Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard 137
of humanity, what devil possessed thee to wish to murder thy son?" And this preacher, who had not felt any par- ticular warmth, nor perspired while speaking about Abra- ham, this preacher would be astonished himself at the earn- est wrath with which he poured forth his thunders against that poor wretch ; indeed, he would rejoice over himself, for never had he spoken with such power and unction, and he would have said to his wife : "I am an orator, the only thing I have lacked so far was the occasion. Last Sunday, when speaking about Abraham, I did not feel thrilled in the least." Now, if this same orator had just a bit of sense to spare, I believe he would lose it if the sinner would reply, m a quiet and dignified manner : "Why, it was on this very same mat- ter you preached, last Sunday!" But however could the preacher have entertained such thoughts? Still, such was the case, and the preacher's mistake was merely not know- ing what he was talking about. Ah, would that some poet might see his way clear to prefer such a situation to tho stuff and nonsense of which novels and comedies are full! For the comic and the tragic here run parallel to infinity. The sermon probably was ridiculous enough in itself, but it became infinitely ridiculous through the very natural conse- quence it had. Or, suppose now the sinner was converted by this lecture without daring to raise any objection, and this zealous divine now went home elated, glad in the con- sciousness of being effective, not only in the pulpit, but chiefly, and with irresistible power, as a spiritual guide, inspiring his congregation on Sunday, whilst on Monday he would place himself like a cherub with flaming sword before the man who by his actions tried to give the lie to the old saying that "the course of the world follows not the priest's word."
If, on the other hand, the sinner were not convinced of his error his position would become tragic. He would prob- ably be executed, or else sent to the lunatic asylum—at any rate, he would become a sufferer in this world; but in an- other sense I should think that Abraham rendered him happy ; for he who labors, he shall not perish.
