between God and man is of man, and not of God. The word "lost" may be music to our ears. You have wandered far, but the way is open to return. The doors have never been closed against you, the Father has never given you up. You left him, you may return to him. To this free will of ours, this divinest attribute of the soul of man, Satan appealed, to lead us into sin, to this free will God appeals to lead us home again. It was folly to forsake God, to leave our home, to believe the voice of the Tempter rather than the voice of our Father. It is deeper and deadlier folly to remain in sin when the homeward way lies open and the Father waits to welcome. You may have wasted years of life, will you waste the time that yet remains? Your soul may be enfeebled by sin, will you give it over to eternal death? You may be restless and dissatisfied to-day, how then will you abide the judgment of the great white throne? Because we have sinned, shall we persist in sin? Because we are hungry, shall we insist on starving? Because we have played the fool, shall we go on playing the fool until the curtain falls? We should exclaim at the folly of this man if he had stayed and starved. But what of our own folly? Here not the life of the body, but the life of the soul, eternal life, is at stake. If you continue in sin there is only one end, and that is death. But there is no need that any man should die. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he

will abundantly pardon." With that invitation sounding in our ears, if any one of us is lost it is because he will not be saved; if any one of us is condemned in the last day, it will be because he chose death rather than life. Shall we not come to ourselves, to our senses? Shall we not let the voice of reason and of conscience be heard? Yea, shall we not be silent for a time while God speaks to us, our Father, bidding us turn from our evil ways and live? O my friend, if there be in your soul any desire for righteousness, for heaven, for immortality, for God, lay hold upon eternal life as it is proffered to you in Jesus Christ.

A lover who was compelled to leave his beloved exposed to the temptations of a royal court gave her a talisman, a moth suspended between a flame and a star. It reflected visibly the workings of her heart, laid bare to her eyes every change of feeling. When she was inclined to yield to temptation, the moth sank toward the flame; when she resisted, it rose toward the star. It is a figure of our life. Yield to sin and the soul sinks toward destruction; resist, conquer, and it rises to the stars.

IX

TRUE AND FALSE RELIGION

"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?"

Micah 6:8

When the prophet rebuked the people for their sins, and threatened them with divine judgment, they inquired, "What shall we do that we may avert the anger and win the favor of God?" What does God require of us? This is the answer, Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God. Nowhere in Scripture is there a nobler conception of religion given. Justice, kindness, a humble walk with God; he in whom these are found shall be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.

Over against this representation of the prophet we may set various types of religion which appear in every age, and hold a large place in the Church to-day. We may often define most effectively by contrast, and the grandeur of the prophet's thought is seen when it is set against the notions of religion which men have framed for themselves. Four types claim our attention.

(1) The ceremonial type. It is aptly illustrated by the question of the people here: "Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burntofferings, with calves a year old? will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thou

sands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Religion is something given, something done, an act, a form, a ceremony, an offering, a sacrifice. When these are rendered, the claims of God are satisfied, and he requires no more.

Religion has two parts, soul and body. As soon as the spirit begins to express itself in act, it clothes itself with forms and ceremonies. They are as necessary to religion as clothing to the body. Ritual is the garb of religion. But in its essential nature religion is spiritual, a matter of the inner life, of motive, disposition, character. The history of every religion attests how surely and easily the form encroaches upon the spirit and usurps the foremost place. Men seek refuge from moral obligations in ritual observances. That is religion made easy, for no mode of service, no measure of gift or offering or sacrifice lays upon us a burden to compare with the requirement of a holy heart. The people of Israel were willing to take upon themselves any burden of an outward sort if they might escape the law of righteousness. All other surrender and sacrifice is easy in comparison with the surrender of the heart and the sacrifice of the will. They substituted ritual for righteousness. Throughout their history two forces were at work, represented by the prophet and the priest. The priesthood was an office of divine appointment, and was charged with duties of high importance. But because the priests were largely concerned with the external aspect of relig

ion, charged with outward observances, they became men of the letter rather than of the spirit. Their religion grew hard, narrow, formal. They tithed mint and anise and cummin, and left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith. Religion consisted in pursuing a prescribed routine, and if this did not bring peace to the heart new regulations were framed, new burdens laid, new restrictions imposed, until men were hemmed in and straitened on every side, and bowed down beneath a grievous weight of ordinances which had no warrant in the law of God.

Over against the priesthood God raised up the prophets. The priesthood was a hereditary office. The prophet was called directly and immediately by God. It was his mission to keep before the minds of the people the true nature and purpose of the law. Samuel grasped the heart of the prophet's message when he said to Saul: "Hath Jehovah as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." The question at issue that day was whether Saul or God was king in Israel. Saul was willing to do anything except what God commanded him. He would not obey but he would sacrifice. God said, "Give me thy heart," and he answered, "Nay, but I will give thee sheep and oxen, even the best of them." The answer of Samuel throws into clear relief these contrasted conceptions of religion, held by the prophet and the priest. And the thought of the prophet reaches its