oom in his mind he must
cast aside for the time, as completely as may be. The thoughtful man is
gone far away to seek; but the perceiving man must sit still, and open
his heart to receive. The thoughtful man is knitting and sharpening
himself into a two-edged sword, wherewith to pierce. The perceiving man
is stretching himself into a four-cornered sheet wherewith to catch. And
all the breadth to which he can expand himself, and all the white
emptiness into which he can blanch himself, will not be enough to
receive what God has to give him.

Sec. XIII. What, then, it will be indignantly asked, is an utterly
ignorant and unthinking man likely to make the best artist? No, not so
neither. Knowledge is good for him so long as he can keep it utterly,
servilely, subordinate to his own divine work, and trample it under his
feet, and out of his way, the moment it is likely to entangle him.

And in this respect, observe, there is an enormous difference between
knowledge and education. An artist need not be a _learned_ man, in all
probability it will be a disadvantage to him to become so; but he ought,
if possible, always to be an _educated_ man: that is, one who has
understanding of his own uses and duties in the world, and therefore of
the general nature of the things done and existing in the world; and who
has so trained himself, or been trained, as to turn to the best and most
courteous account whatever faculties or knowledge he has. The mind of an
educated man is greater than the knowledge it possesses; it is like the
vault of heaven, encompassing the earth which lives and flourishes
beneath it: but the mind of an educated and learned man is like a
caoutchouc band, with an everlasting spirit of contraction in it,
fastening together papers which it cannot open, and keeps others from
opening.

Half our artists are ruined for want of education, and by the possession
of knowledge; the best that I have known have been educated, and
illiterate. The ideal of an artist, however, is not that he should be
illiterate, but well read in the best books, and thoroughly high bred,
both in heart and in bearing. In a word, he should be fit for the best
society, _and should keep out of it_.[11]

Sec. XIV. There are, indeed, some kinds of knowledge with which an artist
ought to be thoroughly furnished; those, for instance, which enable him
to express himself; for this knowledge relieves instead of encumbering
his mind, and permits it to atte