Part 3 (1/2)
48. One word more is needful, though this letter is long already. The peculiar ghastliness of this Swiss mode of festivity is in its utter failure of joy; the paralysis and helplessness of a vice in which there is neither pleasure, nor art. But we are not, throughout Europe, wholly thus. There is such a thing, yet, as rapturous song and dance among us, though not indicative, by any means, of joy over repentant sinners. You must come back to Paris with me again. I had an evening to spare there, last summer, for investigation of theaters; and as there was nothing at any of them that I cared much about seeing, I asked a valet-de-place at Meurice's what people were generally going to. He said, ”All the English went to see the _Lanterne Magique_.” I do not care to tell you what general entertainment I received in following, for once, the lead of my countrymen; but it closed with the representation of the characteristic dancing of all ages of the world; and the dance given as characteristic of modern time was the Cancan, which you will see alluded to in the extract given in the note at page 80 of 'Sesame and Lilies' (the small edition; and page 54 of Vol. I. of the Revised Series of the Entire Works). ”The ball terminated with a Devilish Chain and a Cancan of h.e.l.l, at seven in the morning.” It was led by four princ.i.p.al dancers (who have since appeared in London in the _Huguenot Captain_), and it is many years since I have seen such perfect dancing, as far as finish and accuracy of art and fulness of animal power and fire are concerned. Nothing could be better done, in its own evil way, the object of the dance throughout being to express, in every gesture, the wildest fury of insolence and vicious pa.s.sions possible to human creatures. So that you see, though, for the present, we find ourselves utterly incapable of a rapture of gladness or thanksgiving, the dance which is presented as characteristic of modern civilization is still rapturous enough--but it is with rapture of blasphemy.
LETTER X.
THE MEANING AND ACTUAL OPERATION OF SATANIC OR DEMONIACAL INFLUENCE.
_March 16, 1867._
49. You may gather from the facts given you in my last letter that, as the expression of true and holy gladness was in old time statedly offered up by men for a part of wors.h.i.+p to G.o.d their Father, so the expression of false and unholy gladness is in modern times, with as much distinctness and plainness, a.s.serted by them openly to be offered to another spirit: ”Chain of the Devil,” and ”Cancan of h.e.l.l” being the names a.s.signed to these modern forms of joyous procession.
Now, you know that, among the best and wisest of our present religious teachers, there is a gradual tendency to disbelieve, and to preach their disbelief, in the commonly received ideas of the Devil, and of his place, and his work. While, among some of our equally well-meaning, but far less wise, religious teachers, there is, in consequence, a panic spreading in antic.i.p.ation of the moral dangers which must follow on the loss of the help of the Devil. One of the last appearances in public of the author of the 'Christian Year' was at a conclave of clergymen a.s.sembled in defense of faith in d.a.m.nation.[A] The sense of the meeting generally was, that there _must_ be such a place as h.e.l.l, because no one would ever behave decently upon earth unless they were kept in wholesome fear of the fires beneath it: and Mr. Keble, especially insisting on this view, related a story of an old woman who had a wicked son, and who, having lately heard with horror of the teaching of Mr. Maurice and others, exclaimed pathetically, ”My son is bad enough as it is, and if he were not afraid of h.e.l.l, what would become of him!” (I write from memory, and cannot answer for the words, but I can for their purport.)
[A] _Physical_ d.a.m.nation, I should have said. It is strange how seldom pain of heart is spoken of as a possible element of future, or as the worst of present pain.
50. Now, my friend, I am afraid that I must incur the charge of such presumption as may be involved in variance from _both_ these systems of teaching.
I do not merely _believe_ there is such a place as h.e.l.l. I _know_ there is such a place; and I know also that when men have got to the point of believing virtue impossible but through dread of it, they have got _into_ it.
I mean, that according to the distinctness with which they hold such a creed, the stain of nether fire has pa.s.sed upon them. In the depth of his heart Mr. Keble could not have entertained the thought for an instant; and I believe it was only as a conspicuous sign to the religious world of the state into which they were sinking, that this creed, possible in its sincerity only to the basest of them, was nevertheless appointed to be uttered by the lips of the most tender, gracious, and beloved of their teachers.
51. ”Virtue impossible but for fear of h.e.l.l”--a lofty creed for your English youth--and a holy one! And yet, my friend, there was something of right in the terrors of this clerical conclave. For, though you should a.s.suredly be able to hold your own in the straight ways of G.o.d, without always believing that the Devil is at your side, it is a state of mind much to be dreaded, that you should not _know_ the Devil when you _see_ him there. For the probability is that when you do see him, the way you are walking in is not one of G.o.d's ways at all, but is leading you quite into other neighborhoods than His. On His way, indeed, you may often, like Albert Durer's Knight, see the Fiend behind you, but you will find that he drops always farther and farther behind; whereas, if he jogs with you at your side, it is probably one of his own bypaths you are got on. And, in any case, it is a highly desirable matter that you should know him when you set eyes on him, which we are very far from doing in these days, having convinced ourselves that the graminivorous form of him, with horn and tail, is extant no longer. But in fearful truth, the Presence and Power of Him _is_ here; in the world, with us, and within us, mock as you may; and the fight with him, for the time, sore, and widely unprosperous.
Do not think I am speaking metaphorically or rhetorically, or with any other than literal and earnest meaning of words. Hear me, I pray you, therefore, for a little while, as earnestly as I speak.
52. Every faculty of man's soul, and every instinct of it by which he is meant to live, is exposed to its own special form of corruption: and whether within Man, or in the external world, there is a power or condition of temptation which is perpetually endeavoring to reduce every glory of his soul, and every power of his life, to such corruption as is possible to them. And the more beautiful they are, the more fearful is the death which is attached as a penalty to their degradation.
53. Take, for instance, that which, in its purity, is the source of the highest and purest mortal happiness--Love. Think of it first at its highest--as it may exist in the disciplined spirit of a perfect human creature; as it has so existed again and again, and does always, wherever it truly exists at all, as the _purifying_ pa.s.sion of the soul. I will not speak of the transcendental and imaginative intensity in which it may reign in n.o.ble hearts, as when it inspired the greatest religious poem yet given to men; but take it in its true and quiet purity in any simple lover's heart,--as you have it expressed, for instance, thus, exquisitely, in the 'Angel in the House':--
”And there, with many a blissful tear, I vowed to love and prayed to wed The maiden who had grown so dear;-- Thanked G.o.d, who had set her in my path; And promised, as I hoped to win, I never would sully my faith By the least selfishness or sin; Whatever in her sight I'd seem I'd really be; I ne'er would blend, With my delight in her, a dream 'Twould change her cheek to comprehend; And, if she wished it, would prefer Another's to my own success; And always seek the best for her With unofficious tenderness.”
Take this for the pure type of it in its simplicity; and then think of what corruption this pa.s.sion is capable. I will give you a type of that also, and at your very doors. I cannot refer you to the time when the crime happened; but it was some four or five years ago, near Newcastle, and it has remained always as a ghastly landmark in my mind, owing to the horror of the external circ.u.mstances. The body of the murdered woman was found naked, rolled into a heap of ashes, at the mouth of one of your pits.
54. You have thus two limiting examples, of the Pure Pa.s.sion, and of its corruption. Now, whatever influence it is, without or within us, which has a tendency to degrade the one towards the other, is literally and accurately ”Satanic.” And this treacherous or deceiving spirit is perpetually at work, so that all the worst evil among us is a betrayed or corrupted good. Take religion itself: the desire of finding out G.o.d, and placing one's self in some true son's or servant's relation to Him. The Devil, that is to say, the deceiving spirit within us, or outside of us, mixes up our own vanity with this desire; makes us think that in our love to G.o.d we have established some connection with Him which separates us from our fellow-men, and renders us superior to them. Then it takes but one wave of the Devil's hand; and we are burning them alive for taking the liberty of contradicting us.
55. Take the desire of teaching--the entirely unselfish and n.o.ble instinct for telling to those who are ignorant, the truth we know, and guarding them from the errors we see them in danger of;--there is no n.o.bler, no more constant instinct in honorable b.r.e.a.s.t.s; but let the Devil formalize it, and mix the pride of a profession with it--get foolish people entrusted with the business of instruction, and make their giddy heads giddier by putting them up in pulpits above a submissive crowd--and you have it instantly corrupted into its own reverse; you have an alliance _against_ the light, shrieking at the sun, and the moon, and stars, as profane spectra:--a company of the blind, beseeching those they lead to remain blind also. ”The heavens and the lights that rule them are untrue; the laws of creation are treacherous; the poles of the earth are out of poise. But _we_ are true. Light is in us only. Shut your eyes close and fast, and we will lead you.”
56. Take the desire and faith of mutual help; the virtue of vowed brotherhood for the accomplishment of common purpose, (without which nothing great can be wrought by mult.i.tudinous bands of men); let the Devil put pride of caste into it, and you have a military organization applied for a thousand years to maintain that higher caste in idleness by robbing the laboring poor; let the Devil put a few small personal interests into it, and you have all faithful deliberation on national law rendered impossible in the parliaments of Europe, by the antagonism of parties.
57. Take the instinct for justice, and the natural sense of indignation against crime; let the Devil color it with personal pa.s.sion, and you have a mighty race of true and tender-hearted men living for centuries in such b.l.o.o.d.y feud that every note and word of their national songs is a dirge, and every rock of their hills is a gravestone. Take the love of beauty, and power of imagination, which are the source of every true achievement in art; let the Devil touch them with sensuality, and they are stronger than the sword or the flame to blast the cities where they were born, into ruin without hope. Take the instinct of industry and ardor of commerce, which are meant to be the support and mutual maintenance of man; let the Devil touch them with avarice, and you shall see the avenues of the exchange choked with corpses that have died of famine.
58. Now observe--I leave you to call this deceiving spirit what you like--or to theorize about it as you like. All that I desire you to recognize is the fact of its being here, and the need of its being fought with. If you take the Bible's account of it, or Dante's, or Milton's, you will receive the image of it as a mighty spiritual creature, commanding others, and resisted by others: if you take aeschylus's or Hesiod's account of it, you will hold it for a partly elementary and unconscious adversity of fate, and partly for a group of monstrous spiritual agencies connected with death, and begotten out of the dust; if you take a modern rationalist's, you will accept it for a mere treachery and want of vitality in our own moral nature exposing it to loathsomeness or moral disease, as the body is capable of mortification or leprosy. I do not care what you call it,--whose history you believe of it,--nor what you yourself can imagine about it; the origin, or nature, or name may be as you will, but the deadly reality of the thing is with us, and warring against us, and on our true war with it depends whatever life we can win. Deadly reality, I say. The puff-adder or horned asp is not more real.
Unbelievable,--_those_,--unless you had seen them; no fable could have been coined out of any human brain so dreadful, within its own poor material sphere, as that blue-lipped serpent--working its way sidelong in the sand. As real, but with sting of eternal death--this worm that dies not, and fire that is not quenched, within our souls or around them. Eternal death, I say--sure, that, whatever creed you hold;--if the old Scriptural one, Death of perpetual banishment from before G.o.d's face; if the modern rationalist one, Death Eternal for _us_, instant and unredeemable ending of lives wasted in misery.
This is what this unquestionably present--this, according to his power, _omni_-present--fiend, brings us towards, daily. He is the person to be ”voted” against, my working friend; it is worth something, having a vote against _him_, if you can get it! Which you can, indeed; but not by gift from Cabinet Ministers; you must work warily with your own hands, and drop sweat of heart's blood, before you can record that vote effectually.
Of which more in next letter.