Page:Leskov - The Sentry and other Stories.djvu/321

 Rh the benefits of security. He will never be like Hamor and Shechem, who let themselves be circumcized for the sake of Jacob's daughters and herds. Those who acquire faith for daughters and herds, acquire not faith, but only daughters and herds, and the offering from their hands will be for Thee like the blood of swine. But where are my means of educating, of enlightening him, when these means do not exist, and when it seems as if it had been decreed that they should not be in my hands? No, my Kiriak, is right: a seal is here and the hand that is not liberated will not be able to break it, and I remembered the words of the prophet Habakkuk: "Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry." Come, Christ, come Thyself into this pure heart; come to this simple soul for as long as Thou tarriest none can force it. Let these snow-covered clods of His valleys be dear to him, and when his day comes let him cease to exist, let him cast off his life as a vine sheds its ripe fruit, as a wild olive tree sheds its blossoms. It is not for me to put his feet in the stocks nor to track his footsteps, when He Who Is has written with His finger the law of love in his heart and has led him aside from evil paths. Our Father, show Thyself to him who loves Thee and does not tempt Thee, and