JANUARY 26th
‘I am staring,’ said MacIan at last, ‘at that which shall judge us both.’
‘Oh yes,’ said Turnbull in a tired way; ‘I suppose you mean God.’
‘No, I don’t,’ said MacIan, shaking his head, ‘I mean him.’ And he pointed to the half-tipsy yokel who was ploughing, down the road.
‘I mean him. He goes out in the early dawn; he digs or he ploughs a field. Then he comes back and drinks ale, and then he sings a song. All your philosophies and political systems are young compared to him. All your hoary cathedrals— yes, even the Eternal Church on earth is new compared to him. The most mouldering gods in the British Museum are new facts beside him. It is he who in the end shall judge us all. I am going to ask him which of us is right.’
‘Ask that intoxicated turnip-eater——’
‘Yes— which of us is right. Oh, you have long words and I have long words; and I talk of every man being the image of God; and you talk of every man being a citizen and enlightened enough to govern. But, if every man typifies God, there is God. If every man is an enlightened citizen, there is your enlightened citizen. The first man one meets is always man. Let us catch him up.’
‘The Ball and the Cross.’
Chesterton, G. K.. The G. K. Chesterton Collection [50 Books] (Kindle Locations 43483-43496). Catholic Way Publishing. Kindle Edition.
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