Part 1

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[Transcriber's notes] Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page breaks occurred in the original book.

Obvious spelling or typographical errors have been corrected. "Inventive" and contemporary spelling is unchanged.

The book "The Preliminaries" mentioned on page {241} is available on Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.org/etext/33665. [End transcriber's notes]

THE BROSS LIBRARY

The Problem of the Old Testament, by James Orr, D.D. (Bross Prize, 1905) _net_ $1.50

The Bible: Its Origin and Nature, by Marcus Dods, D.D. . . _net_ $1.00

The Bible of Nature, by J. Arthur Thomson, M.A net $1.00

The Religions of Modern Syria and Palestine, by Frederick Jones Bliss, Ph.D net $1.50

The Sources of Religious Insight, by Josiah Royce, Ph.D., LL.D. net $1.25

THE BROSS LIBRARY

VOLUME VI

_THE BROSS LECTURES . . 1911_

THE SOURCES OF RELIGIOUS INSIGHT

LECTURES DELIVERED BEFORE LAKE FOREST COLLEGE ON THE FOUNDATION OF THE LATE WILLIAM BROSS

BY

JOSIAH ROYCE, Ph.D., LL.D.

PROFESSOR OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK .... 1912

Copyright, 1912, by THE TRUSTEES OF LAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY

Published April. 1912

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THE BROSS FOUNDATION

The Bross Lectures are an outgrowth of a fund established in 1879 by the late William Bross, Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois from 1866 to 1870. Desiring some memorial of his son, Nathaniel Bross, who died in 1856, Mr. Bross entered into an agreement with the "Trustees of Lake Forest University," whereby there was finally transferred to them the sum of forty thousand dollars, the income of which was to accumulate in perpetuity for successive periods of ten years, the accumulations of one decade to be spent in the following decade, for the purpose of stimulating the best books or treatises _"on the connection, relation, and mutual bearing of any practical science, the history of our race, or the facts in any department of knowledge, with and upon the Christian Religion."_ The object of the donor was to _"call out the best efforts of the highest talent and the ripest scholarship of the world to illustrate from science, or from any department of knowledge, and to demonstrate the divine origin and the authority of the Christian Scriptures; and, further, to show how both science and revelation coincide and prove the existence, {vi} the providence, or any or all of the attributes of the only living and true God, 'infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.'"_

The gift contemplated in the original agreement of 1879 was finally consummated in 1890. The first decade of the accumulation of interest having closed in 1900, the Trustees of the Bross Fund began at this time to carry out the provisions of the deed of gift. It was determined to give the general title of "The Bross Library" to the series of books purchased and published with the proceeds of the Bross Fund. In accordance with the express wish of the donor, that the "Evidences of Christianity" of his "very dear friend and teacher, Mark Hopkins, D.D.," be purchased and "ever numbered and known as No. 1 of the series," the Trustees secured the copyright of this work, which has been republished in a presentation edition as Volume I of the Bross Library.

The trust agreement prescribed two methods by which the production of books and treatises of the nature contemplated by the donor was to be stimulated:

1. The Trustees were empowered to offer one or more prizes during each decade, the competition for which was to be thrown open to "the scientific men, the Christian philosophers and historians of all {vii} nations." In accordance with this provision, a prize of $6,000 was offered in 1902 for the best book fulfilling the conditions of the deed of gift, the competing manuscripts to be presented on or before June 1, 1905. The prize was awarded to the Reverend James Orr, D.D., Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology in the United Free Church College, Glasgow, for his treatise on "The Problem of the Old Testament," which was published in 1906 as Volume III of the Bross Library. The next decennial prize will be awarded in 1915, and the announcement of the conditions may be obtained from the President of Lake Forest College.

2. The Trustees were also empowered to "select and designate any particular scientific man or Christian philosopher and the subject on which he shall write," and to "agree with him as to the sum he shall receive for the book or treatise to be written." Under this provision the Trustees have, from time to time, invited eminent scholars to deliver courses of lectures before Lake Forest College, such courses to be subsequently published as volumes in the Bross Library. The first course of lectures, on "Obligatory Morality," was delivered in May, 1903, by the Reverend Francis Landey Patton, D.D., LL.D., President of Princeton Theological Seminary. The copyright of the lectures is now the property of the Trustees of the Bross Fund. The second course of {viii} lectures, on "The Bible: Its Origin and Nature," was delivered in May, 1904, by the Reverend Marcus Dods, D.D., Professor of Exegetical Theology in New College, Edinburgh. These lectures were published in 1905 as Volume II of the Bross Library. The third course of lectures, on "The Bible of Nature," was delivered in September and October, 1907, by Mr. J. Arthur Thomson, M.A., Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Aberdeen. These lectures were published in 1908 as Volume IV of the Bross Library. The fourth course of lectures, on "The Religions of Modern Syria and Palestine," was delivered in November and December, 1908, by Frederick Jones Bliss, Ph.D., of Beirut, Syria. These lectures are in process of publication as Volume V of the Bross Library. The fifth course of lectures, on "The Sources of Religious Insight," was delivered November 13 to 19, 1911, by Professor Josiah Royce, Ph.D., of Harvard University. These lectures are embodied in the present volume.

JOHN SCHOLTE NOLLEN, _President of Lake Forest College._

Lake Forest, Illinois, _March_, 1912.

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SUMMARY OF CONTENTS

I

THE RELIGIOUS PROBLEM AND THE HUMAN INDIVIDUAL

PAGE Introductory statement: Limitations of the undertaking 3

I. Definition of Insight, and of Religious Insight. Arbitrary limitation of the definition of religion here in question. The problem traditionally called that of the "salvation of man" as the main problem upon which the sources of insight here in question are to throw light 5

II. Generalised conception of "salvation." Variety of forms in which this conception has been defined and used. Resulting problem regarding the meaning of human life 9

III. Outline of the programme to be followed in the subsequent discussion 17

IV. The concept of revelation, and the "religious paradox." First statement of this paradox 19

V. Individual experience and the "inner light." What sort of religious insight is thus to be gained. Its limitations. Prospect of an appeal to other sources for aid 26

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II

INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE AND SOCIAL EXPERIENCE AS SOURCES OF RELIGIOUS INSIGHT

I. The definition of the religious problem, as given in the former lecture, simplifies our undertaking in certain respects, but seems to complicate it in others. Review of the situation. Outlook for further study 37

II. Outline of the undertaking of the present lecture 41

III. The motives that lead to religion are natural and human. Reasons why the objects of religious insight are nevertheless conceived as superhuman, and, as, for our individual experience, mysterious 44

IV. Can these objects be defined as realities or as "values" that our social experience sufficiently brings to our knowledge? Social experience as a source of religious insight. Its scope and importance 54

V. The inadequacy of social experience as a source of religious insight. Objections urged by tradition, by recent individualism, and by William James 58

VI. The social consciousness as an indispensable factor in religion. The consciousness of guilt as a sense of loneliness. Love as a glimpse of something saving and divine. The mystical aspect of our social consciousness. Despite this mystical aspect of all our better social life, our literal social relations are never sufficient to meet the religious need. The resulting outlook toward still further sources of enlightenment 65

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III

THE OFFICE OF THE REASON

I. Current objections to the Reason as a source of insight. Intuition vs. Reason. Reason vs. Experience. Usual view of the reason as "abstract" and as "analytic" in its procedure 80

II. But, in common usage, the words "reason" and "reasonable" often refer to something which does not wholly depend upon "abstract thinking" and mere "analysis." The "rule of reason." The concrete use of the reason. Reason as a survey of the connections of experience, as synthetic, and as involving broader intuitions. The alternative: "Either inarticulate intuition or else barren abstract reasoning," is falsely stated. The antithesis: "Either experience or else reason," also involves failure to see how both may be combined. Abstract thinking as a means to an end. This end is the attainment of a new and broader intuition. Relation between "becoming as a little child" and "putting away childish things" 84

III. Examples of the synthetic use of the reason. The fecundity of deductive reasoning. Novelties discovered by the purely deductive sciences. Reason and insight in their general relations 93

IV. The reason and the "religious paradox." The "paradox" as not peculiar to religion. Common sense as an appeal to standards which are in some sense superhuman. No human individual personally experiences or verifies what "human experience," in its conceived character as an integral whole, is supposed to confirm. The concepts {xii} of truth and error are dependent upon the concept of an appeal to an insight which no human individual ever possesses. This latter concept cannot be limited to the mere world of "common sense," but must be universalised. The whole real world as the object of an all-seeing comprehension of facts as they are. Otherwise our opinions about the world cannot even be false. Resulting synthetic insight of the reason. The world as the object present to the divine wisdom 102

IV

THE WORLD AND THE WILL

I. Historical relations of philosophical idealism. General bearing of this doctrine upon the religious interest, and upon the history of religion 120

II. Objections to our doctrine of the reason as having no value for life, and as failing to help toward solving the problem of salvation 129

III. First answer to these objections. Reports of religious experience that show some relations of our doctrine to the problem in question 131

IV. Relations of knowledge and will in general. Statement of the position of Pragmatism. Resulting objections to our whole doctrine of the reason. Truth as tested through "workings." Absolute truth as indefinable. Pragmatism as taught by James has defined its own forms and tests of religious insight. These forms and tests of insight are asserted to be superior to our own. Religious insight as saving, but as also empirical, in James's sense of that term, and as never absolute 135

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V. Answer to pragmatism. Our agreement with some of its principal positions. Our intelligence as the counsellor of our actions. The point where we are at issue with pragmatism. Reason and will, their general relations. Vindication of the position taken in the former lecture 144

VI. The problem as to the absoluteness of truth. The close relations of knowledge and action do not throw doubt upon, but rather emphasise this absoluteness. For all action is expressed in individual and absolutely irrevocable deeds. These deeds, if the practical issues of life are sharply defined, remain irrevocably on the "score of life" as "hits" or "misses." This irrevocable character of our deeds insures the fact that the "counsels" or "ideas" of the intellect, which guide our individual deeds, are as absolutely "hits" or "misses" as are the deeds which they counsel. Resulting definition of absolute truth, which is something perfectly concrete, and as accessible as life itself 151

VII. Application of this view to the definition of reality. The real world as a life of counsels and of deeds. The divine wisdom and the divine will as inseparable. The eternal as, not the "timeless," but the "time-inclusive" insight and survey of life 158

V THE RELIGION OF LOYALTY

I. Objections to all the foregoing sources of insight as inadequate,--if considered as separate sources,--to furnish a basis for a vital and positive religion. Need of a new source. Appeal to life to furnish such a source. The new source is due to men's efforts to solve the problem of duty, and results from the relations between the religious and the moral motives 166

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II. The historical conflicts between religion and morality. The relations between faith and works, divine grace and moral strenuousness. Review of these conflicts. Need of some unifying motive 170

III. Analysis of the bases of morals. Individual and social elements in the idea of duty. Resulting first statement of the search for a moral principle. Incompleteness of this first statement 182

IV. The contribution of the reason to the definition of a moral principle. Practical inadequacy of the result thus far attained 186

V. The loyal spirit illustrated 190

VI. The motives of Loyalty analysed. Definition of what is meant by a Cause to which one is loyal. The principal of Loyalty, stated and developed. The religious aspect of the loyal spirit. The finding of the cause is not due to the will of the loyal being; his service of the cause is due to his will. Resulting reconciliation of the moral and religious motives. The cause as a free gift of grace. The service as one's own. The absoluteness of the principle of loyalty. The solution of the "religious paradox" 197

VI

THE RELIGIOUS MISSION OF SORROW

I. The consideration of Loyalty leads over to a new problem. "Tribulation" as a hindrance to religious insight. Reasons why this is the case, introduced by a statement regarding our experience of evil. The principle that "Evil ought to be altogether put out of existence" stated, and {xv} the reasons therefore indicated. Man as in intent a "destroyer of evil." Our natural interest in destructive prowess 215

II. Resulting situation in which religion seems to be placed. Religion appears (1) To presuppose as well as to experience a vast range of evils in the real world; (2) To depend upon the assurance that the ruling principle of the real world is good; and (3) To agree with morality in making use of the principle that "Evil ought to be altogether put out of existence." Resulting apparent dilemma: Religion seems either superfluous or else doomed to failure 219

III. Illustrations of the dilemma as it appears in practical life, and as a barrier in the way of the religious life. Need of an abstract statement of the dilemma as a means of discounting our emotional confusions 227

IV. Reconsideration of the principle that has led to the dilemma. Not all evils equally worthy of abolition. Idealised ills. Definition of Sorrow. The process and the results of idealisation. Creative synthesis vs. mere destruction. The winning over and conquest of ill. Strength of spirit involved in such creative synthesis, which, in its turn, is never passive, but always morally active. Suggestions toward a solution of the dilemma. Sorrow as a source of religious insight 232

V. A recent literary instance of such insight 241

VI. Summary and suggestion of possible results of such insight 250

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VII

THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT AND THE INVISIBLE CHURCH

I. The sense in which the religious objects are "superhuman" and "supernatural." Our present "form of consciousness" and the "form of consciousness" that belongs to the "Spirit" in the sense in which that term is here used 257

II. The Church, visible and invisible 272

III. The membership of the invisible church 282

IV. Communion with the invisible church 291

V. The Spiritual Gifts of the invisible church. Charity, Tolerance and Loyalty as the Fruits of the Spirit. The work of the invisible church 293

{1} I THE RELIGIOUS PROBLEM AND THE HUMAN INDIVIDUAL {2}

{3} I

THE RELIGIOUS PROBLEM AND THE HUMAN INDIVIDUAL

My 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.

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The limitations of my task, thus indicated, will become still clearer if I next try to define the term Religious Insight as I intend it to be here understood.

And first I must speak briefly of the word Insight. By insight, whatever the object of insight may be, one means some kind of knowledge. But the word insight has a certain richness of significance whereby we distinguish what we call insight from knowledge in general. A man knows the way to the office where he does his business. But if he is a successful man, he has insight into the nature and rules of his business and into the means whereby success is attained. A man knows the names and the faces of his acquaintances. But he has some sort of insight into the characters of his familiar friends. As these examples suggest, insight is a name for a special sort and degree of knowledge. Insight is knowledge that unites a certain breadth of range, a certain wealth of acquaintance together with a certain unity and coherence of grasp, and with a certain closeness of intimacy whereby the one who has insight is brought into near touch with the objects of his insight. To repeat: Insight is knowledge that makes us aware of the unity of many facts in one whole, and that at the same time brings us into intimate personal contact with these facts {6} and with the whole wherein they are united. The three marks of insight are breadth of range, coherence and unity of view, and closeness of personal touch. A man may get some sort of _sight_ of as many things as you please. But if we have insight, we view some connected whole of things, be this whole a landscape as an artist sees it, or as a wanderer surveys it from a mountain top, or be this whole an organic process as a student of the sciences of life aims to comprehend it, or a human character as an appreciative biographer tries to portray it. Again, we have insight when, as I insist, our acquaintance with our object is not only coherent but close and personal. Insight you cannot obtain at second hand. You can learn by rote and by hearsay many things; but if you have won insight, you have won it not without the aid of your own individual experience. Yet experience is not by itself sufficient to produce insight unless the coherence and the breadth of range which I have just mentioned be added.