PRAYER.--On two hypotheses alone is there any sense in prayer, that not quite extinct custom of olden times. It would have to be possible either to fix or alter the will of the godhead, and the devotee would have to know best himself what he needs and should really desire. Both hypotheses, axiomatic and traditional in all other religions, are denied by Christianity. If Christianity nevertheless maintained prayer side by side with its belief in the all-wise and all-provident divine reason (a belief that makes prayer really senseless and even blasphemous), it showed here once more its admirable "wisdom of the serpent." For an outspoken command, "Thou shalt not pray," would have led Christians by way of boredom to the denial of Christianity. In the Christian _ora et labora ora_ plays the rôle of pleasure. Without _ora_ what could those unlucky saints who renounced _labora_ have done? But to have a chat with God, to ask him for all kinds of pleasant things, to feel a slight amusement at one's own folly in still having any wishes at all, in spite of so excellent a father--all that was an admirable invention for saints.
A HOLY LIE.--The lie that was on Arria's lips when she died (_Paete, non dolet_(19)) obscures all the truths that have ever been uttered by the dying. It is the only holy _lie_ that has become famous, whereas elsewhere the odour of sanctity has clung only to _errors_.
THE MOST NECESSARY APOSTLE.--Among twelve apostles one must always be hard as stone, in order that upon him the new church may be built.
WHICH IS MORE TRANSITORY, THE BODY OR THE SPIRIT?--In legal, moral, and religious institutions the external and concrete elements--in other words, rites, gestures, and ceremonies--are the most permanent. They are the body to which a new spirit is constantly being superadded. The cult, like an unchangeable text, is ever interpreted anew. Concepts and emotions are fluid, customs are solid.
THE BELIEF IN DISEASE _QUA_ DISEASE.--Christianity first painted the devil on the wall of the world. Christianity first brought the idea of sin into the world. The belief in the remedies, which is offered as an antidote, has gradually been shaken to its very foundations. But the belief in the disease, which Christianity has taught and propagated, still exists.