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Formality and Hypocrisy.

If we are in, we are in: thou art but in the way, who, as we perceive, camest in at the gate; and we are also in the way, that came tumbling over the wall. wherein now is thy condition better than ours?

CHR. I walk by the rule of my master: you walk by the rude working of your fancies. You are counted thieves already by the Lord of the way: therefore I doubt you will not be found true men at the end of the way. You came in by yourselves without his direction, and shall go out by yourselves without his mercy.

To this they made him but little answer; only they bid him look to himself. Then I saw that they went on every man in his way, without much conference one with another; save that these two men told Christian, that as to laws and ordinances, they doubted not but they should as conscientiously do them as he. "Therefore," said they, "we see not wherein thou differest from us, but by the coat that is on thy back, which was, as we trow, given thee by some of thy neighbours, to hide the shame of thy nakedness.'

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CHR. By laws and ordinances you will not be saved, since you came not in by the door. (Gal. ii. 16.) And as for this coat that is on my back, it was given me by the Lord of the place whither I go; and that as you say, to cover my nakedness with. And I take it as a token of kindness to me; for I had nothing but rags before. And besides thus I comfort myself as I go. Surely, think I, when I come to the gate of the city, the Lord thereof will know ine for good, since I have his coat on my back; a coat that he gave me freely in the day that he stript me of my rags. I have moreover a mark in my forehead, of which pernaps you have taken no notice,

Christian has got his Lord's coat on his back, and is comforted therewith.

Christian goes on his Way,

which one of my Lord's most intimate associates fixed there in the day that my burden fell off my shoulders. I will tell you, moreover, that I had then given me a roll sealed, to comfort me by reading as I go on the way; I was also bid to give it in at the celestial gate, in token of my certain going in after it; all which things I doubt you want, and want them because you came not in at the gate.

To these things they gave him no answer; only they looked upon each other, and laughed. Then I saw that they went on all, save that Christian kept before, who had no more talk but with himself, and that sometimes sighingly, and sometimes comfortably also he would be often reading in the roll that one of the Shining Ones had given him, by which he was refreshed.

I beheld then, that they all went on till they came

It is not all who profess to be christians, that are christians in reality. Many who have "a form of godliness," are destitute of "the power thereof," 2 Tim. iii. 5. Mere formalists, or hypocrites, whose religion originated in "vain glory," and whose highest aim is to obtain the "praise" of men, have found a shorter cut into the visible church than by the road of repentance and faith. They are not influenced by the scriptures, but by custom; and they are confident of their safety, although they reject the Saviour. They boast of their attention to the externals of religion, and trust in themselves that they are righteous; whilst they despise those who depend for justification upon the righteousness of Christ. There is, however, an essential difference between the character of a real christian, and that of formalists or hypocrites, neither of whom, whatever their profession and confidence may be, know any thing of being found in Christ, who of God is made unto them that believe, "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption," 1 Cor. i. 30. An experiinental christian can have no intercourse with such persons, even though he should be constrained otherwise to walk alone. Communion with his own heart will be attended with alternate dejections and rejoicings; but a perception of the agreement between his experience and what the scriptures describe as the exercise of a renewed soul, authorises him to conclude, in the language of the apostle, that he is "passed from death unto life.” 1 John iii. 14.

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and arrives at the Hill Difficulty.

o the foot of the hill Difficulty, at the bottom of which was a spring. There were also in the same place two other ways, besides that which came straight from the gate: one turned to the left hand, and the other to the right, at the bottom of the hill; but the narrow way lay right up the hill, and the name of the going up the side of the hill is called Difficulty. Christian now went to the spring, (Isa. xlix. 10.) and drank thereof to refresh himself, and then began to go up the hill, saying,

"The hill, though high, I covet to ascend;
The difficulty will not me offend;

For I perceive the way to life lies here:

Come, pluck up heart, let's neither faint nor fear.
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,

Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe."

The other two also came to the foot of the hill. But when they saw that the hill was steep and high, and that there were two other ways to go; and supposing also that these two ways might meet again with that up which Christian went, on the other side of the hill; therefore they were resolved to go in those ways. Now the name of one of those ways was Danger, and the name of the other Destruction. So the one took the way that is called Danger", which led him into a great wood; and the other took directly up the way to Destruction, which led him into a wide field, full of dark mountains, where he stumbled and fell, and rose

no more.

The danger of turning out of the way.

Below the picture of the End of Formality and Hypocrisy :-
Shall they who wrong begin, yet rightly end ?
Shall they at all have safety for their friend?
No, no, in headstrong manner they set out,
And headlong they will fall at last, no doubt.

The sincerity of those who profess religion will be soon put to the test. The genuine christian will exercise self-denial, and

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