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Heretics by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
page 105 of 200 (52%)
it is a Christian idea. In a word, we cannot reconstruct
or even imagine the beautiful and astonishing pagan world.
It was a world in which common sense was really common.

My general meaning touching the three virtues of which I
have spoken will now, I hope, be sufficiently clear.
They are all three paradoxical, they are all three practical,
and they are all three paradoxical because they are practical.
it is the stress of ultimate need, and a terrible knowledge of things
as they are, which led men to set up these riddles, and to die for them.
Whatever may be the meaning of the contradiction, it is the fact
that the only kind of hope that is of any use in a battle
is a hope that denies arithmetic. Whatever may be the meaning
of the contradiction, it is the fact that the only kind of charity
which any weak spirit wants, or which any generous spirit feels,
is the charity which forgives the sins that are like scarlet.
Whatever may be the meaning of faith, it must always mean a certainty
about something we cannot prove. Thus, for instance, we believe
by faith in the existence of other people.

But there is another Christian virtue, a virtue far more obviously
and historically connected with Christianity, which will illustrate
even better the connection between paradox and practical necessity.
This virtue cannot be questioned in its capacity as a historical symbol;
certainly Mr. Lowes Dickinson will not question it.
It has been the boast of hundreds of the champions of Christianity.
It has been the taunt of hundreds of the opponents of Christianity.
It is, in essence, the basis of Mr. Lowes Dickinson's whole distinction
between Christianity and Paganism. I mean, of course, the virtue
of humility. I admit, of course, most readily, that a great deal
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