OUR LAY SERMON FOR SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1265, 28 May 1896, Page 42

OUR LAY SERMON FOR SUNDAY READING.

THE TEST OF RELIGION. “Ye shall know tliem by their fruits.” — Matthew vii., 10. Considering' religion merely as a force, one of the factors in human life, the question asks itself, what will it do for a man ? If you can accomplish just as good results without as with it, then it is a matter of indifferenco whether you have it or not. If, on the contrary, it is an absolute necessity to one who is ambitious for the noblest achievements, then its value cannot be estimated. Lot us understand each other at the start, that thero may bo no chance for controversy, f do not refer to theology, which is a system of thought formulated by scholarship for our convenience, but which often produces the greatest spiritual embarrassment. Doctrine and religion are two different things, becauso ono may have doctrine without religion, and the great majority have religion without doctrine. I refer not to theology, therefore, but to those simple principles which were taught to the multitude on tho hillsides of Judea and on the glistening shore of Galileo —love of God and man and a faith that flies past tho open grave to another world.

And I would put those principles to tho same test that J would apply to any mechanical energy. With entire reverence I would compare faith as a spiritual force with electricity and steam as natural forces. If electricity can do something which wo need to have done, then wo want it; if it cannot,then wo d<> not want it. To that test I would put religion, and say without hesitation that its worth to us deponds on what it can do for us. Suppose I had a magician’s power and could take away from the ordinary man his selfishness and put love in its place ; could eliminate his sensuality and give him a pure heart and a chivalrous nature; could destroy, with a word of command, all his doubts of a futuro life and substitute the certainty of immortality—a certainly as clear as crystal—in a word, could so saturate him, as it were, with the spirit of the Christ Wait it would percolate every part of bis being and become the controlling influence in his character —should I do him a service or an injury? Would lie bo a higher or a lower typo of man ? Even with tho merely homoeopathic taste of true religion which it is our custom to indulgo in we do take rather a bright and cheerful view of life. Tho man with a strong belief does more for himself and tho world than tho man with a strong doubt. There are emergencies daily arising when we would give all wo possess for the power to resist and overcome temptation, or for the ability to say good-bye to a dear one with a firm assurance that the parting is only for a time. These facts aro an incomparable tribute to the efficiency of what religion teaches. It is a more eloquent eulogy than human lips ever littered. Tecro is not in the soul of man any longing so profound, so intense, so eager, as tho longing for eternal life. It is painfully urgenc, for the impression prevails that to-day is nothing without a tomorrow. You cannot give one a deeper wound than to convince him that tho requirements ox religion aro not binding and aro not followed by a blessing, for what adds to your faith adds to your strength, and what dissipates your faith increases your weakness. It is as true, then, that religion is as benoficial as that electricity is of sorvico to the community. Judge the two by precisely tho sumo standard and you will reach precisely the same conclusion—namely that onco having enjoyed the benefits of electricity we cannot willingly dispense with them, and having noted tho effect produced by religion on character we cannot get on without it. Tho test in both cases is a perfectly fair one, and that kind of religion which will not stand tno test is not worth having. Put side by side two men, a sceptic and a believer. How different the way in which they taco both life and death ! They shall both bo good men, richly endowed by nature and governing themselves by a high sense of honour. Their daily lives ehall bo equally above reproach, and they shall 1)0 equally esteemed for public spirit and private virtue. ■Still what a difference in those secret places where characier is formed ami hope and good cheer are horn ' The one surveys his life and finds that lie has only a few years ; tho other has a whole eternity. A short career and limn darkness, a little day and then a long night—can this belief compare in practical value, ill the production of motives, with the belief that God is above us and that immortality awaits our coming? Is it possible tor an ideal sceptic to be as largo as an ideal Christian ? Religion in its divine simplicity is like a lantern lighted, and doubt is like a lantern with no flame inside. Willi the .Sermon pil the Mount in your soul —and it is all you need —you aro like a seed, which, properly planted, breaks into life, grows in sunshine and storm, and becomes a tree that bears golden fruit. With God you may do great things, but alone you will .soon become discouraged.