Das landhaus am Rhein. English by Berthold Auerbach
CHAPTER IV.
THE GOSPEL OF THE RICH YOUNG MAN.
The architect came in the morning for Roland, who was to make, underhis direction, some drawings of the castle-ruins.
Herr Sonnenkamp reminded Eric that he was to visit the priest, and heset out soon after he had seen Fraeulein Perini return from mass. Thepriest's house had a garden in front, and was in silent seclusion inthe village itself silent. If the bell had not rung so loudly, and ifthe two white Pomeranian dogs had not barked so loudly, one would havebelieved that there could be no loud noise in such a well-arrangedestablishment as this appeared to be at the very entrance-hall. Thedogs were silenced, and the housekeeper told Eric, who seemed to beexpected, to go up stairs.
Eric found the ecclesiastic in his sunny, unadorned room, sitting atthe table, and holding in his left hand a book, while his right layupon a terrestrial globe supported upon a low pedestal.
"You catch me in the wide world," said the ecclesiastic, giving Eric acordial welcome, and biding him take a seat upon the sofa, over whichhung a colored print, of St. Borromeo, which was well-meaning enough,but not very beautiful.
A home-like peacefulness was in this room; everything seemed to expressan absence of all pretension and all assumption, and a simple desire topass the hours and the days in quiet meditation. Two canary birds,here, however, in two cages, appeared to entertain a lively desire, asdid the dogs below, to give vent to their feelings. The ecclesiasticcalled to them to be quiet, and they became dumb, as if by magic, andonly looked inquisitively at Eric.
The priest informed him that he was just following out on the globe thejourney of a missionary; and he caused the globe to revolve, whilesaying this, with his delicate right hand.
"Perhaps you are not friendly to the missionary spirit?" he askedimmediately.
"I consider it," Eric replied, "to be the first step in the world'scivilization, and it is a grand thing that the missionaries haveeverywhere spread a knowledge of written language, throughtranslations of a book revered as holy, and in that way have reduced toan organic form, as it were, the inorganic languages of all peoples."
The priest closed the book that lay open before him, folded his handsin a kind of patronising way, that seemed natural to him as theofficial form of consecration, and then placing the tips of the fingersof one hand upon those of the other, he said that he had heard of Ericmany favourable things, and that, from his own experience, he wasprepossessed in favor of those who changed their calling out of someinternal ground of conviction. To be sure, fickleness and restlessness,never at ease in any regular employment, often led to this, but wherethis was not the case, one could predicate a deep fundamental trait ofsincerity.
Eric thanked him, and added that the dignity of any vocation lay not inthe external consideration awarded to it, but in the preservation ofthe purely human inherent in every calling.
"Very just," replied the ecclesiastic, extending one hand, as if with abenignant blessing. "The ecclesiastical vocation is therefore thehighest, because it does not strive after gain, nor enjoyment, norfame, but after that which you--I know not for what reason--call theuniversally human, when it ought simply to be called the divine."
A certain degree of humility, and a reluctance to make any opposition,came over Eric, as he listened to the ecclesiastic setting forth insuch mildly discordant tones the precise point of difference. Itseemed, after every word, as if the sacred peacefulness of the placegained fresh potency; nothing of the world's noise intruded there, andall its busting activity was far away.
The park, and the country-house in the distance over the river, couldbe seen from the window; the ecclesiastic took special notice of Eric'slively interest in the beautiful, quiet view, and remarked,--
"Yes, Herr Sonnenkamp has arranged all that for himself, but the beautyis also our gain. I really never go out of my house, except for someparochial work."
"And do you never feel yourself solitary here in the country?"
"Oh no! I have myself, and my Lord, and God has me. And the world? Ihad in the great city, even, nothing different--my parish, my church,my house--what, besides these, is there, is not there for me."
A reminiscence of his early youthful years was awakened in Eric's soul,and he told the priest that the thought had often presented itself tohim, in the midst of his jolly garrison life, that he had a fitness forthe ecclesiastical vocation, but that he could not devote himself to itwithout a belief in revelation.
"Yes, indeed, one cannot make himself believe, but one can make himselfhumble, and every one can and ought to do that, and then the grace ofbelieving is vouchsafed."
The ecclesiastic announced this as if it were a mathematical axiom, andEric replied in a modest tone,--
"Every man acquires a ground-work of thought and feeling, just as hedoes his mother tongue, by hearing it spoken; and might it not be saidalso, that his soul acquires a language which has no outward sound, butwhich becomes embodied as a religious disposition and habitualtendency, and which, if it is genuine, cannot be interfered with, for,in this primitive stratum, root and soil are one and the same."
"You have studied the Mystics?" asked the ecclesiastic.
"Only partially. I should like to say further, that all faircontroversialists are obliged to agree upon something as unassailable,or undemonstrable."
That holy stillness again possessed the place, where two human beingswere breathing, who desired each in his own way to serve the highest.
"You are at the age," the priest resumed, "when young gentlemen thinkof marriage, and as is the prevailing fashion, marriage with a maidenwho has money,--a great deal of money. You appear so true-hearted, thatI must ask you directly, although I would much rather not, if it istrue that you are a suitor of Fraeulein Sonnenkamp?"
"I?" Eric asked with vehement astonishment. "I?"
"Yes, you."
"I thank you," Eric said in a clear voice, recovering from hisamazement, "I thank you, that you question me so directly. You know Iam not of your church."
"And Fraeulein Sonnenkamp is of our church, and it would be hard--"
"I was not thinking of that," Eric said, interrupting him. "Wonderful,through what tests I must pass! First a supercilious cavalier, then anobleman, then a military officer, then a doctor, and now in thepriestly sieve."
"I do not understand you."
"Ah, truly," began Eric, "and I tell you, I confess to your noble, mildcountenance, and so I acknowledge to you, seeing you before me, that Iadmire the undisturbed unity of your being from which comes theCatholic law of celibacy as a dogma, and I allow myself to claim thatwe have reached the same ideal stand-point. Yes, honored sir, I say tomyself, he who wishes to live for a great idea, whether he is artist,scholar, priest, he can need no family, he must renounce its joys,apart by himself without any hinderance, that he may fulfil his missionin the perpetual service of thought."
"Divisus est! divisus est!" repeated the ecclesiastic. "The holyapostle says that he who has a wife is divided, and he will be yet moredivided, whilst the lot of his children becomes his own. Theecclesiastic has no changes of lot."
A smile passed over the countenance of the priest, as he continued:--
"Only imagine a priest married to a quarrelsome wife--there are alsopeaceable women, gentle and self-sacrificing, and it is certain thatthere are quarrelsome ones too--and now the priest is to mount thepulpit in order to proclaim the word of peace and love, when an hourbefore in dispute and scolding--"
The ecclesiastic suddenly ceased, placed the forefinger of his lefthand on his lips, and bethought himself, that he was wandering from thereal point. Did not Fraeulein Perini inform him that Eric had visitedthe convent before he came to this place? He looked at Eric, who hadled him from the direct inquiry, wondering whether he had done it fromprudence, or whether it was really from excitement. He hoped, indeed,to attain his end in some different way; and, apparently in a verynatural manner, but yet with a lurking
When Eric answered in the affirmative, the ecclesiastic furtherasked:--
"And what do you mean to give him first, and in preference toeverything else?"
"To sum it up in few words," replied Eric, "I wish to give Roland joyin the world. If he has this, he will furnish joy to the world; that isto say, he will desire to benefit it; if I teach him to despise theworld, to undervalue life, he will come to misuse the world and thepowers entrusted to him in it."
"I regret," said the priest in a gentle tone, "that you are not abeliever; you are on the way to salvation, but you turn aside into aby-path. Do you know what riches are? I will tell you. Riches are agreat temptation, yes, perhaps the greatest of our time; riches are aforce in nature, perhaps the most lawless, most untamable, and thehardest to be governed. Riches are a brutal power, for which there isno ruler, except the Almighty Lord; riches are below the brute, for nobrute has any more force than it embodies in itself. Man alone can berich, can have what he is not himself, and what his children cannotconsume. Here is the misery of it! Whoever gains so much of the worldhurts his own soul. I have tried to bring this family and this boy tothis, that they should at least make the acknowledgment, before everymeal, that what they enjoy in such luxurious abundance is only a gift.Do you believe that this boy, conscious of his riches, and this wholefamily, can receive a moral culture except through religion? A prayerbefore one sits down to eat is a meditation, a recollection of the factthat thou hast some one to thank for what thou dost enjoy. This takesout the vainglorious pride, and gives humility instead, and makes onegive, even as he himself has been given to. Only where the fear of Godis, yes, fear, is there also the blissful feeling of His Almightyprotection. On the table of this rich man there is placed, every day, adisplay of sweet-smelling, bright-colored flowers,--what does thatmatter? On the poorest table of the neediest cottager is placed abouquet more beautiful and more fragrant, from the higher realm,through the utterances of prayer; and the soul is filled, and thisfirst makes the filling of the body conduce to its health. But this isonly one thing. Above there, on the Upper Rhine, they call personalproperty movables, and so it is! The riches of the present world arenothing but movables, moving possessions, and they will move away.Believe me," cried the ecclesiastic, laying his hand upon Eric's,"believe me, the public funds are the misfortune of the present age."
"The public funds? I do not understand."
"Yes, it is indeed not so easy to understand. Of whom can one borrowmillions? of no one but the State. If there were no public funds, therewould be no one to lend such great sums; that's the way it is.Formerly, a man could not acquire so many millions, because he couldnot lay out so many millions; but now there are the public funds, andeverybody lives on interest-money, and interest is very properlyforbidden by the canons. See, in old times the rich man had a greatdeal of real estate, many fields and forests, and he was first of alldependent upon God's blessed sun, and when everything in good time hadripened, and lay there in the sight of all, then he gave a tenth partto the church. But now the riches are tucked away in fire-proof,burglar-proof safes, not dependent on sun, not on wind and weather, arenot visible to the world, and have no tenth of the profit to give,--atthe most a trifling discount on the coupons to the banker; the harvestof the bond-holder is the cutting off of coupons; these are the sheavesof his harvest-home. If the Lord should come to-day, he would find notemple from which to drive out the money-changers and traders, theyhave erected for themselves their own temples. Yes, the stronghold ofZion, to-day, to which princes, as well as rich men, make theirpilgrimage and commit themselves to its protection,--it is the Bank ofEngland! Have you ever once thought of this, what is to become ofhumanity; what of States, if this increase of state-debts continues togo on in this way? of course not. The whole earth will be onetremendous mortgage, and mortgaged to whom? to him who lends on longcredit, but who will, some time or other, demand payment. A universalconflagration will come, against which no fireproof vaults will avail,and a deluge, which will wipe out the millions and millions uponmillions of State debts. I am not a man who delights in seeing mischiefdone, but this I would say,--I should like to live to see the Bank ofEngland bankrupt. Only imagine it! At night the news comes. It is allgone. Then will thousands of small men and small women see, for thefirst time, how small they are, when they see themselves at oncestripped of all their trappings, and set down upon the bare earth."
Eric smiled. Every man placed in solitude, without an environment ofequalizing conditions, entertains readily peculiar notions that dartthrough his mind; and he said that the earth would be burdened withgreater debts than it could pay, if it could only find those who wouldadvance the money. But the real possession of humanity was of morevalue than the whole earth could pay for, as its greatest possessionwas its ideal being, its power of working; and while, formerly, allproperty was in the soil, it was just the problem of the modern age tomake available ideal and personal property. He wished further to add,that even among the Romans in the time of the Republic itself, thewealth of individuals was thus enormously excessive; but theecclesiastic, in his great excitement, seemed scarcely listening tohim, went to his book-case, took down a great Bible, and opening to apassage, handed the book to Eric.
"There, just read; that is the only way that Roland can be educated.Read aloud."
Eric complied, and read:--
"And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, andkneeled to him and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I mayinherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him. Why callest thou megood? there is none good but one, that is God. Thou knowest thecommandments,--Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Donot bear false witness, Defraud not, Honor thy father and mother. Andhe answered and said unto him. Master, all these things have I observedfrom, my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him.One thing thou lackest; go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and giveto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, take upthe cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went awaygrieved; for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about,and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have richesenter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at hiswords. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them. Children, howhard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom ofGod! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, thanfor a rich man to enter the kingdom of God!"
"And now stand up and tell me," said the priest, in a trembling voice,"tell me honestly, is not that the one and only method?"
"Honestly, no: I love and revere him of whom this is told, perhaps morethan many a church-believer, and it is particularly affecting to me,and at this moment wonderfully touching is that passage, where it issaid here,--Then Jesus beholding him loved him. I see the handsome richyoung man in the presence of the sublime Master; the young man isglowing and filled with a genuine ardor; then the Master dearly loveshim as he looks into his countenance. However--"
"That is incidental, that is incidental. Speak to the main subject,"the priest interrupted.
"According to my view of the subject," Eric replied, "I must own that Iconsider this teaching to have been given at a time when all actualmight, the power of the State, riches, and all the good things of life,were contemned, and when they were obliged to reject everything whichhad no reference to their purely ideal view. That could alone maintainthe uprightness of noble souls in a time of oppression under foreignrule; and this teaching could have been given at a time only, and by asoul, which sees all that is worth living for vanishing away, whichbuilds up a new creation, and in which pure thought has entire sway.But if each one gives away, and gives away continually, who is there inthat case to be the recipient? And why is it that this doctrine, thatno one is to possess anything, has not become a command of the Church?"
"I am
"I ask," interposed Eric, "is the teaching of revelation, which isamply sufficient for the purely spiritual, sufficient also for theworldly? In the course of the development of humanity do not new socialconditions establish themselves in the world, as out of nature newforces, steam, electricity--"
"Man," replied the priest, "is always the same from eternity toeternity, the citizen only changes. But I see now, you are lettingyourself be guided into the right path. I do not desire--the rich manhimself did not desire it--that the boy shall be perfect, and thereforethe command to sell his possessions is not applicable to him. I onlysay to you, you will not be able to educate this boy unless you givehim positive religion. The brute does all he has power to do; with itthere is no word 'ought;' but man does not do all that he has power todo. Simply to do that for which one has the strength, or, yet moreproperly, the inclination, and to do everything purely frominclination, that is not the human; the human begins there where onetramples his inclination under foot, and does what God's law commands.Were every one to act according to his inclination, then should we besure, at no time, what would become of humanity. The law of God holdsit together, and holds it erect. Here is the significance of the law ofGod, here begins the fall, which the gentlemen of natural science havenever got over. The animal has urgent impulses; man can voluntarilyawaken impulse, excite it, goad it, multiply it; where is there a limithere, except in God's law? I am not speaking of any Church. You have,so much I know, busied yourself chiefly with history?"
"Not so particularly."
"Well, you know this much: no people, no State, can be free, at leastwe have no historical instance to the contrary, no people, no State,can be free without a positive Church; there must be somethingimmovably fixed, and at this very day the Americans are free, onlybecause they subject themselves to religion."
"Or, rather, enfranchise it," Eric interposed, without being heard.
The priest continued:--
"I think that you desire to make a free man of this youth. We also lovefree men, we want free men, but there can be no free men without apositive religion, and, in truth, without one requiring a strict, legalobedience. The highest result of education is equanimity--note itwell--equanimity. Can your world-wisdom produce a harmony of all thetendencies and dispositions of the soul, a quietude of the spirit, astate of self-renunciation, because our whole life is one continual actof self-sacrifice? If you can produce the same result as religion,then, justified by the result, you agree with us. For my own part, Idoubt whether you can; and we wait for the proof, which you have yet togive, while we have furnished it now for a thousand years, and stilldaily furnish it."
"Religion," replied Eric, "is a concomitant of civilization; but it isnot the whole of civilization, and this is the distinction between usand the ecclesiastics. But we are not to blame for the oppositionbetween science and religion."
"Science," interposed the priest, "has nothing to do with the eternallife. Although one has electric telegraphs and sewing machines, thathas no relation to the eternal life. This eternal life is given only byreligion, and its essence remains the same, no matter how manythousand, and thousand upon thousand, inventions he may devise in hisfinite existence."
Eric inquired now in a diffident tone,--
"But how can the Church itself possess riches?"
"The Church does not possess, it only administers," the priest sharplyanswered.
"I think that we are getting too far away from the point," Eric said,coming back to the subject. "As we cannot expect that Herr Sonnenkampand his son Roland will give away all their property, the questionreturns, how shall we get the right hold?"
"Precisely so," cried the ecclesiastic, suddenly standing up, andwalking with long strides up and down the room. "Precisely so; now arewe on the very point. Hear me attentively. Observe well, there issomething new started in the world, a still more homeless condition yetin the higher moral order, and that is the moneyed aristocracy. Youlook at me in amazement."
"Not amazed, but expecting what will come next."
"Very right. This moneyed aristocracy stands between the nobility andthe people, and I ask what it is to do? Must not a rich young man ofthe middle-class, like Roland, thrown into the whirlpool of life, beinevitably ingulfed?"
"Why he," asked Eric, "any more than the noble youth in the civil or inthe military service? Do you suppose that religion saves them fromdestruction?"
"No, but something positive of a different kind; the historictraditions of the nobility save them. The man of the nobility has thegood fortune to complete the preliminary period of youthful training,with the least amount of detriment. He afterwards retires to hisestates, becomes a worthy husband, and respectably maintains hisposition; and, even in the city, in the midst of the mad whirl, hisposition in regard to the court, and to the higher class in thecommunity, keeps him within prescribed limits. But what does the richyoung man of the middle-class have? He has no honorable rank, no socialobligation, at least none of any stringency."
"Then it would be, perhaps, the greatest piece of good fortune toRoland, if his father could be ennobled?"
"I cannot say," replied the priest. He was vexed that he had allowedhimself to be drawn so near to the subject of a very confidentialconversation with Sonnenkamp a short time previous to this. "I cannotsay," he repeated, adding besides, "If one could be ennobled withseventeen descents, it might be well; but a new noble--let us say nomore of this. I desired to say, that the nobleman has honor,traditionary, inherited obligation; the nobleman has established andhas to maintain the maxim, 'noblesse oblige,' 'nobility requires.' Whatgreat maxim have riches established? The most brutal of all maxims, oneutterly bestial. And do you know what it is?"
"I don't know what you refer to."
"The maxim which this pursuit of gain sets up as its highest is, 'Helpthyself.' The beast does that, every one helps himself. Riches thusstand between nobility and people; they occupy that morally homelessposition, without a recognized obligation, between nobility and people.I understand by people, not only those who labor with the hands, butalso the men of science, of art, and even of the church. The peoplehave work; this moneyed class does not wish for honor, and only wantslabor so far as it can have others labor for it, and appropriate toitself the product of their labor. What does it want? gold. What doesit want to do with the gold? procure enjoyment. Who guarantees this?the State. What does it do for the State? There's the whole question!Have you any answer?"
Eric's lips trembled, and he replied:--
"If the nobility feels itself obliged and entitled to assume theleadership in the army for war, then are the young men of wealth tofeel themselves called to become leaders in the army of peace; and theyare to make good their position to the community, to their own circle,and to their fellows, serving without compensation, and activelyengaged in entire subjection to authority, as a protection of the wholeState, and a sacrifice in all works of beneficence."
"Stop!" cried the priest; "the last is our work. You will never be ableto organize that without religion; you will never be able to effect,that people, out of their opulence, out of their luxury, or, as youwould denominate it, out of purely humane emotions, shall visit thedying in the huts of the poor, the helpless, the sick, and theabandoned."
As if the ecclesiastic had invoked this high duty of his office, thesacristan now came, and said that an old vine-dresser desired extremeunction. The priest was speedily ready, and Eric departed.
When he came out into the road, and breathed the fresh air, he felt itsinfluence anew. Did he not come out of the atmosphere of incense? No,here was more; here was a mighty power, which placed itself face toface with the great riddle of existence.
Eric sauntered away, lost in thought,
And can what comes out of your own cognition become a part of thecognition of another?
Eric stood still, and the thought that he would educate himself whileeducating another made his cheeks glow; the youth should acquireknowledge from himself; for what is all culture which must be impartedfrom one to another? nothing but help and guidance to him who has aself-moving power.
Half way up the mountain, Eric stopped at the road which led to theMajor's. He looked down at the villa which bore the proud name of Eden,and the Bible story came to his memory. In the garden are two trees,the tree of life in the midst, and the tree of knowledge of good andevil; Eden is lost for him who eats of the tree of knowledge. Is it notalways so?
Like a revelation the thought came to him, There are three things givento man upon earth,--enjoyment, renunciation, and knowledge.
Sonnenkamp yonder--what does he wish for himself and his son?enjoyment. The world is a spread table, and man has only to learn tofind the right means and the right measure of enjoyment. The earth is aplace of pleasure, and brings forth its fruits that we may delightourselves therewith. Have we no other calling than to drive, to eat, todrink, and to sleep, and then to eat, drink, sleep, and drive again;and is the sun to shine just for this?
What does the priest want? renunciation. This world has nothing tooffer, its enjoyments are only an illusive show, which tempt you hitherand thither, therefore turn away from them.
And what do you desire? And what ought those to desire whom you wish tomake like yourself? knowledge. For life is not divided into enjoymentand renunciation, and knowledge rather includes both in itself,--is thesynthesis of both. It is the mother of duty and of all beautiful deeds.
In the old times, the combatants received out of an immeasurable heighta protecting shield from the hands of the gods; Eric received noshield, and yet he felt that he was concealed from and protectedagainst all foes, and he was so happy in himself that he felt no desirefor any human being, no desire for anything beside; he was upborne bythe wings of knowledge.
He went yet farther on in the way. Peaceful, and enjoying an internalsatisfaction, he came to the Major's in the next village. He knew thathere he should have to stand no examination.