world that make folk unjust and unhappy. Let us suffer persecution with
gentleness, and be those chosen vessels that turn into balm the gall
poured into them."

XII

WORDS OF LOVE

Then the Judges had the holy man, Giovanni, brought before them chained
to him who had thrown Greek fire in the Palace of the Priors. And they
said to the holy man:

"You are alongside of the guilty because you are not on our side. For
whosoever is not with good citizens is with evil."

And the holy man answered them:

"There are neither good nor evil among men; but all alike are unhappy.
And they who suffer neither hunger nor contumely, they are afflicted by
riches and power. It is not given to any man born of woman to escape the
miseries of life, and the son of woman is like a fever patient, who
turns and turns in his bed, and can find no rest, because he will not
lie down on the Cross of Jesus, his head among the thorns, and take his
joy in suffering. Yet is it in suffering that joy is found; and they who
love know this.

"I companion with Love, but that man with Hate; and for this cause we
can never come together. And I say to him, 'Brother, you have done ill,
and your crime is great and grievous,' And I speak so, because Charity
and Love urge me. But you, you condemn yonder guilty man in the name of
Justice. But invoking Justice, you take a vain oath, for there is no
such thing as Justice among men.

"We are all of us guilty. And when you say, 'The life of peoples is in
our hand,' you are lying, and you are the coffin which declares, 'I am
the cradle.' The life of peoples is in the harvests of the fields, which
grow yellow beneath the Lord's sight. It is in the vines hanging from
the elms, and in the smiles and tears wherein heaven bathes the fruits
of the trees in the orchard closes. It is not in the laws, which are
made by the rich and powerful for the maintenance of their own power and
riches.

"Ye forget how ye are all born poor and naked. And He who came to lie in
the manger at Bethlehem, has come without profiting you. And He must
needs be born again and be crucified a second time for your salvation.

"The man of violence has laid hold of the arms you forged; and is well
compared to the warriors you hold in honour because they have destroyed
cities. What is defended by force shall be attacked by force. And if you
have wit to read the book you have written, you will find what I say
therein. For you have put in your bo