RELIGION AND RATIONALISM 315 



poetry of faith, that affirms the discovery of truth in a 

 supernatural fashion, without the assistance of reason. 

 ... In this respect it is quite certain that the Christian 

 system must give way to the Monistic. ... In our 

 search for truth we have to devote ourselves solely to the 

 study of Nature." ^ 



But the Christian system of religion is something 

 which will not fall under observation of, or experiment 

 with, Nature. It deals largely with spiritual matters 

 which do not appeal to the senses. But, to say that the 

 belief in a Conscious Being we call God, which lies at 

 the basis of Religion, is not founded on reason, is not 

 true. It is the object of this book to show that many 

 lines converge to establish the belief in God by inductive 

 evidence ; for we have no other. It is, however, ample ; 

 and this process of reasoning in the spiritual world is 

 known as Faith — " the proving of things not seen," ^ i.e., it 

 is the accumulative proof or " moral conviction " of Truths 

 which cannot be brought within the sphere of the senses. 



" The idea of the good, which we call Virtue, in our 

 Monistic religion coincides for the most part with the 

 Christian idea of virtue ; viz., of the primitive and pure 

 Christianity of the first three centuries. . . . The best 

 part of Christian morality, to which we firmly adhere, is 

 represented by the humanest precepts of charity and 

 toleration, compassion and assistance." 



" However, these noble commands . . . are by no 

 means original discoveries of Christianity. They were 

 derived from earlier religions." 



" Moreover, Christian ethics was marred by the great 

 defect of a narrow insistence on altruism and a denuncia- 

 tion of egoism." ^ 



^ 0/>. cjf., p. 345. 2jjeb xi. I. 2 0/. «7., p. 346. 



