And these mighty
ones were believed to have done such services to poor humanity that
their memory grew greater than they, as shadows do than substances
at day-fall. And the sons and grandsons of the delivered did laud
and magnify those glorious names; and some in gratitude, and some in
tribulation, did ascend the hills, which appeared unto them as
altars bestrown with flowers and herbage for heaven's acceptance.
And many did go far into the quiet groves, under lofty trees,
looking for whatever was mightiest and most protecting. And in such
places did they cry aloud unto the mighty who had left them,
"RETURN! RETURN! HELP US! HELP US! BE BLESSED! FOR EVER BLESSED!"
"'Vain men! but had they stayed there, not evil. Out of gratitude,
purest gratitude, rose idolatry. For the devil sees the fairest,
and soils it.
"'In these our days, methinks, whatever other sins we may fall into,
such idolatry is the least dangerous. For neither on the one side
is there much disposition for gratitude, nor on the other much zeal
to deliver the innocent and oppressed. Even this deliverance,
although a merit, and a high one, is not the highest. Forgiveness
is beyond it. Forgive, or ye shall not be forgiven.
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