WHILE passing down a country lane we espied a tree full of fruit. “Oh!” said my child, “Do let us gather some of those apples.” “They are all sour,” said “not one of them is good for anything.” Like the crab-tree laden with its sour fruits is the self-righteous man covered with his own works. Not one of them is worth anything in God’s sight! And faith looks not for works acceptable to God in fallen nature, but leaves self, reckons self to be a dead and worthless tree, even as we left the crab-tree by the roadside with all its show.