The equality of man
can only be accomplished by the sovereignty of God. The longing for
fraternity can never be satisfied but under the sway of a common father.
The relations between Jehovah and his creatures can be neither too
numerous nor too near. In the increased distance between God and man
have grown up all those developments that have made life mournful.
Cease, then, to seek in a vain philosophy the solution of the social
problem that perplexes you. Announce the sublime and solacing doctrine
of theocratic equality. Fear not, faint not, falter not. Obey the
impulse of thine own spirit, and find a ready instrument in every human
being.'
A sound, as of thunder, roused Tancred from his trance. He looked around
and above. There rose the mountains sharp and black in the clear purple
air; there shone, with undimmed lustre, the Arabian stars; but the voice
of the angel still lingered in his ear. He descended the mountain: at
its base, near the convent, were his slumbering guards, some steeds, and
crouching camels.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
_Fakredeen is Curious_
THE beautiful daughter of Besso, pensive and abstracted, played with her
beads in the pavilion of her grandfather. Two of her maidens, who had
attended her, in a corner of this inner compartment, accompanied the
wild murmur of their voices on a stringed instrument, which might in the
old days have been a psaltery.
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