THE object of morality is always something useful, and those are proper moral acts which compass such utility. Man has no obligation whatever to do the useless; for things that are of no advantage to him are not likely to be of any to God. Ceremonies, of whatever kind, may, therefore, in general, be dispensed with in morality, as of no practical relevancy. Man does not need them, and cannot use them; and what is foolishness to man is not likely to be wisdom to God. There are so many needful things in life that we have no time to do the needless. If they are entertaining, we may practice them as amusements; but we ought not to look upon them as obligations, our ability for which is all taken up by more weighty affairs. To cheat God with empty acts, when we owe him substantial service, ought not to be considered virtue; nor to neglect our plain duty to our fellow for a vague one to God, to be piety. Many things pass for religion that ought to pass for nonsense; and many things are neglected as secular which ought to be attended to as moral. Nothing practical can be ignored as worldly; nothing useless observed as sacred. Sanctity ought to be as sensible as worldliness, and religion as business. Men ought not to be blind when they attend this duty, and seeing when they attend to their interest. God and men require wisdom of us, as well as self, and are as able as we to distinguish it from folly. To think to put off on others what we will not take for ourselves is not sharpness, any more than it is honesty; for the parties interested will no more be cheated in religion than in trade. One might think, from the trivial and useless service given to God, that he is in sport; and from what we give to men, that they are children. Why men should palm off a sham for what they consider the most important interest of life is a great mystery; and they should try to deceive God, rather than man, with shoddy, a great wonder. Give God his dues in solid coin, and not in depreciated currency; and man nothing less than you give yourself. Religion has often been made of the flimsiest stuff—materials that could not be used in business. Virtue, it has seemed to some, can be made out of worse materials than anything else valuable, and by using less of it. Men think to put it off with the refuse of life—with the odds and ends of moments—instead of their substantial conduct. Actions so weak and aimless that they produce nothing in any other department of activity are believed to produce much in religion; and states of mind that are worth nothing for anything else are supposed to be good for religion. We need to work more of the substance of life into religion, and make our morality of the best materials and in full quantities.—Independent.