(No. VII, 6)
Pricks of conscience (insofar as they may be assumed in this
connection)--pricks of conscience seem to have convinced "Christendom"
that it was, after all, going too far, and that it would not do--this
beastly farce of becoming a Christian by the simple method of
letting a royal official give the infant a sprinkle of water over
his head, which is the occasion for a family gathering with a
banquet to celebrate the day.
This won't do, was the opinion of "Christendom," for the opportunity
ought to be given the baptized individual to indorse personally his
baptismal vows.
For this purpose the rite of confirmation was devised--a splendid
invention, providing we take two things for granted: in the first
place, that the idea of divine worship is to make God ridiculous;
and in the second place, that its purpose is to give occasion
for family celebrations, parties, a jolly evening, a banquet which
is different from other banquets in that it--ah, exquisite--in
that it, "at the same time" has a religious significance.
"The tender child," thus Christendom, "can of course not assume
the baptismal vow personally, for this requires a real personality."
Consequently there was chosen--is this a stroke of genius or
just ingenious?--there was chosen the age of 14 or 15 year's,
the schoolboy age. This real personality--that is all right,
if you please--he is equal to the task of personally assuming
responsibility for the baptismal vow taken in behalf of the infant.
A boy of fifteen! Now, if it were a matter of 10 dollars, his
father would probably say: "No, my boy, I can't let you have
all that money, you are still too green for that." But for a
matter touching his eternal salvation where the point is to
assume, with all the seriousness one's personality is capable
of, and as a personality, responsibility for what certainly
could not in any profounder sense be called serious--when a
child is bound by a vow: for that the age of fifteen is excellently
fitting.
Excellently fitting. Oh yes if, as was remarked above, divine
worship serves a double purpose, viz., to render God ridiculous
in a very adroit manner--if you may call it so--and to furnish
the occasion for graceful family celebrations. In that case it
is indeed excellently fitting, as everything is on that occasion;
as is, likewise, the customary biblical lesson for the day which,
you will remember, begins: "Then the same day at evening, when
the doors were shut[9]"--and this text is particularly suitable
to a Confirmation Sunday. One is truly edified when hearing a
clergyman read it on a Confirmation Sunday.
As is easily perceived, then, the confirmation ceremony is still
worse nonsense than the baptism of infants, just because confirmation
pretends to supply what was lacking at the baptism, viz., a real
personality capable of making a vow in a matter touching one's
eternal salvation. In another sense this nonsense is, to be
sure, ingenious enough, as serving the self-interest of the
clergy who understand full well that if the decision concerning
a man's religion were reserved until he had reached maturity
(which were the only Christian, as well as the only sensible,
way), many might possess character enough to refuse to become
Christians by an act of hypocrisy. For this reason "the clergyman"
seeks to gain control of men in their infancy and their youth,
so that they would find it difficult, upon reaching a more mature
age, to break a "sacred" vow dating, to be sure, from one's
boyhood, but which would, perhaps, still be a serious enough
matter to many a one. Hence the clergy take hold of the infants,
the youths, and receive sacred promises and the like from them.
And what that man of God, "the clergyman," does, why, that is,
of course, a God-fearing action. Else, analogy might, perhaps,
demand that to the ordinance forbidding the sale of spirituous
liquors to minors there should be added one forbidding the taking
of solemn vows concerning one's eternal salvation from--boys;
which ordinance would look toward preventing the clergy, who
themselves are perjurers, from working--in order to salve their
own consciences--from working toward the greatest conceivable
shipwreck which is, to make all society become perjured; for
letting boys of fifteen bind themselves in a matter touching
their eternal salvation is a measure which is precisely calculated
to have that effect.
The ceremony of confirmation is, then, in itself a worse piece
of nonsense than the baptism of infants. But in order to miss
nothing which might, in any conceivable manner, contribute to
render confirmation the exact opposite of what it purports to
be, this ceremony has been connected with all manner of worldly
and civil affairs, so that the significance of confirmation lies
chiefly in the--certificate of character which the minister
makes out; without which certificate no boy or girl will be
able to get on at all in life.[10]
The whole thing is a comedy; and perhaps something might be
done to add greater dramatic illusion to the solemnity; as e.g.,
passing an ordinance forbidding any one to be confirmed in a
jacket, as not becoming a real personality; likewise, a regulation
ordering male candidates for confirmation to wear a beard during
the ceremony, which beard might, of course, be taken off for the
family celebration in the evening, or be used in fun and merrymaking.
I am not now attacking the community--they are led astray; they
cannot be blamed for liking this kind of divine worship, seeing
that they are left to their own devices and deceived by their
clergyman who has sworn an oath on the New Testament. But woe
to these clergymen, woe to them, these sworn liars! I know there
have been mockers at religion, and I know how much they would
have given to be able to do what I do; but they were not able
to, because God was not with them. It is different with me.
Originally as well disposed to the clergy as few have been,
and very ready to help them. I have undergone a change of heart
in the opposite direction, owing to their attitude. And the
Almighty is with me, and He knows how the whip is to be handled
so that the blows take effect, and that laughter must be that
whip, handled with fear and trembling--therefore am I used.