Pet Virtues

Mo.it iiii-ii luvc a pet, and it in nut always a .lioe hort-e, or log, or parrot, but .-ome idea wliicb thcy have foudled, and nursed, and hugited, muil, lik a tnothcr 's only chiM, it scemï dearcr to tlieni tlian all tue other ideas of all othcr men. Christians lmve their pets- their pet ways of working, their pet organizution, and their pel doctrines, - abuut wliich thcy iliink. and talk, and pray, until it Heeiiis to ilicin, that nu one believes anythiog, and no one it doinR anything, and no one is in carne.st uoIchm lie falla into their line of' action. Tbua men re one-sided and narrow in their livi's. Uut ihe clua of pets which are most dangerous to the ohurch are pet virtues. Meo have sonic particular gift of grace which, Ijy nature, it u easy for tbem to excriisi', and they niakc the most o)' that virtue. It is very easy for oue man to be patiënt, and ho throws all the power of liï -t religión inio patiënte, while perhaps the tliit'K he tnit needs is benevolenee, or activitv, or l'aiih. Another man is hy nature geiierous, and he turns a 11 the power of his gntoe in the direction of hi pot virtuc, ne(rleetin; pradeoea or patiencc. Now the value of fjrace is not in that it makes us (stronn on the side of our natural virtuo, but that it mtlcM u halanced on the sidc uf OUT nutural del'ects. The válñe óf our religión ín not mch in that it makos our sweetiuss swecter, but lliui il turns our sourne.-is into sweetm-s nol i iiat it uiikea an honost man more hou est, luit that it Diakcs a dishouest man hnmst ; not that it inakcsa températe man ¦biteinious, bat tliat it makusanintemperate niHii K'inperatc ; not tlmt it mnkrs a puit man ili-an, but tliat it umkes an imimre mos puic ; not (hal il in.iki's aRcneron.- man liberal, hut i aIfi-di innu jeoeroua ; nol ilml il iiiakis ;i kind man toitlc, hut that it wak es an unkind uisn'ënliable ; not mi inuoli tlint it bêTpa iu to b what we are, as that it hclps l% to bc wliat, we an nol ; ho thnt men looking at us will say we are otlicr and botter Bien titan wa ucd to !". 1 1.' n' il io I' intoilrporate, now he is icin uorato; or !) u(-d to !¦ selHsk, now lie is (¦cmktiiii. ; lault finding, and now he M otiaMtablo; obNtjnatc, and now hc is iroii tic : irritable, and iiow ha s patiënt ; dus ponditlff, and now he hopriul ; inactive, and now he is earnest. new birth does nol loiiM-t iu iiioiiuiiiiK your pet tui :i a huliliy.