Photo Prayer:
Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Amen.
The sense of religion, or "Religion" said subjectively, is a virtue allied with justice, which renders to God that which is due to Him on account of His supreme excellence. It follows on faith in God as the Truth, and love of Him as Life; and its peculiar operation consists in worshipping Him as Lord and Ruler. There is in man a natural aptitude for this, which asserts itself indomitably in all, even in the most materialistic savages. The merely natural man knows only of the manifestation of God in Nature, and his religion quickly passes into Nature-worship and Pantheism. Man needs a specially infused aptitude in order to worship God as supernaturally manifested, and to accommodate himself to the laws and ordinances of objective revealed religion. Like the prophet he has to say, "A a a, Lord God, behold I cannot speak, for I am a child" (Jer. i. 6); then the Lord touches his lips, and puts the words of the higher worship into his mouth. The infused virtue of Religion directs man in rendering to God the duties that He imposes both spiritual and material, those of the soul, and those that are associated with times, and places, and persons, and offerings, such as feast-days and temples, vows and sacrifices, the consecration of persons and the offering of tithes. Religion regulates the first of human relations, that which man has towards his Creator, it dictates the first of his duties, and thus it holds the first place among the moral virtues. Let God be the beginning of all things with you. Place His service before all other service. Let all your actions rest on Him and seek Him. Unless your life be well grounded on this foundation it will necessarily be a failure.
