HARLAN T. STETSON 227 



assets and liabilities of the tenets of an inherited faith 

 on the one hand, and the molding Influences of science 

 on the other. 



The pragmatic value of almost every system of re- 

 ligion lies at least in part in the ability of the religious 

 outlook to focus a man's attention upon forces out- 

 side of himself, and presumably beyond his control, 

 to mold his future. Whether such influences have been 

 for good or evil has largely been responsible for cour- 

 age or fear, or for resignation in meeting the kalei- 

 doscopic events of existence. We find, therefore, tra- 

 ditional religions developing certain ecclesiastical 

 regimes designed to win the approval of a benevolent 

 Being, on the one hand, or to appease malevolent 

 spirits on the other. So far as religion has tended to 

 make the most of itself through Its appeal to idealism, 

 it has been and always will be an asset in developing a 

 satisfactory philosophy of living. So far as certain 

 religious practices have made one introspective and 

 superstitious the value of Its psychology may be de- 

 bated. It is in this respect that science has done much 

 to orient the individual In the cosmic scheme and to 

 dispel foreboding superstitions. Science and super- 

 stition can never dwell under the same roof, as the 

 one is the embodiment of knowledge and the other the 

 personification of ignorance. 



It is perhaps inevitable that nearly every form of 

 religion should center about a deified personality. It 

 is the kind of conception of this deified personality 

 whith has characterised and distinguished the various 

 religions of the world from the totem worship of 

 primitive man to the great religions of the east repre- 



