Volume II Part 19 (1/2)
”Go on, Babbalanja,” said Media ”Of course those nations could not have resisted their doom Go on, then: vault over your premises”
”If it be, then, my lord, that--”
”My very worshi+pful lord,” interposed Mohi, ”is not our philosopher getting off soundings; and s?”
”Were it so, oldreat Gods thes”
”No, reat Gods to discourse of things perfectly comprehended by them, and by themselves ordained But you and I, Yoomy, are men, and not Gods; hence is it for us, and not for thes for our theht use of our reason, whatever the issue
Smote with superstition, shall we let it wither and die out, a dead, limb to a live trunk, as the mad devotee's arm held up motionless for years? Or shall we employ it but for a paw, to help us to our bodily needs, as the brutes use their instinct? Is not reason subtile as quicksilver--live as lightning--a neighing charger to advance, but a snail to recede? Can we starve that noble instinct in us, and hope that it will survive? Better slay the body than the soul; and if it be the direst of sins to be the murderers of our own bodies, how els And in his faculties, high Oro is but what a s Are we babes in the woods, to be scared by the shadows of the trees? What shall appall us? If eagles gaze at the sun, may not aze at me freely Gaze on But talk not of uo back then, ranted, that in times past the future was foreknown of Oro; hence, in times past, the future s Oro is immutable Wherefore our own future is foreknown and foreordained
Now, if things foreordained concerning nations have in ti place, then so individualThat is to say, out of all the events destined to befall any one e of soht supernaturally come to him Say, then, it is revealed to me, that ten days hence I shall, of my own choice, fall upon my javelin; when the tiest presurant that, unforewarned, I would slay ht at the time appointed: yet, foretold of it, and resolved to test the decree to the uttermost, under such circumstances, I say, would it be possible for me not to killabsolute; and Heaven is wise to keep secret from us those decrees, whose virtue consists in secrecy But if not possible, then that suicide would not be mine, but Oro's And, by consequence, not only that act, but all my acts, are Oro's In sum, my lord, he who believes that in times past, prophets have prophesied, and their prophecies have been fulfilled; when put to it, inevitably ”
”In sooth, a very fine arguued,” said Media ”You have done marvels, Babbalanja But hark ye, were I so disposed, I could deny you all over, preent philosopher, had you published that anarchical dog my subjects in Oro, I had silenced you by er”
”Then, all thanks and all honor to your generosity,us the ie But, my lord, permit me one word more Is not Oro omnipresent--absolutely every where?”
”So you mortals teach, Babbalanja”
”But so do they _es, yet truly apply not their s”
”Well, Oro is every where What now?”
”Then, if that be absolutely so, Oro is not merely a universal on- looker, but occupies and fills all space; and no vacancy is left for any being, or any thing but Oro Hence, Oro is _in_ all things, and his--the tis, then he can not be perfectly good; wherefore, Oro's omnipresence and moral perfection seem incompatible
Furthermore, hty and universal attributes every way, those systems, I say, destroy all intellectual individualities but Oro, and resolve the universe into him But this is a heresy; wherefore, orthodoxy and heresy are one And thus is it, ree and disagree together, and kill each other eapons that burst in our hands Ah, my lord, hat mind must blessed Oro look down upon this scene! Think you he discriminates between the deist and atheist? Nay; for the Searcher of the cores of all hearts well knoweth that atheists there are none For in things abstract, men but differ in the sounds that co at the bottos
The universe is all of onesun in heaven at noon-day, that Oro is not; yet would he belie the thing he intended to express And who lives that blaspheon of human sounds so puissant as to insult the unutterableof Mardi?-- Oro's conscience in n- , or far worse, the social persecutions we institute in his behalf? Ah! how shall these self-assuerents be astounded, when they shall see all heaven peopled with heretics and heathens, and all hell nodding over with miters! Ah! let us Mardians quit this insanity Let us be content with the theology in the grass and the flower, in seed- tih for us to know that Oro indubitably is
My lord! my lord! sick with the spectacle of the madness of men, and broken with spontaneous doubts, I sos in all Mardi to believe:--that I myself exist, and that I can hteousness All else is in the clouds; and naught else may I learn, till the firmament be split fro froain,” whispered Yoomy
”Why, Babbalanja,” said Media, ”I almost pity you You are too wars? To no use you et for your earnestness
You yourself you harm most Why not take creeds as they come? It is not so hard to be persuaded; never ”
”True, my lord; not very hard; no act is required; only passiveness