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                          THE HEARTS OF MEN

                           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 Mueller._

"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.


Some time ago I wrote "The Soul of a People." It was an attempt to
understand a people, the Burmese; to understand a religion, that of
Buddha. It was not an attempt to find abstract truth, to discuss what
may be true or not in the tenets of that faith, to discover the secret
of all religions. It was only intended to show what Buddhism in Burma is
to the people who believe in it, and how it comes into their lives.

Yet it was impossible always to confine the view to one point. It is
natural--nay, it is inevitable--that when a man studies one faith,
comparison with other faiths should intrude themselves. The world, even
the East and West, is so bound together that you cannot treat of part
and quite ignore the rest. And so thoughts arose and questions came
forward that lay outside the scope of that book. I could not write of
them there fully. Whatever question arose I was content then to give
only the Buddhist answer, I had to leave on one side all the many
answers different faiths may have propounded. I could not discuss even
where truth was likely to be found. I was bound by my subject. But in
this book I have gone further. This is a book, not of one religion nor
of several religions, but of religion. Mainly, it is true, it treats of
Christianity and Buddhism, because these are the two great
representative faiths, but it is not confined to them. Man asks, and has
always asked, certain questions. Religions have given many answers. Are
these answers true? Which is true? Are any of them true? It is in a way
a continuation of "The Soul of a People," but wider. It is of "The
Hearts of Men."

       *       *       *       *       *

Before beginning this book I have a word to say on the meanings that I
attach to the word "Christianity" and a few other words, so that I may
be more clearly understood.

There was a man who wrote to me once explaining why he was a Christian,
and wondering how anyone could fail to be so.

"I look about me," he said, "at Christian nations, and I see that they
are the leaders of the world. Pagan nations are far behind them in
wealth, in happiness, in social order. I look at our Courts and I find
justice administered to all alike, pure and without prejudice. Our
crime decreases, our education increases, and our wealth increases even
faster; the artisan now is where the middle class was a hundred years
ago, the middle class now lives better than the rich did. Our science
advances from marvel to marvel. Our country is a network of railroads,
our ships cover the seas, our prosperity is unbounded, and in a greater
or less degree all Christian nations share it. But when we turn to Pagan
nations, what do we see? Anarchy and injustice, wars and rebellions,
ignorance and poverty. To me no greater proof of the truth of
Christianity can be than this difference. In fact, it is Christianity."

I am not concerned here to follow the writer into his arguments. He is
probably one of those who thinks that all our civilisation is due to a
peculiar form of Christianity. There are others who hold that all our
advance has been made in spite of Christianity. I am only concerned now
with the meaning of the word. The way I use the word is to denote the
cult of Christ. A Christian to me means a man who follows, or who
professes to follow, the example of Christ and to accept all His
teaching; to be a member of a Church that calls itself Christian. I use
it irrespective of sects to apply to Catholic and Greek Church, Quaker
and Skopek alike. I am aware that in Christianity, as in all religions,
there has been a strong tendency of the greater emotions to attract the
lesser, and of the professors of any religion to assume to themselves
all that is good and repudiate all that is evil in the national life. I
have no quarrel here with them on the subject. Nor do I wish to use the
word in any unnecessarily narrow sense. Are there not also St. Paul and
the Apostles, the Early Fathers? So be it. But surely the essence of
Christianity must be the teaching and example of Christ? I do not gather
that any subsequent teacher has had authority to abrogate or modify
either that teaching or example. As to addition, is it maintained
anywhere that the teaching and example are inadequate? I do not think
so. And therefore I have defined my meaning as above. Let us be sure of
our words, that we may know what we are talking about.

In the word "religion" I have more difficulty. It does not carry any
meaning on its face as Christianity does. It is an almost impossible
word to define, or to discover the meaning of. It is so difficult that
practically all the book is an attempt to discover what "religion" does
mean. I nearly called the book, "What is the Meaning of Religion?"

In the beginning I have given a few of the numerous meanings that have
been applied to the word. It will be seen how vague they are. And at
the end I have a definition of my own to give which differs from all.
But as I have frequently to use the word from the beginning of the book,
I will try to define how I use it.

By "religion," then, generally I mean a scheme of the world with some
theory of how man got into it and the influences, mostly supernatural,
which affect him here. It usually, though not always, includes some code
of morality for use here and some account of what happens after death.

This is, I think, more or less the accepted meaning.

And there are the words Spirit and Soul.

I note that in considering origins of religion the great first
difficulty has been how the savage evolved the idea of "God" or "Spirit"
as opposed to man. Various theories have been proposed, such as that it
evolved from reasoning on dreams. To me the question is whether such an
idea exists at all. It may be possible that men trained in abstract
thought without reference to fact, the successors of many generations of
men equally so trained, do consider themselves to have such a
conception. I have met men who declared they had a clear idea of the
fourth dimension in Mathematics and of unending space. There may be
people who can realise a Spirit which has other qualities than man. In
some creeds the idea is assumed as existing. But personally I have never
found it among those who make religion as distinguished from those who
theorise upon it. The gods of the simpler religious people I have met,
whether East or West, have been frankly only enlarged men, with the
appetites and appearances and the powers of men. They differ from men
only in degree, never in kind. They require food and offerings, they
have passions, sometimes they have wives. The early gods are but men. If
they are invisible, so can man be; if they are powerful, so are kings.
It is only a question of degree, never of kind. I do not find that the
God that the Boers appeal to so passionately has any different qualities
in their thoughts from a marvellous man. Truly they will say, "No, God
is a Spirit." Then if you reply, "So be it; tell me how a Spirit differs
from a man, what qualities a Spirit has that are inconceivable in man,"
they cannot go on; and the qualities they appeal to in their God are
always very human qualities--partiality, forgiveness, help, and the
like.

Many men will say they believe things which they do not understand. I
enter into the subject so fully later I do not want to write more now. I
only wish to define that the word God, as I use it, in no wise means
more than "the Personality who causes things."

And again about soul. What is soul? The theologian gets up and answers
at once that soul exists independent of the body. So be it. Then who has
the conception? And what is it like when you have got it? Have
Christians it? Then why can they not understand resurrection of the soul
without also the resurrection of the body? They cannot. Look at the
facts. It is such a fact it has actually forced itself into the creeds.
Angels have bodies and also wings. Ghosts have bodies and also clothes.
They are recognisable. I know a ghost who likes pork for supper. They
sometimes have horses and all sorts of additions. The body may be filmy,
but it is a body. Gas is filmy and quite as transparent as a ghost.

Perhaps the people who have put the transmigration of souls as one of
their religious tenets really have the conception of a soul apart from
any body. I doubt it even here. But this also will come later.

Meanwhile, when I use the word "soul" or "spirit," I do not infer that
it is separable from the body or inseparable. I mean simply the essence
of that which is man; the identity, the ego existing in man as he _is_.
I think, indeed, this is the correct meaning. We say that a city has
fifty thousand souls. Have they no bodies? When I wrote "The Soul of a
People" I certainly did not omit their bodies or ignore them. On the
contrary. And no one supposed I did. I do not either mean to postulate
the inseparability of body and soul. Soul means essence.

Finally, there is the word reason. What is that? By reason I mean the
faculty of arranging and grouping facts. It is the power of perspective
which sees facts in their proper relation to other facts. The facts
themselves are supplied as regards the outer world by the senses of
sight and hearing and taste, of touch and sympathy; and as regards the
inner world of sensations, such as hate, and love, and fear by the
ability to feel those sensations.

Reason itself cannot supply facts. It can but arrange them. By placing a
series of facts in due order the existence of other facts may be
suspected, as the existence of Neptune was deduced from certain known
aberrations. The observation of Neptune by the telescope followed.

In other words, reason may be called "the science of facts."

       *       *       *       *       *

I offer no apology for this introduction. Most of the confusion of
thought, most of the mistiness of argument, is due to the fact that
people habitually use words without any clear idea of their meaning. A
reviewer of "The Soul of a People" declared that Buddhism was a
philosophy, not a religion. I asked him to give me a list of what he
accepted as religions, and then to furnish a definition of religion that
would include all these and exclude Buddhism. I am still waiting. No
doubt he had never tried to really define what he meant by his words.
Instead of using words as counters of a fixed value he threw them about
as blank cheques, meaning anything or nothing.

When you find confusion of argument in a book, want of clearness of
expression, when you see men arguing and misunderstanding each other,
there is nearly always one reason. Either they are using words in
different senses or they have no clear idea themselves of what they mean
by their words. Ask ten men what they mean when they say, Art, beauty,
civilisation, right, wrong, or any other abstract term, and see if _one_
can give a satisfactory explanation.

This is an error I am trying to avoid.




CHAPTER I.

OF WHAT USE IS RELIGION?


Of what use is religion?

All nations, almost all men, have a religion. From the savage in the
woods who has his traditions of how the world began, who has his ghosts
and his devils to fear or to worship, to the Christian and the Buddhist
with their religion full of beautiful conceptions and ideas--all people
have a religion.

And the religion of men is determined for them by their birth. They are
born into it, as they are into their complexions, their habits, their
language. The Continental and Irish Celt is a Roman Catholic, the Teuton
is a follower of Luther, the Slav a member of the Greek Church. The
Anglo-Saxon, who is a compromise of races, has a creed which is a
compromise also, and the Celt of England has his peculiar form of
dissent, more akin perhaps in some ways to Romanism than to Lutheranism.
A Jew is and has been a Jew, a Hindu is a Hindu, Arabs and Turks are
Mahommedans.

It is so with all races of men. A man's religion to-day is that into
which he is born, and those of the higher and older races who change are
few, so very few they but serve strongly to emphasize the rule.

There have been, it is true, periods when this has not been so. There
have been times of change, of conversions, of rapid religious evolution
when the greater faiths have gathered their harvests of men, when
beliefs have spread as a flood threatening to engulf a world. No one has
ever done so. Each has found its own boundary and stayed there. Their
spring tide once passed they have ceased to spread. They have become,
indeed, many of them, but tideless oceans, dead seas of habit ceasing
even to beat upon their shores. Many of them no longer even try to
proselytise, having found their inability to stretch beyond their
boundaries; others still labour, but their gains are few--how few only
those who have watched can know.

Some savages are drawn away here or there, but that is all. The greater
faiths and forms of faith, Catholicism, Lutheranism, the Greek Church,
Mahom