Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 1 1other things which I do not understand, but which religion
bids me believe. But in that case let it be kept outside the
sphere of actual life. In the sphere of actual life, which has,
indeed, its own rights, but also lays upon us great duties
and obligations, in that sphere, if we want to be humane
— Christian, in fact — we must, or ought to, act only upon
convictions justified by reason and experience, which have
been passed through the crucible of analysis; in a word, we
must act rationally, and not as though in dream and deliri-
um, that we may not do harm, that we may not ill-treat and
ruin a man. Then it will be real Christian work, not only
mystic, but rational and philanthropic...’
There was violent applause at this passage from many
parts of the court, but Fetyukovitch waved his hands as
though imploring them to let him finish without inter-
ruption. The court relapsed into silence at once. The orator
went on.
‘Do you suppose, gentlemen, that our children as they
grow up and begin to reason can avoid such questions? No,
they cannot, and we will not impose on them an impossible
restriction. The sight of an unworthy father involuntarily
suggests tormenting questions to a young creature, espe-
cially when he compares him with the excellent fathers of
his companions. The conventional answer to this question
is: ‘He begot you, and you are his flesh and blood, and there-
fore you are bound to love him.’ The youth involuntarily
reflects: ‘But did he love me when he begot me?’ he asks,
wondering more and more. ‘Was it for my sake he begot
me? He did not know me, not even my sex, at that moment,