NICOLAS KLIM’S UNDERGROUND JOURNEY
by Ludvig Holbergtranslation © Dennis List, 2000
CHAPTER 6
In which the author expounds on the religious beliefs and practices of the Potuans.
On the religion of the Potuan nation
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The Potuan system of religion lies within a narrow band, and has a confession of faith - similar to our Apostles' Creed. It is forbidden here, under pain of banishment, to comment on the Sacred Books. If anybody presumes to dispute about the essence or attributes of God, he is condemned to venae-section, and then confined in the public madhouse. They think it the height of folly to describe things to which the human mind is as blind as an owl's eyes to sunlight. They are unanimous in adoring one supreme being, by whose almighty power all things were created, and by whose providence they remain. As long as this principle is uncontested, they never molest anybody for having different thoughts about methods of worship.
Only those who openly attack this religion, as established by law, are regarded as offenders against public tranquillity. Therefore I had the full freedom of my own religion, and suffered not the least on its account.
Though the Potuans rarely pray, when they do, it is with such ardency that they seem to be in ecstasy. When I told them that we often pray and sing psalms while doing the common business of life, they thought it a vicious custom, saying that an earthly ruler would be very upset to see anybody humbly approaching him with a petition while at the same time doing up his clothes or brushing his hair.
Nor did they have much respect for our hymns, thinking it ridiculous to express grief and penitence in music - since the displeasure of God should be appeased by sighs of real sorrow, not the artifice of tunes and instruments.
This (and more) I heard, specially as my own father - of blessed memory - who was once Cantor in a cathedral, had composed several hymns which are still popular now. Also, I myself had once intended to apply for a vacant Cantorship. But I stifled my resentment, for the Subterraneans so strongly defend their opinions, and so clearly set out their reasons, that it is no easy matter to refute even the most obvious of their errors.
There were also several other opinions on religious subjects, which they maintained with the same steadfastness. Thus, when I had observed to some acquaintance that he could hope for no salvation after death, because he lived in utter darkness, they replied that those who freely dealt damnation to others ran the greatest risk of it themselves. The source of all that, they added, was arrogance - which God must despise - and to condemn the judgement of others, and to use force to convince them, was equivalent to assuming the whole light of reason. This, they said, was the conduct of fools, who believe they alone are wise.
Moreover, when I was proving a certain opinion, and opposed my adversary's reasoning to the dictates of my own conscience, he complimented my argument and begged me to continue in following my conscience - just as he himself would do. If everybody followed the testimony of his own conscience, all arguments would cease.
Some of the other religious mistakes believed by the people on this planet were that they did not deny that God rewarded good actions and punished bad ones, but they believed such justice - the distribution of rewards and punishments - occurred only in the future.
I gave various examples of those who'd been punished in this life for their impieties - but they gave me counter-examples of wicked trees, who were lucky because they were wicked till the end of their lives.
In an argument (they said) we are too apt to use only those weapons and those examples which suit our case, overlooking anything which might upset us. I countered with my own example, showing that many people who had injured me had come to a miserable end.
Their answer was that all this originated from self-love, and from my over-weening opinion that in the eyes of the Supreme Being I was more important than many others - who, like me, had unjustly suffered injury, yet had seen their persecutors prosper throughout their lives.
When I happened to commend the practice of daily prayer, they replied that they did not deny the necessity of prayer, but they were thoroughly persuaded that the truest piety lay in the practical observance of divine law. To prove this, they used an argument about a prince and lawgiver, who had two types of subjects. Some were continually offending against his laws through infirmity or obstinacy - yet they continually haunted the court to procure pardon for their faults - which they'd repeat as soon as they were pardoned.
Others, who rarely approached the court, but mainly stayed peaceably at home, were habitual followers of the laws. Who can doubt that this latter type are more worthy of favour, and not regard the first as bad subjects and troublesome creatures?
I was often engaged in similar controversies, but without success. I was unable to bring anybody over to my way of thinking. Therefore, passing over all other religious disputes, I shall only mention their most general doctrines, leaving it to the reader to applaud or condemn them as he or she sees fit.
The Potuans believe in one omnipotent God, creator and preserver of all things. His omnipotence and unity they deduce from his harmonious creation of this planet. Since they are highly skilled in the study of nature, they have such great sentiments about the Deity that they regard it as a defect in understanding to try to define what lies beyond their capabilities.
Their year has five festival days. The first of these is celebrated with great devotion in places so dark that no ray of light can enter; this indicates that the Being they adore is incomprehensible. There the worshippers stay, barely moving, from sunrise to sunset, as though in ecstasy. This festival is called the Day of the Incomprehensible God, and is celebrated on the first day of the month of Oaks.
The other festivals are celebrated in four other seasons of the year, and were established to thank God for the blessings of His providence. Those who do not attend, unless they are able to give very solid reasons for their absence, are regarded as bad subjects, and socially outcast. The public forms of prayer are devised not to help those who pray, but for the welfare of the prince or the state. Nobody prays in public for himself. The reason behind this is that the Potuans believe that the happiness of individuals is so closely bound up with that of the public that they can not be separated.
None are compelled by force or fines to attend public worship, because they believe that piety is a form of love. As experience tells them that love is quelled and not enhanced by force, it would be undesirable to use compulsion in religious matters.
They give this example. If a husband desires reciprocal affection from his wife, and hopes to conquer her coldness and indifference by blows, this method would actually increase her indifference, and end in abhorrence and detestation.
These are some of the main doctrines of the Potuan religion - which to some must appear more like natural religion, as indeed it first did to me. But they assert that all this was divinely revealed to them, and that some ages ago they received a book that contained their system of faith and works. Our ancestors, they said, lived content only with natural religion, but experience taught them that the light of nature alone was not enough; all those noble principles were forgotten, through the carelessness of some of them. Others, through their airy philosophies, were utterly depraved and corrupted, with nothing able to check their licentious career.
Thus God gave them a written law. Thus it is apparent how great is the error of those who obstinately deny the necessity of a revelation.
For my own part, I freely admit that many points of this theology seemed, if not exactly praiseworthy, certainly not to be despised. To some points I could not agree. But one thing there deserves everybody's admiration: namely that conquerors, when returning from the battlefield of war (instead of celebrating victories as we do, triumphantly singing Te Deum) pass some days in deep silence, as if they were ashamed at having to shed blood. Therefore there is very little mention of military affairs in the subterranean annals, which are chiefly records of civil matters, such as their laws and institutions.