35° 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



was thought to be the essential thing for the attainment of the 



great idea. 



A brief examination of a few of the definitions just given will 

 make this clear. When one of a pre-eminently scientific cast of 

 mind comes, in self-reflection, to the moment of religious awaken- 

 ing, he at once desires to know more of self and environment, that 

 he may act with greater certainty in determining his destiny. He 

 feels destiny depends primarily on Jcnoivledge, and to him religion 

 most naturally seems what it does to Herbert Spencer, "an a priori 

 theory of the universe." To those who feel, activity based on 

 knowledge is the all-important thing. Prof. Palmer's definition 

 better expresses the essential element — " the connecting link be- 

 tween the science of ethics and the science of theology" — the 

 former giving a knowledge of one's relation to his fellows, the 

 latter of his relation to the gods, religion being the dynamic called 

 forth by this twofold knowledge of personal duty. There are 

 others, again, decidedly social in their make-up. Their chief de- 

 light is in pleasant mingling with their fellows. These, on becom- 

 ing conscious that they are the molders of their own destiny, feel 

 at once that their " salvation " depends largely on a " good-will to 

 mankind," with the acts that result therefrom. All such can 

 truly say, with Arnold, that their religious life is " ethics touched 

 by emotion." There is another class in the social organism of a 

 clinging, dependent disposition, always followers and never lead- 

 ers in life. These generally become so overwhelmed at the thought 

 of their own responsibility that they lose all confidence in their 

 own ability to choose out their own way, and at once throw them- 

 selves helpless on " the powers that be." Fate, or God, or uni- 

 verse, or anything, they would sooner rely upon than their own 

 judgment. To these religion is what Muller found it, "a feeling 

 of dependence on some one or something hot ourselves." Extreme 

 cases are better described by Schleiermacher — " absolute depend- 

 ence on something which determines us, but which we can in no 

 sense determine " (affect). 



In marked contrast to the cases already named there are those 

 whose lives are a perfect quintessence of egoism and selfishness. 

 To these religion is always a " mere covetousness, which manifests 

 itself in prayers, sacrifices, and faith." All such make Feuerbach's 

 creed theirs too, " Mann ist was er isst." A higher type of religion 

 than has been thus far named is that which feels " there is a di- 

 vinity within us that shapes our ends," and that we are all " sons 

 of the Highest." Such care not for self alone, but ever desire to 

 become more and more altruistic. They study the microcosm 

 only to more fully understand its functional place in the macro- 

 cosm. These, upon the religious awakening, have the egoistic 

 thoughts thrust aside like the drift-wood by the sea, feeling that 



