his soul, shows that he little loves the glory of Heaven.
He has great tranquility of heart who cares neither for the praises nor the fault-finding of men. He will easily be content and pacified, whose conscience is pure. You are no holier if you are praised; nor more worthless if you are found fault with. What you are, that you are; neither by words can you be made greater than what you are in the sight of God. If you consider what you are within, you will not care what men say of you. Man looks on the countenance, but God on the heart. Man considers the deeds, but God weighs the intentions.
To be always doing well, and to esteem oneself lightly, is the sign of a humble soul. To refuse to be comforted by any creature is a sign of great purity and inward confidence. He who seeks no witness for himself from without shows that he has wholly committed himself to God. “For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends”.† To walk inwardly with God, and not to be kept abroad by any affection, is the state of an inwardly Christian man. •
