man's mind, but which will enter there as surely as he is a man.

2. The second is the idea of our dependence upon God, that He has the control of our destiny, that we are in his hands, subject to his power.

3. The third is the idea of a right which He has to prescribe the manner of our life, with the corresponding duty on our side of living agreeably to his mind.

4. And the fourth is the idea of the possibility that death may not put an end to these relations to Him, but may make them more clearly seen and felt.

What Moses added to these primitive religious conceptions constitutes the Hebrew Religion. What Christ added to them constitutes the Christian Religion. But these lie back of all outward revelation, are an interior and universal revelation, and enter into the essential nature of man.

They seem to be as truly a part of himself as his capacity to count numbers, or to enjoy what is beautiful and sublime. In the universality with which they are received, in the spontaneity with which they are apprehended, in the absolute certainty that they will occur to every reflecting mind, in the impossibility wholly to eradicate them, though we may wish and try to do it, in these facts we may see proof that these four conceptions constitute a part of the vital and indestructible substance of the soul.

Old classic history tells us that when the artist, Phidias, made his famous shield of Minerva, he engraved upon it his own image so deeply that no one could erase it without destroying the shield itself. We may say of these Four Ideas that they are so deeply engraved on the very make of the soul that they cannot be obliterated but by the destruction of the soul itself.

We may have heard it doubted whether a man, shut out from infancy from all intercourse with his fellow-beings, would have the ideas here named. I think we have but little interest to know what the result of such an experiment would be. After all it would not prove anything. Such a man might not have any idea of truth, justice, right; but it would not follow that these do not belong to us as men. Every faculty is subject to conditions of development, and will not grow without some favoring circumstances, no more than a grain of wheat can germinate on a bare rock.

But I am intent now upon setting forth the reality of these primitive religious conceptions, and the reality of the emotions and duties to which they legitimately lead.

This is no place for metaphysical argument. Learned books have been written upon each of the points under notice, by men who have devoted their life-time to devout contemplation and thought. It is not necessary that you should read them. The process may be much more short and simple, and not the less trustworthy.

Look into your own heart. Deal justly and truly with yourself. Do you doubt that you have these elemental ideas? Do you not know that you have them? Do you not feel certain that such conceptions belong to you because you are a human being, that it is the make of your mind to receive them, as truly as it is the make of your lungs to receive the air, or the make of your eye to receive the light; and that you have no more reason to suspect you have been mocked and deluded in the former case than in the two latter?

your nature.

When therefore you yield yourself to their influence, you do it because such is the make of When you think of yourself as under the protection of a Being greater and wiser than all, you do it because such is your nature. When you respond to the duty of conforming your life, so far as you can, to the wise and benignant rules which He has made known, you do it because such is your It is your nature. Let me repeat these words. Religion is not something artificial and superinduced. It is a product of your nature. Its exercises of love, joy, gratitude, trust, are all sound and healthy exercises, just as much when cherished towards a divine Benefactor and Friend, as when cherished towards an earthly benefactor and friend.

nature.

And will it do to call the sure and solid results of such a course by any other name than a reality?

If these religious emotions give you some of the sweetest hours of your life, is not that happiness a reality? If religion proves to be a friendly guide to your nature, keeps its lower passions in check, and brings out the higher capacities of your soul, is not the power that thus blesses you a reality? If religion prompts you to duties which you are prone to put off, and gives you heart and courage to perform them, is not this help a reality?

I am a young person, one may say, and like most young persons am perhaps too fond of thoughtless pleasures; and if religion makes me watchful, considerate, and saves me from those perils where so many have found their ruin, is not that power which holds me up a reality?

I am a man in business, another may say, and my mind is jaded from morning till night, year after year, by my thousand cares, and I feel my soul to be shut up and darkened, as if the walls of a prison were pressing closer and closer around me. If now I find a power in religion to break this thraldom, and to open my heart to all pure and generous pleasures, will it do to say that this is not a reality?

I look forward to the changes in my lot and in my friends that may come upon me in this changing world; is not my serene confidence and trust a reality?

I must take my turn to lie there where we must all lie on a sick and dying bed; what is it that

gives me peace and hope, takes the sting away, and makes death swallowed up of life, what is this but a reality?

I repeat it, finally, a reality. I do not know by what other name I can call it. Do you call the solid earth a reality? Do you call your physical body a reality? Do you call the property you have labored for and have treasured up a reality? Only a few years will pass away before all these shall be to you as shadows and mists of the morning, while religion will seem not merely a reality. but the only reality. It is not a vain thing, it is your life.