My method is just the opposite.
I copy the virtues
one by one."
The difficulty about the copying method is that it is apt to be
mechanical. One can always tell an engraving from a picture, an
artificial flower from a real flower. To copy virtues one by one
has somewhat the same effect as eradicating the vices one by one;
the temporary result is an overbalanced and incongruous character.
Some one defines a PRIG as "a creature that is over-fed for its
size." One sometimes finds Christians of this species--over-fed
on one side of their nature, but dismally thin and starved looking
on the other. The result, for instance, of copying Humility, and
adding it on to an otherwise worldly life, is simply grotesque. A
rabid temperance advocate, for the same reason, is often the poorest
of creatures, flourishing on a single virtue, and quite oblivious
that his Temperance is making a worse man of him and not a better.
These are examples of fine virtues spoiled by association with
mean companions. Character is a unity, and all the virtues must
advance together to make the perfect man.
This method of sanctification, nevertheless, is in the true direction.
It is only in the details of execution that it fails.
4. A fourth method I need scarcely mention, for it is a variation
on those already named.
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