Profession: The Vanity Of Mere
Profession: The Vanity Of Mere [1]
Forget not that the pretence of religion without the power of it is one of the most comfortless things in the world. It is like a man who should call his servant, and say to him,' Is the larder well stored?' 'There is nothing, sir, not even a mouldy crust.' 'Let the cloth be laid,' saith he; and it is laid, and all the appurtenances thereof. 'And now,' he says, 'I will sit down to my meal, and you shall wait upon me.' The empty dishes are brought in proper course; from invisible joints he cuts imperceptible slices, and from the empty plates he lifts upon his fork mouthfuls of nothingness and dainty morsels of vacuum. There, the cloth can be removed, the feaster has finished the atmospheric banquet, and rises from the table free from any charge of immoderate eating. Now, this may be a very pleasant operation for once, although its charms require a very poetic and imaginative mind to appreciate them; but if continued several days, this unsubstantial festival would, I conceive, become somewhat undesirable and cheerless, and in the end the guest might perish amid his empty platters. Yet such must be the life of the man who professes to feed on the bread of heaven and knows not its sustaining virtues, who boasts of drinking the water of life and has never sipped that heavenly stream.
