FullReads

But Satan interrupted him, and cried:

“You profess to love the poor, yet you prefer the rich man and his riches, and adore Him who possesses treasures to give away.”

And Fra Giovanni answered:

“He I love possesses not the good things of the body, but those of the spirit.”

And Satan retorted:

“All good things are of the flesh, and are tasted of through the flesh. This Epicurus taught, and Horace the Satirist said the same in his Verses.”

At these words the holy man only sighed and said:

“Sir! I cannot tell what you mean.”

Satan shrugged his shoulders and said:

“My words are exact and literal, yet the man cannot tell what I mean. I have disputed with Augustine and Jerome, with Gregory and him of the Golden Mouth, St. Chrysostom. And they comprehended me still less. Miserable men walk groping in the dark, and Error lifts over their head her monstrous canopy. Simple and sage alike are the plaything of eternal falsehood.”

And Satan said again to the holy man Giovanni:

“Have you won happiness? If you have happiness, I shall not prevail against you. A man’s thoughts are only stirred by sorrow, and their meditations by grief. Then, tortured by fears and desires, he turns anxiously in his bed and rends his pillow with lies. What use to tempt this man? He is happy.”

But Fra Giovanni sighed:

“Sir! I am less happy since listening to you. Your words trouble my mind.”

On hearing this, Satan cast away his pastoral staff, his mitre and his cope; and stood there naked and unashamed. He was black and more beautiful than the loveliest of the Angels.

He smiled gently, and said to the holy man:

“Friend, be comforted. I am the Evil Spirit.”

VIII

THE BURNING COAL

Now Brother Giovanni was simple of heart and spirit, and his tongue was tied; he knew not the secret of speaking to his fellow-men.

But one day when he was praying, as his habit was, at the foot of an ancient holm-oak, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and saluting him, said:

“I salute you, because it is I who visit the simple-minded, and announce the mysteries to virgins.”

And the Angel held in his hand a burning coal. This he laid on the holy man’s lips, and spoke again, and said:

“By virtue of this fire shall your lips remain pure, and they shall glow with eloquence. I have burned them, and they shall be burned. Your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall speak to your fellows. For men must hear the word of life, and learn how they shall not be saved but by innocency of heart. For this cause the Lord has unloosed the tongue of the simple and innocent.”

Then the Angel went back again to Heaven. And the holy man was seized with terror, and he prayed, saying:

“O God, my heart is so sore troubled I cannot find on my lips the sweet savour of the fire Thy Angel hath touched them with.

“Thou wouldst chasten me, O Lord, seeing Thou dost send me to speak to the folk, who will not hearken to my words. I shall be hateful to all men, and Thy priests themselves will declare, ‘He is a blasphemer!’

“For Thy reason is contrary to the reason of men. Nevertheless Thy will be done.”

Then he rose up from his knees, and set out on his way citywards.

IX

THE HOUSE OF INNOCENCE

On that day Fra Giovanni had left the Monastery at early dawn, the hour when the birds awake and begin singing. He was on his way to the city and he thought within himself: “I am going to the city to beg my bread and to give bread to other beggars; I shall give away what I receive, and take back what I have given. For it is good to ask and to receive for the love of God. And he who receives is the brother of him who gives. And we should not consider too curiously which of the twain brothers we are, because truly the gift is naught, but everything is in the gracious giving.