Religion, does it matter? : its meaning, nature and value


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RELIGION: DOES IT MAHER?

Its Meaning, Nature

and Value

By

Rev. John A. O’Brien, Ph.D., LL.D.

The University of Notre Dame

Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that

national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious

principle.

George Washington,
Farewell Address.

*

New York

THE PAULIST PRESS
401 West 59th Street



TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Meaning of Religion 3

II. The Universality of Religion 12

III. The Origin of Religion IS

IV. Religious Worship— Duty 20
V. Religion and Society 30

VI. Religion and Morality 40

VII. The Value of Religion 51

VIII. Questions for Discussion 62

Nihil Obstat:

Arthur J. Scanlan, S.T.D.,

Censor Lihrorum.

Imprimatur:

Francis J. Spellman, D.D.,

Archbishop of New York,

New York, September 2, 1944.

Copyright, 1944
,
by

The Missionary Society or St. Paul the Apostle

IN THE State of New York

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED IN THE U. S. A.

BY THE PAULIST PRESS, NEW YORK 19 , N. Y.

Deaeliaied



CHAPTER I

THE MEANING OF RELIGION

Religion^ pure and undefiled before God and the Father, is

this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation, and to

keep one^s self unspotted from this world. James i. 27

No force in human history has exercised so potent an influence
upon the life, thought and civilization of mankind as has religion.

Whether the civilization be rudimentary or highly advanced, the

influence of religion is paramount and all-pervasive. It puts its

imprint upon man’s laws, colors his art, creates the atmosphere

for his literature. It shapes his ethical codes, filters through into

his philosophy and embeds itself in the innermost conscience of

the individual and in the corporate mind of the society in which

he lives.

It supplies the answers to man’s deepest questionings: Whence
have I come? Whither am I going? What is the meaning and
the purpose of human life? How can I achieve my ultimate des-
tiny? Thus religion concerns itself with man’s deepest values.

It gives him guidance in his relations with his Creator and with
his fellow man. It enables him to walk safely along the path of
reverence and obedience to his God and of justice and kindliness
to his neighbor. When that light is extinguished, man gropes about
in the darkness, and life becomes a game of blindman’s buff. Rob
man of his religious belief, and he sinks to a level one step re-
moved from the beasts of the field. An attack upon God is an
attack upon the dignity of man and upon the sacredness of the
human personality. This is the truth which has been painted in
tragic and flaming colors upon the canvas of the world’s history.

Mankind has no stronger bulwark for the protection of his own
freedom and dignity than the teachings of religion concerning the
essential equality of all men in the eyes of God and of their ac-
countability to Him for their treatment of one another. “What
doth the Lord, thy God demand of thee,” thundered the prophet
Micheas, “but that thou love mercy, do justly, and walk humbly
with thy God.” For the right of men and women everywhere to
walk humbly and freely with their God, without the club of a
dictator over their heads, America has poured out her treasure
and her blood in two World Wars.

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Importance of Religion

Because religion plays so far-reaching a role in the life of indi-
viduals and of nations, it is of paramount importance for every
person to understand the real meaning of religion. For how can a
person properly appreciate this great treasure if he does not under-
stand what it is? How can he go out to fight and die for some-
thing which he does not really understand? Yet, are there not
millions of people in our land, to whom religion is not much more
than a word, and a confused word at that? To many it conjures
up the thought of Sunday school, of preaching, of restrictions and
taboos, of denominational rivalry, and of other such notions which
blur or caricature the real nature of religion.

Accordingly we shall undertake to present the essential nature
of religion, its universality, its reasonableness, its various kinds,

its relation to morality, and the values it renders to the individual
and to society. Without sacrificing any of the values of scholar-
ship, we shall discuss the subject in popular language, seeking to
carry to the general reader the fruits of scientific and philosophic
research. We shall treat of religion in its broadest and most uni-
versal sense, embracing not only Judaism and Christianity, but
the religion of all believers in a Supreme Being. We cherish the
hope that the treatment will bring to the citizens of our land not

only a better understanding of religion but a deeper appreciation

of its powerful assistance in enabling them to live richer, nobler
and more godlike lives.

From such increased understanding should result a renaissance
of religion in America so that its wholesome influence will envelop
every home in our land. Such an effect will, we are confident, be
no small contribution to the morale of the American people. More
important than that, the revival of religion will enthrone God in
the life of the individual, of the family, and of the nation. By
making us humble, charitable and obedient to His divine com-
mands, it will merit for us in the stern hour of crisis the divine
assistance, without which we cannot succeed, and with which we
cannot fail.

Its Roof Meaning

What is the meaning of religion? By tracing a word to its
root or roots we can secure an insight into its original and basic
meaning. The etymology of religion, however, has been a matter
of dispute from ancient times. In his De Natura Deorum, Cicero
derives religion from relegere, to treat carefully, saying: ^‘Those
who carefully took in hand all things pertaining to the gods were

[ 4 ]



called religiosi, from relegerer ^ This is the view favored by Max
Muller. As religion is an elementary notion, however, long ante-
dating the time of complicated ritual presupposed in this explana-

tion, we must look elsewhere for its etymology.
In his City of God,^ St. Augustine derives religion from religere,

in the sense of recovering. He says: ‘‘Having lost God through
neglect (negligentes), we recover Him (religentes) and are drawn
to Him.^^ Inasmuch as this explanation implies the notion of Re-
demption, it is not suited to the primary idea of religion.

Lactantius, a renowned Father of the Church who lived in the
late third and early four centuries, derives religion from religare,
to bind. In his Divinae Institutes, he writes: “We are tied to God
and bound to Him (religati) by the bond of piety, and it is from
this, and not as Cicero holds, from careful consideration (rele-
gendo) that religion has received its name.’’ ^ Here we have most
likely the true origin of the term, religion. For in its simplest
form, religion implies the idea of being bound to God. This same
idea is uppermost in the word religion in its most specific sense,
as applied to the life of poverty, chastity, and obedience, to which
individuals bind themselves by vows. Hence, those who are thus
bound are called religious,

St. Augustine later came to espouse the explanation of Lactan-
tius. “He has certainly seized the broad popular sense of the
word,” observed Canon Liddon, “when he connects it with the idea
of an obligation by which man is bound to an invisible God.” ^

This brief discussion of the root meaning of religion will not
be without fruit, if it leaves in the mind of the reader the basic
and indisputable truth, conveyed by the term religion, that man is
bound by the bond of devotion, obedience and love to God, the
Heavenly Father, to Whom he owes his very existence. When-
ever the word religion is uttered, let it remind man of that ever-
lasting and unbreakable bond which is designed to draw him ever
closer in reverence, love and service to the Father from Whom he
has come and to Whose all-embracing arms he is destined ulti-
mately to return.

Essence of Religion

“Whatever be the truth about the origin of the name,” ob-
serves St. Thomas Aquinas, “religion as a reality indicates the re-

1 Qui, omnia, quae ad cultum deorum pertinerent, diligenter retractarent et tamquam
religerent, sunt dicti religiosi ex relegendo. II, 28.

2X. 3.
3 vinculo pietatis Deo religati sumus, unde ipsa religio nomen accepit, non, ut Cicero

interpretatus est, a relegendo, IV, 28.
A Some Elements of Religion, Lecture I, 19.

[S]



lationship of man towards God.’’ This relationship is the volun-
tary subjection of the creature to his Creator in acknowledgment
of his complete and abiding dependence upon Him and of God’s
absolute and sovereign dominion over him. This sense of depend-
ence upon God, this keenly felt need of divine assistance, coupled
with the conviction that he can place himself in friendly and help-
ful communion with the deity along with the efforts to do so,
constitute the very essence of religion. At the very heart of reli-
gion then lie two ideas: the consciousness of man’s need of God,
and the conviction that the appropriate expression of the need for
divine aid can and will be answered.

The felt needs of the individuals vary with the tribes and so-
cieties in which they live, and with their own development. In
lower stages of development the solicitude is more for material wel-
fare than for moral perfection, though the latter is not neglected.
The emphasis would seem, however, to be upon material prosperity
and bodily comfort. In the higher religions the perfection sought
in religion becomes increasingly that of moral goodness. In Chris-
tianity, the highest of religions, the individual aims at communion
with God through the achievement of high spiritual perfection.

This entails a participation in the supernatural life of grace as

children of God. In the Christian there is a clear perception of

God’s sovereignty and a consequent recognition of our duty to
acknowledge that sovereignty by appropriate acts of praise, adora-
tion, propitiation, and thanksgiving.^ The crown of such acts of
filial homage is the love of God for His own sake, inasmuch as
He is the infinitely perfect being, in Whom truth, beauty and good-
ness are realized in their highest possible degree.

A Personal God
From what has been said thus far it is evident that the con-

cept of a deity required for religion is that of a jree personality,

possessing intelligence and will. Where the deity is identified with
the earth and the sky, with sticks and stones, as in pantheism, and

is thus devoid of all consciousness, religion ceases to exist. For the

essential acts of religion, prayer, adoration, propitiation, suppli-

cation imply the power to hear and the power to respond. What
would be the sense of talking to a rock or a clod of earth?

A deity without personality, and hence without consciousness,
is no more capable of awakening the sense of religion in the heart

5 Hence St. Thomas Aquinas defines religion as “the virtue which prompts man to
render to God the worship and reverence which is His by right” {virtm per quam homines
Deo dehitum cvltum et reverentiam exhibeni)^ II-II, Q. 81, a. 1.

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of man than is the all-pervading air or the universal force of gravi-
tation. Hence all attempts to substitute the cosmos or nature

—

even when written with capitals — for a personal deity are so
many arrows aimed at the heart of religion. Man can admire the
autumnal coloring of a tree, the fragrance of a rose, the beauty
of a sunset. He can no more talk to them, however, than he can
to a stick or a stone. Personality, consciousness, intelligence, the
power to hear and the power to answer, constitute then the core
of the concept of a deity required for religious purposes.

Religion is thus seen to be essentially a personal relation. It

is the relation of the creature to his Creator, of the subject to his

Sovereign, of man to his God. In that relationship man turns with
outstretched arms, seeking to clasp the hand reached down from
on high. He opens his lips to a listening ear. He pours out the
love of his heart to a heart which reciprocates with an overwhelm-
ing love. Religion is not a one directional line. It is not talking

to a deaf-mute. Reciprocation is of its very essence. God both
listens and replies. Says James Russell Lowell: ®

God is not dumb, that He should speak no more;
If thou hast wanderings in the wilderness
And find’st not Sinai, ’tis thy soul is poor.

Those who train their ears to catch the answering echoes from
the mind and the heart of God hear a message which carries cour-
age and inspiration, and feel a love which fills them with a rapture
which transcends all the pleasures of earth and sense. It is this
union of the soul with God in perfect love which constitutes the
end of all religious striving. A union which is approximated in
this life by high moral perfection, and which is achieved in the
next life by the soul which experiences a joy which no tongue can
describe. ^‘Eye hath not seen,” says the Apostle Paul, ^^nor ear
heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things
God hath prepared for them that love Him.”

Expression of Whole Personolity

Religion is not the stunted expression of a single faculty. It
calls forth the expression of man^s whole personality with all its
powers and faculties. It brings into play not merely the intellect,
but the will, the imagination, and the emotions. The envisag-

6 Bibliolatres.

7 1 Cor. ii. 9.

[ 7 ]



ment of the unseen world kindles the imagination. The conscious-
ness of an offense against God elicits sorrow and stirs the will to
amendment. The perception of the need of divine aid in times of
perplexity and crisis intensifies the fervor of our supplications and
bring us in humility to His feet.

Our hearts go out in paeans of joy and gratitude in times of
deliverance from suffering and danger. We exhaust the powers
of the painter, the musician, and the poet in seeking to express the
varied sentiments which fill our minds and the emotions which
tug at our hearts as we turn to God in all the changing vicissitudes
of human life. Hence we see how far off the mark are those
writers who seek to limit religion to the exercise of a particular
faculty, or to identify it exclusively with ritual or ethical conduct.

Hegel describes religion as ‘^the knowledge acquired by the
finite spirit of its essence as absolute spirit.’’ 'Max Muller terms
it ‘‘the perception of the infinite.” Schleiermacher refers to it as

“a determination of man’s feeling of absolute dependence.*^’ Kant
speaks of it as “the recognition of all our duties as divine com-
mands.” Matthew Arnold characterizes it as “morality touched
with emotion.” John Stuart Mill defines it as “the earnest direc-
tion of the emotions and desires toward an ideal object recognized
as the highest excellence and as rightly paramount over selfish
objects of desire.”

These are, however, but fragmentary descriptions. They are
but slender strands in the rich and varied tapestry of religion.
Distortion and deformation can only result from the effort to limit
religion to a single activity or faculty. Recognizing his depend-

ence upon Almighty God for every sinew and fiber and faculty of
his nature, man strives to render to God a full-orbed expression of
his dependence, his gratitude, and his love, by pulling every ele-
ment of his being into that acknowledgment. Hence religion in-
volves the expression of the whole man, mind and heart and soul.
If any element of his nature fails to participate in that manifesta-
tion, the homage is correspondingly incomplete.

Natural and Supernatural

Religion may be considered subjectively or objectively. Viewed
subjectively, that is as resident in the person or subject who prac-
tices it, religion may be defined as the disposition prompting the
individual to acknowledge through appropriate acts of homage,

praise and love his dependence upon Almighty God.
Viewed objectively, that is as something external to the per-

son or subject, religion may be defined as a system of truths, laws

[ 8 ]



and practices which direct and regulate the rendering of homage
and worship to God.

The most important division of religion is that which classi-
fies it as natural and supernatural. Natural religion may be de-
fined as the sum of man^s duties to God in so far as they can be
ascertained by the light of reason alone. In other words, it is the
worship of God as prescribed by reason unaided by revelation.
The duties of natural religion may be epitomized in the three
great commandments which man’s rational nature makes known
to him, namely, to honor God, to subdue his passions, and to do
unto others as he would have others do unto him.

The principal duties of man according to the law of nature
find expression in the Ten Commandments with the excq)tion
that in the third, the day of designation would not necessarily
be the Sabbath. Men would be obliged by the law of natural re-
ligion to set aside a day from time to time for the public worship
of God, but the choice of a particular day would be at the option
of each State or community. Prompting man to observe these
commandments would be the twofold motive, the love of God and
the fear of His judgment in the life to come.

Supernatural religion is the sum of man’s duties to God as
known by divine revelation. Thus there are certain truths, such
as the Incarnation and the Blessed Trinity, which transcend man’s
capacity to discover and which, if they are to be known at all,
must be revealed to him. There are other truths which man could
arrive at by his reason, such as, that God is one, necessary, eternal
and infinite. Many such truths of natural religion are also divine-
ly revealed. They are supernatural only in the manner in which
they have been made known to us.

Divine Revelation

Divine revelation is a beautiful and striking expression of
God’s solicitude and love for mankind. For if left entirely to
himself, man would fall into many errors and abominations, as the
history of pagan antiquity abundantly discloses. The gods of the
pagans were often patrons of theft, lying and lust. Licentious
orgies were publicly performed in honor of Bacchus and Eros.

With such depraved notions of the deity, they lacked a fixed
and unalterable standard of right and wrong. Even Plato (428-
347 B. c.), one of the master minds of ancient Greece, favored a
community of wives and the destruction of weakly and deformed

8 Rep. Book V.

[ 9 ]



children.® His great disciple, Aristotle (384-322 b. c.), who sys-
tematized so many branches of knowledge, entertained the same
lax views in regard to infant life. Lacking a proper conception of
human dignity, he regarded slaves as mere beasts who could be
beaten, tortured or put to death by their masters without in-
justice.®

Seneca, one of the leading Stoic philosophers of ancient Rome,
was emphatic in his approval of suicide. Even Marcus Aurelius,
its last and noblest representative, was uncertain, now condemning,
now approving the crime of self-destruction. In short, the best
minds of pagan antiquity fell into grievous errors, while the masses
were engulfed in sensual and licentious practices, destructive of

the integrity of the home and of the dignity of the individual.
The light of divine revelation not only pointed the way out of

these abominations but also gave mankind the necessaryf help to
follow that path. For it spoke to mankind not in the faltering and
uncertain tones of human reason but in the unfaltering and clear
language of divine wisdom.

Reyeiation Affords Certainty

This is of great importance. For without that divine assur-
ance of truth, mankind would be forever paralyzed by doubt.
Thus, let us suppose that in some community there exists a master
mind who devotes his whole life to the discovery of all the truths
of natural religion and finally arrives at all of them. Then he
undertakes to impart them to his fellow men. What chance of
success would he have? Little or none.

The man, tempted to sin, might well say: “How do I know
he is right? He is a man like myself. All his reasoning may be
wrong. He is a hopeless minority, with no credentials of his au-
thority to teach me the truth. I want and I need the assurance
from God that this is wrong. Then only can I act with certainty.’’

Thomas Carlyle said of Robert Burns: “His religion at best is
an anxious wish—like that of Rabelais, a great Perhaps.” Man
cannot, however, resist a driving passion nor prepare himself to
face the martyr’s fire on the strength of a mere Perhaps. He needs
a certainty—an unequivocal Yea, uttered in the clear tones of the
divine Revealer. Then all doubt and uncertainty are washed
away forever. Thus vividly and impressively do the mercy, the
goodness, and the love of God shine forth through the revelation
which He vouchsafed to man.

^Pol. IV (VII) 16; 17, i. S.

[ 10 ]



This deposit of supernatural truths, along with those discover-

able by unaided human reason, form a beautiful and harmonious
mosaic of religious truth. There is a fundamental unity to all
truth. For they all come from the same ultimate fountain. The
supernatural truths buttress and reinforce those discovered by
reason alone.

The human mind follows, as far as its finite tether will per-
mit, the illimitable reaches of divine truth, and when reason fal-
ters and stumbles at the twilight of mystery, faith takes over and
follows all the way. Faith rides on the donkey of human reason
and when the latter falters, it rides the remaining distance in the
chariot of divine revelation. It is a lovely virtue which, like the

beloved disciple, John, leans its head upon the bosom of the Lord
and hearing the throbbing of His beating heart, knows that all is
well. Faith is a genuflection of the will before the tabernacle of

God 'S revealed truth, a gesture of love whereby the heart of man
answers a cry from the heart of God.

[ 11 ]



CHAPTER II

THE UNIVERSALITY OF RELIGION

There is no race so wild and untamed as to be ignorant of the
existence of GodT Cicero, De Natura Deorum

As the belief in God has existed among all the races of mankind
from the earliest times down to the present, so the practice of
religion has been likewise universal. This is as true today as it
was at the dawn of history. Whether the race be comparatively
primitive or highly civilized, religion will be found to play an
important role. The practice of religion would seem to follow
as a direct and immediate consequence of the recognition of the
existence of a Supreme Being. Man expresses that acknowledge-
ment through prayer, sacrifice and ceremonial of varied kinds.
‘^Nature herself,” declares Cicero, “teaches us that God is to be
venerated, and of her law in this matter no man is free.”

The findings of modern historic research corroborate the truth
expressed by Cicero. Reflecting the conclusions of investigators
in this field. Prof. C. H. Toy of Harvard declares: “As far as our
present knowledge goes, religion appears to be universal among
men. There is no community of which we can say with certainty
that it is without religion.” ^

Similar is the way Professor Tiele in his History of Religion
sums up the findings of the researchers: “The statement that there
are nations or tribes which possess no religion rests either on in-

accurate observations or on a confusion of ideas. No tribe or
nation has yet been met with destitute of a belief in any higher
being, and travelers who have asserted their existence have been
afterwards refuted by facts. It is legitimate, therefore, to call
religion, in its most general sense, the universal phenomenon of
humanity.”

Granting then that religious worship has been universal among
all the tribes and races in the past, the question may be raised:
Have we any assurance that it will persist in the future? Has not
the advance of modern science been characterized by a progres-
sive substitution of mechanical for personal agency in nature, with

the inevitable result, as a skeptic has expressed it, that God will
be escorted to the limits of His universe and then politely bowed
out as no longer needed?

To this we may reply: The advance of modern science is fatal

1 Introduction to the History of Religions, pp. 5 f.

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to all polytheistic forms of religion, in which the secondary causes

are, through ignorance, mistaken for personal agents. The truth
of the unity of nature’s forces, so well established by modern sci-
ence, is in perfect harmony with the monotheistic interpretation
of nature. It is the polytheist, and not the Christian, who has a
particular deity for thunder, another for lightning, and another
for the earthquake. The monotheist recognizes all these phe-
nomena as due to secondary or natural causes operating within
the framework of universal law.

Far from being inconsistent with true science, Christian mono-
theism is necessary to supplement and complete the fragmentary
interpretation of nature afforded by science. Being based on
observation and experiment, science has for its legitimate field

of study only secondary causes of nature. It can tell us nothing

about origins, nothing about the great First Cause, from which

nature with its network of myriad laws has come.

Science Deciphers God's Hondwriting

In substituting physical laws for what was formerly thought
to be the direct action of God, science has not accounted for the
intelligent' purposive action of nature. It has simply pushed the
question farther back. But the demand for an Intelligent Cause,
a Supreme Mind, remains as persistent and importunate as ever.
Like the ghost of Banquo, it will not down. Dispense with Thor,
explain thunder by physical laws, and you make not less neces-
sary the need for the Legislator of such laws. ‘Xet the chain of
second causes be ever so long,” observes George Lavington, ‘‘the
first link is always in God’s hand.”

The discovery by science that thunder, lightning, torna-
does, earthquakes are due to the operation of physical laws,
prompts us to seek to know more about such laws. They show
that we live in a law-abiding universe. On the basis of the regu-
larity of the operations of the laws and forces of nature, we build
the edifice of all our sciences, and chart the position of stars
whose light has not yet reached our earth. In changing the pic-
ture of the universe from a fitful, capricious one, such as primi-
tive man envisaged, to one characterized by the universal reign
of law, science reveals the universe to be not less but more won-
derful, more awe-inspiring than ever our forebears dreamed.

By the same logic, the Author of such a law-abiding universe
is correspondingly enhanced. The adjectives, omnipotent, omnis-
cient, infinite, which were becoming somewhat anemic, are now
seen to be filled with the red corpuscles of vital and startling

[ 13 ]



reality. Far from dwarfing the expression of God’s power, mod-
ern science aggrandizes it. Far from elbowing God out of the
universe, science shows His omnipresence, through the power of
His laws in the whirling electrons within a tiny atom and in the
swing of Betelgeux through the vastness of immeasurable space.

Far from outmoding the worship of God, science confirms its
reasonableness with ever more impressive evidence of His divine
dominion over the whole vast universe. He has written His name,
as Lord and Sovereign, in the nuclear structure of every throbbing
atom, upon the heart of every flower, and upon the illuminated
manuscript of the skies. The whole of creation mirrors His in-
telligence and His power. As long as man can see and reason,
he will not fail to acknowledge the sovereign dominion of God
over himself and all creation. In such an acknowledgment, reli-
gion finds its most basic and essential expression—an expression
that is as universal and enduring as mankind itself.

[ 14 ]



CHAPTER III

ORIGIN OF RELIGION

There is in the nature of man a desire to know the cause of
the effects that he sees, St. Thomas Aquinas

Prescinding for the moment from the testimony of Holy Scrip-
ture, we ask: What was the natural origin of religion? For reli-
gion, like morality, has a natural basis or origin. It is the out-
come of the use of reasoning whereby man concludes from the
observations of the forces of nature that there must be some
great Power, some supreme Intelligence to account for them.
Observing the unfailing sequence of day and night, the regular
order of the seasons, and other such evidences of power, order and
plan, it was possible for primitive man to conclude by the light
of human reason alone that there must be a Being, possessing
intelligence and power, somewhere in the universe. In the absence
of positive, historic data concerning the natural origin of religion,

we can only give a speculative answer.

The process by which primitive man arrived naturally at a
theistic interpretation of the world seems to have been a simple,
spontaneous application of the principle of causality. So basic
and far-reaching is this principle in enabling us to arrive at the
existence of causes, which often lie beyond the range of our im-
mediate vision, that it may be said to constitute the spinal column
of the body of our scientific and philosophic knowledge of man
and of the universe. It is the spinal column likewise of the phi-
losophy of religion which seeks by reason alone to establish the
basis of natural religion and to formulate its fundamental truths.

What was primitive man’s view of nature? There is every
reason to believe that it was to a large extent similar to that held
by tribes and peoples who have not yet risen to a scientific knowl-
edge of the laws of nature. The causes best known to him are
living, personal ones, namely, himself and his fellow men. He
has not penetrated to an understanding of secondary, mechanical
causes of natural events. The result is that he attributes all the
striking phenomena of earth, air and sky to personal agencies.

Personal Forces of Nature

His experience with lifeless objects, sticks and stones, utensils
and weapons, shows him that they move and exercise force only
when a person imparts energy to them. Consequently whenever

[ 15 ]



he perceives a phenomenon showing movement and energy out-
side his limited experience of mechanical causation, he is prompted
spontaneously to attribute it to some mysterious person. Thus,
the thunder suggests the thunderer. He thinks of the sun and
moon either as living things or as the instruments of an invisible
living agency. It was easy for primitive man to perceive in and
behind the phenomena of nature the operation of mind and will.

To perceive in the vast diversity of these phenomena the oper-
ation of but one supreme person was, however, far from easy.
While such an inference was indeed possible, it was not a likely
one. This becomes evident when we consider the enormous diffi-
culty confronting primitive man in attempting in his inexperience
to co-ordinate the widely different phenomena of nature and to
trace them to one and the same source of intelligence and power.
The more likely tendency would have been to attribute different
phenomena to distinct personalities. This is what was done by
the peoples of antiquity. In fact this is still done by savage and
uncivilized tribes everywhere.

Dr. Charles F. Aiken thus sums up the situation: ^Teoples,
whose ignorance of the physical laws of nature has not been com-
pensated by revealed teaching, have invariably personalized the
forces of nature, and, feeling that their welfare depended on the
beneficent exercise of these powers, have come to divinize them.
From this danger of falling into a polytheistic interpretation of
nature, primitive man was saved by Divine Revelation. Such,
it would seem, was the simple philosophy forming the natural
basis of religion in primitive times. It was theoretically capable
of leading to a monotheism like that of the ancient Hebrews, who
viewed clouds, rain, lightning, and tempest as the signs of God’s
immediate activity. But, apart from revelation, it was very liable
to degenerate into polytheistic nature-worship. Its defect was
primarily scientific—ignorance of the secondary causes of natural
events; but it rested on a sound principle, namely, that the phe-

nomena of nature are in some way the outcome of intelligent
volition. This principle commends itself to the Christian phi-
losopher and scientist.” ^

Conclusions Which Don't Follow

Religion did not have its origin in' fear, as a few modern
writers assert. They picture early man as frightened by the
thunder, lightning, tempests and earthquakes, and calling upon

1 Catholic Encyclopedia, art. “Religion,” Vol. 12, p. 744.

[ 16 ]



the deity for protection. The fallacy underlying this theory is
that fear is a feeling, and no mere feeling can account for the idea
of personality which may or may not be associated with a danger-
ous or terrifying object. It is true that fear may stimulate man
to call upon the deity for aid and protection. But such supplica-
tion presupposes belief in such a deity. When a man is attacked
by a thug, his fear may prompt him to shout/Help! Police! ” But
he calls for the police only because he already knows of their
existence and their willingness to come to his aid, when attacked
by a robber.

Here we should advert to the attempts of other writers to dis-
credit religion by calling attention to the large admixture of su-
perstition and error found in the religious practices of savage and
barbarous peoples. Volumes have been written, piling up instances
of the use of magic, fetishes, totems and other superstitious prac-
tices. Let all that be frankly admitted. What conclusion follows
therefrom?

‘‘Religion,’’ they reply, “is without any rational foundation.
Present day religion is but the refinement of the worship, suppli-
cations, propitiation and thanksgiving of primitive man. Since
those practices were infested with superstition and error, all reli-
gion is without a solid basis and is valueless.”
^The conclusion is, however, too wide for the premises. If that
line of reasoning were to prevail there would not be left in the
world today a single valid science. For in their early stages all
branches of science were infested with error. Medicine is a
capital example. How many false potions, treatments and reme-
dies were mixed up with the early practice of the healing art.
Up until a few centuries ago it was the custom to bleed people
to relieve fever and to cure other ailments for which it was no
remedy at all. Does it follow that the whole modern science of
medicine is without any solid basis and is utterly valueless?

In its early days chemistry was entangled with many errors,
not the least of which were the methods used in attempting to
change the baser metals into gold and silver. Do those errors
vitiate modern chemistry?

In past ages astronomers often engaged in astrological prac-

tices, seeking to foretell events by the position of the stars. Does
it follow that the modern science of astronomy is without any
%olid foundation and that every textbook on the subject is as
valueless as a fairy tale? To ask these questions is to answer
them. Thousands of years ago Cicero punctured the fallacy of
those who sought to discredit religion by pointing to the super-

[171



stitions encumbering it, when he said: Religion is not removed
by removing superstition,^* ^

The Principle of Causality

The simple fact is that the basis of primitive man’s theistic
interpretation of nature and therefore of his religious worship is
the mighty principle of causality which constitutes likewise the
enduring and rational basis of all the sciences. Far from scrap-
ping that far-reaching principle, by which man reduces the frag-
mentary and discrete phenomena of the universe to the marvelous
unity of universal law, the findings of both science and philosophy
reinforce its validity and extol it as a principle more potent than
the lever for which Archimedes searched to move the earth. By
the application of that principle, man has found truth and reality
in all the domains of intellectual questing—in science, philosophy
and religion.

‘Without having recourse,” observes Prof. James Fox, “to
psychological analysis of doubtful value, and contested assump-
tions as to the conditions which surrounded primeval man, we per-
ceive an obvious inherent characteristic of the human mind com-
mon to all stages of development, which is amply sufficient to
account for the appearance of religious beliefs and practices.
This characteristic is the impulse of ascribing every perceived

effect to some cause.” ®

St. Thomas Aquinas likewise calls attention to this inherent
characteristic of the human mind. “There is,” he says, “in the
nature of man a desire to know the cause of the effects that he
sees. ... If the understanding of a rational creature cannot reach
at the first cause of things, the desire of its nature will remain
unsatisfied.” So man is forever climbing up the ladder of sec-
ondary causes to the First and Supreme Cause—God Himself.
In the breast of every human being there is an echo of the words
of the Psalmist: “He has made us, not we ourselves.”

The conviction of early man that the universe can not account
for itself, that it demands an adequate cause, a Supreme Intelli-
gence, is as true today as it was untold thousands of years ago.
True, somewhat different and more enlightened expressions are
given to that fundamental conviction, but its basic core is still

the same. That core is the principle of causality by which we
arrive at the conclusion that the earth, its phenomena, its order,

2 De Divinatione, II.
3 Religion and Morality, James Joseph Fox.

[ 18 ]



and the myriad forms of life thereon must have an' adequate
cause. That Cause mankind has called from time immemorial
by the venerable name of God.

'^Don't Cut Down the Tree^^
The errors which were mixed up in primitive man’s religious

worship no more invalidate religion than the presence of a few
bad apples destroys the value of the whole tree. Reason dictates
that we pluck off the infected apples, but it does not ask us to
cut down the tree. Yet that is precisely what a few writers on
the religious practices of early man would have us do—cut down
the whole tree of religion. The simple truth is that when the
myriad customs, rituals and practices followed by early man in
religious worship are carefully studied and properly interpreted,
they emphasize in an impressive manner the basic fact that man-
kind always and everywhere has felt the duty of rendering hom-
age to God and the need of asking His divine aid and guidance in
all the vicissitudes of life.

Thus do the facts unearthed by painstaking research in the
history of religion and by studies in comparative religion add
their own distinctive undertones to man’s age-old and unceasing
cry for God—the creative womb from which he issued and the
all-embracing arms to which he is destined ultimately to return.
Far then from tending to undermine religious faith, the data sup-
plied by these two branches of knowledge, -when properly inter-
preted, afford a new and a striking reinforcement. They accent
the universality of such faith, and show that for mankind as a
whole it is a necessary and inescapable consequence of the capacity
to think.

Theism is thus seen to be the inevitable conclusion from the
application of the principle of causality to the phenomena of na-
ture and to the order and harmony of the universe. The name of
God is written on the silver lining of the cloud that veils our
world andjdie radiance of that name is glimpsed ever and anon
by all those who penetrate with seeing minds and understanding
hearts beneath that mystic veil which we call the phenomena of
nature. Look with reverent eyes, clear mind and pure heart and
you will not fail to see the handwriting of God and to catch some-
thing of the shining glory of His countenance.

[ 19 ]



CHAPTER IV

RELIGIOUS WORSHIP—A DUTY

/ am the Lord, thy God. . . . Thou shalt not have strange gods
before Me. Exodus xx. 2

We come now to the consideration of the important question:
Is there a duty upon all mankind to render homage and worship
to God? “No/^ reply some, ‘‘that is a privilege which may be
exercised or not according to the whim or option of the individ-
ual.” True, man is physically free to worship God or not. Like-
wise the legislation of virtually every State grants its citizens the
right to engage in religious worship, but refrains from any enact-
ment compelling them to do so.

The fact is, however, that there exists a stern moral obliga-
tion upon every human being to render homage and adoration to
God. Why? Since man owes his very existence to the Creator,
and is dependent upon Him for both body and soul, it follows
that man should acknowledge this dependence upon God, pro-
claim his gratitude to Him, and express by appropriate action
God’s sovereign and absolute dominion over him. This is a law
of nature. This is a dictate of reason. This is a command of
God. The failure to make such an acknowledgment constitutes
a serious violation of the whole moral order.

Let us illustrate man’s dependence upon God. A newborn
babe is cradled in its mother’s arms, drawing nourishment from
her breasts. It is a picture of complete helplessness. Unable to
ward off a hostile blow, unable to take a single step, unable to
speak a word, unable to provide for a single one of its many needs,
it is a perfect S3onbol of sheer and utter helplessness. Dependent
upon its parents for its life, it is likewise dependent upon them
for its maintenance. Deprive that tiny newcomer of the loving
care of mother and father, and quickly will the spark of life
flicker and die.

Our Dependence on God

Similarly are we dependent upon the Creator from Whom all
life proceeds. Our dependence is, however, even more absolute
and universal. We are dependent upon God for body and soul,
for every breath we take, for every movement we make, for every
thought of our mind, for every decision of our will, and for every
aspiration of our soul. All the faculties of the soul and all the

[ 20 ]



powers of the body come to us as gifts from the Creator’s bounty.
We are indebted to the divine omnipotence not only for their
existence but for their actions as well.

Withdraw the sustaining power of God for but a moment, and
we would cease to be. Withhold the divine concursus by which
we act, and we would not so much as utter even the infant’s cry
of distress. Thus is God the ground of our being, the anchor of
our preservation, and the sustaining power of our activity. So
absolute and universal is our dependence upon Him that there
is engraven upon every fiber of our being the indelible mark of
God’s unlimited and unconditioned ownership.

We may have the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Sam-
son, the beauty of Apollo, the riches of Croesus, the imagination
of Shakespeare, and the genius of Pasteur. We may win the
plaudits of our fellow men and bask in the sunshine of popu-
larity. But we can never obliterate the birthmark proclaiming
the nothingness of our origin and the insufficiency of our being.
Sounding as overtones of the world’s applause is heard in the
soul’s inner ear the whisper of the Creator claiming the work of
His hands: “You and your talents and achievements are all Mine.
For without Me, you can do nothing.”

The little babe may in time become independent of his par-
ents, and provide for his own needs, but the creature can never
become independent of the Creator. The umbilical cord binding
the babe to its mother is severed at birth, but the cord of the
creature’s dependence upon his Creator remains forever intact.

The true picture of man is not that of the lord of the universe.
For with all his knowledge and scientific achievements, he still
finds himself like an infant enveloped in a world of fathomless
mystery. Everything he sees, hears, or touches, if pushed but a
step or two, terminates in mystery. He has not yet learned the
alphabet of nature’s language, nor trained his ear to catch the

music of the stars. Brief voyager on a planet lost in the skies, he
is born today, to pass tomorrow into the Stygian darkness of the
uncomprehending night. The true picture of man is that of an
infant crying in the night, with no language but a cry, a cry to
the God Who made him.

The title of the Creator’s dominion over us is more absolute
than any achieved by the creature. The picture painted by the
artist, the poem penned by the poet, the statue carved by the
sculptor, belong to their owners by virtue of their labor. They
must be given, however, the material and the tools upon which
they are dependent to achieve their products. Without the proper

[ 21 ]



materials there would be no paintings, no books of poetry, no
statues. God knows, however, no such dependence. Not only
does He fashion our natures but He also creates the very sub-
stance of our being. Hence God^s title of ownership or dominion
over us is as complete and absolute as the human mind can con-
ceive.

Paying Our Debt

Now it is an ordinance of nature and a dictate of our moral
nature that a debt should be acknowledged and paid. Since we
are indebted to God for both our being and our continuance in
existence, we should acknowledge that debt and seek to pay it by
appropriate actions. That fundamental obligation we fulfill by
acts of religion. For the essential element in all religious actions
consists in the acknowledgment of our dependence upon God and
His sovereignty over us.

What is the meaning of the bowed head, the folded hands, the
bent knee? What is the significance of the act of adoration, the
hymn of praise, the propitiatory striking of the breast, the song
of thanksgiving? Are not all these so many efforts of the crea-
ture to acknowledge his indebtedness to the Creator for his life,
his faculties, and for all that he may ever achieve? They are the
language of adoration spoken with the accents of gratitude and
love.

We can illustrate the duty of the creature to acknowledge his
dependence upon the Creator by citing the universally recognized
duty of a son to show honor and respect to his father. Why is he
obliged to pay such homage? Because the father begot him and
during the years of his dependence maintained him by his toil.
The duty of respect flows therefore from the twofold gift he has
received—^procreation and maintenance. Acts of kindness, obedi-
ence, gratitude and love constitute the currency wherewith the son
seeks to pay his debt. If he fail to pay his father the homage of
his respect, gratitude and love, he is universally regarded as an
ingrate of the blackest hue.

It is a debt from which the father cannot dispense his son.

For it is rooted in the very nature of a son’s relationship to his

father—the relationship of dependence for his existence and main-
tenance. Hence it does not spring from any wish or whim of the
father to be respected. It is grounded in the moral law which

binds both father and son. It binds the father to require such

respect and it binds the son to render it. That moral law is a
reflection of the mind and will of God.

[ 22 ]



What would you think of a father who did not exact such filial
respect? Suppose he were to say to his son: ^^True, I am your
father. By my toil I provided for you during the days of your
infancy and early youth. But you do not need to make any
acknowledgment. You can ignore me altogether. You can treat
me with utter indifference and neglect. You need not speak a
kind, grateful or affectionate word to me. When walking with
your friends, you need not speak or bow to me or indicate in
any way that you so much as know me. You are free to disregard
my wishes and to disobey my commands. I shall not complain
if you forget all that I have done for you, not even if you return
my love with hatred.’’

Would you not say that such a father was attempting to grant
a dispensation which he had no moral right to grant? Would
not every man and woman regard him as an unnatural father, a
monstrosity, devoid of common sense as well as the normal in-
stincts of fatherhood? The fact is that procreation begets not
only the right, but also the duty, of demanding honor, obedience
and love from children. By failing to demand such respect the
father would sin not less grievously than the son in failing to give
it.

More greatly indebted is the creature to the Creator than the
child to his father. Not only for his very being but for every act
as well is he indebted to his Creator. The father gave of what
he had received. God, however, gives of what is absolutely His
own. The creature is under a moral obligation to acknowledge
his complete and abiding dependence upon the Creator. So ab-
solute is this obligation that not even God can dispense from it.
For such a dispensation would constitute a subversion of the
whole moral order and would be equivalent to an open denial of
God’s authority over the work of His hands.

Worship—Internol ond Externol
Let us now set forth the different kinds of worship, condi-

tioned by human nature. Man is a creature composed of body
and soul. He is capable therefore of originating two different
kinds of acts. Some of his acts, such as thought and volition, may
remain entirely in the mental faculties from which they proceed.
Others, such as speaking, singing, genuflecting, find outward ex-
pression in the body. The former are internal, the latter, external.
Corresponding to these two kinds of activity are internal and ex-
ternal worship.

[ 23 ]



Internal homage consists in the inarticulate thoughts of praise
and adoration and in the unspoken affections of the soul leaning
in reverence upon the bosom of divine love and listening to the
throbbing of the divine heart. External worship expresses the
sentiments of reverence, obedience, praise, loyalty and love
through vocal prayer, the singing of h3mms, and through the
moving ceremonies of the Church’s ritual service.

Since God is the Author of soul and body, we must render to
Him the worship of both. We must give Him the love of the
former and the obeisance of the latter. Otherwise we would be
defrauding God by paying Him only half of the debt.

Thus it becomes evident that the rendering of homage to God
by acts both of internal and external worship, is not a matter of
option or caprice. It is a matter of strict obligation. It binds
every creature born into this world, whether he be white or black,
red, yellow or brown. It binds alike the rich and the poor, the
king and the beggar, the scientist in his laboratory and the un-
tutored Redman in the forest. From this universal obligation no
court can dispense.

As the debt man owes to the Creator is greater than any he
could owe to his fellow man, the obligation for its discharge rests
with correspondingly greater weight and pressure upon the con-
science of every human. It is man’s first obligation in justice,
his most important and urgent debt. Hence, St. Thomas ranks
religion as the first of all the moral virtues, since by it we pay
the first and the most important of all our creditors, our Creator,
what is due Him.

An Obligation of Justice ond Truth

The duty of rendering homage to God flows not only from
the obligation of justice but from that of truth as well. God is
the most perfect of all beings. He is wisdom, truth, goodness,
beauty and love unutterable. Out of His infinite goodness and
generosity He has lifted us from the valley of nothingness to the
mountain of being. Out of His infinite love. He vouchsafed to
us His divine Son, to die for us upon Calvary’s cross. To fail to
recognize and acknowledge such goodness and such love is not
only an offense against justice but against truth as well. It is

man’s monumental lie. In comparison with it all others are but
as pygmies.

Take the case of a soldier who fought with distinguished
bravery for his country in the South Pacific. As a pilot he risked
life scores of times by attacking the enemy in the trackless skies,

[ 24 ]



shooting dozens of them down, and thus saving the lives of
thousands of men in the troopships below. At last he himself
is shot down in flames. Badly wounded, he manages to drag
himself from the burning plane. Through the jungle he gropes his
way, suffering hunger, thirst, weariness and the stabbing pain of
his wounds.

For months he barely manages to keep alive on a few berries
and edible greens. By day the sun scorches his half-naked body.
By night he shivers as the cold rain pelts him with icy pellets.
Every nerve in his body is aching, while his mind is tortured with
the fear of impending death in a wilderness where his body would
never be found. At last when the cup of human misery is filled
to the overflowing, he drags himself, emaciated and wan, into a
settlement of friendly natives. Invalided back to America, he
has lost an arm and a limb, while an injured spine condemns him
for the rest of his life to a wheelchair.

On being returned to his native land, let us suppose that he
receives no word of recognition. No Purple Heart is pinned upon
him. No Distinguished Service Medal adorns his uniform. His
commander, his fellow officers, his countrymen utter no word of
admiration, no word of gratitude, no single acknowledgment of
all that he has done and suffered for his country.

What would be the feeling of the victim of such black in-
gratitude? Would not their failure to express a single word of
appreciation cut him to the very quick? Would it not stab him
with a pain sharper than any he had endured from wounds, or
cold or hunger or thirst in his jungle prison? Sharper than a
serpent’s tooth is black ingratitude.

Let us now consider the feeling of the American people after
they had been apprised of such a case. Would not every man,
woman, and child in the land rise up as a single man to pay hom-
age to such a hero? With a single voice they would say: Such
heroism should receive the grateful acclaim of the nation. Such
bravery under fire should be fittingly recognized. Such suffering
and sacrifice should receive the public recognition of the Ameri-
can people as long as they have any regard for justice, merit, and
truth. Indeed, if we knew that there was one single such unrecog-
nized hero in our midst, would we not be restless and unable to
sleep peacefully until we had ferreted him out and given to him
the public recognition which his heroism demanded? Why? Be-
cause both justice and truth require it. Not only would his merit
entitle him to such recognition, but truth itself would likewise
demand that we pay homage to such excellence. If we did not

[ 25 ]



do so, we would experience not only the rankling sense of injus-
tice but also the torturing guilt of participating in a public lie.

Public Worship—A Duty
God is the one infinitely perfect Being in the universe. All

the perfections, such as goodness, kindness, honesty, truth, justice,

mercy, generosity, love, which we find existing in a fragmentary
manner in creatures exist in God in an infinite degree. In giving
us our very being and all the faculties of body and soul, God has
given us more and has done more for us than any and all the
benefactors and heroes who ever lived. Therefore truth itself
demands that we give public recognition to such excellence and
such beneficence. It is a dictate of simple honesty. It is the

thunderous demand of strict justice.
This truth is well expressed by Dr. F. Hettinger: ‘^As reli-

gion consists in the recognition of God as our Creator and the end
of all creatures, so its immediate and formal expression is adora-
tion. Man naturally pays homage to real greatness, wherever
found; he is naturally attracted by goodness and love, of which
he is the object; he naturally admires genius in works which bear
its impress. But God is the plenitude of Life, of Love, and Power;
when, therefore, man reads His greatness in the marvels of cre-
ation, His love and goodness in the order of nature and the pages
of history. His providence in the ordering of his own life and in
that of others, then he falls prostrate, and exclaims with childlike
awe, ^Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabbath!^ He confesses that
both himself and all things are from God, by his prayer, ^Our Fa-
ther, Who art in heaven’; that all things live and move in God,
and are sustained by His might, by the ^Hallowed be Thy Name’;
that he and all creatures are destined to serve God here, and to
share His glory, by the prayer ^Thy Kingdom come.’ And as
long as man is man, so long will religion endure, and, with it, the
obligation of worship.” ^

A Curious Myopia
There has been a curious myopia on the part of many people

concerning this obligation. People recognize instantly the malice
of theft, drunkenness, and murder. Each would be horrified to
be called a thief. Each would slink away in shame if termed a
drunkard. Every one would be aghast if called a murderer. Yet

1 Natural Religion, pp. 277, 278.

[ 26 ]



they seem to perceive little or no malice in withholding from God
the worship which is His due.

Thieves they are, nevertheless, and robbers too, not of men
but of God. If it be a sin to rob a human being of his due, how
much greater a sin it is to rob God of His due? If we judge the
malice of an offense by the dignity of the person offended, who is
there who can measure the malice of a deliberate offense against
the infinite majesty of God? Most crimes are the result of pas-
sion which blurs the reason and bends the will like a reed in a
gale. They are usually the result of a passing disorder. But the
crime of ignoring God and of withholding for a long time the
worship due Him can plead no such extenuating circumstances.

Suffice it to Say that the sin of irreligion is one of the most
grievous which a creature can commit. To those who are less
sensitive to the term, sinful, and more responsive to the term,
immoral, we add that it is one of the most profoundly immoral
acts which a creature can perform. For such a person places
himself in direct and permanent opposition to the whole moral
order because he is in opposition to the Author and Underwriter
of that order.

The anarchist aims the assassin’s bullet not at a private citizen
but at the ruler of a nation, because he wishes to destroy law

and order and thus plunge the whole nation into disorder and
strife. We look upon his dastardly deed with greater loathing
because of the more far-reaching consequences of the act. Like
the anarchist, the irreligious person points a revolver, loaded with

ingratitude and treason, at the heart of the Creator, the one Being
Who has the greatest claim upon his gratitude and love. This
may sound to worldlings and to irreligious like strong language.
It is, however, well within the margin of the facts.

Considering the vast number of people who rarely or never
darken the door of a church in our land, there is no truth that
needs to be sounded so loudly or so persistently in the ears of the
American people as that of the duty of rendering homage and
worship to the God Who made them. It is man’s first and su-
preme duty. It is absolute, universal and indispensable. Any one
who violates it should feel upon his brow the mark of Cain, in
his heart the treason of Benedict Arnold, and in his conscience
the guilt of Judas.

Why Neglect God?
The overwhelming majority of the American people believe in

God and in His Son, Jesus Christ. They possess many noble vir-

[ 27 ]



tues and qualities which provoke the admiration of mankind.
They are generous almost to a fault. With no thought of selfish
gain, they entered World War I, and sent their sons across the
sea to free the countries of the Old World from aggression. With
lavish hand they poured out their blood and treasure for the free-
dom of lands they had never previously seen. For the first time
in the history of the world, mankind saw a major power emerge
from a bloody conflict, into which that people had poured their
substance on a gigantic scale, without taking so much as a grain
of sand.

In World War II they are repeating the story, but on a larger
scale. Fighting for the freedom of the Chinese, the Filipinos and
the Australians in the Pacific, and for that of the occupied coun-
tries of Europe, they are pouring out their wealth on a scale never
witnessed before. They are sending millions of their young men
to fight in the Seven Seas, on all the battle fields, and in the skies
of all the world. All this they are doing without a thought of

gaining a penny of booty or a single inch of territory for them-
selves. It is no wonder that the oppressed peoples of the Orient
and the downtrodden countries of the Old World, thrill at the
thought of America and marvel at the feats of her people.

This is the flowering of the seed of religious faith and Chris-
tian idealism which the founding fathers planted deep in our land.
Signs are not wanting, however, that the religious faith, which was
once so sturdy in our national life, is waning through the failure
of many millions to practice it. i Religion, like all living things,
grows through use and decays through disuse. The failure to teach
religion in our public schools, because of the diversity of de-

nominational creeds, is doubtless one of the important factors in

j

the decay of religious life in our country. While it constitutes a
^ serious administrative difficulty, it is one which, we believe, Ameri-
can resourcefulness and ingenuity can overcome.

Surely a way can be found, fair and equitable to all, whereby
religion can be taught to the overwhelming majority of our chil-
dren, sons and daughters of God-fearing men and women. Other-
wise irreligion will grow by leaps and bounds, and the sturdy
faith of our pioneer forefathers will he but a nostalgic memory.
It will be a sad day for America and its future, when our children
know more about Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse than they do
about their Creator and His Son, Jesus Christ, our divine Re-
deemer. Yet that is the direction in which we are traveling at
break-neck speed today.

It is time to call a halt. It is time to put first things first.

[ 28 ]



It is time to put God on the throne of American life, to thank Him
for the blessings which He has poured out so lavishly upon our
land, to obey His divine commands, and to render to Him the
homage of adoration, propitiation, and love which are His due.
It is time for us to remember that we can kill a faith by failing
to practice it. y^ The spiritual distemper of our day is indifferentism. This is
the first stage in the sickness that leads to decadence and death.
^^Nothing** warned Edmund Burke, so fatal to religion as in-
differentism, which is at least half infidelity,^* Similar, too, is
the admonition of Samuel Johnson: ^‘To be of no church is dan-
gerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is
animated only by Faith and Hope, will glide by degrees out of the
mind, unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordi-
nances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of
example.’’ ^ It is time for the American people to heed this warn-
ing. It is time for them to remember that while they are pour-
ing out their blood and treasure for nations all over the globe,
they must not be miserly toward the one Being in the world Who
has the first claim upon their gratitude and love, the Creator,
Who gave them their very existence and Who has showered upon
them such a multitude of blessings.

2 Lives of the Poets: Milton,

129 ]



CHAPTER V

RELIGION AND SOCIETY

The Duty of Sociol Worship

The task and triumph of religion is to make men and nations
true and just and upright in all their dealings, and to bring all law
as well as all conduct into subjection and conformity to the law
of God. Henry J. Van Dyke

Man is both an individual with a certain independence of
action and he is a member of society. He has been endowed by
God with gifts of mind, heart and will, whereby he can think his
own thought, direct his affections to whatsoever object he desires^
and make his own decisions, independently of the thoughts and
actions of others. But he has likewise been endowed with a social
nature, with gifts which enable him to co-operate with his fellows
and prompt him to associate with them in all the great enter-
prises of life. As a matter of fact, he lives and moves and has
his being in the society of which he forms a part. He has a crav-
ing for the company of others and reaches a richer and fuller life
by the use of his social endowments.

From this twofold nature of man arises the duty of private or
individual worship and of social or public worship. As we have
already presented at sufficient length the duty of internal and of
external homage on the part of the individual, we shall develop
with equal care the duty of social worship.

As man is obliged to acknowledge God^s authorship of his
body and his mind by using both these natures in conjoint acts
of adoration, so man is in duty bound to use his social nature in
rendering homage to God. This he does by uniting with his fel-
lows in acts of public prayer, praise and worship. In endowing
man with a social nature, God becomes the Author of society.
That debt therefore can be paid, not by the individual, but only
by the society which bows its corporate head in reverent acknowl-
edgment of its dependence upon God and His dominion over it.

That is why the act of public homage in which the ruler, the
civil magistrates and the private citizens join is a well-rounded
act of worship, especially pleasing to God and wholesome and
salutary to the spiritual and moral life of society. Man is pro-
foundly influenced by the example of his fellows. Social worship
stimulates and reinforces individual worship and frequently adds

[ 30 ]



order and regularity to expressions of devotion which, if left en-
tirely to the individual, might become fitful, desultory and uncer-
tain. Hence the great advantage of having one day of the week
set aside for the systematic, public worship of God by all members
of society.

In such corporate action the devotion of the individual is

greatly intensified by being blazoned forth in congregational sing-
ing, the joint recitation of prayer, and the performance of other
acts of public worship. So closely knit together are the physical

and the psychical natures of man that the external expression of
an inward sentiment serves to deepen and stabilize it and render
it easier of recall.

^^Why No Welcoming Committee?^'

Social worship is not therefore to be viewed as a superfluous
supplement to private worship, a supplement which springs merely
from fashion or convention, and not from the deeper elements of
man’s nature. It is a profound moral obligation which arises
from the social nature with which God has endowed man. We
can make this matter somewhat clearer by an illustration.

Let us suppose that the President of the United States an-

nounces his intention to pay your city a public visit. He arrives
at the depot, but alas and alack! there is no one to greet him and
his party. He looks around for the mayor, the civil officials, the
welcoming committee of prominent citizens and the usual con-
course of private ones. But he looks in vain! People are hur-
rying to and fro, intent upon their own affairs. A few idlers, who
recognize him, stare and pass on.

Finally he hails a couple of Yellow Cabs and he and his en-
tourage go to the mayor’s office. There the mayor’s attention is
divided between his cigar and the morning newspaper. Later on
when his eye lights upon the President, he lays down his paper
and says:

‘^Hello! Mr. President, welcome to our fair city.”
When the President inquires why there was no welcoming

committee, no manifestation of public respect for the Chief Ex-
ecutive of the nation. His Honor replies:

^^Oh! We don’t believe in those artificial and superfluous
expressions. I, the other officials and the citizens here keep our
esteem for you in our hearts. It would be silly and meaningless
to have any public expression of such homage and esteem.”

What do you think would be the President’s reaction to such
strange procedure? What do you think would be the sentiments

[ 31 ]



expressed in every newspaper and upon the lips of every citizen
of our land? Would they not be indignant against the magis-
trates and the citizens of that community for their gross lack of
elementary respect for the President of our country? Regard-
less of any differences of political views which might exist, the
members of that community, the nation would declare, should pay
to the President the public respect which his exalted office justly
demands. That is a debt which they owe him, and if they failed
to pay it, they would be the objects of the indignation and the
scorn of all the other citizens of the land.

From that conclusion, no citizen will dissent. Yet, if it be
universally admitted that the President is entitled to that public
expression of the respect and esteem of society, how can society
withhold the expression of the honor and reverence due to the
Creator? Is He not the God of presidents, the King of kings,
the Lord of lords? At His name should not every knee bend, of
those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth? Is not
God the source of all authority, the fountainhead of all rights?
Is it not in His name that kings rule and lawmakers issue just de-
crees? Does not the whole moral order derive its sanctions from
God? What authority is there in human society that does not
stream from God? For society to fail then in giving to the King
of kings the public expression of its reverence and homage is to
fail in its first and most important duty. This is the capital sin.

An impersonol Force?
So reasonable and obvious is this conclusion that it admits

of no equivocation or escape. Why is it then that there are so
many of our fellow countrymen who fail to give God the public
homage and worship due Him? The causes in our opinion are
fourfold. First is the tendency of many people to think of the
Deity in terms of a vague power or impersonal force far off in the
universe.^ Secondly, many wonder or doubt if God wants such
homage. Thirdly, many fail to realize that they have a strict
duty to render public worship to God. Fourthly, many are so
engrossed in their own mundane concerns as to forget about God
almost completely. Let us look briefly at these considerations.

The conception of God as a force operating throughout the
universe, without intelligence and will, and hence devoid of per-
sonality, is easily disproven. Wherever we look at nature,
whether it be at a blade of grass, a leaf on the tree, a flower, a

bird, or man, we see the evidence of plan and purpose, the blue-

1 See author’s article, God—A Blur in Modern Thought, in The American Ecclesias-
tical Review, May, 1944.

[ 32 ]



Radical

.By BR. FRANK CRANE

As a radical in good and regular standing with all my dues paid,
and with a known and open record, and having often and publicly
made full confession of faith, I want to protest against the various
groups of. loud fellows who occasionally drop in to meeting and
^claim they are the only real radicals and that the likes of me do
not belong.

Radical comes from radix or radish or something like that, mean-
ing root, and a radical, properly speaking, is one who goes to the
root of matters.

He is supposed not to stop at half-way compromises, to lodge in
no opportunisms, and not to put faith in catchwords and mob
formulae.

r am a radical in religion, far I believe in nothing short of God.
I am a radical in education, for I believe in studying the child

and bringing out what’s in him, and not in making him study a set
curriculum so as to ‘make him twofold more a humbug than we
ourselves.

I am a radical in politics, for I believe in democracy, in the U. S.
A., and in the people, and repudiate political parties—neither will
I follow nor be led by them.

I am a radical in social questions, for I believe that the social
organism is a growth, and that socialists, bolsheviks, and other
Utopian-thinkers are trying to make something by their clumsy
logic saws and theory hammers that can only be grown like a tree.

I am a radical in taxation, for I believe in single tax as the only
system which is based on honesty and not robbery and crooked

reasoning.

I am a radical in literature, for I believe there is no sense in writ-
ing anything except for the purpose of having it read. Tedious,

long, involved, inconclusive letters are of no use to me; neither is

any sort of smart aleck literature or anything else written, not to

say something, but to show off.

I am a radical in morals, for I believe in the whole Ten Command-
ments; and not in the seventh alone; I believe that purity is based

on intelligence and not ignorance; and I believe that most popular

moralities are concerned rather with conventions and manners than

with fundamental righteousness.

And finally my radicalism does not make me superior, cranky,
misunderstood, and different; on the contrary, it keeps me human
and makes me like nine-tenths of my readers, who are just as radi-
cal as I am.

(Copyrigh f, 1927.)



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print of means carefully arranged to secure a previsioned end.
But such a careful dovetailing of a multitude of means to achieve
a predetermined end is the unmistakable evidence of intelligence
and will. Therefore the Author of nature must be a Personal
Being, and not a blind force.

The same conclusion is reached by the following simple line
of reasoning. One of the basic principles of logic declares that
every effect must have an adequate cause, that the effect cannot
transcend the cause any more than water can rise higher than
its source. In other words there cannot be anything in the effect
which does not exist in some way in the cause. Before a sculptor
carves a statue he must have the idea or image of that statue in
his mind. Before an artist paints a picture, he must have the
picture in his mind. Since man possesses intellect and will and
personality, it follows with inescapable logic that the Creator

must possess personality. Otherwise we would have an effect
without a cause, and all possibility of logical thinking would
collapse.

Thousands of years ago the Psalmist proclaimed this mighty
truth, which all the findings of science and philosophy have but
underlined. ^^He has made us,’’ declared the Psalmist, ‘^not we
ourselves.” God is the supreme personality of the universe. We
are but tiny echoes of Him. ‘^Trailing clouds of glory do we
come,” said Wordsworth, “from God Who is our home.”

Does God Wont Our Homage?

Now in regard to the second point. Does God really want
our homage? What does He gain from it? We are so small.
God is so great. Isn’t it somewhat presumptuous to think that
the God of a million worlds and of the immeasurable spaces would
be interested and pleased by our expressions of reverence and
love? The answer is simple and direct. God does want our wor-
ship and our love. He has proclaimed that time after time in
Holy Scripture. This is the burden of the prophets and the focal
point in the Saviour’s message to mankind. This is the duty
proclaimed in the first of the ten commandments, given by God
to Moses amidst the thunders on Mount Sinai. “I am the Lord,
thy God. . . . Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.”

A doctor of the law asked Christ: “Master, which is the great
commandment in the law?”

Jesus replied: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy
whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.^^ ^

2 Matt. xxii. 36-39.

[ 33 ]



The structure of one’s moral character rests upon the shift-
ing sands of expediency if it is not built upon the rock of compli-
ance with this, the greatest and the first commandment. One’s
whole life is topsy-turvy, if it is not ordered on obedience to God’s
primal and supreme demand. This mandate is written not only
upon the tablets of stone but also upon the fleshy tablets of the
human heart. Our whole nature reaches out to Him in aspiration
and love. He is our Father and our God.

Does a father want the love of his child? Is he indifferent
as to whether his son ever give him any expression of respect, any
tribute of love? Let us picture a father returning after the day’s

toil to his home. His three little children, aged five, seven and
nine are at the door. Instead of running to greet him, to take

his hand and welcome him with gleeful shouts of joy, they stand
motionless and silent. Entering, he holds out his arms to them.
But instead of running to them to enfold themselves in his loving
embrace, instead of struggling to be the first to climb upon his
knee and give him the tender expressions of children’s love, they
turn and walk silently away.

What would the father think of such behavior? Would it not
cut him to the quick? Would it not break his heart? What
could hurt him more? Why, the very thought of such unnatural
conduct fills you with indignation. What monstrous children
must they be, you would exclaim, who could show such ingrati-
tude to the father who begot them and who maintains them in
existence by his toil.

A Confrost
Contrast with that the opposite scene. As soon as the chil-

dren catch sight of their father, they make a mad dash for him.
They seize his hands, tackle him about the knees, and seek almost
to devour him with their greedy expression of love. His youngest,
a daughter, climbs upon his knee and tells him with the eloquence
of little arms twined tightly round his neck how much she loves
him. Go to that man as he sits there, basking in the sunshine of
his children’s love, and say to him:

“That’s all meaningless . . . silly . . . nonsense.”

“Why,” he would reply, “you amaze me. Don’t you have
any mind or any heart? Don’t you know that nothing is dearer
to a father than the expressions of his children’s love. This
means more to me than all the yellow gold in the mines of Solo-
mon. This is something which money cannot buy—the sincere
and tender expressions of children’s love.”

[ 34 ]



Yes, those expressions mean much to the father because they
are rooted in the very nature of children’s relationship to a father

—

a

relationship which demands the expressions of respect, grati-
tude and love. Not less, but more, do the expression of His chil-
dren’s homage and love mean to God, our Heavenly Father.
What a monstrous conception it would be to think that, after
creating us and endowing us with hearts to love and mouths to
speak, God would cut us adrift and have no interest in hearing
the cry of our love. Why, that would be to degrade Him to a
status below our own human fathers.

Deep Calls Unto Deep

The seashell echoes of its ocean home. Deep calls unto deep.
The creature cries out to his Creator. To that cry, which is like
the mystic radio wave heard round the earth, God turns a listen-
ing and a loving ear. Of no fact in life can we be more certain
than that God wants the expression of our gratitude and love.
This we know from reason and from divine revelation.

Indeed it is the very essence of religion. For without prayer
and worship, religion vanishes into thin air. These expressions
of trust, obedience, reverence, thanksgiving, atonement, adora-

tion, supplication and love constitute the golden bond that ties
the heart of the creature to the heart of God. This is the truth

which Tennyson expresses so beautifully:

More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of.
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain.
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friends?
For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.

A mind greater than that of Tennyson, namely, that of St.
John, who rested his head upon the bosom of Christ and felt
the throbbing of the divine heart, gives us the basic reason why
the creature should pay homage to his God. “Thou art worthy, O
Lord our God,” declares the beloved disciple, “to receive glory
and honor and power: because Thou hast created all things, and
for Thy will they were, and have been created.” To that divine
Being there is due, he tells us, “benediction and glory, and wis-
dom and thanksgiving, honor and power and strength, forever
and ever.”

[351



Don't Realize Duty

Now for the third reason why so many people fail to render
public homage to God. That reason is because they fail to real-
ize the duty of rendering such worship. This, we are convinced,
is the chief reason why so many of our fellow countrymen rarely
if ever darken a church door. Receiving scarcely any religious
education at home, they attend public schools wherein the teach-
ing of religion is forbidden by law. The result is that they know
little or nothing about religion. They do not understand the
claims that God has upon them, and not understanding, they do
not satisfy them.

Like everything else that is to be understood, religion must
be taught—and taught in a thorough and systematic manner.
How much of the history of our country would its citizens know,
if it were not taught in school? They would have but a hazy
and sketchy knowledge of the great and moving events which
brought our nation into being. So it is with religion. It is ap-
parently regarded by great numbers of our citizens as exercising
no weighty claims upon them. It is an optional affair with them.

They feel free to go once in a while, or to remain away alto-
gether. The latter alternative is unfortunately too often followed.
Only in times of crisis, of great emotional upheaval, when the bot-
tom of their world seems to be dropping out, do many of them
turn to God.

The fact that man is physically free to worship God or not,
should never be construed to mean that he is morally free to
ignore his Creator. We are physically free to commit theft or
murder. But we are under a moral restraint. So it is with the
worshiping of God. While physically free to turn our backs upon
Him, we are under the most serious and compelling moral obli-
gation to render to Him the homage of gratitude, worship and love
due Him in strict justice.

This truth perhaps above all others, needs to be driven home
to the people of America. This means that a way must be found,
and found quickly, if our nation is not to continue to fall deeper
and deeper into a form of veneered paganism, of bringing in a
systematic manner to the vast masses of our people the saving
truths of religion. This is the crying need in America today as

it will be in the days ahead. This is the appeal that should be

sounded from every pulpit, echoed in the press, flashed upon the
screens of our cinemas, and burnt into the conscience of the peo-

ple of our land.

[ 36 ]



We need to write upon the skies of America the truth, which
the experience of humanity the world over has proven to the hilt:
An education which sharpens the intellect but does nothing to
strengthen the character, to purify the heart, and to sensitize the
conscience to the undertones of the moral law, may render a
person more clever but not necessarily a better citizen. The con-
science which does not sink its roots into the subsoil of religious
faith, nor shot its antennae beyond the roof of the skies, misses
alike the music of divine inspiration and the thunder of divine
commands. To strengthen the character and to quicken the con-
science to the duties of citizenship, religion is of vital value and
of supreme importance. ‘‘Educate men without religion,’’ ob-
served the Duke of Wellington, “and you make them the creatures
of circumstance.”

Lest We Forget
A word about the fourth reason why many of our citizens fail

to give God the public homage due Him. That is because they
are so engrossed in their mundane affairs as to forget about God
and their duties to Him. Man has never been short of alibis
for busying himself with his material pursuits to the neglect of

the divine invitation to spend one hour with Him. Down through
the ages come the echoes of those who, in Christ’s parable of the
supper, spurned the king’s invitation to the banquet table: “I
have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it.” “I have
bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to try them.” “I have mar-
ried a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” ® Old as Ur of the
Chaldees, they are as up-to-date as this morning’s newspaper.

Especially subject to absorption in material pursuits are the

American people. Busy for a century in pushing forward the
frontiers of an expanding civilization, our people move to a tempo
which astonishes visitors from other lands. They have compared
the bustling energy of our people to bottled lightning. Only when
an American lives abroad for a year or two does he begin to
realize the abnormal speed at which our nation moves and lives.
Pep, speed, and action have become our national watchwords.

We are a nation of “go-getters,” engrossed night and day in
the frenzied pursuit of the almighty dollar. Unending streams
of autos shoot along our streets at a speed that spells danger to

the occupants and to the pedestrians. Thus have we been killing
more than 30,000 and maiming more than a million a year.
Crowds rush hither and fro in our cities. We are eternally on
the go. But where? No one seems clearly to know. Many pile

3 Luke xiv. 18-21.

[ 37 ]



up wealth which exceeds all the needs of body, mind and soul.
In a little more than a century we have become the richest and
the mightiest nation on the face of the earth. Virtually all others

now look to America for favors, help and largesses.
It is time for the American people to remember that man does

not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from
the mouth of God. It is time to remember that they have souls
as well as bodies. It is time to remember the God Who has show-
ered such riches, wealth and prosperity upon our land as no other

nation in all history has ever known. When Great Britain was
at the zenith of her imperial power, exercising a tributary sway

over one-fourth of the earth’s surface and population, Rudyard
Kipling, the poet laureate, sounded a note of warning in the famous

Recessional, lest the nation forget the Source from Whom all
power and blessings flow. He wrote:

God of our Fathers! Known of old.
Lord of the far-flung battle line

Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine.

Lord God of hosts! Be with us yet.
Lest we forget. Lest we forget!

^ A Warning to America

That is the note that needs to be sounded in America today.
We must not forget the divine Being Who has poured out His
blessings and favors upon us with so lavish a hand. Common
decency requires us to acknowledge our indebtedness to our Cre-
ator and to return to Him the homage of our worship, gratitude
and love. That is the note that we fain would sound today
through all the sections of American life, that every man, woman
and child would fall upon their knees to thank God both for the
blessings they have received as individuals and as members of the
most favored nation on earth.

Such is the dictate of our minds. Such too is the clamorous
demand of our hearts. As America has achieved the first place
among the nations of the world for its wealth, let it now achieve
eminence for its gratitude to God. For upon the brow of a nation
distinguished for its power and influence there rests no crown so
regal as that which is composed of the gold of gratitude and the
pearl of humility.

[ 38 ]



The failure to render such homage constitutes a double sin

—

the sin of ingratitude and of injustice. Against such a sin there
is warning America today a voice mightier and more impressive
than that of Kipling. It is the voice of the great Apostle of the

Gentiles who is addressing to America today the warning he
uttered to the Romans of old: ‘^The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and the injustice of those men
that detain the truth of God in injustice: because that which is
known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it
unto them. For the visible things of him, from the creation of
the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made; his eternal power also, and divinity; so that they are
inexcusable. Because that when they knew God, they have not
glorified Him as God or given thanks; but became vain in their
thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing
themselves to be wise, they became fools . . . who changed the
truth of God into a lie; and worshiped and served the creature
rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever. Amen.” ^

4 Romans i. 18-25.

[ 39 ]



CHAPTER VI

RELIGION AND MORALITY
Christianity is the good man^s text; his life is the illustra^

tion, Charles Montesquieu

What is the relation between religion and morality? Are they
separate and independent? While there has been some confused
thinking which has pictured them as unrelated, the fact is that
they are so intimately related as to constitute but different aspects
of the same basic reality. As it is of enormous practical impor-
tance both for religion and for morality to understand their true
relation, we shall discuss this point at some length and offer a few
illustrations.

First, a definition. Morality may be defined as human con-
duct in so far as it is freely subordinated to the ideal of what is
right. It is antecedent to ethics, and denotes those concrete ac-
tions of which ethics is the science. The evolutionary, positivist
and idealist schools have brought much confusion into popular
thought by seeking to substitute an independent morality for
that based on belief in God.

Ethical Culture Societies have carried on a propaganda whose
general thesis is that people can be made good citizens by incul-
cating in them ethical ideals and standards with no reference to
God or the supernatural. In the education of the young they
would substitute discussions of codes and criteria of ethics, for
religious training. They would take the eyes of youth away from
God and place them entirely on man.

We can perhaps best show the close relationship between reli-
gion and morality by pointing out that the obligation for both
types of conduct stems ultimately from God, Thus, after Christ
had enunciated the duty of loving God with one’s whole heart and
soul as the first and the greatest commandment. He added: ^‘And
the second is like to this: Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.
On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the
prophets.” ^ To love one’s neighbor implies the duty of being
just, fair, kind and generous to him in all the relations of life.
To do this is not merely a dictate of right reason, but it is also
a divine command.

A Divine Command
In His Sermon on the Mount, Christ proclaimed the law which

may be said to be the basic rule in all human relations and the

1 Matt. xxii. 39-41.

[ 40 ]



fundamental principle of all morality. It is the famous golden
rule: ^^All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should
do to you, do you also to them. For this is the law and the
prophets/^ ^ From these two utterances of the divine Founder
of the Christian religion it is clear that one’s relations with his

fellow man are not merely matters of expediency or of social
propriety. They are regulated by a divine command which hinds
every rational creature, regardless of race, color or creed.

Now in obeying that divine ordinance we are acknowledging,
with the eloquence of deeds and not merely of words, God’s sov-
ereign dominion over us. We are rendering to Him a most pleas-
ing homage. It is a homage comparable to that which we give to
God when we praise, adore and love Him. The worship of God
is direct homage. A good moral act, such as a kindness to one’s
neighbor, is indirect homage. God exacts of His creatures not
only the direct homage of worship but also the indirect homage
of virtue and morality.

Thus the love which we bestow upon our fellow man may be
said to be the completion of the homage which we render to God
when we love Him directly and immediately. The common Fa-
therhood of God makes us all His children and therefore imposes
upon all of us the duty of loving one another as brothers.

We are to see in the countenance of the poorest and the most
afHicted of men the lineaments of the face of Christ. We are to
minister to the outcast, to the hungry, the thirsty, the naked and
to those in prison as we would minister to Christ Himself. For
Christ has assured us:. ^^As long as you did it to one of these. My
least brethren, you did it to Me.” ^ It was the realization of this
truth which held St. Peter Claver at his post of duty ministering
to the Negro slaves at Cartagena with the tenderness and kindli-
ness with which he would have ministered to the wounded Christ.
It was this realization which has prompted all the saints of God to
love His children and to spend themselves in sacrificial service
for them.

''Bring Him In"

During the American assault on Attu Island, our soldiers came
across a Jap, named Ito, badly wounded in his foxhole. He and
a companion had exhausted their ammunition. Each had held his
last grenade against his stomach and pulled the pin. Ito’s proved
to be a dud. But his comrade’s grenade exploded, disemboweling

2 Matt. vii. 12.

3 Matt. XXV. 40.

[ 41 ]



him and shattering Ito’s leg. When our soldiers found him sev-
eral days later, he was still clutching his dud grenade.

His leg had now become a greenish, muddy, bloody mass of gas
gangrene. The stench was terrific. ^

“Throw that stinking mess overboard,’^ barked out a wounded
gunner on the hospital ship, “before he suffocates us all.’^

“Gimme my trench knife,’’ yelled an infantryman with a bayo-
net slash in his hip, “and I’ll operate on the . . .”

A few nights before, the Japs had broken through our lines
and slaughtered some of our unarmed medical corpsmen. The
situation was tense—loaded with the dynamite of hatred, needing
only a spark to ignite the fuse.

Lights had burned all night over the operating table. Finally
the last American had been lifted from it. Dr. Cass Stimson, the
chief surgeon, stepped forward.

Did he have the right to use the blood plasma, donated by an
American to save an American’s life, for the hated Jap? Did he
have the right to endanger his life and those of his assistants by
coming in contact with the highly infectious gas gangrene? Wasn’t
it their business to kill Japs, not to save them?

Here, too, were the passions of hatred and vengeance pounding
at the central dogma of the Christian faith, the teaching that all
men are brothers. Would religion gird him with the power to re-
sist the flaming passions of nationalism and the clamor of hatred
and vengeance?

“Bring him in,” ordered Dr. Stimson.
When the operation was over, tears of joy streamed down Ito’s

cheeks as he grasped the surgeon’s arm, and sobbed, “A-mer-
REEK-A! A-mer-REEK-A! ”

Here was the flowering of the central teaching of the Christian
religion into a deed of service, kindliness and love for one’s enemy.
So knit together are we all as members of the Mystical Body of
Christ, that we cannot unjustly harm any of our fellow men, even
the most loathesome of our enemies, without injuring ourselves.
Any cruelty inflicted upon that helpless Jap—even the refusal to
relieve his pain—^would have degraded those who inflicted it.
There is no cave deep enough for us to hide in, when the cry of
suffering is heard, even though it be the cry of our enemy. Thus
does religion stretch out her hands, full of healing, of beneficent

service, of loving kindness to all mankind.

The Homage of Virtue
Well does St. John declare: “If any man say, I love God, and

hateth his brother; he is a liar. For he that loveth not his

[ 42 ]



brother, whom he seeth, how can he love God, Whom he seeth
not?’’ Then the Beloved Disciple sums up the case thus briefly
and simply: ^‘And this commandment we have from God, that he,
who loveth God, love also his brother.” ^

No man therefore can be said to render to God the perfect
homage of love, if that love does not extend to his fellow men and
embrace even his enemies. From all this it is clear that our moral
duties to our fellow men are based ultimately not upon the theo-
retical conclusions of ethicians, the dictates of self-interest, or

even the ordinances of human reason, but upon the express will of
God. Remove God from the scheme of human life and you re-
move the basis not only of religion but of morality as well.

The concept that religion is largely a matter of lip service to
Almighty God, of oral prayer and hymn singing, with little or no
connection with moral conduct is a grotesque caricature of Christ’s
teaching. “By their fruits,” the Master declared, “you shall know
them.” Then He reminded His hearers and all His followers in
future ages: “Not every one that saith to Me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of My
Father Who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven.” ®

This truth is central in the teachings of Christ. It is stressed

by every writer on the spiritual life. It is echoed by Thomas a
Kempis in his great masterpiece. The Following of Christ: “Sub-
lime words make not a man holy and just, but a virtuous life
maketh him dear to God.”

Hence God wants not only the worship of prayery but also the
homage of virtue. To render Him the former without the latter is
to hand Him a branch from which the fruit has been plucked. It
is like the action of the man who places on the collection plate on
Sunday an envelope, orthodox and imposing enough on the out-
side, but empty within. Religion is not an empty sham. It is a
living tree, producing the fruit of morality, and both the tree and
the fruit derive their vitality from God.

God and the Moral Law

As this point is of great practical importance, let us supple-
ment the above considerations, drawn from the revelation of
Christ, with the evidence of a philosophical character. We have
already indicated that man is indebted to God both for his exist-

4 John iv. 20.

5 Matt. vii. 20-22.

[ 43 ]



ence and his faculties. Furthermore, he is dependent upon God
for the operation of his faculties.

The nature of this dependence we may illustrate with the fol-
lowing example. A watch owes its existence to a watchmaker.
But if that watch is to operate, the watchmaker must do more than
simply put together the various parts of its mechanism. He must
convey to the spring a portion of his own energy which is there
stored up in the form of tension. It is only in virtue of this stored
up power that the watch can function.

In a somewhat similar manner, the Creator must place His
own energy at the disposal of His creatures, if they are to be able
to use the faculties with which they are endowed. Without the
divine concursus the creature could not perform a single act.
Hence God^s co-operation is essential in all our thoughts and ac-
tions. As God is infinite holiness and perfection, the action in
which He co-operates cannot be a matter of indifference to Him.
He must necessarily will that it be in accordance with His own
divine nature. Hence the Creator's will must be the ultimate norm
of all the conduct of His creatures.

This is true, irrespective of the specific natures of the crea-
tures. Whether they be living or inanimate, rational or irrational,
they are all under the Creator’s jurisdiction and must conform to
His will. The expression of the divine will is accommodated to
the specific nature of each creature. In beings devoid of reason,

God’s direction finds expression in the physical determination of

the precise manner in which they are to act, so that they cannot
swerve therefrom by so much as a hair’s breadth. In creatures
endowed with intellect and free will, the divine direction is re-
flected in the moral law, enunciated by the practical reason.

“It is a law,” observes Bernard J. Otten, S J., “written in the

intellect after the manner of knowledge, and communicated to the
will as a moral obligation.” ® While leaving man physically free,
it binds him to a type of conduct from which he may not swerve.
What is the binding force of that law? It is identical with the
binding force of the Creator’s sovereign will, since it is but the

manifestation of that will in rational nature.

Morality, like religion, is thus seen to consist essentially in the

free acknowledgment of man’s dependence on God. Both are thus

linked together in a union strong and inseparable.
Two sea shells, though of different size and color, tell by their

echo of the common ocean home from which they come. So reli-
gion and morality, differ though they may in outward form and

6 The Reason Why, B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis, Mo., p. 84.

[ 44 ]



expression, tell by the echo of the binding force within them both,
of the common source from which they come—God, the Ruler of
the far-flung heavens and the Moral Governor of the questing
hearts of men. The slanting rays of light, that splash the skies
at sunset with the colors of the rainbow, point like fingers to their

fountain. So religion and morality, that paint on the multicolored
canvas of human life the shining deeds of man’s love of God and
of his fellow man, point like stabbing arrows of light to the com-
mon Source of all Light, the Author of all holiness, the Fountain
of all perfection—the Light that enlighteneth every man that
cometh into this world.

The Need of Sonctions
This vital truth may be established with equal clarity by the

consideration of the need of adequate sanction to make the moral
law effective, ^ By sanction we mean a proper reward for the ob-
servance of the law, and a condign punishment for its violation.
Since the moral law extends to all rational activity, whether in-
ternal or external, it follows that its sanction must do likewise.
But most of man’s actions, whether good or bad, escape the eyes
of men. This is true of all of man’s unexpressed thoughts wherein
so much of his life consists. It is true likewise of most of his
private actions. If the only sanction is that which comes from
human justice, then most of man’s rational life would be devoid of
proper reward or punishment.

The seeds of action lie in thought. Whoever seeks to control
his action must therefore begin by shepherding his thoughts. ‘‘As
a man thinketh in his heart,” says the author of the Book of
Proverbs, “so is he.” Thoughts constitute the core of one’s mental
life, issuing forth later in words and deeds. The policeman cannot
arrest a man for murderous thoughts or larcenous desires. For
he knows nothing of them and can take therefore no cognizance
of them.

God, however, labors under no such disadvantage. He holds
a man to strict accountability for his thoughts and secret desires.
“You have heard,” said Christ, “that it was said to them of old:
Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say to you, that whoso-
ever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already com-
mitted adultery with her in his heart.” ^ It is only God Who can
surround that segment of man^s rational life with adequate sanc-
tions.

Proponents of a system of morality independent of religion are

fond of quoting the adage: Virtue is its own reward; vice, its own
7 Matt. V. 27-29.

[ 45 ]



punishment. This cannot, however, stand close scrutiny. For in
this life, this is only partly true. Instances all too numerous can
be found, by any one who takes the trouble to investigate, of per-
sons who violate the moral laws and grow fat upon their ill-gotten
gains. Indulging their appetites and passions, they scarcely know
the meaning of self-denial or self-sacrifice. The just man not in-
frequently lives in penury, and the martyr dies at the stake.

Moreover such an abstracted and doubtful speculation is not
likely to deter a person from the satisfaction of an inveterate pas-
sion. Will the average person struggling with the raging passion
of anger, jealousy, hatred, revenge, or lust be aided in quelling
the tumult within him by such a consideration? All around him
he sees persons taking what they want and, in the language of the
day, “getting by” with it. Why should he be an exception? How
warm and enticing is the voice of human passion? How cold and
unappealing, if not positively unreal, is the voice of such a specu-
lation.

"Corye the Granite with a Razor • .

What such a man needs, and needs desperately, is the clear,
stern voice of God, reminding him that he cannot throw dust in the
eyes of the Almighty, and that he will be punished with unfailing
certainty for any violation of the moral law by an omniscient and
eternal God. To Him our most secret thoughts are as the pages of
an open book. Considerations of conventional propriety are no
more capable of restraining the individual in whose bosom a tumul-
tuous passion is raging than are chains of straw. No brass-but-
toned policeman is near. No prying eye of a neighbor will detect
his deed. No empty, verbal rhetoric will restrain him. Only the
thunder of God’s stern command, heard in the inner ear, is compe-
tent to encompass the whole cycle of man’s rational life, both in-

ternal and external, with sanctions that grip the muscles of his will

like bands of steel.
One may echo the words of Kipling’s poem about wishing to be

“east of Suez, where there ain’t no ten commandments.” But he
would speedily find, if he went there, that God’s commands and
His mighty sanctions embrace the globe, and know no barrier of
border, breed or race. When the storms of human passion are
beating tempestuously against our frail bark, threatening at any
moment to capsize it, it is only the divine voice commanding

^ “Peace! Be still,” that is able to save the day.
Knowledge, without religion, will no more sanctify than painted

fire will burn, or the sight of water cleanse. Mere human knowl-
edge or intellectual subtlety will not avail. No one has brought

[ 46 ]



this out more strikingly than the great scholar of Oxford, Car-
dinal Newman, when he said: ^^Carve the granite with a razor,
moor the vessel with a thread of silk, then you may hope with such
keen and delicate instruments as human knowledge and human
reason to contend against those giants, the passions and the pride
of men.” In that immortal utterance there is epitomized a whole
volume.

Those words came back to the writer when walking one July
day in the famous cemetery of Pere La Chaise in Paris. Here are
buried many of the notables of France. Suddenly we came upon
the grave of one we least expected to find in the soil of France.
It was that of Oscar Wilde. Poet, playwright, orator, he wrote
and spoke our language with a brilliance and an eloquence which
have rarely been surpassed. He was a symbol of refinement, learn-
ing, and culture. Yet he fell to the lowest depths of degradation
and fled in shame and disgrace to seek refuge in the alien soil of
France. The weeds, growing high and luxuriously upon his neg-
lected grave, seemed to proclaim with myriad tongues:

‘^Education, refinement, culture cannot save. Intellectual sub-

tlety, cleverness, sophistication offer little protection against the

tumultuous waves of human passion. They are but broken reeds
in a storm. A man may walk intellectually among the stars and
grovel morally among the swine. The mighty power of religion
which purifies the mind, chastens the heart, tames the passions,
and energizes the weak muscles of the will with a divine strength,
is an indispensable requisite for a life of sustained moral rectitude.
Let the nations of the world know that they are but heading the
way of Nineveh and Tyre if they seek to educate their youth with-
out the saving leaven of religious truth.”

{ True, a religious person may stumble and fall. For he is a
man and not an angel. But he will not remain complacent in the
mire. His conscience will give him no peace until he rises and with
his tears and penitence washes away his defilement. Religion
bears down upon him with its stern requirements for contrition,
purpose of amendment and penance. Not content with general
resolutions for betterment, it demands the avoidance of the proxi-
mate occasions of sin. Stay away, it thunders, from whatever has
led to your downfall in the past.

For frail mortals, perfection is achieved not by never falling,
but by rising every time we fall. It is the man who refuses to
stay down who eventually wins the fight. Religion will not let a
sincere believer remain prostrate. It lifts him up and puts his
unsteady feet upon the right path. It puts courage in his soul, and

[ 47 ]



strengthens the will for more determined effort. Peter thrice de-
nied his Lord. But tears of repentance wore furrows in his cheeks,
and he climaxed a life of heroic service in the Master^s cause by
shedding his blood for the faith of Christ.

Religion—Basis of Morality
Religion is the basis of morality. If morality is to be func-

tional, it must have the sanctions which only religion can pro-
vide. This truth has been borne out by the experience of the cen-
turies. It is writ large in the history of the rise and decline of
civilizations. ’ It has been recognized by all the profound students
of society, regardless of philosophical or religious belief. “He
who destroys religion,” observes Plato, “overthrows the foundations
of human society. Recurring to this theme, he declares: “It is an
incontrovertible truth that if God presides not over the establish-
ment of a city, and if it has only a human foundation, it cannot
escape the greatest calamities. ... If a State is founded on im-
piety and governed by men who trample on justice, it has no means
of security.” ®

Long before Plato, the Royal Prophet had expressed this same
truth: “Unless the Lord build, the house, they labor in vain that
build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that
keepeth it.” ®

The social philosopher, J. J. Rousseau, voices this truth in a
brilliant passage in Emile: “Attempts have been made to constitute
reason the basis of virtue, but I find that religion is the only solid

basis for morality. Virtue, it is said, is the love of order. But am
I bound to sacrifice my happiness to this order? Granted that
wherever intelligence exists, there is a certain moral order; but the

difference is that the just man subjects himself to the whole moral
order, whilst the unjust man subordinates the whole moral order
to himself, and constitutes himself the center of all things. If
God does not exist, then the unjust man reasons rightly in thus
regarding himself.”

It will come as a surprise to most admirers of our public school
system to learn that Horace Mann, who is generally regarded as
its founder, laid down the stern warning: “If the intellect, how-
ever gifted, be not governed by a sense of justice, a love of mam
kind, and a devotion to duty, its possessor is only a more splendid,

as he is a more dangerous barbarian. For we are fully persuaded
that the salt of religious truth can alone preserve education from

abuse'' The rejection of that saving salt, unwittingly brought

8 Ibid., tom. VIII.

9 Psalm cxxvi. 1.

[ 48 ]



about by the diversity of creeds and the resulting administrative
difficulty, has caused such a decline in the morality of the youth
of our land that educators, social planners and legislators are now
struggling desperately to find a way to restore the lost leaven.

That penetrating student of political science, Edmund Burke,
proclaimed this truth to the people of Britain, when he declared:
‘True religion is the foundation of society, the basis on which all
true civil government rests and from which power derives its
authority, laws their efficacy, and both their sanction. If it is once
shaken by contempt, the whole fabric cannot be stable or lasting.’^

'^Reason and Experience Both Forbid . •
"

The voice which will strike the most responsive chord in the
hearts of the American people is that of the beloved Father of our
country, George Washington. In his Farewell Address, Wash-
ington took particular pains to warn his countrymen of the im-
portance of religion for political welfare and as a basis for public
morality. Above the portals of every school, library, and public
building, and framed on the walls of every home in our land,
should be these memorable words of our first President:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political pros-
perity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain
would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor
to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest
props of the duties of men and citizens. And let us with caution
indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without
religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined
education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience
both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in ex-
clusion of religious principles'^

Those are words of mellow wisdom, which America can afford
to neglect only at a cost of national morality and welfare. The
unfortunate circumstances, which have unintentionally issued in
the complete divorce of religion from public education, are bring-
ing youthful morality to the lowest ebb in our nation’s history.

Appearing recently before a Congressional Committee in Wash-
ington, Mr. Edgar Hoover, F. B. I. chief, testified to the alarm-
ing increase of juvenile delinquency and pleaded for remedial ac-
tion. “Return to the old-fashioned home and Church life,” de-
clared Mr. Hoover, “is essential if we are to provide an effective
remedy for the situation.”

In a recent symposium. Democracy—Will It Survive?, Walter
Lippmann sounds the same urgent note of warning. “I venture to

[ 49 ]



submit/’ he declares, “that the prevailing education is destined, if it
continues, to destroy western civilization, and is in fact destroying
it. . . . By separating education from the classical religious tradi-
tion, the school cannot train the pupil to look upon himself as an
inviolable person because he is made in the image of God. . . .
The teacher has no subject matter that even pretends to deal with
the elementary and universal issues of human destiny. The
graduate of the modern school knows only by accident and hear-
say whatever wisdom mankind has come to in regard to the na-
ture of men and their destiny.”

The testimony of careful students of society, men of every
shade of political and philosophical faith, could be piled sky high
to the effect that religion is the basis of public morality and the
foundation of good citizenship. The witnesses we have cited,
however, will suffice to carry conviction to all open minds. There

is in their testimony a note of warning, and a call for action, which
cannot longer be delayed if we are to protect our nation from the
growing tide of delinquency, lawlessness and crime.

A Reasoned Conclusion
To sum up. We have shown from the words of Christ

that man is under a divine command to love his fellow man as
well as God. In other words the obligation to be moral and the
duty to be religious stem from the same source—God Himself.
We then presented the philosophical evidence showing that since
God’s co-operation is essential for our every act. He cannot be in-
different as to the character of our conduct, but must will it to be
in accordance with His nature. Therefore the divine will consti-
tutes the norm for the conduct of all creatures. In irrational liv-
ing creatures as well as in inanimate ones that divine norm finds
expression in the physical determination of the precise method of
acting, from which no deviation is possible. In rational creatures
the divine will finds expression in the moral law, known by the
intellect and communicated to the will, resulting in moral, but not
in physical obligation.

The second philosophical consideration was drawn from the
necessity for adequate sanctions for all rational activity, which
only God and religion can provide. We then presented the testi-
mony from the history of civilization, as expressed by philosophers,
social scientists, educators and statesmen, showing that religion is
a necessary basis for public morality and good citizenship. From
all this we have seen that morality is the fruit which grows upon
the tree of religion, and that the best way of cultivating that fruit
is by nourishing the tree upon which it grows.

[ 50 ]



CHAPTER VII

THE VALUE OF RELIGION

Religion is the final center of repose; the good to which all
things tend; apart from which man is a shadow, his very exist-
ence a riddle, and the stupendous scenes of nature which sur-
round him as unmeaning as the leaves which the sibyl scatters
in the wind, Robert Hall

What is the value of religion? We can best answer this ques-
tion by indicating its values first to the individual and then to so-
ciety. Its supreme worth to the individual lies in the fact that it
answers his deepest questionings: Whence have I come? Whither
am I going? What is the meaning and the purpose of human exist-
ence? Unless these questions are correctly answered, man walks
about in a daze and life becomes a jig-saw puzzle from which es-
sential parts are missing. Uncertainty paralyzes the springs of ac-

tion, and no man can chart his course intelligently if he is ignorant
of his destination.

Religion floods our darkness with a divine light. It reveals

to us the God Who is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and
the End of our existence. Not only does it disclose to us our
ultimate destiny, but it also provides us with the means of attain-
ing it. Religion brings into the focus of attention the two supreme
values—God and the human soul. It makes clear to us that only
in the possession of God, Who is infinite Beauty, Truth and Love,
will the human soul find the answer to its ceaseless questing.

Thus does it enable us to form a true hierarchy of values by
appraising all things in accordance with the degree in which they
aid us in the achievement of eternal life. It enables us to put

first things first. It guides us in offering our supreme loyalty to
God and in putting ourselves in the right relationship to God.

J‘Tf you are not right toward God,’’ wrote Lord Chatham to his
Vnephew, ‘^ou can never be so toward man; and this is forever
Urue, whether wits and rakes allow it or not.”

Without religion we cannot be right toward God, toward man
or toward ourselves. With religion and with the faithful fulfill-
ment of all of its commands, we look out upon life and the universe
with a serene eye and a peaceful heart. Clasping His almighty
hand, we know that no evil can befall us. We can see His face in
earth and sky, His laughter in the running brook, and His voice
in every song bird’s call. For to the believer, as Hood ^ points out:

1 Thomas Hood, Ode to Rae Wilson, 1, 38 S.

[SI]



Each cloud-capped mountain is a holy altar,
An organ breathes in every grove;
And the full heart’s a Psalter,
Rich in deep hymns of gratitude and love.

Strengthens Character

Secondly, religion helps the individual in the proper formation

of his character by supplying him with adequate incentives for the
observance of the moral law. Character means that a man acts
according to principle, not on motives of expediency. But this de-
mands that the principles of morality be clothed with proper
sanctions to secure their observance even in the teeth of passion,
at the risk of unpopularity with the crowd, yes, in the face of death

itself. Religion alone, as we have pointed out previously, can sup-
ply the sanctions which are co-extensive with all man’s actions,
whether they be private or external, whether they be seen by the
eyes of our neighbor or known only to God and conscience.

There is but one rule of conduct for a man: ^‘Always do
the right thing. The cost may be high in money, in friends,
in sacrifice. The cost not to do right, however, is infinitely higher.
For a temporal gain we barter the infinities.” But how are we go-
ing to develop the character and acquire the strength to pay so
dearly in pleasure, in popularity, in life itself, if we do not sink
the roots of our being in the infinite might and wisdom of God
Himself?

Seed that is placed on rocks and stones cannot develop a har-
vest. Neither can the character that rests upon motives of oppor-
tunism develop the power necessary to fight through to victory
when money, power and good weather friends have fled. In con-
trast with the worldling’s dependence upon external factors, the
religious person knows that God and one constitute a majority,
and that with God on his side, he cannot fail. Who is there who
can hurt you, if you be zealous of good?

The importance of religion for character is thus ably set forth
by Daniel Webster: ^Tolitical and professional fame cannot last
forever, but a conscience void of offense before God and man is an
inheritance for eternity. Religion, therefore, is a necessary, an

indispensable element in any great human character. There is no
living without it. Religion is the tie that connects man with his Crea-
tor, and holds him to his throne. If that tie is sundered or broken,
he floats away a worthless atom in the universe, its proper attrac-
tions all gone, its destiny thwarted, and its whole future nothing

but darkness, desolation and death. A man with no sense of reli-

[ 52 ]



gious duty is he whom the Scriptures describe in so terse but ter-
rific a manner, as ‘living without hope and without God in the

world/ Such a man is out of his proper being, out of the circle of
all his duties, out of the circle of all his happiness, arid away, far,

far away from the purposes of his creation/’
Without the zest which only religion can give, the individual

puts up but a faint-hearted struggle. He feels bewildered, help-
less and alone. “No one,” observes Jean Paul Richter, “is so much
alone in the universe as a denier of God. With an orphaned heart,
which has lost the greatest of fathers, he stands mourning by the

immeasurable corpse of the universe.” ^

During World War II, as during the previous one, the press
has recorded thousands of instances wherein soldiers, sailors and
aviators have testified to the strength and help received from God
in circumstances of dire plight. Fighting with their backs to the

wall, at the end of their own tether, men have turned instinctively
to God for strength to endure and courage to carry on. When his
soldiers were being hemmed in on all sides, their ammunition run-
ning out, their food almost gone, their strength exhausted, and they
still fought on. General MacArthur made the significant an-
nouncement: ^^There are no atheists in the foxholes of Bataan”
No, for it takes character to fight on when all seems lost. And
character is rooted in faith in God and in His ultimate vindica-
tion of right.

Writing to his former teacher. Father R. C. McCarthy, S.J.,
at Marquette University, a young bombardier who had gone out
on repeated missions of the utmost danger over Germany, said:
“Believe me. Father, when you’re miles up in the air with flak
bursting all around and fighters spraying you with hot lead,
rockets, and 20 mm. cannon shells, it is mighty comforting to
know that there is Someone in Whom you can put your trust and
realize that He is watching you! It’s at times like that a fellow
fully realizes what his religion means to him.” In the words of
that young gladiator of the skies, there is reflected the sentiment
of the myriads of warriors who in all ages have battled at the very
brink of the abyss and knew not at what moment they might dis-
appear into its all-embracing darkness.

Sharpens Individual Responsibility

Thirdly, religion sharpens the sense of individual responsibility.

By its central teaching that God will reward or punish the individ-
ual according to his deserts, and that no one can hide behind the

2 Flower, Fruit and Thorn Pieces.

[S3]



skirts of his neighbor, religion quickens the sense of accountability
which the tendency to shift the blame and to forge alibis is so com-
for one^s own deeds. This is of enormous importance in a society in
mon. Since society is but an aggregate of individuals, the place at
which to begin the improvement of society is with the individual.
All social reforms, to be effective, must grip the conscience of the
individual and start him on the upward plane. Otherwise there
is noise, agitation and excitement, but no real improvement.

The answer to the Totalitarian heresy that man was made for
the State lies in the truth which Christian philosophy has taught
for twenty centuries that man, and not the State, has been endowed
with an immortal soul. “There will never be,” observes Thoreau,
“a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recog-
nize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which
all its own power and authority are derived.” Another New Eng-
land thinker, Henry Ward Beecher, expressed this truth when he
wrote:

Christ did not die for laws and governments.
He did not die to build a nation up.
He died for men, the separate souls of men.

When this basic truth of Christianity is lost sight of, man be-
comes the mere chattel of the all-powerful State which uses him
as mere cannon fodder in a war about which he has never even
been consulted. “There is something appallingly wrong,” declares
Alfred Noyes, “something tragically wrong with a world in which
hundreds of millions of those individuals for whom Christ died to
save, are hurled helplessly into bloodshed by half a dozen men
whose plans and motives have been completely hidden from all
but perhaps another half dozen; so that entire nations, which in
their general level of individual character and intelligence—not
to speak of their outstanding individuals, a Beethoven, a Pasteur,

a Shakespeare, a Galileo—have far surpassed the general level of
the half dozen manipulators of the political machinery, suddenly

find themselves helplessly slaughtering one another.”
®

Sociol Value of Religion

Now let us look at the values of religion to society. First,
religion ennobles the relations between man and man by teaching
that we are all the children of God and therefore are all brothers.
The implications of this central dogma of religion are tremendous.

3 The Edge 0} Darkness, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1942, p. 35.

[S4]



It was the perception of these implications which was chiefly re-

sponsible for the abolition of slavery and of a thousand other

forms of blatant human injustice. How could a man enslave a
person and treat him as a beast of burden when his religion pro-
claimed in the inner citadel of his conscience that that person was

his brother and was as dear in the eyes of God as he?
It is this central teaching of Christianity that constitutes the

basis of human dignity and therefore the basis of true democracy.
When the essential dignity of the human personality is lost sight
of, men are regarded as chattel, serfs and slaves, and the evils of
dictatorship and totalitarian regimes follow apace. In vain will

we crush military dictatorships if we do not root out the ideo-
logical heresy which constitutes their spawning ground. We must
keep forever before the eyes of men the true basis of the dignity
of every man, be he peasant or king.

That basis lies in the fact that personality is the high creation
of Almighty God, Who has vested therein the dignity of a human
soul, endowed with understanding and free will. That soul is cre-
ated in the image of God, and transcends all earthly commodities
as heaven transcends earth. Since an infinite God saw fit to vest
in that temple of clay the tremendous gift of free will, by which
the creature becomes the sculptor of his own destiny and can
choose either Heaven or Hell, can obey God or defy Him, how can
a mortal man undertake to impose upon him a compulsion which
God Himself refused? If the infinite Creator thus respects the
freedom of the human personality, how can a mere creature under-
take to shackle it with the chains of slavery?

Be it noted, however, that man’s essential dignity stems ulti-
mately from God, Whose image and superscription he bears. Re-
move God from the scheme of human life and you remove the basis
of man’s unique dignity. Man becomes a chattel, a beast of
burden. Dictatorships and totalitarian regimes, which ride rough-
shod over the individual and enslave him, are the ruthless tracing
out in society of the logical implications of the banishing of God
from human life. Remove the sun and you extinguish the re-
flected glory of the moon. Remove God and you strip from man
every vestige of that reflected glory wherein his unique dignity lies.

Elevates Fomily Life

Secondly, religion elevates and ennobles the family life. It
emphasizes the sacredness of the marriage contract and stands
steadfast for the permanence of the Christian home. It proclaims
to both husband and wife their solemn obligation to shoulder the

[ 55 ]



responsibilities of marriage and bids them to pass on in a generous
manner the precious heritage of life. It stresses the duty of par-
ents to set a good example to their children and to train them in
virtue and holiness of life. Offering uncompromising opposition to
marital infidelity, religion constitutes the strongest bulwark for
the life-long union of husband and wife.

It reminds a married couple that the observance of that solemn
vow which they make, when they take one another ‘^for better or
for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until
death,’^ is an obligation which transcends all considerations of
pleasure or expediency. It is the test of character and the hall-
mark of honor. Only in homes where children have the care and
guidance of both father and mother do they get that well-balanced
upbringing which is so important a factor in the development of
good citizens.

If children see their own parents breaking their solemn vow of
life-long love and loyalty and entering into new unions, how can
the offspring of such broken vows and broken homes escape the
demoralizing influence of such examples? All too often they are
thrown out to shift for themselves, soon to appear in courts as
delinquents, incorrigibles and criminals. Religion raises its voice
against such marital delinquents and warns them in stem tones
that Almighty God will demand a strict accounting for the pre-
cious souls entrusted to their charge.

She points out that there would rarely, if ever, be juvenile de-
linquents if parents did their full duty and were careful to rear
their children in the fear and love of God. Religion is the strong-
est cement holding together the members of a family. It safe-
guards the sanctity of the family fireside and converts it into a
house of God and a gateway to Heaven. The home is the solid
bedrock upon which civilization rests. In safeguarding the home,
therefore, religion constitutes the strongest bulwark for the pro-

tection of society against inward decay and the mightiest rampart
for the preservation of human civilization itself.

Renders Morality Functionol

Thirdly, religion provides society with the most effective sane-
tions for the observance of law and the fulffUment of duty. The
performance of one’s duty is in the last analysis a matter of con-

science. If conscience does not prompt one to fulfill his duty to his
his fellow man, what force can compel him? Policemen, you say,
and constables. But if the voice of conscience be stilled, who will

[ 56 ]



police the policemen, and who will watch the constables? The
simple fact is that no external guardian of the law can take the
place of that internal monitor which touches off the springs of ac-
tion and holds the reins of conduct.

Quickly would society fall into the abyss of anarchy and strife
if conscience did not curb the rapacity, restrain the animosities,

and hold in leash the tumultuous passions of men. But what is
the agency which quickens the conscience and keeps it responsive
to the gentle tug of the moral law? That agency is religion. To
seek to quicken conscience without an appeal to God and the
sanctions which religion provides is like a person seeking to lift
himself by pulling at his bootstraps.

Convince a citizen of the existence of a Divine Legislator, the
Supreme Source of all law, by Whom ^^Kings reign, and lawmakers
decree just things.’’ ^ Convince him of the truth of the inspired
utterance of St. Paul that ‘There is no power but from God, and
that those that are, are ordained of God, and that, therefore, he
who resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God.” ® Con-
vince him that an incorruptible Judge, Who knows all his thoughts^
words, and deeds, will mete out to him, with unfailing accuracy
the rewards or the punishments which are his dues. Convince him
of these truths and you place within him a guardian of law and a
sentinel of duty, which never sleeps but which walks with him in
the sanctuary of the home, in the crowded market place, in the
arena of public life and in the loneliest mountain pass.

Because religion convinces us of these great truths, it provides
us with the strongest incentives for the observance of law and the
fulfillment of all the duties of good citizenship. Thus does religion
constitute the firm foundation of society and its best insurance
against the corrosive influence of vice and crime. Thousands of
years ago the author of the Book of Proverbs proclaimed this
truth when he said: “Righteousness exalteth a nation.”® Only
that nation is great which is great in justice, in generosity, in
truth—in short, in righteousness, the offspring of religion.

Chompions Social Justice

Fourthly, religion is the champion of social justice. The spe-
cial objects of its predilection, as of Christ’s as well, are the poor,

the downtrodden, the underprivileged, and the afflicted. It is not
the sycophant of kings or of the rich and powerful. It is the one

4 Prov. viii. 15.

5 Romans xiii.
6 Prov. xiv. 34.

[ 57 ]



voice which proclaims fearlessly to the king his duty to his sub-
jects and threatens him with divine punishment if he treats un-
justly the lowliest in his realm.

It warns the employer, who defrauds his laborers, of the divine
wrath which shall come upon him. ‘‘Behold the hire of the la-
borers,’^ says St. James, “who have reaped down your fields, which
by fraud has been kept back by you, crieth: and the cry of them
has entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.” ^ It admon-
ishes the servant to discharge his duties faithfully and well, “not
serving to the eyes as it were pleasing men, but as the servants of
Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.” ®

By championing the rights of all classes and emphasizing that
the welfare of society is best attained by giving every man his due,
religion renders a powerful service in removing the grounds of

class warfare and in promoting the unity and the brotherhood of
all. No agency is so effective in sterilizing the grounds of antago-
nism and strife between employer and employees as social justice.
This is the medicine which religion uses to heal the wounds in the
social organism and to promote the harmonious growth of all its
members.

Promotes Stability of Government

Fifthly, religion promotes the stability of government. This

is no small benefaction. For the welfare of society is safeguarded

by a stable and responsible government, hedged round with consti-
tutional limitations, and responsive to the will of the people.

Anarchy is the enemy of law, order and civilization. By teaching
that all just authority comes from God, and by stressing the duties

of civic obedience, religion rears a mighty bulwark against law-

lessness and strife. “Render therefore to Caesar,” it ordains, “the

things that are Caesar’s; and to God, the things that are God’s.”
®

The terrors of the French Revolution, when the junta in power

rushed their enemies to the guillotine only to be rushed there

themselves when they fell from power, remain as a blood-stained

page in history to warn posterity of the bloodshed, ruin and de-

struction which the apostles of anarchy never fail to inflict upon a

country. The scaffold becomes their altar. The shrieks of vic-

tims become their incense. Ribald songs are made their hymns.

Lust, rapine, and bloodshed become the idols at whose shrines

they worship with a cruel and bloody fanaticism. During the few

7 James v. 4.

8 Eph. vi. 6.

9 Matt. xxii. 21.

[ 58 ]



months of the reign of terror in France, the apostles of anarchy
accumulated, as De Lamennais observes, ^‘more ruin than an army
of Tartars could have left after a six years invasion/’

Neither they, however, nor the Bolsheviks in Russia were able
to stamp out religion. They could kill religious people. But they
could no more kill religion than they could extinguish the sun.
‘^Religion,” says Thomas Carlyle, “cannot pass away. The burn-
ing of a little straw may hide the stars of the sky, but the stars
are there, and will reappear.”

Anterior to society and more enduring than political parties,
religion is the focus of the social virtues of patriotism, obedience

and respect which underlie all governments and give them stability
and endurance. “Every philosopher and statesman,” points out
Cardinal Gibbons, “who has discussed the subject of human gov-
ernments, has acknowledged that there can be no stable society
without justice, no justice without morality, no morality without
religion, no religion without God.” The recognition of God as
the Fountainhead of rights and the ultimate Source of the author-
ity of governments runs like a thread of gold through the warp and
woof of our own Constitution and Bill of Rights and is responsible
in no small degree for the marvelous stability of our American
system of government.

Founds Institution of Charity

Sixthly, religion brings into existence the institutions of char-

ity
,
mercy, and philanthropy which pour such a mighty stream of

healing and benediction upon society. Up until comparatively re-
cent times the Christian Church bore almost alone the entire
burden of establishing and maintaining such institutions as hos-
pitals, asylums, orphanages, homes for the aged, homes for the in-
curably afflicted, and many other institutions to minister to the
poor and the afflicted. “The highest flights of charity, devotion,
trust, patience, bravery,” observes William James, “to which the
wings of human nature have spread themselves have been flown
for religious ideals.”

Similar is the note sounded by Theodore Parker: “Silence the
voice of Christianity, and the world is well-nigh dumb, for gone is
that sweet music which kept in order the rulers of the people,
which cheers the poor widow in her lonely toil, and comes like light

10 Essai sur VIndifference, p. 431.

11 Our Christian Heritages, p. 467.
12 Varieties of Religious Experiences, p. 259.

[ 59 ]



through the windows of morning to men who sit stooping and
feeble, with failing eyes and a hungering heart.’’ The Church
is a tender and a loving mother who has reached her arms out
through society in every age and has gathered to her nourishing
breasts the poorest and the most afflicted of all God’s children.

Mother of Educotion
Seventhly and lastly, religion is the mother of education, en-

lightenment, scientific progress, and the most zealous worker for
the outlawry of war and the organization of international institu-
tions for the stabilizing of the peace of the world. For many cen-
turies the Church bore alone the burden of education. She founded
many of the great universities of the world. She has taught in all
ages the holiness of wisdom and the wisdom of holiness. She has
been the generous and munificent Patroness of art. She has in-
spired many of the world’s masterpieces in painting, sculpture,
music and poetry. ‘‘Religion,” observes A. E. Haydon, “is the
mother of dreams. Over the gray world, ruined by deluge and
death, it has sought ever, and found the arching rainbow of
hope.”

She honors those who push back the frontiers of our darkness
and give us new glimpses of nature and of her marvelous network
of law, wherein we see the handwriting of nature’s God. For God
reveals Himself to us not only through the inspired books of the
Bible but also through His handwriting in the vast book of nature
from tiny atom to the farthest star. All truth streams from Him
and all truths lead us back to Him.

Religion and science walk hand in hand in giving us a deeper
appreciation and a greater reverence for the Supreme Architect of
the imiverse and the Ordainer of its every law. This truth finds
expression in the words of Asa Gray, inscribed beneath his bust in
the Hall of Fame: “I confidently expect that in the future even
more than in the past, faith in an order, which is the basis of sci-
ence, will not be dissevered from faith in an Ordainer, which is the
basis of religion.”

The greatest evil that plagues humanity with ever increasing
devastation and death is war. By teaching that all men are
brothers and that the human race constitutes one family, religion
has provided mankind with a principle which ultimately will secure
the eradication of the vicious institution of war. She fights against

the narrow nationalism which would blind one to the virtues of

peoples of other lands.

13 Discourse of the Transient and Permanent in Christianity.
14 The Quest of the Ages, p. 205.

[ 60 ]



She proclaims in clarion tones to all mankind that the time has
come when nations must build the framework of those juridical
institutions which will settle by reason and conscience the disputes
which arise between nations. Likewise does she insist upon the
necessity of sanctions which will secure the enforcement of those
decisions. When her voice is hearkened to by the nations of the
world, war will become but an ugly nightmare of the race’s past.
Thus ‘‘religion is,” in the words of Homer, “the golden chain
which suspends the earth from the throne of the eternal.” Not
less striking are the words of Eugene Savage, Professor of Art at
Yale University: “All that separates the white man from bar-
barism is the Christian Church.” In short, religion offers to both

the individual and to society the highest values of life. On the
rungs of her divine commandments, the individual climbs up the
golden ladder of service to humanity and of love toward the Crea-
tor, till he reaches the very throne of God. For religion is the
golden bond that binds the heart of man to the heart of God.

[ 61 ]



QUESTIONS

CHAPTER I

1. Discuss the importance of religion.

2. What is its root meaning?

3. What is the essence of religion?

4. Why is a personal God necessary?
5. How is religion an expression of the whole personality?
6. What is natural religion?

7. What is supernatural religion?

8. What is meant by divine revelation?

9. How does it afford certainty?

10.

Is there a fundamental unity to all truth? Why?

CHAPTER II

1. What does Cicero say about the universality of religion?

2. State the conclusion of Professor Toy.

3. State the finding of Professor Tiele.
*

4. Why is modern science fatal to polytheism?
5. How does science decipher God’s handwriting?

CHAPTER III

1. What was the natural origin of religion?

2. What is meant by the principle of causality?

3. State Dr. Aiken’s conclusion.

[ 62 ]



4. Is fear the origin of religion?

5. Do early superstitions invalidate all religion? Why?

6. State the observation of Professor Fox.

7. What does St. Thomas say is a characteristic of the human
mind?

8. What do the findings of comparative religion really prove?

CHAPTER IV

1. Is religious worship a duty? Why?

2. How are we dependent upon God?
3. How should we pay our debt to God? Why?

4. Could God dispense us from worship? Why?

5. Differentiate between internal and external worship.

6. Prove that worship is an obligation of justice.

7. Prove that it is an obligation of truth.

8. Compare the sin of irreligion with other sins.

9. Why do many neglect to worship God?

10.

What is the spiritual distemper of our day? Why?

CHAPTER V

1. Differentiate between individual worship and social worship.

2. Why is there a duty of social worship?
3. Illustrate by an example from civil life.

4. Is God an impersonal force?

5. Does God want our homage?

6. What is the greatest Commandment? Why?

[63]



7. What is the essence of religion? Why?

8. Why must religion be taught in a systematic manner?
9. Why are Americans particularly apt to forget God?10.

What warnings need to be sounded for America?

CHAPTER VI

1. What is the difference between religion and morality?

2. How do both the obligation of religion and of morality stem
from God?

3. What is the Golden Rule?

4. How does morality complete the homage of worship?
5. Relate the incident of the wounded Jap.

6. State the teachings of St. John on the duty of loving others.

7. What duty follows from the dependence of man’s faculties
upon God?

8. Explain the need of sanctions for morality.

9. How is religion the basis of morality?

10.

State the opinion of our leaders on the necessity of religion

for sound morality.

CHAPTER VII

1. What is the first value of religion for the individual?

2. How does religion strengthen character?
3. How does religion sharpen individual responsibility?

4. What is the first social value of religion?

5. How does religion elevate the family life?
6. Why does religion render morality functional?
7. Is religion the champion of social justice? Why?

8. How does religion stabilize government?
9. What institutions of charity has religion inspired?

10. Show how religion is the mother of education.

[64]



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