his breast. Yes; a man's secret opinion of himself is
almost a better test of his true spiritual state than even secret prayer.
But, then, these two are not competing and exclusive tests; they always
go together and are never found apart. And at the mouth of these two
witnesses every true hypocrite shall be condemned and every true
Christian justified.

Dr. Pusey says somewhere that the perfect hypocrite is the man who has
the truth of God in his mind, but is without the love of God in his
heart. 'Truth without love,' says that saintly scholar, 'makes a
finished Pharisee.' Now we Scottish and Free Church people believe we
have the truth, if any people on the face of the earth have it; and if we
have not love mixed with it, you see where and what we are. We are
called to display a banner because of the truth, but let love always be
our flag-staff. Let us be jealous for the truth, but let it be a godly,
that is to say, a loving jealousy. When we contend for purity of
doctrine and for purity of worship, when we protest against popery and
priestcraft, when we resist rationalism and infidelity, when we do battle
now for national religion, as we call it, and now for the freedom of the
church, let us do it all in love to all men, else we had better not do it
at all. If we cannot do it with clean and all-men-loving hearts, let us
leave all debate and contention to stronger and better men than we are.
The truth will never be advanced or guarded by us, nor will the Lord of
truth and love accept our service or bless our souls, till we put on the
divine nature, and have our hearts and our mouths still more full of love
than our minds and our mouths are full of truth. Let us watch ourselves,
lest with all our so-called love of truth we be found reprobates at last
because we loved the truth for some selfish or party end, and hated and
despised our brother, and believed all evil and disbelieved all good
concerning our brother. Truth without love makes a hypocrite, says Dr.
Pusey; and evangelical truth without evangelical love makes an
evangelical hypocrite, says Thomas Shepard. Only where the whole truth
is united to a heart full of love have we the perfect New Testament
Christian.

TIMOROUS AND MISTRUST

'There is a lion in the way.'--The Slothful Man.

'I must venture.'--Christian.

'I at any rate must venture,' said Christian to Timorous and Mistrust.
'Whatever you may do I must venture, even if the l