THE KEY OF THE MYSTERIES
prophecy was to turn ceaselessly as he walked, covered with
rags, in the palace of luxury and riches.
I have seen one of them whose face shone like that of
Christ: he had callosities on his hands, and wore the work-
man’s blouse; with clay he kneaded epics. He twisted
together the sword of right and the sceptre of duty; and upon
this column of gold and steel he placed the creative sign of
love.
One day, in a great popular assembly, he went down into
the road with a piece of bread in his hand which he broke and
distributed, saying: ‘‘ Bread of God, do thou make bread for
all!”
I know another of them who cried: “I will no longer
adore the god of the devil! I will not have a hangman for
my God!” And they thought that he blasphemed.
No; but the energy of his faith overflowed in inexact and
imprudent words.
He said again in the madness of his wounded charity:
“The liabilities of all men are common, and they expiate each
other’s faults, as they make merit for each other by their virtues.
“The penalty of sin is death.
“Sin itself, moreover, is a penalty, and the greatest of
penalties. A great crime is nothing but a great misfortune.
“ The worst of men is he who thinks himself better than
his fellows.
“ Passionate men are excusable, because they are passive;
passion means suffering, and also redemption through sorrow.
“What we call liberty is nothing but the all-mightiness of
divine compulsion. The martyrs said: ‘It is better to obey
God than man’.
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