It is to keep a man awake,to keep him alive to his own soul and its fixed design of righteousness,that the better part of moral and religious education is directed;not only that of words and doctors,but the sharp ferule of calamity under which we are all God's scholars till we die.If,as teachers,we are to say anything to the purpose,we must say what will remind the pupil of his soul;we must speak that soul's dialect;we must talk of life and conduct as his soul would have him think of them.If,from some conformity between us and the pupil,or perhaps among all men,we do in truth speak in such a dialect and express such views,beyond question we shall touch in him a spring;beyond question he will recognise the dialect as one that he himself has spoken in his better hours;beyond question he will cry,'I had forgotten,but now I remember;I too have eyes,and I had forgot to use them!I too have a soul of my own,arrogantly upright,and to that I will listen and conform.'In short,say to him anything that he has once thought,or been upon the point of thinking,or show him any view of life that he has once clearly seen,or been upon the point of clearly seeing;and you have done your part and may leave him to complete the education for himself.
Now,the view taught at the present time seems to me to want greatness;and the dialect in which alone it can be intelligibly uttered is not the dialect of my soul.It is a sort of postponement of life;nothing quite is,but something different is to be;we are to keep our eyes upon the indirect from the cradle to the grave.We are to regulate our conduct not by desire,but by a politic eye upon the future;and to value acts as they will bring us money or good opinion;as they will bring us,in one word,PROFIT.We must be what is called respectable,and offend no one by our carriage;it will not do to make oneself conspicuous -who knows?even in virtue?says the Christian parent!And we must be what is called prudent and make money;not only because it is pleasant to have money,but because that also is a part of respectability,and we cannot hope to be received in society without decent possessions.Received in society!as if that were the kingdom of heaven!There is dear Mr.So-and-so;-look at him!-so much respected -so much looked up to -quite the Christian merchant!And we must cut our conduct as strictly as possible after the pattern of Mr.So-and-so;and lay our whole lives to make money and be strictly decent.
Besides these holy injunctions,which form by far the greater part of a youth's training in our Christian homes,there are at least two other doctrines.We are to live just now as well as we can,but scrape at last into heaven,where we shall be good.We are to worry through the week in a lay,disreputable way,but,to make matters square,live a different life on Sunday.
The train of thought we have been following gives us a key to all these positions,without stepping aside to justify them on their own ground.It is because we have been disgusted fifty times with physical squalls,and fifty times torn between conflicting impulses,that we teach people this indirect and tactical procedure in life,and to judge by remote consequences instead of the immediate face of things.
The very desire to act as our own souls would have us,coupled with a pathetic disbelief in ourselves,moves us to follow the example of others;perhaps,who knows?they may be on the right track;and the more our patterns are in number,the better seems the chance;until,if we be acting in concert with a whole civilised nation,there are surely a majority of chances that we must be acting right.And again,how true it is that we can never behave as we wish in this tormented sphere,and can only aspire to different and more favourable circumstances,in order to stand out and be ourselves wholly and rightly!And yet once more,if in the hurry and pressure of affairs and passions you tend to nod and become drowsy,here are twenty-four hours of Sunday set apart for you to hold counsel with your soul and look around you on the possibilities of life.
This is not,of course,all that is to be,or even should be,said for these doctrines.Only,in the course of this chapter,the reader and I have agreed upon a few catchwords,and been looking at morals on a certain system;it was a pity to lose an opportunity of testing the catchwords,and seeing whether,by this system as well as by others,current doctrines could show any probable justification.If the doctrines had come too badly out of the trial,it would have condemned the system.Our sight of the world is very narrow;the mind but a pedestrian instrument;there's nothing new under the sun,as Solomon says,except the man himself;and though that changes the aspect of everything else,yet he must see the same things as other people,only from a different side.
And now,having admitted so much,let us turn to criticism.