What is of use to a man comes upon the plane of his consciousness, not merely above it, or below it. We may regard Religion from different points of view, and give corresponding names to our partial conceptions, which we have purposely limited, and so speak of natural and revealed Religion; Monotheistic, Polytheistic, or Pantheistic, Pagan, Jewish, Christian, Mahometan Religion. But in these cases the distinction, indicated by the terms, belongs to the thinker's mind, not to Religion itself, the object of thought. Historical phenomena of Religion vary in the more and less. Some express it purely and beautifully; others mingle foreign emotions with it, and but feebly represent the pious feeling.
To determine the question what is Absolute, that is,
perfect Religion, Religion with no limitation, we are not to
gather to a focus the scattered rays of all the various forms
under which Religion has appeared in history, for we can
never collect the Absolute from any number of imperfect
phenomena; and, besides, in making the search and forming
an eclecticism from all the historical religious phenomena,
we presuppose in ourselves the criterion by which they
are judged, namely, the Absolute itself, which we seek to
construct, and thus move only in a circle, and end where
we began. To answer the question, we must go back to
the primitive facts of religious consciousness within us.
Then we find religion is voluntary obedience to the law
of God, inward and outward obedience to that law he has
written on our nature, revealed in various ways through
Instinct, Reason, Conscience, and the Religious emotions.
Through it we regard Him as the absolute object of Reverence,
Faith, and Love.[1] This obedience may be unconsci-
- ↑ The above definition or Idea of Religion is not given as the only or the best that can possibly be given, but simply as my own, the best I can find. If others have a better I shall rejoice at it. I will give some of the more striking definitions that have been set forth by others. Plato: “ A Likeness to God, according to our ability.” John Smith: “God is First Truth and Primitive Goodness. True Religion is a vigorous efflux and emanation of both upon the Spirit of man, and therefore is called a Participation of the Divine Nature. … Religion is a heaven-born thing; the seed of God in the spirits of men whereby they
as old as the time of Origen. But it is evidently a distinction in form not in substance. The terms seem to have risen from taking an exclusive view of some positive and historical form of religion. All religions claim to have been miraculously revealed.
