Thus--and how better?--had God
rewarded their loving care of that poor dying fellow-slave.
Yes--we had knelt together: and I had felt that we were one--that there was
a bond between us, real, eternal, independent of ourselves, knit not by
man, but God; and the peace of God, which passes understanding, came over
me like the clear sunshine after weary rain.
One by one they shook me by the hand, and quitted the room; and Eleanor and
I were left alone.
"See!" she said, "Freedom, Equality, and Brotherhood are come; but not as
you expected."
Blissful, repentant tears blinded my eyes, as I replied, not to her, but to
Him who spoke by her--
"Lord! not as I will, but as thou wilt!"
"Yes," she continued, "Freedom, Equality, and Brotherhood are here. Realize
them in thine own self, and so alone thou helpest to make them realities
for all. Not from without, from Charters and Republics, but from within,
from the Spirit working in each; not by wrath and haste, but by patience
made perfect through suffering, canst thou proclaim their good news to
the groaning masses, and deliver them, as thy Master did before thee,
by the cross, and not the sword.
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