He founded philosophy.
In our opinion, cenobites are not lazy men, and recluses are not idlers.
To meditate on the Shadow is a serious thing.
Without invalidating anything that we have just said, we believe that a perpetual memory of the tomb is proper for the living. On this point, the priest and the philosopher agree.
We must die. The Abbe de la Trappe replies to Horace.
To mingle with one's life a certain presence of the sepulchre,-- this is the law of the sage; and it is the law of the ascetic. In this respect, the ascetic and the sage converge.
There is a material growth; we admit it.
There is a moral grandeur; we hold to that.
Thoughtless and vivacious spirits say:--
"What is the good of those motionless figures on the side of mystery? What purpose do they serve?
What do they do?"
Alas!
In the presence of the darkness which environs us, and which awaits us, in our ignorance of what the immense dispersion will make of us, we reply:
"There is probably no work more divine than that performed by these souls."
And we add: "There is probably no work which is more useful."
There certainly must be some who pray constantly for those who never pray at all.
In our opinion the whole question lies in the amount of thought that is mingled with prayer.
Leibnitz praying is grand, Voltaire adoring is fine.
Deo erexit Voltaire.
We are for religion as against religions.