RELIGION is a Latin word which, according to the common deri vation of it (from religare), means a principle which acts as a restraint on the conduct of man. In its more general sense it is used as an abstract term to denote our ideas of the existence and character of a Divine Being, to whose power men are more or less subject. Thus we speak of a sense of religion and the duties of religion, and we call a man who regards such subjects as matters of great importance a religious person. But as different views have prevailed of the nature of the deity and the relation in which man stands to him, various systems of religious belief have sprung sip, and each of these systems is called a religion. Thus we speak of the Greek, Hindu, Jewish, Christian, and Mohaulmodsul religions. The word is also popularly used to express the attention of individuals to the doctrines and duties of the particular religion which they may have embraced. In this sense it is synony mous with piety.
The subjects with which religion has to do are God and man con sidered in the relation in which they stand to each other. It conse quently includes all the philosophical questions which can throw light upon that relation ; for example, those which respect the nature of the deity, the notions of infinite space and infinite duration, the existence and offices of spiritual beings, the origin and destiny of the human race and of the world they Inhabit, the immateriality and immortality of the human soul; and also all the practical questions which arise out of that relation, such as the duties which men owe to God and to each other, and the consequences which God may have appointed to follow different courses of action. All impressions, notions, and belief upon these subjects, whether formed into a system or not, constitute what we call religion, as distinguished from theology, which is the science by which these ideas are reduced to a systematic form, their laws investi gated, and their origin and results traced out. [Theasoor.] The sources from which our notions of religion are derived are either the so-called laws of nature and the constitution of the human mind, or direct information given to us upon the subject by the deity him self, whether such information be embodied in any lasting form, or handed down from one generation to another by oral tradition. Religion
derived from the two former sources is called natural religion; from the last, revealed religion. [REVELATION.] Tho fundamental principle upon which all religion rests is the notion of tho existence of a Being whose power over us is absolute, whose nature is perfect in excellence, to whom we owe certain duties, and from whom we have much to hope and fear. The existence of such a Being is proved by the evidences which the objects of nature present of perfect design, of fixed order, of power sufficient to accomplish everything which we can conceive that does not involve a contradiction, and which we therefore conclude to be infinite, and of benevolent pro vision for the wants of living creatures. Apart from all such evidence, the belief in the divine existence seems to be strongly impressed on the human mind, so strongly indeed, that it is a matter of great doubt whether even professed atheists have been really such. Lastly, this truth may be the subject of revelation; for revelation does not, as may at first sight seem, imply as a fact previously known the existence of the Being from whom it comes. To the first recipients of the revela tion the very fact of their finding themselves possessed of the knowledge of truths beyond the range of human experience would be a sufficient proof of the existence of a superior Being, from whom they had, in whatever way, obtained such knowledge ; and if. in making known the revelation to the world, these persona should display a command over the laws of nature beyond the compaes of human power, or an acquaintance with future victim beyond the reach of human knowledge, these miracles and prophecies would prove the existence of a superior Being, from whom they hail received the power to perform the one and the foreknowledge implied iu the other. Thus the revelation itself furnishes a proof of the existence of the before unknown revealer. We do not inquire whether the divine existence is really proved in either or all of there different ways, because the object of this article Is to explain the mature of religion, not to establish its truth.