SECOND  DISCOURSE OF A SET OF TWO DISCOURSES:

THE RELIGION OF LIFE    AND    THE LIFE OF RELIGION
 
 

DISCOURSE XX 
VOLUME I
  DISCOURSES  ON RELIGION, MORALS, PHILOSOPHY AND METAPHYSICS
By   MRS. CORA L.V. HATCH
Published By B.F. Hatch 1858
 

THE LIFE OF RELIGION
 

DELIVERED IN BROOKLYN,  MARCH 21st.  1858
 

BY CORA  L. V.  HATCH

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PRAYER

INFINITE JEHOVAH! Father of all goodness! our souls would praise and bless thy name today. Springing forth in gushings of spontaneous thankfulness, our thoughts rise up to thee, and we would be absorbed in the greatness of thy being. With reverential awe we behold the splendor of thy power. Each day, every moment, adds to the beauty of the spirit; and the light of religion, and beauty, and thought, and divinity, render the soul great and powerful in its aspirations for thee. Bless us with thy presence; and may we feel the thrillings of thy love and the aspirations of thy knowledge, until our souls shall be blended with thine in all perfection and beauty. We bless thee for those trials which render the soul stronger, and bring the heart nearer to thee; for that endurance which strengthens the mind and prepares it for higher and holier aspirations. We bless thee for what men call crime, for in its knowledge there comes an aspiration for higher and holier enjoyment; and though it may cause thy children to droop for a while beneath its chastening influence, the clouds of ignorance will soon pass away, and the sunshine of thy goodness will make the day all the more bright and beautiful for the discipline which has purified our souls.

Father of light! we know that thou hast fashioned all things; and out from the elements of thy Divine Mind all things have sprung into existence, and are constituted according to thy will. We bless thee for this consciousness that every soul may throb in unison with thine, and still work out its own salvation. We bless thee for the religious fervor which characterizes all countries; but we thank thee more especially for that fervor which belongs to the chastened spirit when, purified and enlightened, it stands before thee in the radiance of its own purity, adoring and praising thee through a life of harmonious action. May thy children feel that not in gilded temples made with hands, not in cloistered cells, nor yet in the grand arcana of religious worship, nor yet in pulpits, nor from the rostrum, can the soul alone worship thee; but in its deep adoration of love, in the fulfillment of its perfect existence, in the grand comprehension of thy law and thy power, there is true religion, true worship.

Father, we feel thy religion like a halo of divine light surrounding our souls, raising us up, and permeating our existence with divine beauty. It comes in the form of gentle intuition or inspiration from thee, crowning every heart with rejoicing, and blending each soul with thine own. May thy children feel its presence and acknowledge its power in every department of physical existence. Father, thou hast made religion the crowning gem in the diadem of human aspiration, and with its brightness all their glory is absorbed, and with its radiance all their light becomes darkness. Make it the controlling, all pervading element of thy children’s souls, until intellect, science, art, philosophy, and government shall be blended with religion; then all shall be peace for ever. We praise thee for this conception of thy goodness and thy presence; and make us feel that thou art for ever our Father!
 
 

DISCOURSE

A WEEK ago, we addressed you upon the subject of the Religion of Life.  It was then proposed also that we should elucidate another point expressed in substantially the same words, but of very different meaning— namely, the Life of Religion. Owing to indisposition on the part of our medium, we illustrated but one portion of that subject, which was the first. Today our theme is the LIFE OF RELIGION.

Last Sunday, we endeavored to show that the religion of life is not confined to any outward profession or acknowledgment of divine worship, but is that element which pervades and controls the true and harmonious man or woman in the outworking of religious purpose. In other words, the religion of life, we claimed, was the highest and holiest cultivation of every faculty which belongs to man; that there is just as much religion in subserving the laws of the physical relation as there is in subserving those which control the moral relation; and that each act of life should be performed with reference to worship.

LIFE, as defined by us, signifies a power or existence; that which gives to existence its being, its invigorating power, its absolutism. RELIGION, as we have defined it on various occasions, is the all absorbing element of the soul, which tends to worship and to adoration, or to the conceiving of a Divine Being. The life of religion, then, is the power of existence, or the principles of being which exist in religion. Religion is an element— not one capacity of the mind, not one faculty of the soul alone. It is an all-pervading ELEMENT, like life, and diffuses itself through every department of the mind, as does the sunshine through the Universe, and the planets absorb it in proportion to their relative distance from the sun. So religion is the central light of the soul; and other capacities take up the action of that light according to their requirement, and growth, and prosperity. The life of religion is the controlling and all pervading element of power which is visible in religion; not as an external manifestation, nor yet is it discoverable by science in the atmosphere; nor yet does it travel upon the wings of thought alone; but it is an all pervading, subtle influence, which exists wherever souls exist, and extends its influence in proportion as it is recognized by those who are present. Hence a great mass of people feel more religious fervor than a few; because it is called upon more where there is greater power of sympathy, and a greater mass to call it forth. This life of religion more fully manifests its existence wherever there is the greatest call for its manifestation; and thus in modern religious excitements, which are the result of this principle in the mind, religion is called upon to fill its natural place through sympathy. Thus sympathy or love still becomes the controlling element of religion.

Life in religion is love, and signifies that property which attracts from every soul a certain amount of religious fervor, being the power and the controlling property of the mind, and is as permanent as the life of the Universe. It belongs to Deity, and has been banded down through generations, but grows no stronger. It is like the steady radiance of a sun, which shines always the same, but which is perceived more in the daytime than it is in the night. Religion burns steadily; its life is constant; there is no fluctuation, no flickering in its radiance; but it burns for ever upon the altar of God’s Universe, kindled there by his own hand; and is a living and everlasting flame.

The ancient religionists had just as much of life in their religions as do the modern ones. They had just as much fervor and religious devotion, just as much divine zeal in their conceptions of religion, as have you; only then it was confined to a few, while now it is diffused through the many. Yet there is always a supply to equal the demand; and when men call for religious light—for that fervor which constitutes true devotedness, aspiration and goodness, for a hope of immortality—religion always comes in to fulfill its part and it becomes a burning, living flame, lying upon the altar of the heart, and its life is the life of every soul. Thus we may call the life of religion love; that is all the life there is in it. Take that away, and it becomes idolatry, bigotry, superstition, heathenism; for, unless there is love, there is no life in religion. What is that which caused the ancients to bow down before idols of wood and stone, and idols whose names were hatred and revenge, and all the lower passions of the mind, while the gods of love, and sympathy, and beauty, were rarely known? The god of power and the god of revenge were called upon more frequently simply because the life of religion did not tend to love, excepting a love of war, a love of combat, a love of power; and thus religion was subservient to idolatry. Thus is created idolatry when religion is under the control of human passion; but religion is love when in true Christian spirit men love one another. A Christian has no more life in his religion than has heathenism, other than Christianity has more love. Without this, the soul of the Christian is no more devoted than the soul of the idolater.

Men, if they would be Christians, and possess the true life of religion, must follow the precept and example of Him who was the founder of Christianity. His whole life was a life of love; all his actions were those of love; and his words were the constant warblings of the soul’s love in acknowledgment of the Father’s goodness; and every deed was a spontaneous one. There was no fixed form of religious worship, no idolatry, no temples, no places dedicated to certain and especial forms; but every hour and every moment was a spontaneous existence of the life of religion. Thus Christians, unless they possess in reality this spontaneity of religious fervor, have not the life of religion within their souls, but have idolatry; and modern worshippers forget greatly that true religious life can never be confined within the narrow limits of any creed, dogma, or any form of government, of church or state.

The life of religion belongs to the soul, and is as free as the winged bird that skips from bough to bough, or soars, from tree top to mountain top; as free as the atmosphere which wafts on the zephyrs the perfumes of a thousand flowers; as free as the living, breathing light of God’s own heaven. What! bind life or love within the limits of any fixed form, and make of the soul an automaton — of the spirit a simple machine? Never! Its life is gushing, free, sparkling, like the mountain streamlet. God is the source whence it came: it must run on for ever, until it is blended with the great ocean of Immensity; and, even there, each atom is separate from the other. Each life retains its own existence and each soul its own consciousness.

Is it the true life of religion, when, through fear or through any external excitement, men are taught to believe that they have experienced religion? Can religion be taught? Can religion be demonstrated through fear? or can its life be truly known under any form of excitement? Never. The soul must feel its own religious life in its own way; it must come as silently and yet as imperceptibly as the dawn of morning light. You can make no distinction between night and day, save that night is dark and day is light. The dividing line is never known, yet it comes on, silently and softly. So the consciousness and perception of religious life comes to the soul in its own time, and with its own power and fervor.  If a man is excited or stimulated to acknowledge himself a religionist before that life is awakened in his soul, he soon returns to the paths of sin and the world. There is no true conversion, so called, there; there is no renewal of life within the spirit: it is simply an excitement of the mind, which soon passes away, and leaves the soul as dead as before. A true religious life comes to the spirit when in the quietude of its own existence it feels the presence of the Almighty Father. Religious life, or that power of religion which is really its existence, is not confined to nations, ages, governments, sects, parties, or creeds, but it breaks out with its own characteristics in its own time, and constitutes the deep revolutions of religious thought.

Calvin, Luther, Whitefield, the Wesleys, Murray, and all the great leaders in religious excitements and creeds, had religious fervor within their souls; but when you attempt to follow them, you become idolators, and not religious worshippers. No man can follow in the footsteps of another, for each individual is distinct from all other beings on earth. You must be what you are through your education and circumstances, through your own nature and life; and your religion must take its own time for its own manifestations. None else can do it for you; and when you acknowledge yourselves worshippers at any shrine of religion, that religion becomes materialism, not religion.

Again, the life of religion is quiet, unobtrusive, gentle, and loving. It comes not with a grand sweep of power; it comes not with a burst of passion; not with a swell of trumpets or the sound of arms; not with the thunders of the Vatican, or the loud roar of the ocean wave: but it is quiet and gentle as the morning zephyr sweeping among the pine trees; it is sweet, melodious, kind. It is life; and life is always constant, quiet, harmonious, and pure. There are volcanic eruptions; there are earthquakes and tornadoes; but these are only the exceptions; the rule is constant harmony and peace in God’s creation. So, when there is a tornado of religious fervor sweeping across your country, rest assured that the calm will bring the life of religion. That which is excitement now is not religion; it is only the foreshadowing of religion, as the storm foreshadows the brightened morning. Religion comes when the soul is calm. That which is excitement now, and which is the blending of various elements, is only the bursting forth of the volcanic fires which have been slumbering, deeply embedded in society. But the beauty and calmness comes when the volcano has spent its fury, and the rumbling earth has quieted. Then the soul feels its religion, its life, its beauty. There is a new birth—not with pain; but when the pain shall have passed away, the infant Religion is born, and the soul realizes its true and heavenly parentage.

Remember, then, you who believe in excitements of religion, or who do not, that the life of religion is not the excitement but the calm. The manifestation of it is not in the form of words or prayer, but in the quiet actions of the soul. Remember, all ye who bow down before shrines and worship at altars where the sacramental rites and religions forms are administered, that not there does the life of religion come, but where there is the blending of spirits with the Divine Father’s, and where souls in all their constant silence perceive the presence of the Almighty.

The religion of Christ has been so complicated in its nature, and has varied so widely from its original founder, that when we speak of Christianity, understand us, we do not mean the modern forms of religious worship: we mean the true Christ spirit, which comes as calmly, as gently, as the sweeping melody of the Aeolian harp. Its gentle tones vibrate through all the soul, and it feels the presence of Christ. But all the grandeur and display of modern worshippers, all the temples which like the heathen are dedicated to certain religious ceremonies, belong not to Christianity; they are the result of another element in the human mind — the result of the life of ambition, of the life of intellect, of the life of materialism, but do not belong to the life of religion, which lies deeply imbedded in the soul, and constitutes its element of existence. What is it that draws your people together sabbath after sabbath, day after day, in the present religious excitement? Is it the true life of religion? No. That requires no stimulus, no excitement, no drawing together of crowds, no grand display of words; that is sufficient in itself. But this is only the preparatory lesson, after which may come the consciousness of possession of religion. Many are drawn there from curiosity, and through the sympathy of psychological control are drawn into the current of religious excitement. Others go there because it is fashionable; others, to be popular; others, to subserve the purposes of life; others, because they are afraid; and more, because business or financial difficulties in the past season have been so great, that if they never believed in God before, perhaps they do now. But the life of religion has drawn very few there indeed. There are more, that stay at home, who have the consciousness of religious life, who can assist others by perfecting and beautifying that life in the manifestation of existence; and oh, how constant is their way! Look at the sunshine! It has burst forth just now, after the storms of the day, as if to illuminate the sabbath with its radiance and beauty. ...

.....So religion comes after the storms of prejudice and superstition have all passed away; and then the soul is conscious of that burning, living radiance, and the storms of sorrow and the tempests of crime and sin which sweep across the earth are but harbingers of sunshine and love.

We blessed God today for sin. You may wonder at it, as one did in a previous lecture last week. But we bless him for sin, because we know that what men call sin is but the result of a perfecting agency in the human soul; and, but for that agency, the soul would never aspire to a knowledge of goodness. We have blessed God for sorrow: not because we love to see men weep; not because we love to see them despairing and sorrowful; but because we know that after every cloud of sorrow there comes a brighter sunshine of joy. We know that the chastisement of sorrow and woe is greater and purer than constant joy. We know that endurance is better than continuous happiness. We know that patience, as a crown over the soul, renders the spirit capable of greater happiness. We know that the life of religion becomes purer and holier in its radiance when sorrow has purified the soul. The life of a true religion manifests itself most perfectly when the soul is chastened by sorrow, purified by crime, relieved of all the tempests, and when the storms that were rocking beneath its surface have spent their fury. Then life, beautiful, calm, and holy, beams in upon the soul.

Nations are never great in a day. There is always some revolution, some storm of war, some tempest of passion, some tottering of thrones, or decay of crowns, before a nation can rise to its fullness of prosperity. Then comes its true life. After all the seas of human gore have been swept away, and the mangled corpses of the groaning thousands have been buried; after the soldier has laid down his sword, then peace, love, and liberty, dawn upon the spirit. When men are fighting for religion, it is not religion. When zeal or religious party-spirit prompts them to anathematize another who believes not as they do, it is not the life of religion. When one country wars against another for its religion, then it becomes idolatry and materialism. When religion is dragged, as it were, into all the dark crimes of human existence; when politics, pecuniary matters, commercial embarrassments, all the crimes and all the difficulties which afflict humanity, are brought into religion, then it proves that it is not religion, but mere speculation. And when religion quietly, like the pervading influence of an electric fire, burns steadily and constantly through the soul, business, politics, and all the departments, of life, are infused with its fervor. But we have prayed often, if God could permit especial providences, that this one might be given: that men, instead of introducing into their religion all the affairs of earthly life, would introduce their religion into those affairs, and make all the actions and elements of existence life, religion, holiness, and power.

There is a true life of religion in simplicity and innocence, which is pure, and calm, and holy, in its innocence; but manhood is greater, diviner, and holier, which, through knowledge, has attained to perfectness. The life of religion grows stronger as the man attains to manhood; and when he reaches the fullness of his prime, the religious fire burns more divinely and grandly if he has obtained virtue, happiness, and peace. There is great religion in true knowledge; there is great life in that religion which demonstrates itself in each and every department of the soul. How intimately blended are the religion of life and the life of religion! and yet they are as different as is the perfume from the flower, the song from the bird, or the light from the sun. One is the effect of which the other is the cause. The life of religion is the cause of the religion of life, and may be called its own creator, for it belongs to Deity. The religion of life is cultivated from this life of religion, and grows up as the flower from the germ or root, and sheds its perfume on the air: still, it would never live without the life. Remember, then, that the life of religion is the love which men have for each other and for Deity, whether it springs up in the form of religious worship or whether it manifests itself in any department of the mind: wherever kindness, affection, benevolence, charity, and justice, are manifested, there is a life of religion; there is some fervor of religious, purity, some flame of religious fire, some devotedness of religious feeling; there is something of the love of God.

But man, when he says he loves God, and hates his brother, is a liar; for no man can love God, religiously or otherwise, unless he loves his brother. The life of religion commences within the soul, and goes out to all humanity, binding you all together, and binding your soul to Deity. Unless you love what God has made, or what is the outworking of his image, you love not Deity, and therefore you are not righteous. Blend the two; make all religion a life, and make all life a religion, until the twain shall be like the blended radiance of two suns, or like the crowning radiance of the rainbow, the one of which is the reflection of the other. Let your loves be blended in the closest sympathy of religion and purity; and whether you have belonged to any church, or united with any sect or creed, or called yourself a Christian, remember that there is no religious life there unless there is love — there is no love there unless there is life.

May the crowning influence of that life which is the result of love be ever with you! May your family altar and the fireside be the sanctuary for religious devotion! May your hearts be the altar of your soul, and Conscientiousness the priest and the oracle between them and your Father!