religion through the ages, and learn to judge of its various forms or types or products in the light of the stages of culture to which they belong. Since the idea of development has entered into modern thought so fully as to reconstruct the entire reading of human history, we have been learning that the principle applies to spiritual things as well as to physical. Hence we now conceive that religion itself is a phase of man's development, although it is impossible to tell at what point it first appears along the upward pathway on which he has slowly climbed from the orders of life below him. If we bear in mind that development in this, as in other respects, is not all one way,—that there are often lapses, declines, retrogressions; in other words, that there is such a thing as degeneration in the spiritual as well as the physical life of man,-if we take due account of this fact, and so correct our easy generalizations, we may still properly say that, viewed as a whole, religion has undergone a vast development in passing from its lowest to its highest stages. Instantly, however, we must remind ourselves that there are still in existence, among the different tribes and races, all the various degrees of advancement, from the crudest to the most refined, which we suppose to have been covered in the case of any given highly-developed type of religion. So there is no single universal religion yet; whether any extant religion is capable of becoming universal is another question.14 Dr. George Galloway in his recent volume in the International Theological Library series, entitled "The Philosophy of Religion" (Scribner's, 1914), points out that there have been three main stages in the development of religion, so far as we know enough about it historically to judge. "The first and earliest known to us is Spiritism, the primitive form of belief out of which all higher religion has grown. Then follows Polytheism, the religion of the nation in contrast to the tribe: a stage of religion which was Now while it is evident that any particular type of religion can be fairly judged only in the light of the conditions under which it appears, the state of backwardness or advancement in culture which forms its matrix, so to speak, we must remember that the true nature of essential religion is to be found upon its highest levels rather than upon its lowest. It is a mistake to suppose that we shall best understand the real character of religion by observing it, or reading about it as others have observed it, among savages or semi-civilized peoples. Not so do we judge of art or science or family life or human government. A tree is known by its fruits rather than by its roots. If we want to understand the full meaning of religion, its most vital power and its greatest blessedness, let us seek it among the noblest and wisest, the sanest and purest men and women. Other things, indeed, will have helped to make them noble and wise, sane and pure; but when religion is developed and refined to such a degree of spiritual perfection as to blend with all these other influences and to find a fit abode in such worthy souls,-yea, even to be, itself, the principal factor in making them what they have become, we may see reached on the formation of the larger national States some time before the clear light of history. Finally comes Monotheism, a spiritual faith which goes beyond the limits of the nation, and, in its Christian form, out of the dissolution of the national States of the old world has become a Universal Religion. These three stages of religion mark an ascending scale of life, and therefore of human needs and of the objects which satisfy these needs. A gradual purification and refinement of religious values are visible. The development is from the sensuous to the spiritual, from the desire of outward things to the consciousness that the highest goods are the goods of the soul. Hence, underlying the evolution of religion and working through it, is the growth of self-consciousness, the personal development of man."-Pp. 242, 243. most clearly its true nature and worth. In the light of this thought it is gratifying and inspiring to know that religion among ourselves is at present rising to a higher level. It is steadily purifying itself from superstitions and errors in thought; it is becoming more enlightened, nor yet less reverent; it is becoming infused with the ethical and philanthropic spirit, so that a veritable passion for social betterment is everywhere possessing it; and it is reaching out to the uttermost ends of the earth, and to the lowliest and neediest of all lands, with its proffer of truth and love; yea, it even embraces in the scope of its faith and hope and promise of redemption the whole family of mankind "in heaven and on earth." In other words, religion in our time is coming to be rationalized, moralized, spiritualized and vitalized; and thereby it holds out the promise and potency of a better life for our world, to be slowly but surely won in the ages to come. 4. Finally, we may be perfectly confident that the future will have its religion. It may not be exactly like any type of religion which has prevailed in the past; but the instinct will not die out of the human heart which prompts man to aspire and yearn, which makes him feel the solemn mystery and wonder of existence, which creates within him a hunger for truth and goodness and love and holiness, and which impels him to seek some sort of communion with the Unseen Power that enfolds and interpenetrates his own life and that he has learned to call the Living God. Ideas and doctrines may change, as learning and experience may modify them; so may rites and ceremonies, social customs and institutions: but the inner, underlying spirit which makes us all at least dimly aware that we have spiritual aptitudes and sustain spiritual relations, and thus awakens within us a feeble or a vivid consciousness of our kinship with the Eternal Spirit-"the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are children of God," 15-this is as imperishable as the human personality of which it is a part. "I think man's soul dwells nearer to the east, But faith and wonder and the primal earth 15 Rom. viii :16. 16 Lowell, The Cathedral. Ο II WHAT IS THE VALIDITY OF FAITH? UR study thus far has shown that religion in its vital essence is instinctive, universal and very potent in the life of mankind; that therefore we may rightly hold it to be as natural as love or reason or the moral apprehension; and that it thus becomes a living dynamic, as real and significant in the spiritual realm as is gravity or electricity in the material. If these conclusions are thoroughly tenable, they carry a couple of corollaries which deserve a moment's attention. 1. The basis of all religious inquiry must be human nature. Formerly it was customary to begin a discussion of religious matters by considering the teachings of the Bible and the attributes of God. But of course this method of reasoning assumes the existence of God and the truthfulness, somehow, of the teachings of the Bible; whereas we no longer think it warrantable to take these important postulates for granted, but must first find support for them in the depths of human nature, the one field which yields us our most immediate and sure knowledge. Indeed it is our thought that man himself is the chief revelation of whatever spiritual· significance the universe affords; humanity is the principal interpreter of Deity; out of the profound experiences of human life all sacred scriptures are born, how |