lecture19-第2章
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of a mutual interpreter。'305' So much for the aesthetic
diversities in the religious consciousness。
'305' Compare the informality of Protestantism; where the 〃meek
lover of the good;〃 alone with his God; visits the sick; etc。;
for their own sakes; with the elaborate 〃business〃 that goes on
in Catholic devotion; and carries with it the social excitement
of all more complex businesses。 An essentially worldly…minded
Catholic woman can become a visitor of the sick on purely
coquettish principles; with her confessor and director; her
〃merit〃 storing up; her patron saints; her privileged relation to
the Almighty; drawing his attention as a professional devote; her
definite 〃exercises;〃 and her definitely recognized social pose
in the organization。
In most books on religion; three things are represented as its
most essential elements。 These are Sacrifice; Confession; and
Prayer。 I must say a word in turn of each of these elements;
though briefly。 First of Sacrifice。
Sacrifices to gods are omnipresent in primeval worship; but; as
cults have grown refined; burnt offerings and the blood of
he…goats have been superseded by sacrifices more spiritual in
their nature。 Judaism; Islam; and Buddhism get along without
ritual sacrifice; so does Christianity; save in so far as the
notion is preserved in transfigured form in the mystery of
Christ's atonement。 These religions substitute offerings of the
heart; renunciations of the inner self; for all those vain
oblations。 In the ascetic practices which Islam; Buddhism; and
the older Christianity encourage we see how indestructible is the
idea that sacrifice of some sort is a religious exercise。 In
lecturing on asceticism I spoke of its significance as symbolic
of the sacrifices which life; whenever it is taken strenuously;
calls for。'306' But; as I said my say about those; and as these
lectures expressly avoid earlier religious usages and questions
of derivation; I will pass from the subject of Sacrifice
altogether and turn to that of Confession。
'306' Above; p。 354 ff。
In regard to Confession I will also be most brief; saying my word
about it psychologically; not historically。 Not nearly as
widespread as sacrifice; it corresponds to a more inward and
moral stage of sentiment。 It is part of the general system of
purgation and cleansing which one feels one's self in need of; in
order to be in right relations to one's deity。 For him who
confesses; shams are over and realities have begun; he has
exteriorized his rottenness。 If he has not actually got rid of
it; he at least no longer smears it over with a hypocritical show
of virtuehe lives at least upon a basis of veracity。 The
complete decay of the practice of confession in Anglo…Saxon
communities is a little hard to account for。 Reaction against
popery is of course the historic explanation; for in popery
confession went with penances and absolution; and other
inadmissible practices。 But on the side of the sinner
himself it seems as if the need ought to have been too great to
accept so summary a refusal of its satisfaction。 One would think
that in more men the shell of secrecy would have had to open; the
pent…in abscess to burst and gain relief; even though the ear
that heard the confession were unworthy。 The Catholic church;
for obvious utilitarian reasons; has substituted auricular
confession to one priest for the more radical act of public
confession。 We English…speaking Protestants; in the general
self…reliance and unsociability of our nature; seem to find it
enough if we take God alone into our confidence。'307'
'307' A fuller discussion of confession is contained in the
excellent work by Frank Granger: The Soul of a Christian;
London; 1900; ch。 xii。
The next topic on which I must comment is Prayerand this time
it must be less briefly。 We have heard much talk of late against
prayer; especially against prayers for better weather and for the
recovery of sick people。 As regards prayers for the sick; if any
medical fact can be considered to stand firm; it is that in
certain environments prayer may contribute to recovery; and
should be encouraged as a therapeutic measure。 Being a normal
factor of moral health in the person; its omission would be
deleterious。 The case of the weather is different。
Notwithstanding the recency of the opposite belief;'308' every
one now knows that droughts and storms follow from physical
antecedents; and that moral appeals cannot avert them。 But
petitional prayer is only one department of prayer; and if we
take the word in the wider sense as meaning every kind of inward
communion or conversation with the power recognized as divine; we
can easily see that scientific criticism leaves it untouched。
'308' Example: 〃The minister at Sudbury; being at the Thursday
lecture in Boston; heard the officiating clergyman praying for
rain。 As soon as the service was over; he went to the petitioner
and said 'You Boston ministers; as soon as a tulip wilts under
your windows; go to church and pray for rain; until all Concord
and Sudbury are under water。'〃 R。 W。 Emerson: Lectures and
Biographical Sketches; p。 363。
Prayer in this wide sense is the very soul and essence of
religion。 〃Religion;〃 says a liberal French theologian; 〃is an
intercourse; a conscious and voluntary relation; entered into by
a soul in distress with the mysterious power upon which it feels
itself to depend; and upon which its fate is contingent。 This
intercourse with God is realized by prayer。 Prayer is religion
in act; that is; prayer is real religion。 It is prayer that
distinguishes the religious phenomenon from such similar or
neighboring phenomena as purely moral or aesthetic sentiment。
Religion is nothing if it be not the vital act by which the
entire mind seeks to save itself by clinging to the principle
from which it draws its life。 This act is prayer; by which term
I understand no vain exercise of words; no mere repetition of
certain sacred formula; but the very movement itself of the soul;
putting itself in a personal relation of contact with the
mysterious power of which it feels the presenceit may be even
before it has a name by which to call it。 Wherever this interior
prayer is lacking; there is no religion; wherever; on the other
hand; this prayer rises and stirs the soul; even in the absence
of forms or of doctrines; we have living religion。 One sees from
this why 〃natural religion; so…called; is not properly a
religion。 It cuts man off from prayer。 It leaves him and God in
mutual remoteness; with no intimate commerce; no interior
dialogue; no interchange; no action of God in man; no return of
man to God。 At bottom this pretended religion is only a
philosophy。 Born at epochs of rationalism; of critical
investigations; it never was anything but an abstraction。 An
artificial and dead creation; it reveals to its examiner hardly
one of the characters proper to religion。〃'309'
'309' Auguste Sabatier: Esquisse d'une Philosophie de la
Religion。 2me ed。; 1897; pp。 24…26; abridged。
It seems to me that the entire series of our lectures proves the
truth of M。 Sabatier's contention。 The religious phenomenon;
studied as in Inner fact; and apart from ecclesiastical or
theological complications; has shown itself to consist
everywhere;