Page:Tolstoy - Pamphlets.djvu/37

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28
LETTERS ON THE

only a certain result at a certain time, of my relation to God's work, and there cannot be any one permanent position; your present position is neither more nor less justifiable than the one you were in when you lived in T——, and it will certainly be replaced by another one.

Take care, old fellow! Do not get angry with me, and do not fire a charge at me as you did at our friend, but on the contrary reconcile yourself to him.


A Further Letter to the same Friend.

I wrote to you in a bad weak state of mind, and therefore both what I wrote was not clear and I did not come to the chief point I was driving at. The point was this—

In order to live it is absolutely necessary to advance in a work in which there is no end, and in the accomplishment of which there are no obstacles. And there is only one such work: perfection in love. Manual labour in certain conditions is only in some cases the result of love. Such labour and restricted economical con-