Precept and Practice – OCTOBER 28 – Definition of Religion

Religion is not a narrow thing of time and space, but broad and infinite as the expanse of Heaven.

W.H. Gill

Religion is more than creeds or forms.   Religion is the knowledge of God which is eternal life.   He who knows God has within himself almighty strength, enabling him to dare things impossible, and to rest even in the valley of the shadow.   He who knows God is able to resist every temptation to lies, to sloth, and to cruelty, rejoicing in hope.   To know God and to enjoy Him for ever is eternal, full, intense life, the satisfaction of every aspiration;  and to know God is to be religious.

Religion is oneness with God:  the harmony of man’s nature with God’s nature, the attuning of all the notes in man with the perfect music in heaven.

Religion is the oneness of man’s manifold nature with God’s manifold nature;  and he who is religious knows God with all his heart, with all his mind, with all his understanding, and with all his soul.

Canon Barnett (The Service of God)

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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice

The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.

The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;-  with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;-  with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.

CONSTANCE  M. WHISHAW