of dissipation, will not find her mind disturbed by being an unwilling actor in the uninteresting amusements.  She, on the other hand, who is just beginning a spiritual life, must be an incompetent judge of the variations in the devotional spirit of her mind,—­anxious, besides, as one should be to discourage any of that minute attention to variations of religious feeling which only disturbs and harasses the mind, and hinders it from concentrating its efforts upon obedience.  Lastly, she who has never been mindful of her baptismal vows of renunciation of the world, the flesh, and the devil, will “say her prayers” quite as satisfactorily to herself after a day spent in one manner as in another.  The test of a distaste for former simple pursuits, and want of interest in them, is a much safer one, more universally applicable, and not so easily evaded.  It is equally effectual, too, as a religious safeguard; for the natural and impressible state in which the mind is kept by the absence of habitual stimulants is surely the state in which it is best qualified for the exercise of devotion,—­for self-denial, for penitence and prayer.

Let us return now to a further examination of the nature of the dangers to which you may be exposed by a life of gayety—­an examination that must be carried on in your own mind with careful and anxious inquiry.  I have before spoken of the duty of ascertaining what effects different kinds of society produce upon you:  it is only by thus qualifying yourself to pass your own judgment on this important subject that you can avoid being dangerously influenced by those assertions that you hear made by others.  You will probably, for instance, be told that a love of admiration often manifests itself as glaringly in the quiet drawing-room as in the crowded ball-room; and I readily admit that the feelings cherished into existence, or at least into vigour, by the exciting atmosphere of the latter cannot be readily laid aside with the ball-dress.  There will, indeed, be less opportunity for their display, less temptation to the often accompanying feelings of envy and discontent, but the mental process will probably still be carried on—­of distilling from even the most innocent pleasures but one species of dangerous excitement:  I cannot, however, admit, that to the unsophisticated mind there will be any danger of the same nature in the one case as in the other.  Society, when entered into with a simple, prayerful spirit, may be considered one of the most improving as well as one of the most innocent pleasures allotted to us.  Still further, I believe that the exercise of patience, benevolence, and self-denial which it involves, is a most important part of the disciplining process by which we are being brought into a state of preparation for the society of glorified spirits, of “just men made perfect.”