“Not so,” replied the officer, “for if I had been asked my opinion I should have said, ‘And I also.’ Only, I should, in asserting my right of explaining my thought, have added that no one is truly honest unless he believes in Jesus Christ.”
A general murmur followed this remark of the officer. Some laughed, others considered themselves almost insulted, and all expressed their disapproval.
“I have asked the right of explaining my thoughts,” said the officer, “and if this be granted me, I will undertake to prove my opinion.”
“Certainly!” all exclaimed; “certainly! It will be a difficult task.”
“First of all,” said the officer, “it will be necessary to know, what is the meaning of the term ‘an honest man’? Perhaps you would find my definition too exaggerated. Will one of you be so kind as to give it? What is the meaning of the expression, ‘an honest man’?”
“An honest man,” replied the old gentleman mentioned already, “is one who wrongs nobody, leads a moral life, is not spiteful, not wasteful, one who manages his affairs in an honorable way, etc.”
“This then is the meaning of what is called ‘an honest man,’ as you understand that term,” replied the officer. “Will you ask your neighbor Monsieur Ernest, whether your definition suits him? I find in your definition a clause which must be rather awkward for him to deem consistent. I mean that about the morals, if one may believe what is said about his numerous conquests.”
“A few juvenile follies do not prevent one from being an ‘honest man,’” said Ernest. “‘An honest man’ is a man of honor, who keeps his word, is devoted to his friends, incapable of trickery and lying, without rancor and avarice.”
“Here we have a new definition of what ‘an honest man’ is,” said the officer. “I ask Monsieur Ernest to re-apply it to him who gave us the first definition. He would hardly find it to be correct. The word ‘lying’ would be too much. For if my memory serves me right, Monsieur was a tailor five years ago, and made me pay forty francs for cloth which he swore had cost him forty-five, and which my brother’s factory had sold to him for thirty.”
“I should also object to the definition as being too vague,” was uttered by a little voice coming from an individual dressed in a threadbare black coat, who was eating at a side table a piece of bread and cheese, with water. “The word avarice too is vague. Nobody will deny that it is prudent to save something for one’s old age, instead of foolishly giving away one’s property to giddy people, who would make away with it within a few months.”
“And I,” said the commercial traveler, “should object to the first definition, which speaks of extravagance. It seems to me, that it is wise to enjoy and profit by everything we possess, because we may die at any moment, and I do not see in this anything contrary to honesty.”
“Because everybody demands, I demand,” said Derville, “that it should be added, ‘without drunkenness,’ which debases a man below the beast and makes him capable of anything.”
“I cannot see,” said a stout gentleman, who was already in a hilarious mood, with two empty bottles before him! “I cannot see what harm there is in loving wine more than water. Therefore I do not accept the proposed last addition, but wish it to be replaced by the words, ‘No gambler and no bully.’”
“Our money and our lives are our own,” said Derville. “We can do with them as we please, without coming short as to honesty.”
“And I,” exclaimed another, “wish that ‘idleness’ be added to the list.”
“Rather slander,” replied another, who was known for his idle life.
“May I be permitted to sum up?” resumed the officer. “Without intending to make the slightest personal remark, it appears to me from what I have heard, that a man may be a libertine, a liar, a miser, duelist, gambler, idler and slanderer, and yet be an ‘honest man.’ So that the assertion ‘Every religion is good, provided one is honest,’ comes in fact to this: ‘Every religion is good, provided one is not a murderer or a thief.’ And if one asks you ‘Who is an honest man?’ you answer: ‘A man whose heart may harbor every crime and vice except theft and murder!’ That is, No one, who does not have to appear before the assize court, has to give account to God!
“Ah! gentlemen, you make the entrance into heaven very easy. At the last day it will no longer be necessary to search the heart, but only to look at one’s shoulder, and provided the infamous letters imprinted by the hot iron of the executioner are not to be seen there, such an one would be declared fit for the kingdom of perfect holiness!
(To be continued)
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9, 109Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9‑10)).