Memoirs of Mrs. Hawkes, late of Islington. By Catharine Cecil [pp. 239-271]

9Memoirs of AMlrs. HawkIes.
Our aim must be to get every day nearer the standard: for whoever does not
labour, not merely desire, but labour to be a better Christian every day, is not
yet a Christian at all. Yet in this you must exercise patience. Do not measure yourself by a false standard. There are no doubt giants in the Christian
world,-but would you be a giant at once? Do not be satisfied to be a dwarf;
but remember there must be time to grow.
Question to.Mr. C. respecting dress.
".lns8wer: Religion takes root in the heart, and when it has once got deeply
rooted, it will be sure to regulate every thing without. It will so occupy the
mind, that every thing else will begin to lose its importance. Religion puts
every thing in its proper place; and makes present things lighter than vanity.
Even business, or literature, or science, if any one of these takes full possession
of the mind, it makes dress a very insignificant thing, and, often neglected even
to slovenliness. How much more indifferent will religion make us about it.
Nevertheless, it is good to avoid singularity of habit. No real Christian can
give into the butterfly fooleries and extravagances of dress,-any more than
they can run into the dissipation of worldly company. Religion does not bid
you turn hermit, but rather to ornament your station.
"Be careful, in your commerce with the world, to act up to the character you
profess. Do not put on a Pharisaical manner of,' Stand by, for I am holier
than thou.' Yet let it appear, that while you are under the necessity of hearing
their vain conversation, you have no taste for it; no delight or interest irn it. A
humble, kind silence often utters mnuch.
"None can pretend to say how far you may intermix in worldly company,
and get no stain or soil. Situation, circumstances, &c., must all be taken into
consideration. But this may be said, that he only mixes with the world with
safety, who does it not from inclination, but necessity.
" As to amusements, and what are called recreations, a really awakened Christian will neither find taste nor leisure for them. Religion furnishes the mind
with objects sufficient to fill up every vacancy. Yet as you name them, I
would have you mark carefully every thing that disposes or indisposes the
mind to holy pursuits. Persons of tender health are very careful to avoid whatever is hurtful; such as damps-infectious rooms-blighting winds. They
attend to the injunctions of their physicians, the cautions of their friends, &c.
If people were but as careful about their spiritual health as they are of their
bodily health, we should see much stronger and taller Christians.
' Above all, before you become a pilgrim, sit down and COUNVT rHE COST.
Your journey is up-hill every step of the way. You have foes within, ready to
join with foes without to hinder, alarm, and distress you. Wisdom in the fight,
is only to be gained by fighting. If the young convert could learn from the
old Christian, what experience alone can teach, he might have a far easier journey; but each one must learn it for himself, and often by very painful discipline. Nor must we think our case hard, if we are made to pass through much
tribulation; since it is the way of all believers-nay of Christ himself.
" No doubt God could have led his people by an easier method. But since
he has chosen this, it must be the best. He could have brought the Israelites
into the land of promise by a shorter and a smoother way: but what he did
was intended to prove them; to show them what was in their hearts-and to
be a lesson to us.
"Take care that you never harbour hard thoughts of God. It is one of Satan's
chief devices, to make you think dishonourably of God. Nothing is more displeasing to God, nor more injurious to the life of religion. See the slothful servant in the Gospel.
"Throughout the Scriptures you see how gracious God is: How he stoops
to the poorest creature that comes to him through a mediator: How small an
offering he will accept; if there can be but a small one. A single sigh from a
contrite heart will penetrate his eai.
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