"Ill betide you! for you have shed the blood of the unjust judge and the
brutal soldier, and lo! you are become like the soldier and the judge
yourself. Like them you bear on your hands the indelible stain.

"A fool the man who says, 'We will do evildoing in our turn, and our
heart shall be comforted. We will be unjust, and it shall be the
beginning of justice.' Evildoing is in evil desiring. Desire nothing,
and evildoing will be done away. Injustice hurts only the unjust; I
shall suffer no harm of it, if I am just. Oppression is a sword whose
hilt wounds the hand of him who holds it; but its point cannot pierce
the heart of the man who is simple-minded and good and kind.

"For such an one nothing is dangerous, if he fear nothing. To endure all
things, is to endure nothing. Let us be good and kindly, and the whole
round world shall be the same. For the world will be an instrument for
your goodness, and your persecutors will work to make you better and
more beautiful.

"You love life, and this is an affection which rules the heart of every
man. Then love suffering; for to live is to suffer. Never envy your
cruel masters; rather have compassion for the commanders of armies. Pity
the Publicans and Judges; the proudest of them have known the stings of
grief and the terrors of death. Happier you, because your consciences
are void of offence; for you, let grief lose its bitterness and death
its terrors.

"Be ye God's children, and tell yourselves, 'All is well in Him.'
Beware of pursuing even the public good with overmuch violence and
avidity, for fear something of cruelty mar your integrity. Rather should