418 RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE: PERSONAL 



partially, at least, disengaging himself from the society of which he 

 was but a particle. Now he becomes truly conscious of himself, of 

 his individual powers and privileges. God is his own God, and reli- 

 gious obligations and practices become at length individualized. New 

 responsibilities are born to him, and from Deity he cannot flee, 

 though he " take the wings of the morning." 



Whether religion be viewed subjectively, as thoughts concerning 

 the spirit world, or objectively, as the practices and organizations that 

 have grown out of the religious sense, that is, whether as creed 

 or as cult, its influence upon personal life has been incalculable. 

 Mr. Benjamin Kidd, in his Social Evolution, finds religion to be the 

 central feature in the development of human society. With yet 

 greater force may it be claimed that religion has been the most 

 influential factor in the development of the individual life. The 

 problem of society must always be the problem of the individual. 



First allow me to say that religion is the great unifying and har- 

 monizing force in the personal life. 



Speaking teleologically, it is the business of religion to bring a 

 man en rapport with deity. Religion, as " the life of God in the soul 

 of man," removes the individual from what would otherwise be an 

 isolated and self-centred life into one which is Deo-centric. The 

 spirit world and the spirit life become to him intense realities. God 

 becomes the common denominator in all his relations. Religion can 

 never be adequately conceived of as a single department of human 

 interest. It is the underlying and unifying fact in all the depart- 

 ments of life. The lowest savage eats, dresses, hunts, kindles his 

 fire, marries his wife, wages his wars does everything in the name 

 of his god; and one of the most enlightened of religious teachers 

 enjoins " whether, therefore, ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, 

 do all to the glory of God." Here we have from widely separated 

 sources a recognition of the fundamental and unifying fact of reli- 

 gion. It is in man's God-consciousness alone that he can find the 

 ultimate harmonizing of all his thoughts, powers, and strivings. 

 Atheism and irreligion can furnish no rational basis for the funda- 

 mental unity of things. 



" Though truths in manhood darkly join, 



Deep-seated in our mystic frame, 



We yield all blessings to the name 



Of Him who made them current coin." 



Religion has always involved belief in a certain solidarity of God 

 with his worshipers. It makes no difference whether this sense 

 of solidarity arose from the belief in blood kinship between the god 

 and his people or in more ethical conceptions, religion always implies 

 the bringing of God and man into proper relations with each other. 



It is in this belief that there is an unseen one with which man has 



