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Peter in the moment of his temporary aberration at Antioch.

Suppose, for example, I am a Presbyterian. I am so because I attribute importance to its simple forms and ancient heroic spirit of religious independence. Besides, I have probably been bred a Presbyterian, and become accustomed to its ways, and therefore I remain attached to it reasonably on those grounds of good sense which are really the highest grounds in such matters. This is in the spirit of St Paul. But suppose I am not merely myself a Presbyterian, but insist upon others becoming Presbyterians, because, forsooth, I have settled that Presbytery is a divine law-something without which a man's salvation is in peril; then I sink to the spirit of St Peter, which St Paul rebuked. I lose sight of the reality of religion in its accidental manifestation, and am on the verge of superstition, if I have not already passed it.

And if the illustration is reversed, it is equally true. I may be an Episcopalian, heartily attached to Episcopal order and worship. This is well. I may see advantages in this order and worship which the Presbyterian Church does not seem to me to offer. The preference rests

on a reasonable basis. St Paul would have had no quarrel with it. But suppose I am not content with this ground, but take what religious organs are fond of calling higher ground-but which is really infinitely lower-and contend that my Episcopacy is not only good for me, or in itself reasonable, but something vital for all -without which there cannot be a Christian Church or the logical courtesy of Christian recognition; suppose I begin to make much of consecration and succession, and the grace of rightly-administered sacraments, as if apart from these the soul were in danger,-what is this but to invert the true religious order—not only to fall away from the true evangelical spirit, but to substitute the very letter for the spirit, and change the substance into the form? What would St Paul have said of those who do such things? "Ye observe festivals-ye prate of succession ye wear vestments. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain."

The conclusion of the whole is, that we should aim by the divine blessing to have always a more inward sense of religion, a more living hold upon God Himself and Christ our Saviour. This is the root of the matter, that we know

If

God, and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent. only we have this, all else will fall into its place. We will know how to prize our religious forms, our sacred seasons, without putting them for a moment in the place of Him whose presence alone consecrates any form, or makes sacred any season. We will prize our own Church and our own modes of worship without disparaging others, or thinking that they are necessary conditions of salvation without which men cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Above all, we shall be strong for duty, and patient in trial, and earnest in every good work. It is only the inward reality of religion that can sustain and help us in the stress of life. It is only Christ Himself that can bless us when the world fails us. It is only the living God who can be our refuge when darkness enters into our lives, and the stroke of unaccountable trial may wound our affections and embitter our experience. It is the simplest religious thoughts that then help us most; and we feel that if God be with us, we need none else. He is the health of our countenance and our God. Let us, then, strive to be ever nearer to God, to have more of His love and grace in our hearts; so shall we find Him more in every accident

and accessory of worship, and so shall we have more strength for duty, more patience in trial, and a more assured hope that we shall at last enter into His rest and be made partakers of His glory. Amen.

188

X.

RELIGION-CULTURE-RITUAL.

JOHN, vi. 63.—“It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

HERE are few words used more vaguely than

THERE

religion: and there are good reasons why the word should not be restricted to any narrow use; for there are few things of broader meaning, or which cover wider spaces of human life and history. Religion is not only personal, but social and national. It not only touches man in his divinest moments, but it touches human nature in all the higher phases of its activity-takes expression in great doctrines and great institutions, and re-creates itself continually in many beautiful forms of art and worship. It is the most pervading element of all civilisation; and even those who disbelieve or contemn it in its ancient

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