Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 1.pdf/70

 widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (i. 27.) We cannot mistake the apostle in this beautiful and simple definition of religion; for religion to be pure must be grounded in a pure love of God, and to love God is to love all that is good and just, holy and true. From this necessarily springs a universal charity or good-will to all mankind, for this surely encloses all that the apostle means by visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction. The true Christian, imbued with love and charity, and delighting to walk humbly with God, will take no delight in nursing iniquities and cherishing sins, but will rather exert the power with which the Lord has blessed him to keep himself unspotted from the world, as well as from those stains of pollution which destroy his peace and separate him from God. Religion! blessed word, is a steady and undeviating effort of mind to "do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God." (Micah vi. 8.) This religion consists in constantly shunning evil and doing good; therefore be it ever impressed upon our minds that "religion has relation to life, and the life of religion is to do good." There may be a professing Church without religion, but there can be no religion without a church, for the church is so called from doctrine, but religion is so called from life according to doctrine. The soul of man is bound to the Lord, not by knowledge, but by a life according to knowledge: hence the impressive nature of the Lord's words, "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke vi. 46.) "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." (John xiii. 17.) Yes: it is a clear truth that happiness