WHAT IS RELIGION? 301
merits of the teaching itself. (' If any man willeth to do his will_, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak from myself/) And, above all, Christianity proclaims the equality of men, no longer merely as a deduction from man^s relation to the infinite, but as a basic doctrine of the brotherhood of all men, resulting from their being acknowledged as sons of God.
It seems, therefore, as though it should have been impossible to pervert Christianity so as to destroy the consciousness of equality among men. But the human mind is subtle, and (perhaps unconsciously or semi- consciously) a quite new dodge was devised to make the warnings contained in the Gospels, and this plain pronouncement of equality among men, inoperative. This dodge consisted in attributing infallibility not only to certain writings, but also to a certain set of men called The Church, who have a right to hand on this infallibility to people they themselves select.
A slight addition to the Gospels was invented, telling how Christ, when about to go up into the sky, handed over to certain men the exclusive right — not merely to teach others divine truth (according to the literal text of the Gospel he bequeathed at the same time the right, not generally utilized, of being invulnerable by snakes, or poisons)"^ — but also to decide which people should be saved or the reverse, and, above all, to confer this power on others. And the result was that as soon as this idea of a Church was firmly established, aU the Gospel warnings hindering the perversion of Christ^s teaching became inoperative, for the Church was superior both to reason and to the writings esteemed sacred. Reason was acknowledged to be the source of errors, and the Gospels were explained not as common- sense demanded, but as suited those who constituted the Church.
- ' Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel. ...
And these signs shall follow them that believe ; in my name . . . they shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them.' — Mark svi. 15-18.
