Page:Philosophical Review Volume 2.djvu/37

1.] and Pagan elements, the essentially Christian spirit was able to make its way but slowly and as a result of conflict, and to become in its essential character the real dominant force in humanity. The Reformation, that achievement of the Christian Germanic spirit, was the greatest stride in this development. But it has not reached its close, and will never reach it as long as the history of mankind lasts.

The Philosophy of Religion, by tracing its object through all the stages of its historical evolution, verifies the truth of that which it has recognized as the essence of religion in the psychological and metaphysical investigation. For the concept must justify itself here, as always where we deal with life, by proving itself to be the impelling force, the guiding principle, and the ideal goal of the entire process. The scientific investigation thus returns to its starting-point and completes its cycle. The only task which it still has to accomplish is to turn towards the future and discover how far it may be able to foretell the religious development of mankind on the basis of past experience. But let it not forget that the ultimate ideals of the world, as they are determined by the decrees of God, withdraw themselves from our human gaze. Where our knowledge and conjecture fail us, faith appears to console, and says, in the words of the Apostle, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

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