here be such a thing, it must be also for the
wise; if there be no such thing, it must he only for the vulgar. It is
well known that religion is called a bond; but it is asked, for whom? if
it be only for the vulgar, it is not anything in itself; if it be
likewise for the wise, it is something." On hearing these arguments, I
said to them, "There is no character you deserve less than that of being
learned; because all your thoughts are confined to the single inquiry,
whether a thing be, and to canvass each side of the question. Who can
become learned, unless he know something for certain, and progressively
advance into it, as a man in walking progressively advances from step to
step, and thereby successively arrives at wisdom! If you follow any
other rule, you make no approach to truths, but remove them more and
more out of sight. To reason only whether a thing be, is it not like
reasoning about a cap or a shoe, whether they fit or not, before they
are put on? and what must be the consequence of such reasoning, but that
you will not know whether anything exist, yea, whether there be any such
thing as salvation, or eternal life after death; whether one religion be
more efficacious than another, and whether there be a heaven and a hell?
On these subjects you cannot possibly think at all, so long as you halt
at the first step, and beat the sand at setting out, instead of setting
one foot before another and going forward. Take heed to yourselves, lest
your minds, standing thus without in a state of indetermination, should
inwardly harden and become statues of salt, and yourselves friends of
Lot's wife." With these words I took my leave, and they being indignant
threw stones after me; and then they appeared to me like graven images
of stone, without any human reason in them. On my asking the angels
concerning their lot, they said, "Their lot is, that they are cast down
into the deep, into a wilderness, where they are forced to carry
burdens; and in this case, as they are no longer capable of rational
conversation, they give themselves up to idle prattle and talk, and
appear at a distance like asses that are heavily laden."

233. THE THIRD MEMORABLE RELATION. After this one of the angels said,
"Follow me to the place where they exclaim, 'O HOW WISE!' and you shall
see prodigies of men; you shall see faces and bodies, which are the
faces and bodies of a man, and yet they are not men." I said, "Are they
beasts then?" he replied,