Try Yourself By This.

TRY YOURSELF BY THIS .

A Sermon Preached he / ore the Grand Commandery of Knights Tem >> Iars in Mississippi , at its An mini Conclave in Okolona , 10 th February / SOI , hy Jlev . Sir William Cross , Grand Prelate .

"Ho hath shewed theo , O man , what is good , and what dot ! , Ihe Lord require of thee but to do justly , and to love inoroy , a * ifl to walk humbly with thy God P" Micah vi . 8 .

A FEW moments spent in considering these words tin ' s morning would , I think , be profitable . Thoy express the true object of all revelation , which is to iaako men good ; they express the inmost moaning of all lifo , which is the attainment of holiness .

Two passages ot Scripture propound the most momentous question which tho mind of man-can formulate , and give the very clearest and plainest answer which the language of man can express . One is this verse ; the other is the passage in which the young ruler nakp ,

" What shall I do to inherit eternal life ? " There the answer is : "If thou wilt enter life , keep the commandments . " Here the answer is : "He hath shewed thee , 0 man , what is good ; and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly , and to love mercy , and to walk

humbly with thy God ? " Unmistakable in their plainness , those words sweep away the cobwebs of fche confusion of ages . Frankly accepted , they would be an eternal cure for all the maladies which , age after ago , have afflicted religion . They show that tho aim of religion is to elevate

character , to purify conduct , to promote goodness ; they sum up the mighty spiritual teaching of the prophets ; they herald the essential moral relation of the Son of God . There are two streams whioh flow side by side through the Old Testament , and through the history of tho Christian

Church , and frequently do not mingle their waters—the stream of religion and the stream of ri ghteousness . The word " religion " is used in a loose , imccurato w *> . y for various things ; but in its proper English meaniiu \ as

when the , Bible speaks of the Jews' religion , a ? id as ' .-. 'hen Milton speaks of " gay religion full of pomp and gold , " the word means certain opinions and certain ordinances ; it means a set of doctrines ; ifc means a mode of worship .

Now , outward ordinances , when their importance is exaggerated , tend to become burdensome and superstitious ; and religious opinions , when maintained by ambition and self-interest , have deluged tho world with crime ; and that is why the great poeo Lucretius represents

religion as a lurid and menacing spectre , and writes those famous words : " Tantum religio potuit suadero malorum " — " So many curses to religion ' s cause . " To avoid confusion , however , I will call this not religion , bufc religionism . Now , a stream of religionism flows through the Old

Testament ; it centred in the Temple , thc Levitical ordinances , tbe whole ceremonial law ; and the same sort of externalism belongs as much to idolatry as to Judaism .

AU this code has neither value nor significance in itself , but solely in so far as it may be a help or adjunct to higher things . Religionism , when ifc ends in opinions or observances , is worthless .

Any impure and ignorant youth , any empty-headed and sour-hearted girl , any worldly or greedy Dives can , in thia sense , be religious . Persons of all classes are delighted to believe that with such cheap and easy superficiality God is pleased .

Hence , all that was poorest and most pagan in Judaism eagerly seized on this element in their sacred books ; they would please God by orthodoxy , ritual , gifts , fastings , holy days , sacrifices , the right way of burning -the two

kidneys m the fat—this would give them a delighfnl sense of being very religious—while they let their slanderous tongues run riot , and sated with worldliness their greedy hearts .

The religious reform of Hezekiah and others , being mainly outward , easily slid into the pagan frippery and superstition of Manasseh , and ifc ended in the worship of the dead letter , the superstition of tradition for truth and of religiosity for godliness . It reached the splendour of

its zenith in Pharisaism , which paid scrupulous tithes of mint , anise and cummin , and forgot justice , righteousness and faith . It tried to establish itself for ever by committing tbe deadliest crime which even reli gionism has ever achieved ; it said : " This is the heir ! come , let us slay him , and the inheritance shall be ours . "

Try Yourself By This.

In tho samo endeavour—the endeavour to make opinions and observances stand in lieu of sincerity and righteousness—it scourged Saint John , it imprisoned St . Peter , and ifc cursed St . Paul ; ifc beheaded Sfc . James , it stoned Saint

Stephen . Yefc they who committed all these deadly Crimea were very religious ! They would havo held up their hands in horror and amazement had you called them irreligious ; thoy would have said : " Our whole life is religion , and wo think of nothing else . "

When religion is put in the place of righteousness , when , instead of being regarded as a mere adjunct to godliness , it is substituted for godliness , then it becomes a deadly thing . And , therefore , side by side with this stream of religious

ordinance flows through most of the Old Testament , and throngh all the New , thc richer , purer , and deeper stream of righteousness . And righteousness expresses , and alone expresses , the essence of a true religion ; for true religion is a good mind and a good life . It is not an affair of

copes and caudles and such liko things ; but it is something which restores man to God , it enables us nofc merely to wear phylacteries and to make long prayers , but to deny

our wills , to rule our tongues , to soften our tempers , to modify our ovil passions , to learn patience , humility , and meekness , forgiveness and continuance in well doing ; it is tho will in the reason , and love in the will .

Ask a dogmatist the question : " What - -must I do to bo saved ? " and he will perhaps give you some elaborate metaphysical definition , and tell yon that he who would be saved must think of tho Trinity . Ask a party religionist what you must do to be saved , and he will tell you that

you must believe in the Real Presence . Ask Samuel , David , Isaiah , Amos , Micah , Jeremiah , fche four evangelists , the twelve apostles—ask your Lord and Master Himself , and their answer will be different , not only in the letter , bufc in the entire spirit .

It will not be , " You must believe in this or that particular doctrine ; it will nofc be , "Yon must prnctice this or that special ordinance ; " It ' will be simply , "If you wonld ' -t on : or into lifo , keep the commandments * . " Whatever n ;;; , y havo been the original intent of Lfivifcical rules

and Temple proprieties , ifc had become so terribly perverted , so fatally meaningless , thafc the greatest prophets speak of it again and again with sweeping aud exceptionless

depreciation . " Hath the Lord as great delight ; in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord ? Behold , to obey ia better than sacrifice , raid to hearken than the fat of rams . " So spako Samuel .

"Thon requiresfc nofc sacrifice , else would I givo ifc Thee ; but Thou delighted nofc iu burnt offerings . " So sang the Psalmist .

" And now , Israel , what doth the Lord require of thee , asks tho Book of Deuteronomy , "but to walk in all his ways and to lovo Him ?" " To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices

unto me ? " saifca fche Lord . "Bring no more vain oblations : incense is an abomination unto Mo : your hands are full of blood . Wash you , make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil ; learu to do well . " So wrote Isaiah .

" I hate , I despise your feast days , says Amos ; " but let judgment run down as waters , and righteousness as a mighty stream . " And on the positive side the answer to the question : " Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord , and who shall

stand in His holy place ? The answer iiW " He that hath clean hands and a pure heart , fend hath not lift up hia mind unto vanity , nor sworn to deceive his neighbour . " And what does the preacher toll you is the end of the

whole matter ? Is it to believe in a vast amount of traditional propositions ? Is it to go through a numerous huddle of fantastical pomps and cumbersome ceremonies ? Not at all . But the whole of tho matter is : " Fear God

and keep his commandments , for thafc is the whole duty of man . " That was how , one after another , the greatest of the prophets spoke ; and the New Testament so completely

endorses their spiritual idea , that , while every page and verse of it breathes of righteousness , you scarcely find any religionism at all , scarcely any organization , even the most rudimentary ; scarcely any dogmatic creed , oven the moat

brief . What was the sum total oi the preaching of the great eremite , John tho Baptist ? Just two words : " repent , " " obey . " What is the sum total of the moral ¦ revelation of Christ ? Just two words : " Love , " " serve . "