The divinity
of the object and the solemnity of the reaction are too well
marked for doubt. Hesitation as to whether a state of mind is
"religious," or "irreligious," or "moral," or "philosophical," is
only likely to arise when the state of mind is weakly
characterized, but in that case it will be hardly worthy of our
study at all. With states that can only by courtesy be called
religious we need have nothing to do, our only profitable
business being with what nobody can possibly feel tempted to call
anything else. I said in my former lecture that we learn most
about a thing when we view it under a microscope, as it were, or
in its most exaggerated form. This is as true of religious
phenomena as of any other kind of fact. The only cases likely to
be profitable enough to repay our attention will therefore be
cases where the religious spirit is unmistakable and extreme.
Its fainter manifestations we may tranquilly pass by. Here, for
example, is the total reaction upon life of Frederick Locker
Lampson, whose autobiography, entitled "Confidences," proves him
to have been a most amiable man.
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