Thoughts out of Season, part 1 | Page 7

know now,
that it is the eternal way of the Christian to be a rebel, and that just as
he has once rebelled against us, he has never ceased pestering and
rebelling against any one else either of his own or any other creed.
But it is so easy for me to be carried away by that favourite sport of
mine, of which I am the first inventor among the Jews--Christian
baiting. You must forgive this, however, in a Jew, who, while he has
been baited for two thousand years by you, likes to turn round now that
the opportunity has come, and tries to indulge on his part also in a little
bit of that genial pastime. I candidly confess it is delightful, and I now
quite understand your ancestors hunting mine as much as they
could--had I been a Christian, I would, probably, have done the same;
perhaps have done it even better, for no one would now be left to write
any such impudent truisms against me-- rest assured of that! But as I
am a Jew, and have had too much experience of the other side of the

question, I must try to control myself in the midst of victory; I must
judge things calmly; I must state fact honestly; I must not allow myself
to be unjust towards you. First of all, then, this rebelling faculty of
yours is a Jewish inheritance, an inheritance, however, of which you
have made a more than generous, a truly Christian use, because you did
not keep it niggardly for yourselves, but have distributed it all over the
earth, from Nazareth to Nishni-Novgorod, from Jerusalem to Jamaica,
from Palestine to Pimlico, so that every one is a rebel and an anarchist
nowadays. But, secondly, I must not forget that in every Anarchist, and
therefore in every Christian, there is also, or may be, an aristocrat--a
man who, just like the anarchist, but with a perfectly holy right, wishes
to obey no laws but those of his own conscience; a man who thinks too
highly of his own faith and persuasion, to convert other people to it; a
man who, therefore, would never carry it to Caffres and Coolis; a man,
in short, with whom even the noblest and exclusive Hebrew could
shake hands. In Friedrich Nietzsche this aristocratic element which may
be hidden in a Christian has been brought to light, in him the Christian's
eternal claim for freedom of conscience, for his own priesthood, for
justification by his own faith, is no longer used for purposes of
destruction and rebellion, but for those of command and creation; in
him--and this is the key to the character of this extraordinary man, who
both on his father's and mother's side was the descendant of a long line
of Protestant Parsons--the Christian and Protestant spirit of anarchy
became so strong that he rebelled even against his own
fellow-Anarchists, and told them that Anarchy was a low and
contemptible thing, and that Revolution was an occupation fit only for
superior slaves. But with this event the circle of Christianity has
become closed, and the exclusive House of Israel is now under the
delightful obligation to make its peace with its once lost and now
reforming son.
The venerable Owner of this old house is still standing on its threshold:
his face is pale, his expression careworn, his eyes apparently scanning
something far in the distance. The wind--for there is a terrible wind
blowing just now--is playing havoc with his long white Jew-beard, but
this white Jew-beard of his is growing black again at the end, and even
the sad eyes are still capable of quite youthful flashes, as may be
noticed at this very moment. For the eyes of the old Jew, apparently so

dreamy and so far away, have suddenly become fixed upon something
in the distance yonder. The old Jew looks and looks-- and then he rubs
his eyes--and then he eagerly looks again. And now he is sure of
himself. His old and haggard face is lighting up, his stooped figure
suddenly becomes more erect, and a tear of joy is seen running over his
pale cheek into that long beard of his. For the old Jew has recognised
some one coming from afar--some one whom he had missed, but never
mentioned, for his Law forbade him to do this--some one, however, for
whom he had secretly always mourned, as only the race of the
psalmists and the prophets can mourn--and he rushes toward him, and
he falls on his neck and he kisses him, and he says to his servants:
"Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand
and shoes on his feet. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill