I saw the little children...

(…)

A hatred of institutions, of conventions kindled my soul with its fire. A hatred of priests and kings rose in me like a flooded stream. I had been a Christian, warm, fervent, sincere; my emotional, sensitive nature demanded food for its hunger, fuel for its fire. But when I looked upon these men and women, suffering and wicked, I saw how little they deserved the curse of a further hell. What greater hell than this life? What greater curse than living? «This free-will», I cried to myself, «this also is a convention and a falsehood invented by men that they might punish [?] and slay and torture, with the word «justice», which is a nickname of crime (which is a hallowed crime)». «Judge not», the Bible has it — the Bible; «judge not, that ye may not be judged!».

When I had been in Christ I had thought men responsible for the ill they did — I hated tyrants, I cursed kings and priests. When I had shaken off the immoral, the false influence of the philosophy of Christ, I hated tyranny, kinghood, priesthood — evil in itself. Kings and priests I pitied because they were men (...)