USE OF THE BIBLE 103 



House to Land's End, as Dante and Tasso once were to the 

 Italians ; that it is written in the noblest and purest English, and 

 abounds in exquisite beauties, of mere literary form ; and finally, 

 that it forbids the veriest hind who never left his village to be 

 ignorant of the existence of other countries and other civilizations, 

 and of a great past, stretching back to the furthest limits of the 

 oldest nations in the world. By the study of what other book 

 could children be so much humanized and made to feel that each 

 figure in that vast historical procession fills, like themselves, but a 

 momentary space in the interval between two eternities ; and 

 earns the blessings or the curses of all time, according to its effort 

 to do good and hate evil, even as they also are earning their pay- 

 ment for their work ? " 



To this, however, it is only fair to add the statement of 

 Mr. Leonard Huxley that his father, 



"... would not have used the Bible as the agency for 

 introducing the religious and ethical idea into education if he 

 had been dealing with a fresh and untouched population " (Life, 

 i»P- 343)- 



Of course not, for adaptation to existing environments is 

 in the essence of all progress. 



As a member of the London School Board, Huxley 

 did his best to carry into effect the views just explained, 

 supporting, for example, a resolution proposed by Mr. 

 W. H. Smith, M.P., and carried by a large majority, to 

 the effect : — 



" That, in the schools provided by the Board, the Bible shall 

 be read, and there shall be given therefrom such explanations 

 and such instruction in the principles of religion and morality 

 as are suited to the capacities of children." 



Unfortunately ill health necessitated resignation of his 

 seat on the Board in the early part of 1872, though even 

 during the brief space of fourteen months for which he 

 served he had succeeded in realizing some part of his 



