and emotional qualities of the mind give character and vitality to
action; on the other hand our conduct exerts a powerful reflex influence
on the affections and purposes. Nothing tends more to give strength and
spirit to a mental principle than accordant action; and nothing tends
more to obliterate an emotion from the breast, or to paralyze a
resolution, than the neglect of its appropriate manifestations. However
deeply the one may be engraven on the soul, or however solid the texture
or vigorous the life of the other, a few instances of neglect or
violation will strike them with the chills of death.

Principles and resolutions, then, are of little avail without
corresponding efforts. The "well of water" must not only spring up in
the soul, it must flow out in the life. We must act as well as think