form. Away with the Symbolisms or Rituals of essential Heathenism! Down with Tyrants and Tyrannies in Church even more than in State! Banish to the shades of the past all Dogma or Forms of Dogma that bind Christianity to the superstitious beliefs of the degenerate Religions of Paganism! This is, and more and more is to be, the Three-fold Cry of those "Protesters" who represent, and will continue more and more to represent, the Highest Intelligence, Morality, and Faith of the Christian World.

"And while he lingered, the man laid hold upon his hand and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

"And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain."

"I will overturn, overturn, overturn comes whose right it is."

until He

"And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God."

"I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

"And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

"Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

"Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, aud do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches: To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore, and repent.'

XLIV.- THOUGH ALL MEN SHOULD FORSAKE THEE, YET WILL NOT I."

It is hard for a Leader to be deserted and left to stand alone. Almost as hard is it for a follower to stand alone, or almost alone, with his deserted Leader. The most tragic incident in the life of the Divine Founder of Christianity was that of Calvary; when, deserted by all the world and his few bosom friends besides, he felt himself, for a moment, deserted by his Heavenly Father too! The next most tragic incident was that of Gethsemane, concerning which he spoke prophetically: "Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me"; and during which he said, so piteously, to his sleeping chosen three, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?"

But even more trying to faith and courage, though not so impressive to the world, was that incident recorded in the sixth chapter of the Fourth Gospel: "Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? ... From that time many went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?"

Deserted by all the rest because of his "hard sayings," he turns-imploringly and yet defiantly--to the twelve and asks, What are you going to do? Will you stand by me? If so, most glad shall I be ; if not, so must it be! I will not retreat, Almost as brave

I will not prevaricate, I will stand alone! were the twelve, who at once responded: "Master, to whom shall we go? Thou only speakest the words of Eternal Life." He who was mouthpiece for the twelve on this occasion, on another equally trying one still more bravely exclaimed, "Though all men should be offended at [forsake] thee, yet will I not."

This spirit of disregard for the number of one's adherents or co-adherents; this unconcern as to majorities and popularities; this willingness to stand with the few; this resolve

to stand even all alone with Truth—as God reveals it to the soul through that "Spirit of Truth" which He ever "gives freely" to all who seek it in pureness of life and sincerity of heart-this spirit is the one and only test of a genuine Christian. Who has little of this has little of Christ. Who has much of this has much of Christ. Who rule and direct the whole life according to it-let men "take knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus."

The great leader of the Protestant Reformation proclaimed himself a follower of Jesus in no other words more truly than when he exclaimed-"Here I stand, I cannot otherwise, so help me God!" and again—in the very face of an impending martyr-death—“ If every tile on every roof were a devil, I would go forward!" All that has ever been wrought for God, and Truth, and Humanity-from the day of faithful Abraham to the day of The Christ, and from the day of The Christ till now-has been wrought in this spirit of genuine Christianity. 'T is hard to stand in the small and scattered ranks of the always unfashionable, always despised minority. Many there are, even in this " wicked and adulterous generation," who know well, from bitter experience, what are the self-sacrifices and sorrows that belong to Truth-seeking; and what the obloquy and shame that belong to Truthspeaking. But there are, as they also well know, the unspeakably higher compensations of a good conscience; so that one can gladly as well as boldly say, " If there are but ten people in the world who deal with Religion intelligently and honestly, I am resolved to be one of the ten." They also find comfort in remembering that all who have been noblest in themselves, and most helpful to the world, have stood among the despised minority and endured, as martyrs, the cross and the shame. He who was derided by Pharisees and Sadducees; whose followers "went back and walked with him no more"; whose disciples "all forsook him and fled "; and who, in his extremity, cried out "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"-even he is our Divine Example of steadfast loyalty to honest convictions of Duty and Truth.

He who wrote that sublime Epistle to the Hebrews, teaches and exhorts us out of his own brave, blessed experience: "Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, sharing his reproach. For God hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."

XLV. RENASCENT CHRISTIANITY A REVIVAL OF COMBINED PIETY AND MORALITY.

(a) Piety and Morality combined was Christianity as taught by Jesus.

Among the first words of Jesus was the injunction, Seek ye the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness-that is, God Himself as an object of love and worship, and God in his characteristics or virtues as a model of human character; in short, piety or internal religion, and morality or external religion. Both of these, as mutually related and mutually dependent, are to be sought, sought with great diligence and persistency as that word would imply, and sought as first both in order of time and order of importance. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness."

True Christianity is piety and morality combined; or more exactly, is morality based upon piety and growing out of it. Observe: not morality the basis and piety the outgrowth, but the opposite. Piety, i. e., recognition, reverence, worship, and love of God, is the ground, the soil, the womb from whence all true morality must spring. True morality: not meaning by that the morality of respectability, of policy, of æsthetics, which is the morality of man; but the morality of principle, of righteousness, of holiness, which is the morality of God. If a man is moral merely because it is respectable or politic to be so, or because he thinks it beautiful, as a pretty face is beautiful, his morality

is only skin deep, pocket deep, public-sentiment deep; and like the seed in thin soil it will be scorched and withered as soon as the sun is up. But the man who is moral from principle, moral because his recognition of the omniscient holiness of God inspires him to rectitude, and purity, and truth; rectitude of heart, as well as of life; purity within, as well as without; truth in secret thought and silent motive, as well as in profession and in deed;-the man whose morality is thus based upon his soul's conscious and constant recognition of God, is the truly moral man; his is the morality of piety, as deep-rooted as God Himself, because planted in him; and, like the seed in good soil, it shall bring forth fruit unto everlasting life.

This is what we mean by saying that true religion of any form, but true Christianity in particular, is a combination of piety and morality; or more exactly, is morality based upon piety and growing out of it.

(b) The two Extremes.

Now, as a matter of fact, the two extremes towards which the masses of mankind have always been tending, the Scylla and the Charybdis against which they have alternately been dashing, the two opposite directions of that broad road" which at either end terminates in destruction, have been these two elements or components of true religion-piety and morality-divorced and made to stand at a distance; while the "golden mean," the "mid-stream," the "narrow way," that leadeth to everlasting life, and which "few" have been able to find, has been a combination of the two. Piety without morality-theoretical belief in God, formal worship, verbal adoration, professional love,—without any particular emphasis upon personal righteousness as the fruit and substance of all-this has been one extreme towards which the greater multitude has always been tending.

Morality without piety-without practical recognition of God, without conscious communion with Him, without worship, or adoration, or love; in other words, moral char