ever disaster it may lead, is not intrinsically shameful.

Let us examine this feeling a little. We who call ourselves Christians, for instance, are persuaded that God is a fact and a person; that that fact and person is manifested to us in Jesus Christ; that our destiny, and in some way the destiny of all men, is bound up with their relation to this manifestation of God. Now, is anything better possible for men than a doubtful feeling toward all these propositions? "Doubt crossed by faith or faith crossed by doubt," alternating between these two, is anything better really attainable? Whether anything more certain be possible or not, it is clear that men have always sought for certitude and will go on seeking for it to the end of the chapter. “Master,

show us a sign,” said one class who looked at Him; "Cast thyself down from the temple," said the devil; "Come down from the cross and we will believe," said the Jews; "Lord now speakest Thou plainly, now we know," said a set of His disciples. All through the ages men have sought to find assurance from texts, from signs, from stigmata; by means of prayer gauges, faith cures, and all sorts of similar means to remove this question from uncertainty to certainty.

Why do these means all fail, and the doubtfulness still remain? In general the answer is easy to give. It is because God corresponds to the moral side of consciousness, and not to the intel

lectual side. It is possible, and always has been, for the philosopher to be ignorant of God, and for the artisan or the little child to be certain about Him. It is not by thinking rightly, but by living rightly, that one comes to understand that complex religious truth which St. Paul calls "the knowledge of God." It would be exasperating, if it were not so pitiful, to see the reiterated attempts and reiterated failures of so many to secure religious certainty. Some of the brightest men and women seem to spend most of their time in arguing, questioning, discussing about religion. They are "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." They do not for a moment suspect the reason why, but anyone who looks at them calmly from the outside can see plainly what the difficulty in their way is. They fancy that the knowledge of God is reached by intellectual processes; the observer knows that it is attained by moral processes. These persons are setting about it the wrong way. They fail, and their failure is shameful because it is avoidable. according to the teaching of Christ and of the New Testament generally, is the ground upon which St. Paul pours contempt upon religious doubtfulness. It is because, as he declares, it is within the power of any human being to attain to a practical working certitude if he uses the proper method. "He that doeth My will shall know of My doctrine." This process cannot be

This,

may

reversed. It is idle for one to think that he stand neutral until he has discovered what the doctrine is before he undertakes to put it in practice. "To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God."

VIII.

RELIGION AND BUSINESS.

"Be not slotbful in business; be diligent in spirit, serving the Lord.-ROMANS Xii. 11.

THAT is precisely the difficulty. Is it possible for one to be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, without neglecting his business? We live in a commercial age. The most laborious master in our day is business. It is taken for granted that everything else must bend or yield or give place or get out of the way before business stress. It is thought of by many thousands of men as being, in fact, the only real thing. All other things are sentimental; good in their way, but not the prime thing. But "business is business," and all else must give place. Of course there is a good side to this. This intense practicalness is the characteristic of that race which has become dominant in the earth. It has been able to dominate because it has been able to pursue a business steadfastly. Nothing would be more futile than to inveigh against the spirit of any age. It is too strong to be turned backward; and, in the long run, it works its purpose and does God's will. But the commercial spirit of our age and country carries with it very serious

perils. I call your attention briefly to some of these.

It is lamented by many that romance has taken its departure from actual life; that art does not flourish; that we have no great paintings or statues or buildings-for the alleged reason that men are too busy to look at them, and because they value their money for commercial purposes so highly that they are not willing to spend it upon art. It is said, and we fancy with some truth, that the philosophical lawyer is disappearing and the man of business is taking his place; that the erudite physician is becoming scarce, and the practitioner is taking his place; that the skilled artisan, who made an art of his craft, has been supplanted by a "base mechanical," who can only do some portion of a trade, and has neither pleasure nor pride in it. It is pointed out that the charm of woman is disappearing. She expresses herself in businesslike habits and tailor-made garments, thus unwittingly giving in her adhesion to the business-like spirit of the age. It is said that men's gallantry is disappearing, because men are too busy to be polite and woman are growing too practical to care whether they are or not. I do not affirm that these opinions are true. It looks as though they were to a considerable extent, at any rate. Even if they are not absolutely true, they mark tendencies which it is well to consider.