"Can any Bach write one 'well-tempered' fugue on both North and South? Can they in future be united in one belief?
"We have had so far two kinds of Religion only. One, those of small States, such as we had in Greece or Italy; the other, universal Religions, such as the Religion of Jesus, based on humans as mere abstracts, as mere equal atoms; Religions that applied to any person irrespective of State, race, class, or occupation. There are, however, now no small States such as we used to found, nor is all European humanity one vast conglomeration of atomic men.
"There are now new entities: nations.
"Will each of them develop her own Religion?
"Most likely, I think.
"It is with Religions as with Law and Language: each nation, the more high-strung it becomes, the more it differentiates its Law and its Language. In the Middle Ages, up to the twelfth century, there were not fifty languages in Europe. There are now far over a thousand.
"Each nation wants its own way of worshipping and representing Apollo and Dionysus. In countries full of musical enthusiasm the religious rôle of Dionysus is different from what it is in countries where music is not an organ of the national soul. Should Europe ever be levelled down to one United States of Europe (—at these words one could see Zeus smile with benignant sarcasm—) then there will arise new Religions in nearly every county of every country.
"In England we see the process clearly developing. The official Church is neither quite Apollo nor quite Dionysus; it is a product grown somewhere between Rome and Geneva, say at Leghorn.
"The unofficial Churches accept Dionysus only as enthusiasm for unenthusiastic matters, such as Puritanism; while Apollo with them is a Sunday school teacher.