the shining of the sun on the bricks
of the Roman road; and I lay my head upon my knees; I heard the breaking
of the water on the rocks three hundred feet below, and the rustling of
the wind among the olive trees and the ruined arches, and then I fell
asleep there. I had a dream.

A man cried up to God, and God sent down an angel to help him; and the
angel came back and said, "I cannot help that man."

God said, "How is it with him?"

And the angel said, "He cries out continually that one has injured him;
and he would forgive him and he cannot."

God said, "What have you done for him?"

The angel said, "All--. I took him by the hand, and I said, 'See, when
other men speak ill of that man do you speak well of him; secretly, in
ways he shall not know, serve him; if you have anything you value share
it with him, so, serving him, you will at last come to feel possession
in him, and you will forgive.' And he said, 'I will do it.' Afterwards,
as I passed by in the dark of night, I heard one crying out, 'I have
done all. It helps nothing! My speaking well of him helps me nothing!
If I share my heart's blood with him, is the burning within me less? I
cannot forgive; I cannot forgive! Oh, God, I cannot forgive!'

"I said to him, 'See here, look back on all your past. See from your
childhood all smallness, all indirectness that has been yours; look well
at it, and in its light do you not see every man your brother? Are you
so sinless you have right to hate?'

"He looked, and said, 'Yes, you are right; I too have failed, and I
forgive my fellow. Go, I am satisfied; I have forgiven;' and he laid him
down peacefully and folded his hands on his breast, and I thought it was
well with him. But scarcely had my wings rustled and I turned to come up
here, when I heard one crying out on earth again, 'I cannot forgive! I
cannot forgive! Oh, God, God, I cannot forgive! It is better to die
than to hate! I cannot forgive! I cannot forgive!' And I went and stood
outside his door in the dark, and I heard him cry, 'I have not sinned
so, not so! If I have torn my fellows' flesh ever so little, I have
kneeled down and kissed the wound with my mouth till it was healed. I
have not willed that any soul shall be lost through hate of me. If they
have but fancied that I wronged them I have lain down on the ground
before them that they might tread on me, and so, seeing my humiliation,
forgive and not be lost through hating me; they have not cared t