egro's emotions constitute
his strongest as well as his weakest point. The fact that he is largely
developed in the emotional side of his nature would, other things being
equal, give him a vantage ground in matters of religion. His defect is
not that he is emotional, but that he is excessively so. Like other
races in their childhood, he is a bundle of feelings. He does not think
after God, he does not will after God, but he feels after God. He is not
driven to action because he is impelled by a moral imperative, the law
of duty, but he is controlled by his nerves which are his thermometer.
With the nerves as his guide it is impossible to tell where he stands on
many moral questions. Neurotic environments appeal quickly to him, and
are fostered by the church in sermons which appeal largely to the
imagination, in weird pictures of the unseen, in apocalyptic sermons,
and by mystic preachers known as mourners, shouters and visioners. As a
subject of experimentation in physco-physics, the most fitting time is
in seasons of revival in religion when his emotion is keyed to the
highest point.

The following stages may be noticed:

(1) Violent physical commotion followed by physical exhaustion.

(2) Loss of physical control.

(3) Loss of moral control. At this stage there is a feeling of abandon
leading often to unchaste exposure of the person, wild cries as if
demented, and all kinds of extravagances.

(4) Mental infection as well as emotional panic. At this stage there is
pandemonium. Many obtain religion by the process of infection.

(5) A lowered physical as well as moral vitality. At the last meeting of
the British Association for the Advancement of Science, a thoughtful
paper by Dr. Graham of Ireland showed that there was less insanity among
Roman Catholics than Protestants in Ireland, due to difference in type
of religion, Protestants of Ireland being intensely morbid and ascetic
in their Calvinism. (Congregationalist, Nov. 29, 1902, p. 781.) I
should not be surprised, if investigation was made, that similar results
would be seen in America not only between Protestants and Roman
Catholics, but among Protestants themselves. I should not be surprised
that there were fewer maniacs among Presbyterians and Congregationalists
than among Baptists and Methodists. May not students of physco-physics
make this a study for the benefit of religion? To the use of emotions in
religion the writer has no objections, he is heartily i