to Jerusalem.  Because, Paul interrupted, thou wouldst not see the world fall back into idolatry?  Thou art a good man despite——­ Despite my delusions, Jesus said, interrupting Paul.  So thou’rt afraid the world will fall back into idolatry?—­yet Jesus of Nazareth has been proclaimed by thee as the Messiah, a man above mankind.  A spiritual being, higher than the angels, therefore, in a way, part and parcel of the Godhead though not yet equal to God.  Thinkest, Paul, that those that come after thee will not pick up the Messiah where thou hast left him and carry him still further into deity?

It is not fear of idolatry, Paul, that turns me from Jerusalem.  The world will always be idolatrous in some sort of fashion.  Bear that well in mind whither thou goest.  The world cannot be else than the world.

Let us sit here, Paul answered, for I would hear thee under this rock in front of this sea; thou shalt tell me how thou earnest into these thoughts.  Thou, a shepherd among the Judean hills.  Jesus answered him:  the things that I taught in Galilee were not vain, but I only knew part of the truth, that which thou knowest, that sacrifices and observances are vain; and when I went to Jerusalem the infamy of the Temple and its priests became clear to me, and I yielded to anger, for I was possessed of a great desire to save the people.  The Scribes and Pharisees conspired against me, and I was brought before the High Priest, who rent his garments.  We have but little time to spend together, and rather than that story I would hear thee tell of the thoughts that came to thee whilst thou didst lead thy flocks over the hills.

For many years, Paul, there were no thoughts in my mind, or they were kept back, for I was without a belief; but thought returned to my desolate mind as the spring returns to these hills; and the next step in my advancement was when I began to understand that we may not think of God as a man who would punish men for doing things they have never promised not to do, or recompense them for abstinence from things they never promised to abstain from.  Soon after I began to comprehend that the beliefs of our forefathers must be abandoned, and that if we would arrive at any reasonable conception of God, we must not put a stint upon him.  And as I wandered with my sheep he became in my senses not without but within the universe, part and parcel, not only of the stars and the earth, but of me, yea, even of my sheep on the hillside.  All things are God, Paul:  thou art God and I am God, but if I were to say thou art man and I am God, I should be the madman that thou believest me to be.  That was the second step in my advancement; and the third step, Paul, in my advancement was the knowledge that God did not design us to know him but through our consciousness of good and evil, only thus far may we know him.  So thou seest, Paul, he has not written the utmost stint of his power upon us, and this being so, Paul—­and