That the crime of Christendom is comparable to that of wishing to obtain stealthily an inheritance to which one is not entitled
August 24.
A man dies and leaves his whole fortune to an heir — but there is a condition, something which is required of the heir; and this the heir does not like. What then does he do? He takes possession of the property bequeathed to him (for he is indeed the heir, says he) and says good -day to the obligation.
This, as everybody knows, is dishonesty ; it is a lie, that without more ado he is heir to the whole fortune; he is heir only upon the condition of assuming the obligation, otherwise he is no more heir than any other man whatsoever.
So it is with "Christendom." If you will, it is devised to mankind by the Testament of the Saviour of the world; but in the case of Christianity the situation is this: the gift and the obligation correspond to one another in an exact proportion. In the same degree that Christianity is a gift it is also an obligation.
The knavish trick of "Christendom" is to take the gift and say goodday to the obligation, to want to be heir to the gift, but without assuming the obligation, to want to make it appear that mankind is indeed the heir, whereas the truth is that only by performing the obligation is mankind, or rather (for precisely because it is an obligation, such an abstraction as mankind can only in an extremely figurative sense be called the heir) I would say that every single individual of mankind is the heir.
However, hypocritical as everything is with "Christendom," they have made it appear as if Christendom too did maintain that Christianity is an obligation — one has to be baptized. Ah! That is making confoundedly short work of obligation! A drop of water on the head of an infant, in the name of the Trinity — that is obligation!
No, the obligation is: the imitation of Jesus Christ.
However, if this has to be included, if the gift and the obligation are to be in an equal proportion to one another, then "mankind" declines Christianity with thanks, then there is nothing for it but to resort to falsification...and so you have "Christendom," the crime of which is: wishing to obtain underhand an inheritance to which it is not entitled.