RELIGION
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RELIGION
commands. This was even true of circumcision,
which, while being a mutilation of a minor sort (the
only form of mutilation tolerated in the Old Law),
was given a highly moral signification, and made to
serve as the token of God's covenant with Abraham
and his descendants. The Sabbath rest, transferred
in Christianity to Sunday, is Ukewise based on an
express Divine command. To this class of external
acts of homage belong also the various forms of
asceticism that prevail in many religions. Such are
the restrictive works of piety involving inconvenience,
pain, and abstinence from legitimate enjoyments,
voluntarily undertaken with the view to merit a
larger share of Divine favour and to secure more than
ordinary sanctity and perfection. In the lower reli-
gions the ascetic tendency has often degenerated into
repulsive forms of mortification based on purely selfish
ends. In Christianity the various forms of self-denial,
particularly the counsels of perfection (poverty,
chastity, and obedience) cultivated in the spirit of
Divine love, have led to the flourishing of the ascetic
life within the limits of true religious propriety.
(c) Regulation of Conduct within the Recognized Sphere of Moral Obligation. — The class of acts which fall within its sphere implies that the sovereign Deity is the guardian of the moral law. Moral duties, to the extent that they are recognized, are viewed as Divine commands. Their fulfilment merits Divine approval and reward; their violation entails Divine punishment. Unfortunately the moral standard of peoples in lower grades of culture has been as a rule grossly defective. Many things shocking to our moral sense have been done by them without the con- sciousness of wrong-doing. Being generally given to incontinence, polygamy, deeds of violence, and even to cannibalism, they have naturally attributed the same sentiments and practices to their gods. The rehgious sanction thus conceived lends strength to both the good and the evil side of their imperfect standard of conduct. While it helps them to avoid certain gross forms of wrong-doing, patent even to minds of low intelligence, it encourages the con- tinued practice of vicious indulgences that otherwise might be more easily outgrown. This is particularly the case where these excesses have been woven into the myths of the gods and the legends of deified heroes, or have been incorporated into the religious rites and become, as it were, inviolable. This explains how, for example, among peoples so highly civilized as the Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans, certain lascivious rites could hold their own in the sacred liturgy, and also how, in the worship of the Aztec god of war, human sacrifices with cannibal feasts could prevail to so shocking a degree. In this re- spect the religious systems of lower grades of culture have tended to retard reform and progress towards higher standards of conduct. It has been the glory of the religion of Christ that, starting with the highest ethical principles, it has pointed out to men the true path to moral and spiritual perfection, and given the most powerful aids to the successful pursuit of this lofty ideal.
(2) Manifestations of Divine Good Will.— Re- ligion is something more than the attempt of man to secure communion with God. It is also an experience sometimes real and sometimes fancied, of the super- natural. Corresponding to the deeply felt need of Divine help is the conviction that in numerous in- stances this help has been given in answer to prayer. Sensible tokens of Divine good will are piously thought to reward the earnest efforts of man to secure bliss- bringing communion with the Deity. Prominent among these are alleged instances of Divine com- munications to man. revelation.
(a) Revelation. — Revelation (or God speaking to man) is the complement of prayer (man speaking to God). It is instinctively felt to be needed for the
perfection of religion, which is a personal relation
of love and friendship. There is scarcely a religion
which has not its accepted instances of Divine visions
and communications. To the Theist this offers a
strong presumptive argument in favour of Divine
revelation, for God would hardly leave this legitimate
craving of the human heart unsatisfied. It has, in-
deed, been fully met in the religion of Christ, in
which man has been Divinely enlightened in regard
to his reUgious duties, and has been given the super-
natural power to fulfil them and thereby secure
his perfection. In lower religions, where temporal
welfare is chiefly kept in view, on the eve of every
important undertaking Divine assurance of success
is eagerly sought through ritual forms of divination
and through the use of prophecy. The office of
prophet, the recognized spokesman of the Deity,
is generally but not always distinct from that of
priest. It had its legitimate place in the Old Law,
in which the Divinely chosen Prophets not only told
of things to come, but also brought to their con-
temporaries God's messages of warning and of
moral and spiritual awakening. In Christ the office
of prophet was perfected and completed for all time.
In lower religions the office of prophet is almost in-
variably characterized by extraordinary mental
excitement, taken by the worshippers as the sign
of the inspiring presence of the Deity. In this state
of religious frenzy, brought on as a rule by narcotics,
dances, and noisy music, the prophet utters oracles.
Sometimes the prophecy is made after emerging from
a trance, in which the prophet is thought to be
favoured with Di\'ine visions and communications.
In their ignorance, the worshippers mistake these
pathological states for the signs of indwelUng Deity.
Their counterparts may be seen to-day in the wild
scenes of excitement so common in the religious
revivals of certain sects, where the believers, under
the influence of noisy, soul-stirring exhortations,
become seized with religious frenzy, dance, shout,
fall into cataleptic fits, and think they see visions
and hear Di\'ine assurances of being saved. Quite
different from these violent mental disturbances are
the peaceful, but no less extraordinary ecstasies of
many saints, in which wonderful visions and Divine
colloquies are experienced, while the body lies mo-
tionless and insensible. The supernatural character
of these experiences is not a matter of faith, but is
vouched for by the careful investigation and judg-
ment of the ecclesiastical authorities and pronounced
worthy of pious acceptance.
(b) Extraordinary Healing. — There are few re- ligions in which recourse is not had to supernatural aid for miraculous cures. The testimony of re- liable witnesses and the numerous ex-votos that have come down to us from antiquity leave no doubt as to the reality of many of these cures. It was natural that they should be viewed as miraculous in an age when the remarkable power of suggestion to effect cures was not understood. Modern science recognizes that strong mental impressions can powerfully in- fluence the nervous system and through this the bodily organs, leading in some instances to sudden illness or death, in others to remarkable cures. Such is the so-called mind-cure, or cure by suggestion. It ex- plains naturally many extr.aonlinary cures recorded in the annals of different religions. Still it has its recognized limits. It cannot restore of a sudden a half-decayed organ, or heal instantly a gaping wound caused by a cancer. Yet cures like the.se and others equally defying natural explanation have taken place at Lourdcs and elsewhere, and are authenticated by the higlicst medical testimony.
(c) Sudilen Conversions. — In the Christian re- ligion there are numerous instances of suflden con- versions from a life of vice to one of virtue, from a state of spiritual depression to one of enthusiastic
