jealous independence, by his fervent adoration of the Gospel and for Christian morals, Rousseau is a precursor of Tolstoy, who says of him:
“Pages like this go to my heart; I feel that I should have written them.”[1]
- ↑ Conversations with M. Paul Boyer (Le Temps, August 28, 1901).
The similarity is really very striking at times, and might well deceive one. Take the profession of faith of the dying Julie:
“I could not say that I believed what it was impossible for me to believe, and I have always believed what I said I believed. This was as much as rested with me.”
Compare Tolstoy’s letter to the Holy Synod:
“It may be that my beliefs are embarrassing or displeasing. It is not within my power to change them, just as it is not in my power to change my body. I cannot believe anything but what I believe, at this hour when I am preparing to return to that God from whom I came.”
Or this passage from the Réponse à Christophe de Beaumont, which seems pure Tolstoy:
“I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. My Master has told me that he who loves his brother accomplishes the law.”
Or again:
“The whole of the Lord’s Prayer is expressed in these
surrounds me on every side, when on every hand the warm air envelopes me which extends through the infinite distance; when the very same lush grasses that I have crushed in throwing myself on the ground make the verdure of the infinite meadows; when the same leaves which, shaken by the wind, throw the shadow on my face, make the sombre blue of the distant forest; when the very air I breathe makes the light-blue background of the infinite sky; when not I alone am delighting in nature; when around me whirl and hum millions of insects and the birds are singing. The greatest delight in nature is when I feel myself making a part of all. Here (in Switzerland) the infinite distance is beautiful, but I have nothing in common with it.” (May, 1851.)
