"Poor girl, it was very sad," said Jane; "I hope I shall not be like her, Mrs. Davis." "I hope not, indeed, dear Jane; but I have mentioned her to you, that you may see how possible it is to assume 'a form of godliness,' without knowing anything of 'the power thereof.' Be sure that what outward changes you make, you do so because you love God, and desire to glorify him, and can ask him to sanctify the motive, which no eye but his own can see in its true light." "O! Mrs. Davis, how kind you are to talk to me in this way. I am a very weak, foolish creature, and I fear I am wanting to be doing something to look religious, before I have got any real religion at all. But I do sometimes feel sure that I love the Lord Jesus Christ, and then I want to do something to please him." "That is quite right, Jane; and God forbid that I should check that loving thought." "Ah, but then I find myself wanting to seem better than others, instead of remembering how wretchedly worthless I am myself before God. I cannot think how it is, but I never seem to have a good thought or a right feeling about salvation, but something vain or self-righteous or abominable gets by the side of it directly, and then I hate myself more than ever." "O thank God, dear girl, for revealing to you something of the deceitfulness of your own heart, for nothing else can make us depend entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no safe place for the soul, no purifying influence for the heart, and no real fulfillment of duty, except looking unto him; and to be drawing contrasts or making outward differences between ourselves and others, is just a plot of Satan to turn aside our gaze from the right direction and our step front progress in our Master's service." "But there are many differences between God's people and the people of the world that should be seen, are there not?" "Yes, many; but they are, if I may venture to use the expression, differences of growth and feature: they will come with our spiritual progress, and should not be assumed as a badge by ourselves. It is as easy and natural for a real Christian to dress with modest simplicity, as for a worldly person to be in the height of the fashion; and as easy to restrain the wishes within the limit of one's means, as for an extravagant person to exceed them. The love of God is a regulator of all such matters, when the Holy Spirit has planted it with renewing power within our hearts. His children bear his likeness without any unnatural effort of their own."