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F you wish, beloved in Christ, to reach the height of perfection, and by drawing near to your God to become one spirit with Him, (and no aim can be imagined or expressed which is greater, or nobler than this,) you must before all else gain a true idea of what constitutes genuine spiritual perfection.

There are many who have believed it to consist exclusively in outward mortification, in hair-shirts and disciplines, in long watchings and fastings, and in other bodily sufferings and chastisements.

Others again, and especially women, think that they have reached the climax of perfection, when they say many prayers, attend many services and offices, and are regularly at Church and at Communion.

Some indeed, (and amongst this class not a few Religious persons who have withdrawn themselves from the world,) persuade themselves