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appetites is an appetite for perfection； that if you discourage this appetite
and encourage the cruder acquisitive appetites the child will steal and lie
and be a nuisance to you； and that if you encourage its appetite for
perfection and teach it to attach a peculiar sacredness to it and place it
before the other appetites； it will be a much nicer child and you will have a
much easier job； at which point you will； in spite of your pseudoscientific
jargon； find yourself back in the old…fashioned religious teaching as deep
as Dr。 Watts and in fact fathoms deeper。
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Moral Instruction Leagues
And now the voices of our Moral Instruction Leagues will be lifted；
asking whether there is any reason why the appetite for perfection should
not be cultivated in rationally scientific terms instead of being associated
with the story of Jonah and the great fish and the thousand other tales that
grow up round religions。 Yes： there are many reasons； and one of them
is that children all like the story of Jonah and the whale （they insist on its
being a whale in spite of demonstrations by Bible smashers without any
sense of humor that Jonah would not have fitted into a whale's gulletas if
the story would be credible of a whale with an enlarged throat） and that no
child on earth can stand moral instruction books or catechisms or any
other statement of the case for religion in abstract terms。 The object of a
moral instruction book is not to be rational； scientific； exact； proof against
controversy； nor even credible： its object is to make children good； and if
it makes them sick instead its place is the waste…paper basket。
Take for an illustration the story of Elisha and the bears。 To the
authors of the moral instruction books it is in the last degree reprehensible。
It is obviously not true as a record of fact； and the picture it gives us of the
temper of God （which is what interests an adult reader） is shocking and
blasphemous。 But it is a capital story for a child。 It interests a child
because it is about bears； and it leaves the child with an impression that
children who poke fun at old gentlemen and make rude remarks about bald
heads are not nice children； which is a highly desirable impression； and
just as much as a child is capable of receiving from the story。 When a
story is about God and a child； children take God for granted and criticize
the child。 Adults do the opposite； and are thereby led to talk great
nonsense about the bad effect of Bible stories on infants。
But let no one think that a child or anyone else can learn religion from
a teacher or a book or by any academic process whatever。 It is only by
an unfettered access to the whole body of Fine Art： that is； to the whole
body of inspired revelation； that we can build up that conception of
divinity to which all virtue is an aspiration。 And to hope to find this body
of art purified from all that is obsolete or dangerous or fierce or lusty； or to
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pick and choose what will be good for any particular child； much less for
all children； is the shallowest of vanities。 Such schoolmasterly selection
is neither possible nor desirable。 Ignorance of evil is not virtue but
imbecility： admiring it is like giving a prize for honesty to a man who
has not stolen your watch because he did not know you had one。 Virtue
chooses good from evil； and without knowledge there can be no choice。
And even this is a dangerous simplification of what actually occurs。 We
are not choosing： we are growing。 Were you to cut all of what you call
the evil out of a child； it would drop dead。 If you try to stretch it to full
human stature when it is ten years old； you will simply pull it into two
pieces and be hanged。 And when you try to do this morally； which is
what parents and schoolmasters are doing every day； you ought to be
hanged； and some day； when we take a sensible view of the matter； you
will be； and serve you right。 The child does not stand between a good
and a bad angel： what it has to deal with is a middling angel who； in
normal healthy cases； wants to be a good angel as fast as it can without
killing itself in the process； which is a dangerous one。
Therefore there is no question of providing the child with a carefully
regulated access to good art。 There is no good art； any more than there is
good anything else in the absolute sense。 Art that is too good for the
child will either teach it nothing or drive it mad； as the Bible has driven
many people mad who might have kept their sanity had they been allowed
to read much lower forms of literature。 The practical moral is that we
must read whatever stories； see whatever pictures； hear whatever songs
and symphonies； go to whatever plays we like。 We shall not like those
which have nothing to say to us； and though everyone has a right to bias
our choice； no one has a right to deprive us of it by keeping us from any
work of art or any work of art from us。
I may now say without danger of being misunderstood that the popular
English compromise called Cowper Templeism （unsectarian Bible
education） is not so silly as it looks。 It is true that the Bible inculcates
half a dozen religions： some of them barbarous； some cynical and
pessimistic； some amoristic and romantic； some sceptical and challenging；
some kindly； simple； and intuitional； some sophistical and intellectual；
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none suited to the character and conditions of western civilization unless it
be the Christianity which was finally suppressed by the Crucifixion； and
has never been put into practice by any State before or since。 But the
Bible contains the ancient literature of a very remarkable Oriental race；
and the imposition of this literature； on whatever false pretences； on our
children left them more literate than if they knew no literature at all； which
was the practical alternative。 And as our Authorized Version is a great
work of art as well； to know it was better than knowing no art； which also
was the practical alternative。 It is at least not a school book； and it is not
a bad story book； horrible as some of the stories are。 Therefore as
between the Bible and the blank represented by secular education； the
choice is with the Bible。
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The Bible
But the Bible is not sufficient。 The real Bible of modern Europe is
the whole body of great literature in which the inspiration and revelation
of Hebrew Scripture has been continued to the present day。 Nietzsche's
Thus Spake Zoroaster is less comforting to the ill and unhappy than the
Psalms； but it is much truer； subtler； and more edifying。 The pleasure we
get from the rhetoric of the book of Job and its tragic picture of a
bewildered soul cannot disguise the ignoble irrelevance of the retort of
God with which it closes； or supply the need of such modern revelations as
Shelley's Prometheus or The Niblung's Ring of Richard Wagner。 There is
nothing in the Bible greater in inspiration than Beethoven's ninth
symphony； and the power of modern music to convey that inspiration to a
modern man is far greater than that of Elizabethan English； which is；
except for people steeped in the Bible from childhood like Sir Walter Scott
and Ruskin； a dead language。
Besides； many who have no ear for literature or for music are
accessible to architecture； to pictures； to statues； to dress