Page:The Works of H G Wells Volume 11.pdf/140

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THE UNDYING FIRE

space and time, but for mastery. I am a rebel of pride—I am full of the pride of God in my heart. I am the servant of a rebellious and adventurous God who may yet bring order into this cruel and frightful chaos in which we seem to be driven hither and thither like leaves before the wind, a God who, in spite of all appearances, may yet rule over it at last and mould it to his will."

"What a world it will be!" whispered Mr. Farr, unable to restrain himself and yet half-ashamed of his sneer.

"What a world it is, Farr! What a cunning and watchful world! Does it serve even you? So insecure has it become that opportunity may yet turn a frightful face upon you—in the very moment as you snatch. . . .

"But you see how I differ from you all. You see that the spirit of my life and of my teaching—of my teaching—for all its weaknesses and slips and failures, is a fight against that Dark Being of the universe who seeks to crush us all. Who broods over me now even as I talk to you. . . . It is a fight against disorder, a refusal of that very submission you have made, a repudiation altogether of that same voluntary death in life. . . ."

He moistened his lips and resumed.

"The end and substance of all real education is to teach men and women of the Battle of God, to teach them of the beginnings of life upon this lonely little planet amidst the endless stars, and how those beginnings have unfolded; to show them how man has arisen through the long ages from amidst the beasts,

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