ognize ourselves as most consciously
religious in

that serene and blessed mood
In which the affections gently lead us on.

Our highest inspirations commonly come to us in a wistful yearning to be
like the Most High, in a sense of reconciliation with Him, in a glowing
enthusiasm for His cause, in the calm assurance of His guidance and
protection, in the enlargement of our natures as they become aware of
His indwelling. "We _feel_ that we are greater than we _know_."

Others give prominence to the role of the intellect. God is the most
reasonable explanation of the facts of life. Religious truths and men's
minds harmonize as though they had been made for each other. The thought
of Deity gives them perfect mental satisfaction. Dante tells us: "The
life of my heart, that of my inward self, was wont to be a sweet thought
which went many times to the feet of God, that is to say in thought I
contemplated the kingdom of the Blessed." And a present-day English
thinker, Mr. F.H. Bradley, writes: "All of us, I presume, more or less
are led beyond the region of ordinary facts. Some in one way and some in
another, we seem to touch and have communion with what is beyond the
visible world. In various manners we find something higher which both
supports and humbles, both chastens and transports us. And, with various
persons, the intellectual effort to understand the universe is a
principal way of their experiencing the Deity."

Still others lay the chief stress upon the will. Man wills to live; but
in a universe like ours where he is pitted against overwhelming forces,
he is driven to seek allies, and in his quest for them he wills to
believe in a God as good as the best in himself and better. Faith is an
adventure; Clement of Alexandria called it "an enterprise of noble
daring to take our way to God." We trust that the Supreme Power in the
world is akin to the highest within us, to the highest we discover
anywhere, and will be our confederate in enabling us to achieve that
highest. Kant found religion through response to the imperative voice of
conscience, in "the recognition of our duties as divine commands."
Pasteur, in the address which he delivered on taking his seat in the
Academie Francaise, declared: "Blessed is he who carries within himself
a God, an ideal, and who obeys it; ideal of art, ideal of science, ideal
of the gospel virtues, therein lie the springs of great thoughts and
great actions; they all reflect li