When he lives comfortable the so-called eternal life con-
cerns him very little. He only believes in God and fears
^iim in the hour of supreme cowardice, when death



THE SHADOW OF THE CATHEDRAL 231

opens before him the bottomless pit of nothingness, and
his pride as a rational animal revolts against the com-
plete extinction of his being. He wishes his soul to be
immortal, and so he accepts the religious phantasies of
heaven and hell. The Church, fearing the irreligiousness
of health, has occupied, as you say, all the avenues of
life, so that no man shall accustom himself to live with-
out her, appealing solely to her in the hour of death.
The dead provide much money, they are her best asset ;
but she wishes equally to reign over the living. Nothing
escapes her despotism and her spying. She insinuates
herself into all human concerns from the greatest to the
most insignificant, she interferes in both public and
private life ; she baptizes the child when it comes into the
world, accompanies the child to school, monopolises love,
declaring it shameful and abominable if it does not sub-
mit to her benediction, and divides the earth into two
categories — the consecrated, for those who die ¡n her
bosom, and the dunghill in the open air for the heretic.
