98 THE BRUISED REED should dissemble their judgment in .any truth, where there is a just cause of expressing themselves . For the least truth is Christ's and not ours, and therefore we are not to take liberty to affirm or · deny it at our pleasure. There is a due in a penny, as well as a pound. There.. fore we must be faithful in the least truth, when occasion calleth for it. Then our words are like apples of gold in pictures of silver. One word spoken in season ·will do more good, than a thousand out of season. In some cases, peace, by keep.. ing our faith to ourselves, (Rom. xiv. 22.) is of more consequence than the open discovery of some things we take to be true; for the weakness of n1an's nature is such that there can hardly be a discovery of any difference in opinion, without smne estrangement of affection. So far as men are not of one mind, they will hardly be of one heart, except where grace and the peace of God bear great rule in the heart. Therefore open shew of difference is never good but when it is necessary; howsoever some, fron1 a desire to be somebody, turn into by ways, and yield to a spirit of contradiction in themselves; yet if St. Paul
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