Page:From Passion to Peace - Allen - 1910.djvu/15

   

pathway of the saints and sages; the road of the wise and pure; the highway along which the Saviours have trod, and which all Saviours to come will also walk—such is the subject of this book; such is the high and holy theme which the author briefly expounds in these pages.

Passion is the lowest level of human life. None can descend lower. In its chilling swamps and concealing darkness creep and crawl the creatures of its sunless world. Lust, hatred, covetousness, pride, vanity, greed, revenge, envy, spite, retaliation, slander, backbiting, lying, theft, deceit, treachery, cruelty, suspicion, jealousy—such are the brute forces and blind, unreasoning impulses that inhabit the underworld of passion, and roam, devouring and devoured, 