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seeking to release Jerusalem, and all did bear upon their lofty banners the sacred sign and symbol-Jesus' cross.

And he looked far over the northern fields of Europe, and beheld unaccountable great buildings, over each whereof did stand a glittering cross. And the buildings themselves were builded in the forms of giant crosses. And he went within the greatest of all the buildings, and beheld innumerable tiny crucifixes. And organs played, and sweet musicians, clad in shining raiment, sang, and the songs they sang were all about the cross. Standing alone in a rosy-and-purple windowed corner, he beheld in the palm of his own great right hand— a bloody cross.

Then ran he quickly without, and entered a place of innumerable graves, and behold! above each grave-a cross.

Then he cried aloud, and looked again and trembled, and beheld, beyond all Europe, a vast expanse of western waters. And he looked once more, and saw, beyond the waters, new and mighty continents. He said, "Behold! There be only red men here, and here there shall be no crosses.

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But the words had scarce gone forth out of him, when he saw, moving along upon the water, three tiny ships, and each did bear the cross. And the ships came unto the land, and they that set first their feet upon the land, erected on that land-a cross. And all did kneel about the cross, and pray.

Soon there were crosses in these new countries also, both above the living and the dead.

And Simon looked still further into the future, beyond the millenaries and the deka-millenaries and, inconceivably, still remoter ages, built up and compounded of vast temporal extensions so incomprehensibly distant-but everywhere the cross!—that the soul of the Jew was riven asunder.

Then cried he aloud, "Why hast thou led me back to Calvary, O Jehovah-Jesus? Wouldst thou kill my soul, O Adonai, while yet it is in the flesh? Why am I so stiff-necked and enduring as against thee? Wilt thou arise from the very dead? Even so, would I believe upon thee? My soul is too tough that it should any time change. Thou hast made me what I am! Adonai, O Adonai! guide thou me!

"Behold, my back is bitten with the lash! My shoulders, they are dead with the bearing of the cross. Lead me not further into contaminations, but cause that mine enemies shall wholly forget that thing which I did bear this day. Let me no more prophesy. Am I an idolater? See, I beat my breast. I tear my garment, I pour dust like oil upon my head. I am a Jew. Why didst thou set the robber in

my way to turn me hither in the morning, and the visions now to bring me back at night?

"O Adonai, Adonai! Show me not any more dreams: these I cannot endure. My soul abhorreth the sessions of the night, the pictures that are painted on darkness. Show me not thy ways to come, O God, or I shall change indeed, and become a worshipper of the Devil."

And he sank into a swoon, or horror of darkness. Therein was the voice of the Lord.

And the Lord said unto him, "Simon, Simon! Thou that wast both Samson and Solomon! I am Adonai, He that spake unto thee within thy father's tomb in Cyrenaica. I have hitherto hewn thee roughly, but now I will chisel thee deeply and mark my lesser lines upon thee, and grind thee exceeding fine. And thou shalt never change at all without my word, for I would have thee be only in a certain way. And when I have no further need of thee, I will break thee into little pieces, and yet will preserve thee forever. Selah."

PART II

THE GRINDING FINE

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