the performance of the letter of the
law, long after its practical utility or spiritual significance is
forgotten. It is this persistence in the literal fulfillments of
religious commands at the expense of the spirit, that the
Hebrew prophets so vehemently condemned. Thus proclaims
Isaiah:

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Saith
the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed
beasts....

Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto
me....

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they
are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them....

Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from
before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the
fatherless, plead for the widow.[1]

[Footnote 1: Isaiah I: 11-17.]]

Institutions and modes of life, even when they are not,
strictly speaking, part of the religious tradition proper, are
given tremendous sanction and confirmation when they become
embodied in the religious tradition. The institution of
the family, for example, through the strong religious sanctions
and values implied in the marriage ceremony and relationship
(especially the marriage sacrament of the Catholic Church),
comes to be strongly fortified and entrenched. Change in
the form of an institution so hallowed by religion is something
more than change; it is sacrilege. Governments and dynasties,
again, when they have a religious sanction, when the
King rules by "divine right," acquire a strong additional
source of persistence and power. The imperial character of
the Japanese government to-day, for example, is said to be
greatly enhanced in prestige by the widespread popular belief
that the Emperor is lineally descended from divinity.

Sometimes religious sanctions have inspired and promoted
zeal for social enterprise. The Crusades stand out as classic
instances, but in the name of religion men have done more
than build cathedrals and go on pilgrimages. In the Middle
Ages, bridges and roads were constructed, alms were given,
pictures were painted, books illuminated, encyclopaedias
made, education conducted, all under the auspices and
inspiration of the Church. The mediaeval universities started
as church schools. In our own day, the expansion of the
churches in the direction of welfare work and social reform,
the use of the church as a community center, are exa