Then he stopped, drew breath, crossed himself, bowed to the ground, and every one did the same—­the inspector, the warders, the prisoners; and from above the clinking of the chains sounded more unintermittently.  Then he continued:  “Of angels the Creator and Lord of powers, Jesu most wonderful, the angels’ amazement, Jesu most powerful, of our forefathers the Redeemer.  Jesu sweetest, of patriarchs the praise.  Jesu most glorious, of kings the strength.  Jesu most good, of prophets the fulfilment.  Jesu most amazing, of martyrs the strength.  Jesu most humble, of monks the joy.  Jesu most merciful, of priests the sweetness.  Jesu most charitable, of the fasting the continence.  Jesu most sweet, of the just the joy.  Jesu most pure, of the celibates the chastity.  Jesu before all ages of sinners the salvation.  Jesu, son of God, have mercy on me.”

Every time he repeated the word “Jesu” his voice became more and more wheezy.  At last he came to a stop, and holding up his silk-lined cassock, and kneeling down on one knee, he stooped down to the ground and the choir began to sing, repeating the words, “Jesu, Son of God, have mercy on me,” and the convicts fell down and rose again, shaking back the hair that was left on their heads, and rattling with the chains that were bruising their thin ankles.

This continued for a long time.  First came the glorification, which ended with the words, “Have mercy on me.”  Then more glorifications, ending with “Alleluia!” And the convicts made the sign of the cross, and bowed, first at each sentence, then after every two and then after three, and all were very glad when the glorification ended, and the priest shut the book with a sigh of relief and retired behind the partition.  One last act remained.  The priest took a large, gilt cross, with enamel medallions at the ends, from a table, and came out into the centre of the church with it.  First the inspector came up and kissed the cross, then the jailers, then the convicts, pushing and abusing each other in whispers.  The priest, talking to the inspector, pushed the cross and his hand now against the mouths and now against the noses of the convicts, who were trying to kiss both the cross and the hand of the priest.  And thus ended the Christian service, intended for the comfort and the teaching of these strayed brothers.

CHAPTER XL.

THE HUSKS OF RELIGION.

And none of those present, from the inspector down to Maslova, seemed conscious of the fact that this Jesus, whose name the priest repeated such a great number of times, and whom he praised with all these curious expressions, had forbidden the very things that were being done there; that He had prohibited not only this meaningless much-speaking and the blasphemous incantation over the bread and wine, but had also, in the clearest words, forbidden men to call other men their master, and to pray in temples; and had ordered that every one should pray in solitude, had forbidden to erect temples, saying that He had come to destroy them, and that one should worship, not in a temple, but in spirit and in truth; and, above all, that He had forbidden not only to judge, to imprison, to torment, to execute men, as was being done here, but had prohibited any kind of violence, saying that He had come to give freedom to the captives.