"What then must she do? Lay aside her self-complacency, her self-denials, her religious observances, her charitable acts, her readiness for martyrdom, and take up 'only her sins,' and carry them to Jesus? Must she be like the penitent Magdalene, the convicted Peter, the man who would not so much as lift up his eyes in the temple, but smote upon his breast, crying, 'God be merciful to me a sinner?' Yes, she must do thus if she would be saved, because it was for sinners that Jesus died. It was sin that crucified him, and the utmost daring of her self-righteous spirit had never gone so far as to assert, or to imagine, that she had not sinned. "She had a temper, and a tongue, and vanity and pride that could have contradicted, at any moment, such self-complacent thoughts. She had therefore always made the condescending admission that nobody is perfect, that all have failings; but she hoped she was a great deal better than many, and was doing something occasionally to commend herself to the favor of a discerning God. And now came this humbling Scriptural declaration of atoning merit and forgiving love, proclaiming to faith and penitence a complete salvation, the effect of which uproots the love of sin, dethrones self, and secures a loving obedience to lawful authority; frees the toiling slave, and makes him an adopted child. "Elizabeth went home sad that night; the words she had failed to write on paper sinking into her proud heart and probing its secret depths. She tried to pray as usual, but now it seemed no prayer at all; she had to learn as a little child, and to seek a Divine but ever ready teacher. I need not describe to you the exercises of her soul under the unexpected light that had dawned upon her; but she was not able to fight long against the sacred truth, that 'not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us;' and then she saw how grateful love would seek to render every act righteous, and impress every thought and feeling with the beauty of holiness, not merely to save self, but to glorify God. "O my dear young friends, never suppose that God calls you to do anything by way of merit in order that you may be saved, for there is no merit in penitence or faith. And if you ask,— "'Must we not give up our gaiety, and our amusements, and our love of dress, and our Sunday excursions, and our thoughtless, or envious, or unholy talk,' or any other things in which you allow yourselves? "I answer, you are not told to think about giving up anything, except as the proper fruit of faith and love to God and Christ, which the Spirit of God has implanted in your heart; so that it is no longer pleasure, but pain and grief, to do anything that is inconsistent with obedience and devotedness to him. "It will then no longer be,— "'"Must" I give up this? Or deny myself that?' "But rather—