History also shows us that no religious system recorded therein is wholly false. Millions of men worship birds, beasts, and reptiles, but their creeds, if closely analyzed, will show many redeeming features. However superstitious their practices and objectionable their doctrines, as there is no absolute. truth, so there is no absolute falsehood in them. As in men, so in systems of philosophy and theology, we see nowhere unmixed purity or impurity. We must not, therefore, pronounce indiscriminate condemnation upon any creed, nor cherish sectarian antipathy towards its followers. We should distinguish what is true in it from its false admixtures, and in a liberal spirit note the purer features common to all creeds. To accept and honour truth, wherever it may be found, must be held honourable to him who does so; while to abjure error is incumbent upon every man, though it may be tied to his own faith with sacred and endearing associations,

A careful study of history would also convince us that, though endless religious differences prevail among men, and utterly discordant forms of faith and practice distinguish sect from sect, and epoch from epoch, yet there are parallelisms equally remarkable. Similar events have happened under similar circumstances. Certain phenomena, visible in one country at a particular time, have been found to reproduce themselves elsewhere in another age. What we see prevailing in our country prevails in some measure in other lands; facts of remote antiquity have their parallel in the events of the present day. Nay, we could sometimes trace such analogy in a whole series of successive events. The reason of this evidently is that it is the same human nature which works everywhere beneath the varied phenomena of religious history. If the doctrines and

institutions of different sects have been found in some cases to resemble each other in their essential features, it is only because they proceed from common wants and necessities, and are manifestations of the same religious instincts and sentiments. If we bear this in mind, we shall be able to understand why certain evils, idolatry, and superstition for instance, have been reproduced in different forms in the world's history, from time to time, in spite of attempts to prevent them; we shall likewise be prepared to see them reappear in future, should the conditions recur which called them forth. You cannot modify human nature. You cannot destroy any of its impulses or instincts. The same nature which our forefathers possessed dwells within us, and will work within our descendants. Consequently all that sprang naturally from the human mind in ancient times must inevitably appear in future, whenever and wherever the same exciting causes and the same necessities will occur. All doctrines, modes of worship, and religious institutions have their origin in the mind, and though we may suppress them a hundred times, they will again grow up, unless their roots are destroyed.

There are three elementary and fundamental ideas which enter into all theological as well as philosophical thought and speculation, namely, mind, matter, and God. These have given rise to different creeds, and likewise to different philosophical schools, according to the exclusive importance attached to one or other of them. But we cannot eliminate any of these ideas from theology. All that we need do is to harmonize them. Too much devotion to material objects, and an abnormal feeling of astonishment at their sublimity and power, have led to idolatry. Thus have the sun and moon been

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“ stupak untukued men who could not Food Ponnything be pact them, and, therefore, readily 4 Heir minds and hearts in their worship. Mbulent, sales objecte have come to be adored on Bank of Hedi spasial utility or beauty; and thus Yukon, #pkoum of idolatry and polytheism have Pouliot Bo, on the other hand, by too much

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it must condemn, in the most unqualified manner, anything approaching to the worship of matter. That the material universe is a great religious teacher, that the Sublime and Beautiful in nature exercise a vast moral influence on the mind, few will deny. Are we not indebted to the objects around us for evidences of Divine power, intelligence, and mercy? Do not the physical sciences give us better and higher conceptions of God and His government of the world than we could otherwise possess? And are not our religious sentiments awakened and our hearts ennobled by the sight and contemplation of the vast starry convex above, the stupendous mountain, the deep unfathomable sea, the gentle stream, and the fragrant rose ? Man has in all ages been naturally struck with the beauties and wonders of the universe, and has spontaneously magnified Him who made them. Nay, many a soul has been led away from scepticism, infidelity, and immorality by the wholesome influence of natural objects. The fullest latitude should, therefore, be given to the study and contemplation of nature, and the general development of our religious nature under its influence. Let man, with sentiments of wonder and veneration, look up to natural objects as God's own handiwork, and make them minister to his spiritual wants. There is no fear of any evil consequences so long as such veneration is not abused. It is when men are carried away too far by their love and devotion to the material world that they superstitiously regard it not as God's creation, but as the Creator Himself, and thus become idolaters or nature-worshippers. Lost in amazement amidst ten thousand objects manifesting supernatural power, wisdom, and love on all sides, the soul offers homage to those objects themselves, and instead of worshipping God

through nature, worships nature as God. You thus see, Gentlemen, wherein consists the right use of the physical universe, and wherein its abuse. Recognise matter as God's holy work, and let it help you to know Him, and love Him, but do not kneel down to worship it as God.

Similarly, the importance of the mind as another revelation of God must be recognised, and its legitimate uses in the matter of our salvation rightly determined. The world within, like the world without, manifests the Great Creator's power, wisdom, and mercy. The soul is God's work just as much as the outer world,-nay, a far nobler work it is, as revealing to us the higher attributes of the Divinity, and our true relations to Him. When from the grosser objects of the senses we turn our attention within, and view the phenomena of the mind, what do we see there? Law, harmony, and order, as perfect as what we see in the external world. Nay, the soul's mechanism and government appear far more wonderful and beautiful than those of the material universe, and it holds the Divinity nearer and clearer to us. In conscience and the general economy of our moral nature we behold the sovereignty of the Moral Governor ; in our will we see a reflection of the Infinite Personality of the Creator; and in all the spiritual instincts and intuitions we trace the outpourings of the Holy Fountain of Truth. But not only does the mind as it is, but its active religious life also shows the workings of God. In our prayers and in our communion with Him we feel His direct inspiration breathing into us purity, strength, wisdom, and life. In short, in the soul we recognise something made "in the image of its Maker," and in a condition of piety holding conscious communion with Him.