Page:Tolstoy - Essays and Letters.djvu/358

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342 ESSAYS AND LETTERS

created, but born (the second person of the Trinity). Through this son the world was made.

Third : This son, to save people from sin and death (by which they were all punished for the disobedience of their forefather Adam), came down to the earth, was made flesh by the Holy Ghost and the virgin Mary, and became a man.

Fourth : This son was crucified for the sins of men.

Fifth : He suffered and was buried, and rose on the third day, as had been foretold in Hebrew books.

Sixth : Having gone up into the sky, this son seated himself at his father^s right side.

Seventh: This son of God will, in due time, come again to the earth to judge the living and the dead.

Eighth : There is a Holy Ghost (the third person of the Trinity), who is equal to the father, and who spoke through the prophets.

Niyith (held by some of the largest Churches) : There is one holy, infallible Church (or, more exactly, the Church to which he who makes the confession belongs is held to be unique, holy, and infallible). This Church consists of all who believe in it, living or dead.

Tenth (also for some of the largest Churches) : There exists a Sacrament of Baptism, by means of which the power of the Holy Ghost is communicated to those who are baptized.

Eleventh : At the second coming of Christ, the souls of the dead will re-enter their bodies, and these bodies will be immortal ; and

Twelfth : After the second coming, the just will have eternal life in paradise on a new earth under a new sky, and sinners will have eternal life in the torments of hell.

Not to speak of things taught by some of your largest Churches (the Roman Catholic and Russo-Greek Orthodox) — such as the belief in saints, and in the good effects of bowing to their bodily remains, and to repre- sentations of them as well as of Jesus and the mother of God — the above twelve points embrace the funda-