882 GOOD WORKS AND too frequently the case ; though it is the motive which determines on the quality of the action ; yet, if the best action will not save the best man, there is little hope of its efficacy towards the salvation of a bad one. Perhaps the man in question is chari- table; but his charity may be stimulated by his vanity -a too common, but most misleading motive. Perhaps he does a deed of bounty from the too usual hope, that this good action may be thrown into the opposite scale against a bad One ; perhaps he hopes that his acts of bene- volence may atone for the irregularities of a disorderly life ; but, be this as it may, do not discourage his giving ; let him continue to give, the act may improve the principle ; he may in time detect the difference of his internal feelings in the performance of a good and a bad action. Perhaps the repetition of his good deeds may lead to a diminution of his bad ones. The passion of shame sometimes operates
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