232 SCIENCE AND THE HUMAN MIND 



leaders of religious thought in accordance with the 

 sudden expansion in the domain of natural know- 

 ledge. In place of the theory of a rigid and 

 complete body of doctrine, delivered once for all 

 to the Saints a theory constantly liable to dis- 

 location from the shocks of historical discovery 

 we gain the conception of an evolution of religious 

 ideas, of revelation if we will, marked by supreme 

 outpourings at certain times, but never ceasing to 

 interpret the Will of God to mankind. The gift 

 of prophecy is restored to us. We are driven back 

 to that observational method in religion which has 

 proved so necessary in science, to the study and 

 recognition of the validity of individual religious 

 experience, to the mystical standpoint, which once 

 again proves a sure rock of defence. 



Finally, we are led to the careful consideration of 

 religious origins, to the reverent examination of those 

 primitive religions through which the " heathen in 

 his blindness " teaches civilized man the psychological 

 meaning of his own ritual and his own creeds, and to 

 the exploration of the unknown, transcendental and 

 subliminal manifestation of the human mind of 

 which traces are to be found in nearly all societies, 

 religions and races. But the outcome of these re- 

 searches belongs to a later phase of human thought, 

 and will be dealt with in the next chapter. 



