error, and thought and its laws have been related to
the forms of religions, and their dogmatic expressions. The character of
the relatively and absolutely true was touched upon, and the latter, it
was indicated, if attainable at all by human intelligence, must be found
in the formal laws of that intelligence, those which constitute its
nature and essence, and in the conclusions which such a premise forces
upon the reason. The necessity of this preliminary inquiry arose from
the fact that every historical religion claims the monopoly of the
absolutely true, and such claims can be tested only when we have decided
as to whether there is such truth, and if there is, where it is to be
sought. Moreover, as religions arise from some mental demand, the
different manifestations of mind,--sensation, emotion and
intellect--must be recognized and understood.

Passing now to a particular description of the Religious Sentiment, it
may roughly be defined to be the feeling which prompts to thoughts or
acts of worship. It is, as I have said, a complex product, made up of
emotions and ideas, developing with the growth of mind, wide-reaching in
its maturity, but meagre enough at the start. We need not expect to find
in its simplest phases that insight and tender feeling which we
attribute to the developed religious character. "The scent of the
blossom is not in the bulb." Its early and ruder forms, however, will
best teach the mental elements which are at its root.

The problem is, to find out why the primitive man figured to himself any
gods at all; what necessity of his nature or his condition led him so
universally to assume their existence, and seek their aid or their
mercy? The conditions of the solution are, that it hold good everywhere
and at all times; that it enable us to trace in every creed and cult the
same sentiments which first impelled man to seek a god and adore him.
Why is it that now and in remotest history, here and in the uttermost
regions, there is and always has been this that we call _religion_?
There must be some common reason, some universal peculiarity in man's
mental formation which prompts, which forces him, him alone of animals,
and him without exception, to this discourse and observance of religion.
What this is, it is my present purpose to try to find out.

In speaking of the development of mind through organism, it was seen
that the emotions precede the reason in point of time. This is daily
confirmed by