182
THE STAR IN THE WEST
you
Love alone is immortal
, love for the good , love for
the
bad .
Redolent
with
divinity,
it floats
onward
through
life ,
through
heaven , through hell , till
the
flaming forms of Paolo and Francesca rise before us ,
an everlasting
answer
to the eternal word of Love .
Nay ? kiss in double
death -pang , if
dare !
Or one day I will strangle
you within
My heavy hair !?
Slowly , and solely through temptation
can man be
purified .
Burns, who was possessed with the happiest
knack of striking the nail full on the head , driving it
home at one blow , describes
this well in his “ Address
to the Unco Gude
" :
What's done we partly
may compute
But kenna what's resisted .
It is this resistance
alone which sanctifies
man , body
and
soul .
There
is sparse
morality in
the well -
fed
,
the well
-
housed
,
the well
-
dressed
,
their existence
is
indolent
,
comfortable
,
affluent
;
but
in
the
ill
-
fed
,
the
houseless
,
the unclothed
,
there may
be
much
.
There
is
nothing sublime
in
an
oily gourmet
passing
a
baker's
shop without wishing
to
steal
a
loaf
;
but
in
a
hungry
child
whose
hollow bowels
growl for food
the oppor
tunity
of
theft
if
resisted
is
noble
.
The sleek
,
smiling
society hostess
has
no
need
to
frequent
the streets for
gain
,
but who dare say that the poor hounded
outcast
has
not
?
HE
THAT
IS
WITHOUT
SIN AMONG
YOU
,
LET
HIM FIRST CAST
A
STONE AT HER
.
Even
the
Scribes
and
Pharisees
,
who
were
thus
rebuked
,
departed
in
silence
,
convicted
by
their own
conscience
;
but not
so
our modern Christian canaille
,
from
the Pope
and
the Archbishop and the Patriarch
1
Aceldama
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
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