y first task must be to forestall possible disappointments regarding
the scope of our inquiry. In seven lectures upon a vast topic very
little can at best be accomplished. I want to tell you at the outset
what are some of the limitations to which I propose to subject my
undertakings.

I come before you as a philosophical inquirer addressing a general
audience of thoughtful people. This definition of my office implies
from the outset very notable limitations. As a philosophical inquirer
I am not here to preach to you, but to appeal to your own
thoughtfulness. Again, since my inquiry concerns the Sources of
Religious Insight, you will understand, I hope, that I shall not
undertake to present to you any extended system of religious doctrine.
Upon sources of insight we are to concentrate our attention. What
insight may be obtained from those sources we shall only attempt to
indicate in the most general way, not at length to expound. What
theologians would call a system of dogmas, I shall not undertake to
define. What {4} philosophers would regard as a comprehensive
philosophy of religion I shall have no time to develop within our
limits. I am to make some comments upon the ways in which religious
truths can become accessible to men. What truths thus become
accessible you must in large measure discover by your own appeal to
the sources of which I shall try to tell you.

These somewhat narrow limitations may have, as I hope, their
correlative advantages. Since I am to speak of sources, rather than of
creeds or of philosophies, I may be able to appeal to people of
decidedly various opinions without directing undue attention to the
motives that divide them. I need not presuppose that my hearers are of
the company of believers or of the company of doubters; and if they
are believers, it matters little, for my present purpose, to what
household of the faith they belong. I am not here to set people right
as to matters of doctrine, but rather to point out the way that, if
patiently followed, may tend to lead us all toward light and unity of
doctrine. If you listen to my later lectures you may, indeed, be led
to ask various questions about my own creed, which, in these lectures,
I shall not attempt to answer. But I shall be content if what I say
helps any of you, however little, toward finding for yourselves
answers to your own religious questions.

{5}

The limitations of my task, thus indicated, will become still clearer
if