[13] It may be said that religion, as even the etymology of the word witnesses, has been a force on the side of repression. That also is true; it cannot indeed be too strongly emphasized. Only in the strength of that joyous expansion could men have acted and suffered such intolerable torture in the service of religion. (It must be remembered, however, that in certain stages of civilization religion is largely identified with morality). It is necessary to generalize from the most various and highly specialized cases in order to arrive at a reasonable definition.

[14] The late William Cyples, in his charming and neglected magnum opus, “The Process of Human Experience” (p. 462), rightly traces this form of religion to the feeling generated between lovers, friends, parent and children. “A few have at intervals walked in the world,” he adds, “who have, each in his own original way, found out this marvel ... it has proved sufficient for them even to wish enough to help their race; instantly these secret delights have risen in their hearts. Straightway man in general has become to them so sweet a thing that the infatuation has seemed to the rest of their fellows to be a celestial madness. Beggars’ rags to their unhesitating lips grew fit for kissing, because humanity had touched the garb; there were no longer any menial acts, but only welcome services. It was the humblest, the easiest, the readiest of duties to lay down life for the ignorant, the ill-behaved, the unkind,—for any and all who did but wear the familiar human shape. That this ecstasy of humanity should rise so much higher than any other is according to the plain working of the law of accumulation of finer consciousness by complexity in the occasioning activity. Remember by how much man is the subtlest circumstance in the world; at how many points he can attach relationships; how manifold and perennial he is in his results. All other things are dull, meagre, tame beside him. If the most part of us are only as dross to one another, in place of being of this priceless value, it can only be from the lack of mutual services among us. Without these how can we but want sufficient adaptiveness of mood,—how can we help groaning under the weight of instincts half organized or wholly unfulfilled?”

Transcriber's Note

Duplicate headings have been removed.

The following apparent errors have been corrected:

The following are used inconsistently in the text: