RELIGION AND SCIENCE 299 



intellectual ecstasy, while Keats and a dozen others 

 can open universal doors of beauty. What is more, 

 if I have had the mediation of wise parents and good 

 teachers, or to be so fortunate as to be enthusiastic, 

 I fmd that in many things I can be my own mediator, 

 in the same way as the Protestant found that he 

 could read his Bible and eat the holy bread and wine 

 for himself as well or better than the priest could do 

 it for him. 



Whatever we may say or like, it is an obvious fact 

 that much of what is essential in religious experience, 

 which in a simpler society was only attainable in 

 prayer and sacrifice, communal ceremony or ritual 

 worship, is now attainable to an increasing degree 

 through literature, music, drama, art, and is, again, 

 as a matter of fact, so attained by an increasing num- 

 ber of people who do not profess a creed or belong 

 to a church. So that, as regards the personal, indi- 

 vidual side of religion, many of the functions of 

 Churches will inevitably be better performed through 

 direct contact between the individual and the medi- 

 ator — philosopher, poet, artist, or whatever he be — 

 who provides the experience. 



There remains public worship and community- 

 religion. It is clear that whereas a Church in the 

 Middle Ages was not only Church but also Museum 

 of curiosities. Art-gallery and Theatre, and in large 

 measure also took the place of our press and public 

 libraries, now it is none of these things. There is 

 now less reason for public worship, fewer functions 



