INTRODUCTION 



of altruistic feeling has been slowly funded in the 

 race by Nature, or through Nature, and as the 

 direct and inevitable result of that Struggle for 

 the Life of Others, which has been from all 

 time a condition of existence. What religion has 

 done to build up this fund, it may not be within 

 the scope of this introductory volume to inquire ; 

 it has done so much that students of religion may 

 almost be pardoned the oversight of the stupendous 

 natural basis which made it possible. But nothing 

 is gained by protesting that " this altruistic de- 

 velopment, and the deepening and softening of 

 character which has accompanied it, are the direct 

 and peculiar product of the religious system." For 

 nothing can ever be gained by setting one half of 

 Nature against the other, or the rational against the 

 ultra-rational. To affirm that Altruism is a peculiar 

 product of religion is to excommunicate Nature from 

 the moral order, and religion from the rational 

 order. If science is to begin to recognize religion, 

 religion must at least end by recognizing science. 

 And so far from religion sacrificing vital distinc- 

 tions by allying itself with Nature, so far from 

 impoverishing its immortal quality by accepting 

 some contribution from the lower sphere, it thereby 

 extends itself over the whole rich field, and claims 

 all — matter, life, mind, space, time — for itself The 



