THE SPHERE OF RELIGION CHAPTER I. WHAT IS RELIGION? (First published in the North American Review, Feb., 1908.) No one at all acquainted with the tendencies of thought at present can fail to be impressed with the greatly increased interest now being taken in the study of religion. Thinkers of every shade of opinion upon other subjects are fast coming to recognize the fact that religion has always held a vitally important place in the development of every race and individual, and, whether we like it or not, is certain to remain a most potent factor in the civilization of the future. For a number of years the most persistent efforts have been put forth by a small army of able investigators to find out the actual facts of man's religious life in all times and countries. Not only have the sacred books and rites of the nations of the earth been subjected to the most rigid scrutiny, but the folk-lore of all lands and even the crudest superstitions and most repulsive practices of savages have been carefully studied. Every possible means has been taken to discover what ideas man has had in all conditions of his existence concerning the powers that rule over this universe, and also to determine to what extent these ideas have affected his thought and life. But nothing is more apparent in this awakened interest in the subject of religion than that the old view of what constitutes religion has undergone, in some respects at least, an actual revolution. The narrow sectarian position of a generation ago has been shown to be wholly untenable; and religion, instead of being the possible acquisition of a few, we now see reaches its roots deep down into the very subsoil of humanity, and cannot help giving itself some sort of expression, for good or for ill, in the experiences of every individual. Hence the chief inquiry of our time on this subject is not any longer whether a man has any religion, but whether the religion that he does have is of any real value; whether it is a help or a hindrance to his own progress and the ultimate triumph of truth and right. But before this question can properly be taken into consideration, we must make a careful scrutiny of another, namely, what exactly is to be meant by religion? On this point there is still great confusion, and in the present state of the study of religion no need is more imperative than to have this confusion cleared away, or at least reduced to a minimum. We may be greatly helped to the attainment of this end by observing in the first place that religion is not to be confounded with religions. Religion is that out of which different forms of religion grow or develop. It stands related to religions about as the first man stands related to the whole human race. It is the germ or principle which lies at the foundation of all religions and out of which they all proceed. No error can be greater than to begin our present investigation with such a definition of religion as excludes by its very terms all other religions than the |