RELIGION A SOCIOLOGICAL NECESSITY 533 



inequality of men, and the division of labour, which is its natural 

 consequence, require a sanction which is not inherent in society, 

 but which transcends and surpasses it. 



Approaching the matter from the converse point of view, we 

 arrive at a similar result ; if the primary law of hfe be that 

 of expansion, the sanction which confers the greatest value on 

 individual life must be one which is in harmony with this law. 

 And it is precisely by means of reUgious beUef that the full 

 measure of human expansion can be realised ; for, if we take 

 away from humanity the beHefs which respond to the needs of 

 the emotional nature, we restrict thereby the expansion of 

 that nature, and we reduce correspondingly the value of life. 

 But the behef, or supra-rational principle, as we have termed it, 

 which alone can afford adequate satisfaction to the needs of 

 the emotional nature, must be a social behef ; for if we take away 

 from the supra-rational principle its basis of universality, and 

 hmit it to the individual, we take away at the same time its 

 whole supra-rational foimdation. Detached from its natural 

 basis, idealism is merely rationahsm ; a supra- rational ideal, 

 which is to satisfy the needs of the emotional nature, must 

 necessarily be beyond the individual, and it must necessarily 

 transcend the limits of the individual. Thus, whether we 

 consider the needs of the individual or the needs of society, 

 the necessity of rehgion as a sociological factor appears clear 

 to us. 



But if every religion, by the very fact of its being based 

 on supra-rational principles ; by the very fact of its appealing to 

 an ideal which is superior to individual reason ; by the very fact 

 that it assumes as conditio sine qua non a sanction which imphes 

 a prolongation of individual hfe, which appeals from the indi- 

 vidual to the whole, which is superior to the individual ; if, we 

 repeat, every rehgion is thus based on universahty — as distinct 

 from individuaUty — as an essential condition ; what does this 

 mean ? Does it not clearly mean that every religion is hy its 



