XIX. ON man governing himself morally well in life, it becomes manifest
to him, on the one hand, that his conduct, being conformable to the end
for which he was created, must also be agreeable to the will of the
Creator. On the other hand, that same internal sense, which prompts him
to satisfy the demands of his own conscience, leads him, also, to
elevate his mind towards God; and he feels at the bottom of his heart
that he would be wanting in the principal element of his happiness if he
referred not his every thought to the Author of his existence. This
twofold direction of the mind towards God is called _Religion_, a word
derived from the Latin _religare_, for, as a moral being endowed with
intelligence and freedom, man feels always a certain tendency to
disengage himself from the physical order of terrestrial things, and to
_link_ himself again to the Supreme Cause from whom he emanated.
XX. All the peoples of antiquity exhibited, in their successive
developments, the aptitude of the human soul to entertain religion
within itself, nay, the necessity in which it finds itself to connect
the exercise of moral duties or virtue with the Supreme Source of all
morality. In fact, God, in His infinite wisdom and goodness, wills
nothing but what is good; and in no better mode could man ever manifest
his gratitude to the Author of his existence, than by doing that which
is agreeable to His will. Hence it is, that whoever is true to his
destination, is said to be true to God; and he who is virtuous is
religious. There is, then, in the human soul a natural disposition to
religiousness or piety; and the history of all ages testifies that no
people ever existed, who, however rude and uncultivated, has not had
some presentiment of the relations which bind the rational creature to
its Creator. Man is born to religion.[1]
[Note 1: These truths are now readily admitted by all well-thinking
men. It was very easy, and very amusing, for the philosophy of the
eighteenth century, to ridicule the ignorance and superstition of the
ancients, and to denounce the modern peoples which followed in the same
direction, though by different tracks. But the true philosophy of the
present age, which has penetrated deeper into the recesses of the human
heart, has arrived at the double conclusion, that a superior power has
implanted therein certain elements which it is not in human power to
remove; and that what is inherent in human nature cannot he combated,
but must be wisely directed. Hence, modern civilisation deals lees than
preceding ages in abstractions; and in its Intellectual development,
accepts religion as a starting point in the laborious but open walk,
which leads to human happiness,--The TRANSLATOR.]
XXI. This need for man to be religious constitutes the basis of _faith_.
As man is said to _know_ that which is proved to him by experience, or
by the testimony of the senses, so he is said to _believe_ that which
is to him a real want, although it cannot be demonstrated to him either
by experience or by the evidence of the senses. _Knowledge_ is based
upon _objective_, and _belief_ upon _subjective_ proofs.
The existence of God, the providence with which He governs the world,
the immortality of the soul, the excellence of virtue, the just
expectation of a final triumph of good, and of an improvement and future
perfection of the human condition, are truths which have their
foundations in man himself, that is, in the _nature_ of his soul; they
originate in him, even without the concurrence of reflection, almost
from an innate feeling of the heart, which impels him to admit them;
they are founded on subjective proofs, and man _believes_ them as
necessities of his own nature. These religious truths are therefore
called _natural_, and their disciples are said to profess a _natural
religion_.