Let us hope,
therefore, that all the dreadful consequences of sin will not be
incurred, unless the act have set its seal upon the thought. Yet ...
_man must not disclaim his brotherhood, even with the guiltiest_,
since, though his hand be clean, his heart has surely been polluted by
the flitting phantoms of iniquity." That is, purity is too spotless a
thing to exist in absolute perfection in a human being, who must often
feel at least the dark flush of passionate thoughts falling upon him,
however blameless of life he may be. From this lofty conception of
purity comes that equally noble humility of always feeling "his
brotherhood, even with the guiltiest." What more logical issue from the
Christian idea, what more exquisitely tender rendering of it than this?
"Let the whole world be cleansed, or not a man or woman of us can be
clean!" was his exclamation, many years later, in that English workhouse
which he describes in a heart-rending chapter of "Our Old Home" called
"Outside Glimpses of English Poverty." And it was then that he revealed
the vast depth and the reality of his human sympathy toward the wretched
and loathsome little foundling child that silently sued to him for
kindness, till he took it up and caressed it as tenderly as if he had
been its father.
Armed with these two perceptions, of the good that still persists in
evil persons, and the deep charity which every one must feel towards
even the most abject fellow-being, Hawthorne moves forth again to trace
the maze; and lo, the serpent drops down, cowering.
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