THE KINGDOM OF MAN 253 



and moral activities which reach forward to the true, 

 the beautiful, and the good. It is the experience of 

 mankind that man reaches out most successfully when 

 he desires these things for their own sake. If he desires 

 them for some side issue, he is likely to miss them alto- 

 gether. This is in its way a sort of philosophy — as is 

 beautifully explained in a little book by Mr. Glutton 

 Brock called The Ultimate Belief (Constable, 1916, 

 2s. 6d.). 



Normal children have desires after the true, the beau- 

 tiful, and the good ; and these fundamental desires of 

 the spirit, which are the best things we have, can be 

 encouraged, especially indirectly. To make fun of them 

 is the fundamental disloyalty. It is not possible exactly 

 to teach what is true, beautiful, and good, but the 

 desires after them can be respected and nourished, and 

 the freedom from which the desires spring can be guarded. 

 Why do we speak here of these things ? Because in 

 difficult cases the criterion of humbler operations is to 

 be found in the way in which they affect what is of 

 highest value to us. The final criterion of the Kingdom 

 of Man is the Kingdom of God. 



The important idea may be put in another way. The 

 growth of Science is always to the good, but its value is 

 increased in proportion as it is unified, and that requires 

 philosophy. The diffusion of the scientific mood is 

 always desirable, but its value is increased in proportion 

 as it makes for the integration of man's intellectual life. 

 The appHcation of Science need not be for good at 

 all; the degree to which it will be for good will 



