The St. Paul's Society met in Grays 17 last night at 7 o'clock, and, after the usual opening, Rev. W. G. Thayer of Groton School, addressed the meeting. He took as his text a part of the first verse of the twelfth chapter of Luke, "Beware ye of the leaven of the PharPharisees, which is hypocrisy."

Hypocrisy is a thing which is hated by everyone, and when Christ used it in speaking to the disciples, the word was undoubtedly as distasteful to them as to us. There came up in their minds the picture of the Pharisee, a man saying one thing and doing another, a man who made much of his religion, and at the same time was unsparing of the poor and friendless, a hateful man in every way.

However, as the word hypocracy really means "acting" without any idea of deceit, we may apply the word to ourselves, remembering its original significance. The whole tendency of modern life, is compelling one to a sort of hypocrisy, or "acting;" not a conscious thing necessarily, but a way of presenting ourselves to people as we wish to be thought of, and not as we really are. This "acting" has crept by degrees into everything in daily life, and even into our religion. Men actually deceived themselves that they can play a part, so to speak, even before God Himself. It is often the result of education, or surroundings, but it is true nevertheless that this phase of religion, however false it may be, has brought more discredit upon Christianity than anything else.

It is very natural, in fact, that an outsider looking at a poorly acted Christianity, should think the whole thing a failure.

Now the question comes up, as to the way of avoiding this thing in our life and religion. In the Bible we often find the idea of truth applied to Christ, as in the verse, "I am the true vine," etc. If Christ, then, is a reality, if our actions are realities, they must mean something definite, and the only way to get this "acting" out of our lives is by bringing truth in.