X. “I THOUGHT I STOOD.”
I thought I stood in Heaven before God’s throne, and God asked me what I had come for. I said I had come to arraign my brother, Man.
God said, “What has he done?”
I said, “He has taken my sister, Woman, and has stricken her, and wounded her, and thrust her out into the streets; she lies there prostrate. His hands are red with blood. I am here to arraign him; that the kingdom be taken from him, because he is not worthy, and given unto me. My hands are pure.”
I showed them.
God said, “Thy hands are pure.—Lift up thy robe.”
I raised it; my feet were red, blood-red, as if I had trodden in wine.
God said, “How is this?”
I said, “Dear Lord, the streets on earth are full of mire. If I should walk straight on in them my outer robe might be bespotted, you see how white it is! Therefore I pick my way.”
God said, “On what?”