g on earth, it is
yet perhaps the hardest to define; especially by one person for
another. Its very simplicity eludes definition. In trying to define
it I shall use in part the definitions given by others, as these are
more expressive than any words of my own that I can frame: "Religion
essentially consists of man's apprehension of his relation to an
invisible power or powers, able to influence his destiny, to which he
is necessarily subject; together with the feelings, desires and actions
which this apprehension calls forth." Another definition that is
perhaps more direct and simple than the above is this: "Religion is an
impulse imbedded in the heart of man which compels him to strive
upward. It is a yearning of the soul in man to transcend its own
narrow limits, and to soar to the heights of supreme excellence, where
it may become identified with the noble, the lofty, the divine."
Another has said that "Religion is simply the zest of life." To these
I will add that I understand religion to be that _inner urge_ in all
humanity that pushes it onward and upward; that inspires in man the
desire to rise above his present station and attainments, and improve
his condition; that spirit within man that has lifted him from the
lowest savagery to the highest attainments in civilization, refinement
and culture that man has yet reached; and will still lead him on to
heights yet invisible and undreamed of.

This _inner urge_ is common to all humanity, different only in degree,
and not in kind. It is possessed by the lowest savage, tho often in
latent form, yet capable of being touched and aroused into life and
action, as thousands of modern examples attest, as a result of some
form of missionary effort. From the time that man first emerged above
the brute, stood erect, looked up, beheld the phenomena of nature about
him, thought, and recognized that _somehow_ and _somewhere_ there was a
Power above, beyond and greater than himself; and conceived in his own
mind, however crude, the first faint spark of an aspiration to improve
and better his condition, man became a religious being, and has been
such ever since, varying only in degree, not in kind.

All religion is therefore one and the same. There may be many
religions. But back of all these is religion. Religion is one in its
origin. It is a part of the fundamental essence of human character.
It is inseparable from the faculties of thought, reason and will. It
is on