elty may be
the greatest kindness. A sentimental compromise is never welcomed by
the mature judgment of the brave man. And in this day when so many
have willingly given their lives for the sake of a human ideal, is it
just and right to flinch in the spiritual warfare which confronts our
generation? We are seeking nothing less than a renaissance in which
men's energies will be wisely and loyally directed to what is greatly
human and humanly great. In such a service we must will to be hard on
ourselves and on others.

In the past, religion has only too often been formal and negative and
world-fleeing. It has said nay to life rather than yea. Past religion
rested upon man's sense of his own helplessness in a world which he did
not understand. By the very instinct of self-preservation, he created
supernatural powers which were to be on his side in the grim and
unequal struggle in which he was engaged. But this subterfuge by which
he thought to conquer had its treacherous effects, for it turned man
{212} from comprehending and mastering his world. He became but a
pilgrim here, intent on heavenly joys and splendors, which threw this
world into darkness. What these joys and splendors were he hardly
knew: yet he hugged the thought of them to his heart and despised
things merely human. And if, as often became the case, the world grew
upon him, his conscience was torn and tormented. He was a man divided
against himself, unable to throw himself whole-heartedly into any
enterprise.

But the humanist's religion is the religion of one who says yea to life
here and now, of one who is self-reliant and fearless, intelligent and
creative. It is the religion of the will to power, of one who is hard
on himself and yet joyous in himself. It is the religion of courage
and purpose and transforming energy. Its motto is, "What hath not man
wrought?" Its goal is the mastery of things that they may become
servants and instrumentalities to man's spiritual comradeship.
Whatever mixture of magic, fear, ritual and adoration religion may have
been in man's early days, it is now, and henceforth must be, that which
concerns man's nobilities, his discovery of, and loyalty to, the
pervasive values of life. The religious man will now be he who seeks
out causes to be loyal to, social mistakes to correct, wounds to heal,
achievements to further. He will be constructive, fearless, loyal,
sensitive to the good wherever found, a believer in