Page:The Praises of Amida, 1907.djvu/88

 required to work out our salvation for ourselves, or as possessed of the requisite virtue for doing so? Surely we cannot do that. We believe that we ought to place implicit confidence in our parents, yet there are times when we have to mistrust them. We try to live on brotherly terms with our brothers and sisters, yet there are times when we quarrel with them. We believe that we ought to be kind to our wives, yet there are moments when we are at variance with them. We know that we ought to respect our teachers and friends, yet we mock and despise them at times. Our tongues talk loudly of patriotism, yet there is very little of it in our hearts. We use our pens to write articles about human kindness, but there is not much of it in our actions. When we think of these things in our secret chambers, we are horrified at our own behaviour, and make resolutions of amendment,—and break them. How can we, knowing what we are, esteem ourselves to be good, or capable of working out our own salvation? It is not pleasant