220 ESSAYS IN PHILOSOPHY 



impulse to bring religion and reason into harmony, 

 and is not far explicable otherwise. This history of 

 religious changes means that men are advancing, 

 steadfastly if haltingly, on the path of compre- 

 hending what reason is and what religion really is. 

 They are learning better what is truly reasonable, 

 and, at the same time, what is truly religious ; and 

 this learning is gradually putting them in mastery 

 of the relation in which reason really stands to 

 religion, and true religion to genuine reason. 



But in the course of this development, three very 

 different doctrines as to the basis for harmonising 

 reason and religion have been brought into use and 

 belief. For the sake of distinction, I will call them, 

 respectively, the Old Doctrine, the Middle Doctrine, 

 and the New Doctrine. Let me attempt to state 

 them all exactly and succinctly. 



(i) TJic Old Doctrine. — This runs to the follow- 

 ing effect : Reason and religion have an intrinsic 

 antagonism as well as a possible compatibility, and 

 their harmony, if religion is to survive, depends 

 on the submission of reason to religion as to an 

 absolute sovereign ; the harmony rests on authority. 

 Reason doubtless has its own proper province in 

 human life, and religion has likewise its province. 

 But the former is minor, subordinate, merely natural, 

 and only temporal ; while the latter is paramount, 



