von Moltke, Helmuth

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756 THE OPEN COURT.credere, ac specimen securitatis antigene tali sumere experimento."Our insensibility before the composition of the body, seems tonatural reason a proof of a like state after dissolution.—Were ourhorrors of annihilation an original passion, not the effect of ourgeneral love of happiness, it would rather prove the mortality ofthe soul. For as nature does nothing in vain, she would never giveus a horror against an impossible event. She may give us a horroragainst an unavoidable event, provided our endeavours, as in thepresent case, may often remove it to some distance. Death is inthe end unavoidable;yet the human species could not be preservedhad not nature inspired us with an aversion towards it. All doc-trines are to be suspected which are favoured by our passions, andthe hopes and fears which gave rise to this doctrine are very obvious.'Tis an infinite advantage in every controversy to defend thenegative. If the question be out of the common experienced courseof nature, this circumstance is almost if not altogether decisive.By what arguments or analogies can we prove any state of existence,which no one ever saw, and which no way resembles any that everwas seen? Who will repose such trust in any pretended philosophyas to admit upon its testimony the reality of so marvellous a scene?Some new species of logic is requisite for that purpose, and somenew faculties of the mind, that may enable us to comprehend thatlogic.Nothing could set in a fuller light the infinite obligations whichmankind have to divine revelation, since we find that no othermedium could ascertain this great and important truth.CONSOLING THOUGHTS ON EARTHLY EXLST-ENCE AND CONFIDENCE IN ANETERNAL LIFE.^BY hp:lmuth von moltke.[In connection with a discussion of thoughts on man's destiny after life,it will be interesting to our readers to see what a famous German generalthought about death. Moltke, a man characterized as the Schlachtendenker,pondered on the religious problems of life and death more than we may haveexpected, and we see that the problem moved him deeply. Off and on through-out his life he worked at notes for a little sketch which is commonly known ashis Trostgedanken, and there are extant no less than three distinct but verysimilar manuscripts of it written in his own hand. All three have been pub-lished in his collected works (Berlin: Mittler & Son, Vol. I) thus enabling1 Translated by Lydia G. Robinson.CONSOLING THOUGHTS ON EARTHLY EXISTENCE, 757readers to compare them. As a basis of our translation we utilize the last one.dated at Creisau in October 1890, which incorporates all important passages ofthe first two. It has been more worked up and polished than they but containsno note that does not accord with the former conceptions.Moltke is a conservative thinker, but after all a thinker, and it is strangeto observe how his preference for rationalism makes him linger with sympathyon the fate of the Arian sect, and when he justifies his confidence in a con-scious life he adds : "Whether this is to be desired is another question." Con-sidering his arguments we might say that they are equally applicable to abroader interpretation in conceiving man not as an isolated individual but as alink in a chain where we must look upon the whole evolution of life on earthas a unity. But we do not mean either to interpret or criticize the thoughtsof a great man; we wish simply to present his views and let him speak forhimself.—Editor.]MAN feels that he is a completed whole, isolated from the restof the world, and externally separated from it by the corporealenvelopment which serves here on earth as the dwelling of the soul.Nevertheless I would fain recognize functions in this wholewhich, though closely united with the soul and dominated by it, havestill an independent existence.From the obscurity of our origin the body is developed firstof all. Its nature works indefatigably in the growth of the child,and in him prepares the dwelling for higher organs. The bodyreaches the summit of its perfection before half of its existence ispast and from the surplus of its power it awakens new life ; fromthat time on decline and nothing more, except the painful effort topreserve its own continuance.For perhaps one-third of our existence during sleep the bodyreceives no commands from its mistress and yet the heart beats onwithout interruption, the constituents undergo chemical change andthe breathing process is performed—all without our will.The activity of the servant, however, can show resistance evenagainst this, for instance when a cramp painfully contracts ourmuscles. But the pain is the call for help and assistance when theliving bodily function has lost control over lifeless matter whichwe experience as illness of our vassal.After all we must recognize the body, to be sure, as one partof our being, but yet as something apart from ourselves.At least, is the soul, the particular ego, a single inseparablewhole ?By a slow unfolding, reason rises to constantly greater perfec-tion clear up to old age, as long as the body does not forsake it.Capacity for judgment grows with the fulness of life's experience,758 THE OPEN COURT.but of course memory, that handmaid of thought, vanishes earlier,or rather loses the ability to take up anything new. Strange enoughis this ability to store away everything which has become our ownsince earliest youth—everything we have learned or experienced—into a thousand drawers which open to the spirit at a moment'snotice!It cannot be denied that old age often seems dull of wit, butI cannot believe in an actual obscuration of reason, for it is a brightbeam of the divine and even in insanity the error is only external.Yet a deaf man who strikes notes that are quite correct on aninstrument entirely out of tune must himself be conscious of thecorrect chord while all around him hear only confused discords.Reason is supreme sovereign ; it recognizes no authority aboveit. No superior force, not even we ourselves, can compel it toaccept as wrong what it has recognized to be true.E pur si muove!The thinking soul strays through boundless distances of shiningstars ; it casts the plummet out into the unfathomable depths of thesmallest life; nowhere does it find limits, but everywhere law, thedirect expression of divine thougljt.A stone falls upon Sirius in accord with the same law of gravi-tation as upon the earth ; the distance between the planets and thechemical composition of the elements are based upon arithmeticalrelations, and everywhere the same causes yield the same effects.Nowhere is there caprice in nature, everywhere law.To be sure reason cannot discover the origin of things, but itnever contradicts the law which directs everything. Reason andnatural law are conformable ; they must have the same origin.Even if the imperfection of all creation leads reason on a pathwhich deviates from the truth, nevertheless truth is its only goal.So of course reason is often in contradiction to many venerabletraditions. It struggles against miracle, "the favorite child of faith";it cannot be persuaded that omnipotence could have needed to ab-rogate in individual cases the laws of nature which hold eternally,in order to attain its purpose. Yet the doubts that arise are notagainst religion but only against the form in which it is presentedto us.Christianity has elevated the world from barbarism to civiliza-tion. In a century of endeavor it has abolished slavery, enobledlabor, emancipated woman, and directed the glance toward eternity.But was it the doctrine of faith, the dogma, which brought thisblessing? One can inform oneself about everything except thoseCONSOLING THOUGHTS ON EARTHLY EXLSTENCE. 759matters to which human capacity for thought cannot reach and itis over just such concepts that men have contended for eighteencenturies, have desolated the world from the time of the extermina-tion of the Arians through disturbances like the Thirty Years' Wardown to the stake-burnings of the inquisition; and what is the endof all these wars? The same divided opinion as before!We may accept the creeds as one accepts the assurance of atrue friend without putting it to the proof, but the kernel of allreligions is the system of morality they teach, of which the Chris-tian is the purest and most exhaustive.And yet people speak of a dry morality with a shrug of theshoulders, and regard the form in which it is given as the mainthing. I am afraid that the zealous priest in the pulpit who per-suades where he cannot convince, preaches Christians out of thechurches.In general ought not every pious prayer, whether addressed toBuddha or Allah or Yahveh, reach the same God beside whom thereis none other? The mother hears her child's request in whateverlanguage he babbles her name.Reason does not contradict morality at any point ; in the finalaccount the good is the reasonable, but to act according to it doesnot rest with reason. Here it is the controlling soul which decides,the soul of sentiment, our willing and doing. To reason aloneand not to its two vassals God has given the two-edged sword offree will, that gift which according to scripture leads to bliss ordamnation.But a safe counsellor is also given us. Independent of us hereceives his authority from God himself. Conscience is the incor-ruptible and infallible judge that pronounces sentence at everymoment when we will listen and whose voice finally reaches eventhe one who pays no heed to it. no matter how greatly he strivesagainst it.The laws which human society has made for itself bring onlyacts before its judgment seat, not thoughts and sentiments. Eventhe various religions make difl^erent demands on different peoples.They demand here the sacred observance of Sunday but in otherplaces of Saturday or Friday. One religion permits enjoymentswhich another forbids. Moreover there is always a wide spacebetween what is allowed and what is forbidden, and here conscienceraises its voice with delicacy of feeling. It tells us that every dayought to be consecrated to the Lord, that even the lawful tributelevied by oppression is unjust ; in short, it preaches that morality760 THE OPEN COURT.which is within the breast ahke of Christians and Jews, of pagansand savages. For even in the most unciviHzed peoples whom Chris-tianity has not enlightened the fundamental ideas of good and evilare consistent. Even they recognize breach of faith and falsehood,treachery and ingratitude as evil; even to them the bond betweenparents, children and relatives is a sacred one.It is hard to believe in the universal depravity of the humanrace, for however it may be obscured by crudeness and illusion yetin every human breast the germ of good reposes, the sense of whatis noble and beautiful, and conscience has its dwelling there, point-ing out the right path. Is there any more convincing proof of theexistence of God than this feeling for right and wrong which iscommon to all, than the consistency of one law dominating themoral world as well as the physical ; except that nature follows thislaw unconditionally whereas man because he is free has been giventhe possibility to violate it.Body and reason serve the governing soul, but they also maketheir own independent demands; both are determining factors, andso man's life becomes a constant battle with himself. If the voiceof conscience does not always determine the decision of the souloppressed in so many directions by external and internal conflict,we must still hope that the Lord who created us imperfect will notdemand perfection of us.For how many things rush upon us in our activities, how dif-ferent are original natural dispositions, how unequal are educationand position in life! It is easy for fortune's favorite to keep to theright path almost without meeting temptation—at least not to crime;on the other hand it is a hard matter for the starving untutoredman assailed by passion. All of this must weigh heavily in thebalance in weighing guilt and innocence at the final judgment, andthus mercy becomes justice, two concepts which would otherwisebe mutually exclusive.It is harder to think of nothing than of something, especiallywhen this something already exists ; harder to conceive of ceasingto be than of continued existence. It is not possible that this earthlylife can be a final purpose. We did not ask for it ; it was givento us, laid upon us. We must have a higher destination than con-stantly to renew the course of this wretched existence. Are theriddles which surround us never to be solved, to whose solutionthe best of mankind have devoted their lives? Of what use arethe thousand threads of love and friendship which bind us to theA MOSLEM EDITION OF THE KORAN. 761present and the past if there is no future, if everything ceases withdeath ?But what can we take over into this future?The functions of our earthly garment, the body, have ceased;the substances which were constantly changing even during our hfe-time enter into new chemical combinations, and the earth retainswhat belongs to it. Not the smallest particle goes astray. Scrip-ture promises us the resurrection of a transfigured body, and ofcourse a separate existence without limitation is not to be considered ;yet by this promise we are probably to understand the persistence ofpersonality as opposed to pantheism.We are entitled to hope that reason and with it everythingwhich we have painfully acquired in the way of knowledge and wis-dom will accompany us into eternity, perhaps even the memory ofour earthly life. Whether this is to be desired is another question.What if our whole life, our thoughts and acts, would be spreadout before us and we ourselves would become our own judges, in-corruptible, merciless ?But above all affection must remain, an attribute of the soulif it is immortal. Friendship is based upon reciprocity, and reasonhas much to do with it, but love can exist without responsive love.It is the purest, the divine flame of our being.Now scripture tells us that above everything else we shouldlove God, an invisible and wholly incomprehensible being bestowingupon us joy and happiness but also privation and pain. How canwe do it except as we follow his commands and love our fellowmen whom we see and understand?If, as the Apostle Paul tells us, faith shall be turned to knowl-edge and hope to fulfilment and only love will persist, then we mayalso hope to meet the love of a lenient judge.A MOSLEM EDITION OF THE KORAN.BY THE EDITOR.ANEW translation of the Koran into English is being preparedby a number of modern well-educated adherents of Islam inIndia, and the first part of it in the shape of an unbound brochureof 118 pages lies before us. Thirty such parts are intended tomake the whole, and the editors are prompted not by mercantile

Consoling Thoughts on Earthly Existence and Confidence in an Eternal Life.

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Consoling Thoughts on Earthly Existence and Confidence in an Eternal Life.

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