The Sphere of Re/igion 273 



religion is the spring of all efforts after harmony both in our souls 

 and in our conscience. Yet even this would not be of any value as 

 a means of distinguishing religious from non-religious phenomena. 

 Religious phenomena are not, as a matter of fact, all reality, but 

 the very special and limited part of it vi^hich we call sacred ; and, 

 moreover, we respond even to that by a very specialised kind 

 of reaction. Finally, in any case, it is not a test we could apply 

 to anyone's religion except our own ; and it would require a 

 self-knowledge few possess to apply it even there. 



The other form of this generalising view of religious faith is 

 that it is the harmony of all our powers. Though different in 

 form, this theory is an attempt to express the same truth about 

 religion, that it is very widely concerned with experience and 

 touches our minds in many ways. Both theories are probably 

 rather judgements of what religion ought to be than definitions of 

 what it is ; and this latter view in particular is the expression of 

 minds more anxious to shun excess than to understand enthusiasm. 

 As a psychological mark, who is to say when the powers of mind 

 are in harmonious balance .? And if we succeeded, would not a 

 vast amount of very vital religion be excluded ? And with this 

 care about the balance of our powers, would what remained be 

 particularly religious .? 



Probably both theories are determined by the same idea, which 

 is not so much to find a mark of religion, as to discover a standard 

 of validity. Thus, they are rather theories of knowledge than 

 theories of religion, or only theories of religion in so far as they 

 agree with the theories discussed above that the source of religion 

 must be one with the source of the knowledge of reality. What the 

 theories really set forth is the view that we have a right to believe 

 in anything which has on its side our whole experience and which 

 we have tested with all our mental powers. This is important in 

 its own place, but it is not a mark by which we can distinguish 

 religion. It is rather a confession of inability to find any special 

 aspect of mind which would serve as such a test, and it ends, as the 

 other theories do, in directing attention to the objective reality 

 with which religion deals as the essential mark of religion. 



4. Religion as a Form of Illusion 

 A still newer type of theory claims to determine the whole 

 character of religion psychologically by denying its validity. It 



