"The Lord," thought I, "has called this little child, and set her in the midst of us, as a parable, a pattern, an emblem. And he saith, 'Verily, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' Oh that I may be humble as this little child!" I was thus led into a deep self-examination, and was severely exercised with fear and apprehension, whether I was myself a real partaker of those divine influences which I could so evidently discover in her. Sin appeared to me just then to be more than ever "exceeding sinful." Inward and inbred corruptions made me tremble. The danger of self-deception in so great a matter alarmed me. I was a teacher of others; but was I indeed spiritually taught myself? A spirit of anxious inquiry ran through every thought: I looked at the manifold works of creation around me; I perceived the greatest marks of regularity and order; but _within_ I felt confusion and disorder. "The waves of the sea," thought I, "ebb and flow in exact obedience to the law of their Creator. Thus far they come, and no further--they retire again to their accustomed bounds; and so maintain a regulated succession of effects. "But, alas! the waves of passion and affection in the human breast manifest more of the wild confusion of a storm, than the orderly regularity of a tide. Grace only can subdue them. "What peaceful harmony subsists throughout all this lovely landscape! These majestic cliffs, some clothed with trees and shrubs; others bare and unadorned with herbage, yet variegated with many-coloured earths; these are not only sublime and delightful to behold, but they are answering the end of their creation, and serve as a barrier to stop the progress of the waves. "But how little peace and harmony can I comparatively see in my own heart! The landscape _within_ is marred by dreary, barren wilds, and wants that engaging character which the various parts of this prospect before me so happily preserve. Sin, sin is the bane of mortality, and heaps confusion upon confusion, wherever it prevails. "Yet, saith the voice of Promise, 'Sin shall not have dominion over you.' Oh, then, 'may I yield myself unto God, as one that am alive from the dead, and my members as instruments of righteousness unto God!' And thus may I become an able and willing minister of the New Testament!