286 GENERAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



vision of the infinite God walking among finite men, and working in 

 and with them. 



Let us now consider three specific points at which religion may 

 reinforce morality. And may I ask you to observe if it be not true 

 that the help that religion is, or should be, best able to supply, is the 

 very help that morality most urgently requires. 



First, obedience and fidelity. Obedience, particularly in the sense 

 of fidelity to the inner law, is the primal fact in morality. It is a 

 weak point in current morals. It is also a primal fact in religion, 

 and if I mistake not, a decidedly weak point in current religious life. 

 The trouble seems to lie with that which is at the heart of obedience, 

 namely, belief. For there is an intimate relation between obedience 

 and belief as is thus set forth by Professor Giddings, 1 "The whole 

 development of personality presupposes certain beliefs and obedi- 

 ences. All of that wise determining power which is characteristic of 

 personality implies certain beliefs in regard to the world wherein man 

 finds himself, and certain obediences, corresponding to the beliefs." 



How, in the modern world of scientific proofs, of shaken creeds, 

 and of weakened authority, are we to cultivate the tender plants of 

 obedience and faith? First, let us answer, by standing out of the way. 

 Faith is a natural function. We are, as a rule, " born believing." 

 And we keep on believing until something makes us cease believing. 

 The teacher cannot create faith; but unfortunately he can obstruct 

 it. When we see that floating away which we were taught was solid 

 rock, we naturally ask, Will this float away, too? Is there any 

 rock? The trouble is that, as Paulsen puts it, the demand has been 

 made " in the name of religion, that men subject themselves, not 

 to the commands of God, but to human dogmas." 2 It is neces- 

 sary to make a distinction between those beliefs which are forever 

 firm, and those doctrinal tenets w r hich, while they possess value for us 

 and have been held by many, continually require reinterpretation 

 and adjustment. " I believe in God " is an example of the former; 

 " born of the Virgin Mary," of the latter. Ruthlessly to clear the 

 decks and throw overboard what does not at the moment seem to 

 have use or meaning is not less unwise and unwarranted than to 

 confound shifting doctrines with perdurable certainties. " Teach 

 nothing as essential that is not so," is another form of stating this 

 important principle. " Leave the way open for adjustments and 

 interpretations, while holding fast to the thing itself," is another. 

 " Religion," says Paulsen in his rare way, " does not demand that we 

 think what cannot be thought, but that we believe what satisfies the 

 heart and the will, and does not contradict reason." 3 



1 Principles of Sociology, p. 395. 



2 Introduction to Philosophy, p. 334. 



3 Loc. cit. 



