“In the meantime there are a great many things to consider. Young
people, they say, never think of the transport that is needed to win a
battle. I have it in my mind that I should leave the church. But I can't
just walk out into the marketplace and begin preaching there. I see the
family furniture being carried out of the palace and put into vans. It
has to go somewhere....”
“I suppose you will go to London.”
“Possibly. In fact certainly. I have a plan. Or at least an
opportunity.... But that isn't what I have most in mind. These things
are not done without emotion and a considerable strain upon one's
personal relationships. I do not think this--I do not think your mother
sees things as we do.”
“She will,” said young enthusiasm, “when she understands.”
“I wish she did. But I have been unlucky in the circumstances of
my explanations to her. And of course you understand all this means
risks--poverty perhaps--going without things--travel, opportunity, nice
possessions--for all of us. A loss of position too. All this sort of
thing,” he stuck out a gaitered calf and smiled, “will have to go.
People, some of them, may be disasagreeable to us....”
“After all, Daddy,” she said, smiling, “it isn't so bad as the cross and
the lions and burning pitch. And you have the Truth.”
“You do believe--?” He left his sentence unfinished.
She nodded, her face aglow. “We know you have the Truth.”
“Of course in my own mind now it is very clear. I had a kind of
illumination....” He would have tried to tell her of his vision, and
he was too shy. “It came to me suddenly that the whole world was in
confusion because men followed after a thousand different immediate
aims, when really it was quite easy, if only one could be simple it was
quite easy, to show that nearly all men could only be fully satisfied
and made happy in themselves by one single aim, which was also the aim
that would make the whole world one great order, and that aim was to
make God King of one's heart and the whole world. I saw that all this
world, except for a few base monstrous spirits, was suffering hideous
things because of this war, and before the war it was full of folly,
waste, social injustice and suspicion for the same reason, because it
had not realized the kingship of God. And that is so simple; the essence
of God is simplicity. The sin of this war lies with men like myself, men
who set up to tell people about God, more than it lies with any other
class--”
“Kings?” she interjected. “Diplomatists? Finance?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account