earth, from the greatest to the least, attained! What a revolution has been effected by cultivation and science! What remarkable changes have taken place among ourselves, among Israelites! And yet we still continue subject to the same law; your instructors still admonish you to bring up your children according to its precepts, and rejoice in the belief, that thousands and myriads are engaged in giving thanks for it to God.

'How? (I ask as the representative of all, and in the name of each individual)—how? Does my religion, as I have it at the present day, contain, and do I receive from it, all that is requisite for the happiness of man?' Is not this a great, an important question? Is it not now more important, more full of meaning, than ever? Can we shrink from it on this festive occasion? Can there ever be a greater in the estimation of any man, who would not remain on a level with the beasts of the field? It is surely not a matter of indifference whether or not you live in a house, in a calling, in a city, in a country, or in a part of the world where you may possess what is requisite to a life of happiness. Now, does not religion comprehend house, family, calling, city and country? Is not religion the soul of all worlds? Well, then, my friends, prepare yourselves to hear, with collected and serious minds, the answer to the question now suggested; and let a holy spirit of devotion complete the preparation in your souls.

BEHOLD, I HAVE TAUGHT YOU STATUTES, AND JUDGMENTS, EVEN AS THE LORD MY GOD COMMANDED ME, THAT YE SHOULD DO SO IN THE LAND WHITHER

YE GO IN TO POSSESS IT. KEEP, THEREFORE, AND

DO THEM; FOR THIS IS YOUR WISDOM AND UNDER-
STANDING IN THE SIGHT OF THE NATIONS, WHICH
SHALL HEAR ALL THESE STATUTES, AND SAY,
SURELY THIS GREAT NATION IS A WISE AND UN-
DERSTANDING PEOPLE. FOR WHAT NATION IS SO
GREAT, WHO HATH GOD SO NIGH UNTO THEM, AS
THE LORD OUR GOD IS IN ALL THINGS FOR WHICH
WE CALL UPON HIM? AND WHAT NATION IS THERE
SO GREAT, THAT HATH STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS
SO RIGHTEOUS AS ALL THIS LAW, WHICH I SET
ONLY TAKE HEED ΤΟ

BEFORE YOU THIS DAY?
THYSELF, AND KEEP THY SOUL DILIGENTLY, LEST
THOU FORGET THE THINGS WHICH THINE EYES
HAVE SEEN, LEST THEY DEPART FROM THY HEART
ALL THE DAYS OF THY LIFE; BUT TEACH THEM TO
THY CHILDREN, AND THY CHILDREN'S CHILDREN.

There we have an answer to the question: Does my religion, such as I have it at the present day, offer all that is required to make the life of man happy? Verily the law shall not depart from thy heart; thy children and thy children's children shall abide in it. In this spirit, also, sings the poet Asaph, "HE ESTABLISHED A TESTIMONY IN JACOB, AND APPOINTED A LAW IN ISRael, even UNTO THE LATEST GENERATIONS." (Ps. lxxviii. 5—6.)

Thus speaks also the prophet with the eagle's glance : "MY WORDS WHICH I HAVE PUT IN THY MOUTH, SHALL NOT DEPART OUT OF THY MOUTH, NOR OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THY SEED, SAITH THE LORD, FROM HENCEFORTH, ANd for ever." (Isaiah lix. 25.)

Our text gives us also the reason for this affirmative answer, while it defines the character of the law. The law breathes a wisdom, a reasonableness, which makes itself everywhere manifest. It establishes an inward relation with God; its ordinances bear the stamp of righteousness. Let us now take all this together into our consideration, taking at the same time a summary view of the law itself, and we shall have an answer to this effect: The religion which I profess gives me at the present day all that is requisite for a happy human life. Yes! to-day, and to-morrow, and to the most distant future, as long as human reason can think, as long as the human heart can love, as long as the welfare of humanity is more than a dream, as long as human virtue is more than a delusion. Let us first make a thorough acquaintance with this answer, and afterwards endeavour to lay to heart the consequences to which the answer leads. Let me request of you to listen with serious minds to a serious exhortation.

I. The feelings may mislead, and the imagination may deceive, but reason neither deceives nor misleads. I am not speaking of the reason which has a like signification with opinion, supposition, belief; of the reason which can be corrupted by inclination or circumstances; or of that which may become, by means of prejudice, actually unreasonable. Observe, I speak of the God-like faculty by which we know how to distinguish between true and false, between right and wrong; that reason which God has bestowed as a distinction upon man; as the only angel standing between the Creator and the creature, through whose means you may approach nearer to Him, and He to you.

As the eye must see, so the reason must think, examine, and investigate. It will attain to some enlightening, tranquillising conclusion, more especially on subjects the knowledge of which, concerns most nearly the man whose intellect is awakened. Man wills to know (as soon as he discovers that his habitation of flesh and blood is no prison, because he is capable of overleaping its narrow bounds)-man wills to know the origin of the great universe above and around him, and the means of its existence: he wills to know what he has to do in this vast All: what signifies the small enigma in the midst of the great one? he wills to know who traces his path; which frequently takes a totally different direction from that which he imagined or intended; in short, he wills to know what are his duties, and capabilities, and final destination. Human reason seeks for a satisfactory conclusion on these points, and as long as it has not found this conclusion, it is in want of the highest good-light. Does my religion afford this light? It does afford it. The sublime words have twice sounded forth, “LET THERE BE LIGHT!" It was on the birth-day of the physical world for the eye, and afterwards on the birthday of the spiritual world for the reason of man. if at the present day we were in possession only of the two first of the divine words spoken in Mount Sinai, thinking reason would solemnise in sisterly union with Divine revelation the brightest triumph.

"I AM THE ETERNAL."

And

Fall prostrate, ye children born of the dust! No! rather raise yourselves from your lowly birth-place.

Rise, and say with a just pride, 'There is a God, a God who has called into being the great universe, and his yet greater work, man; man to whom he has vouchsafed to communicate the knowledge of his divine existence, "I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD!" We should, however, be still without a God if we had no knowledge of Him, but as the Creator of heaven and earth. We must likewise know our relation to God, feel that we are inseparably connected with Him, and rest upon Him, as our origin and support. My friend is mine and I am His.' This thought is a real support in our life's path; and this support is offered to us. "I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD, WHO LED YOU OUT OF EGYPT."

6

The reason of man can find no repose except in the belief of a really existent God; one who lives and works, who guides and directs, the destinies of men and nations. A Divine Providence rules all things: chance, accident, and fate, are mere unmeaning words. "THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME !" One only God lives in all, and the great All is sustained by Him alone. One universal Spirit calls worlds and spirits into existence. Polytheism and idolatry, ye are vanquished together, with all your monstrous and unnatural offspring, for the thinking reason has said Amen to the great proclamation spoken on the heights of Sinai. "MAKE NO IMAGE OF THE ETERNAL GOD; SEEK NO SIMILI

TUDE FOR HIM WHO HATH NO SIMILITUDE IN HEAVEN OR ON EARTH." God is the purest Spirit, and it is only to the Spirit that we can appear; and when we bow the knee before Thee, Lord of lords, let us remember that it is our spirit only that can worship and pray to Spirit.