I

"IN THE BEGINNING--GOD"


Religion is the relation between man and his Maker--the most important
relationship into which man enters. Most of the relationships of life
are voluntary; we enter into them or not as we please. Such, for
illustration, are those between business partners, between stockholders
in a corporation, between friends and between husband and wife. Some
relationships, on the other hand, are involuntary; we enter into them
because we must. Such, for illustration, are those between man and his
government, between man and society, and between man and his Maker.

Tolstoy declares that morality is but the outward manifestation of
religion. If this be true, as I believe it is, then religion is the most
practical thing in life and the thought of God the greatest thought that
can enter the human mind or heart. Tolstoy also delivers a severe rebuke
to what he calls the "Cultured crowd"--those who think that religion,
while good enough for the ignorant (to hold in check and restrain
them), is not needed when one reaches a certain stage of intellectual
development. His reply is that religion is not superstition and does not
rest upon a vague fear of the unseen forces of nature, but does rest
upon "man's consciousness of his finiteness amid an infinite universe
and of his sinfulness." This consciousness, Tolstoy adds, man can never
outgrow.

Evidence of the existence of an Infinite Being is to be found in