_Religion._--No thinking man can help asking himself the questions: "Whence has this world come? Whither is it bound to go?" in other words, "What was the _origin_ ([Arabic: mabdā]) and what will be the _end_ ([Arabic: ma'ād]) of the world of men, animals, plants and things that I perceive?" The answers which each man gives to these questions constitute his _religion_. A few earnest persons (poets, philosophers and theologians) try to answer these questions for themselves by patient study and earnest thought[13]. But a large majority of men and women merely take the answers taught them by their parents, teachers or priests. There may possibly be a small number of men who do not trouble themselves about these questions. These are not "thinking men" and may therefore be left out of account. Religion is a silent and subtle power that works in the heart of man and makes for righteousness. It is generated by his conviction as to the beginning and end of himself and the world in which he lives and moves[14]. _God._--No intelligent and intelligible answers can be given to questions as to the origin and the end or the government of _Nature_[15] without assuming the existence of the _One and only one God_ who is _Infinite_ and _Absolute_, _i.e._, One who hath neither beginning nor end and who is not conditioned or limited by anything whatever[16]. The Infinite and Absolute One has been called by different names by different people at different times[17]. Yezdan, Ishwara, Jehovah, God, and Allah are the names, in different languages, of the same _Infinite and Absolute God_. God of the Granite and the Rose Soul of the Sparrow and the Bee! The mighty tide of being flows Through countless channels, Lord, from Thee. *_Conceptions of God, His attributes, and His relation to Nature._--These have been and will ever be many and various. But I summarise three principal conceptions under each head, for I believe that other ideas, notions or conceptions are but combinations of two or more of these:-- I. Conceptions of God:-- 1. God as the Ultimate _Law_. 2. God as the Omnipotent Energy or _Power_. 3. God as the Supreme Being or _Person[18]_. II. Notions of God's principal attributes:-- 1. God as Creator or Nourisher. 2. God as Preserver or Protector. 3. God as Adjuster or Judge[18]. [*] _Paragraphs marked with asterisks and their footnotes may be omitted at the first reading._ III. Ideas of God's relation with Nature[20] (_i.e._, with the world of men, animals, plants and other objects, and their inter-relations, of which men are aware):-- 1. All is _from_ God = God is _above_ Nature which He created and governs (Theism). 2. God is _in_ All = God is _in_ Nature although Nature is not God (Panentheism). 3. God _is_ All = God _is_ Nature and Nature is God (Pantheism)[21].