The Hearts of Men   By: H. (Harold) Fielding (1859-1917)

BY H. FIELDING

AUTHOR OF "THE SOUL OF A PEOPLE," ETC.

NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1901

PRINTED BY KELLY'S DIRECTORIES LIMITED, LONDON AND KINGSTON.

DEDICATION.

To F. W. FOSTER.

As my first book, "The Soul of a People," would probably never have been completed or published without your encouragement and assistance, so the latter part of this book would not have been written without your suggestion. This dedication is a slight acknowledgment of my indebtedness to you, but I hope that you will accept it, not as any equivalent for your unvarying kindness, but as a token that I have not forgotten.

CONTENTS.

DEFINITIONS OF RELIGION 1

INTRODUCTION 4

PART I.

I. OF WHAT USE IS RELIGION? 13

II. EARLY BELIEFS 21

III. IDEAL AND PRACTICE 28

IV. SCIENTIFIC THEOLOGY I 37

V. SCIENTIFIC THEOLOGY II 45

VI. WHENCE FAITHS COME 55

VII. THE WISDOM OF BOOKS 64

VIII. GOD 72

IX. LAW 84

X. THE WAY OF LIFE 92

XI. HEAVEN 101

PART II.

XII. THEORIES AND FACTS 113

XIII. CREED AND INSTINCT 124

XIV. RELIGIOUS PEOPLE 136

XV. ENTHUSIASM 145

XVI. STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS 155

XVII. MIND AND BODY 165

XVIII. PERSONALITY 173

XIX. GOD THE SACRIFICE 185

XX. GOD THE MOTHER 196

XXI. CONDUCT 202

XXII. MEN'S FAITH AND WOMEN'S FAITH 212

XXIII. PRAYER AND CONFESSION 221

XXIV. SUNDAY AND SABBATH 233

XXV. MIRACLE 242

XXVI. RELIGION AND ART 254

XXVII. WHAT IS EVIDENCE? 266

XXVIII. THE AFTER DEATH 277

XXIX. OPTIMISM AND PESSIMISM 287

XXX. WAS IT REASON? 298

XXXI. WHAT RELIGION IS 308

XXXII. THE USE OF RELIGION 316

THE HEARTS OF MEN.

RELIGION.

"The difficulty of framing a correct definition of religion is very great. Such a definition should apply to nothing but religion, and should differentiate religion from anything else as, for example, from imaginative idealisation, art, morality, philosophy. It should apply to everything which is naturally and commonly called religion: to religion as a subjective spiritual state, and to all religions, high or low, true or false, which have obtained objective historical realisation." Anon.

"The principle of morality is the root of religion." Peochal.

"It is the perception of the infinite." Max Müller.

"A religious creed is definable as a theory of original causation." Herbert Spencer.

"Virtue, as founded on a reverence for God and expectation of future rewards and punishment." Johnson.

"The worship of a Deity." Bailey.

"It has its origin in fear." Lucretius and others.

"A desire to secure life and its goods amidst the uncertainty and evils of earth." Retsche.

"A feeling of absolute dependence, of pure and entire passiveness." Schleiermacher.

"Religious feeling is either a distinct primary feeling or a peculiar compound feeling." Neuman Smyth.

"A sanction for duty." Kant.

"A morality tinged by emotion." Matthew Arnold.

"By religion I mean that general habit of reverence towards the divine nature whereby we are enabled to worship and serve God." Wilkins.

"A propitiation or conciliation of powers superior to man, which are supposed to control the course of nature and of human life." J. G. Frazer.

"The modes of divine worship proper to different tribes." Anon.

"The performance of duty to God and man."

It is to be noted that all the above are of Europeans acquainted practically with only Christianity.

The following are some that have been given me by Orientals:

"The worship of Allah." Mahommedan.

"A knowledge of the laws of life that lead to happiness." Buddhist.

"Doing right."

"Other worldliness."

INTRODUCTION.