Page:The Limits of Evolution (1904).djvu/278



the question, What is the real relation between reason and religion, the range in contrast of views is of course very great. And this is true, whether we consider the views as merely conceivable or as actually presented in the course of history.

It is evident, first, that the view might conceivably be taken, that reason and religion are incompatible. This incompatibility might moreover be construed in behoof of religion as against reason. It might be said, that, granting the reality of religion, the recognition of superhuman Power, the active presence of the Power must be accepted as simply an awful Fact — inexplicable, incomprehensible, inscrutable, yet unquestionable — before which, terrible and indeed resistless and overwhelming, reason must prostrate itself, keep silence, and slink away into undiscoverable hiding. And this view is not merely conceivable, but is actual and historical; nay, it is the eldest view; and if hoary antiquity or multitude of adherents were taken as the true measure of value and authority, it would be the weightiest view.