smite me.” Why shouldst thou rise up and tell God He isnot content? Had He, of his warrant, certified so to thee?Be not nice to seek out division; but possess thy love insufficiency: assuredly this is faith, for the heart must believefirst. What He hath set in thine heart to do, that do thou;and even though thou do it without thought of Him, it shallbe well done; it is this sacrifice that He asketh of thee, andhis flame is upon it for a sign. Think not of Him; butof his love and thy love. For God is no morbid exactor: For with God is no lust of godhead: He hath no hand to bow beneath, nor a foot, that thoushouldst kiss it.’

And Chiaro held silence, and wept into her hair whichcovered his face; and the salt tears that he shed ran throughher hair upon his lips; and he tasted the bitterness ofshame.

Then the fair woman, that was his soul, spoke again tohim, saying:—

‘And for this thy last purpose, and for those unprofit-able truths of thy teaching,—thine heart hath already putthem away, and it needs not that I lay my bidding uponthee. How is it that thou, a man, wouldst say coldly to themind what God hath said to the heart warmly? Thy willwas honest and wholesome; but look well lest this also befolly,—to say, “I, in doing this, do strengthen God amongmen.” When at any time hath He cried unto thee, saying,“My son, lend me thy shoulder, for I fall?” Deemest thouthat the men who enter God's temple in malice, to theprovoking of blood and neither for his love nor for hiswrath will abate their purpose,—shall afterwards stand with thee in the porch, midway between Him and themselves, togive ear unto thy thin voice, which merely the fall of theirvisors can drown, and to see thy hands, stretched feebly,tremble among their swords? Give thou to God no morethan He asketh of thee; but to man also, that which is man's.In all that thou doest, work from thine own heart, simply; forhis heart is as thine, when thine is wise and humble; andhe shall have understanding of thee. One drop of rain isas another, and the sun's prism in all: and shalt thou notbe as he, whose lives are the breath of One? Only bymaking thyself his equal can he learn to hold communionwith thee, and at last own thee above him. Not till thoulean over the water shalt thou see thine image therein:stand erect, and it shall slope from thy feet and be lost.Know that there is but this means whereby thou mayestserve God with man:—Set thine hand and thy soul toserve man with God.’

And when she that spoke had said these words withinChiaro's spirit, she left his side quietly, and stood up as hehad first seen her: with her fingers laid together, and hereyes steadfast, and with the breadth of her long dresscovering her feet on the floor. And, speaking again, shesaid:—

‘Chiaro, servant of God, take now thine Art unto thee,and paint me thus, as I am, to know me: weak, as I am,and in the weeds of this time; only with eyes which seekout labour, and with a faith, not learned, yet jealous ofprayer. Do this; so shall thy soul stand before thee always,and perplex thee no more.’