“This example,” cried Ernest, “if it be true, though it is difficult to believe it, is foreign to our question. Certainly that man was not ‘an honest man.’”
“Well, then,” said the officer, looking straight at Ernest, and raising his voice in a solemn manner, “the benefactor is God, the ungrateful ones are you! Yes, God has showered upon you inconceivable benefits. He has saved and does save you every moment from all the perils threatening your life. He watches over you that none of your movements may disarrange the fragile combinations of your existence. He gives the lungs for the air, and the air for the lungs. He gives light for the sight, and sound for the hearing.
“Who has fixed the borders of the rivers? Who has said to the waves of the sea, ‘Hitherto shall ye go and no farther?’ Who prevents the floods from overflowing us, or the deep abysses from opening under our feet, or the mountains from falling upon our heads? Who is it that gives us our nourishment? Has the earth ever been without animals, or the rivers without water, so that you could neither eat nor drink? Has the rain ceased from watering your corn, or the sun from ripening it? Has the mother’s breast ceased to give milk to the newborn babe? Has the sheep turned into a tiger to refuse the wool for your clothing? Or has wood or stone refused to unite in protecting you against the inclemency of the atmosphere? What is there lacking in the gifts of your Creator? And if it should please Him to withdraw them, pray what would become of you? Because of His longsuffering mercy you refuse to believe in His retributive justice, has He less power to execute it? And because He multiplies His benefits, must you double your ingratitude? In granting His mercies, He appears to you only to discharge a debt. But think what would become of you, if He ceased to govern? Compare the inevitable chaos in which you would immediately be plunged, with the regular order of daily life, and ask yourselves whether you do not owe something to God?
“No doubt you are thankful because you are ‘honest!’ In return for such immense benefits, You are immensely thankful, you love God above everything, you think continually of Him! You could not help doing otherwise! You could not violate His laws except He forbade you to bless Him! Alas! far otherwise, is it not? You are like ice towards Him. You do not seek Him, do not pray to Him, do not think of Him, do not speak of Him, and you are ‘honest’! A beneficent hand daily sustains your life, and gives you its blessings; but instead of covering it with kisses, you shut your eyes that you may not see it, and yet you are ‘honest’!”
“But with you there is something more than indifference. There is hatred, yes hatred. Frequently you murmur against that Great Benefactor, and when I, poor little worm, loaded like you with the gifts of that Father of mercies, have stammered out my thanks which I desire to be more ardent, the thought of that God, instead of producing a glow of joy in your hearts, and a happy smile on your lips, has called forth only mockery and derision That ingratitude which you call horrible when manifested towards a failing, powerless, imperfect and finite man, exists within you towards a jealous, omnipotent, perfectly good and infinite God yet you are honest!! Ah, gentlemen, well might Christ speak of a generation of vipers, for a viper only would direct its venomous dart against the imprudent breast that gave it shelter to warm and revive it.”
Whilst thus enumerating the many tokens of God’s kindness, the officer had become more and more animated. His gentle, yet grave voice had assumed a tone which filled the dining room. His large dark eyes sparkled with a strange fire, in which indignation mingled with love, and from his brow truth seemed to shine with its own inimitable light. Gradually every one of his hearers had become dumb and immovable. The officer’s chair had become a pulpit, and the table d’hote a church.
“But,” continued he, after a moment of silence, which nobody dared to interrupt, “do not think that this is the only way of proving that, with regard to God, man is a corrupt, and not an honest being. What shall I think of one who professes the Christian religion, and does not believe in it? Or, of one who does believe in it but does not profess it? You have just given me an example of an honest man. But without entering into the details of a life which I do not know, and in which, no doubt, I should find some failures, something bad, in what I do know this man (so estimable in other respects) lives in the midst of a people that is called Christian. He himself does not disavow this name. Does he believe that the Christian religion is true? It matters little to me, whether you answer ‘Yes,’ or ‘No.’ Suppose he does not believe in it. He looks at Jesus as having been a mere philosopher! He doubts that He healed the sick and raised the dead! The basis of his religion is that Jesus Christ is God, and he does not believe it! This religion teaches that there is a book inspired by God the Bible, but he does not believe it. His religion speaks of a hell as the place for all unbelievers, but he does not believe it! Yet he has not openly discarded this doctrine (which appears to him a tissue of absurdities and errors) as fanaticism. He professes it under certain circumstances. In order to be married, he kneels down before a man, whom he considers an impostor! He declares publicly that the consecrated wafer, put into his mouth is his God, whilst inwardly he laughs at it! Not contented with this, his fear of being blamed by the ‘fanatics’ drives him to have his children brought up in the same bigotry! He suffers them to be taught as truth a catechism which he knows contains nothing but lies! He allows principles which he judges to be false and dangerous, to be introduced into the docile minds and tender hearts of these young creatures!”
“But, suppose he believes the Christian religion to be true. So much the worse for him! Why? Because he does not deny that Jesus shed His blood for the redemption of fallen men, and yet he lives without religion! He thinks from time to time of that cross on which the blood of the Just One was shed for him the unjust; lie sees the wounds, he contemplates the agony, he hears the sighs of Jesus put to death in his stead, and he lives without religion! He does not even make himself acquainted with the Testament which the Son of God has bequeathed to him!”
(To be continued)