orship. Individuals and communities vary in the
degree to which they are capable of enthusiasm, excitement, or ecstasy.

Or a religion may be measured extensively. He whose religion is constant
and uniform is more religious than he whose observance is confined to the
Sabbath day, or he whose concern in the matter appears only in time of
trouble or at the approach of death. This test may best be summed up in
terms of consistency. Religion may vary in the degree to which it
pervades the various activities of life. That religion is confined and
small which manifests itself only in words or public deeds or emotions
exclusively. If it is to be effective it must be systematic, so
thoroughly adopted as to be cumulative and progressive. It must engage
every activity, qualify all thought and imagination, in short, infuse the
whole of life with its saving grace.

It is clear, however, that a measure of religion does not constitute
either proof or disproof. If a religion be good or true, or on like
grounds accredited, then the more of it the better. But differences of
degree appear in all religions. Indeed, the quantitative test has been
most adequately met by forms of religion the warrant of which is
generally held to be highly questionable. We may, therefore, dismiss
this test without further consideration. The application of it must be
{220} based upon a prior and more fundamental justification.

There is one test of religion which has been universally applied by
believers and critics alike, a test which, I think, will shortly appear
to deserve precedence over all others. I refer to the test of truth.
Every religion has been justified to its believers and recommended to
unbelievers on grounds of evidence. It has been verified in its working,
or attested by either observation, reflection, revelation, or authority.

In spite of the general assent which this proposition will doubtless
command, it is deserving of special emphasis at the present time.
Students of religion have latterly shifted attention from its claims to
truth to its utility and subjective form. This pragmatic and
psychological study of religion has created no little confusion of mind
concerning its real meaning, and obscured that which is after all its
essential claim--the claim, namely, to offer an illumination of life.
Religious belief, like all belief, is reducible to judgments. These
judgments are not, it is true, explicit and theoretically f