ONE test of acceptance with God is the estimate which we put upon our own sins. If they are equally hateful to us, whether public or private—if we loathe them for their sinfulness towards Him, and not for the disgrace of their discovery—we may believe that God has imparted to us a godly repentance, and may take courage. But, on the other hand, we may well distrust ourselves when we find that on looking back we mourn only or chiefly for those sins that brought with them some consequent punishment. Such a feeling is disappointment, not repentance. It is the smart of the rod, not distress that the rod was deserved. Far different is the experience of the true Christian. He finds himself mourning with the deepest acuteness over the most secret sin, because it is that which betrays most strongly the innate corruption of his heart. Public sins cause him distress enough, God knows; but they are mostly the result of some extraneous temptation, and may in other cases be treated as disciplines sent by God himself. But the sinful thought that pervades the heart in the night watches, is the source of the most poignant misery, from the nakedness and gratuity of its ingratitude. "Against thee only have I sinned." And perhaps we may understand from this the sequence, "That thou mayest be justified in thy saying." It is this very penitence for secret sins which justifies God in the sinner's sight, and through our Lord's merits, the sinner in God's.