My Childhood - Maxim Gorky [45]
When he spoke of the omnipotence of God, he always emphasized its cruelty above every other attribute. "Man sinned, and the Flood was sent; sinned again, and his towns were destroyed by fire; then God punished people by famine and plague, and even now He is always holding a sword over the earth--a scourge for sinners. All who have wilfully broken the commandments of God will be punished by sorrow and ruin." And he emphasized this by rapping his fingers on the table.
It was hard for me to believe in the cruelty of God, and I suspected grandfather of having made it all up on purpose to inspire me with fear not of God but of himself; so I asked him frankly:
"Are you saying all this to make me obey you?"
And he replied with equal frankness:
"Well, perhaps I am. Do you mean to disobey me again?"
"And how about what grandmother says?"
"Don't you believe the old fool!" he admonished me sternly. "From her youth she has always been stupid, illiterate, and unreasonable. I shall tell her she must not dare to talk to you again on such an important matter. Tell me, now--how many companies of angels are there?"
I gave the required answer, and then I asked:
"Are they limited companies?"
"Oh, you scatterbrain!" he laughed, covering his eyes and biting his lips. "What have companies to do with God . . . they belong to life on earth . . . they are founded to set the laws at naught."
"What are laws?'
"Laws! Well, they are really derived from custom," the old man explained, with pleased alacrity; and his intelligent, piercing eyes sparkled. "People living together agree amongst themselves--'Such and such is our best course of action; we will make a custom of it--a rule'; finally it becomes a law. For example, before they begin a game, children will settle amongst themselves how it is to be played, and what rules are to be observed. Laws are made in the same way."
"And what have companies to do with laws?"
"Why, they are like an impudent fellow; they come along and make the laws of no account."
"But why?"
"Ah! that you would not understand," he replied, knitting his brows heavily; but afterwards, as if in explanation, he said:
"All the actions of men help to work out God's plans. Men desire one thing, but He wills something quite different. Human institutions are never lasting. The Lord blows on them, and they fall into dust and ashes."
I had reason for being interested in "companies," so I went on inquisitively:
"But what does Uncle Jaakov mean when he sings:
"The Angels bright
For God will fight,
But Satan's slaves
Are companies"?
Grandfather raised his hand to his beard, thus hiding his mouth, and closed his eyes. His cheeks quivered, and I guessed that he was laughing inwardly.
"Jaakov ought to have his feet tied together and be thrown into the water," he said. "There was no necessity for him to sing or for you to listen to that song. It is nothing but a silly joke which is current in Kalonga--a piece of schismatical, heretical nonsense." And looking, as it were, through and beyond me, he murmured thoughtfully: "U--u--ugh, you!"
But though he had set God over mankind, as a Being to be very greatly feared, none the less did he, like grandmother, invoke Him in all his doings.
The only saints grandmother knew were Nikolai, Yowry, Frola, and Lavra, who were full of kindness and sympathy with human-nature, and went about in the villages and towns sharing the life of the people, and regulating all their concerns; but grandfather's saints were nearly all males, who cast down idols, or defied the Roman emperors, and were tortured, burned or flayed alive in consequence.
Sometimes grandfather would say musingly:
"If only God would help me to sell that little house, even at a small profit, I would make a public thanksgiving to St. Nicholas."
But grandmother would say to me, laughingly:
"That's just like the old fool! Does he think St. Nicholas will trouble himself about selling a house'? Has n't our little Father Nicholas something better to do?"
I kept by me for many years a church calendar which had