And

been various dispensations, and these have each improved on the one it superseded, resembling the course of the morning from dawn to noon; yet all of them are substantially the same, and the essence of the truth they taught, amidst all the changes of their accidents, is one and the same. what has it been? A religion characterised by sacrifice; for, from the offering which Abel presented, to the death of our Lord, we recognize this important feature of true religion -all things under each dispensation are sprinkled with blood; and the first pleasurable feeling after human guilt had been contracted, harmonises with the final song, "Unto him that hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." This characteristic is full of instruction as it is of hope it teaches us that true religion humbles man as a guilty and helpless creature; that it secures pardon and Divine acceptance to those who partake of its benefits; and that it purifies the heart and life, "cleansing from all sin." The law, then, is not against the promise of God; amidst great variety in worship, the principle of man's approach to God is the same,—that of a Mediator; and antediluvian, and patriarchal, and Jewish, and Christian devotions, all ascend to heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord. We do not, therefore, derive our religion, as it respects its source, from the holy and devoted men who animated the last century with zeal for the gospel, nor from the writers of a former age, who have enriched our libraries with volumes of evangelical treasure; nor from those who were foremost in the reformation, and who proved their sincerity and the supporting influence of the truths they promulgated at the stake of martyrdom, nor from the Christian fathers, either Greek or Latin; but from the oracles of God, which first spoke in Paradise and last in Patmos. We build upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.

With all its pretensions, therefore, to antiquity, popery is too young to secure our confidence, and the Anglo-Saxon and Nicene churches are too recent to be infallible guides: they have all erred in the proportion in which they have attempted to improve the work of inspired artisans, and to dress in meretricious ornament that which God himself has

clothed with light as with a garment. We test a religion by its antiquity, and reject every profession that does not run parallel with Divine revelation, and prove itself contemporary with that recorded in the Bible, persuaded, as we are, that the most ancient must be the true religion -the truth as it

is in Jesus. "Show me," said the late emperor of France, "a religion which has existed from the beginning, and I will believe in it." And here it is. The claims to antiquity which neither the Greek, nor the Egyptian, nor the Chinese, can establish, with all his boast of old chronology, are confirmed to the system by which God reconciles the world unto himself. Believe, then, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

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A second proposition consequent on the first, is, that the OLD is the BEST religion.

Dissatisfied with the old and Divine, men have attempted new expedients of pacifying conscience, or of supporting hope. How full of invention, what a chamber of imagery, is the mind of man! The atheist has excluded the Deity from the temple; the Persian has worshipped the sun, moon, and stars; the idolater has essayed to embody his abstract notions of the Godhead in the work of his own hand, changing the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things; the Mohammedan, under the pretended sanction of an angel, dares to alter that which is given by inspiration of God; the Socinian, under the Christian name, nullifies the doctrine of mediation; while the infidel and the socialist extinguish the light, and then look for the truth. Man never can invent a religion which will be so good as the old one; indeed, the novelty itself damages the invention, for the truth must be ancient.

Let the gospel be examined in its adaptation to mankind, under all possible circumstances, in the numerous instances of trial in which its virtue has been tested,—in the views it furnishes of God, compared with the distorted notions of heathenism,—in the moral effects it produces in individuals and countries where it is received,-in the richness of the consolations which it gives to the suffering, and the firmness of hope to the dying, and it will appear superlative in excellence, as it is incomparable in age. eleventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews places us amidst a cloud of witnesses to the power of faith; and in reading it we should remember, that "unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them." "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"

The

Having found that the true religion is the old, and that the old is the best, we come to a third proposition, namely, that the best religion is practical,-the old paths, the good way, are to walk in; and it is the glory of

Divine revelation, that it has ever been influential, and especially on individual character and social happiness. While one class of errors has been a sort of lifeless beauty, a well-formed statue, and another class productive of the worst moral effects, the gospel has been not only a word of life, of activity, and energy, but also the power of God unto the salvation of all who have believed it.

The true, the old, the best religion is practical in opposition to mere speculation. It furnishes, indeed, sublime speculations, and calls into action the most towering intelligences, and challenges the attention and study of angels; but this is not the great object of revealed truth. It is not a poem to amuse the imagination, but a prescription to restore the diseased, and a code of rules to direct the actions of the healthy. It abounds, too, in motive to exertion, has the pathos as well as the ethos. A merely intellectual, nominal Christian may be as destitute of the characteristics of the true believer, as is the Brahmin, who idles away his being in an affected or a superstitious abstraction from all the duties of social life. No man is religious who is not practical,-there are no mere students in the school of Christ,-Christianity is more of an art than of a science, saving belief is the obedience of faith. The doctrines to be believed, and the duties to be performed, are indeed so connected together and reciprocate so much, that it is not easy to define their respective limits, the principle of the one requiring the direction of the other, and the precept only being honoured as the promise is fulfilled, and as grace reigns through righteousness.

From antediluvian and patriarchal religion down to the Christian, notwithstanding the differences in seasons and in countries, there is a beautiful uniformity in the performance of all those duties which man owes to God, his neighbour, and himself; and we are equally struck with the practical advantage of those principles which could make Enoch walk with God, and John have fellowship with the Father and with Jesus Christ his Son,-Noah a preacher of righteousness to a most ungodly world, and Peter a minister to the Gentiles, David pray, "Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting," and Paul determine to keep under his body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when he had preached to others, he himself should be a castaway.

All that can render character virtuous, finds a motive and

a guide in Divine revelation, and more infidels than Rousseau have been constrained to acknowledge that the New Testament contains the finest morals of any book in existence.

Nor must it be overlooked, that while Christianity recognizes the human constitution, and teaches by sacraments as well as by more abstracted means, and while it prescribes an external form of worship, it is not a religion of mere rite and ceremony. It asserts that men must be born of the Spirit as well as of water, and that faith only can appropriate the benefits of the atonement, that real piety has more to do with the heart than with the mere act of devotion, and that they only do acceptable service to the Great Spirit who worship him in spirit and in truth.

It may be asserted, that Scriptural religion is practical, because it is practicable. When rational beings have fallen from their first estate, and have rendered themselves weak and helpless, there must either be a relaxation of the law under which they were placed, and for which they were originally constituted, or power must be given to enable them to recover, in part and by degrees at least, a love to its requirements, and strength to yield to them. Our moral Governor has, in his infinite mercy, devised means to restore the creature to obedience, and to preserve the integrity of his legislation: "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Thus help is

laid on one that is mighty and as the Redeemer rescues from the curse of the violated law by his own death, so does he deliver from the affection and dominion of sin, and strengthen with might by his Spirit in the inner man, through his intercession. The Lord Jesus is the strength as well as the righteousness of all who believe, and enables them by his grace to do what he commands them by his holiness: the priest and the prophet qualify to do homage to the king; and so he is their Saviour.

All other religions are impracticable, either exacting an abatement of holiness in the Governor which never can be granted, or an excellence in the subject which is not to be found; but the scheme of grace is perfect, furnishing, indeed, a rule for all our conduct and temper, and at the same time, what no other system can, an adequate motive and all-sufficient strength.

To know

There is in the way in which religion is learned, a most striking illustration of its practical character. what religion is, you must yourself be religious: "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine." Such as

walk in the paths, and only such, find rest for their souls; find a knowledge of Divine things connected with a confidence of their truth and a satisfaction with their excellence; and rest from doubt, from alarm, from the violence of passion, and from trouble.

Would you, then, know what repentance is? you must yourself repent;—what faith is? you must believe ;—what the devotional and the social graces are? you must love and worship God in Christ Jesus, and perform all those duties which you owe to your family, to your fellow-Christians, and to the world;-what is the virtue of the exceeding great and precious promises? in all your duties and all your trials, you must appropriate them by an active faith, as made yea and amen unto you in the Son of God.

Thus will you test, prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of the Lord: your knowledge will be that of experience, and such as the artist acquires by prosecuting the duties of his calling.

Does the reader ask, "But how am I to attempt performing the will of God?" The reply is, Act up to your present light. By a proper use of the spark the fire is kindled. We assert that there is a want of honesty in those who profess to believe the Bible is a Divine book, and yet do not consult it with reverence and with prayer; for if it is a revelation from God, it must be of infinite value and awful authority, it must be the book of books. Where, too, can be the sincerity of the man who says he is a sinner, and yet never trembles at his danger, or weeps over the ingratitude and baseness of his character? Is it consistent to admit the need of a Saviour, and his willingness to save all who come to him, and at the same time to have no anxieties for an interest in his salvation, and to make no advances towards his gracious throne? The man who compliments religion without practising it, is hypocritical, and honours God with his lip while his heart is far from him. Let no one that is

unwilling to do the will of his Lord, pretend that he does not understand it: the performance is the learning. Walk therein, and you will soon find that the old paths are paths of peace.

The same practical method of acquiring religious knowledge must be adopted in the diligent employment of all Divinely appointed means. The Holy Writings, the devotions of retirement and of the house of God, the word preached, the ministers of the gospel, are all, when rightly used, instruments of instruction; but they must be used to