Religion a rational demand

Preface

Early in the author's life the question arose, whether religion may not possibly be accounted for by the individual's training, and the racial experience may not have created man's religious demands, or whether Revelation did not create the demand in order to have something to satisfy. This question prompted him to research; and it served the purpose of thoroughly convincing him that the demands for religion lay deeper than any experience which man may have accumulated ; they lay in the very construction of human nature itself.

If this little work succeeds in pointing out the fact that religion does not consist in a formal submission to the demands of a temporal institution, but in the dynamic relation of the soul to its God, the author will consider himself richly repaid for his effort. (3)

4 PREFACE.

The author does not presume that he has completely covered the great subject ; but simply projects this scanty outline as an index finger to point the way toward the recognition of the immutable foundation for religion and its demands.

No one will suppose that this work is offered a substitute for revelation, but that it simply aims to point out why a Revelation became necessary.

If this little work succeeds in its attempt, the author will point out, in another volume, how the demands made by reason are met by Revelation.

Flint, July 1900.

Part I. The Conception Of God And His Re- Lation To The World

The Absolute as Infinite 79

Intelligence of the Absolute 90

Personality of the Absolute 103

Necessary Attributes of the Absolute Person 112

The Relation of the Absolute to Nature 123