There is scarcely any difference of opinion about the justice of the ten commandments; but the constant repetition of "_you must not_" is like shaking a red rag before a wild bull, to many self-assertive children; whereas, if the things to be commanded against were understood to be _impossible_, and therefore _unmentionable_, the commandments would come to fit crimes that had become as much out of date to us now as is the crime of striking women.
We have constant evidence of the fact that beliefs, or, rather, habits-of-belief, follow persistent assertion, and that character is largely molded by existing formulas as well as other influences of our environment.
Without desire to criticise the formulas of any creeds, except in the way of counter-suggestion, I would ask, "What would be the probable effect of teaching the constant repetition of the eleventh commandment in place of the older ten?--'A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another.'" It is impossible to love and to hate at the same time. It is impossible to obey the eleventh commandment and disobey any of the ten at the same time. Is it not better practice of suggestion, in order to form habit-of-thought, to repeat the eleventh commandment eleven times, than to repeat each of the ten once and the eleventh only once?
It is true that the easy way to attain good is to _cease to have evil_, but, it is a poor way to cease to have evil to nurse it in the memory as a thing _difficult not to have_.
If there is to be repetition of anything, it is better that it should be of such suggestions as "Appreciation" and "Love."
The mind is as amenable to the force of habit as are any of the physical members of the body. The soul is much more amenable to suggestion than either, for it is much more impressionable. If you were teaching a child to play the piano, would you have him run all the scales, or, rather, combinations of notes that do not form scales, that are to be avoided in music, in order to teach him the habit of _not_ playing them? Would it be good teaching to have him habituate his fingers to the sequence of false scales as well as to the sequence of true scales? May not the constant repetition of the commandments that refer to lewd practices suggest thoughts about lewdness that never would come to young minds by other means, and therefore taint pure thought, in brutal fashion, by vile suggestion?