The Kingdom of God Is Within You by Leo Nikoleyevich Tolstoy (reading diary .txt) đź“–
- Author: Leo Nikoleyevich Tolstoy
- Performer: -
Book online «The Kingdom of God Is Within You by Leo Nikoleyevich Tolstoy (reading diary .txt) 📖». Author Leo Nikoleyevich Tolstoy
Project Gutenberg’s The Kingdom of God is within you, by Leo Tolstoy
#14 in our series by Leo Tolstoy
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg file.
We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your own disk,
thereby keeping an electronic path open for future readers.
Please do not remove this.
This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to
view the etext. Do not change or edit it without written permission.
The words are carefully chosen to provide users with the information
they need to understand what they may and may not do with the etext.
To encourage this, we have moved most of the information to the end,
rather than having it all here at the beginning.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These Etexts Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get etexts, and
further information, is included below. We need your donations.
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3)
organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541
Find out about how to make a donation at the bottom of this file.
Title: The Kingdom of God is within you
Author: Leo Tolstoy
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
Release Date: November, 2003 [Etext #4602]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on February 17, 2002]
Project Gutenberg’s The Kingdom of God is within you, by Leo Tolstoy
********This file should be named 8tkhw10.txt or 8tkhw10.zip********
Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, 8tkhw11.txt
VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8tkhw10a.txt
This etext was produced by Jack Eden <jackeden@yahoo.com>
Project Gutenberg Etexts are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not
keep etexts in compliance with any particular paper edition.
The “legal small print” and other information about this book
may now be found at the end of this file. Please read this
important information, as it gives you specific rights and
tells you about restrictions in how the file may be used.
[For those interested, there is a note at the end of
this document that details the adaptations made to this
work to fit it into plain ASCII text]
“THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU”
CHRISTIANITY NOT AS A MYSTIC RELIGION
BUT AS A NEW THEORY OF LIFE
TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN OF COUNT LEO TOLSTOI
BY CONSTANCE GARNETT
New York, 1894
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.
The book I have had the privilege of translating is, undoubtedly,
one of the most remarkable studies of the social and psychological
condition of the modern world which has appeared in Europe for
many years, and its influence is sure to be lasting and far
reaching. Tolstoi’s genius is beyond dispute. The verdict of the
civilized world has pronounced him as perhaps the greatest
novelist of our generation. But the philosophical and religious
works of his later years have met with a somewhat indifferent
reception. They have been much talked about, simply because they
were his work, but, as Tolstoi himself complains, they have never
been seriously discussed. I hardly think that he will have to
repeat the complaint in regard to the present volume. One may
disagree with his views, but no one can seriously deny the
originality, boldness, and depth of the social conception which he
develops with such powerful logic. The novelist has shown in this
book the religious fervor and spiritual insight of the prophet;
yet one is pleased to recognize that the artist is not wholly lost
in the thinker. The subtle intuitive perception of the
psychological basis of the social position, the analysis of the
frame of mind of oppressors and oppressed, and of the intoxication
of Authority and Servility, as well as the purely descriptive
passages in the last chapter—these could only have come from the
author of “War and Peace.”
The book will surely give all classes of readers much to think of,
and must call forth much criticism. It must be refuted by those
who disapprove of its teaching, if they do not want it to have
great influence.
One cannot of course anticipate that English people, slow as they
are to be influenced by ideas, and instinctively distrustful of
all that is logical, will take a leap in the dark and attempt to
put Tolstoi’s theory of life into practice. But one may at least
be sure that his destructive criticism of the present social and
political R�GIME will become a powerful force in the work of
disintegration and social reconstruction which is going on around
us. Many earnest thinkers who, like Tolstoi, are struggling to
find their way out of the contradictions of our social order will
hail him as their spiritual guide. The individuality of the
author is felt in every line of his work, and even the most
prejudiced cannot resist the fascination of his genuineness,
sincerity, and profound earnestness. Whatever comes from a heart
such as his, swelling with anger and pity at the sufferings of
humanity, cannot fail to reach the hearts of others. No reader
can put down the book without feeling himself better and more
truth-loving for having read it.
Many readers may be disappointed with the opening chapters of the
book. Tolstoi disdains all attempt to captivate the reader. He
begins by laying what he considers to be the logical foundation of
his doctrines, stringing together quotations from little-known
theological writers, and he keeps his own incisive logic for the
later part of the book.
One word as to the translation. Tolstoi’s style in his religious
and philosophical works differs considerably from that of his
novels. He no longer cares about the form of his work, and his
style is often slipshod, involved, and diffuse. It has been my
aim to give a faithful reproduction of the original.
CONSTANCE GARNETT.
January,1894
PREFACE.
In the year 1884 I wrote a book under the title “What I Believe,”
in which I did in fact make a sincere statement of my beliefs.
In affirming my belief in Christ’s teaching, I could not help
explaining why I do not believe, and consider as mistaken, the
Church’s doctrine, which is usually called Christianity.
Among the many points in which this doctrine falls short of the
doctrine of Christ I pointed out as the principal one the absence
of any commandment of nonresistance to evil by force. The
perversion of Christ’s teaching by the teaching of the Church is
more clearly apparent in this than in any other point of
difference.
I know—as we all do—very little of the practice and the spoken
and written doctrine of former times on the subject of nonresistance to evil. I knew what had been said on the subject by
the fathers of the Church—Origen, Tertullian, and others—I knew
too of the existence of some so-called sects of Mennonites,
Herrnhuters, and Quakers, who do not allow a Christian the use of
weapons, and do not eater military service; but I knew little of
what had been done. by these so-called sects toward expounding the
question.
My book was, as I had anticipated, suppressed by the Russian
censorship; but partly owing to my literary reputation, partly
because the book had excited people’s curiosity, it circulated in
manuscript and in lithographed copies in Russia and through
translations abroad, and it evolved, on one side, from those who
shared my convictions, a series of essays with a great deal of
information on the subject, on the other side a series of
criticisms on the principles laid down in my book.
A great deal was made clear to me by both hostile and sympathetic
criticism, and also by the historical events of late years; and I
was led to fresh results and conclusions, which I wish now to
expound.
First I will speak of the information I received on the history of
the question of nonresistance to evil; then of the views of this
question maintained by spiritual critics, that is, by professed
believers in the Christian religion, and also by temporal ones,
that is, those who do not profess the Christian religion; and
lastly I will speak of the conclusions to which I have been
brought by all this in the light of the historical events of late
years.
L. TOLSTOI.
YASNA�A POLIANA,
May 14/26, 1893.
CONTENTS.
I. THE DOCTRINE OF NONRESISTANCE TO EVIL BY FORCE
HAS BEEN PROFESSED BY A MINORITY OF MEN FROM
THE VERY FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY
II. CRITICISMS OF THE DOCTRINE OF NONRESISTANCE TO
EVIL BY FORCE ON THE PART OF BELIEVERS AND OF UNBELIEVERS
III. CHRISTIANITY MISUNDERSTOOD BY BELIEVERS
IV. CHRISTIANITY MISUNDERSTOOD BY MEN OF SCIENCE
V. CONTRADICTION BETWEEN OUR LIFE AND OUR CHRISTIAN
CONSCIENCE
VI. ATTITUDE OF MEN OF THE PRESENT DAY TO WAR
VII. SIGNIFICANCE OF COMPULSORY SERVICE
VIII. DOCTRINE OF NONRESISTANCE TO EVIL BY FORCE MUST
INEVITABLY BE ACCEPTED BY MEN OF THE PRESENT DAY
IX. THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF
LIFE WILL EMANCIPATE MEN FROM THE MISERIES OF OUR PAGAN
LIFE
X. EVIL CANNOT BE SUPRESSED BY THE PHYSICAL FORCE OF THE
GOVERNMENT—THE MORAL PROGRESS OF HUMANITY IS BROUGHT ABOUT
NOT ONLY BY INDIVIDUAL RECOGNITION OF THE TRUTH BUT ALSO
THROUGH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A PUBLIC OPINION
XI. THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPTION OF LIFE HAS ALREADY
ARISEN IN OUR SOCIETY, AND WILL INFALLIBLY PUT
AN END TO THE PRESENT ORGANIZATION OP OUR LIFE
BASED ON FORCE—WHEN THAT WILL BE
XII. CONCLUSION—REPENT YE, FOR THE KINGDOM OF
HEAVEN IS AT HAND
“Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free. “—John viii. 32.
“Fear not them which hill the body, but are not able to
kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to
destroy both soul and body in hell.”—MATT. x. 28.
“Ye have been bought with a price; be not ye the servants
of men.”—I COR. vii. 23.
“THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU.”
CHAPTER I.
THE DOCTRINE OF NONRESISTANCE TO EVIL BY FORCE HAS BEEN PROFESSED
BY A MINORITY OF MEN FROM THE VERY FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
Of the Book “What I Believe”—The Correspondence Evoked by it—
Letters from Quakers—Garrison’s Declaration—Adin Ballou, his
Works, his Catechism—Helchitsky’s “Net of Faith”—The Attitude
of the World to Works Elucidating Christ’s Teaching—Dymond’s
Book “On War”—Musser’s “Nonresistance Asserted”—Attitude of
the Government in 1818 to Men who Refused to Serve in the Army
—Hostile Attitude of Governments Generally and of Liberals to
Those who Refuse to Assist in Acts of State Violence, and their
Conscious Efforts to Silence and Suppress these Manifestations
of Christian Nonresistance.
Among the first responses some letters called forth by my book
were some letters from American Quakers. In these letters,
expressing their sympathy with my views on the unlawfulness for a
Christian of war and the use of force of any kind, the Quakers
gave me details of their own so-called
Comments (0)