RELIGION. Two facts relating to the history of religious belief stand out with clearness and prominence in the past. The first is, that man’s belief in his relation toward and responsibility to a Supreme Being has been one of the most important and influential factors in guiding his conduct, and leading him on and up in the pathways of civilization, since his history began. Indeed, it has been the foundation on which governments and societies have been built up, and the relations and obligations of man toward man have been established. The other, which is no less clear and important, is, that this belief has been made an instrument, in the hands of designing men, of vast suffering to thousands of the human race, and its history, under the influence of fanaticism, has been too often written in suffering. The most gigantic wars have been instituted, and the most cruel wrongs have been perpetrated; the advancement of science and liberty has been retarded, in too many instances, by those claiming to be the ministers of religion. These things, however, have not resulted directly from the character of religious influence, but rather from an absence of such influence upon the conduct of men; and in some cases from the darkness of misconceptions and only partly realized truths. If, then, religious belief has exerted so powerful an influence for good, and indirectly for ill, on human character and conduct while in health, we are prepared to appreciate the fact that, when weakened by the influence of disease, it still manifests itself, and that, in some cases at least, the mind is tinged with morbid views concerning it. When the brain is under the influence of disease, or when the will-power is much impaired, thought runs in channels long used, or where deepest impressions have been made during some former period of life, and hence it would be expected that the disordered mind, in some cases, would dwell more or less continually on such a subject as religious experience or a lack of it; and accordingly, we find in most asylums patients whose thoughts are occupied more especially on their failures in the past in relation to religious obligation and conduct. In my view, however, it would be a mistake to The truth is, that religious ideas and beliefs are innate in man. We find them in some form or other among all tribes and races, from the lowest South Sea Islander up to the representative types of the race; all alike realize, imperfectly it may be, and yet distinctly, that they are both feeble and ignorant, in the midst of the infinite variety and extent of the universe about them, and they instinctively look, in their feebleness, toward a Power above and superior to them, as naturally as the child looks to the parent for support and protection. So it must ever be, as to religious belief in the human race. Man realizes at times, and will always continue to do so, that he is a very helpless being in the midst of a stupendous system, a relentless on-going of nature, silent as the tomb and terrible as fate, and from which there come to him no voices of assurance and no gleams of hope. It cannot otherwise be, than that he should feel, even in the fulness of his strength and the highest realization of his powers, that he stands as on a grain of sand only; that the longest ranges of his vision are soon enveloped in darkness; that his knowledge is as ignorance when compared with that wisdom which is manifested by the greatness of worlds which look down upon him from the depths of space. He must always realize how This being so, it must be that man will, in the future as in the past, look toward and seek help from some Power above and beyond himself. The instinct is and must be as true to the reality as is that of the hungry child when it turns to its mother, or that of the fish which leads it to move when in the water; and, as the water answers to the instinct of the fish, as the breast of the mother to the calling of the child, and the atmosphere to the wing of the bird, so, too, must there exist a Being responsive to that instinct which leads man to pray and trust. That this quality or faculty of his nature has been unwisely used, that it has been greatly abused; that it has been mis-educated, and often mis-directed, and too often turned into an instrument for inflicting suffering and ill, history, alas! makes only too clear; but so have other faculties of man’s mind, and so will they continue to be, except they are trained and educated toward higher and better purposes; and the problem in reference to religious belief is, not how to ignore or blot it out, or ridicule First, the laws of health and those of religion go hand in hand; the two fundamentally agree. There exists a broad basis in the very nature of man’s system, on which to build up religious belief and practice. Temperance, honesty, obedience to parents, truthfulness, chastity, recognition of sacred times, and brotherly kindness are no less in accordance with the laws of bodily and mental health, than they are with the laws and ordinances of the Christian religion, and when man sins against one he does also against the other. The two are in harmony with the constitution of his system, and their observance can conduce only toward his highest health and consequent happiness. On the other hand, a failure in their observance, or intemperance, licentiousness, and dishonesty, no less surely war against the nature of his mental constitution, and tend toward ill-health. Again, a religious belief and practice conduce Account for the fact as we may, the conditions of society are sadly out of gear. The vast majority of the human race now are, always have been, and are always likely to be, in a condition largely of dependence. The most sanguine optimist must admit that long ages will pass, ere that time shall come when the superior in physical and mental ability shall not use that superiority for his own advantage, as against that of his less-favored brother. In the later phases of civilization, this has passed somewhat from the manifestation of muscular force, but it has only gone over into that of mental force. Brain now rules where formerly muscle did; and the man of superior brain, to-day, under the forms and protection of law, and by virtue of his intelligence, rules over others, and secures his purposes, as surely as formerly the man of greater physical strength did. So long as such conditions continue, so long will ignorance, disease, and misery exist, and consequently there will exist in the human system needs of the consolation and hope which can come to man only from the teachings of religion. And he will not only require the teachings of religion by Again, man requires that which religion alone can bring to him to satisfy the aspirations of his higher nature. The press and throng of daily life, in its many-sided avocations, satisfy only as to material things and for a brief present. Science, in its numerous phases and advancing strides, has done something, and there can be no doubt will in the future do still more, for man’s happiness and material gain; but these are not all, nor sufficient for his Science unfolds some of the mysterious processes which are constantly going on in man’s system; it demonstrates or photographs for the eye the approximate structure of nerve-cells or globules of blood; it has traced out some of the mysterious mechanism of cerebration, and delineated with more or less exactitude some of the great chemical activities which are forever going on in organic bodies. It has gone farther, and revealed some of the hitherto wonderful mysteries in the earth and in the worlds above. But, after all, its sphere is circumscribed, and mystery still surrounds us with an impassable wall. The greatest and wisest of its votaries have at last to confess with confusion of face that they have arrived only on the brink of an ocean which is infinite—that they know but little. Science is good and its study ennobling, but it does not suffice for man’s highest aspirations, nor for the development of his moral nature. It has never explained the mystery of a single act of his will, and can never ascend into the region of the spiritual. Man may press onward and upward in its paths never so far, and there still remains the infinite beyond. His imaginations may invade the furthest circle of planetary motion, and yet we His questions have ever been, whence am I? and whither do I go? and it can never satisfy his aspirations, to reply that he is from the ape, and goes to the ground, and that this ends all. There still remains to him a longing for immortality; a craving for something above and beyond what he now sees and knows, and only in the hope of this something hereafter, does he have a realization of his highest possibilities. I believe that thus far in man’s experience he has been the loser, not by too much religion, but rather by his unbelief and misconceptions as to its true nature and the extent of its obligations. The plan should therefore be, for a broader, higher, and more pervading religious influence, which can come only from an intelligence educated as to his relations toward and responsibility to God, and his fellow-men. As the tendency of the laws of health and religion are in the same direction, it is not easy to understand how a religious belief, or the influences which legitimately flow from it, can be otherwise than for the highest interests of society, and the mental health of its individual members. INSUFFICIENT SLEEP. |