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THE EGO AND HIS OWN

the family. The family consisting of John, Maggie,
etc., whose dominion has become powerless, is only
internalized, being left as " family " in general, to
which one just applies the old saying, " We must obey
God rather than man," whose significance here is
this : " I cannot, to be sure, accommodate myself to
your senseless requirements, but, as my ' family,' you
still remain the object of my love and care " ; for " the
family " is a sacred idea, which the individual must
never offend against.--And this family internalized
and desensualized into a thought, a conception, now
ranks as the " sacred," whose despotism is tenfold more
grievous because it makes a racket in my conscience.
This despotism is broken only when the conception,
family, also becomes a nothing to me. The Christian
dicta, " Woman, what have I to do with thee ?"* " I
am come to stir up a man against his father, and a
daughter against her mother," and others, are accom-
panied by something that refers us to the heavenly or
true family, and mean no more than the State's de-
mand, in case of a collision between it and the family,
that we obey its commands.

The case of morality is like that of the family.

Many a man renounces morals, but with great diffi-
culty the conception, " morality." Morality is the
" idea " of morals, their intellectual power, their power
over the conscience; on the other hand, morals are
too material to rule the mind, and do not fetter an
" intellectual " man, a so-called independent, a
" freethinker."

Matt. 10. 35.

* John 2 4

MEN OF THE OLD TIME AND THE NEW 115

The Protestant may put it as he will, the " holy *

Scripture," the " Word of God," still remains sacred
for him. He for whom this is no longer " holy " has
ceased to--be a Protestant. But herewith what is
" ordained " in it, the public authorities appointed by
God, etc., also remain sacred for him. For him these
things remain indissoluble, unapproachable, " raised
above all doubt " ; and, as doubt, which in practice
becomes a buffeting, is what is most man's own, these
things remain " raised " above himself. He who can-
not get away from them will--believe ; for to believe
in them is to be bound to them. Through the fact
that in Protestantism the faith became a more inward
faith, the servitude has also become a more inward
servitude; one has taken those sanctities up into him-
pelf, entwined them with all his thoughts and en-
deavors, made them a " matter of conscience," con-
structed out of them a "sacred duty'' for himself.
Therefore what the Protestant's conscience cannot get
away from is sacred to him, and conscientiousness most
clearly designates his character.

Protestantism has actually put a man in the posi-

tion of a country governed by secret police. The spy
and eavesdropper, " conscience," watches over every
motion of the mind, and all thought and action is for
it a " matter of conscience," i. e. police business.
This tearing apart of man into " natural impulse "
and " conscience " (inner populace and inner police)
is what constitutes the Protestant. The reason of the
Bible (in place of the Catholic " reason of the

* [heilig]

[heilig]