Some Christian Convictions | Page 7

cannot offer a parallel to the vital experiences of the
human spirit. The remolding of the forms of its convictions does more
than conserve the same quantity of experience; a more commodious
temple of thought enables the Spirit of faith to expand the souls of men
within. In theology by altering boundaries we often gain territory. We
not only make the map of our soul's life with God clearer to ourselves,
so that we live within its confines more intelligently; we actually
increase the size of the map, and possess a larger life with God.
CHAPTER I
RELIGION
Religion is experience. It is the response of man's nature to his highest
inspirations. It is his intercourse with Being above himself and his
world.
Religion is normal experience. Its enemies call it "an indelible
superstition," and its friends assert that man is born believing. That a
few persons, here and there, appear to lack the sense for the Invisible
no more argues against its naturalness than that occasionally a man is
found to be colorblind or without an ear for music. Mr. Lecky has
written, "That religious instincts are as truly part of our natures as are
our appetites and our nerves is a fact which all history establishes, and
which forms one of the strongest proofs of the reality of that unseen
world to which the soul of man continually tends."
Some have sought to discredit religion as a surviving childishness. A
baby is dependent upon its parents; and babyish spirits, they say, never
outgrow this sense of dependence, but transfer that on which they rely
from the seen to the unseen. While, however, other childish things, like
ghosts and fairies, can be put away, man seems to be "incurably
religious," and the most completely devout natures, although childlike
in their attitude towards God, give no impression of immaturity. When
one compares Jesus of Nazareth with the leaders in State and Church in
the Jerusalem of His day, He seems the adult and they the children.

And further, those who attempt to destroy religion as an irrational
survival address themselves to the task of a Sisyphus. Although
apparently successful today, their work will have to be done over again
tomorrow. On no other battlefield is it necessary so many times to slay
the slain. Again and again religion has been pronounced obsolete, but
passing through the midst of its detractors it serenely goes its way.
When men laboriously erect its sepulchre, faith,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, Will arise and
unbuild it again.
Its indestructible vitality is evidence that it is an inherent element in
human nature, that the unbeliever is a subnormal man.
Religion is an affair of the whole personality. Some have emphasized
the part feeling plays in it. Pascal describes faith as "God felt by the
heart," and Schleiermacher finds the essence of religion in the sense of
utter dependence. Many of us recognize ourselves as most consciously
religious in
that serene and blessed mood In which the affections gently lead us on.
Our highest inspirations commonly come to us in a wistful yearning to
be like the Most High, in a sense of reconciliation with Him, in a
glowing enthusiasm for His cause, in the calm assurance of His
guidance and protection, in the enlargement of our natures as they
become aware of His indwelling. "We feel that we are greater than we
know."
Others give prominence to the rôle of the intellect. God is the most
reasonable explanation of the facts of life. Religious truths and men's
minds harmonize as though they had been made for each other. The
thought of Deity gives them perfect mental satisfaction. Dante tells us:
"The life of my heart, that of my inward self, was wont to be a sweet
thought which went many times to the feet of God, that is to say in
thought I contemplated the kingdom of the Blessed." And a present-day
English thinker, Mr. F.H. Bradley, writes: "All of us, I presume, more
or less are led beyond the region of ordinary facts. Some in one way

and some in another, we seem to touch and have communion with what
is beyond the visible world. In various manners we find something
higher which both supports and humbles, both chastens and transports
us. And, with various persons, the intellectual effort to understand the
universe is a principal way of their experiencing the Deity."
Still others lay the chief stress upon the will. Man wills to live; but in a
universe like ours where he is pitted against overwhelming forces, he is
driven to seek allies, and in his quest for them he wills to believe in a
God as good as the best in himself and better. Faith is an