nded, it is in reality
attesting the fact that these dogmas are allegorical in their nature,
and are not to be judged by the standard which reason, taking all things
_sensu proprio_, can alone apply. Now the absurdities of a dogma are
just the mark and sign of what is allegorical and mythical in it. In the
case under consideration, however, the absurdities spring from the fact
that two such heterogeneous doctrines as those of the Old and New
Testaments had to be combined. The great allegory was of gradual growth.
Suggested by external and adventitious circumstances, it was developed
by the interpretation put upon them, an interpretation in quiet touch
with certain deep-lying truths only half realized. The allegory was
finally completed by Augustine, who penetrated deepest into its meaning,
and so was able to conceive it as a systematic whole and supply its
defects. Hence the Augustinian doctrine, confirmed by Luther, is the
complete form of Christianity; and the Protestants of to-day, who take
Revelation _sensu proprio_ and confine it to a single individual, are in
error in looking upon the first beginnings of Christianity as its most
perfect expression. But the bad thing about all religions is that,
instead of being able to confess their allegorical nature, they have to
conceal it; accordingly, they parade their doctrine in all seriousness
as true _sensu proprio_, and as absurdities form an essential part of
these doctrines, you have the great mischief of a continual fraud. And,
what is worse, the day arrives when they are no longer true _sensu
proprio_, and then there is an end of them; so that, in that respect, it
would be better to admit their allegorical nature at once. But the
difficulty is to teach the multitude that something can be both true and
untrue at the same time. And as all religions are in a greater or less
degree of this nature, we must recognize the fact that mankind cannot
get on without a certain amount of absurdity, that absurdity is an
element in its existence, and illusion indispensable; as indeed other
aspects of life testify. I have said that the combination of the Old
Testament with the New gives rise to absurdities. Among the examples
which illustrate what I mean, I may cite the Christian doctrine of
Predestination and Grace, as formulated by Augustine and adopted from
him by Luther; according to which one man is endowed with grace and
another is not. Grace, then, comes to be a privilege receiv