The Hearts of Men

Harold Fielding

H.В Fielding

The Hearts of Men

DEDICATION

To F. W. FOSTER

As my first book, "The Soul of a People," would probably never have been completed or published without your encouragement and assistance, so the latter part of this book would not have been written without your suggestion. This dedication is a slight acknowledgment of my indebtedness to you, but I hope that you will accept it, not as any equivalent for your unvarying kindness, but as a token that I have not forgotten.

RELIGION

"The difficulty of framing a correct definition of religion is very great. Such a definition should apply to nothing but religion, and should differentiate religion from anything else – as, for example, from imaginative idealisation, art, morality, philosophy. It should apply to everything which is naturally and commonly called religion: to religion as a subjective spiritual state, and to all religions, high or low, true or false, which have obtained objective historical realisation." —Anon.

"The principle of morality is the root of religion." —Peochal.

"It is the perception of the infinite." —Max Müller.

"A religious creed is definable as a theory of original causation." —Herbert Spencer.

"Virtue, as founded on a reverence for God and expectation of future rewards and punishment." —Johnson.

"The worship of a Deity." —Bailey.

"It has its origin in fear." —Lucretius and others.

"A desire to secure life and its goods amidst the uncertainty and evils of earth." —Retsche.

"A feeling of absolute dependence, of pure and entire passiveness." —Schleiermacher.

"Religious feeling is either a distinct primary feeling or a peculiar compound feeling." —Neuman Smyth.

"A sanction for duty." —Kant.

"A morality tinged by emotion." —Matthew Arnold.

"By religion I mean that general habit of reverence towards the divine nature whereby we are enabled to worship and serve God." —Wilkins.

"A propitiation or conciliation of powers superior to man, which are supposed to control the course of nature and of human life." —J. G. Frazer.

"The modes of divine worship proper to different tribes." —Anon.

"The performance of duty to God and man."

It is to be noted that all the above are of Europeans acquainted practically with only Christianity.

The following are some that have been given me by Orientals:

"The worship of Allah." —Mahommedan.

"A knowledge of the laws of life that lead to happiness." —Buddhist.

"Doing right."

"Other-worldliness."

INTRODUCTION

Some time ago I wrote "The Soul of a People." It was an attempt to understand a people, the Burmese; to understand a religion, that of Buddha. It was not an attempt to find abstract truth, to discuss what may be true or not in the tenets of that faith, to discover the secret of all religions. It was only intended to show what Buddhism in Burma is to the people who believe in it, and how it comes into their lives.

Yet it was impossible always to confine the view to one point. It is natural – nay, it is inevitable – that when a man studies one faith, comparison with other faiths should intrude themselves. The world, even the East and West, is so bound together that you cannot treat of part and quite ignore the rest. And so thoughts arose and questions came forward that lay outside the scope of that book. I could not write of them there fully. Whatever question arose I was content then to give only the Buddhist answer, I had to leave on one side all the many answers different faiths may have propounded. I could not discuss even where truth was likely to be found. I was bound by my subject. But in this book I have gone further. This is a book, not of one religion nor of several religions, but of religion. Mainly, it is true, it treats of Christianity and Buddhism, because these are the two great representative faiths, but it is not confined to them. Man asks, and has always asked, certain questions. Religions have given many answers. Are these answers true? Which is true? Are any of them true? It is in a way a continuat