acter emphasized: goodness, blamelessness in the sight of man, external rectitude, the commandment "Thou shalt love thy neighbor," observed without any particular regard to the first commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," this has been the other extreme towards which the lesser multitude has always been tending. While piety and morality, God and His righteousness, worship and fidelity, adoration and goodness, love both in sentiment and in life, both to God and to man, the first and second commandments combined-this is the Golden Mean which, as the old Chinese sage used to say, "few have been able to attain." Nor do we wonder that few have attained it when we remember how much easier it is for everybody to run to extremes than to hold themselves in equilibrium; how much less effort is required to drift with the breeze and the impetuous current than to pull at the oars of self-regulation and restraint; how much more natural it is to seize a half of the truth or a little portion of it and make a "hobby" of that, than it is to wisely seek and patiently practise the truth in its completeness.

(c) Religious Ceremonialism and Ethical Proprieties.

To transform religion into a sentiment and a ceremony on the one hand, and to transform it into a routine of external proprieties on the other, is much easier, requires much less effort, is much more in accordance with the inclinations of human nature than is the practice of that true religion which comprehends both God and man; both devotion of soul and devotion of life; both piety of the heart and morality of character. This, as Plato says, "is a most difficult thing,' and just because it is difficult the masses of men have always been shrinking from it and satisfying themselves with being either very pious to the neglect of morality or very moral to the neglect of piety. And so the world has been forever drifting, now to one extreme, now to another; now toward superstition, and now toward infidelity; now toward gross ceremonialisms and idolatry, and now toward theoretical irreligion and open atheism.

Jerusalem, as Jesus found it, "a whitewashed sepulchre, filled with dead men's bones," a house of God transformed into a den of thieves; Athens, as Paul found it, "wholly given up" to senseless superstitions and gross idolatries; Germany, as Luther found it; England, as Wickliffe and Wesley found it, full of religious institutions and churches transformed into organizations of debauchery and intrigue -these have been the final results of piety divorced from morality. Imperial Rome as it was in the time which succeeded Epicurus and the Stoics, full of heroisms, but at the same time full of inhumanities, suicides, and despairs; France, revolutionized by infidelity, as it was in the time of Mirabeau and Robespierre, when God, religion, and immortality were not only practically but theoretically discarded-these have been the final results of morality divorced from piety; or of an attempt to direct individual character and human events without a positive recognition of God and a devout reliance upon Him for wisdom and help.

(d) Partial Truths accepted as the Whole Truth.

A partial truth adopted as a fundamental principle, or emphasized with an emphasis which belongs only to the whole, is always dangerous, both to individuals and communities; its immediate results may not be so perceptible; but, if persisted in, its final results must be disastrous. And the main reason why the moral and religious history of the world is a history of disasters and failures is because men have always been emphasizing partial truths, building up theories, characters, institutions upon them, when they ought rather to have sought "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." Now the partial truths of religion are piety and morality divorced, with an emphasis placed upon one or the other which belongs only to both combined.

"Fear God and keep His commandments," was the whole truth as propounded by the ancient teacher of Wisdom. But one class of religionists have taken only the first clause

as their motto, and with "Fear God" upon their banners, they have always been leading their ecclesiastical hosts into all sorts of gross and sensuous as well as senseless superstitions. The other class, in their reaction, have caught only the last clause, "keep the commandments," and giving the main, sometimes the whole emphasis to this, have led their smaller but equally mistaken hosts, first, into a religion of pure humanitarianism; second, into religious skepticism; third, into infidelity, and fourth and finally, into theoretical and practical atheism. Jesus re-stated this old truth in its wholeness at the very beginning of his ministry, when he said: Seek the kingdom of God, and Seek the righteousness of God. But one class of men seized the first half of his truth and construed it into ceremonial piety, while another class seized the last half and construed it into external morality. So history has always been repeating itself down to the present day, and is now repeating itself as faithfully as ever before, in that superficial method and tendency of the multitude to get hold of a fraction of the truth and run with it into dangerous and disastrous extremes.

(e) Rome or Reason.

There has never been a time in which there was a wider separation between ceremonial piety and external morality, as distinct characteristics of two opposite tendencies in religion, than there is at present throughout most of the Christian world. Ritualists, on the one hand, are emphasizing ritualism, as though it were the all-important thing. Rationalists, on the other, are emphasizing reason and its codes of ethics, as though these were all-important. And toward the one or the other of these extremes the multitude of indivividuals and of organizations seem to be tending. "Rome or Reason" is the question which almost all religious thinkers are putting to themselves, with the supposition that they must necessarily take one road or the other; while almost no one seems to dream that the whole truth is, not Rome or Reason, but Rome and Reason. Almost no one seems to comprehend the fact that Rome has run mad with half the

truth, and Reason has run mad with the other half. The right way is to cast the devil out of both, and bring them together into one complete truth of religion and reason, piety and morality, the fear of God and works of righteousness conjoined. We speak of "Rome and Reason" in this connection because, historically and practically, piety has been the distinguishing feature of Romanism and morality the distinguishing characteristic of Rationalism. And these two bodies are the two extremes toward which, naturally and logically, all must tend, in proportion as piety is emphasized more than morality or morality more than piety. Both are partial developments produced by the unnatural repression of certain parts of religious truth, and by the unnatural stimulating of other parts; and, like all partial developments they are both, relatively speaking, monstrosities and deformities.*

(f) The Golden Mean.

Now, between these two, as between all extremes, there must be a Golden Mean, a "mid-stream current," a posi

* As an illustration we may take the following from the New York Times of the date of this writing:

SAW THE DEVIL' BURned.

"A PERFORMANCE AT THE SALVATION ARMY HEADQUARTERS.

"Visitors to the Salvation Army Headquarters last night saw the 'devil' dismembered and dissected by Major, and also saw him burned to a crisp, from his cloven hoof to his horn-topped head. Incidentally they also heard the Major's physiological lecture on the several parts of the 'devil's' anatomy.

His heart was called deceit, his wings were labeled as the ungodly amusement of prize fighting, his tail was composed of a pack of cards fastened end to end, his internal organs were composed of a string of whisky bottles and tobacco pipes. Each part or portion represented some supposed evil against which the army is waging war.

"As a finality the lights were turned out and red fires ignited, and in the midst of the flame appeared the 'devil,' who was quickly consumed and then vanished. 'The performance was preceded by a parade of the army through the streets in the vicinity of the hall with the usual music."

Almost every day, and in almost every News Publication, similar reports of the doings and sayings of the popular Religious Bodies are made. Verily, Protestantism has already reverted to the Ages of Miracle Plays when, for instance, they enacted “God the Father being waked up to come and see the rascally Fews murdering His Son!"

tion of equilibrium, in which piety and morality can be made to counterbalance, or to equiponderate, the one against the other.

As we study the history of Christianity and of all religions, we find this position of equilibrium has been attained by individuals in all ages, and approximately, now and then, by religious organizations. David, Pythagoras, Socrates, Paul, Luther, Wesley, Channing, are only a few represenative names taken at random from that large number of individuals, known and unknown, of all religions and ages, who have both feared God and wrought righteousness; who have, in theory and practice, emphasized both piety and morality with an equal emphasis; and hence have become at the same time fervently devout toward God, and beautifully blameless and pure in the sight of men.

Now and then, too, Institutional Religion has approximated to, and in some cases has been made for a time to occupy, this position; indeed all great religious reformations have been an attempt to arrest Institutional Religion in its wild rompings, its frantic dashings hither and thither, and bring it back to a just equipoise between Piety and Morality. This was what Moses attempted to do, when he established among the Israelites both an elaborate religious ritual and an elaborate code of morals; and though, on account of the inwrought stupidity of the people, his attempt was a perpetual failure, it nevertheless came nearer being a success than any other attempt of ancient times. Buddha too, Pythagoras, and Mahomet sought to draw the masses of their countrymen from superstitions on the one hand, and infidelity on the other; and to bring them, through sincerity of worship and purity of character, into organized harmony both with God and with one another.

(g) Jesus the great Uniter as well as Reformer.

Jesus especially, of all religious reformers, made it the object of his reformation to institute a religion with God and Humanity as its corner-stones-with recognition of both, love