is now able to see for himself, he asks why may not these intuitions become the basis upon which to build all that I receive Is not this the rock upon which if one build he shall never be moved All other foundations are sandy. Do the best that I can, they will often admit of a doubt, a suspicion. Suppose I could prove that God had sent a man into the world to reveal all the truth that we need to know, (a thing which it would be very difficult if not impossible to prove beyond the possibility of a doubt,) I should still be left to doubt in many cases if I understood him aright. But if I build upon the soul there can be no doubt. Here then I empty myself of all that I have been taught, of all that I have received dogmatically, and will henceforth receive nothing whose foundation in the soul I cannot see. He thus passes from dogmatism into skepticism, from which he will gradually emerge into a faith that cannot be shaken.

By this method he discovers the ideal or perfect state, and thus can understand the imperfections and wrongs of the actual one. His tendency is to become a radical, to tear down all things that do not square with the ideal. Everything that is wrong or imperfect he would have done away. If he be of a bold ambitious temperament, he commences by declaring war against all existing institutions and customs. His tendency is to overlook the stubborn fact, that the gross, intractable, actual, can never be brought up to the ideal. If he be timid, and care more for the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them than for the kingdom of Heaven, he will renounce his visionary impracticable fancies and fall down and worship.

In ardent and susceptible temperaments, the period of this change is one of great suffering. The sufferer will go to friends for sympathy, to the wise for counsel, to books for instruction. They can at best afford but temporary relief, and very likely will make him worse. He must tread the wine-press alone. He can have no more rest until he have a faith built upon the soul. If he will have patience, perseverance, and integrity,—stern integrity,—a cheerful faith will come in due time. But he must make no compromise, no shift, if he would not sacrifice his prospect of a serene and tranquil life. He must await the Lord's time. This change is sudden and violent in ardent and enthusiastic natures, slow and gradual in phlegmatic