Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/147

Rh Jovasaph said: "Then tell me whence didst thou get the raiment thou wearest?"

Baralam said: "I procured this on loan; for it was not possible for me to come unto thee in my usual garb."

Then Jovasaph began to weep, and said: "I pray thee, holy father, snatch my person out of prison, and lead me with thee into thy solitude, for I renounce the world for good and all."

Baralam said: "A certain hunter had reared a little kid; which, when it was grown up, escaped from the hunter and went into the mountain, which was its natural haunt, and there it found a flock of goats and mixed therewith. But the servants of the hunter went out in pursuit of the kid, and found it pasturing in the midst of the goats, and they took the kid and brought it back to its place; but of the rest they slew some and cruelly wounded others. But if thou shouldst join us, the same fate will befall us at thy coming; for they will follow thee and take thee back to thy place, but us they will slay. But God, in whom thou hast believed, will do unto thee according to his good pleasure. However, in the present be thou baptised and receive the seal of Christ, whereby thou art able to resist the insidious temptations of Satan. So thou undertakest all the commands and code of Christ, and may God, the giver of all blessings, grant thee a portion in our life, that thou shouldst come unto us and imss along with us the remaining days of our life. For this I hope in the Lord, so that in the future we may not be divided one from another."

And Jovasaph wept and said: "If this be the will of God let it be according to his pleasure. But now tell me this too, whether, if one sin after baptism and again repent one will win remission or no?"

Baralam said: "For a man to sin is not evil; since it is written: 'As often as thou fallest, rise up; and as often as thou pollutest thyself, wash; and as often as thou sinnest, repent.' For it is written in the prophet Isaiah, who spake great things: 'Tell thou thy sins first of all, for that thou shalt be justified.' For this reason is God called merciful, a lover of man, because he is not wrath with the sinner for ever. But even up to his last breath, if he repent and confess, the merciful God will not destroy him. For he himself actually says: 'I came not to call the just men, but sinners to repentance.

And Jovasaph was greatly pleased at the old man's words, and said: "I pray thee, O holy man of God, to bestow on me the baptism of Christ, and receive of me whatsoever treasures thou wilt, for I will give unto thee for the wants of the brethren."

Baralam said: "As to thy reception of holy baptism, there is nothing to prevent it. Do thou only prepare thy soul for baptism and the grace of Christ. But as to thy proposition that I should receive aught of thy goods, which is most befitting for a rich man to give unto a poor one or for a poor man to a rich? How shall I receive from thy poverty the riches of alms; for the