pronouncing harsh judgment against those who
refuse to conform to their views. Especially will such persons be
grieved with their brethren on account of their dress, or style of
living, or their manner of wearing the hair; or some such matter that
does not reach the heart. I was once acquainted with a woman, who
(except in her own family and among her neighbors) had the reputation of
being _very devotedly pious_, who went to her pastor, (an aged and
venerable man,) greatly grieved because he was in the habit of combing
his hair upwards, so as to cover his baldness. She was afraid it was
pride. She was a great talker, and often had difficulties with her
brethren and sisters in the church; for she thought it her duty to
exercise a watchful care over them. Whether she was self-deceived, or
hypocritical, I cannot say; but she used to shed tears freely in her
religious conversations. She, however, as I have since learned, after
maintaining her standing in the church for many years, apostatized and
became openly abandoned. You need not look over half a dozen parishes,
anywhere, to find cases of a kindred character.

The humble Christian, who looks back to the "hole of the pit whence he
was digged," and remembers that he now stands by virtue of the same
grace that took his feet out of the "horrible pit and miry clay," will
be the last person to vaunt over the fallen condition of his
fellow-creatures. He will look upon them with an eye of tender
compassion; and his rebukes will be administered in a meek, subdued, and
humble spirit, remembering the injunction of Paul, "Let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." But the spirit of which I
have been speaking is not only _carnal_, but _devilish_. The devil is
the _accuser of the brethren._

But charity not only rejoiceth not in iniquity, but, _positively_,
rejoiceth in the truth--is glad of the success of the gospel, and
rejoices in the manifestation of the grace of God, by the exhibition of
the fruits of his Spirit in the character and conduct of his people.
Hence, it will lead us to look at the bright side of men's characters;
and if they give any evidence of piety, to rejoice in it, and glorify
God for the manifestation of his grace in them, while we overlook, or
behold with tenderness and compassion, their imperfections. And this
accords with the feelings of the humble Christian. He thinks so little
of himself, and feels such a sense of his own imperfections, t