Men have too often been faint-hearted for the safety of vital religion. If by true religion they mean this or that human scheme or system of opinions, they have reason to be so; for let them be assured it shall pass away.

But if you

look beyond what is human, and have the simple belief that there is such a thing as God's own truth, power, and life, then bid hence doubts and fears. Human theories and Church forms will fade, will pass away; but God's redeeming mercy will remain in all its purity and power.

Not only is the power of God unto salvation independent of its friends, but unconquerable by its foes. Men have tried to oppose the march of God's kingdom upon earth. "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers took counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed." All they did was to frighten the poor Churches of those dayspossibly purge them a little; for people sought the peace of the Gospel then and after, as much as ever. Then intellectual power tried to turn the truth of God into a lie, played for a while at word-juggling, and spread consternation among a few of the more faint-hearted. Yet the word of Christ lives to-day; and all that the world knows of these gymnasts, is a few of their tricks which the pages of history have recorded. In their day, they were looked upon as mighty foes and bold destroyers, just as a few of the theories and opinions of the present are thought to endanger the vitality of salvation. Oh! it is time we had faith in God and His work. Let men "play their fantastic tricks" in or out of religion; they will do no harm. In a few years they and their tricks will have passed away, and the love of Jesus Christ and the power of God will be ever the same. Men and their opinions grow and decay like the trees of the forest, rise and fall like the tides of the ocean, and the old earth ever remains; much more the righteousness of God. "All flesh"-its whole paraphernalia, its ways, its thoughts, its loves, its hates"is as grass, and the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever."

II. THE GRASS WITHERETH, THE FLOWER FADETH; AND Sso, TOO, WILL THE EARTH OUT OF WHICH THEY SPRING. It "shall wax old like a garment." To the same intent speaks science. The earth has grown like everything else. It, too, shall reach a point of maturity and then slowly descend the path of decay. When we consider how intimately the Christian religion is connected with the events, the places, the form, the history of this earth, we become somewhat curious to know if the two will share the same fate. So intimately connected are they that the one was made for the other. We are told that not only were all things made by Jesus Christ, but also for Him. This earthly scene was planned and decorated, to show through His a Father's sacrificing love. Accordingly, He wove into His whole teaching the facts of nature and the events of society. He made nature speak much of the message He had to bring to man. The lily as it nodded in the breeze; the sower as he scattered the grain; the sheep browsing on the hill-side, and the net of the fisher on the sea-shore, uttered each its own part of His message. The fierce hurricane of midnight and the thunder-storm of mid-day also told for Jesus Christ their tale to the world. So much so, that up to the present day almost all our religion seems to be inextricably interwoven with surrounding nature. We have often to go there for testimonies to its genuineness, for explanation of its truths, and for application of its doctrines.

But the time will come when this earth "shall wax old like a garment." Will religion wax old too? When the aged planet's voice is low and indistinct, will the truth of God also be less clear and defined? When the old earth can no longer yield fair lilies, nor even thirty-fold to the sower; when all its works, instead of showing order and harmony, look worn and used-up; the machinery working slower and signs of dissolution multiplying; when its lessons are no longer true and its instructions no longer edifying; when this part of God's revelation becomes lame and useless-will His truth have become any more obscure or His Gospel more

unintelligible? I trow not. The world, in its youth and beauty, was but a great symbol. The symbol is gone; the truth remains. Already, men are telling us that the earth is not what it was once thought to be; that there was no universal flood; that it was not created in six days; that it is more than six thousand years old. Be it so. These are only a few details about the coat of many colors-they touch not the living heart beneath. Let that many colored symbol fade and pass away, yet the great spiritual life that dwelt beneath throbs strong as ever.

The time may come when the resources of earth may be dried up; not so the resources of Heaven. There may be no sunshine to cheer the earth; there will be sunshine for the hearts of men;-no dew to refresh a thirsty earth; there will be life-giving dew for the soul of man. Earth may have lost her scenes of beauty and places of delight; but for the weary son of man, there will be the unfading glory and charms of the Son of God.

Let the last day come, with its weapons of destruction to toss aside the old earth and all that is upon it. Let its death-throes shake to the foundations every house of prayer, every benevolent institution, every edifice that has been raised by enterprise for Christian objects. Let tract societies, Bible societies, missionary societies, all be swept away with the besom of destruction, and all religious books sent up in one great flame. Let the last day come, when never more shall be heard the chime of the Sabbath bell; when the last word of the preacher shall have been uttered, and the last Sabbath spent; when all creeds, all sects, all theologies are at an end; when the wondrous land on which a Redeemer's feet trod is no more; no Bethlehem, no Jerusalem, no Calvary. Yet that, of which all these were but the outer covering, still exists; that, for which all Christian institutions were reared, for which the Sabbath bell chimed, of which the preacher spoke, upon which all creeds and beliefs were founded—the salvation of men through Jesus Christ, shines brighter than Draw aside the curtain, and as far as the eye can reach, you behold a multitude which no man can number

ever.

the redeemed children of the old earth.

There, too, is the

heavenly and eternal Jerusalem; there is the Babe of Bethlehem and the Lamb of Calvary in the midst. Let the old rag of a tattered earth fly now, at its will, through space. Its work is done. Upon its platform hath God redeemed His people, and they reign kings and priests for ever.

III. OVER THE WHOLE EARTH BROODS THE MIGHTY LAW OF CHANGE. Everywhere there are births and dissolutions. Almost everything yields to its power. From the tiny flower, to the huge mountain; from the life of the insect that is born and dies in a day, to the life of men, of nations, of the whole world. The dominion of the changeable, however, is not confined to this world; it extends to all worlds. Like a huge, universal canker, it makes blots on the brightest suns, unfixes fixed stars, and in its slow march, through incalculable myriads of ages, shall extinguish one by one those countless lights of the midnight firmament. The time will come when not only the earth but the heavens shall grow old; when the celestial fires shall burn more dimly; when system after system shall pass away; when throughout the great firmamament there shall be seen no longer the endless array of the sparkling gems of countless worlds, only a little far-off smoke, or a few faint streaks of the dying embers of a dead universe.

And why should it remain any longer when a grander universe has begun ? The work of the old one is done. It came into being only to speak the great truths of God. It has done so; let it pass. Its bright suns, the centres of life and light, all spoke of one Eternal Sun from whom comes all life and all light. Its planets, each in its appointed orbit, each with its own work to do, each with its own size and form, each depending upon the one centre, all sung of the true life of man, that its course is only along one path, and that path only and always around one centre. The old universe came speaking of better things to come. Its fading glory spoke of an eternal glory; its changing light of an unchanging light; its meagre life of a fulness of life. But now, that glory is attained, that light now shines; that

life now lives.

The scattered, wandering sons of earth have all come back to their centre-all revolve in a true orbit. Let the changing, decaying systems of the old universe now disappear; their existence would be but a mockery beside the one everlasting system of Righteousness. Let all that must pass away now pass. The watchword is, "For ever and ever," for ever one system, one will, one obedience, one atmosphere of love.

"Unto what," said our Lord, "shall we liken the kingdom of God?" Unto a grain of mustard seed put into the earth. The least of all seeds, it groweth up the greatest of all herbs. I know not what could have had a smaller beginning, or to the eye of man a meaner origin than the Gospel of Jesus Christ upon earth-the least of all seeds planted. But it has grown; it still struggles to grow in your hearts, in the heart of the world. It shall grow and live to tower above and beyond the world; to grow when all things else fade; to flourish in perennial beauty when all things else are crushed in the grasp of death.

When it

There is in every one a desire to have a part in that immortality; a desire to be connected with that strong arm that can raise him safe out of the wrecks of ages. utters itself in your heart, do not crush it down. It is the still small voice of your immortal spirit telling you that it is not connected with the passing things of earth, but with that righteousness and salvation which shall outlive them all. To give you that germ of immortality has Jesus Christ come. Accept of the salvation He offers you, and you will then have implanted within you God's righteousness, which will be a light to guide you in this dark world; an ark of safety when the last flood of destruction envelopes the earth; an everlasting rock in the presence of God, where you may repose in peace and safety for ever. DAVID JOHNSON, M.A.

* This Sermon was delivered in the ordinary course of the ministry of the late gifted Pastor of Castle Street Congregational Church, Dundee. He died at the early age of twenty-five, but has left proofs of his success as a student and of his high qualifications to do service to the Christian Church.