They said, “Let’s go capture the city, drive out its inhabitants, and
loot their possessions.”
They came closer to the city, but there was a wall around it, with
angel guards on the wall. So they said, “Let’s use deceit to capture it. Let’s
send in someone who is skilled in double-talk, who can whiten what is
black, blacken what is white, and color the reality of any subject.”
They managed to find someone who was an expert in theoretical phi-
losophy. He could turn concepts based on reality into mere terminology,
hide realities behind formulas, and then fly away like a hawk with its
prey beneath its wings. They taught him how he should address the peo-
ple in the city. He should say that his companions were the citizens’ allies
in religion and should be allowed in.
He came to the gate of the city and knocked. When the gate opened,
he said that he wanted to speak to the wisest person in the city. He was
allowed to enter and was taken to someone in the city.
In speaking to the wise person, he said, “My people are outside the
city. They are asking to be let in. They are your allies in religion. Both
you and we consider faith and goodwill the two essentials of religion.
The only difference between us is that you say goodwill is primary and
faith comes from it, while we say faith is primary and goodwill comes
from it. What difference does it make if this or that is labeled primary, as
long as we all believe in them both?”
[ 5 ] The wise person from the city replied, “You and I shouldn’t dis-
cuss this alone. We should discuss it before a number of people acting as
referees and judges. Otherwise we couldn’t come to a decision.”
Soon the referees and judges were summoned, and the dragon spirit
addressed them using much the same language he had used before.
Then the wise man from the city replied, “You have stated that it makes
no difference whether goodwill or faith is taken to be primary in the
church as long as there is agreement that both constitute the church and
its religion.
“But it does make a difference—as much of a difference as there is
between what is prior and what is posterior, between cause and effect,
between something principal and something instrumental, and between
something essential and something merely formal. I frame it in these
philosophical terms because I am aware that you are an expert in the the-
oretical philosophy that we call ‘double-talk’ and others call ‘incantation.’
“But let’s leave philosophical terminology aside. There is as much
difference between considering faith primary and considering goodwill
singke
(singke)
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