It was not for this that the
Everlasting No had set Teufelsdroeckh wailing, nor for this that he had
risen up in wrath and bidden defiance to fear. From his temptation in
the wilderness the Son of Man must come forth, not to wander
open-mouthed about the plain, but to work his way "into the higher
sunlit slopes of that Mountain which has no summit, or whose summit is
in Heaven only."
In other words, a great compassion for his fellow-men has come upon him.
"With other eyes, too, could I now look upon my fellow-man: with an
infinite Love, an infinite Pity. Poor, wandering, wayward man! Art thou
not tried, and beaten with stripes, even as I am? Ever, whether thou
bear the royal mantle or the beggar's gabardine, art thou not so weary,
so heavy-laden; and thy Bed of Rest is but a Grave. O my Brother, my
Brother, why cannot I shelter thee in my bosom, and wipe away all tears
from thy eyes!" The words remind us of the famous passage, occurring
early in the book, which describes the Professor's Watchtower. It was
suggested by the close-packed streets of Edinburgh's poorer quarter, as
seen from the slopes of the hills which stand close on her eastern side.
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