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market…place; that I might raise up the memorial of the blood of



those martyrs; which had been shed above a thousand years before;



and lay cold in their streets。  So the sense of this blood was



upon me; and I obeyed the word of the Lord。〃







Bent as we are on studying religion's existential conditions; we



cannot possibly ignore these pathological aspects of the subject。







We must describe and name them just as if they occurred in



non…religious men。  It is true that we instinctively recoil from



seeing an object to which our emotions and affections are



committed handled by the intellect as any other object is



handled。  The first thing the intellect does with an object is to



class it along with something else。  But any object that is



infinitely important to us and awakens our devotion feels to us



also as if it must be sui generis and unique。  Probably a crab



would be filled with a sense of personal outrage if it could hear



us class it without ado or apology as a crustacean; and thus



dispose of it。  〃I am no such thing; it would say; I am MYSELF;



MYSELF alone。







The next thing the intellect does is to lay bare the causes in



which the thing originates。  Spinoza says: 〃I will analyze the



actions and appetites of men as if it were a question of lines;



of planes; and of solids。〃  And elsewhere he remarks that he



will consider our passions and their properties with the same eye



with which he looks on all other natural things; since the



consequences of our affections flow from their nature with the



same necessity as it results from the nature of a triangle that



its three angles should be equal to two right angles。  Similarly



M。 Taine; in the introduction to his history of English



literature; has written: 〃Whether facts be moral or physical; it



makes no matter。  They always have their causes。  There are



causes for ambition; courage; veracity; just as there are for



digestion; muscular movement; animal heat。  Vice and virtue are



products like vitriol and sugar。〃  When we read such



proclamations of the intellect bent on showing the existential



conditions of absolutely everything; we feelquite apart from



our legitimate impatience at the somewhat ridiculous swagger of



the program; in view of what the authors are actually able to



performmenaced and negated in the springs of our innermost



life。  Such cold…blooded assimilations threaten; we think; to



undo our soul's vital secrets; as if the same breath which should



succeed in explaining their origin would simultaneously explain



away their significance; and make them appear of no more



preciousness; either; than the useful groceries of which M。 Taine



speaks。







Perhaps the commonest expression of this assumption that



spiritual value is undone if lowly origin be asserted is seen in



those comments which unsentimental people so often pass on their



more sentimental acquaintances。  Alfred believes in immortality



so strongly because his temperament is so emotional。  Fanny's



extraordinary conscientiousness is merely a matter of



overinstigated nerves。  William's melancholy about the universe



is due to bad digestionprobably his liver is torpid。  Eliza's



delight in her church is a symptom of her hysterical



constitution。  Peter would be less troubled about his soul if he



would take more exercise in the open air; etc。  A more fully



developed example of the same kind of reasoning is the fashion;



quite common nowadays among certain writers; of criticizing the



religious emotions by showing a connection between them and the



sexual life。  Conversion is a crisis of puberty and adolescence。 



The macerations of saints; and the devotion of missionaries; are



only instances of the parental instinct of self…sacrifice gone



astray。  For the hysterical nun; starving for natural life;



Christ is but an imaginary substitute for a more earthly object



of affection。 And the like。'1'







'1'  As with many ideas that float in the air of one's time; this



notion shrinks from dogmatic general statement and expresses



itself only partially and by innuendo。  It seems to me that few



conceptions are less instructive than this re…interpretation of



religion as perverted sexuality。  It reminds one; so crudely is



it often employed; of the famous Catholic taunt; that the



Reformation may be best understood by remembering that its fons



et origo was Luther's wish to marry a nun:the effects are



infinitely wider than the alleged causes; and for the most part



opposite in nature。  It is true that in the vast collection of



religious phenomena; some are undisguisedly amatorye。g。;



sex…deities and obscene rites in polytheism; and ecstatic



feelings of union with the Savior in a few Christian mystics。 



But then why not equally call religion an aberration of the



digestive function; and prove one's point by the worship of



Bacchus and Ceres; or by the ecstatic feelings of some other



saints about the Eucharist?  Religious language clothes itself in



such poor symbols as our life affords; and the whole organism



gives overtones of comment whenever the mind is strongly stirred



to expression。  Language drawn from eating and drinking is



probably as common in religious literature as is language drawn



from the sexual life。  We 〃hunger and thirst〃 after



righteousness; we 〃find the Lord a sweet savor;〃 we 〃taste and



see that he is good。〃  〃Spiritual milk for American babes; drawn



from the breasts of both testaments;〃 is a sub…title of the once



famous New England Primer; and Christian devotional literature



indeed quite floats in milk; thought of from the point of view;



not of the mother; but of the greedy babe。







Saint Francois de Sales; for instance; thus describes the 〃orison



of quietude〃:  〃In this state the soul is like a little child



still at the breast; whose mother to caress him whilst he is



still in her arms makes her milk distill into his mouth without



his even moving his lips。  So it is here。 。 。 。 Our Lord desires



that our will should be satisfied with sucking the milk which His



Majesty pours into our mouth; and that we should relish the



sweetness without even knowing that it cometh from the Lord。〃   



And again:  〃Consider the little infants; united and joined to



the breasts of their nursing mothers you will see that from time



to time they press themselves closer by little starts to which



the pleasure of sucking prompts them。  Even so; during its



orison; the heart united to its God oftentimes makes attempts at



closer union by movements during which it presses closer upon the



divine sweetness。〃  Chemin de la Perfection; ch。 xxxi。; Amour de



Dieu; vii。 ch。 i。















In fact; one might almost as well interpret religion as a



perversion of the respiratory function。  The Bible is full of the



language of respiratory oppression:  〃Hide not thine ear at my



breathing; my groaning is not hid from thee; my heart panteth; my



strength faileth me; my bones are hot with my roaring all the



night long; as the hart panteth after the water…brooks; so my



soul panteth after thee; O my God:〃  God's Breath in Man is the



title of the chief work of our best known American mystic (Thomas



Lake Harris); and in certain non…Christian countries the



foundation of all religious discipline consists in regulation of



the inspiration and expiration。







These arguments are as good as much of the reasoning one hears in



favor of the sexual theory。  But the champions of the latter will



then say that their chief argument h

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