CHAPTER XIV

SOURCES OF DATA

THERE are some Christian churches which have never taught the doctrine of conversion, but which look upon the attainment of spiritual life simply as a process of even and continuous development. It is for the purpose of gaining an insight into the nature of religious growth of the gradual and relatively uneventful kind that the present study sets out. We shall have to inquire, What are the lines along which individuals seem to develop? If there are no sharp points of transition, what are the essential characteristics of each period in the individual's religious life history? What, in bold outlines, are the differences between the faith of childhood and that of maturity, and what are the steps which mark the progress? What are the forces, both subjective and external, which determine the trend of development? The present study is consequently in part a supplement to the preceding, so that we shall have occasion incidentally to stop and inquire into the likeness and difference between the two types of experiences. It is primarily, however, an objective inquiry into the laws of growth shown by a comparative study of the religious lives of groups of persons.

The progress of this gradual-growth type is usually just as definite as that of the cases we have been studying. The persons are generally as capable of selfanalysis, but there are no sudden crises which mark the disappearance of an old life and the beginning of a

new.

It was occasionally found difficult to separate the cases into the two groups. It sometimes occurs that definite religious awakening is not called a conversion by persons who are not accustomed to that specific terminology. On the other hand, a religious experience was in a few instances called a conversion when it was specifically said by the respondent that the experience had no especial significance. Whenever the awakening was definite enough, in the opinion of the respondent, to mark a complete change in life, it was classed as a conversion, and those in which the conversion phenomenon was professedly only a mere incident in growth were included among the gradual-growth cases. Usually, however, the judgment of the respondent was followed implicitly as to whether he or she belonged to the first or second group.

The raw material for the research was wholly from autobiographies; those in books were usually disappointing, being too external and descriptive, and too barren in any record of inner experience. The published records which were finally judged as complete enough on the religious side to be included in the study were the following: Harriet Martineau, Mary Livermore, Frances Power Cobbe, George Eliot, Tolstoi, Carlyle, Ruskin, Frederick Robertson, Charles Kingsley and Goethe.

The greatest number of records were written directly in reply to printed lists of questions sent out at three different times. The wording of the question lists varied slightly, though the substance was practically identical. The majority were in response to this

syllabus :

'I. What religious customs did you observe in childhood, and with what likes and dislikes? What were the chief temptations of your youth? How were they felt, and how did you strive to resist? What errors and struggles have you had with (a) lying and other dishonesty, (b) wrong appetites for foods and drinks, (c) vita sexualis? what relation have you noticed between

this and moral and religious experiences? (d) laziness, jealousy, etc.

'II. Influences, good and bad, which have been especially strong in shaping your life-parental training, books, friends, church, music, art, natural phenomena, deaths, personal struggles, misfortunes, etc.?

'III. If you have passed through a series of beliefs and attitudes, mark out the stages of growth and what you feel now to be the trend of your life.

'IV. Were there periods at which growth seemed more rapid; times of especially deepened experience; any sudden awakening to larger truth, new energy, hope and love? At what age were they? How did they come-some crisis, a death, meditation, some unaccountable way, etc.?

'V. Have you had a period of doubt or of reaction against traditional customs and popular beliefs? When and how did it begin and end, if at all? Have you noticed any relapses or especially heightened experiences? How did they come, and with what were they connected?

'VI. What motives have been most prominent at different times-fears, remorse, wish for approval of others, sense of duty, love of virtue, divine impulse, desire to grow, etc.? In what ways do your feelings respond religiously to God, nature, institutions, people,

etc.?

'VII. State a few truths embodying your deepest feelings. What would you now be and do if you realised your ideals of the higher life?

'VIII. Age, sex, temperament, church (if any), and nationality.'

The number of cases represented in the study is two hundred and thirty-seven (237); females, one hundred and forty-two (142), males, ninety-five (95).

The respondents were mostly native-born Americans, pretty generally distributed among the States. Of other nationalities there were English, 14; German, 4; Scotch,

3; Irish, 2; Swiss, 2; Jewish, 2; Russian, 1; Canadian, I.

In regard to church connection, the records are fairly representative, and no one church far exceeds in numbers. It is not always stated. Those reporting it are more than a score each of Methodists, Friends, Presbyterians, Episcopalians; about one-half as many of Congregationalists, German Reformed, Baptists and Unitarians; a smaller number of the Lutheran, Catholic, Universalist, Jewish, Moravian, Spiritualist and Greek churches; and thirteen who had no church connection. That is to say, the present study, just as the preceding, is a research into the religious consciousness of persons who are, for the most part, modern Americans and adherents of the Christian religion; so that whatever generalisations are made in regard to the growth of individual religious experience must be understood to apply especially to this class of persons. A study of the nonAmerican, non-Christian records did not show them to be different enough in character to justify the separate presentation of them.

Too large a portion of the respondents are collegebred persons for the groups to be entirely representative; although in that and in all other respects the class is reasonably satisfactory. All the replies to the question list were used, except one, which was too vague and imaginative to be understood, and a few others which were too fragmentary. Without exception they have the stamp of perfect sincerity, and generally of the utmost frankness. Complete reliance was placed upon the statements as given by the subjects, so that the facts are their own but for possible distortions from condensation.

The ages are, fortunately, well distributed, with the exception of the girls between 16 and 19. These outnumber the rest, which is due, in part, to the large number of returns from the New Jersey State Normal School. The classification, according to ages, is shown on Table XVII. The determination of age

groups is somewhat arbitrary, but not wholly so, as will appear. Those above 40 are scattered along to the 85th year.

TABLE XVII.-Showing distribution of cases used, according to age.

It should be said in regard to the younger females that their experiences were given, in general, as fully and as well as the others, as the result of their constant training in self-analysis. Wherever it would avoid distortion of results, the different age-groups are considered separately.