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Là-bas by J.-K. (Joris-Karl) Huysmans
page 64 of 341 (18%)
letting that saturnine smile play around the corner of your mouth, tell
me, in perfectly good faith, whether you do or do not believe in
Catholicism?"

"He!" exclaimed the bell-ringer. "Why, he's worse than an unbeliever,
he's a heresiarch."

"The fast is, if I were certain of anything, I would be inclined toward
Manicheism," said Des Hermies. "It's one of the oldest and it is _the_
simplest of religions, and it best explains the abominable mess
everything is in at the present time.

"The Principle of Good and the Principle of Evil, the God of Light and
the God of Darkness, two rivals, are fighting for our souls. That's at
least clear. Right now it is evident that the Evil God has the upper
hand and is reigning over the world as master. Now--and on this point,
Carhaix, who is distressed by these theories, can't reprehend me--I am
for the under dog. That's a generous and perfectly proper idea."

"But Manicheism is impossible!" cried the bell-ringer. "Two infinities
cannot exist together."

"But nothing can exist if you get to reasoning. The moment you argue the
Catholic dogma everything goes to pieces. The proof that two infinities
can coexist is that this idea passes beyond reason and enters the
category of those things referred to in Ecclesiasticus: 'Inquire not
into things higher than thou, for many things have shown themselves to
be above the sense of men.'

"Manicheism, you see, must have had some good in it, because it was
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