RIGHT RELA TION OF REASON TO RELIGION 267 



the light that is within him. More and ever more 

 toward dominance grows the Method of Reason 

 in religion. 



Now let us test, then, this instinctive drift of 

 human nature by the standards of our disciplined 

 and critical reflexion. These will show us, I am 

 sure, that the instinctive movement is neither acci- 

 dental, capricious, nor transient, but represents the 

 profound and lasting judgment of our intelligence. 

 We shall arrive at our desired proof that human rea- 

 son is not a circumscribed power, confined to judg- 

 ments within the world of sensible experience alone, 

 but is as wide in its scope as all possible reality, and 

 in fact has for its supreme and most appropriate ob- 

 ject the world of the spirit, the society of all spirits, 

 and God as central therein. In short, we shall obtain 

 the proof- that essential reason is directed upon the 

 things of religion. 



Religion, in its broadest but shallowest definition, 

 is the recognition and obedience of the supernatural 

 Power supposed the Cause and Controller of all things ; 

 religious life is fed by communion with this Power, 

 and directed into courses corresponding to the con- 

 ception which the worshipper has of the nature and 

 the character of the Power, This definition will fit 

 any and every religion alike, and is therefore of cor- 

 respondingly minor significance. But in the present 

 discussion we have no need, any more than we have 



