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The Ball and the Cross by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
page 76 of 309 (24%)
voice, "I felt the devil weakening my heart and my oath against
you, and I prayed that God would send an angel to my aid."

"Well?" inquired the other, finishing his mending and wrapping
the rest of the string round his hand to get a firmer grip.

"Well?"

"Well, that man was an angel," said MacIan.

"I didn't know they were as bad as that," answered Turnbull.

"We know that devils sometimes quote Scripture and counterfeit
good," replied the mystic. "Why should not angels sometimes come
to show us the black abyss of evil on whose brink we stand. If
that man had not tried to stop us...I might...I might have
stopped."

"I know what you mean," said Turnbull, grimly.

"But then he came," broke out MacIan, "and my soul said to me:
'Give up fighting, and you will become like That. Give up vows
and dogmas, and fixed things, and you may grow like That. You may
learn, also, that fog of false philosophy. You may grow fond of
that mire of crawling, cowardly morals, and you may come to think
a blow bad, because it hurts, and not because it humiliates. You
may come to think murder wrong, because it is violent, and not
because it is unjust. Oh, you blasphemer of the good, an hour ago
I almost loved you! But do not fear for me now. I have heard the
word Love pronounced in _his_ intonation; and I know exactly what
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