Mohammedanism, as a religious system, is not elevating and ennobling in its tendencies.

Is it Roman Catholicism? Now this, we are free to confess, is better than either Buddhism or Mohammedanism. It contains a large admixture of Divine truth, and has therefore done good to the different peoples who have accepted it. But there is a tyrannizing spirit in it that tends to degrade, and those who have accepted all its dogmas and fully submitted to its authority, have never found a permanent honourable standing among the nations. No consistent Roman Catholic can be a free man; another's foot is upon his neck, and to him can never be known the sweets of Luther's motto: "Love all men, but fear no man." We are forced to the conclusion, whether we look at the spirit of the system, or the facts of its history, that this is not the elevating religion that humanity needs.

The religion that man needs, must, first of all, proclaim the supremacy of right. It must make him feel that it is not his province to ask, in relation to any course of action, "Will it pay? Will it enable me to accomplish my purpose? Can I by it reach some personal end ?" But rather "Is it right?" And when assured of its rightness, to act with promptitude. The right is higher altogether in its essential quality than the profitable, the agreeable, the graceful. And it is that that must be done, though all other things be left undone; it is that that must be won, though all else be lost. The old maxim, that the "end justifies the means," is inadmissible, a liar is a liar, a deceiver a deceiver, and a dishonest man a dishonest man, though by his lying, or deception, or dishonesty, he may for the time accomplish some apparently good purpose. There is only one principle that can stand the tests that are yet to be applied. We may be plausible, graceful, polite; and it is proper that we should be. But these elements will not stand alone in the day of testing that draweth near. element only will stand in that day, and that is rightness-he that is "holy," "clean," " just," will abide for ever. A right man-a man in whom the good and the holy have awakened an all-conquering love—a man in whom high moral excellence, such as was manifested in Christ, shines with a brightness above the sun; a man who cannot be separated from right by tribulation, by distress, by persecution, by famine, by the sword-is a grand sight. And we rejoice that there have been many such who have given effulgence to history. And there are many such to-day who greatly increase the joy of life. What the world wants is a multiplication of them. To proclaim the supremacy of right must therefore be the first principle of the needed religion of humanity. It must

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make men love that, and seek it at all hazards. A religion that will leave a man with falsehood on his lips, dishonesty in his actions, and deception in his heart, is not sufficient. But that which will stamp upon man the supreme importance of rightness, and will constrain him to seek it at all costs, is what he needs.

This religion must, secondly, reach the whole man and influence him on every side. Man is a remarkable composition; the animal and the rational, the material and the spiritual, all meet in him. He is a reasoning being; he can argue, form judgments, and arrive at definite conclusions; from effects he can rise to causes, and from the nature of causes work out other probable effects. And the religion that he needs is one that will appeal to his reason, and furnish him with subjects for contemplation and investigation. Not that it must be wholly within the compass of his reason. We need not be afraid of mystery. A religion that is fully within the circle of human thought is not essential. But the religion that man needs must not be contrary to reason, though it may be far beyond it in some of its sublime. proclamations; it must be a guide to his reasoning powers, leading him outward continually into the line of the Infinite and Eternal. Man has a conscience; an inward power that passes judgment on his actions. That power is within all as the "delegate of God." It speaks of a being above us; it points to an authority more awful than our own. And man wants a religion that will enable him daily so to live as to be under the continual approval of his conscience. Man has affections. These affections will rest somewhere, if not on the worthy, then on the unworthy; if not on the Divine and Eternal, then on the earthly and perishable. Man wants a religion that will reveal to him an object worthy of his love, a Being, the loving of Whom will exalt and ennoble himself. Man can revere, trust, hope, fear, and he wants a religion that will touch all these sides of his nature.

This religion must, thirdly, be of the most catholic character. It must produce free intercourse between man and man. It must not merely build up a sect, or a denomination, but it must look beyond, and proclaim the brotherhood of the human race. Anything narrower than this will not do. We do not want exclusiveness in religion, but rather to feel that every man who needs our help is our "neighbour," and ought to get the help we are able to give him. Caste distinctions in society have been a great curse: the pharisaical spirit has produced no good; between priest and Levites, poor human beings have been allowed to bleed to death. Now, caste must be cast away, pharisaism must be abolished, priests and Levites must be turned aside, and a race of

"good Samaritans" produced, who will, with glad hearts, attend to the pressing needs of bleeding humanity. And the religion that is needed is the religion that will produce them. It must bring the rich down from his high place, and the recluse out from his retreat, and the business man from his shops and offices, and it must make all gaze with open face and beating heart upon the needy and suffering all around, and act a brother's part in helping. More than a religion of sentiment is wanted. We need one that is practical; one that means giving as well as praying, working as well as singing hymns, going out to speak as well as coming in to hear, that causes a man to feel that there are others in the world besides himself, and that he must render help to those who need it right up to the point of sacrifice; that will give breadth to his spirit and feelings, and make him keenly interested in the welfare of others. There is no meaner spirit than that which is shut up within itself, that stows away all its goods within its newly built barns, forgets the poor and the wretched without, and counsels itself to "be easy, eat, drink, and be merry." And there is no spirit more beautiful than that which is so kind and disinterested as to give its all for the good of others. A spirit of selfishness is detestable; but a spirit of benevolence is truly noble.

This religion must, fourthly, be sufficient to sustain man in all his changing experiences. It must do for the time of cloud and storm as well as sunshine; for the hour of poverty as well as that of prosperity; for the season of affliction as well as when the lungs are sound, and the heart beats regularly, and the whole physical frame is aglow with health; for the period of desertion as well as friendship; for the time of reproach and persecution as well as honour and applause. And when death shall come, grim and ghastly, to do its worst, then it must be man's strength and joy, removing all fear from his heart, and making him to shout in happy triumph. The question arises, "Is there such a religion?" And if so, "What is it?" important question. The religion the religion of the New Testament. asserts the supremacy of right, that touches every side of human nature, that teaches the brotherhood of the human race, inculcates love one for another, and that has shown itself sufficient to sustain man amid all his changing experiences. This system has been progressing in the world from the time it was first established by Christ to the present, and it is still progressing. Storms have not wrecked it; flames have not consumed it; the sword has not slain it; dungeons have not stifled it; biting sarcasm has not withered it; the united opposition of earth and hell has not extir

We rejoice to be able to give an answer to this that we have been describing is Here you have a system that

pated it; but it lives to-day, and stil! moves forward on its errand of love and mercy. Tom Paine ridiculed it; Voltaire held that, while it took twelve men to establish it, one could overthrow it, and no doubt thought he was that one; David Hume rejoiced to be able to believe that he saw the very twilight of it vanishing away; but these have all vanished, and the religion of the Christ abides. If David Hume saw its twilight vanishing, it must have been the twilight of the morning, and not of the evening, for day, not night, has followed that vision of vanishing. Christianity speaks more languages, cheers more homes, guides more lives, blesses more death-beds, than ever before. The prophets of evil have gone, many of them, and their false predictions have perished with them; but the religion against which they were so enraged and angry has gone on multiplying its friends, shedding abroad its elevating influences, and showing itself to be the one needed religion of the whole

race.

New Brompton.

W. H. SLEEMAN.

DEVOTIONAL PAPERS FOR THE LORD'S DAY.

SUNDAY, MARCH IST.-HEB. XII. 14, "Follow . . holiness." HAT is holiness? This is a question often asked, and variously answered. To be holy is not to be exempt from human infirmities. We must always distinguish between infirmities and iniquities. The former are the result of the latter, which we cannot avoid or help; therefore, are not regarded by our loving Father as sins or errors in us. Infirmities will go with us to the grave. The Holy Spirit is given to help our infirmities," which, if they were sins, He could and would not do. Christ is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," but not our sins. To be holy, is not to be free from ignorance and consequeutly from mistakes. It is not the impartation of knowledge to the mind, infallibility to the judgment, wisdom to the understanding. The most holy saint is liable to err -to fall involuntarily into mistakes. Neither does holiness signify freedom from temptation. The Perfect Man was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil-He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. Temptation is simply the testing of the root-hold of our principles, the fixity of our faith, the firmness of our profession. The storm does not injure the house on a rock, but it demolishes the one on the sand. It deepens the roots, and tightens the grip of the firm fixed old oak, but it levels to the earth the rootless tree. Temptation is only a

storm that discovers and dignifies our moral manhood, but, unyielded to, damages it not. "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation," &c. Holiness is rather a positive experience than a negative state of soul. It is life in God. Life, begotten by the Holy Ghost; in healthful development from spiritual childhood unto "a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Life, of which prayer and faith are the lungs, truth the aliment, love the atmosphere, diligence in well-doing the exercise, the light of God's countenance the sunshine, trust the repose, hardship, trial, tribulation, the school, the world the workshop.

It is likeness to God. Correspondence of nature-sympathyaffection. Dim at first, but shining clearer and clearer unto the perfect day-in outline at forgiveness, but growing into fulness of detail as the soul advances towards the realization of "the fulness of God."

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It is supreme love of God (Luke x. 27). Love of goodness enthroned on-ruling in-sanctifying the heart, causing the thoughts of the mind, the decisions of the will, and the actions of the daily life, to be in accordance with the mind, the will, the commands of God. Such, I take it, is holiness-life in Godlikeness to God-supreme love of God. As this love at conversion is germinal, this likeness is in outline, this life is in infancy: we must, therefore, "follow holiness." Each is a thing of growth, and subject to the laws of growth. The love has to be made "perfect:" the image to be completed: the life to attain unto maturity. apostle speaks of "perfecting holiness," which is only another way of saying, "Follow holiness." We are nowhere commanded to "follow" justification or regeneration, or adoption, for each is complete at the time it takes place. Not so holiness, that is a growth in "grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is instantaneous in its origination, there being a first moment when we "live, and move, and have our being in God;" it is gradual and progressive in its development, for we leave the first principles and "go on to perfection" (Heb. vi. 1). We forget the things that are behind, and "press toward the mark

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of our high calling" (Phil. iii. 13, 14). We go from children to young men, and on to fathers in Israel. (1 John ii. 12, 13.) "Follow holiness,"-pursue it in all its conditions, claims, and characteristics; from its dawn to its meridian; from its starting point to its terminus. Follow it as you would follow science, or philosophy, or business. For it is the highest science, the pre-eminent philosophy, the most important and gainful business. Follow it, daily, and self-denyingly, as set forth in the life, the teachings, and