“Your sins are forgiven. Go now, and in peace.”
But the fierce surprise of the Pharisees [pg 127]was not to be shocked into silence. Reulah showed his teeth; they were pointed and treacherous as a jackal’s. Simon loudly asserted disapproval and wonder too.
“I am amazed——” he began.
The Master checked him:
“The beginning of truth is amazement. Wonder, then, at what you see; for he that wonders shall reign, and he that reigns shall rest.”
The music of his voice heightened the beauty of the speech. On Mary it fell and rested as had the touch of his hand.
“Messiah, my Lord!” she cried. “In your breast is the future, in your heart the confidence of God. Let me but tell you. There are those that live whose lives are passed; the tombs do not hold all of those that are dead. I was dead; you brought me to life. I had no conscience; you gave me one, for I was dead,” she insisted. “And yet,” she added, with a little moan, so human, so sincere, that it might have stirred a Cæsar, let alone a [pg 128]Christ, “not wholly dead. No, no, dear Lord, not wholly dead.”
Again her tears gushed forth, profuser and more abundant than before; her frail body shook with sobs, her fingers intertwined.
“Not wholly dead,” she kept repeating. “No, no, not wholly dead.”
Jesus touched his treasurer.