The Hearts of Men opens with the follow- 

 ing quotation from Anon : " The difficulty of 

 framing a correct definition of religion is very 

 great. Such a definition should apply to nothing 

 but religion, and should differentiate religion 

 from anything else as, for example, from imagi- 

 native idealization, art, morality, philosophy. It 

 should apply to everything which is naturally 

 and commonly called religion; to religion as a 

 subjective spiritual state, and to all religions, high 

 or low, true or false, which have obtained ob- 

 jective historical realization." 



Do Fielding's definitions comply with these re- 

 quirements, the soundness of which can not be 

 questioned ? I think not. His best definition, and 

 that of Max Muller also, must, I fear, be classed 

 as " imaginative idealizations." 



Before going further I wish to postulate two 

 things : First, the imperfection of our senses, and, 

 secondly, that all religions, so-called true or false, 

 whether based on pure ascetic philosophy or on 

 the crudest superstition and ignorance, are vir- 

 tually an attempt to solve the connection of hu- 

 manity with the hereafter and the unknown. The 



36 



