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extremer type。  In our future examples; even of the simplest and



healthiest…minded type of religious consciousness; we shall find



this complex sacrificial constitution; in which a higher



happiness holds a lower unhappiness in check。  In the Louvre



there is a picture; by Guido Reni; of St。 Michael with his foot



on Satan's neck。  The richness of the picture is in large part



due to the fiend's figure being there。  The richness of its



allegorical meaning also is due to his being therethat is; the



world is all the richer for having a devil in it; SO LONG AS WE



KEEP OUR FOOT UPON HIS NECK。  In the religious consciousness;



that is just the position in which the fiend; the negative or



tragic principle; is found; and for that very reason the



religious consciousness is so rich from the emotional point of



view。'20'  We shall see how in certain men and women it takes on



a monstrously ascetic form。  There are saints who have literally



fed on the negative principle; on humiliation and privation; and



the thought of suffering and deaththeir souls growing in



happiness just in proportion as their outward state grew more



intolerable。  No other emotion than religious emotion can bring a



man to this peculiar pass。  And it is for that reason that when



we ask our question about the value of religion for human life; I



think we ought to look for the answer among these violenter



examples rather than among those of a more moderate hue。







'20' I owe this allegorical illustration to my lamented colleague



and Friend; Charles Carroll Everett。















Having the phenomenon of our study in its acutest possible form



to start with; we can shade down as much as we please later。  And



if in these cases; repulsive as they are to our ordinary worldly



way of judging; we find ourselves compelled to acknowledge



religion's value and treat it with respect; it will have proved



in some way its value for life at large。  By subtracting and



toning down extravagances we may thereupon proceed to trace the



boundaries of its legitimate sway。







To be sure; it makes our task difficult to have to deal so muck



with eccentricities and extremes。  〃How CAN religion on the whole



be the most important of all human functions;〃 you may ask; 〃if



every several manifestation of it in turn have to be corrected



and sobered down and pruned away?〃  







Such a thesis seems a paradox impossible to sustain



reasonablyyet I believe that something like it will have to be



our final contention。  That personal attitude which the



individual finds himself impelled to take up towards what he



apprehends to be the divineand you will remember that this was



our definitionwill prove to be both a helpless and a



sacrificial attitude。  That is; we shall have to confess to at



least some amount of dependence on sheer mercy; and to practice



some amount of renunciation; great or small; to save our souls



alive。  The constitution of the world we live in requires it:







          〃Entbehren sollst du! sollst entbehren!



           Das ist der ewige Gesang



           Der jedem an die Ohren klingt;



           Den; unser ganzes Leben lang



           Uns heiser jede Stunde singt。〃







For when all is said and done; we are in the end absolutely



dependent on the universe; and into sacrifices and surrenders of



some sort; deliberately looked at and accepted; we are drawn and



pressed as into our only permanent positions of repose。  Now in



those states of mind which fall short of religion; the surrender



is submitted to as an imposition of necessity; and the sacrifice



is undergone at the very best without complaint。  In the



religious life; on the contrary; surrender and sacrifice are



positively espoused:  even unnecessary givings…up are added in



order that the happiness may increase。  Religion thus makes easy



and felicitous what in any case is necessary; and if it be the



only agency that can accomplish this result; its vital importance



as a human faculty stands vindicated beyond dispute。  It becomes



an essential organ of our life; performing a function which no



other portion of our nature can so successfully fulfill。  From



the merely biological point of view; so to call it; this is a



conclusion to which; so far as I can now see; we shall inevitably



be led; and led moreover by following the purely empirical method



of demonstration which I sketched to you in the first lecture。 



Of the farther office of religion as a metaphysical revelation I



will say nothing now。







But to foreshadow the terminus of one's investigations is one



thing; and to arrive there safely is another。  In the next



lecture; abandoning the extreme generalities which have engrossed



us hitherto; I propose that we begin our actual journey by



addressing ourselves directly to the concrete facts。






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