You
must not give way. You are taught in the army that when the order to
advance is once given in a battle it is more dangerous to fall back
than to go on; so do not look back; leave your ruins behind you, and
march on towards the new world."
As he spoke the eyes of his young auditor seemed to say: "Tell me
more, more yet, more even than hopes, give me certainties, tell of the
victory which will come soon."
Men need to be tempted and decoyed, even the best of them. In exchange
for any sacrifice they make for an ideal, you have to promise them, if
not immediate realisation, at least an eternal compensation, as all
the religions do. Jesus was followed because they thought that He
would give them victory here or hereafter.--But he who would speak the
truth cannot promise or assure men of victory; the risks are not to
be ignored; perhaps it will never come, in any case it will be a long
time. To disciples, such a thought is crushingly pessimistic; not so
for the master, who has the serenity of a man who, having reached the
mountain top, can see over all the surrounding country, while they
can only see the steep hill-side which they must climb. How is he to
communicate his calm to them? If they cannot look through the eyes of
the master, they can always see his eyes from which are reflected the
vision denied to them; there they can read the assurance that he who
knows the truth (as they believe) is delivered from all their trials.
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