FIRST  DISCOURSE OF A SET OF TWO DISCOURSES:

THE RELIGION OF LIFE    AND    THE LIFE OF RELIGION
 
 

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

THE  RELIGION OF LIFE 
 

DELIVERED IN BROOKLYN,  MARCH 14,  1858
 

BY CORA  L. V.  HATCH

_______________________________
 
 

PRAYER

INFINITE JEHOVAH! our Father, we address thee in the fullness of thankfulness and prayer. Our spirits would express their gratitude and love, praise and adoration. We do not bow down before thee with the passion of fear, trembling lest, in thy majesty and greatness, thou shouldst condemn us to everlasting tortures; but we praise thee through love, and adore thee because we love thee; and love thee because we are thy children. In all simplicity and meekness we would express that love, as thou art infinite and we are finite. Father, we bless thee for this day and age; for the tremblings of thy Spirit, which are vibrating through the harp strings of Humanity, thrilling the great heart with a diviner cadence of melody and power. We bless thee for the freedom of the spirit, for the inspirations of love and beauty, for the aspirations of the soul, and constant searchings after knowledge and truth.

Oh, we praise thee! Spirit of all life and truth, we see that, beneath the divine influence of thy love, darkness, superstition, and sectarianism, are giving place to light, to freedom, true religion, and that Christianity which is the crown of the present age. May thy children feel that the elements of all religion consist in the true perfection of the whole being. Thou hast fashioned the soul in thine own image as an emblem of thy power and perfectness; and as its aspirations are constant and unceasing, it corresponds to thee in the fullness of its perfection. May these thy children feel the spirit of thy presence; and may they know that all the life, and beauty, and religion, to which souls aspire, winch mind is grasping for, and which the spirit yearns to know, can be fulfilled as the soul advances, step by step, in the scale of mental and religious progress. The soul is ab-solute like thine own absolute existence; and may we feel the tremblings like thine own being, and may the thoughts of Omnipotence dwell in our spirits like the germs of choicest flowers, which, when the elements of air and sky shall be brought in contact with them, shall cause them to put forth their petals in brightest bloom. So may we as flowers burst the bands of earthly confinement, and bloom up from the soil of materialism, superstition, and bigotry; and may the soul catch glimpses of heavenly sunshine, and the dews of thy love shall water and perfect its growth.

Father, we bless thy name for religious fervor; for the eloquence of a divine life; for the perfectness of an harmonious love; for the divinity of a Christian faith which is embodied in all the aspirations of the soul, and which is always present where the spirit searches for light. And to thee, our Father, shall be the thankful songs of thy children’s spirits, the constant utterance of their souls’ devotion, and their unceasing praise, for ever and for ever!
 
 

DISCOURSE

WE find that the nature of the subject which we announced last sabbath to be elucidated this afternoon, is so vast in the scope of its meaning, that it will require more than the brief space of one hour to give our ideas; and therefore we shall confine our remarks to-day to the first half -- that is, “The Religion of Life”—and next Sunday we will discourse upon the other part, “The Life of Religion.” In treating of this subject, we shall do so as perfectly and consecutively as possible; keeping constantly in view the distinction between the Religion of Life and the Life of Religion, that they may not be blended with each other by the transposition.

RELIGION we have defined to you on previous occasions, as being that attribute in man’s nature, or that principle in his soul, which seeks some object of worship, and which must worship and adore, whatever may be its condition and education. If it can not fix itself on things above the earth, it must deify some special form upon the earth to worship. Thus the heathen idolatry and the ancient systems of mythology and religion are founded upon true religious feeling, blended with a true morality, but unguided by an intellectual cultivation.  Life is defined as existence, being, or a union and co-operation of soul with body; and life in man is defined as that superior order of existence and being which makes of mail an immortal soul, and of his soul a child of Deity. Thus the Religion of Life is that department in man’s nature which makes every action, thought, and feeling, subject to the control of the higher aspirations of the soul.

Religion does not consist alone in reverence or adoration for a special object; but it makes that reverence the controlling and prompting influence of all other faculties of the mind. Thus there can be a religion of intellect, of love, of every department of the human mind; and a religion of life combines the whole of human existence, and makes up the sum of every department of earthly life. Religion has heretofore been confined to a certain class of organs in the human mind, and not allowed to go beyond them. Thus a man’s intellect has been kept separate from his religion, and man’s business has not been confined within the limits of religious feeling or duty. Conscience, the highest attribute in man’s being, and which renders him allied to the angels, has been subjected to policy; and true materialistic minds have conceived that religion should only be used on certain occasions. That is a religion of bigotry and sectarianism.

But a religion of life, in its fullest, truest, and most divine sense, is that religion which makes every department of the human being harmonious and perfect. There is a true, religious devotion in the mind and feelings of that man whose soul springs forth in beauty and power, whose physical form is upright and symmetrical, and who, in fulfilling the laws of health, fulfils the laws of Deity. There is a true religion in the intellectual man, who, penetrating deeply into the earth, and air, and sky, for scientific investigation, culls all the treasures of thought and beauty, and stores them up in his memory as sacred and divine. There is true religious fervor in those who bow down before the shrine of Jesus, and follow as closely as possible in his footsteps, although they may worship Jesus more than God.

But in each of these departments, it becomes, not a religion of life, but a religion of one special department and thus a man may be religious on one plane and entirely irreligious on another. Therefore, in treating of this subject, we shall view first the general plane of humanity, so far as regards its physical religion; for there is certainly a religion which belongs to the physical form, and which should be regarded in degree as much as that which belongs to the soul. It is as much a duty for every man and woman to perfect fully their physical form as for them to continually search for immortality.

Your theology has taught you to believe that any religion, to be perfected, must be so at the sacrifice of the physical form or powers. Hence, the ancient religionists confined themselves within the cloistered cells of monasteries, and there with true devoutness of feeling they sought to perfect the immortality of the soul by crucifying the body. Health, life, intellect— all were sacrificed to this fanaticism for a happy immortality. In more modern ages, however, religion has been extended and the physical system is not so much sacrificed: intellect is more fully cultivated, and partakes more of a general plane of human development. Notwithstanding this, you ask any religionist what constitutes true and perfect religion, and he will tell you it is that which crucifies the human part and cultivates the divine. What is the human part? It is the physical form. They will tell you that religion is that which crucifies the physical passions, which entirely overthrows the physical reason, which controls the intellectual judgment; in other words, it is that which absorbs every department of man’s being, and makes reverence for Deity the only object in life. This is simply their theory, not their practice.

Now, unless Deity had intended that the physical form should be perfected, and through that form the soul should be cultivated, you never would have existed in the present form of life; you never would have possessed all the forms of thought and feeling you now have; you never would have had love for friend, home, wife, and children, or desire for knowledge, or thirst for intellectual achievements, had not he designed them to purify the soul for an immortal existence. Hence, when you crucify the natural tendencies of the physical form, you are not truly religious, and greatly lack confidence in God; for you should remember that man is his workmanship, and when you say that he, has created powers or faculties which should be sacrificed, you are impeaching his wisdom, and setting up your puny judgment in opposition to his. When you endeavor to perfect every department of that form—physically, mentally, spiritually — then you are fulfilling the laws of true religion. Can a soul perfect itself in every department, when the physical form is groaning under disease, and continually decaying in consequence of the endeavor to crucify it? Never. The soul must spring forth spontaneously, and the form must be subservient to the slightest thought and feeling of the soul.

There is true religion in that life which is, in all its departments, harmonious and true. There is true religion in that man who, instead of endeavoring to perfect but one department of his nature, makes his physical, mental, social, and moral life, equal. Cultivate your physical nature, perfect your life, and in that proportion your soul will be perfect. Cultivate strength, vigor, power, manliness, and symmetry, and in that proportion the soul can think greater thoughts, can aspire to greater general revealments, and gain in the department of morals as well as of intellect.

Theologians have, until within a very short period of time, taught you to believe that Reason should, be sacrificed to revealed religion or supernatural power. However much we may believe in the intuition as the controlling agency of the mind, we by no means believe in that superstitious idea which leads men to sacrifice their reason and judgment to any revealed religion, however divine or perfect it may seem. Reason, as an attribute of the human intellect and mind, is the controlling and guiding star of man’s destiny—is the fixed point and beacon-light which guides you safely and surely into the harbor of eternal rest. Unless reason is active, fanaticism will surely take its place. Unless judgment sits firmly enthroned in the human mind, bigotry and superstition will give place to all the viler passions of the heart, and the soul become a wreck so far as its perfectness and harmonious development are concerned. Intellect, in all its various departments, is as much an element of religion as is reverence or worship; and. it is as much a religious duty that each and every man should desire knowledge upon any and all subjects as it is that he should desire, and pray, and hope, for immortal life. For, unless there is mind, and thought as the result of that mind, there can be no conception of immortality; and unless a soul cultivates that thought and intellect, there can be no conception of happiness, even though obtained through supernatural sources.

Reason is a religious duty and quality of the mind; and exercise of the judgment upon all occasions and subjects is true and most divine worship. A critical investigation into the laws which God has made is an imperative religious duty, as we can not love what we do not understand, and we can only know of God through his works; and the more we know of Nature, the more beauty and harmony we discover in the Creator: therefore, it is due to ourselves as well as to our Father to investigate his laws, that our happiness may be increased as the result of a better knowledge of him. Our Father is a reasonable God; he exists from the absolute, positive elements of his own mind, and he has endowed human existence with the various forms of life and feeling, with intellect, judgment, and reason. He has never made or fashioned a law which will not bear human criticism. He has never made a Universe which you can go beyond; he is not a Deity who is fearful of being overstepped by human invention or ingenuity. Consequently, reason can be exercised to its fullest capacity, but still intuition will for ever exert its sway. Reason upon all subjects: first, upon your physical systems and the physical laws which control you; secondly, upon your social, intellectual, and moral nature; thirdly and lastly, though not least, upon that part which is called, in true and common parlance, the religious nature.

The reason why man’s religious nature is called his spiritual is because it is supposed to be more nearly allied to Deity than any other department of his being; it is supposed the soul of man is made more truly in the image of God, and that in the departments of religious feeling the human mind most closely resembles tile mind of Deity.

Religion can not be defined as belonging to any special faculty; and even reverence and worship are but local manifestations of the religious element, and can not be said to be true religion unless they extend through every department of the mind. Religion, properly considered, is that subtile agent of the soul which aspires to perfection in whatever way it is to be attained; and seeks to worship God because he is infinite, and is what man is for ever aspiring to become. You should make the religion of life that religion which will not allow you to neglect any duty, however inferior it may seem to others from educational influence. The duties of home, of attention to friends, and wife, and family; the duties of business, such as providing properly for the necessary and suitable means of preserving that life; the duties of intellectual cultivation.—are as much religious duties as those which belong to worship. And when you each day gather around the fireside, when you each morning part with your wife and children, to meet them again when the toils of the day are over, or when you attend to your business — all should be done with as much religious feeling as when you enter the sanctified altar of the church and kneel down to offer up your weekly prayers.

Take your religion with you always; leave it not at home locked in the closet, or closed between the lids of any bible. Take it with you into the sanctified altars of your hearts, and keep it there. Let it spring forth spontaneously, and make a true religious devotion of every feeling which exists in your soul. Be thankful for your physical bodies as well as your immortal part; for that humanity which causes you to be divine in degree; for that divinity which is manifested in your humanity. Be thankful for all things connected with your earthly existence. Oh, the beauty of a religion of a perfect life! It may not stand forth in a vaulted sepulchre; it may not beam from any gilded temple, from the halls of science and learning; but it may shine forth as a crown in the cottage of the lowly and the poor.

There is a religion of life carried in the heart of the poor which is more valuable than the religion of the rich man which is locked up from one sabbath to another at home. The religion of life—why, my friends, you should love religiously, breathe religiously, think religiously; not simply pray religiously, not simply kneel down on Sunday religiously, or in family worship; but every action should be a deed of worship, and every thought a prayer: and every tear of sympathy is as much a true feeling of devotion as that worship which comes from the lips—and more, when it is prompted by a true impulse within the heart.

At the present time, throughout your city and the adjoining towns, there is a great spirit of religious fervor and excitement. Men and women who never before felt the presence of a divine power within their souls, seem to burst forth spontaneously in worship and adoration. This is well: it shows the manifestation of a deeper element of thought; and when congregations belonging to various sects and different departments of religion meet together for communion and prayer, it shows that there is less of sectarianism and more of true religion than has existed at any previous time. It shows that the spirit of divine power, which can over-come all institutions, creeds, and churches, is entering the hearts of Earth’s children. It shows that the spontaneous spirit of prayer will spring forth, and through sympathy become extended wider and still wider, until all shall feel its power and influence.

We need not tell you the cause of this religious excitement or devotion which is extending among the mass of the people. We need not tell you why one part affects another with its sympathy when true religious devotedness is excited. It belongs to the human mind; it is an attribute of the human soul; and each heart throbs in sympathy with true religious devotion. Wherever you find it, within or without the pale of the church, if there is spontaneous utterance of what is believed to be true; if there is a general aspiration after what is known to be a truer life; if there is a hope for immortality—that is religion. It matters not what be the sect or creed, or whether baptism be administered by immersion or sprinkling; whether they partake of bread and wine, as sacred symbols of their Savior’s sufferings, or not: if there is a union of soul there, which bears their spirits above the material plane of existence; if it makes them feel in each department of their life that there is some higher, holier perfection to be outwrought—then let it come. But God forbid that any religious revival should be gotten up under the influence of that most depraved of all human passions, fear! A revival of religion gotten up under fear, and the mawkish worship of God through fear, is most truly degrading; and. men who call themselves Christians while they fear the wrath of a revengeful God, wholly mistake the true nature of Christianity. But that religion which is the result of LOVE to God and man, is what will elevate and benefit all its votaries; and we say, let it come! There is need of it in the church and out of it; there is need of it everywhere. But the religious fervor which is becoming so generally manifested is the result of the infusion of the spiritual influences, and the external manifestation of this depends upon the education and peculiar organization of the individual; and thus the variety of creeds and forms.

The theologian who can excite the feelings of his bearers or congregation by warning them against the terrors of a revengeful God, or the torments of an everlasting hell, can not be said to sustain truly nor perfectly the position which he occupies; Christianity revolts against it; humanity cries out against it; the voice of God within every human soul says, “Forbear, forbear!” The man whose intellectual culture has taught him how to apply these religious tenets; whose social position gives him power over the sympathies of his audience; whose moral nature should be far above it—is condemned through his own words when he appeals to you to worship God through fear. Shame on any country, on any religion, on any church, on any society, on any man, that will tolerate it! But he whose education has made his nature still more harmonious; whose mental culture has rendered the sympathies of his mind refined and perfect; whose soul beams out in every action, thought, and feeling who reads the Word through the feelings of an inspired prophet and writer; who speaks of Jesus with love; who reveres the prophets because of their goodness; and who loves God because of his greatness—he can stand forth and ask you to become religious worshippers, not through fear of being damned, but through love of goodness for its own sake.

The teacher who tells his pupil to learn his lesson for fear that he will punish him, is like the theologian who tells his congregation to worship God for fear of being damned. The pupil learns neither from love of his master nor from love of his lesson, but for fear of being punished. The men and women who worship at such a shrine, pray to God, not because they feel his love within their souls, nor because there is an inspiration of divine light drawing them nearer and nearer to the Divine Mind; but they cower down before him, and pray, lest, with wrath he shall condemn them.

We hope that the religion of life will be more perfectly understood after the present revival, or present new life of religion, shall again have subsided into the calmness of social existence. We hope there will be a more general feeling of toleration, a more perfect desire for charity, a more general extension of love through all departments of Christianity, toward all sects and all creeds. We hope there will be a diviner feeling of life, a new impetus given to every department of existence. We hope that in business men will be religious as well as in the church. We hope it will be extended even to the adamant walls, the iron-bound heart of the broker; we hope his heart will he touched—that there will be one divine ray of light fanned to a flame, and which shall go out above the brick and mortar, above the paving-stones, and dark alleys, of your crowded city. We hope that in social life its influence will be felt; that there will be less of scandal, of low, depraved habits; less of all things which make the soul dark and impure less of condemnation and anathematizing. We hope it will be extended to the church, to all people; that there will be less vituperation, less severity—more charity, kindness, and love.

Cultivate, then, a religion of life. Let your highest aspiration be to live truly. When men live truly, there can be no death or fear. When they live perfectly, there will be no need of religious creeds to save them. When men seek to live truly, religion will be the prompt-ing impulse of their souls. Life is being harmoniously, truly, wholly alive. Your physical systems are not all alive. There is some part of every one of your frames which is diseased: that is death. Your mental and spiritual being is not wholly alive. There is some duty unperformed, some power which can be cultivated more fully. There is benevolence, there is conscientiousness, there is kindness, justice—all of which can be more perfectly cultivated. You are dead in almost every department of your being. There is some form of death, of decay — some form of dormancy, of sleep — which makes of life not life, but death, darkness, sin, decay. Live truly, and the physical form shall unfold as does the flower, harmoniously; and perfectness shall spring up from the germ, extending to the bud and blossom, yield its fruition, and then pass away. The mind shall continue to unfold, expand, and enlarge; and the spirit shall only feel that it has burst the dull cocoon of life, and gone on to a higher state. Oh, the fullness of a true religion; the perfectness of a pure devotion; the living, burning, all—pervading element of the divine life; the spontaneous, heartfelt case, when the spirit is conscious that it is fully alive—alive to all the impulses of religious fervor and aspiration! Oh, the glory of a spirit crowned with the consciousness of immortality—who feels no death, because it has life; and knows no darkness, because it has constant light. Seek, then, a religion of life. Let your worship, your thoughts, your feeling, your action, be religion. Let every word be a prayer; and every impulse of the spirit an invocation; and every expression of the mind an utterance of spontaneous devotion; and every investigation of the intellect something which leads you nearer to Deity and every impulse of the physical form something which shall perfect and enlarge your soul. Thus, religion shall not be confined within the walls of any church, shall not be nailed down to any tablets, shall not be written upon any scrolls, shall not be marked out in any creeds, shall not be chained by any forms of religious worship; but religion shall be life, and life shall he religion.

May the spirit of true religion crown all your hearts with joy and peace; and may the religion of a perfect life fill your souls with charity and love, and make all men brothers, and all humanity children of God!