Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/828

 RELIGION

740

RELIGION

through personal effort independently of Divine aid, seems to be an exception. But even in primitive Buddhism communion with the gods of India was retained as an element of lay belief and aspiration, and it was only by substituting the ideal of Divine communion for that of Nirvana that Buddhism became a popular religion.

Thus, in its strictest sense, religion on its sub- jective side is the disposition to acknowledge our dependence on God, and on the objective side it is the voluntaiy acknowledgement of that dependence through acts of homage. It calls into play not simply the will, but the intellect, the imagination, and the emotion.s. Without the conception of per- sonal deity, religion would not exist. The recogni- tion of the unseen world stirs the imagination. The emotions, too, are called into exercise. The need of Divine help gives rise to the longing for communion with God. The recognized possibility of attaining this end engenders hope. The consciousness of acquired friendship with a protector so good and powerful excites joy. The obtaining of benefits in answer to prayer prompts to thankfulness. The immensity of God's power and wisdom calls up feel- ings of awe. The consciousness of ha\-ing offended and estranged Him, and of thus deserving punish- ment, leads to fear and sorrow and the desire of reconciliation. Crowning all is the emotion of love springing from the contemplation of God's wonderful goodness and excellence. Hence we see how wide of the mark are the attempts to limit religion to the exercise of a particular faculty, or to identify it with ritual or with ethical conduct. Religion is not adequately described as "the knowledge acquired by the finite spirit of its essence as absolute spirit" (Hegel), nor as "the perception of the infinite" (Max MiiUer), nor as "a determination of man's feeling of absolute dependence" (Schleiermacher), nor as "the recognition of all our duties as divine commands" (Kant), nor as "morality touched by emotion" (Mathew Arnold), nor as "the earnest cUrec- tion of the emotions and desires towards an ideal object recognized as of the highest excellence and as rightly paramount over selfish objects of desire" (J. S. Mill). These definitions, in so far as they are true, are only partial characterizations of religion.

Rehgion answers to a deeply felt need in the heart of man. Above the needs of the individual are the needs of the family, and higher still are the needs of the clan and people. On the welfare of the people depends that of the individual. Hence we find that religion in its outward worship is to a large extent a social function. The chief rites are pubhc rites, performed in the name, and for the benefit, of the whole community. It is by social action that re- ligious worship is maintained and preserved. Only in the society of one's fellow-men does one develop one's mental and moral faculties, and acquire re- ligion. Religion is distinguished into natural and supernatural. By natural religion is meant the sub- jection of oneself to God, based on such knowledge of God and of man's moral and religious duties as the human mind can acquire by its own unaided powers. It does not, however, exclude theophanies and Divine revelations made with the \-iew to confirm religion in the natural order. Supernatural religion implies a supernatural end, gratuitously bestowed on man, namely a hvely union with God through sanctifying grace, begun and imperfectly attained here, but completed in heaven, where the beatific vision of God will be its eternal reward. It also implies a special Divine revelation, through which man comes to know this end as well as the Divinely appointed means for its attainment. Subjection of oneself to God, based on this knowledge of faith and kept fruitful by grace, i.s tiUi)iTn:itiiral religion.

U. Subjective Reliuion. — Rehgion on its sub-

jective side is essentially, but not exclusively, an affair of the will, the will to acknowledge by acts of homage man's dependence on God. We have al- ready seen that the imagination and the emotions are important factors in subjective rehgion. The emotions, ehcited by the recognition of dependence on God and by the deeply felt need of Di\ine help, give greater efficacy to the dehberate exercise of the virtue of rehgion. It is worthy of note that the emotions awakened by the religious consciousness are such as make for a healthy optimism. The pre- dominant tones of religion are those of hope, joy, confidence, love, patience, humility, the purpose of amendment, and aspiration towards high ideals. All these are the natural accompaniments of the persuasion that through religion man is Uving in friendly communion with God. The view that fear is in most instances the spring of reUgious action is untenable.

In subjective religion several ^^rtues must be in- cluded, most of them being of an emotional character. The proper exercise of the virtue of religion involves three co-operant virtues having God as their direct object, and hence known as the "theological virtues". First there is faith. Strictly speaking, faith as a virtue is the reverent disposition to submit the human mind to the Divine, to accept on Divine authority what has been revealed by God. In the wide sense, as applying to all religions, it is the pious acceptance of the fundamental notions of Deity and of man's relation to Deity contained in the religious traditions of the community. In practically all religions there is an exercise of authoritative teaching in regard to the intellectual b.^.sis of religion, the things to be believed. These things individuals do not acquire independently, through direct intuition or discursive reasoning, i'hey come to know them from the teaching of parents and elders, and from the ob- servance of sacred rites and customs. They take these teachings on authority, made venerable by immemorial usage, so that to reject them would be reprobated as an act of impiety. Thus, while man has the capacity to arrive at a knowledge of the fun- damentals of rehgion by the independent exercise of Ills reason, he regularly comes to know them through the authoritative teaching of his elders. Faith of this kind is practically an indispensable basis of rehgion. In the supernatural order, faith is absolutely indispensable. If man has been raised to a special supernatural end, it is only by revelation that he can come to know that end and the Divinely appointed means for its attainment. Such a revela- tion necessarily implies faith. For the exercise of the virtue of religion hope is absolutely inthspensable. Hope is the expectation of securing and maintaining bliss-bringing communion with the Deity. In the natural order it rests on the conception of Deity as a morally good personality, inviting confidence. It is also sustained by the recognized instances of Di\-ine providence. In the Christian rehgion hope is raised to the supernatural plane, being based on the promises of God made known through the revelation of Christ. The absence of hope paralyzes the virtue of religion. For this reason the damneil are no longer capable of religion. Thirdly, the love of God for His own sake is a concomitant of the virtue of religion, being needed for its perfection. In some lower forms of religion, it is largely, if not wholly, absent. The Deity is honoured chiefly for the sake of personal advantage. Still, in perhaps the majority of re- ligions, at least the beginnings of a filial affection for the Deity are felt. Such affection seems to be im- plied in generous offerings and in expressions of thankfulness so common in religious rites. Closely associated with the virtues of hope and love, and hence intimately connected with religion as exercised by man in his frailty, is the virtue of repentance.