and are very apt to class him with hypocrites. His praying, and fine
talk about faith, and heavenly love, and being washed from all sin,
excite in us contempt rather than respect. We ask for good works,
and are never satisfied with anything else. By their fruits ye shall
know them."

On the next Sunday I saw Mr. Gray in church. My eyes were on him
when he entered. I noticed that all the lines of his face were drawn
down, and that the whole aspect and bearing of the man were solemn
and devotional. He moved to his place with a slow step, his eyes
cast to the floor. On taking his seat, he leaned his head on the pew
in front of him, and continued for nearly a minute in prayer. During
the services I heard his voice in the singing; and through the
sermon, he maintained the most fixed attention. It was communion
Sabbath; and he remained, after the congregation was dismissed, to
join in the holiest act of worship.

"Can this man be indeed self-deceived?" I asked myself, as I walked
homeward. "Can he really believe that heaven is to be gained by
pious acts alone? That every Sabbath evening he can pitch his tent a
day's march nearer heaven, though all the week he have failed in the
commonest offices of neighborly love?"

It so happened, that I had many opportunities for observing Mr.
Gray, who, after joining the church, became an active worker in some
of the public and prominent charities of the day. He contributed
liberally in many cases, and gave a good deal of time to the
prosecution of benevolent enterprises, in which men of some position
were concerned. But, when I saw him dispute with a poor gardener who
had laid the sods in his yard, about fifty cents, take sixpence off