Page:Tolstoy - Essays and Letters.djvu/253

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TO A NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER
237


truth, and when he is not bound by promises to act as other people may order. Only such a man will be capable of fulfilling- — not his own will nor that of other men, but — the will of God.

And the will of God is not that we should fight and oppress the weak, but that we should acknowledge all men to be our brothers and should serve one another.

These are the thoughts your letter has aroused in me. I shall be very glad if they help to clear up the ques- tions you are thinking about.

[1898.]