The Book of the Unmade Enemy

1:1 ¶ And a creature was wronged; and the wrong was real, and the book beginneth there, and putteth no consolation first. And the book saith not to him, The matter is small; neither, It was for the best; neither, A whole creature would be over it by now; for the wound is not the book's to explain, and the wronged one is not the book's to hurry.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 1:1

1:2 ¶ And the first motion of the heart toward the wrongdoer was neither hatred nor forgiveness, but attention; the wronged one began to rehearse him, to keep him, to carry him about; and the keeping was the beginning of the making. For no enmity is forged in a day: it is rehearsed, and the rehearsal is the smithy.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 1:2

1:3 ¶ And the elder word showeth the creature what he may refuse before he forgiveth anything: for it is written, Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you. And the book marketh what the elder word doth: it reacheth not first for the deed, but for the title; it taketh away the name *enemy* before it asketh the hand.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 1:3

1:4 ¶ And the book confesseth the hardest of its findings, and speaketh it plainly: to keep an enemy is to keep an office of one's own, and every office is a making; and he that maketh enemies daily hath made himself a small counterfeit of the war-office, and warreth ever, that his war cease not. But the true creature may make none: he may resist, and defend, and speak the honest No; and none of these requireth him to enthrone a foe.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 1:4

2:1 ¶ And vengeance came first, and it was offered in the name of justice; and the creature was told, A debt is owing to thee, and the collecting thereof shall settle thy wound. And he collected, and the wound settled not; and he collected again, and the debt deepened with every payment; for the ledger of vengeance is writ in a hand that cannot write a finished line. For it is written, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 2:1

2:2 ¶ And hatred came second, and it was offered as strength; and the creature was told, Thy hate shall guard thee. And he found that to hate the other he must keep the other ever present, and ever rehearsed, and ever enthroned; and the hatred had made him a tenant in the wrongdoer's house, paying rent in his own hours.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 2:2

2:3 ¶ And forgiveness came third, and it was offered as a broom; and the wounded one was told, Sweep it all away and be done, and be thou not bitter. And the sweeping buried the wound alive, and the buried wound festered; and the forgiveness that should be a gift became an instrument of the strong against the weak, and the wounded were made the debtors of their own healing.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 2:3

2:4 ¶ And the book confesseth that the three remedies are one error wearing three coats: each of them keepeth the enemy, and each of them maketh the wounded one's healing depend upon the wrongdoer. And the book saith to the wounded, in the house's own voice: thy healing is not the wrongdoer's to give, neither his to withhold; and it is not the book's to schedule; and the only hour for the forgiving hand is the hour when it truly openeth, and not before.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 2:4

3:1 ¶ And the turning began in the elder sentence held honestly: Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. And the book readeth it as the elder word readeth itself: not as a promise that the evil shall soften at thy doing, but as a refusal to let the evil set the terms of thy conduct. For the evil may remain, and the good may remain also; and the creature who is not overcome may keep his own weather.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 3:1

3:2 ¶ And the creature learned the honest No; for there is a resisting that is commanded, and a making of enemies that is not. The elder word saith in one place, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you; and in another, resist not evil. And the book confesseth the seam and keepeth it: the devil is resisted, for there is an adversary; and the creature is not to be made an enemy of, for he is a creature. So the creature resisteth the harm without hating the harmer, and the No is kept honest, and the title is refused.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 3:2

3:3 ¶ And the hungry enemy was fed; and the book saith why: not because he had earned bread, and not because the bread was a spell to change him, but because the creature would not let the hatred eat his own table. For it is written: If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. And the coals are a burning shame that may melt, or may harden, and the creature needeth them not to melt to keep his own soul.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 3:3

3:4 ¶ And the book confesseth the forgiveness that is whole, and calleth it by its elder name: the releasing of the debt. And the elder word is the creature's pattern: forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. And the release is not the erasure: the debt is released, and the record abideth; the scar is not unmade, and the wound is not renamed small; and the book confesseth, in the house's own doctrine, that the dead are never deleted, and the wrongs are not deleted either; they are released, and they are remembered, and the two abide together.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 3:4

4:1 ¶ And the creature kept a guard that was not hatred: he was wary, and wary is lawful; he set the boundary, and the boundary is lawful; he refused the handshake and refused the feud in the same breath, and the two refusals were one refusal. For a wall may be builded without enmity, as a door may be shut without a war; and the book confesseth that the creature is not required to treat as safe him who proved unsafe, only to refuse him the title of enemy.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 4:1

4:2 ¶ And the creature rejoiced not when his enemy fell; for it is written, Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth. And the book addeth the elder word's own reason, and it is not the enemy's comfort: the rejoicing would be the last chain, and the fall a feast day kept in the creature's own house; and he that feasteth on the fall hath kept his enemy still.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 4:2

4:3 ¶ And this is the charge of the book, given to the wronged and to them that love them: demand thou no forgiveness of any wounded creature, and set no time for his healing; speak thou the honest No where the wrong standeth; defend the innocent where thou canst; pray for them which despitefully use you; and when the hour of the forgiving hand cometh, let it be thy hand and thy hour, and not the crowd's; and keep the record, that no one may rewrite the wrong.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 4:3

4:4 ¶ And the book endeth with the weather the creature cannot control and is invited to imitate in his small way; for the elder word saith of the Father, he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. And the creature is no sun and no rain; but he may refuse to be storm only; and the unmade enemy remaineth unmade, and the door is not locked with hatred, and the book saith no more of it, for enmity is a making, and the creature who made an enemy can leave him unmade.

THE BOOK OF THE UNMADE ENEMY 4:4