negative, towards the world in which it exists. Every religion, on closer examination, is found to consist in the striving after “goods,” or a summum bonum, which either belong to the world, or can only be understood by contrast with it. And this striving rests upon belief in some Divine Being who is regarded as possessing a more comprehensive authority over the world than is within the reach of man. For these reasons no religion can be properly understood unless it be interpreted on some other principle